New Moon in Aquarius Ritual

Welcome to this new moon in Aquarius. A fixed air sign, Aquarius encourages radical, innovative, and authentic ways of being. This energy, paired with the new moon, invites you to explore how your most radical and authentic self wants to be honored now. 

Looking at the moon’s phases holistically adds even more insight to this lunation. In the previous new moon of Capricorn, you were asked to get curious about creating structure and stability. A question to consider with the last new moon in mind is, “What does authentic expression look and feel like when moving from a place of stability?” 

Themes for the Aquarius New Moon

Themes: Radical thinking, innovation, authenticity, not settling, curiosity, and visioning new ways of being. 

Element: Air

Modality: Fixed

Quote: “The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary.” -Ursula K. Le Guin

Learn more about the essence of Aquarius here. 

Aquarius New Moon Visioning Ritual

The quote from Ursula K. Le Guin perfectly encapsulates the necessity of your imagination. The intention of this ritual is to encourage imaginative and innovative visioning for yourself, your family, your community, and the world to help yourself and others remember the infinite possibilities available to us all. 

This is a very open-ended ritual to help you access a state of visioning. The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before the new moon, on the new moon, or the day after the new moon. 

As with any ritual, take what you like, leave what you don’t, and modify what you want to change. This is your ritual. 

You’ll need: 

• 25-60 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Paper and pen

• Drumming recording or music that helps you relax

• Optional: herbal smoke or incense (mugwort, vervain, and lavender are great options for this ritual)

• Optional: purple candle (any color will work if purple is unavailable)

• Optional: a crystal that helps you feel connected to your third eye or ability to vision (amethyst, fluorite, howlite, charoite, or quartz are great options)

Steps: 

1. Gather your materials and prepare yourself, your space, and your music. Preparing yourself and your space might involve energetically cleansing yourself and your space and casting a circle. 

2. Determine an intention and short phrase for your new moon visioning. This could be something like, “I imagine new worlds rooted in collective care and well-being.”, “I imagine a life rooted in authenticity, creativity, joy, and care.”, or “I envision a community focused on abundance, joy, and equality.”

3. If you’re working with a candle, herbs, or crystals, arrange them in a way that feels good to you. If you’re unsure, ask the crystals and herbs where they want to go or how they want to be a part of your ritual. An example might be placing your candle on your altar dressed with any herbs you’re working with and the crystal in your hand. 

4. If working with a candle, light your candle and state your intention. Ensure your candle is in a fire-proof dish in a safe space. 

5. Turn on your steady drumbeat music and begin to settle in. Learn more about the science of drumming and reaching altered states of consciousness here. It is also fine if you prefer a different kind of relaxing music. 

6. Sit or lie down and ground yourself. This might look like imagining roots growing from the base of your spine to connect with the earth or doing a round of box breath. 

7. State your intention again, close your eyes, and allow the drumbeat or music to wash over you. 

8. Focus on your third eye, perhaps even imagine it expanding or opening as you begin to vision based on your intention. Allow your mind to imagine and visualize a life, community, or world based on your intention. 

9. Vision for as long as you like anywhere from 20-60 minutes is ideal. 

10. When you feel ready to come to a close, slowly come back to your body by rolling to one side or placing your hands on your body. Open your eyes slowly and look around the room. I also like to have some tea and a snack ready to help me ground back into my body. 

11. With your journal, write or draw anything that came to you in your visioning time. Consider placing a note or a drawing on your altar or sacred space for the moon cycle as a reminder to move towards this vision. 

12. Express gratitude to any guides, plants, and crystals who assisted you in this visioning process. Release your circle if you cast one. 

Bring Your Vision into Your Life and the World

It can be helpful to schedule some processing time after your visioning. As the moon moves farther into the waxing phase, consider taking some time to reflect on your visioning. Here are some questions to consider as you reflect. 

• What parts of your Aquarius new moon visioning that stood out to you the most? 

• What parts seemed unrealistic or even impossible? 

• What parts excited you the most? 

• How might you begin taking action toward some of these visions?

After the new moon in Aquarius comes the full moon in Leo. The fiery and playful energy of a full moon in Leo can help you act on your visions, even the ones that might seem far-fetched.

May this new moon in Aquarius grant you the imagination to explore what authentic expression means to you and how it might better your community and the world. Blessed be. 

Why We Vigil & The Oak and Holly King

As winter steals the sunlight, the land reacts by going silent, hibernating, and sometimes dying, reminding us to peel back hurried layers of mundane to-dos and sink deeper into the darkness. Vigil means to stay awake and keep watch in the dark. In a season dominated by darkness, the vigil invites presence. While often touted as a passive, restful season, being awake to what’s going on in the dark requires awareness; it’s also where you’ll find the richest compost.

With a candle in hand, do you see what’s ready to die within you this season, or are you prepared to sit with what’s dying in your family, community, or the world? In a primarily death-phobic society, the vigil asks us to honor the wisdom of death and dying. 

A beautiful example of the need for balance in our understanding of birth and death comes through the story of the Oak King and the Holly King, two mythical land figures embodying dark and light. While no one knows the exact origins of the Oak and the Holly king, versions of their story can be found throughout Ireland, Wales, and England. 

I’ll share my version of this story, adapted from several versions I’ve heard and read. I’ll also share more about vigils, their importance, and ways to reclaim this sacred practice of being awake in the face of death. 

The Oak King and The Holly King

Long ago and still to this day, there were two brothers, the Oak King and the Holly King. These brothers ruled over the lands now called Ireland, Wales, and England. The Oak King brought light, warmth, growth, fertility, and abundance. He was sometimes called the green man of the forest. On the other hand, the Holly King brought darkness, cold, rest, decay, and death. 

“The Oak King” and “The Holly King” by Anne Stokes

The brothers often battled, bringing light, darkness, warmth, and cold throughout the land. Over time, the people began to favor the Oak King and preferred the warm sunlight and the abundance he brought to the land and their crops. As favor grew for the Oak King, he became stronger with the help of the people, driving the Holly King farther and farther north. 

Endless Summer

Eventually, the Oak King reigned throughout the land and brought what seemed like an endless summer. The people were delighted and relished the warmth and abundance of their crops. After a long time, however, they noticed their crops were not as bountiful, and the blooms of the flowers were not as bright as they once were. Not only was the land growing tired, but the people, too, were growing tired of constantly harvesting. Unsurprisingly, the Oak King himself was beginning to tire as well. 

