Lammas is a Wheel of the Year holiday that honors the first harvest of the season. It’s typically celebrated on August 1, when the days are starting to grow shorter but the weather is at its peak of warmth and sunshine. It’s a time to appreciate the sunlight and give thanks for the abundance of the growing season. While the Sun is still shining brightly, we prepare for the even greater levels of prosperity that the coming autumn will bring. 

Lammas is a time to appreciate warmth and sunlight and the ways they support the season of growth. Gratitude in times of plenty is a powerful practice because what we reap now wasn’t always full-grown. Lammas asks us to make peace with the year behind us and focus on what we can harvest from our experiences. 

Ask yourself: How did I connect with others? What did I create? Did I learn anything new? Did I plant intentions, and how were they different from every other year? Take time to reflect upon the seeds you planted, giving thanks for what has pushed through the soil and bloomed.

Here are three simple ways to tap into the abundance and gratitude of Lammas: 

Write down the things you’ve manifested this year and put those pieces of paper in a container. Hold a little ritual to honor everything you’ve grown, including yourself. Keep adding to this container throughout the rest of the year and look back next Lammas to see how far you’ve come.

The most traditional Lammas practice is baking bread from the newly harvested wheat. It represents the abundance of the harvest, protection for the hearth and home, and celebration of the Gaia Cosmic Mother. If you celebrate with family or friends, you may choose to pass a freshly baked loaf around, each person breaking off a portion and eating it after sharing the things they are grateful for.

Lammas is a festival of light, celebrating the last long days of the year. Your ritual can be as simple as lighting candles in shades of yellow and orange or whatever color calls to you. Candles bring fire magic to any space — they help us see things in a different light.

• Citrine: A powerful manifestation stone, citrine’s sunny and bright disposition imparts wonder, delight, and enthusiasm. It increases your levels of empowerment, self-esteem, and confidence to help you fully recognize all of your shining, special attributes.
• Golden Healer Quartz: Restores confidence and your sense of power while magnifying financial success. It gets its warm yellow color from inclusions of iron oxide that add properties of power, strength, and protection.
• Yellow Fluorite: Attracts wealth, resources, and prosperity — it’s like the Law of Attraction in crystal form! It also boosts intellectual development, logical thinking, imagination, and creativity.

However you choose to honor Lammas, take some time to reflect and show gratitude for all the blessings you have in your life. Do things that make you happy and fulfilled, basking in the warmth of summer.