Befriending Discomfort & Transforming with Fire of the South

Summertime shifts us towards the south and the element of fire on our sacred seasonal wheel. The fire of the south offers a time of passion, growth, culmination, action, transformation, and, less frequently talked about, discomfort.

In this share, you'll learn more about the element of fire, some of the wisdom it has to offer, its connection to discomfort, common correspondences for south and fire, and three ways to engage in ritual and magic alongside fire. Before we dive in, let's explore the position of the south and fire on our seasonal wheel, and what it means.

Listen to this post on the podcast, here.

The South and Summer Solstice is the full moon of the year on our wheel of seasons, and the neighboring celebrations, Beltane and Lughnasadh, are the peek of the waxing and waning energy of the seasonal year. We live amidst fiery energy until we reach the Autumn Equinox and shift fully towards the West and the element of water.

campfire, bonfire by the sea, sunset

Astrologically, the Summer Solstice moves us into Cancer season and then later into Leo. The Summer Solstice and Cancer season alignment is one that confused me for a long time. I had difficulty seeing the connection between the water sign of Cancer, the south, and the element of fire. I recently listened to the Summer Solstice episode on Tarot for the Wild Soul by Lindsay Mack. She did a good job of breaking down these overlaps, especially in relation to the Chariot card, which is the card that corresponds with Cancer. 

The Chariot card offers a side of water that encourages action, movement, and being in the flow. The fire connected with this season inspires this Cancerian energy to come out of its safe and cozy crab shell and begin taking action, and tap into any wells of emotional energy you may be harboring as fuel. You can visualize the stagnant pond vs. the flowing stream as an example. It's like a marriage of water and fire. This season's fire forces us out of our comfort zone, and the water of Cancer season encourages us to be in a state of flow with all that arises and the discomfort of it all. It's a call to feel and act, act, and feel, and to not get stuck and stagnant amidst it all. 

The Chariot card featured from Journey Tarot . Water card featured from The Ritual Deck.

It makes me think of the famous quote by Anais Nin quote "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." These south-facing seasons are asking us to notice where we must come out of our shells and blossom in new ways. I don't know about you, but I have never gone through an easy or painless transformation. 

Every transformation has been uncomfortable in my spirituality, business, and relationships, but they've also been necessary, inspired growth, and made me a better person. And it will be like this on a collective level, which can feel scary and uncomfortable. The deep transformations we're facing require many of us to face and look at parts of ourselves we'd rather not look at and that, in many ways, we've been trained not to look at, especially folks in white bodies like myself. 

It may feel enticing to sink back into those still waters or the cozy crab shell, but the gifts of growth are calling each of us in unique ways needed to create the changes we need on an individual and collective level to create a more equitable and sustainable world. The element of fire is waiting to be called upon to assist. Because if we do not, the wildness of fire will, eventually, create the transformations that need to happen whether you're ready or not. Here’s a sweet message about the need for fire from the book, The Great Work by Tiffany Lazic.

Passion is the energy of fire that propels us toward that which activates our Spirit. In 

order to create any new thing, there needs to be a spark—something that leaps across 

the gap between the material and the ethereal, bringing the two together and 

transforming them both in the process. Fire is the motivator, both the soft flame that 

gently guides and the blinding conflagration that changes all in an instant.

The Great Work by Tiffany Lazic

How can what's dear to your heart be used as a spark to bring about transformation or change? This is a time to notice what's arising for you, your family, and your community. What is calling out for attention to be more closely examined with the light of a fire or burned up and transformed? Let's explore some of the wisdom fire has to offer us.

Wisdom of South and Fire

To understand the scope of fire, we must honor all of its faces and abilities. Like all of the elements, fire can nourish and destroy. It's easy to see the nourishment and the destruction of fire, especially in the summertime. The nourishing warmth of the sun inspires plants to grow and thrive. Fire is also the seat of the hearth and home because it offers us warmth and nourishment. Yet, we can also see the capacity for fast-acting destruction that fire holds, 

The multifaceted nature of fire is reflected in its corresponding colors, red and green. Red holds the energy of passion, intensity, and the ability to destroy and transform, while green holds the energy of nourishment and growth. Like all the elements, fire offers a spectrum of wisdom. It offers both destruction and sustenance.

Having been embedded in various spiritual spaces for over two decades, especially in white spaces, I can confidently say that there's a focus on the more "positive" aspects of fire like passion, growth, and action and far less on themes like destruction and discomfort. I'll be focusing on the latter for this section. Though destruction is often lumped into the "negative" side of the spectrum, it also has a lot of important gifts to offer. Destroying or burning up is a necessary part of the transformational process. We cannot transform without letting something fall away or die. Wrapped up in this process, for some of us, is a need to be with discomfort and build a greater capacity to hold discomfort. Fire can be the spark that inspires us to continue facing our discomfort and bolsters our ability to act alongside it. 

Transforming and Expanding Our Capacity for Discomfort 

As we move deeper into this conversation around expanding our capacity for discomfort, I want to share a quote from a little book I often reference, "The Sacred Wheel of Our Ancestors" by Roberta Lee. She is one of my mentor's mentors. 

Noon. The Summer Solstice. Heat all about us. The sun beating down upon our heads.  

