Author: Paula Cas

I write fiction, non-fiction, verbiage for all our websites, and have been publishing my fan fiction on my various sites for many years. https://paulacas.com I am a Spiritual Medium and use Tarot cards as one my primary tools in doing readings. For 30 plus years have been doing readings in settings from my living room to truck stops. I tell you what Spirit wants you know for your betterment, not what you think you need to know. I’ve worked on computers since before there was such a creature as Windows. A Mountain Maryland native, but have spent years spent living in Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Arizona. My husband, Oro Cas, and I spent 10 years driving tractor-trailer across the 48 contiguous states. Oro Cas and I produced and hosted Internet Radio shows on BlogTalk Radio, video productions on KDCL Media and Oro Expeditions YouTube Channels.

It’s the time of year when many of the simple joys of life become the heart and center of this season; spending time with family and friends, the coziness of winter, warm fires, mugs of mulled wine, and lovingly prepared meals.

So much of herbalism is about celebrating the life and benefits of the plants, and the way they support us throughout the seasons. Autumn, especially around Thanksgiving, is our time to enjoy the gifts of this year’s harvest.

Classic holiday meals can be enhanced by adding herbs to support your health. These dishes are sure to be crowd-pleasers with your nearest and dearest.

Enjoy, and cheers to good health!

MEDICINAL HERBAL STUFFING

A classic holiday stuffing recipe made with rye bread and medicinal herbs and mushrooms.

Servings: fills two casserole dishes, about 15 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

1 loaf of good dark rye bread
1/2 cup sage, minced
1/2 cup rosemary,

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Is It Safe To Forage Frozen Mushrooms?

Greetings!

A wintry cold snap, even during the weeks of mid-autumn, can mean different things to different people.

To mushroom hunters, a cold snap any time of the year equates to one or more of the following:

—No mushrooms (Too cold to even bother checking.)
—Fewer mushrooms (Most of which are inedible.)
—Frozen mushrooms (Some of which are choice edible species.)

All three selections are valid, though it is the last option that I’d like to address in this email and in the following video.

You see, quite a few edible mushrooms survive and reproduce in cold temperatures. It is therefore not uncommon to find edible fungi frozen solid to their substrates.

Recently, I’ve received numerous questions regarding the practice of foraging frozen mushrooms.

Is it safe to do so? What if the mushroom has been on a tree for weeks? Does the freeze/thaw cycle alter its texture?

These are all great questions that I address in the following video. Additional topics discussed in the video include the ability of fungi to produce anti-freeze agents, the destructive effects of freezing on a cellular level, and lots more!

You can check out the brand new video here.

Also, I was recently invited to speak on the topic of mushrooms and gut health with Peggy Schirmer from Gut Feelings.

Fungi, as it turns out, aren’t just residents of forests, fields, parks, and lawns. They also reside on and inside each and every one of us.

In this interview, we discuss — among many things — the gut mycobiome. You can check out the interview here.

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

-Adam Haritan

On Being a Minority Religion and Paths to Building Respect

The Druid's Garden

“I’m sorry, I’m unavailable to meet on that day.”

A pause, “well, why is that? This is an important meeting.”

“Because it is a major holiday for me, and I am taking a personal day to celebrate it.”

Another, longer pause. “Wait, your holiday is Halloween? That’s not a religious holiday.”

“No, my holiday is Samhain, which is a holiday dedicated to my ancestors. Modern Halloween traditions actually derived from this much older holiday.”

Another pause. “Can’t you celebrate it on another day?”

“No. The timing is critical to the celebration. Would I ask you to meet on Christmas or Easter?”

Another pause. “That’s not the same thing.”

The above interchange is a fairly common interaction fairly typical of my workplace experiences in being a minority religion, a druid, here in the USA. In fact, I had this exchange with someone just last week. Since this kind of thing seems…

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Wild & Slimy Edible Mushrooms (That Are Surprisingly Tasty!)

As the year draws to a close, the fungal kingdom participates in a kind of grand finale that is best experienced within a conifer forest.

Under dense canopies of pines, troops of ochre-colored mushrooms push their way through the soil. These particular fungi characteristically wear slimy coats adorned with seasonal debris including pine needles, unlucky insects, and additional forest offerings.

Such a performance is not to be missed, as many of these mushrooms are edible and among the last of the mycorrhizal fungi to appear in temperate climates before temperatures plummet and the ground freezes.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve made several trips to conifer-rich woodlands in order to witness this end-of-the-year fungal grand finale.