Tucked far away to the north, the Holly King noticed that his brother and the people were growing tired. He knew it was time to make his return. After over a year, on the day of the year when the sun shone the longest, the Holly King returned to the south to battle his brother. While the Oak King did battle, it was short-lived because he was so tired. 

Winter Returns

The Oak King retreated into the forest to rest while the Holly King took over again. Quickly, a cold and dark winter covered the land. The land was quiet again, and the people were grateful to go into their houses around the fire to rest and tell stories. The plants were grateful to die back and return to the land to compost for another growing season.

After some months, as the nights grew longer and longer, the Oak King began to stir after his long rest. On the longest night of the year, the Oak King returned full of strength to battle his brother again. The battle took much longer, with the Oak King and the Holly King at full strength. They fought day in and day out, the days slowly getting lighter until eventually spring returned, and the Holly King began retreating north to rest again. 

The Need for Balance

From then on, the brothers continued their annual battles to protect the well-being of the earth and all her creatures. The people and the brothers now understand the importance of the balance of light and dark and that both are needed to support the earth and its seasons. Still, to this day, we can celebrate the brothers at the height of their power: the Oak King on the summer solstice and the Holly King on the winter solstice, and the gifts they bring by honoring their true nature. So it is. 

Why We Vigil

The story of the Oak King and the Holly King expresses the need for balance between light and dark, warmth and cold, expression and receptivity, and birth and death. None of these themes are good or bad; as the story teaches, they are all necessary to life. In our hyper-productive capitalist society, we tend to focus on the light, expression, and birth parts. So often, hiding death and dying away to focus on more, bigger, and better. The Holly King teaches us that death is necessary for life, and the holly plant that remains green-leafed throughout winter reminds us to be present with what’s dying.

With our quickly warming climate, like the people in the story, perhaps we’re also headed for an endless summer. While I don’t believe sitting vigil is the cure to human-made global warming, I do think death has much to teach us, and the best way to learn about death is to sit with it. The word vigil comes from the Latin word “awake.” Vigil goes beyond understanding that there is a need for death; it is an opportunity to honor the wisdom of death by remaining awake and aware of it. 

The vigil honors the inevitability, presence, and importance of death. Sitting vigil helps us remember our seasonality, humanity, impermanence, and humility. The vigil is not the time to shame and blame based on the past or dream of the future; it calls you into the present moment.  When you enter into the vigil, the time for resuscitation has ended. It is now time to surrender to the process of dying. We do not vigil to tell what’s dying how to die; we vigil to honor the death process and the magic that the Holly King brings with winter. We vigil to lean in and trust the Great Mystery together. 

Similar to birthing, our bodies know how to die. Cycles of death and rebirth happen in your body every day. Cells all over your body die. We bleed, sleep, shed, and change. In these bodies, we are cyclical and ever-changing beings. Dying, just like living, is in our nature.

Welcoming the Vigil

What’s dying in your body, mind, and soul? What’s dying in your home, community, and the world? How would you live your life if you trusted death? Death carries innate wisdom, and when you avoid it, you cut yourself off from the remembered wisdom held within your blood and bones. How can you reclaim this innate wisdom? Remaining awake and present to death within and around you is one way to remember. While deciding to sit in vigil is a massive privilege, its importance remains. 

Winter Solstice vigil.

Vigils need not be relegated to the dying person. Even if you don’t want to admit it, you are surrounded by death every day. Opening yourself up to the practice of the vigil opens you to death processes already occurring within and around you. All you have to do is decide to be present with them, which is a practice. 

Sitting vigil was never intended to be done alone or long-term. Vigil requires a honed ability to be present with what is, even when uncomfortable. While it might appear passive, it requires self-awareness, emotional regulation, and discernment. Like birth, it is a communal act that happens in shifts. You may visit the depths for some time, but eventually, you’ll need to pass the baton to tend within, knowing others will keep watch. 

Here are some simple ways to weave vigil into your practice. 

Ways to vigil

• Vigil with winter: Sit outside in winter amidst dying plants, perhaps a specific plant you already have a relationship with, and listen and notice for as long as you want or can. Notice what’s happening to the plant(s) in their dying process. Note physical and energetic changes. 

• Hold a candlelight vigil to be with what’s dying in the world: Light a candle at night, in your home, or outside, and set aside time to contemplate something dying in the world. As I said, there’s no shortage of death around us. What deaths are weighing heavy on your heart? Can you be present with them without trying to change them or apply a narrative to the death? What do you notice physically and energetically? This could be done solo or in a small group. 

• Hold a candlelight vigil for yourself: Light a candle at night, in your home, or outside, and set aside time to contemplate something dying within you. You are a cyclical being, constantly changing. Whether it’s your body, beliefs, or how you operate, cycles of death and rebirth are always present. Notice your personal seasons and deaths occurring within you, not to change them but to be present with them. 

• Attend a vigil: Communal vigils occur for all kinds of reasons. See if you can find one in your community to attend. I also hold occasional virtual vigils called Living Vigil. Click here to see if one is on the books. 

Reclaiming the practice of the vigil can help you reclaim a part of your innate humanness. Like the holly plant that remains alive throughout winter, you, too, can meet death with honor and reverence. As winter works its magic, light your candles and remember there’s wisdom in the dark. 

Rituals to Embody the Harvest Season

Gleaners, by James Tissot. Public domain.

Let's go beyond "grateful" decor or compulsory gratitude lists this harvest season, shall we? In a world infiltrated with attention economics, it can feel difficult or even unsafe to savor the fruits of your labor, but the truth is, we really need to (I’ll share why later.) Whether it’s your garden or a new endeavor, each harvest season grants you a sacred pause to evaluate what goes into the compost and what you want to harvest. But, with harvest comes responsibility. If the harvest goes untended or forgotten, it will undoubtedly rot.

In this post, you'll learn what the harvest season means and its importance. You'll also find a card spread and ritual to help you embody what you're harvesting this season that goes beyond a basic gratitude list. 

What is the harvest season? 

For many witches and pagans, the Autumnal Equinox sits in the middle of the harvest season, beginning with Lugnasadh or Lammas on August 1 and ending with the season of Samhain, which starts on October 31. These seasons were associated with harvest, celebration, satisfaction, and gratitude themes. But what happens if your gratitude remains on the surface and doesn't have space and safety to permeate through your body as deep satisfaction? 

Many of our ancestors' harvest seasons were labor-intensive and celebratory. The harvest moon, the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox, was given this name because it provided additional light for our ancestors to harvest into the night. The harvests during this time were of utmost importance because their livelihood depended on it for themselves and their communities. It's why so much lore and magic is associated with grain, crops, and livestock during the harvest seasons. For example, making apple magic, making corn dollies, baking bread with the first harvest, and running cows through smoke to protect them over the winter. 