Thirst. Fire. This is the place to come face to face with ourselves for sure. Modern 

society seems to be obsessed with comfort. And sacred suffering is feared and frowned 

upon. We all suffer. Let us not waste it by trying to avoid it… Let us not resist the heat, the hard 

times; let us embrace them and this time of year, this part of the Wheel, this part 

of Life and in doing so, we notice that the pain is abated and becomes our history and 

joins the other drops of water in our well of experience.

Roberta Lee, Sacred Wheel of 

our Ancestors

The fire of the south does not lie. It is truth at its core. It burns away and exposes us. It makes us naked and vulnerable and brings us face to face with our truths. It can be painful when you approach fire with a desire to transform. Like the frame of a house revealed after its exterior has been burned away, fire shows you what's on the inside. Each layer that is burned away offers different stories and wisdom. Stories and wisdom that beckon you to look at and feel everything on a soul level, the good, the ugly, and everything in between. Each layer gives more wisdom and fuel to transform. 

Herein lies much of the discomfort associated with fire, which is two-fold. First, we have the discomfort of being with, witnessing, and feeling the pain and the truth of what is no longer working or that you can no longer view as acceptable. The second, I'd argue, more illusive part of the discomfort brought about by fire is the discomfort of not knowing what's on the other side of a transformation. When we decide to return to ash from the fire, what happens next? What's on the other side?

I think collectively, we are sitting in a time of transformative fire, on the precipice of something new, but still unsure what it will look like and how exactly we will get there. So many of us, myself included, are feeling the intense discomfort of this time. Knowing deep down that more needs to happen, much faster to save ourselves, our more than human brothers and sisters, and the planet. 

It is uncomfortable to witness the suffering and to suffer right now. It is also uncomfortable not to know what's on the other side. We are in the throws of a significant and profound transformation. However, the not knowing, the mystery of where we're headed does bring one gift—a gift of unlimited possibilities. These limitless potentialities are part of this collective transformation bringing me a sense of peace and the fire to keep going. There are so many solutions, and outcomes are yet to be discovered. The unknown is uncomfortable, yes, but there's also hope there. 

Most transformations we embark upon are sparked by an unwillingness to allow a certain action or feeling to persist. As we collectively sit in the heat and discomfort of this time, I invite you to continue to sit with the discomfort while reserving space for all the unknown solutions and outcomes yet to unfold. I'd further invite you to continue working towards a more equitable and sustainable planet as that's where those unknown solutions and outcomes live. We won't know what's on the other side of this current transformation until we walk through it together. 

Fire element card featured from The Ritual Deck.

It's important to note here that the discomfort of this time has not been evenly dispersed. Large groups of people have been sitting in the discomfort of this transformational time since the onset of spreading patriarchy, imperialism, white supremacy, and capitalism. White-bodied folks, like myself, have been taught to avoid this discomfort, separate ourselves from it, and seek comfort at all costs, even at the expense of other's lives and our planet. In contrast, many BIPOC communities around the world have been forced to become comfortable living in discomfort. 

I want to take a moment to give credit to one of my teachers, Thérèse Cator, whom I had recently completed her course, Embodied Allyship. Comfort, discomfort, and nervous system regulation were big themes in the course. I want to credit her for how I've made many of these parallels between the element of fire and this time. 

What if the constant seeking of comfort is what's keeping you small, keeping you from growing, and keeping you disconnected from your power? I want to offer that it is. Sitting in discomfort builds resiliency, a kind of resiliency that many folks with black and brown bodies have been forced to build and that myself and fellow white-bodied kin have been lulled into avoiding. I'd argue that for many of us, our proximity to comfort is what's keeping so many silent and complacent. The transformation we're in is going to happen one way or another. We can sit back and let it happen, or we can work together to ensure that when we come out the other side, we'll be more equitable and sustainable. 

I'm not advocating that you should be a masochist. I'm advocating that we're in an opportunity calling us in, especially white-bodied folks, to build our capacity to hold more discomfort and bolster our resiliency. With that also comes a greater need to make space for joy and pleasure. We must become more comfortable being in discomfort and simultaneously recognize when we need to pause and step into joy and pleasure. We need to become the pendulum moving from side to side, not remaining stuck only in the comfort that keeps us small and tame. 

Some questions to consider and that I've also been sitting with.

• What's making you uncomfortable right now?

• What areas of discomfort have you been avoiding?

• What might that discomfort have to teach you?

• In what ways could you lean into play and pleasure more deeply to build your resiliency and explore your discomfort more deeply?

I will share some of the fire rituals I've been leaning on to help with this in the ritual section later in this share. Let's take some time exploring common correspondences for south and fire.

South Correspondences

Correspondences are ways to honor and invite in specific energy. They're also a way to layer in specific energies to spellwork and magical practices. Understanding common correspondences, or similar energy, gives you the tools to craft your own magic and rituals with fire and the cardinal direction south.

• Moon Phase: Full moon

• Phase of life: Motherhood / Adulthood

• Themes: Fulfillment, action, transformation, magic, confidence, strength, passion, discomfort

• Color: Red, green

• Element: Fire

• Time of Year: Summertime

• Time of day: Midday

• Energy center: Solar plexus

• Items and tools: fire, candles, wand, brass items, anything that personally represents fire or summertime for you

• Crystals: Sunstone, yellow jasper, red jasper, rutilated quartz, sodalite

• Plants: Rosemary, cinnamon, clove, ginger, sunflower, anything in bloom near you during summertime

• Tarot: Suit of Wands, the Sun card, Strength card

• Ogham: Hazel, Apple, Vine

• Runes: Sowilo, Wunjo

• Planets: Sun, Mars, Jupiter

• Zodiac: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Artwork featured from Zenned Out Guide Series by Cassie Uhl with Quarto Knows.

