Written by Ivo Dominguez Jr • Narration by James C. Welch
Music and sound editing by Ivo as well.
Pathworking:
This pathworking is a journey to the gift of Lammas..
Close your eyes and move inwards. Take a deep breath and become aware of any distractions from the outside world— sounds, sensations, thoughts and feelings that came with you to this moment. Gather these distractions together •••• and bid them depart until you return from this journey. ••••
Open your eyes briefly and then close them again holding within yourself the image of where you are in the here and now. See a sparkling mist rolling, slowly filling your vision. See it grow thicker, and thicker, and thicker until you are enveloped in swirls of pearly mist, rosy mist, that glistens with sparkling motes. •••• Although you are still, you feel motion all around you. Although you are still, you feel the fog swirling all around you. •• You feel your posture shift. You are seated. •• You feel drowsy •••
The sound of a slamming car door brings you to full attention. You are seated on the passenger side of a car. It is parked and you are still seat belted in place. The driver leaving the car must have woken you up. It is a pleasant summer day. The windows are rolled down and there is a nice breeze. •• You look out the window and see that you are at a huge road side produce stand. •
There are multiple pop-up canopies and colorful hand painted signs announcing an abundance of vegetables, fruits, flowers, local honey, pies, and more. •• It looks amazing so you unbuckle and get out of the car. •• The tables are heavily laden with baskets of gorgeous tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, melons, and more. The air is rich with the fragrance of ripe perfection. You wander around the tables you see jars of local honey and preserves, pies and breads, and cut flowers for sale. • There is a stand selling warm bread fresh from an oven filling the air with the enticing smell of bread. You see a sign painted with a cornucopia, a scythe, and the words Lammas Loaves. •
As you keep exploring you understand that this is more than a road side stand, it is a community’s farmers’ market. All sorts of people are milling about, examining the wares, haggling, laughing, and catching up on local gossip. ••
You reach the back of the market and see fields of grain, corn, and vegetables. You step into the field, walking between the rows. Blue skies with puffy clouds above and the many colors and textures of the ripening crops around you. The taste of rich soil and recent rains are in the air. •• You walk and enjoy the peace and soft rustle of breezes in the leaves. •
At the end of the row you see two trees that have been bent into an archway and decorated with flowers and woven wheat. • You can see more fields past it and you wonder why someone put it there. You walk up to it. •
Now that you are close you can see just how intricately the branches, the flowers, and the wheat have been woven together. • Although it is daylight you can see a faint glow beneath the arching branches. • You decide to step through. •
The air is suddenly filled with the sounds of people talking. The light is brighter and the colors more intese• You are still in the fields but before you is an enormous square table with a dozen or more chairs at each side. Four larger, impressive, chairs are set at the four cardinal directions that are empty. The table is covered with more delicious bounty than any banquet that you’ve seen. Everyone is seated and awaiting the feast. •
Someone who looks familiar, like a friend you’ve missed for years, points to a chair that they are saving for you. You move quickly and pop into the chair. •
As soon as you settle into your chair, everyone takes hands and you feel a rush of energy moving from hand to hand round the table. •• Then all drop hands and rap the table three times with their knuckles. •
A group of people across from you stand up. They smile at each other, they take a few deep breaths, and the begin to sing.
(Open & Clear chant)
People are passing the food and filling their plates. •• You start putting food on your plate but it is filling fast. • There are more wonderful things to try than will fit on your plate or in your belly. • Your plate is full. There are a variety of pitchers and you choose apple cider to fill your goblet. You notice that others are waiting with full plates for some signal to begin eating. • The last plate is filled and a hush descends upon all that are present. •
There is a flash, a shimmering sound, and the four chairs that were vacant are occupied by swirling lights. •
The glow fades in one of the chairs and becomes the vague shape of a person with shifting images of trees, leaves, branches, and roots moving across its surface. The air is full of the smell of the deep woods. • You hear a voice that is clear, but clearly nonhuman. •
I am the Forest Spirit. •
These lands that are now fields are made of me.
This was my sacrifice.
I am still here. You are now my trees. •
You feel the pressure of their gaze upon you. •
What have you received from me and what will you give in turn? ••
You answer them.••• They say thank you.
One of the other chairs is suddenly filled with a large full figured woman in a flowing gown of gold and red and amber. Her face is partly hidden by veils of leaves and tendrils. Her eyes are like stars. Upon her head a crown made of woven stalks of wheat, barley, and corn.
I am the Wealthy One who gives all. •
I create knowing that all I make must perish.
The brightness of my flowers becomes the richness of the crops.
In you I feel the cycles of my creations.
You feel the pressure of their gaze upon you. •
What have you received from me and what will you give in turn? ••
You answer them.••• They say thank you.
With a sound like rattles and drums, a form fills the third chair. Indistinct at first then becoming the greenman. All of their features composed of foliage and plant life.
I am Jack the Green, Jack the Lantern,
Jack of Frost, and Jack in the Pulpit and more.
Know me also as John Barleycorn.
Know that the fuel that feeds the fire of your life is me.
I rise again but I DO feel the cutting down.
You feel the pressure of their gaze upon you. •
What have you received from me and what will you give in turn? ••
You answer them.••• They say thank you.
You wait for the fourth chair to fill. • Instead, your eyes blur, the world shifts and you find yourself transported to the fourth chair. You hear a voice in your head.
Heir of all Skills. Child of Promise
Descendant of Life Eternal
Beloved One, Champion of the Future
What will you give to yourself and to your world?
You answer them.••• They say thank you.
There is soft applause and people begin to eat. You reach for your fork but your neighbor’s hand stops you. They say,
“This food is not meant for those that are still of the Earth. Go home and feast with those whose hearts still beat.”
You hear a faint chant as the table begins to turn slowly and the world goes gray and foggy. •
(Thanks Turns The Wheel chant)
The rolling fog carries singing voices and you listen. •••• Although you are still, you feel motion all around you. You feel the swirling and the turning all around you. ••
Little by little, the fog lifts and you flutter your eyes open and find yourself back in the here and now. Back in the place where we began. Back in the place you held in your memory so that you could return. •••
Take a deep breath. Move your toes and fingers. Be here and in the now. Be here and in the now. And you are here!