NinfeAde

Lughnasadh
Also called August Eve, Harvest Home, Feast of Bread, Festival of the Green Corn is named for Lugh, an Irish solar god.  This is the time of Earth’s sorrowing Autumn, solar light is lessening and the nights are growing longer.

Lughnasadh, (Lammas or loaf – mass is from the anglo-saxon hlaefmass, or loaf festival) is the first of three harvests; others following are Mabon and Samhain. Traditionally celebrated on August 1st, it astrologically falls at 15 degrees Leo.

Harvest is beginning, crops are ripening, and the gathering of food is celebrated with gratitude.
Southern hemisphere celebrates Imbolc and the light of the Sun returning, while in the northern hemisphere Lughnasadh is celebrated as the sun’s light begins to lessen.
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Ceres (Roman for Demeter, also the root word of cereal) the Goddess of Grain was the Great Earth Mother of Persephone.  When Hades abducted Persephone to the underworld, Ceres searched the world, grieving for her lost daughter.  Ceres failed to nurture the grain and crops withered and died.  While Ceres grieved, the world fell into hunger until Zeus intervened, ordering Hades to return Persephone.

Hades did so, but first tricked Persephone into eating a bite of mystical pomegranate, which meant she was forced to return to the underworld for a portion of each year.  It is in these months that winter blankets the world and foliage goes dormant.

Interestingly, Ceres is traditionally connected with Henna, Sicily which at 931m above sea level, is the highest Italian province capital.  It has earned the nicknames “belvedere” (panoramic viewpoint) and “ombelico” (navel) of Sicily.  It is said to be the site of Persephone’s abduction to the underworld and the site of Ceres’ most ancient Sanctuary.  (wiki)
Highest point to search from, navel of Sicily – sounds like a searching mother to me..!

Ceres in the natal chart indicates loss, grief, searching, and wrath – but Ceres also indicates  joy, transformation, rebirth and the return of something lost.  Ceres is a place of interaction with the earth – where you can ground your wayward energies and nurture yourself.  Ceres is where you are both mother and mothered, it is where you nurture, and also where your growth is nurtured by others.

peace
gneissmoonastrology.net