2019 Harvest Moon Mabon Ritual

Happy Full Harvest Moon!

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” … Albert Camus

The new season is almost upon us and soon the trees will shed their leaves and prepare for the darker half of the year.

Mabon is the threshold for the darker half of the year. A balance of light and dark, the Autumn Equinox gives us a balance of day and night and is a beautiful reminder of balance and harmony within and without.

This year the Autumn Equinox falls on Sept. 21 or 22nd depending on your location and this Full Moon opens the Mabon portal.

Like the trees, we can prepare and shed our leaves too… anything weighing us down, limiting beliefs, habits or patterns that no longer serve us.

This ceremony will help you shed what no longer fits into your life and help you invoke what you truly desire for the rest of the year and darker half.

The Full Moon Ceremony tonight can be done anytime within the Mabon portal between today, 9/13 to 9/22. You can do the first half of the ceremony tonight on the Full Moon tonight and finish the ceremony on Mabon as well. What does your intuition guide you to do?

Read complete articles at Spirit de la Lune 2018 Harvest Moon Ritual

The Small Mushrooms We’re All Overlooking (new video!)

Greetings!

Just a reminder that on Monday, September 16th, I’ll be opening registration for my online course Foraging Wild Mushrooms. This course is designed for beginner-level mushroom enthusiasts who are looking to confidently and successfully harvest wild mushrooms for food, for medicine, for study, and for fun.

If you’re interested in signing up for Foraging Wild Mushrooms, mark your calendar for Monday, September 16th and visit this link.

And now on to this week’s brand new video!

I’ve never been one to judge a mushroom based on its size. Teeny-tiny fungi can be equally as fascinating as big, beefy mushrooms.

During a recent walk through a beautiful forest, I encountered all kinds of small mushrooms whose roles were no less essential than those of the larger fungi. Rather than keep these fungal encounters to myself, I thought I’d pull out my camera and document the fun.

If you’re interested in learning some neat things about a few of the smaller mushrooms that may be growing in your neck of the woods, check out the brand new video!

Speaking of fascinating fungi, have you ever met a blue mushroom that smelled strongly of anise? Pictured here is one such fragrant fungus that commonly decomposes forest debris during the summer and autumn months. To learn more about this mushroom, and to view more photographs, check out the recent Instagram post!

Click to view post

Thanks for reading and watching, and as always, thank you for your support!

-Adam Haritan

Warm, Spicy Aroma of Cinnamon

Good Witches Homestead

The warm, spicy aroma of cinnamon wafting from baked goods and hot apple cider is one of the first and welcome signs of autumn. An ancient and beloved spice, we have long valued cinnamon to enliven cuisine, create exotic perfumes, and as a staple spice rack remedy.

Though many species of cinnamon exist, the most common is Cassia {cinnamomum cassia}, known also as Chinese cinnamon, and Ceylon {Cinnamomum zylanicum}, which is a related species of tropical evergreen trees in the Lauraceae family native to East and Southeast Asia. While Cassia is most familiar to the United States, its cousin Ceylon is considered “true” cinnamon and more popular in Europe and Mexico.

cinnamon two types

First appearing in Traditional Chinese Medical texts over 4,000 years ago, cinnamon was used to boost the immune system and unblock yang qi. The Egyptians prized it as food, perfume, and incense while Ayurvedic…

View original post 678 more words

Moving Forward With Clarity; Full Moon in Pisces

Good Witches Homestead

Friday, September 13, 9:33 pm PST (Saturday, September 14, 12:33 pm EST)

Tomorrow night we have a Full Moon in gentle, compassionate Pisces. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. She is a feminine, mutable, water sign ruled by the ethereal planet Neptune, and is the ruler of the feet. A Moon in Pisces reminds us to connect to our spiritual side and to remember that we are all born of the stars.

I want to focus on the feet for this Moon, to remind you of the importance of these beautiful body parts that play a significant role in your life.

