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THOUGHTS FOR JULY
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Author:  Ron Fox [ Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:55 am ]
Post subject:  THOUGHTS FOR JULY
JULY- THE MEAD MONTH
By Anna Franklin

According to Pliny, the Celtic year began in July the corn is ripening to gold in the fields, and the heat is hot and sultry, because in July the Dog Days begin. Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors called July mead-month, referring to the blossoming meadows. This is the month for hay making, and the cutters used to be a familiar sight in the fields with scythes. ‘Riding’ is the term given to the practice of asserting territorial rights to an area of land by riding over it on horseback. The practice was particularly common in the counties of southern Scotland and northern England where the borders were in dispute. The custom was also used to maintain the rights to graze animals and forage for wood etc, on areas of common land known as ‘Lammas lands’. Until the Enclosures Acts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which put common lands into private ownership, these lands were let to farmers from spring until the end of July. The haymaking had to be completed by Lammas as the lands reverted back to common grazing land from Lammas until the following spring.
The custom of rush baring takes place over England in late July, Processions of
people bearing rushes or accompanying ornately decorated carts carrying rushes
proceeded to the local church. The rushes are blessed and scattered over the floors of
the church.

The rising of the Dog Star, Sirius, on 27th July marked the beginning of the Dog Days,
when the sun burns at its most fierce. The Dog Star follows Orion the hunter about the
sky. The ancient Greeks and Romans thought that it was a distant sun (the sun of the
Milky Way) that at this time of year rose with our sun to add its own heat, making the
weather unbearable. Its influence was considered baneful and malign. In ancient days,
on the 20th July a sacrifice was offered to the eastern European thunder god Perun;
this was necessary to placate the deity and prevent him from sending late summer
storms to destroy the crops. In some places, a human victim was chosen by ballot or a
scapegoat appointed to lead the powers of blight away from the harvest. The
withering Gardens of Adonis may have been scapegoat gardens cast into the sea (in
the manner of other types of scapegoats) to protect the real harvest. The appearance of
the Queensferry Burry Man at Lammas is the remnant of a very ancient tradition; the
scapegoat who is sacrificed to save the harvest.
July is called the ‘hungry month’ in Ireland, because the harvest cannot begin until the
first day of August. It is unlucky to gather fruits or dig potatoes until Lughnasa.
In ancient times they could not be picked until precautions were taken to protect the
rest of the harvest to come, and reparation made to the Earth.


THOUGHTS FOR JULY
By Ron Fox

Hi Folks,

As we move into July away from midsummer moving steadily moving through the wheel of the year. My thoughts returned Midsummer and the coven. A wonderful midsummer eve filled with the ritual, feasting, drumming, singing, poems and stories all told throughout the night as we sat in vigil awaiting the rising of the sun on the solstice morn, the wood and its inhabitants very welcoming and present that night.
Just before sunrise we made our way to a bridge spanning a nearby waterway, we stood and waited with only the sound of a drum and local wildlife waiting to greet the suns arrival.
One or two of us watched a water vole swim in the calm water below and noticed a small bird fly from one side to the other, not unusual, but each time it did this it was joined by another then another and another always coming from the same tree to land in the same clump of wild Rose bush on the opposite bank, the direction that the sun was due to rise on the distant horizon. I put myself into light trance and immediately became aware of strong clouds of energy emanating from a corn field a few yards away. We waited yet the sun seemed reluctant to show him self, surly by now we had past the time of his arrival on yonder horizon.
I felt the urge to take a short walk into the nearby cornfield, others looked as I walked and thought, at one point gently stroked the green ears of corn in an upward direction, a point of admiration of their gentleness and vigour, each born yet to reach their full potential.
As I did this came the signal that the sun was appearing in the sky, a felling that he’d been waiting to prove a point. Without his presence there would be no corn, food or warmth born from our Earth Mother. That without the marriage and mating of the sun and the earth we would not be. We watched the rays of light once more bring brightness, growth and warmth to our world, at this one of our party shot a flaming arrow into the sky, a sign of thanks, recognition, and return of fire. With a cheer and greetings from us all we left pleasantly tired yet elated with what we had witnessed and learned that solstice eve and morn.

Moving on to July we have a Hearth camp booked in Leister on the 17th-18th-and 19th of July, this a carry on from the last camp, the subject this time Quantum Healing and the power of intent. For details and booking you can e-mail Paul Walton at greymoonowl@msn.com. The cost is ten pounds for the whole weekend.
Before I leave one last thought, a herb that is used around this time is St Johns Wort. It may be used topically as infused oil for burns, muscle and joint inflammations such as tennis elbow, neuralgia and sciatica.
Steep the flowers in some sunflower oil in a bottle or jar and leave out in the sunshine or on a sunny windowsill for a few weeks, shake occasionally and replace the old flowers with new flower heads if you wish to make the oil stronger. When planning to use for burns add a few drops of Lavender oil or add Yarrow oil for joint inflammations.
St Johns Wart has many uses as a healing plant and is used for long standing nervous exhaustion, or to relieve nerve related pains.
Used as an infusion, it helps in the treatment of anxiety, nervous tension, irritability, and emotional upsets and has also been proved to be very helpful in controlling the symptoms of the menopause and pre-menstrual tension.
A word of caution here, St Johns Wort may cause dermatitis of the skin after taking it internally and then exposing it to the sun. It can also cause contact dermatitis if pruned or gathered in moist sunny conditions.
Here we have a marriage of the sun and the herb of the earth in this remedy.
The combined energies of both can heal or harm, balance in all things comes to mind here.
The physicians of Myddfai, Wales wrote in the 13th Century, “For chilblains; boil the roots of tutsan and pour upon curds. Pound with old lard and apply as a plaster. Some old herbals refer to St Johns Wort as tutsan (H. androsaemum) from the French toutsain or heal all, which was used to treat various injuries and inflammations at the time.
I pointed out last month that plants may teach us in varying ways, how they look, their colour and the time of year they show themselves at their best, (natures cycles). I’m sure you must have noticed the swarms of greenfly in recent weeks, as it happens there are countless baby frogs hopping around my garden having left my pond, lots of young fledgling birds looking for something to eat. Mother Nature provides for all of this in her own way.
This is a good time to quiet the mind in meditation on the odd occasion, spend a little time with the spirits of these and other plants on a sunny day. A great remedy for a saddened spirit is bright sunshine, rest and the healing yellow flowers of the St Johns Wort.



Bright and Sunny Blessings Ron Fox
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