Nature Mandalas for Inner Work, Rituals, and Blessings

The Druid's Garden

A woman comes to a clearing in the recently burned forest with a basket of stones, sticks, nuts, and flowers. She begins to sing, laugh, and dance as she creates a beautiful circle with the materials. As she weaves her healing magic, the design of the circle grows more complex, spiraling inward and outward. She finishes her work and sits with it quietly for a time, before leaving it in place to do its own work. A healing mandala has been made on that spot, to help the forest recover after a fire.

Nature mandalas can be used for a variety of inner work, healings, blessings and rituals and are a wonderful addition to a druid or natural spiritual practice. Nature mandalas are an intuitive magical and bardic arts practice that works with the connection of your own subconscious to the living earth. You use materials that are local to…

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Creating Sacred Space

I’ve been thinking a lot about our spaces lately – in many ways they’ve become more important to us than ever, and a place where many of us are now spending most of our time (or not enough).

The space we live in is an energetic extension of ourselves. What affects us will affect the energy of our space (and vice versa).

In a time when we’ve seen a dramatic increase in fear, stress, uncertainty, and an outpouring of negativity, the more we can hold ourselves + our spaces sacred, the more we all benefit.

While we may all know the importance of clearing the energy of our space, it bears reminding, especially given that some may be feeling too overwhelmed or tired to prioritize it (it’s been my experience that this is when we most need to do it).

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Sacred Tree Profile: Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)’s Magic, Medicine, and Mythology

The Druid's Garden

Witch Hazel in Flower, late October

As we move into the dark half of the year and move closer to Samhain, the temperatures drop, the killing frosts come and the plants die back. The leaves grow brilliant and then fall. Brown and tan dominate the land as the earth falls asleep. But there in the waning light is the brilliant, beautiful golden yellow of the Witch hazel! Around here, Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Virginia) begins a magnificent display of tiny yellow flowers, appearing to explode outward with many delicate yellow petals. As the last of the leaves fall, if you walk through a forest with Witch Hazel, you are struck by the beauty of these wild and warm yellow flowers. everything else may look dead, but Witch Hazel is alive and thriving. The time of Witch Hazel is the time of late fall and early winter, and it is a powerful…

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Entering The Crone Moon Cycle | New Moon in Libra Lunar Report

Moon in Libra Spread | Spirit de la Lune

This new moon in Libra might bring our partnerships and relationships into focus once again. We are asked to be diplomatic and peaceful with our approach and keep the focus on solutions and harmony right now, especially as Mercury is now retrograde!

We are officially in the darker seasons of the year. Each day is getting now shorter, and the veil is getting thinner as each day passes.

The Crone Moon Cycle is upon us!

Each new moon, we create the Lunar Report to help you navigate the month ahead. This month we are including a Libra Moon Spread so you can also pull some cards for yourself too.

Read original article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ Entering The Crone Moon Cycle

WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN YOU BREAK OR LOSE A CRYSTAL?

What Does it Mean When a Crystal is Lost or Broken? / www.krista-mitchell.com

I’m often asked if there’s a meaning behind losing or breaking a crystal.

Recently on a group call for my Pro Crystal Healer course, a student shared that she had lost the same crystal three times, and was wondering if there was any deeper meaning behind it.

It’s definitely possible!

I remember doing a crystal healing layout on myself years ago where I placed a piece of moldavite on my 3rd eye chakra. As I turned over to shut off the alarm at the end of my session, the moldavite fell off. First I searched on the bed beside me, then under the pillow. Nothing. I stripped the bed. Nothing. I pulled the bed away from the wall and checked underneath, including behind the sideboards. Nothing.

We moved a year later, and before we left the empty apartment, I searched for it one more time. Nothing.

True story!

I also remember the time when I first started working at a busy spiritual bookshop in NYC. I was wearing a lot of jet (a protective crystal for empaths), and I hadn’t learned how to shield my energy yet. Pieces of it would keep falling off me throughout the day, either cracking or breaking as they hit the floor, and I had a pretty good feeling as to why…

There can be many possible reasons or meanings behind lost or broken crystals. Sometimes it’s just an unfortunate circumstance – things get lost, accidents happen. But the Universe can work in mysterious ways, and messages or miracles can be hidden behind the circumstances…

Here’s a few possible interpretations, honor your own intuition or what resonates for you in a heart-based way (as opposed to fear-based):

Read original article at: Krista Mitchell ~ What Does It Mean When You Break Or Lose A Crystal

Nine Things to Know When Starting Magic

Creating Individual or Small Group Rituals: A Step by Step Guide

The Druid's Garden

Rituals are an important part not just of druidry or of nature-based spirituality, but of human life in general. According to leading scholar Catherine Bell in her book Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions, human beings have been involved in rituals for as long as we have recorded history—and likely well before. Rituals use meaningful symbols, movement, actions, repeated forms and staging to help us step out of our normal time with conscious and sacred intention. While many rituals may have spiritual or religious significance, rituals can also be cultural (graduation ceremonies) or personal.

Sacred Mandala as part of our MAGUS 2018 Ritual

A few weeks ago, I hosted a ritual creation workshop as part of AODA’s online workshop series as a lot of people want to start to create their own rituals. In this post, I’m going to offer the framework I shared at the workshop to help you think…

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Daily Rituals and Daily Spiritual Practices

The Druid's Garden

In my time as an Archdruid and now Grand Archdruid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), a set of questions I see often are questions surrounding the establishment of daily ritual or daily practice question. These are questions like: how do I figure out how to do something every day and actually stick to doing it? How do I build daily rituals into my life? What are some daily rituals people do? Why would I want to do daily practices? Since these questions are so common, today’s post explores the idea of daily rituals and practices for druids: I’ll share how to begin and some considerations and also share a number of examples of daily or regular practices that you can do to deepen our druid path.

Daily practice

The idea of a daily ritual is, of course, that you do something at the relatively same time…

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New Moon in Virgo Energy Report

New+Moon+in+Virgo+_+Spirit+de+la+Lune+Energy+Report+2020 — Happy New Moon in Virgo, Moonbeams!

Even though 2020 has been intense for most everyone, the moon cycle is always a reminder that we can reset our own energy and mindset. In this cycle we welcome a new season ahead which also gives us another chance to rebirth our visions. 2020 is almost over, but it is getting more intense.

So grab a cup of pumpkin spice anything and get cozy. Read below how you can keep yourself grounded though this moon cycle and we have some big announcements at the end about the 2021 planners!

Read original article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ New Moon in Virgo Energy

Fresh Flower Crowns and Flower Garlands: Step by Step How-To Guide

The Druid's Garden

A woman hikes up to a sacred spring that she visits at least once a season. From her small bag, she pulls out a beautiful crown of flowers that she had lovingly crafted before leaving home. Placing the crown upon her head, she dances and sings around the spring, drinking deeply and celebrating life on this early fall. As a sign of respect and offering, she hangs the flower garland near the spring and carries her sacred water back down the mountain.

Family wears crowns I made at the bridal shower

I find it interesting that the ancient art of flower crowns garland making is almost non-existent today, at least here within the US. This tradition has so much potential. The only people who I’ve seen make these delightful crowns are children, who haven’t yet lost their magic or wonder about the world. And yet, garlands and flower crowns, are…

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