Every season we come to the halfway point when the rush and anticipation of its beginning gives way to the slow maturing of its end. This halfway point is known as cross quarter day and it happens this week, as we step fully into August.
The summer cross quarter day comes from harvesting traditions of days gone by when the first ripened wheat was brought in from the fields, ground into flour, baked into a sacred loaf, and offered in ceremony as blessing for the remaining harvest. This was the time for gathering in community to break bread together.
About 45 minutes after sunset this week there's a beautiful blue star appearing over the western edge of the world. This is the star Spica, the star of abundance that is often depicted as a shaft of wheat held in the arms of Virgo, when she is goddess of the harvest.
I want to play with this a little!
To find Spica, start with the three stars that make up the handle of the Big Dipper. If you follow the bend of the handle away from the Dipper's cup, you'll see that it arcs toward the bright star Arcturus. From Arcturus you continue the ark and speed on to Spica. There's a mnemonic for this: "arc to Arcturus, speed to Spica."
But let's imagine Arcturus is actually Goldilocks, and the three stars in the Dipper's handle are the three bears from the fairy tale. With Spica the star of abundance to witness, Goldilocks is tested to see whether she has the wisdom to give thanks for the abundance she has seemingly stumbled upon.
Unfortunately for our young protagonist, she gives nary a thought to those whose plentitude she partakes of as she sits in their chairs, eats there porridge, and sleeps in their beds, just to see which one is just right for her. So she ends up startled out of her sleep by the frightening presence of the bears, and she runs away, never to be heard from or seen again!
The Bears in the story represent the natural world and the star Spica its bounty. This week the story in the stars is this: don't be a greedy stranger like Goldilocks ~ gather with friends and break bread together as a blessing for the rest of the season with Spica as your witness.
Follow this link to Andrew Lang's rendering of the original 19th century tale "The Three Bears": http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/goldilocks/stories/lang.html