Sacred Trees in the Americas – Spruce (Picea glauca, Picea pungens, Picea spp.)

The beautiful blue spruce looking across the landscape on a mountain in Western PA

When I lived in a walkable small town, what drew me every day was a line of beautiful blue spruce trees. Right around the corner from my house, they were on my daily walking commute to work. We used to say hello and do an energy exchange each day. One day that following summer, I watched as the city landscaping people came through and ruthlessly cut them back away from the power lines (they were not growing even close to the lines) and I held space for the trees. Over the next few months, those trees began to heal, and they produced copious amounts of amazing tree resin as a first line of defense. In the years that followed, eventually, the resin grew hard and the trees invited me to harvest small amounts that could be…

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New Moon in Aries | Entering The Flower Moon Cycle

Happy New Moon in Aries!

This is our first New Moon of the spring season. The Aries energy offers us a chance to make a brave new start. To some, this might feel like a second chance.

This new moon is also in the middle of a Mars trine with Jupiter which brings in opportunities for abundance, good fortune, and positive energy.

We witness the Flower Moon during this cycle, and throughout the month of April we will feel more of the grounding Taurus energy take over. Though, the energy amps up a bit as we experience our first retrograde since February! This may cause many of us to undergo what feels like a transformation or rebirth.

Each new moon, using our planners and decks we put together the Moonthly Lunar Report to help us navigate the new moon cycle ahead.

A new moon in Aries ignites our imaginations and inspires us to be bold and daring with our intentions, giving us the energy needed to act on our goals.

Set an intention that challenges you to rise up and to grow and watch how much you truly do grow and expand this moon cycle! The new moon week is all about new beginnings and really visualizing new possibilities and opportunities that are available.

On the 13th the Sun sextiles Mars, who is the ruler of Aries, so this transit can really help illuminate your dreams and intentions and bring them into focus! This gives you a boost in your confidence, self esteem and courage.

This new moon is also in the middle of a Mars trine with Jupiter which brings positive energy, abundance and good fortune with it. This can also help you break free from the rut you may have been feeling while helping you make clear intentions you know you can follow through on.

Read complete article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ New Moon in Aries | Entering The Flower Moon Cycle

Druid Tree Workings: Finding and Working with Grandmother Trees

The Druid's Garden

The Ancient Maple – Grandmother Tree. This grandmother lives in a middle of a rock pile. the three branching trunks signify she may have been cut at one time and regrew. Grandmothers can be stubborn!

A grandmother is a really special person. I remember going to my grandmother’s house when I was a little girl–it was literally my favorite place to go. My grandmother and I would go to the thrift store and buy used clothing, then spend the morning sewing doll clothes and repurposing those old clothes for amazing new clothes for me–skirts that swirled out wide and colorfully printed tops. We’d go out into the garden and pick herbs, and she’d cook up an incredible pot of mushroom soup. She was full of generosity and love and always fostered my creativity and joy. My other grandmother was quite different–she was a bit of a firecracker, sassy and short-tempered…

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Druid Tree Workings: Principles for Establishing Deep Relationships with the Trees, Part I

The Druid's Garden

Trees provide an abundant amount of resources…shelter, food, fire, friendship–but they also as this blog has shown, can work various forms of magic through their energetics, through their lore, through their divinatory meanings. They are some of the most kind, giving, and accessible beings on the landscape, and certainly a place to not only begin a nature spiritual practice but deepen it over time. As I’ve written on this blog, working with the trees must be a matter of exchange–honoring them, treating them as elders, listening to their stories and songs–and if you want to work tree magic, this magic requires us to be in a sacred relationship with the trees. I’ll be doing a short series on how to establish, maintain, and grow relationships with plants and trees.

Powerful Chestnut Tree bearing nuts!

In this first post of this new series, we are going to focus on the concept…

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An Enchantment Spell for this Full Planting Moon

This Full Planting Moon is the first of 4 super moons in a row this year. This is also the first full moon of the astrological new year.

The energy has been intense leading up to this full moon. Establishing order, healing of old wounds and trying to maintain and establish harmony might be some major themes for you right now.

There are some powerful lessons with this moon. It is opposite Venus, trine Saturn and opposite Chiron. The Moon will also make a perfect triangle configuration to both Saturn and Mars, known as a Grand Trine.

This Full Moon is opposite Venus which can increase your need for love and affection, helping us connect to others on deeper levels. Be careful that with this vulnerability you don’t give into things like jealousy or obsession or codependency.

The Moon is trine Saturn, which gives us the patience, inner strength and wisdom to handle any of the obstacles that might come with the intense energies of this full moon.

Chiron, the wounded healer is conjunct the Sun and Venus, and opposite the moon right now too, so there are some unhealed wounds that might be making themselves known to you right now. These might come in the form of new experiences that hold similar energy to a past event.

You might feel like your healing is going backwards, but trust that it is cyclical. Trust in the seeds you’ve planted in the past. Trust in your inevitable period of blooming.

