Lammas Reflections

I know this is all so very late...but I do have some reflections coming from Lammas. Basically, it is this...

Back in Ye Olden Days...when things were not so good with a drought or the harvest (such as now) we might sacrifice a "king" in order to be an intercessor for us in the spiritual world. Willing sacrifice...not murder. And a connection was kept...tied to the community...I think through whoever his lover was. That's my feeling or intuition. This is an idea that is really not understood now. I think it's weird how people get totally freaked out by the idea that we would have someone who might sacrifice himself willingly to be an intercessor and save his people from starvation, but don't think it's weird at all for soldiers to "sacrifice" themselves by killing others and dying in violence. Society is strange.

So, this Lammas, before I could even understand the words (it took me a while to figure them out) I was compelled to learn "The Maid She Sat a Weeping." And then I was thinking about this and I was thinking that this is probably about the intercessory sacrifice. That's my feeling about it.

Steeleye Span has a lovely version...I think it's called "Once I had a true love." But they have some later verses and I think the first three are the only real ones that show up in most if not all of the versions.

The Maid She Sat a Weeping

Once I had a true love, but now I have none
Once I had a true love, but now I have none
He has gone and left me, gone and left me
Gone and left me in sorrow to mourn

Last night in sweet slumber, I dreamed I did see
Last night in sweet slumber, I dreamed I did see
My own darling jewel sat smiling by me
My own darling jewel sat smiling by me

But when I awakened, I found it not so
Yes when I awakened, I found it not so
My eyes, like some fountain, with tears overflowed
My eyes, like some fountain, with tears overflowed