Rituals to Connect with South

Here are some ways to work with and honor fire in your spiritual practice. These are all tools and rituals that I've personally used or plan to and have found helpful. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. I'd also like to read an important reminder from the book The Path of Druidry by Penny Billington before we embark on this section. 

Each element can harm, but fire is the most mercurial of the elements; it is lightning-fast 

and operates to its own rules. Treat any naked light with respect and never leave it 

unattended. Fire is living. Think carefully about an appropriate way to extinguish a flame 

and stick to it. Many Druids pinch out a candle flame rather than use the breath of life to 

extinguish it. Choose a method, and make it a mindful action each time. 

When you light fire, you are connecting to an action shared by our ancestors, often with 

prayer and gratitude. Some of these ritual customs still survive in the old prayers from 

the highlands and islands. Devise your own simple ritual words or phrases to be part of a 

living chain of devotion.

Penny Billington, The Path of Druidry

I think that respect is something I've not discussed enough in the previous episodes on the cardinal directions and elements. It is essential for all of the elements. All of them have the power to nourish or destroy, especially fire. 

Dance Meditation to Connect with Fire 

When I think of the energy of fire, I think of dance. Like creating visual artworks, many of us have an idea of what "good" dance or movement is intended to look like. Allowing our bodies to move in ways that don't match what we've seen as "good" dance or movement can be uncomfortable. I love to dance, but I am not a professional or trained by any stretch of the imagination. Becoming more comfortable with my body's organic and natural movements has taken time. I say this to remind you that wherever you're at with your relationship to dance or whatever accessibility you have to move your body, there's wisdom and magic to be found. 

Anytime I write these episodes for the directions and elements and hold space for guided journeys to them, I spend a long time journeying to the direction and element. When I journeyed to the south to connect with fire, it asked me to move and shake my body. I was overtaken by the energy of the fire working through my body. I let go entirely and gave myself over to the process of connecting with its power. Having a private sacred space or being surrounded by folks you love and trust to do this work can be helpful. 

Something important to remember when engaging with elemental energies is that, more often than not, insight and wisdom are offered to us not through oral dictation but through states of being fully embodied and in communion with different energies. Why would fire speak to you in words? That is not the language of fire; fire flickers, dances, and moves. This is the medicine fire offers. This goes back, again, to get uncomfortable. Held in the discomfort and vulnerability of giving your body over to being with fire, you open yourself to embodying and holding new truths. If dance and movement feel like they're going to push you out of your comfort zone, I think the medicine will be even more potent!

If you feel called to connect with fire in this way, here are some simple suggestions to get started. 

1. Carve out 20-60 minutes for yourself. 

2. Spend about five minutes connecting with your breath and body (or any other rituals that help you root into your body) to soothe your nervous system.

3. Create sacred space in a way that feels good to you. This could be casting a circle or calling on guides, Gods, or Goddesses you work with. 

4. Optional: light a candle to honor fire and assist you in connecting with it. 

5. Go within or stare at your candle flame and state your intent to connect with fire. 

6. Imagine yourself meeting the fire element. What does it look like, and how does it make you feel?

7. Take this time to connect with the fire and learn from it. Perhaps it will inspire you to move. Maybe it will not. Trust what comes through and stay with it for as long as you'd like. Your experience may be different than mine, which is normal and okay. 

8. When you feel complete, be sure to thank the fire before leaving and ask if there's anything you can do to reciprocate your time with it and any wisdom you received. 

9. Close your space and consider journaling about your experience. Spend some time reconnecting with the world around you and perhaps have some food and drink. 

If this is something you feel you'd like support with, click here to join me in a guided journey to the south to connect with the element of fire. 

Candle Magic for Transformation 

If you've been hanging out around me for much time, you probably already know that I'm a big fan of using candles in my practice. Candles are a simple but powerful tool, especially when wanting to connect with the element of fire. I also think they're a great introductory tool to spellwork. You can make your candle magick as simple or complex as you want; all you need is a candle, matches, and some time. 

This is a topic I've covered extensively on my blog and in previous episodes, so I'm not going to go into much detail here. Check out the show notes for direct links to previous blog posts on candle magick. 

If you're new to working with candles or would like a simple ritual to start. I'd invite you to select a candle color in line with your intentions, hold it while infusing it with your intention, and sit with it as it burns. As you sit with it, notice the movement of the fire and how it dances and moves. Working with candles can be helpful while practicing dance or meditating on fire. 

I've been using paraffin wax chime candles for about six years, as long as I've been practicing candle magick. I usually recommend these, but after further research, I plan to switch to beeswax candles. Unfortunately, paraffin candles are a by-product of fossil fuels and are therefore harmful to the environment and unsustainable. I have quite a stockpile of paraffin candles from my store, so it's going to take me a while to work through them before I switch to beeswax. 