The full moon is also known as the Planting Moon. The Seed has sprouted. Life is flowing and growing wild.

The Planting Moon brings you back to Earth. Prepare your garden so your dreams can grow. Spiritually and quite literally.

For this earthy full moon, we are reconnecting with Gaia- the plant allies, crystal companions and our ritual from last month by completing our witches garden.

If you haven’t planted any seeds yet, no worries! There is still plenty of time. If you did already plant your seeds, they might be big enough to be moved to a bigger planter.

But before we transplant plant our seeds, we are going to create a dedicated planter to hold them and help them grow.

Read full article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ An Enchantment Spell for this Full Planting Moon

New Moon in Pisces | Entering the Planting Moon

A new moon marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of another 28-day cycle.The Pisces new moon on Saturday, March 13th marks the beginning of the Planting Moon cycle.The Planting Moon cycle holds the energy of spring, rebirth and preparation. During this cycle we will experience the Spring Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere.

As the earth wakes up from it’s winter slumber, you might feel the rekindling of your own own inner flame stir back to life during this cycle.

This new moon is a very intuitive and psychic one, and to be honest, this entire cycle you might notice your intuition is sharpened and your dreams are more vivid. Get your dream journal ready. It might also be a good idea to keep a journal with you for spiritual insights or symbols you might get during waking hours too!

Spirit de la lune Crystals for the New Moon Planting Moon Cycle

The planting moon cycle is an intuitive but productive one! Be prepared to plant a lot of seeds and get a lot done, but remember pace yourself and prioritize your focus so you can finish everything.

Read the original article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ New Moon In Pisces | Entering The Planting Moon

Beyond the Anthropocene: Druidry into the Future

The Druid's Garden

Druidry into the future

Druidry today has both ancient and modern roots, and there have been several distinct “phases” of druid practice historically. While it’s not critical that the practitioner of the modern druid traditions know what I share, it is helpful to have a sense of where the tradition comes from and the forces that shaped it–particularly so that we can think about where we are going. I want to talk today about both the past of druidry in order that we might talk about its future. How do we shape our tradition today so that we become the honored ancestors of tomorrow? What is the work that we might consider doing now, as druids, to create a tradition that endures?

Modern druidry is inspired by the Ancient Druids, a group of wise sages who kept history, traditions, and guided the spiritual life of their people. The Ancient Druids…

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Wildcrafted Druidry: Using the Doctrine of Signatures, Ecology and Mythology to Cultivate Sacred Relationships with Trees

The Druid's Garden

A stream in winter

Nature spirituality is most obviously tied to one’s local nature–the trees, plants, animals, landforms, and other features of what makes your own landscape unique. One of the formidable challenges before those of us practicing nature-based spiritualities in the United States and other “colonized” regions is that not only do we not have the right/access to native traditions on local uses of plants, we also have systems that are inherited from other places and may not properly fit. Ogham is a good example of this: if you use the traditional ogham in the US, it is kind of like wearing a pair of ill-fitting shoes: you can get by, but the system isn’t working with what is outside your door.

With that said, I have always been fascinated by the idea of a language of trees, a system that we can use for magical and divination purposes…

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The Magic of the Understory

The Druid's Garden

A path of evergreen mountain laurel at Laurel Hill State Park. Amazing to hike through in the winter, when the understory sings!

As you may have noticed, in the last month or so I’ve been working diligently on my “Sacred Trees in the Americas” series. The truth is, I’ve worked through most of the trees that are well known and form the overstory of most of the forests in the US East Coast. Trees like White Pine, Oak, Hickory, Sugar Maple, Ash, Beech, and Birch are dominant trees. And when you do research on these trees, you find a rich tradition and lore from both the Americas and the Old World. Recently, I’ve moved my attention to lesser-known trees like Ironwood and Devil’s Walking Stick, and have covered others like Witch Hazel (distinct and different from American Hazel) and Spicebush. There is a striking difference between the first group and…

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Planting Your Seeds | Moonthly Lunar Report Entering the Seed Moon

This new moon in Aquarius is bringing in a season of change and personal transformation. Old ideas about your life or yourself could shift a lot during this cycle.

Transformation can take place on many levels of your life. Let go of any lilimations you may be putting on yourself and be ready for a revolution from the inside out.

This new moon is a part of a very large stellium in Aquarius that includes the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

This week is going to shake things up! The new moon lands in Aquarius on the 11th and if the Water Bearer is considered the rebel of the zodiac, his cosmic counterpart is the asteroid, Lilith. And she is making a lot of squares this week.

The same day as the new moon, she squares both Venus & Jupiter, while Venus conjuncts Jupiter. Conflicts and drama in relationships can surface, so tread lightly. There could be an internal struggle with following your heart and going against others’ wishes and opinions.

Read original article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ Planting Your Seeds|Moonthly Lunar Report Entering the Seed Moon