Summary: As one of the keepers of Nico’s secrets, Queen has a few thoughts for her Clan Leader when she finds out about the betrayers of her Clan.
Sylum Advent 2018: December 2nd
HERBAL HOLIDAY TIP: STAY WELL WITH WINTER EOS
Virtually all essential oils have some antimicrobial properties, but winter is the season of the virus—which is particularly difficult to combat.
While there is no research to show that EOs can stop the flu in its tracks, there are several wonderful things essential oils CAN do to help us during the cold and flu season!
Citrus oils are known to get rid of airborne germs (Valnet, 1982) and can support the immune system and immune response. Several other essential oils are known for their affinity for the respiratory system and their ability to ease some of the symptoms of cold and flu.
Two of these essential oils are peppermint (Mentha x piperita) and eucalyptus (usuallyE. globulus). Note that these oils can overwhelm some respiratory systems, especially those of young children, so opt for an alternative if needed.
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) can be used instead of…
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Wildcrafted Yule Tree Ornaments – Painted Wood, Wreaths, Awens, and Pentacles
As the Winter Solstice is coming up quickly and the tree just went up this past week, I’ve been busy in my art studio and out on the land looking for great things to add to the Yule tree. As a druid who is deeply concerned about the amount of plastic and “throw away‘ quick purchase items, like cheap plastic ornaments, I didn’t want to buy any ornaments for the tree, but rather, to make them from wildcrafted materials. So today, I wanted to share two simple ways to make nice ornaments for a Yule tree from natural materials and simple tools.
Handmade Stag and Pentacle Tree Topper with Handmade Ornaments
Painted or Burned Wooden Round Ornaments
One simple method for creating ornaments is a painted or woodburned wood rounds. These are simple slices of wood that you can decorate in a variety of ways–painting them, burning…
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25 Days of Herbal Holidays Countdown
2018 Holiday Sale on herbal courses!
Sunday, December 2
SPECIAL OFFER:
SUPER HOLIDAY DEAL ENDS TODAY!
SUPER HOLIDAY DEAL ENDS TODAY!
All programs are on sale, but our Herbalist Path Packages have super deals this weekend only to make the holidays even sweeter!
What are your goals as you explore your herbal path and education? Do you want to support your family with herbs and natural approaches to your health and wellness? Do you want to learn herbalism to round out your knowledge so you can start a business?
SHOP HERBALIST PATH PACKAGES – Super Sale ends Sunday!
Whether you are just getting started in herbalism or have been exploring this natural path for some time, you might realize that there are several directions to take as an herbalist! Perhaps you are interested in opening up an herb shop or selling your own natural body care products. Maybe your passion is for people, and therefore…
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Marzanna – Goddess of Winter
Practice Essential Oil Safety
By Beth Schreibman-Gehring, Chairman of Education for The Western Reserve Herb Society unit of The Herb Society of America
I love working with essential oils and have for several decades. It’s been lovely to witness their surge in popularity over the past 15 years. Essential oils are wonderful for diffusing and creating a relaxing aura of comfort. Certain oils like lavender, frankincense, and rose are skin care standards which, when used correctly, are lovely additions to any wellness program
While essential oils are great, consumers must know proper safety.
Without safety measures, bad things happen. For example, I’ve been to a yoga class where a well-meaning yogi dabbed oils directly onto my skin during shavasana to promote relaxation. In theory this would be lovely, but it could cause an allergic reaction for some people. The yogi should be aware of the participants’ sensitivities.
In another case, I saw a young woman…
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CUTTING CORDS TO PAST RELATIONSHIPS: A WANING MOON CRYSTAL RITUAL
For those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, we’ve now entered the dark time of the wheel of the year. The days are short, cold, and the nights become longer right up to the solstice on December 21st.
The dark time of the wheel of the year is a phase in which healing, releasing, and facing our shadows can become most potent.
North or south, we are currently in a waning moon phase, another powerful time of healing, releasing, banishing, and, the last waning moon phase before the solstice (which, I might add, falls on a full moon!).
In ancient times the solstice marked the beginning of a new year. The sun is “reborn” as it slowly begins to grow stronger, the days increasingly longer and warmer.
It is a time when intentions are set, magic is worked, the sun is celebrated, sacred woods are burned in holy fires, and there is feasting and fun. Life continues on and will gradually return to the land.
Following nature’s calendar, we have the opportunity now to begin preparing ourselves for a better year.
Continue reading “CUTTING CORDS TO PAST RELATIONSHIPS: A WANING MOON CRYSTAL RITUAL”Druid Gratitude Practices – Nature Shrines and Offerings
Black Raspberry in fruit
Every year, I look forward to the black raspberries that grow all throughout the fields and wild places where I live. These black raspberries are incredibly flavorful with with crunchy seeds. They have never been commercialized, meaning no company has grown them for profit. You cannot buy them in the store. You can only wait for late June and watch them ripen and invest the energy in picking. Each year, the black raspberries and so many other fruits, nuts, and wild foods are a gift from the land, the land that offers such abundance. If I would purchase such berries in a store, my relationship with those berries would be fairly instrumental–I pay for them, they become part of a transaction, and then I eat them. There is no heart in such a transaction. But because these berries can’t be bought or sold, when I pick…
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Hyperreality (or what not there isn’t to believe?)
Jean Baudrillard
If you feel like you are unsure of what is real and what is unreal then you are not alone. Our materialistic mode of life is accelerating and expanding so rapidly that it is saturating our modern cultures to the point of abstraction. Life in materially-privileged societies is increasingly shifting into a world of image and show. Many people today are living within their bubbles that are customized by all the digital conveniences tailored to individual needs. By being surrounded by conveniences that satisfy all our needs we are deliberately excluding so much else, including all of life’s serendipities.
Reality – whatever that is or was – has retreated behind a spectacle of make-believe that is playing at being the new, shimmering façade for the 21st century. One result of this is that things which once stood in opposition to one another are losing their meaning and becoming indistinguishable. That is, fixed identities that used to make life easy for us – us/them, friend/enemy, good/bad, and the rest – are now more like false realities. Life has shifted, or has been pushed, into a realm of invention that is being exploited ever more overtly by politicians, mainstream media, and their propaganda machinery. Out of this, a different sense of reality has emerged that succeeds in absorbing differences and contradictions and making them seem smooth rather than jagged. And the result is what I refer to as hyperreality.
Continue reading “Hyperreality (or what not there isn’t to believe?)”The Saffron Collectors
The Saffron Collectors
A World where Transformation is Contagious
My new book has just been released in the US, UK and Spain.
The Saffron Collectors will be published in June 2018 by the Beautiful traitor Books imprint. The imaginative book presents a world where transformation is contagious’ and where the young protagonists find themselves in an unusual orphanage called the Azafran Home for Girls under the supervision of the enigmatic La Madre. The major activity at the orphanage is the planting and growing of saffron flowers and the collection of its delicate spice. And the girls need to be made ready for when the time comes for the harvesting of the saffron spice. As the main protagonist, Teresa, develops a stronger bond and relationship with La Madre, she suspects that there is more to the Azafran Home for Girls than just picking flowers.
The Saffron Collectors comes fully color-illustrated with over 40 hand-drawn watercolor paintings from Naomi Hasegawa, a young artist.
Paths I Walk 
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