If you are starting out, I'd recommend rolling your beeswax candles or finding a supplier for premade beeswax spell candles. I found a few lovely and affordable beeswax spell candle options on Etsy with a quick search and bought some for Lugnasadh while writing this post, haha! Beeswax candles are more expensive, but they are lovely and a sustainable and less harmful choice. 

If you'd like step-by-step instructions for a candle spell, click here to check out a previous post. 

Building Fire and Fire offerings 

I'm wrapping two up into this section because they can be used in tandem or separately. Another obvious way to build relationship with this season and the element of fire is to spend time building fires, especially in ways our ancestors did. I have built fires in the past while camping but do not have experience building fires in ancestral ways. This is something I look forward to exploring this fall. There's a lovely article by Dana O'Driscoll of Druids Garden that you can check out here where she discusses the power of learning how to build fires in ancestral ways to connect with fire and our ancestors more deeply. Dana writes in her article, 

In every way, fire reconnects us to our roots, to those ancient ancestors who gave us 

such an important gift. When I look at the fire from this perspective, I realize that fire is 

my most important ancestral gift, and thus, one of the best ways to honor my ancestors 

is to learn and understand fire, to work with fire as they might have, to learn to start and 

build fires, and honor them through this practice.

Dana O'Driscoll

If building fires isn't accessible to you, it certainly wasn't for me in my Arizona home. I'd encourage you to build this kind of ritual relationship by lighting candles or incense to connect with fire in this way. One thing I've learned from one of my teachers, Danu Forest, is to treat each flame as a unique fire spirit. Each candle I light invites in the presence of a unique fire elemental that I can learn from and connect with. Seeing each fire as an individual, living entity helps me take more time and care in engaging with fire. 

Our new house has space for a fire pit, and we plan to build one before the Autumn so we can enjoy it this fall and winter. I'm looking forward to connecting with fire more deeply in this traditional way. My fire magic is about to get a serious upgrade! 

Finally, and this goes for any interaction with elemental energies or spirits, finding ways to be reciprocal and give offerings is a powerful way to build relationship. Song, dance, art, chant, poems, and herbs can all be beautiful offerings to the fire. Consider asking your fire what it would like as an offering. The article I mentioned above by Dana O'Driscoll also gives some wonderful suggestions for fire offerings. 

For example, my recent fire interactions prompted me to write a poem for the fire. I placed it on my altar and have read it aloud daily as a further offering and a form of connection. Building a relationship with fire through reciprocity is yet another tool for learning from fire and building our capacity for the discomfort associated with transformation. 

I hope these offerings have stirred your internal embers and perhaps even sparked a fire of powerful resiliency within you! If you'd like to explore the element of fire more deeply, I encourage you to join me or purchase the replay, "Journey to the Fires of Transformation." 

New Moon in Gemini Ritual

The new moon in Gemini is an invitation to get curious about becoming more active in your community to spark needed change. Ruled by Mercury and a mutable air sign, Gemini is curious, communicative, and desires connection to work towards a more equitable future. Combined with the new moon, this energy encourages openness to new ways of connecting with your community to inspire change. 

This ritual offers you a format to ask important questions and explore how you might open yourself to cultivating connections to bring about positive change in your community. Big change requires collaboration, communication, and connection. If you feel nervous or unsure about where to start, this ritual will create a supportive container for curiosity. 

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. 

Themes for this new moon: Community, communication, connecting, reciprocity, curiosity

Element: Air

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. 

You’ll need: 

• 10-20 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Pen and paper

• Optional: cleansing smoke of choice

• Optional: apatite, turquoise, fluorite, chrysocolla, or quartz

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too.

2. Sit, close your eyes, and begin to connect with your breath and body. If you’re working with a suggested crystal, you can hold it or place it near you to help you tune in.

3. In this space, allow yourself to feel into the realm of your heart space and vision the world in which you’d like to live. Get specific. How does this world feel, how are historically marginalized people treated, how are plants and animals treated, and how do we care for one another in this world? Notice what surfaces and allow yourself to feel. Stay here for as long as you want to or are able.

4. After spending some time visualizing this version of the world, ask, “What is my role in my community to bring about this world?” or “How can I begin aligning myself with this new world within my community?” Breathe and allow your mind to take you where it wants to go. Be open to visualizations, messages, or feelings that may arise. 

5. When you feel ready to come out of your meditation, pick up your pen and paper and write down any ideas that came to your mind. 

6. Take a moment to think about any resistance or blocks you may have in taking these actions. If using cleansing smoke, use your cleansing smoke here. If you’re not, simply visualize. Imagine these blocks or resistance being blown away by a gust of wind with your smoke or through visualization. 

7. Holding your paper in your hand and your crystal if using one, visualize yourself taking these actions in your community to help bring about the world you desire. Stay in this space for as long as you like. Place your paper on an altar or somewhere you’ll see it regularly (if using a crystal, place your crystal on top of the paper.) Allow it to stay there until the full moon. 

8. Before the full moon, schedule time to be taking steps towards the actions you listed out to get involved in your community. 

