Earth Lore Yoga

The naming the month of August was after the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. August also honors Demeter as she exiles from Olympus to dwell on Earth. Her beneficent qualities and virtues are most apparent during this month of harvest. The Native Americans referred the full moon as Sturgeon or Corn moon. Fishing tribes named it after sturgeon fish due to the large supplies caught in the Great Lakes region. The first day of the month is the cross-quarter day festival of Lammas. Pagans referred this as Lughnassadh, which came from the ancient texts from the Irish as Lunasa.

Mawu (Yoruba/West African) is the Creator and Moon Goddess and the Mother of all life. After She created the Earth. Mawu was concern that the Earth was too heavy, so she asked Aida Hwedo the Great Serpent to curl up beneath the earth and hold it to the sky. Mawu also needed help in creating animals out of clay, so she created Awe, with time passing became very arrogant and started an up rising against her. She reminded him that only she could give Sekpoli “the breath of life” and only She can take it away.

Ix Chel (Mayan) is the Rainbow Goddess. She is wife to the high god Itzamna, she oversees weaving, medicine, and childbirth. Like the First Mother, her image is the moon goddess holding a rabbit for health and good will in child birth.

Freya (Norse) is a goddess of love and fertility, and the most beautiful and propitious of the goddesses. She is the patron goddess of crops and birth, the symbol of sensuality and was called upon in matters of love. She loves music, spring and flowers, and is particularly fond of the elves (fairies). Freya is one of the foremost goddesses of the Vanir.

Goddess of sex, battle, and pleasure, most beautiful and desirable of white-armed women, Freya was sister to the male fertility god Freyr. Freya had unusual parity with Odin, for they divided the heroic dead amongst themselves. Half went to live eternally in Odin's hall, and half in Freya's hall Sessrumnir- and the goddess got first pick.

The Celtic tree calendar for the mid month of August starts with the Coll. The Hazel tree is also considered as fairy wood widespread throughout Europe and is maintained as a bush for the nut harvest. The Hazel tree can actually reach up to 30 feet and is noted to be the’ fairest of trees’. The coll represents a period of learning from others to be passed on to you. You are processing this knowledge for a better understanding of mental and spiritual well being of oneself. Some of the past uses of the hazel wood are cask hoops, basketry, walking sticks, and spares. The Fianna (early Irish Warrior clan) only armed themselves with the Hazel stick and a shield. Legend has it, if a hazel without leaves it is considered evil, dripping poisonous milk, and home of vultures. This is the reason why the hazel is a symbol of wisdom, mediation, inspiration, and wrath. Also is the entrance way for the fairies and a passage way to magical realms.

As legends speaks of the Surems lived in el Cerro Surem in Sonora. The Surems were small by nature, very peaceful, quiet people who couldn't stand noise and violence. One day, the people noticed a tree that seemed to be making noises in a strange language. This tree was one big, ash-colored Palo Verde, which was growing in the middle of the region, on Omteme Kawi.

While the villagers gathered around, the leaders attempted to communicate with the talking tree. However, it was of no use, not even the most important leader could interpret the message. During this time, a very young girl, Yomumuli, kept tugging at her father's hand and whispering that she could understand the talking tree. At first her father ignored her, and then he became angry at her insistence.

"All right, you will do it in front of the village, and then you will be punished publicly for your foolishness."

So Yomumuli sat down close to the tree and translated word for word what the prophetic tree foretold for their future. It warned of the coming of the white man with armor and new weapons; it told of the coming of much strife and bloodshed against these intruders and others, and of much suffering for a long time among the Surems, but that they would eventually overcome their adversaries. It told of the coming of modern man's trains, "A road will be made of steel with an iron monster on it." It told of much more to come, and then it was said, "There will be much suffering for years, much noise, and confusion. You must decide what to do. For those among you who cannot stand noise, you have a choice of leaving if you do not want to face such a future."

So, the Surems divided into two parties, and those who could not stand such a future walked away. Some say they walked into the sea and live there still. Others say they turned into black ants and live underground under the hills. Those Surems who stayed eventually grew taller and changed into the Yaquis as they are now, and they were strong enough to fight off the invasion of the Spaniards when the time came.