“Wholeness” Original artwork copyright Cassie Uhl 2023

For many of our ancestors, it may have been easier to feel grateful and satisfied amidst a harvest season because their lives depended on it. Today, in many ways, we're set up for failure around feeling a true sense of gratitude and satisfiability within a season of harvest. With the ease of grocery stores, 2-hour delivery, and advertising that aims to prey on our attention just enough to distract us toward the next shiny thing, it's not surprising that many of us have been groomed into a cycle of lack where it can feel difficult to access a sense of satisfaction. I'm undoubtedly guilty of succumbing to the immediacy of consumerism only to miss the delectable fruit right in front of me. 

Why it's time to embody your harvest!

By design, the dominant culture seeks to separate you from an embodied sense of gratitude. When you're satisfied and deeply grateful for what you have, you become useless to capitalism. 

There is also immense pain and sadness in the present moment. With multiple genocides occurring and ecocide at all of our doorsteps, it can make feeling satisfied not only difficult but unsafe. It requires immense bravery to feel deeply satisfied while also being alive to the pain in this world.

Image: Grain Harvest in Bulgaria. Public Domain.

The misalignments with the gratitude platitudes displayed during this season are easy to spot. Why? If you are brave enough to embody, savor, and feel the depth of whatever you're harvesting this season, it will undoubtedly be followed by aligned action. Yet, this year (2024) we reached Earth Overshoot Day on August 1 (coincidentally the beginning of the harvest season!), which, according to overshoot.footprintnetwork.org, "marks the date when humanity's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year." OOOF. Yes, I know, that's a lot to stomach. This is where the need for all of us to lean into a deeply embodied sense of gratitude comes in. 

Ritual to Embody Your Harvest this Season

For this ritual, you'll need the following: 

• 20-40 minutes

• A fruit, grain, or vegetable in season that you have access to and would want to eat (think apples, grain products, squash, or root vegetables)

• Pen or pencil and paper

I will encourage you to recall something you harvested this season. It could be a vegetable crop, making new friends, attending your first protest, or picking up a new painting hobby. I'll invite you to sit with your harvest, think about how different parts of the process made you feel, and take slow, intentional bites of your food as you consider how this harvest has shaped you and those around you. 

1. Prepare your materials and space in a way that feels good to you. Consider lighting a candle or incense and calling on any benevolent guides or ancestors to assist you. 

2. Spend a few minutes writing about what you're harvesting this year. It could be a physical harvest, like fruits, vegetables, or flowers from your garden. Or, it could be a hobby you picked up, a project you finished, a goal you accomplished, or a new way of being. This could be from any point in the year or something that isn't finished. For example, if you've been practicing reading tarot cards, what can you celebrate that you've learned so far? 

3. With your harvest written down, hold your food item in your hand and remember what it felt like when you started this new path or project. Remember how it felt in your body, take a few breaths with that memory, and take a bite of your food item. 

4. Think about everything that happened before you started that path or project that led you to that moment of starting. Notice what comes up in your body, and take a few breaths here. Give thanks (aloud or in your mind) to those past parts of yourself and your life that lead you to start the new path or project, and then take another bite of your food. 

5. Think about how it felt to engage in the new path or project. How did it go, or has it gone up until now? What has it stirred up for you? What did you learn? Sit with these questions, notice what comes up in your body, take a few breaths, and take another bite of your food. 

6. Come to the present moment with your harvest. How does it feel today? What are you grateful for right now? What is there to celebrate? What is there to grieve? How has this harvest affected those around you? Notice what comes up in your body, take some breaths, and then take another bite of your food.

7. Continue this for as long as you'd like. When you feel complete, and if it feels aligned, leave some food to return to the earth as an offering for holding you in this ritual. You might even consider burying your written harvest with the food in the earth. Be creative. There are many beautiful ways to complete this ritual. 

8. Thank any guides or ancestors you included in this ritual, and close your space in a way that feels good. 

Embodying the Harvest Card Spread 

Try out this four-card spread with your favorite tarot or oracle card deck to help you work with what you're harvesting this season. If journaling is your thing, these questions can be used as prompts.

1. What from this harvest season is ready to be put into the compost?

2. What from this harvest season is ready to be savored and embodied? 

3. How can I better savor and embody this harvest? 

4. How can this harvest nourish me, my family, or my community? 

Each harvest season is an opportunity to release what's no longer serving and harvest what is. But remember, harvesting comes with the responsibility to savor and embody the fruits of your labor. I hope this harvest season ritual and card spread help you feel more satiated this season in all you have accomplished this year. Click to learn more about the harvest season, which includes Lughnasadh, the Autumn Equinox, and Samhain.

Vervain and Slow Magic

Hoary Vervain (Verbana Stricta). Copyright Cassie Uhl 2024

Do you ever rush your magical practice or push for a result? Urgency, production, and instant gratification are common themes in the overculture, so naturally, they can find their way into your magical practice. These themes have certainly shown up in my practice!

Here’s a little story about how Vervain taught me the importance of slowing down to different timelines to co-create potent magic.

Listen here or click below. Transcript coming soon.

Awen in the essence /|\. Copyright Cassie Uhl 2024. Find the essence here.

Unearthing Resiliency with Plant Kin ft. Lupita Tineo

Tender heart, let’s take a moment to honor the grief in the world right now. As many continue to witness and aim to end multiple genocides, how is your heart, and in what ways are you allowing your grief to arise? With the continued and unnecessary extinguishing of human and more-than-human life right now in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, and more, you might find yourself going to bed and rising with the weight of this grief heavy in your heart. I know I do and that I’m not alone in this.

In today’s episode with my guest and dear friend, Lupita Tineo of Yolia Botanica, we’ll explore how we continue to navigate the grief and blessings of being alive and reflect on how forming emotional connections with our plant family can help expand our resiliency during intense grief. 

If you feel like you’re resiliency is waning, this is normal, rest, acknowledge, but please come back. It’s as important as ever that we remain steadfast in raising our voices, especially from places of privilege, to speak out against what’s happening and not turn away.

The weight of the world is too much for one body to hold or fix and you are not intended to do it alone. There are beings, seen and unseen, human and more than human available to help us root deeper into our resiliency. 

I trust you are doing your best to be with the grief and blessings of this moment while also rising to the continued calls to speak out against what’s happening. It takes all of us so. If you’re hungry for deeper resiliency, I hope you’ll stay and listen. 

Let’s get into this bounty of wisdom. Here’s more about my dear friend, Lupita Tineo, and her shop, Yolia Botanica.