This new moon ritual can be adapted or used for any new moon or new moon in Gemini. As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

How to Work With the Scorpio Full Moon Eclipse

The super full moon eclipse in the sign of Scorpio happens either this Sunday or this early Monday depending on where you’re at in the world. The pique of eclipse will occur around 9:11 PST or 12:11 Monday ET. Eclipses usually come in pairs, sometimes sets of three, and this lunar eclipse rounds out our eclipse season that started with a lunar eclipse in Taurus on the New moon. This is a big one, friends! Lunar eclipses and the sign of Scorpio carry an energy of transformation, death, and rebirth. Oh, and we also entered Mercury Retrograde. Pair all of these up with a super full moon, and we've got a powerhouse of a celestial event. 

In this post, you'll learn a bit about eclipses in general, how they can affect us and how to work with them. I’m also going to share about the influence of Scorpio on this full moon. 

Give it listen on my podcast, Awen here.

I love astrology but don't identify myself as an astrologer. I love to examine how the zodiacal seasons influence and relate to the wheel of the year and how they relate to the moon phases. I prefer focusing on the big picture themes of astrology and try not to get too detailed with it as I think it can have a tendency to overshadow or overly influence our unique experiences, which is why you'll always hear me take a broad view with topics like this. 

I also don't usually offer rituals for eclipse season, but I want to dive into eclipses and the power of this particular lunation. In this share, you'll learn more about the energy eclipses offer, how they can affect us, how the energy of Scorpio will affect this full moon eclipse, and ways to work with its energy. 

Eclipses can be fast-acting and unpredictable, so generally speaking, it's a good idea not to do any deep spiritual work or rituals during an eclipse. But, there's a lot you can do, which is one thing I want to talk about here. I also want to say that every practitioner, astrology, witch, etc., will have a different approach to eclipses, which is great! If what I share doesn't match what you heard elsewhere, that's fine. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. First, let's start with how eclipses can affect us. 

The super blood moon of September 27th, 2015 is silhouetted by the ridgeline near Ontario Peak, California.

How eclipses can affect us

Eclipses bring an amplified and more intense energy that's often palpable. If you're like me and feel a little ungrounded or shaken up from full moons, you'll likely feel that even more from a lunar eclipse. Sleeplessness, exhaustion, extra emotions, and overwhelm can be especially present during eclipse season. I amp up my grounding practices during an eclipse season, especially for lunar eclipses, because I know they shake things up for me. I also expect sleep disturbances and take extra steps to help myself get a good night of rest, or if I can't sleep during these times, I just stay up and roll with it! 

Eclipses are a cosmic wild card in a lot of ways. I see them as an opportunity to allow whatever needs to bubble to the surface to arise and be transformed, especially when it comes to lunar eclipses. I often find that some theme emerges amidst eclipse season. The themes that arise will be unique to each of us. Although the sign the eclipses are occurring can certainly color what comes up. Any themes that arise are your opportunity to examine, learn, and possibly transform.

The flavor of how transformations occur will likely feel different during eclipse season. Unlike most lunations, in my experience, when we can be present with the energy of eclipse seasons, they work on us very passively, without much action on your part. For most new or full moons, there's an emphasis on taking specific steps and actions for the desired outcome. I see eclipse season as a road trip where I don't know the destination. But if I decide to take the ride, it will undoubtedly be transformative. You may be less in control of the experience with eclipses, which can no doubt be scary, but the outcome can also be more impactful. 

The effects of eclipse season can be long-lasting, as long as six months or even years. Which honestly makes sense. If eclipses are intended to bring big things to the surface to be transformed, they will potentially affect our lives in significant ways. That said, and I'll stress this often, these celestial events aren't something to fear. Like Mercury Retrograde, they're opportunities to witness things that need to arise and allow new themes to arise that can potentially be long-lasting. These are some of the reasons why eclipses are touted as cosmic wildcards!

How will Scorpio affect this lunar eclipse?

Scorpio gets a bad reputation sometimes, but it's honestly one of my favorite signs! That said, I have three planets in Scorpio, if you don't, it might feel like scary energy to work with. Scorpio rules over themes relating to all things taboo like death and sex. Scorpio energy encourages us to go deep and face our shadows. It calls us to examine our fears so we can learn from them and work with them in more liberating ways. 

In tarot, Scorpio relates to Death and the King of Cups. The death card in the tarot, unlike the tower, is often a call to willingly embark on a transformation. Unlike the tower card, the death card often surfaces when it's time for us to begin a journey to examine parts of ourselves, often ignored so we can learn from them and transform anew. The King of Cups is a master of their emotions, even the scary ones. This is another theme for watery and emotional Scorpio; they're not afraid to go there, to face their emotions and bring them to the surface so they can be witnessed and allowed to flow. 

Death and King of Cups card from Journey Tarot

Scorpio season governs over the season of Samhain. Another nod to its connection with shedding, death, and embarking on transformations. I'm sure you're starting to see a theme arise with all of these corresponding deep energies associated with Scorpio. Perhaps you can also see why these themes paired with a lunar eclipse have such potential. 

So, where does this leave you for a full moon eclipse in Scorpio? 

Here's how I see it. Full moons are already a time to release, let go, and transform. Bringing Scorpio in is a call to be fully present with EVERYTHING that's coming up, not to look away, and to sit with what's arising even if it feels ick. Scorpio is asking you to allow your emotions to surface so they can be felt and seen. The eclipse is calling them up to be transformed. I see the eclipse as a real gem, a guide of sorts, here to show us what needs to be transformed and help to potentially begin the transformation.

What to do for eclipse moons?