The health of your feet is directly linked to your ability to become grounded inside of your physical body. Our feet are receptors of the grounding earth and her magnetic energies…did you know that your feet contain 8,000 nerves? They are the manifesto’s of the spiritual skill…

View original post 564 more words

The Ways of our Ancestors: Review of the Mountaincraft and Music Gathering

The Druid's Garden

Here, in the center of our camp, the sacred fire burns. This fire is tended for the four days we are together, never being allowed to go out. This is an ancestral fire, and all of us at the Mountaincraft gathering have the responsibility of feeding it. This is where we remember that learning primitive and earth skills is the work of our ancestors. This is where we gather for a quiet moment to commune with those ancestors, and will our bodies and hearts to remember. This is where, each morning, we gather as a group to hear about the day’s classes, call to the directions, hear a word of intention, and recieve a water blessing from Nancy Basket, a tribe elder. This is where, at each meal, some of us may find ourselves, talking with each other or engaging in quiet communion with the flame. This is where, each…

View original post 2,658 more words

Friday the 13th: Myth, Superstition or Reality?

Good Witches Homestead

Apparently, there is no definitive date for the origin of the dreaded day of special misfortune. While there is evidence to suggest that the number thirteen was considered unlucky prior to the 20th century, there is no definitive link between Friday and the number 13, or so “they” say. I used to take that at face value, but not so much anymore. Actually, when you consider all of the origin stories, there are all kinds of connections between Fridays and thirteens.

There are some who insist that Friday the 13th is a modern conceptual invention. According to this theory, the first recorded mention of a Friday the 13th occurred in 1907 with the publication of Thomas W. Lawson’s popular novel, Friday, the Thirteenth. The storyline of the book tells of a stockbroker who exploits the superstition to create a panic on Wall Street on Friday the 13th. Obviously, it doesn’t…

View original post 1,115 more words

Foraging Wild Mushrooms — Online Course Registration Opens Next Week!

Greetings!

I’m extremely excited to announce that, in anticipation of the upcoming autumn mushroom season, registration for my online course will be open next week on Monday, September 16th. Since the course’s first launch in May, I’ve added several new videos and will continue to add them throughout the year.

Foraging Wild Mushrooms is a four-season course designed to help you confidently and successfully forage wild mushrooms. Whether you’re interested in foraging for food, for medicine, for study, or just for fun, this online course covers the most important lessons to get you started and to keep you going!

This course is presented entirely online and it features over 70 exclusive videos that cover all the essentials for beginner-level mushroom hunters, including mushroom ecology; mushroom biology; common edible mushrooms; medicinal mushrooms; poisonous mushrooms; cooking techniques; medicine-making; and more.

Upon registration, you can watch the videos at your own pace and you will have access to the course forever.

Please note that Foraging Wild Mushrooms will only be open for registration for one week only, from midnight on September 16th to Monday, September 23rd. After September 23rd, registration will be closed.

If you’re interested in signing up for Foraging Wild Mushrooms, mark your calendar for Monday, September 16th and visit this link.

I’ve derived so much enjoyment foraging wild food and medicine from the fungal kingdom over the years, and I’d love to help you experience the same life-changing thrills too!

I hope to see you on September 16th!
-Adam Haritan

Electric Universe

Building with Cob, Part II: Soil Tests and Mixing Cob

The Druid's Garden

Happy feet mixing cob!

In a meadow under the summer sun, a group of dancers laugh and fling mud. Beneath their feet, clay, sand, and water become mixed together, creating a sticky earthen blend that sticks to their feet, their legs, and, after some play, faces and fingers! This is a cob mixing party, one of the best times you can have with good friends. After the cob is mixed, it is added by others to the bench and more soil is added and the dance continues. In last week’s post we explored some reasons to consider exploring natural building as a potential way to build sustainable structures and be more attuned with the energies of earth. In this week’s post, we will get into how to test your soil and how to make some cob!

One thing I want to share about cob–you don’t have to build big things…

View original post 2,015 more words