And on almost every occasion, slimy mushrooms were in no short supply.

If you’re interested in learning more about these wild edible mushrooms whose golden days are numbered, check out the brand new video!

I was recently invited to speak with the hosts of The Survival Show Podcast on the topic of wild mushrooms. In this episode, we cover the “foolproof four,” tips on getting started, whether or not mushrooms make great survival food, and lots more. Here are 3 ways to listen to the interview:

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

-Adam Haritan

Strawberry Tree Crumble Cake…The Magical Forgotten Fruit! — Gather Victoria

The Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) is an ornamental shrub that grows all over Victoria but its abundant, plush, juicy fruits just end up littering sidewalks. Seems no one remembers we’ve been eating these succulent fruits for thousands of years! Right now in the PNW the fruits are bright red, ripe and sweet (up to 40% sugar!)…

via Strawberry Tree Crumble Cake…The Magical Forgotten Fruit! — Gather Victoria

Astrorisa Moon Forecast ~Taurus Full Moon 11/12/2019

Beaver Moon

Astrorisa Moon Forecaster

Tuesday, November 12 2019
Time: 8:34 AM EST
Full Moon 19° Taurus, in House 5
Sun 19° Scorpio, in House 11
Ascendant 11° Sagittarius

Welcome to the Beaver Moon time, its full moon in Taurus (Oshun) with Sun in Scorpio (Oya). The Beaver is called the builder within the water~earth animal kingdom. It is a creature that is family conscious and known to focus on building, fortifying and restructuring its home and environment for the protection of its family and to ensure it has sufficient resources. This lunar animal totem definitely corresponds to this moon’s Taurean – Oshun archetype being the provider of home, hearth, and happiness for all who dwell within her domain. Thus this is a solution oriented moon time with attention being directed close to home. Moon in house 5 is activated; many of us will feel a need to express ourselves in an artistic fashion.

Some people will be more carefree while others may notice their romantic side shows more. Whatever it is that our individual consciousness wants to explore at this time collectively, it will be related to House 5 activities in some form. House 5 rules income, children, self-expression, creativity, and indulgence on some level. Sun in Scorpio the archetype of Oya is still manifesting the experience of change and transformation, yet it is a very dedicated and motivated energy which will require our collective consciousness to do just that, remain motivated during this moon time spanning November 12th – December 8th.

Moon in Taurus, the archetype of Oshun and Sun in Scorpio, the archetype of Oya. This moon time also speaks of a need to create a balance within a situation of some kind. Whatever the topic is, the goal would likely be to concentrate on being focused and not running here and there. Not giving into procrastination but working consistently towards creating the joy and or happiness we’ve envisioned within our minds. This is a good time to also focus on the children, removing chaotic energy that surrounds them and replace it with the introduction of stability and more fun moments, as children are very important during this moon time. (pet the children, make them happy.)

We’ll find ourselves tapping into our creative mind and our imagination more, but also into intense feelings. This moon time is full of intense energy 19° Sun and Moon brings us to the threshold of entering and exiting simultaneously in and out of some profound situation. We’re experiencing a revolving cosmic door, what we attract enters into our lives, and what we chose to remove we can more easily discard. However, we should be aware that this type of cosmic line up can also influence our mental sphere and intuitive state of being both becoming over active if not careful. Our intuition and dreams can increase and so can our paranoia and fears.

So once again we must balance something and in this case we must balance our “openness” to extreme thoughts, energies, and emotions. If we get caught in the loop or revolving door of overt connecting, nothing will get done. Thus more energy will be exerted towards getting plans off the ground when that may not need to be the case.

FOCUS – FOCUS- FOCUS. BALANCE-BALANCE-BALANCE. ENJOY-ENJOY-ENJOY.

Another message for this moon time is material success, yes this moon time points towards many forms of success especially material success. Some people will find themselves receiving funds unexpectedly, opportunities opening up, business ventures awakening, and all this concentration of success falls within the 1st 11 days of this moon time. This is more so to happen for those who invest their time and energy wisely. Others will have problems holding onto money, giving into the desire for extravagance and spending. Again, focus and effort are required during this moon time in order to reach a reasonable level of success. Sun in 11th house, generosity, and help from others abounds but also, we are more willing to share, and gift others too. Giving and receiving can be done in balance and with great joy during this moon time.

A lot of what we encounter during this moon time will be based on what we’ve created in our minds.