Eclipses can be amazing because if you decide to go for the eclipse ride, they can do a lot of the heavy lifting. I look forward to eclipses. For this reason, it's not the time to be doing a lot of spellwork, ritual, or deep meditative work. It's a time to sit back, allow, and observe—especially an eclipse in Scorpio. There's also a lot you CAN do during an eclipse that can be super supportive. Here are some simple ways to honor this lunar eclipse or any lunar eclipse. 

• Notice what's coming up

• Journal about your emotional state and what's coming up

• Meditate with openness and curiosity

• Pull some cards, not for divination, but as a mirror to what's going on for you. Find an excellent card spread for eclipse season here!

• Engage in activities that make you happy, safe, grounded, and supported

• Take a salt bath

• Smoke cleanse

Not Generally Recommended Activities for an Eclipse

• Manifesting

• Releasing or cord-cutting rituals

• Candle spells

• Making moon water

• Spellwork 

• Deep journey work

Just like Mercury Retrograde, eclipses aren't something to fear. They're an opportunity to be more reflective, inward-focused, and passive. I also see them as a sort of cosmic reset. I often notice that whatever arises for me during eclipse season arises for a reason. It's usually something I've been avoiding. If I answer the call to face it, I often find myself leaving eclipse season with a fresh outlook and renewed energy to approach whatever it is that's surfacing. 

I hope these offerings have given you some peace around this lunar eclipse and perhaps a deeper acceptance of the emotional waves often associated with them. If not, it's also a great excuse for a yummy salt bath. Happy full moon! 

Tending to Your Inner Fire for Beltane

The warmth of fiery Beltane is nearly upon us, and this year (2022), with the addition of a new moon in Taurus with a solar eclipse! It's sure to be an intense and exciting Sabbat. Beltane has always been one of my favorite seasonal celebrations. I always find that its energy is palpable in the air. There's such celebratory energy to this season, which I feel like we could all use a bit more of right now. I know I certainly can! 

Beltane, also called May Day, is one of our cross-quarter celebrations between the solar celebrations of the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, Beltane falls on April 30 and May 1 and on October 31 and November 1 in the Southern Hemisphere. In contrast, others may observe more traditional practices of honoring Beltane after the local Hawthorn trees flower.

Listen to this episode on my podcast, Rooting into Wholeness here.

You'll learn more about Beltane, its history, common correspondences, tips for connecting with Bel, a God associated with this season, and rituals to honor this season and tend to your inner fire. 

What is Beltane

For many, Beltane is one of the most important celebrations on the Wheel of the Year. It is our crescendo of energy before the Summer Solstice. Beltane is opposite of Samhain on our seasonal wheel and therefore carries similar but unique energy. Much like Samhain, the veil between the physical and spirit worlds is thin at this time, making it an ideal time for magical workings, connecting with other realms, and energetic protection. In Celtic beliefs, Beltane welcomes the onset of Summer and the light half of the year, where the sun reigns supreme. 

From an earthly perspective, Beltane ushers in a surge of growth and energy to plant life as the warmth and length of sunlight grow each day. For our ancestors, there was a special focus on pastoral animals like cattle at this time. Fire is a central theme for this season, and it was common practice to pass cattle through two large bonfires. The sacred smoke from these bonfires was thought to ensure a successful growing season for livestock. Fire and the ashes from these fires were used in various ways, both historically and to this day. 

Amidst all this season has to offer, there's also a thread of pleasure, sensuality, and union that weaves throughout. Within the lore associated with Beltane, it is at this time that the Solar or Horned God, in his prime energy, unites with the Goddess of the land in her maiden phase. Together they reign over the growing season. Beyond the myths associated with this season, it's easy to see these themes of union and sexuality within the reproduction amidst wildlife and explosion of growth. 

Honoring Fire and Bel

Much of this season is about honoring and cultivating energy and vitality, themes very much associated with fire. The sun and the earth are in their peak growth phase leading up to the Summer Solstice. Like all of the Sabbats, Beltane is an invitation to notice what's happening in the earth and the cosmos and to observe how those themes are showing up in our own lives and communities. 

With little written history to go off of, the use of bonfires around this season is something we know has happened for a very long time. Here's an excerpt from Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials Beltane by Melanie Marquis that illustrates this. 

The Beltaine fires were believed to have magical properties. Their flames, glowing embers, ashes, and smoke were all believed capable of granting health and protection. In the Isle of Man, the people invited the smoke of the bonfires to blow over themselves and their cattle, believing that this would ensure their mutual vitality. Once the fires died down, the ashes were sprinkled over the crops to increase the earth's fertility.

Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials Beltane by Melanie Marquis

The use of fire and smoke for ritual practice is something we can lean into today, and many do. 

Most attribute the name Beltane to the Celtic God named Bel, Belinus, or Belenos and suggest that the name Beltane means "fires of Bel." Bel is a well-known God in the Celtic pantheon, honored throughout the British Isles and even in France and Italy. Stories and even the spelling of Bel's name vary widely, likely because he was so widespread. However, he's become synonymous with this season, and many associated him with fire and the sun. 

Here's an excerpt from one of my favorite books about the Wheel of The Year, The Magical Year, by one of my teachers, Danu Forest, expressing the power of connecting with the power of fire or the God Bel during this season. 

