Late Summer, First Harvest
Summer is in full swing now, and the weather shows it. Hot, occasionally sticky, maybe a microburst dropping down some much needed rain to cool things off. I'm going to talk about two runes for this writing, because they are inexorably intertwined for harvest. First, the rune Sowilo represents the sun wheel, and the sun at its strongest, which is summer. Although now with Litha behind us and the sun making its journey back South, which means the daylight is gradually decreasing, we still enjoy sunset well past 8pm. Sowilo is vitality, for when we feel healthy, we feel we can overcome anything, be successful at everything. It is the sun's light that kisses the crops and helps them grow full and abundant during the Spring and Summer, and has now brought them to fruition and ripeness, so it is now time to reap them. Now we turn to Jera, the harvest rune. The time of first harvest celebrates the blessings of the sun's life giving light to the crops we need to sustain u