The challenging side of this moon time:

Is avoiding frustration.

Avoiding creating negative financial matters.

Avoiding the creation of delays.

Placate the Ori ( your spiritual head), keep it cool and supple. Avoid hardheadedness.

MOON TIME CEREMONY

Taurus Full Moon Ceremony: To create the reception of treasures such as good experiences, happiness, resources, and wealth.

1 Green glass encased candle any size that can burn for 3 hours.

1 Piece of yellow cloth or yellow construction paper.

1 Medium piece of brown paper (paper bag)

Instructions:

Prep your ceremonial items first. Cut a large square piece of paper bag, large enough to write on. Add symbols for money, love, happiness, joy, a home, and anything else you’d like to represent your treasure onto the brown paper. You’re drawing symbols not writing.

Place a yellow cloth or yellow construction paper down, then place your brown paper onto the yellow cloth or construction paper. Next place your cleansed green candle on top of the brown paper.

November 12th Before the fill em up prayer ~ceremony: Take a bath or shower to remove the energies of the day. Dress in white, cover your head in white. If you’re not performing the full moon fill’ em up ceremony outside, than do it inside facing east. After performing the full moon ceremony with prayer, focus and light your green candle. Sit with it in meditation if you can. Allow the candle to burn for 1 full hour and extinguish it, don’t blow the flame out.

On November 14th light the same candle for 1 full hour, sit with it in meditation if you can, then extinguish it.

On November 17th, light the same candle for 1 full hour, sit with it in meditation if you can, then extinguish it.

Last step on November 17th After the candle burned for 1 hour, burn the brown paper and place its ashes into the candle wax and allow the ashes to solidify in the candle. Leave the candle sitting in its sacred space until Saturday, the 23rd. Completion on November 23rd then discard the candle any way you chose, throw it away.

Have a successful, joyfilled, richly fun Full Moon Time

Iya Bisi Ade

All forecasts and ceremonies by Orisa Yemoja

FINDING YOUR SOUL STONE + CRYSTAL TOTEM

If you’ve worked with crystals for a while, you no doubt have a growing collection of different stones. Some you may work with daily, some may have spoken to you at the time you acquired them but you have yet to dive into deeply. Some are old faves, some are new and exciting.

I was speaking with a friend + fellow crystal healer the other day about the value of going back to the basics in our healing process: amethyst, rose quartz, calcites, which are like coming back to old friends after spending time with some new and intense crystals for so long.

The scope of my work with crystals is in some way limited, but also quite expansive: There are types of things that I’m not super into (geology, grids, crystal facials) in so far as my focus of study + teaching, but at the same time, I consider the healing, transformational, and trans-dimensional work I do with crystals to be limitless.

Just like each and every plant, person, and planet, a crystal has a universe hidden away inside it, waiting to be unlocked and explored. Can you imagine the possibility?! So very exciting to contemplate and pursue!

It brings me to a teaching of crystal consciousness that I received a while ago, and that pops up occasionally on my radar as I’m doing my work: Teaching people about finding and working with your soul stone.

The soul stone reminds me a little of the Arkenstone from “The Hobbit” tale: a gem that was the heart of a mountain, most treasured by the dwarves who found it.

In the crystal kingdom, for each of us, there is a soul stone. A stone that represents the heart of your life quest, purpose, or path. That resonates most deeply with your soul and spirit, and represents your higher self and greatest radiance, or potential, in this lifetime.

There is generally one soul stone per lifetime, but there are also crystal totems that can change for us based on where we are in our process, just like with animal totems in Shamanic modalities of healing.

Read complete article at: Krista Mitchell ~ Finding You Soul Stone & Crystal Totem

Sacred Tree Profile: Black Locust’s Medicine, Magic, Mythology and Meanings

The Druid's Garden

Black locust in bloom

Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a spiny, scraggly tree that is found abundantly along the US East Coast. Very little is written about this tree from a magical or mythological perspective, although certainly, anyone who works wood or practices permaculture is aware of the more tangible benefits this tree provides. In today’s post, we explore this amazing tree and start building some more specific magical knowledge to incorporate this tree into local druidic or nature-spirituality practices.

My parents’ land in Western PA, land where I grew up, consisted primarily of old potato fields. We had two sets of tree lines where the farmers had let the trees grow; these lines were full of huge cherry and maple trees grew. In between those tree lines as the land sloped down the mountain were open areas populated with blackberry bushes, hawthorn, and black locusts–several acres of them…

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