I recently received a newsletter from one of my suppliers with an excellent article on honoring our ancestors by creating an ancestor altar that I want to share with you. Thank you Jacki Smith at Coventry Creations for this wonderful article.
This month my project is to go through the picture boxes and gather some pictures for my Samhain altar. Continue reading
I was getting ready to write this week’s post and was doing some research. I came across a very interesting and informative website at www.spiritanimal.info I thought you might enjoy. It has wonderful information on a variety of animal guides as well as a nice page on how to find your spirit animal and how to develop a relationship with them.
There was a page for a Spirit Animal Quiz that caught my attention. I decided to take a couple of minutes to complete the quiz Continue reading
“Shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky, … “
September 19 brings us the 2013 “Harvest Moon” aka Wine Moon, Corn Moon and Singing Moon (to name but a few). The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the Fall Equinox.
I always remember a sort of awe and mystery about the Harvest Moon. It has such a presence in the sky – a super large bright orange orb shining in the night sky. But is it really bigger, brighter or more colorful? Well, according to the website Earthsky.org, it’s just an ordinary full moon. Continue reading
Artist-Mervin Windsor ©Garfinkel Publications
It’s salmon season here in the Pacific Northwest so it seems an appropriate time to talk about Salmon Medicine.
Salmon are an extremely important animal to both the lifestyle and the spirituality of many Native American cultures, especially the tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Columbia River. This powerful creature is considered a source of strength and power for many of these costal tribes. Like the buffalo, the salmon willingly give themselves up as food for the People in many of the Northwest Native American myths, Continue reading
I didn’t realize it has been so long since I posted a blog. Summer has gotten busy with things around The Grove and garden. It’s been hot and dry here in So. Oregon, and for the last week or so, we’ve been dealing with being surrounded by several large wild fires. If you’ve been following our Facebook page, you’ve heard and seen about these fires.
This isn’t unusual for Oregon in the summer, as summer here, especially in southern Oregon is very dry. But this year we’ve had an unusual drought and it’s been hot very early. Our July weather is what we usually see in August. The dry lightning produced by a thunder storm toward the end of July sparked 54 fires in our area. Some were quickly contained, others grew together to create large wild fires. So far, we’ve seen approximately 40,000 acres of forest within a 20 mile radius of us go up in smoke. Continue reading
I ran across a list of “Advice From A Tree” in an image on a Facebook post last week. I wanted to give credit where credit was due and in my research I found the full poem and this great video by the author Ilan Shamir. Continue reading
As spring comes into bloom, we wake up to find the bright yellow discs of dandelions sunning themselves in our yards. Of course, our first instinct is get out the weed killer or the weeding tool and off the little suckers quickly before they go to seed. But dandelions are actually a very mystical and magical plant.
Dandelions are rich in symbolism. Their ability to thrive under the most adverse conditions can teach us persistence and survival. Dandelions even burst through the cracks of city sidewalks, a defiant bit of green standing strong. The deep taproots remind us to ground ourselves deep into Mother Earth, so we can stand strong no matter how life’s winds blow. Continue reading
The full moon brought a new visitor to Shaman’s Grove this month. At 3:45am Thursday morning, I was quickly roused from my sleep by the sound of a coyote yipping outside my bedroom window. I bounced out of bed, quickly reviewing the location of our pets as I dashed to the front deck. Yup, I did close up the chickens after dark, and the cat was on the bed. I flung open the front door, purposefully making lots of noise to encourage our visitor to move on . . . Just needed to be sure he wasn’t in the chicken pen. All my feathered goddesses were safe and the interloper moved quickly past my garden and down through the woods. After double counting noses, I returned to dream time.
So, it was time to see what message, if any, coyote might have for me. Continue reading
This Wednesday is the first New Moon of spring. In spiritual circles, a lot of focus is placed on the full moon as part of our meditation, healing and growth cycles. But, the new moon is also a powerful time for achieving our goals.
As humans we have been emulating nature and following the cycles of the moon for thousands of years. We know that moonlight has a great impact on plant, animal and human life. Among many other things, the moon affects our heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves, controls women’s menstruation and ovulation, along with controlling oceanic tides and signaling the start and end of animal hibernation.
According to the Almanac, it’s widely believed that activities will be more fruitful or lead to improved results depending on the moon phase. The period between the new and full moon (first and second quarters) is considered as the best time to perform tasks that require strength, fertility and growth. The period between the full and new moon (third and fourth quarters) is best for harvesting, retarding growth, etc. Many gardeners swear by planting in these cycles. And I have been known to cut my hair by the phases of the moon with great results.
When the moon is waxing (moving from new to full), it is believed to help with all “forward movement” intentions Continue reading
Well, Spring sprung at 4:03 this morning heralded with a healthy dose of rain. Believe me, I didn’t “spring” to see it. I was still wound tightly in my blankets, enjoying the warmth and dryness of my bed.
So, 4:03 PDT was the spring equinox. The time when the daylight and dark are once again equal and everything is in balance (or at least the natural world.) I’ve been told that at the exact time of the equinox, if you stand an egg on end, it will balance. Continue reading