In honoring the festival of Beltane, we draw this fresh virile energy into our lives, a time when, according to Irish myth, the gods arrived in the mortal world, literally infusing physical matter with divinity. At Beltane, we can reinvigorate our lives with this divine current. We can also tune into this time of duality and sacred union to honor our hearts and the romantic and sexual energies in our lives. 

The Magical Year by Danu Forest

I'll share rituals later in this post with suggestions for connecting with fire and Bel and ways to expand your vitality through pleasure, another common theme for this season. 

I also want to share something I've struggled with because I suspect some of you may have struggled with this too. I don't often share about Gods here, which is something I've personally grappled with within my practice. As someone who grew up in a Christian household and has had negative experiences with Christianity and the idea of a "father God," I've struggled with connecting with different Gods in my practice. 

I've started to dip my toe into this by invoking the God and Goddess as elemental energies (air and fire for the God and water and earth for the Goddess) rather than human-like forms. As I've become more comfortable with this, I've started to learn more about some of the Gods in the Celtic pantheon and have started to journey to them.

All this to say, if you don't resonate with Gods or Goddesses, it isn't a prerequisite to having a spiritual practice in line with your heritage. If connecting with the element of fire rather than the God Belinus at this time feels better, that is great. Regardless of where you land on connecting with Gods and Goddesses, I find that understanding some of the mythology associated with each season allows a more complete understanding of the Sabbats. 

Let's explore common correspondences for the season of Beltane. 

Beltane Correspondences

Understanding the correspondences of each season brings in so many additional layers. It also empowers you to craft your own rituals each season. As always, if there are seasonal things unique to your environment, add that to your list of correspondences for the season.

Themes: Pleasure, fertility, expansion, growth, sensuality, action, magick, creativity

Colors: Red, orange, yellow, green

Moon phase: waxing gibbous

Herbs & Plants: hawthorn, rose, honeysuckle, lilac, angelica, any local flowers blooming in your area

Crystals: Carnelian, garnet, ruby, orange calcite, protective crystals like black tourmaline 

Foods: Fresh herbs, edible flowers, dairy products, cakes (especially as fairy offerings)

Tools & items: Candles, bonfire, statues or symbols of the God and Goddess, symbols of fertility, Maypole, protective tools and symbols, fairy offerings

Elements: Fire, earth

Cardinal direction: Southeast 

Runes: Berkano, Algiz, Rhaido

Ogham: Oak (Duir), Hawthorn (Huathe)

Tarot card: The Lovers, Knight of Wands, Page of Pentacles

Zodiac: Taurus

Goddess: Bel or Belinus, Green Man, Danu, any earth Goddess, any Sun God

These correspondences largely come from my book, Understanding the Wheel of the Year. If you're looking for a simple guide for each Sabbat, you can get it here. 

Rituals for Beltane

Beltane is a rich season with many associations, so there are several ways to honor this powerful season. As always, I like to remind you that rituals are not necessary for any of the Sabbats and that sometimes the best ritual is to simply be outside. I encourage you to honor your capacity and do what calls to you the most. Furthermore, each Sabbat is a season! You can weave these rituals into your practice anytime between May 1 and the Summer Solstice. Here are three ways to connect with and honor the season of Beltane. 

Fae Offering

It's hard not to talk about faeries for Beltane! With the thinning veil at this time, the fae, or faeries, are said to be more active during Beltane. I'm not talking about the Tinkerbell-type fairies here! Faeries in Celtic lore are a different race of beings living amidst humans in a different realm. Though often portrayed as cute and helpful, some think they are better left alone. The fae are often seen as tricksters who don't always have our highest good in mind, so it's important to be mindful of them around this time and possibly even leave an offering for them. You can learn more about the fae and how to connect with them in this last post that I shared in 2021.  

It's common to give offerings to the fae during this season to connect with them or keep them happy, so they don't play tricks on you. Your offering can be unique to you. Common offerings include small cakes, cheese, a glass of milk, herbs like thyme, rosemary, yarrow, or heather, anything small and cute, or perhaps you even feel compelled to craft a little faerie garden. Place your offering on your altar, outside at a special location, or both. 

Fire Ritual

As discussed, fire is an integral part of Beltane. We see this mimicked with the connection to the Celtic God, Bel, and the use of bonfires during this season. Here are some ways to work with fire for Beltane, regardless of whether or not you have access to a bonfire. You can make this as simple or ritualized as you'd like depending on the time you have to dedicate to working with this ritual suggestion. 

Fire element card from The Ritual Deck

You'll need: 

• A source of fire, which could be a bonfire, fireplace, or a burning candle

• Herbs or wood that correspond to the season or is personally significant to you

• Match, lighter, or more traditional tool to light your fire

1. Prepare your items and take some time to connect inward. Notice your breath and body. If it is in your practice to cast a circle, call the quarters, or call in any protective allies, you can do that now. You may even consider calling in the God Belinus to be a part of your ritual. 

2. Light your fire or your candle. At the same time, you may choose to recite an invocation that feels meaningful to you. Here is an example, "I light this fire to honor and connect with the healing and protective fires of the season" or "With this fire I call upon Bel for wisdom and vitality." Beltane fires are traditionally lit with friction. If this is accessible to you and you know how to do this, that's great. I encourage you to do so! If it is not, that is okay too. 