Yolia Botanica is woman-owned and operated, blending Mexican curanderismo and paganism to provide respectful alternatives that help people take care of their spiritual bodies. Our products are created for modern brujas of all levels with the foundation of respecting sacred herbs, tribes, and practices. At Yolia Botanica, we don’t currently work with white sage or palo santo. Instead, we provide appropriate options that respect the life of the plant and the sanctity of spiritual traditions, specifically of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Everything is made by Guadalupe aka Lulu, who was born and raised in Sonora, Mexico, and is on a reclaiming and reconnecting journey to her Indigenous ancestry. 

Here’s our chat. Click below to listen. Keep scrolling to read the transcript.

Cassie: Welcome, my dear friend, Lulu, to the show. I'm so happy to have you here. Finally. 

Lupita: Thank you. Thank you, Cassie. I appreciate it. We went around for months.

Cassie: I know, we did, but we made it happen. I always like to start off by just asking you a little bit about your lineage, and that could be your ancestry, your teaching lineage, or anything that you feel like you want to speak about what's shaped who you are today and your work.

Lupita: I was born in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, and this particular city in Sonora has the County name of Cajeme, which is really something that fills me with pride. I'm like, yes, it might not be the city's name, but it's the county's name. Cajemé was an Indigenous warrior who, in the 1900s, was part of, I guess you could say, the war that happened against the Yaqui people.

So this one has a lot of story. Cajemé County is vast, not just to Ciudad Obregón. It covers a bunch of other small towns around it. The primary tribe that resides in this area is the Mexican Yaquis. or the Yoeme. We do have the, I guess you could say, other side of the border. Yaqui, which are called the Pascua Yaqui.

Unfortunately, they are divided by a border now. And so they have different benefits, and they do have different conditions of life because of this. So Cajemé was an Indigenous warrior who, when the Spanish came. And they took over Mexico. Now we're talking about the early 1900s; the Mexican government was still fighting the indigenous people.

Okay. They still wanted to take their lands and deplete their resources. And so they were the very same Mexicans who primarily Spanish leaders led at this time, were on a hunt for the resources of the Yaqui, which is southern, central, west of Sonora, it covers a very large portion of Sonora because then we start entering the Arizona tribes and he had been contracted by one of them, a Spanish legislator to lead a Mexican army into the lands and pretty much kill them all and take their land.

Cajemé wasn't for anyone he had grown up in poverty. He did what he had to and for whom he had to do it, but he learned of this person's true goal, which was to eradicate the Yaqui tribe. They wanted to completely erase them so that there would be no trace so that there would be no one to give land back to ever.

Cajemé, being of this tribe, I guess, you know, people change, turned on this man who paid him a lot of money to lead their Mexican army, and he got together with the leaders of the Yaqui tribe and taught them what the plan was. And Cajemé had been In a lot of wars, a lot of fights, a lot of guerrilla groups.

So, he knew a lot about fighting and defending. What the Yaquis didn't have weapons, but Cajemé taught them how to make them with rocks, sticks, city, and arrowheads, all of the good stuff. To make it short, they succeeded in this battle. Unfortunately, it was not for long until a bigger army was sent that ended up slaughtering that whole village, which is where Sula Lobregón is now.

And so the County was named after Cajemé. Because of what he had done, of what he had stood for the Yaqui communities, his own community, so I, I like to think that I'm from Cajeme and not from Ciudad Obregón, because Ciudad Obregón is named after that very same legislator who slaughtered the entire region, of the Yaqui tribe, and There's a really amazing documentary on YouTube called Yaqui's, it's a Mexican man who goes on a very extensive history search for the landmarks, the stories and the evidence of a genocide against the Yaqui people, which lasted approximately 44 to 46 years.

This is one of the longest persecutions against an indigenous tribe. We're not talking about, oh, they slaughtered them for 10 years straight. And that was it. It went on for four decades, and it is very heartbreaking because we see in the documentary how the communities are now living because of this, the scraps of resources that they have to live with, how they unite and they stick together, and they're still teaching their children their native tongue, and Spanish is their second tongue.

And so it's this beautiful rendition of pain and persecution and the unity that follows into the very few. Yaqui people that remain today. So that's where a lot of my lineage comes from. Whether my mom's side, primarily Spanish, has any ties to that. I'm not sure, but my dad's side for sure has it.

I was able to find a picture from my dad's family, which is the oldest picture we were able to date, which is from around 1948. So, up until 1948, we have nothing prior. We have no records, we have no pictures, we have no idea of the names of people or where they were from. And there's a picture of this woman who would have been my father's side, my grandmother's great-grandmother.

And you look at this woman, and you say, This is an indigenous woman, but my dad's family didn't grow up that way. My dad's family grew up, I guess, not seeing themselves as indigenous. They saw themselves as

the rejection of society, the dark ones, the short ones, the ugly ones. And I know this because my dad's sister, whom I'm very, very close to, till this day, she'll call herself names, and she's this short little dark brown woman who got polio as a child.

And so she has a hump on her back, and she was she's the most amazing woman I know. And to hear her talk about herself in that sense, not acknowledging the beautiful culture and richness that she comes from rather. Forcing on herself the derogatory things that society has told her. My aunt praises white people. Okay? I'm not kidding. She adores white skin.

She adores blonde hair. And she's always dreamed of being like that. Because she says it is the most beautiful skin and hair on earth that she will never have. I was little, I could tell you like flashbacks of her just saying things, and she didn't say it in like a pity me. Way, she would just say it because she really believed it.

And so I grew up hearing about her brown skin, dark hair, and features. And so it does things to a child on my mom's side. My grandmother is very light-skinned. She has no hair anywhere. And so I remember my grandmother. Always pointing things out. Oh, look at your dark knees. Look at your dark elbows.

Look how hairy you are. Me and my sister and comparing our skin color to hers 

or her families again, not in a way of making us. I don't think she ever really meant to hurt us, right? It's usually how it happens, but that's what she did. And then here we have my aunt. Where do we lie? Where is there a positive for our existence, our identity, and our body?

There wasn't. There wasn't. There were negative sides coming from the light-skinned people side, negative things being said and pointed out for as long as we can remember because we were dark because our features were different because we had more hair, dark hair at that. And then my aunt, who looked like us, who looked more like us, saying what she had, what she looked like, was the worst of the worst.

So you build these foundations. Off of that, you internalize it, and then you live your life like that. Having internalized all of that colorist, racist, discriminatory. Language all of our lives. So that's more of who I am, where I come from, but also what it meant for me growing up, what that did not really have pride in an identity, not really having to belong to an identity because I wasn't Mexican enough.

