By Fire Well and Tree

  Photo by Erik Karits: https://www.pexels.com/photo/landscape-nature-water-blue-17590944/ When I searched for free stock photos associated with "Virgo" I got many pictures of damselflies like the above. I have no idea why, but they are beautiful.... And apologies for the less than spiffy title :)  Anyway... So for this "moonth," we are holding on to Leo for JUST a little bit longer.  The New Moon in Leo on August 16. SUPER early in the morning. My phone app said it was today!  The New Moon in Leo focuses on self-expression, creativity, and leadership. As you set your intention for this moon, it may be good to meditate on the right use of your power and personal will.  If you know what house your moon falls in that can help. Mine is in the sixth house ALL month, focusing health and habits, routines, etc. and I am SORELY in need of working on that. First Quarter moon (August 24) has the sun finally moving into Virgo, and square the Moon in Sagittarius. The fricti...

  Photo by James Wheeler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-dock-414612/ Blue moon you saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own Time to get to the moon names this upcoming "moonth." For the Gauls, we are beginning Elembivios "the many-sided Month,"  That is one translation anyway, there are others.  One that is somewhat relevent  is the "Month of Claiming" associated with the grain harvest.  Our grove has chosen to honor Nantosuelta. Her name translates to "winding river," and those can have many sides?  Her iconography often pairs her with Sucellos, suggesting a link with fertility, and also has ravens.  Personally, I see her in a similar light as the Morrigan, mostly because of the ravens, but there's nothing in the lore; it's just my personal inpsiration.  At our Druid moon rite, we "dancing the flow," of life, of the river, of whatever.  Our grove is also sponsoring a festival during...

Borage  Hello!! Post festival droop is a real thing. I had wanted to do a review of the latest  festival I attended, Sirius Rising, but I jumped right into a surprise party planning and execution, and juggling family and misdirection, and haven't had a chance to really GROUND back in to the mundane.  I'll be heading to another one next week, so I need to get some stuff off the blog-plate. First, we moved into both a new calendar month and a new spot on the wheel of the year, at the same time.  The rune pulled at Yule for August was Ingwaz which is about the best rune you could pull for the beginning of the harvest!  Literally the name of an Anglo-Saxon deity, and associated also with Freyr, this rune can sometimes be about fertility but also about the frith and fellowship that comes with the harvest. This is the time for fairs, and I'll do another post some day comparing ancient and modern fairs, but both are about larger communities coming together, to meet, to...

Photo by Egor Kamelev: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sturgeon-fish-swimming-in-aquarium-7987543/  Definitely the dog days of summer around here.  July in central Ohio is shaping up like other July's.  Hot. Humid. The idea of rain but no actual rain. The civic holiday of July 4 has gone, but that hasn't meant people have stopped with the fireworks.  I keep hoping they'll run out, but it's July 10 as I'm writing this, and some neighbors still had some last night. It's not like it's not the time for that. If I look to my idealized past of paleopagan ancestors, this would be a time between planting and harvesting, so a few weeks of blowing off steam before the work begins again is, I suppose, in keeping with the spirit of the season. I am off to a family get together and then straight on to  Sirius Rising  festival.  I'll do a review when I get back.  This will post after I've left, but I may or may not have Internet access to post an announcement on F...

Lake Michigan I know I should have something more astrologically pertinent, but that is my current view out my window in Chicago :)  ANYWAY, we are heading into Leo season, but we have to say farewell to Cancer first. The New Moon is in Cancer on July 17, so our intention and focus for the month could be on nurturing, feelings, emotions and empathy, especially as related to which house in your chart this falls. So, for example, mine falls in my Fifth House which has to do with creativity, arts, and even romance. In fact, my sun will be in this house the entire moonth!   First quarter is on July 25, and the Sun will have moved into Leo and is square the Moon in Scorpio.  The friction here is between being showy and dramatic, focusing on external performance and presentation and focused intensity and control of Scorpio, suggesting to work from inside ourselves to see what the best direction it may be to go.  The Full Moon on August 1, with Leo Sun opposed to Aquar...

  Photo by Simon Berger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/purple-flowers-in-bloom-1353126/ Yay!  The sun is at her peak, and there were some days even in the cooler-than-I-wanted-it-to-be Spring that part of me  doubted we'd get here.  But here we are! A couple of notes. One of the names assigned to this holiday is Liða, sometimes spelled Litha.  I have never known many people locally to call it that (usually Midsummer or Summer Solstice). But if you're going to call it by the Anglo-Saxon name, PLEASE pronounce it correctly!  The "i" is a long e sound (so ee). The ð is called a 'thorn' and it is a hard-Th sound, like "that."  (It's kind of like saying my name with a weird lisp on the 's' really).  I may have talked about midsummer before (sorry to repeat), but it falls between the planting season and the harvesting season. So, really, there's not much to DO besides just maintenance.  If my memory serves, this may have been prime time for ...

With this "moonth" we are becoming out of sync with the zodiac signs, which is fine, really. It happens every so often.  I haven't checked to see when it syncs up again.  So we are starting with the sun sign in Gemini and then it moves into Cancer on June 21.  We should be finishing up the intellectual, analytical energy of Gemini and then move into riding the emotional waves of Cancer. The new moon is almost exactly at midnight (12:37 to be precise) on June 18. For me, I love it when things line up this way.  For me, a new moon at midnight is an extremely powerful time and I'm going to try to take advantage of it (if I can stay awake). The sun and moon are both in Gemini, as I mentioned.  There's a fusion between external, solar pulls and internal lunar pushes to be analytical and rational about the goal you set or direction you take for this month.  Again, I recommending finding a transit chart (ask me how!) so you can see what house this takes place in f...