For those of us who follow the CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway) spiritual tradition, Harvest is a time of reward and celebration when all of our hard work through the year pays off. During this time, the “crops” are tall and strong in the field, heavy with the fruit of the first harvest. Far from a time to rest at the end of the cycle, harvest is when we work harder than we have at any other time of the year. The next twelve weeks of harvest between now and its ends on October 31st will be challenging to say the least. We harvest until we feel as though our backs will break and our legs will give out on us…then we harvest some more. Few of us are agricultural farmers beyond a small, backyard production and it is rare that ability to survive the winter rests on the success of the harvest as it did in more ancient times. Instead, we harvest positive life goals that we planned through the winter and planted in the spring.
As one of the co-creators of the CUSP tradition and an avid teacher of the process, I am often asked how the harvest cycle works. Does a big truck will drive up to your doorstep full of harvest on August 2nd and pile it in front of your house? The fields do not work that way and neither does the bounty you harvest through magical means into your life. You still to have to go out into the “fields” to get it and the harvest and gathering effort is the next step the manifestation process.
Many groups use the planting cycle to manifest positive life changes and ours is just one of them. In the contemplative dark of the year, we go inward and imagine how we want our life to change in the coming year. Once our plan is in place, we ask for input from Deity and watch for signs of confirmation and redirection, then amend accordingly. In spring, we plant those goals and begin working in accord out there in the world to make those changes happen, knowing that the Universe will support our efforts. At Harvest time, those goals become reality. The timing is not absolute, although it is accurate enough to call it a standard. There have been several years where the third week or so of October rolled around and we were sitting in the field wondering, “Where the heck is our harvest?”
When you are contemplating your harvest and feel confused about why it is not yet here, always go back to the exact words you used at your planting in March. What ideas that were in your head at that time. Write them out and look at them. If you have your original list, go over it as well. Meditate on what you planted and consider all of the inflections and ways this goal could come about.
Sometimes, the harvest just takes a little bit longer than we think it should. The Universe does not always work well with the human concept of time. When we set a plan for manifestation in place, we create a matrix that must allow for an unthinkable number of connections to take place between March and November. All of the cogs have to line up just so, all of the players have to move into position and all of the lights on the console have to light up in just the right pattern. We should definitely see some results and encouragement by the week of Lammas, but do not be discouraged if your harvest has not yet manifested. It is common for more time to be required for a perfect result and often, that can continue well into Mabon.
Remember that typically, Lammas is the harvest we receive from our own efforts. If your particular goal required a little extra Divine assistance, it is appropriate for manifestation to occur further into the second harvest when the influence of the Universe is stronger. As with all parts of the harvest year, patience and absolute faith are the keys to success. If you begin to doubt, fear, or discount, the energy you have put into your harvest will be compromised. It is essential at this point and all others that you trust the process and believe that things are going exactly as they should for your own greatest good.
Once those crops start to bear their bounty, go out into the fields and claim what you have created, celebrating the sweetness of new life.