I wasn't white enough. Wasn't indigenous enough. There was nothing that I could be enough of. But now, as I'm older, I've reclaimed a lot of things, and you know this: I've reclaimed a lot of things. I've reclaimed many things that brought me shame, starting with my name, which is Guadalupe, and Guadalupes in Mexico are called Lupitas.

And more often now, I try to introduce myself as Lupita because I know where Lulu came from, and it came from a lot of self-hatred. And embarrassment and shame because people couldn't pronounce my name and that brought me a lot of shame, having to assimilate into this country and have a name like that.

I was just the sorest thumb sticking out always and then being the fresh kid that didn't speak English and was brown and hairy. So when people say tell me about who you are, tell me about where you come from. I can't point out all the beautiful things 1st, although I'm grateful for them, although it's taken me a really long time to see and appreciate them.

Now, it didn't become pretty for a very long time, so always the harshest parts for me have to be acknowledged so that we can really understand where a lot of our neighbors come from as far as emotional and mentality. Goes we don't come from a place of acceptance and that can really hinder the way that we connect in the way that we live our lives.

And when I say I am from Sonora, I am Mexican-born and raised. That also comes with the territory of, I don't know who I am, and I'm having to define that, and I'm having to find it, having to yank it out, because it's right under me. It's right under me. 

Cassie: Thank you so much. 

Lupita: You're welcome.

Cassie: I know some of your story, but I don't know all of your story, and I did not know about the history of the Yaqui people. I'm really grateful to you for sharing that with me. I will find the YouTube video, and I'll share a link in the show notes for this episode, so if other people want to look at that, they can. (Click here to watch the Yaqui documentary Lulu references.)

Lupita: It's subtitled in English, too. He does have a book. It's called Yaqui. I don't know if that one's translated, but It's a great documentary. It really puts in perspective a lot of the communities here in Arizona.

We don't know a lot of this history, and so we don't understand. White people are the way they are. Yeah. Or why our communities are the way they are. We're sadder than ever, more disconnected than ever. There's a loss of identity that persists beyond measure. And it comes from things like that comes from persecutions of decades, of generational trauma.

And, it never needs a lot of attention. It just needs people willing to listen. You don't have to go shout it to the world, but what you do need to do is absorb it so that we can be that one little domino chip that bumped the next. And even if there is a lot of space between the next chip, we just want to inspire.

You might not touch people enough that you knock them down to keep doing the ripple effect, but you might inspire them. Because that pressure is big, that the pressure of making justice for everyone, it's big. 

Cassie: Thank you for rooting us into your truth as a starting place and bringing all of that in all of its grief and tenderness here. Because it is so important, and I'm just so honored to know you and to bear witness to your journey, and I always have been, so it's a real honor to be able to share it with others. 

Lupita: Thank you. I appreciate you.

Cassie: I appreciate you. I know; we're just having a little love-cry fest over here. Don't mind. Oh, we go back. 

Lupita: Yeah. I think that surfaces a lot when we talk. Yes. 

Cassie: I would love to hear a little bit about the land and your connection to the land. And this is a practice that, was inspired by Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza. That is to share a little bit about what the land is teaching you and speaking to you right now.

And I know that your connection to the land is deep. So, I would love to hear a little bit about it at this moment in time. 

Lupita: It's quite an amazing journey to think, oh, there's nothing in the desert. And then you go looking, and you find how much power and life and energy are actually here. The Sonoran Desert is one of the harshest environments, but it's also a very diverse environment.

We have high sierras, mountains, which absorb a lot of the rain and that feed with beautiful green luscious hills, the wildlife encourages our to bloom. If you go south into Mexico, you'll find the, which are a type of cactus that is spiny rather than the saguaros, which are one big and thick with arms. Each part of the Sonoran Desert has something really beautiful and unique about it. And depending on how high or how low the elevation is, The elevation will give you a gem. You'll find the pitayas in higher elevations, but you'll find creosote in lower elevations. And you know my obsession with creosote.

I don't know that anybody has more fascination with it more than I do. I know many people love its medicinal properties and the intoxicating smell. Of creosote when it rains and it comes into contact with water, but I don't think people, a lot of people, understand the energetic and magical representation creosote has for me. And this is where we talk about why creosote is so amazing.

I'll give you some fun facts which you already know. But creosote can go without water for up to two years. There is a creosote bush found right on the verge of the Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert, which crosses into a little bit of California. And this bush is named King Clone, and it's approximately 12,000 years old.

The scientists who studied this bush believed it to be one of the oldest organisms on Earth that's still standing. And you wonder, wow, how does it do that? So can survive some of the harshest environments and harshest droughts because it stores water in the root system. The root system of a creosote bush is a fighter it up roots, other smaller bushes and preserves its strength because it wants more water. And so it'll eliminate smaller bushes by pushing them up and out from the roots. It tries to take over the bigger the roots, the more water it can store. So I love to think of creosote as a symbol of perseverance.

And a symbol of strength, prosperity, because of that root system, and I always say this, what an amazing thing it would be for us to be so well established and so rooted that everything we have and need to continue through the harshest of environments is right in our roots that sustain us, that hold us.

That feeds us, and that guides us. And so the creosote bush really brings that element for me. I think if I could embody a little bit of what creosote is in my human form, I could touch a lot of people. And I try to, I'm trying to expand this root system and to strengthen my root system so that when harsh environments come again, because they will, I will know that I can continue because my roots uphold me and because my roots will make me go through this, And I just can't think of a better way to experience the desert, if not for creosote bush.

Besides its medicinal properties, creosote has taught me not to judge a book by its cover. It still has so much to offer, even in its dormant form. Indigenous people, as much as Arizona, as much as Sonora, burn the creosote branches as an insect repellent when it's in dormant stages. It's, You know, you look at it when it's cold, and you're like, that is 1 ugly plant because it goes brown, and it it almost looks like it got burned, but it isn't.

It's just dry. It's, it's sleeping. And then the 1st little sign of spring approaches, and it starts to scrap these little tiny green leaves off of those ugly. Brown, dry branches like you would think these branches are dead, but they're not and I see it every spring when it starts to sprout those little green babies, and it new leaves coming in new blooms, new arms, it regenerates itself so amazingly, and it needs nothing, and it needs no one, but it also thrives.

In a community space, because some of the creosotes will connect roots and will help each other in storing water and feeding on themselves through the drought. So I can't find a better example of life than a creosote bush.

