Did you know that your heartbeat is connected to your perception of time?
plus spell items & ideas for Lughnasadh or Lammas!
For this lunar cycle, all writings that I do in this space are growing out of this newsletter I sent on the New Moon in Cancer. It’s not necessary to read that letter first, though I do think it’s a good read! (Am I biased? Maybe!)
It is August. Rabbit Rabbit. It is Lughnasadh. Lammas. The day we harvest our “first fruits.” The Moon is Full. Take a moment here to reflect on all that you’ve built this year, this lunar cycle. Breathe in the promise of a new season.
[For those of you looking to get witchy, I’ve included some spell items & ideas at the end!]
But first —
This year, I’ve had a wild experience with time.
Maybe I should capitalize it, Time, because it does seem to be an incredibly proper noun. A title, a teacher, an entity of its own authority.
This is in part because I’ve been keeping a big secret! — We moved from New York to Los Angeles.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when we moved, as there was quite a bit of back and forth—New York, Los Angeles, New York, Barcelona, Nantes, London, New York, Los Angeles—and for a few months, I never truly knew where I was supposed to be, physically, emotionally, spiritually…
But it’s happened!
For the first time in 12 years, I don’t have an apartment or a business in the Big Apple.
It’s very strange.
Even stranger, is the fact that I never wanted to live in LA! Growing up in Northern California, moving down South was more of a traditional trajectory, especially for actors and artists. But I wanted New York, so I moved East.
[To be here now, and to be happy to be here—not to mention to have different ideas about what living here means at this stage in my twisty career—is for another letter…]
In April, we came out to LA for the first time to set up the house that we’d rented almost sight unseen. There were pictures, of course, and we had a friend come see the place (Her review? “I think you should live here!”), but you never really know how you’re going to feel in a place until you’re there.
Call it jet lag, excitement, or the fact that my wife is keeping New York hours for work, but the minute we arrived, we started waking up early. Like 6 AM early, which if you know me, is early.
Suddenly, there were so many hours in a day! Time seemed to move so slowly!
Every time I would look at the clock, I would be shocked that it was “only” whatever time it was. We went from having a work day with some evening hours to having three different days over the course of one single day. I felt like Beyoncé!
Then, we went back to New York. Bye bye extra time! Again, I had a hard time getting out of bed, and the days seemed to fly by.
I don’t know if it’s the timezone change or what, but I truly feel like I’ve tapped in to some strange time vortex.
In my letter to you on last month’s New Moon in Cancer, I shared that the number 4 rules Time, and Space, and the Containers that hold us. Four is a practical number, which is connected to 7, the ruling number of 2023, which also has a connection to Cancer.
So, I started seeking information around those themes:
Personal — To ring in my 31st year of life, I had an astrology reading with Mallory Hasty (who I would totally recommend! They’re amazing!) where we explored the astrocartography of my move. Turns out that in LA, my Cancer Sun and Venus occupy the 7th house!
Collective — In a series of new studies, researchers have found that “our perception of time is likely always fluctuating and is at least in part tied to the functioning of our heart.” You can read about the study here, which is aptly titled, Wrinkles in subsecond time perception are synchronized to the heart.
Isn’t that wild?
Well, today’s Full Sturgeon Moon in Aquarius, and the month of August in general, are also tied to the innate intelligence of our hearts!
August is the 8th month of the year, connecting us to the heart-forward Strength card in the tarot; and Aquarius is the 11th sign of the Zodiac, whose root number is 2, which rules love, relationship, the heart, and the hands.
Plus, Aquarius—currently housing Saturn and having its way with changing social media platforms and government confirmations of alien life—is all about different systems of intelligence. So the idea that our hearts, which are so human and so intrinsic to this physical and emotional experience on Earth, are connected to a structure as opaque and yet universal as Time feels so juicy to me.
I’m going to be musing on it over the course of the next couple of days, and I’d love to know what you think! Happy Full Moon! Happy Lammas! Happy August! xx
PS. Hey LA honeys, call me beep me, if you wanna reach me! Let’s play!
Lughnasadh/Lammas Spell Ideas from The Witch’s Book of Numbers!
Lughnasadh, or Lammas, the first of the Pagan harvest festivals, celebrates the goodness of grain, which is typically the “first fruit” to be harvested.
August 1 has 9 energy (8 + 1 = 9) and symbolizes the culmination of the summer season. It also marks the beginning of preparations for the winter months. This is traditionally ritualized by collectively baking and feasting on bread, and then storing some of the grain away for the winter to come.Because we’re doing kitchen magic already, perhaps you’d like to spread the wealth (8) by taking your sweet self (1) over to a neighbor or friend’s house to offer them a loaf of bread or a basket of cookies (9).
Make flower chains out of yarrow or goldenrod and wear them as lively decoration or adorn your doorways and/or altars with them to ward off negative energies that may sneak in as the weather gets colder.
Sunflowers are also a popular flower for Lughnasadh, as they are in season but will soon be harvested for seeds. Place a single flower or a whole bouquet on your kitchen counter or table, or enjoy a handful of sunflower seeds as a snack or addition to a recipe.