We have tipped over into the Dark Half of the Year at Summer Solstice, but the energy hasn’t yet begun to fully take hold. The Light still holds sway, and we are all extremely busy working to finish up projects conceived at Candlemas to bring to fruition or harvest.

Traditionally, Loafmas has been linked with the harvesting of grains and the blessing of breads in churches throughout Europe. I feel connected to the process of making homemade bread; my grandmother first allowed us to help her bake when we were about six and old enough to reach the counter to help her mix and knead. The best part about baking bread, besides the smell of course, is the fact that you really don’t have to do much to it. The important part is to leave it alone to let it rise multiple times. Baking bread like this takes time and a whole lot of patience and the ability to give up control and just let it do what it is supposed to do.

However, harvesting is more than just gathering up what you have grown or made but taking stock and seeing what you need to do to finish things up, to tie up loose ends, to decide where you can invest your time and energy most effectively.

We associate this season with the Element of Air which is associated with new ideas or beginnings. This may seem incongruous unless you consider the power that Air has to blow away what you don’t need and allow you to see what is profoundly important. We take the time to evaluate our personal Witchcraft beliefs at this time of year, to take stock of what they are and how they have grown and changed over the previous seasons.

We ask the Element of Air to provide clarity during this process and one way you can connect with this clarity is to take the time to go out into the world around you and stand facing the wind itself. Let it blow in and around and through you. Feel how the Air can carry the inconsequential and unimportant away leaving you filled with clarity of thought and purpose. Remember that you are free to go out and experience this clarity whenever you feel you need it.