Cassie: I love hearing you talk about creosote, and I just want to sing your praises for a moment because they're. I have creosote all over my house. You introduced me to creosote, and I developed a real love of it. I love the smell of it. I love it in the shower. I have your creosote oil. To that, I love to use. So thank you for introducing me to this plant and to all of the listeners because it's so prevalent in the Southwest, too. 

Lupita: It's an emotional attachment to, for a lot of people. If you're not from here, then Korea started. It's like this funky, musky smell.

But for people who have been here for a long time, I've lived here for 20 years, and there's a lot more creosote here than where I live. And where I was born and raised, because I'm really close to the coast, to the Gulf of California. So it's a lot more beachy, a lot more humid and Curioso doesn't like that, so we would have to drive.

Two or three hours out of where I live to find creosote. And we did this because it was medicinal. My grandmother would mash it up and with mix it with other herbs. Another herb, I'm not sure what it's called in English, but in Spanish it's called golondrina and it's literally a weed. It's this little weed that if you plant some plants in your pots and use some of the soil that is here.

You're going to get one of these little plants, and it's tiny, grows out of the dirt, spreads out, and has tiny little circular leaves. So my grandma would grab Golondrina creosote and mash it until it got nice and juicy and sticky, because creosote exudes like a wax from the leaves.

And when we were little, again, I was born and raised in Mexico. There was no chickenpox vaccine for us. So we got chickenpox. And I remember my back being covered in little blisters, and the itchiness was insane. And I just remember my grandmother couldn't handle the whining. And she just rubbed that piece all over our backs.

I think my sister got chicken pox first, and then about a week ish, I got it. And so we have to take two trips to find the creosote. And when we found it, my dad was with us, and my dad told my grandmother. Who is my maternal grandmother? Her name is Sylvia. And my dad said, Sylvia, you can't take from the bushes that are dormant.

You have to take from the green trees. And my grandma said, why? My dad said I don't know. That's just what I've been told. And I carried that with me for a really long time, and I didn't realize I had. That question lingered until a few years ago when I started to work with my career. So this was around 2018.

You don't take from a dormant tree just like you wouldn't take from an ill person. You take from the bush, the branch that's healthier because that means it's strong enough to regenerate and it's strong enough to recuperate from whatever you're taking. And my dad said, do you have a coin because we have to leave something?

And she was like, no, I don't have anything. My grandpa drove us. My grandpa was a smoker. Is a smoker, and my dad's, oh, let's go ask Ernesto if he can give us a cigarette, and my grandma said for what he said, you have to give something, and the conversation seemed like you should know this already.

But my dad grew up in a very small town, four hours, four and a half hours north of where I was. And so we found a lot more creosote there. Because it's closer to the lower elevation, more dry desert, he had a lot more interactions and experience with creosote than my grandmother did.

And that's what he had been told. That's what his mother told him. And so he was just doing it, but my grandmother didn't know. And through time, I learned, about respecting the bush, respecting the shrub. And when I talked to my dad about it, I asked him, Papi, do you remember when we got chicken pox?

And he was like, how could I forget? And I said, do you remember that you were looking for something to give to the bush? And he's, yeah, I remember. So your grandpa ended up putting up a fight for the cigarette, but he's he gave it to me. And I was like, yeah, I was like, do you know why you did that?

He said, it's I didn't want to argue with your grandmother, but You're supposed to give something to the bush. And I was like, okay, do you know why you're supposed to give something? He was like, I don't know. It's it's like a thank you, I think. And I realized my dad has always been really intuitive about those things but also really doubtful.

Like he knew, but didn't know. And I think a lot of us have that, just, but we don't trust it enough. And I shared with him, I said, I've been reading a lot about Creosote, Sonoran Desert, and, I, I'm working with a lot of energy and things like that, so it's an exchange, Dad, it's an exchange.

You're giving something because you're taking something. He's, oh, he's okay. Going to the store, and I was like, sure, he's you give them money, and you get something. And I was like, yeah, sure. That's fine. That's as far as we're going to get.

It's one of those cute little moments of enlightenment of how early the medicine started, how early the practice has started. And we Mexicans do things without knowing why. Or knowing where because that's been lost. The oral sharing, the oral tradition, and then if we do have a little bit of it, it was taboo, don't talk about it, because people are going to think you're a witch.

And we can't call it that. We can't call it brujería. We call it holistic or natural. We can't call it anything. And if you say curandera, you're right there with the witches. 

Cassie: the plight of the witches. It's so prevalent across so many cultures. 

Lupita: So it's a conundrum. Yeah. How do we praise what has always been persecuted and shamed? And we live in that constantly. I find Creosote to be non-binary. I grew up with it being called a feminine name, and when we moved here, it was called a masculine name. And I found that very interesting, and I thought, huh, in Spanish, Spanish has male and female.

So in Spanish, creosote was named the governess or the little stinker 'cause it's very potent. Both of went, which end in a, which is female, RA. So when we moved here and I found people called it. Or creosote or greasewood. I said, those are all male. And then it was just that, that it didn't have to be either or, that it could be both, that it can be a healer and also a conduit of strength.

Cassie: I love that and just, I'm looking at a bundle that I have from you now, and I feel that same energy of it is both. 

Lupita: Yeah. It is. It really is. The way it comes to. Share the healing benefits. It wants to embrace and connect through its healing benefits, but also in the way that it stands up to show its strength and its dominance and its masculine energy of protection and perseverance.

It just pushes through. So, I love the duality. I love the coexistence of the energies because it doesn't have to be one or the other. It can coexist. It can be both. And I think that acknowledges its existence very well. Mhm. For how we see it in different cultures. Because, like how I just mentioned, I grew up with it being feminine, and I've learned to see it as that when I need to, when I'm in my Spanish self, it's feminine.

And when I'm in my English self, it's masculine. Yeah, it meets you where you're at. It really does. Yeah. 

Cassie: I love the story about your, dad coaching your grandma into like how to work with the plants and leave an offering that is such a. Beautiful story 

Lupita: and with a cigarette.

Cassie: Yeah. And I love that you could circle back and connect with him about that, like how healing. I imagine that might have been for both of you. 

Lupita: He said things made a lot of sense. he doesn't remember who taught or told him. He said it was just what everyone did, that you must leave something.

And he was like, when I was a little boy, I had to get some. And all I had on me was a piece of gum, and I left a piece of gum. And I was like, we go back to intention is everything. It really is. Now, having good intentions doesn't excuse ignorance, right? But it helps us get there. It helps us get to a better place of understanding and education for sure because having good intentions is like a foundation of embarking on the right path towards this kind of learning and this kind of living.

But my dad's intentions were right. The education just wasn't. Knowledge wasn't. They never really learned those things. I'm sure somewhere down the line, there was an older woman telling people why, but she was probably labeled as a witch, and then people saw that, and so they stopped sharing that information because they didn't want to be labeled like that woman, so we stopped sharing.

Cassie: Yeah, but the practices persevered.

Lupita: Yes, they do.

Cassie: We have a little bit of time left, and it's funny, I wanted to talk to you about grief and working with plants, and though we haven't named that, it's woven throughout the entire conversation, which I'm not surprised about, but I would love if there is anything that's coming to mind about how you've worked with plants.

Your personal grief, or how you know, because, as I mentioned in the intro, you have a store where you're able to tend to your community and offer your plant medicine, like, how does grief arise? How is grief tended? And how does working? Alongside these different plants, you work with, help support and facilitate that.

Lupita: There is an emotional attachment that guides a lot of what I use. And I've honed in on this emotional attachment to things because I have to understand what it means to me first. And this is something that I talk to people a lot about. Why am I going to use something? That has no connection to me.

Why will I implement something into my life that invokes no feeling? No memory. No sensation whatsoever. There are a lot of beautiful native plants. In Sonora, one of them is creosote, which we grew up with, but most are from all over the world. Chamomile is German or Egyptian, cinnamon, Indonesia, and these herbs have an emotional connection to me because this is what I remember my Abuelita making in the kitchen as a child.

This is what I remember. My aunt's making for me when I had a tummy ache. And so I know there is a lot of herbs that have energetic and physical tending to the heart.

But I think also being at peace with what you're consuming and using because of the emotional peace it brings does a lot of things, too. And if that's cinnamon, then so be it. If that's basil for you, basil your way through, girl. They're natural. They're going to either unbloat you, or help with the nervousness, or help relax the shit out of you, or help you go poop.

There are some amazing benefits. But what does it do to you emotionally? What feelings does it invoke when you smell it, when you touch it, when you drink it, when you cook it, when you burn it? Our emotions can really derail us, but our emotions can also ground us, and our emotions can guide us. I think for the last few years, I really embraced more of What herbs emotionally do for me, whether they are attributed to that or not.

I think chamomile is a staple for a lot of Mexican families, and chamomile has just been that homie for me that whether I'm sad, stressed, or tired, I'm going to have a cup of chamomile. I don't know if there is any specific herb that I would recommend, per se, that is, oh, that one is very connected to the heart, that one is all about emotional healing; I think that emotional healing starts with the feelings provoked by what you're using. In the 1st place, and so when we get that, we can create different connections with what we're using. And that's another really important aspect of using tools and medicine in the 1st place is laying the foundations, the correct foundations.

In the first place, connecting with the things that invoke positive and serene feelings, emotional feelings, so that you can find a sense of self and a sense of peace, knowing that you're using something that connects you back to yourself, to your inner child, to your culture, to your family. And we are reinforcing those routes, and we are working on establishing those routes from the ground up rather than working from here down. Reinforcing from the ground up is super important.

I think we need to go back to the very simple basics of, let me use something that invokes emotional connection.

Cassie: You are such a deep well of wisdom, my friend. Also just want to say that I think you should make a shirt that says “Basil your way through girl”,  because I just think it needs to exist. 

Lupita: Yeah, I use basil for a lot of things. And my personal limpias. Or the one-on-one sessions that I do, I have a bunch of basil outside, and two or three of the plants that I have are a different kind of variation of basil.

I think it's, I think it's Thai basil. I'm going to collect Thai basil. Basil is like a weed in Mexico, especially in the Sonoran parts. Basil likes the sun, but it also likes a little bit of humidity. And so Sonora, further down, is a little humid, and so this shit grows everywhere. All the little houses have basil in a pot somewhere, and it drops the seeds.

Flowers when it dries. And so then they have more basil growing on the ground and you'll find random patches of basil just going everywhere. So I took some of the seeds from my aunt's house, and I put them in the ground, and some of them took off. And they're there, and then I have another popular common cuisine, basil with the big fat leaves.

And then I have another one that's all green with white flowers. And then I have a purple basil, which is beautiful. It's gorgeous. It's I think they call it ruby red. really beautiful basil. The caterpillar worms devoured it. So we're waiting for it to come back and regenerate.

But yeah, basil your way through because basil is anti-inflammatory. And it smells amazing. Cut it and rub the leaves. And just Immerse yourself in the beautiful healing smell like that. It's amazing. Have you ever smelled basil in an essential oil form? 

Cassie: I don't know if I have. 

Lupita: It's interesting. Yeah. Very interesting.

Cassie: It's just incredible to me the different varieties of basil and how they're all so different. And this goes for so many plants. I have holy basil or Tulsi basil in my garden. I have Tulsi, too. I love it. And I, it's just exactly what you described. I make tea with it sometimes. I've made tinctures with it before, but my favorite thing is in the summer to just rub my hands on it.

And it's just the most amazing smell. 

Lupita: And it's sweet. Tulsi is sweet. 

Cassie: Oh, it's like perfume. 

Lupita: Yes, it has this perfumey floral smell with the tanginess, of a basil. 

Cassie: I love what you said, too, because I think, Especially when thinking about grief, it's so important to remember that grief shows up in people's bodies in so many different ways. And so when you honor the plants that you feel called to work with, the ones that you have that emotional connection with, you're honoring how grief is showing up in your body.

Which is different for every grief, for every person; it's just that there's so much variety, and that's the beauty of working with plants is that the plants want to support us. And it's all about what you said, like feeling that emotional connection to them.

Lupita: Yes, if we think of plants as spirits. Then, it facilitates how we want to connect with them.

You don't want to connect with the spirit without having that foundation laid. You I mean, I wouldn't, I would want for there to be a deep connection that honors both of us, even if it is out of a memory, even if it is out of a childhood event, that really induces that. It's like this, threading, inner weaving, where everything just starts to make sense, the feeling, the smell, the memory, and the act of consumption, whether it's energetic or drinking it or eating it, or smelling it, it stimulates your senses.

And now you're in your physical self, as much as you are in your emotional body and your spiritual being. And so there's all of this interconnectedness that's weaved through, allowing for that emotional connection, with a plant. I really don't think you can go wrong with basil. We go back to basil just being amazing.

Rosemary. 

Cassie: Oh, I love rosemary. 

Lupita: For us, it's also Rue's amazing. And, I grew up with Rue being used to cure my ear infections. We never really used antibiotics. We would look through in some olive oil or whatever oil we have and then we put it in our ears and then we'd cover it with cotton balls, until this day, my kids haven't had an ear infection and whenever they join, whenever join us started to.

Show any signs of infection. I have this concoction of oils with ruin and extracts and things, and he'll ask me for it and say, my ear hurts. Can you give me some of that stuff? And I'm like, sure, and this is what I'm doing with him and with both of them is establishing those emotional connections so that when he's older, he can look back.

And remember and have that one or those few staple memories that smelled like something, looked like something, felt like something. I want him to remember that so that he always has something to go back to that makes him feel connected.

Cassie: What a gift. What a legacy. What can you think about? Yeah, to leave that for your children. I think about that a lot with my kids, too, and the potency and the power of showing them how important those relationships can be with our plant family.

Lupita: And respect. I think there's no need for children to be malicious with our environment.

It's one thing to be curious and to learn, which every child has to go through. But I taught both of my boys very early on to respect plants and respect nature. 

Cassie: Can you imagine how lush and abundant and beautiful the earth would be if children were raised, with this reciprocity in mind? 

Lupita: We're not taught that though.

It's taught to take and take abusively and aggressively.

And, I've been speaking on issues with white sage for years, and that's what's happened, and it's happening to follow Santo to where we are taking. Abusively and aggressively, and there's no reciprocity. There's no respect. There's no foundation, and there's no emotional connection. Yeah. So we're taking it because our mind wants to have it, and so there's that disconnect, and the intention is already wrong. The foundation is already wrong. And this is why I said earlier that having the right intention doesn't excuse ignorance. Because maybe you didn't know, like a lot of us, but if you know better, you do better.

 People still choose to look the other way. Yeah, for a lot of things. Yeah. I still choose to look away from the massacre on White Sage, but White Sage is also representative of a lot of other things.

Yeah, a lot of groups of people, a lot of issues in this world. White Sage represents a lot of oppressed communities and we are watching it unfold. In many ways across the globe, that has brought forward its own set of grief, its own set of collective grief, where we don't know how to channel and we don't know where to put it. Personally, I don't know where to put it. I don't know what to do with it, but I allow myself to acknowledge that because not acknowledging it is my privilege. And so if I know something is going on with White Sage, and I find out there's communities being harmed because they're taking their White Sage away because they're killing their White Sage, then they're going to speak up, because if my voice is all I have, then so be it. Yeah. I refuse to be silent. I refuse to be the person who, when this is established as history, refuses to be that part of that percentage that was not part of the collective healing.

Cassie: I think a lot of people, myself included, are learning the value of our voice and the importance of our voice.

Lupita: it represents a lot of things. A lot of wars, a lot of genocides. There is a lot of injustice and a lot of abuse. White sage represents our Indigenous people. It represents our Palestinian people. It represents our people in Congo. It represents people in South Korea and North Korea.

It represents our Mexican people. It represents our Latin Americans. It represents all of it. Yeah. It's more like a symbol, right? But we've seen the efforts of people sharing about White Sage. And the progress that has made. But it didn't happen quick. And that is the thing with time. I think time for me brings a lot of grief sometimes.

Cassie: Yeah. as a collective, too, we're learning so much about how to grieve together. And I think time is a part of that. how do we process and grieve the bigness of the pain of the horrors that are happening in our world? And I think that we're walking. Through it right now. At least the people who are willing to bear witness are learning in real-time. How do we walk through this? How do we assimilate and process what is happening so that we can remain in it? 

Lupita: And I'm smiling because creosote. 

Cassie: Bringing it back to the creosote. 

Lupita: Creosote can be. Both things. Yeah. because it fucking can, it's that simple. It can be grieving and can be in its emotional self, and its feminine self, and it can coexist and push through and persevere. And it's masculine energy, and so I think we are asking, how do we navigate the grief and the blessing of being alive,

Nature is perfect. And will always be perfect examples to life. We find our life in nature, we find meaning, we find reasons, we find purpose, and, that's the most beautiful story to tell. 

Cassie: It is. And I'm looking forward to spending some time. Some of the creosote that I have from you And I will certainly put all the links for your wonderful creations in the show notes. So if anybody listening wants to connect with Creosote. That they can't or connect with Lulu that you can, but I'm just so glad that we found time to do this.

You just brought so much. So I'm just so happy to share your wisdom. Thank you. This was so wonderful. Thank you so much, Lulu, for your time, for your energy, for your wisdom. 

Lupita: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. It was amazing.

A Card Spread for the Winter Solstice

The winter solstice, or Yule, is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Yule is a sabbat on the Wheel of the Year that marks midwinter, and even though it’s the darkest time of the whole year, it represents a sacred portal of death and rebirth. If you're new to The Wheel of the Year, you can find more about it here.

After Yule, each day begins to get a little more light and a little less dark. It’s a time to celebrate the return of the light. 

Yule is associated with evergreen, holly, ivy, mistletoe, red, white, green, gold, and fire. Sounds a little bit like Christmas, right? The pagan holiday of Yule predates Christmas, and when Christianity swept through Europe, Yule's traditions were woven into the Christian holiday of Christmas. 

Like many of us witches, pagans, and/or spiritual folks, you may honor both Yule and Christmas. 

Keep scrolling to find a tarot or oracle card spread for this Winter Solstice and Yule and other ways you might like to honor this sabbat.

A CARD SPREAD FOR YULE 

Take some time to create a ritual space before you pull your cards. Gather a few candles, light some incense or other herbs, and ground yourself before dropping in with your cards. Set an intention for your intuition, your highest self, and/or your spirit guides to communicate with you through the cards.

When you feel ready, shuffle your cards and pull one card for each of the following questions:

• What themes are surfacing most prevalently, within and outside of me?

• How can I tend to and grieve what wants to surface?

• What's ready to pour into the cauldron of the earth this Solstice?

• How can I care for myself during this tender time of shedding?

• What wants to be reborn, within and outside of me?

Image copyright Cassie Uhl 2023.

Consider sitting with your cards, journaling, and meditating for a while to help you process their medicine and really move the messages through your body.

Some other sweet ways to honor the Winter Solstice and Yule:

• Light candles

• Gather around a fire with loved ones 

• Connect with local evergreen trees

• Burn pine incense

• Meditate on a candle flame or fire

• Honor the wisdom of darkness by spending time inside or outside with the darkness of the season.

• Create a Yule altar with holly sprigs, pinecones, evergreen branches, and red, green, or white candles and crystals

• Winter Solstice & Yule Spell Jar

• Find more ideas here

How will you be honoring Yule this year? Let me know on Instagram.