3. Spend 5-30 minutes sitting and connecting with your fire or candle flame.

4. When you're ready to move on, add your sacred wood or herbs to the fire. If you are using a candle, you can use a cauldron to assist with burning your herbs or wood. Ask the smoke to cleanse you and bring healing. 

5. Spend some more time connecting with your fire. Here are a couple of options. 

If you have questions you'd like assistance with, consider asking the fire. Notice how the fire or flame responds after you ask it questions. Does it seem to flicker and dance or remain still? Does it move towards you or away from you? Try to lean into your intuition to decipher messages from the fire. 

Alternatively or in addition, you can connect with the fire to cultivate more energy and virility. Visualize the intensity of the fire connecting with your solar plexus area. Ask the fire to aid you in bringing in more energy and virility. Imagine your solar plexus area expanding with each breath you take. Stay here for as long as you'd like. 

6. When you feel ready to end this ritual, thank the spirit of fire and any allies you called in for connecting with you and sharing their wisdom and energy. As much as is possible, allow your fire or candle to burn out on its own. If this is not possible, you can snuff it out. Never leave your fire or a candle unattended! 

7. Optional: if you burned a larger fire, consider saving these special ashes to sprinkle over your garden, in your houseplants, or for use in future rituals. 

Honoring Pleasure

There's no shortage of pleasure and sensuality amidst this season. Beltane occurs during Taurus season, which offers a potent overlap of energies. Taurus, ruled by the planet of love, Venus, revels in physical luxuries and sensuality. We can see these same themes mirrored in the growing earth at this time, with flowers blooming, animals reproducing, and plants growing. Handfasting and weddings were and still are common occurrences during this season as well. Regardless of what your love life looks like, pleasure is something that can be cultivated with others or solo, and this is a great time to do so! 

Rose oracle card from The Ritual Deck

In a world that often frowns upon sexual liberation, I view this season as one of reclamation for all things related to pleasure and sexuality. However, this isn't just about lust and sex, though it can be. Pleasure and sexuality are powerful creative energies that can be used for positive change. Cultivating pleasure can be just as much about feeling more embodied and alive.  

How often do you let yourself feel good? Furthermore, how often do you cultivate feelings of pleasure? This season is an invitation to do just that. If feelings of shame or that you're undeserving come up, I encourage you to explore that too. Like every seasonal Sabbat, they are an opportunity to explore these themes from all angles and may stir up opportunities to explore your shadow more deeply. Here are some simple ways to honor pleasure this season. Feel free to pick and choose, try several simultaneously (my preference!), or come up with your own ideas. 

• Wear clothes that make you feel good

• Pamper yourself with a luxurious bath 

• Indulge in foods that bring you joy

• Place items in your house that invoke a sense of pleasure, like flowers or candles

• Swap massages with a partner or give yourself a self-massage

• Engage in sexual activities with a partner or yourself

• Wear or use scents in your living space that invoke feelings of pleasure

• Move your body in sensual ways through dance

Bring in some magic to any suggestions listed above by lighting an orange or red spell candle or incorporating seductive scents like rose or cinnamon. Notice how you feel after engaging in pleasurable activities like those listed above. Does it give you more energy? Does it inspire more creativity? 

I hope you feel better able to honor this special time of year! Find card spread suggestions, rituals, journal prompts, and more for each Sabbat in my book Understanding the Wheel of the Year. You can also read past posts about Beltane by clicking here. Beltane blessings!   

Full Moon in Libra Ritual

The full moon in Libra is an invitation to move into more harmony. A cardinal air sign associated with Venus, the planet of love and beauty, Libra inspires you to make space in your internal and external world to find a greater sense of peace and tranquility. By honoring the full moon in Libra, you can open yourself to guidance around what needs to go, stay, and be accepted in your life. 

Listen to this post on my podcast here.

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this full moon: Harmony, balance, beauty, peace

Element: Air

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before, of, or the day after the full moon. 

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Pen or pencil and paper

• Oracle or tarot card deck of choice

• rose quartz (or any other stone that corresponds to the heart)

• Optional: pink candle

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If you’re using a pink candle, hold it in your hands for a couple of breaths while focusing on inviting in more harmony. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too. 

2. Sit, and begin connecting with your breath. Elongate your inhales and exhales and try to make them equal in length. 

3. Close your eyes and go within. Visualize a soft pink light around your heart space. Imagine it growing with each inhale. 

4. When you feel connected to your heart space, ask aloud or within your mind, “What does my heart need to be in better harmony?” or “What does my heart want to show me right now?”. 

5. Stay in this space connecting with your heart for 5-20 minutes. When you feel ready to end this meditation, thank your heart space for anything it shared with you and open your eyes. 

6. Pick up your tarot or oracle cards, and as you shuffle, focus on the information you received from your heart space. Intuitively select two cards. Card one represents something to bring into your life, and card two represents something to release or find acceptance around. 

7. Consider displaying the cards you selected in the previous step somewhere you'll see them regularly as reminders.

8. On your paper, write down any insights you received from your meditation or your card spread about feeling more harmonious. 

9. Place your paper on a window sill or your altar with the piece of rose quartz on top for a day and night of the full moon. When complete, you can keep your paper somewhere you’ll see it often or turn it over to the earth by burying or recycling it. 

This full moon ritual can be adapted or used for any full moon or any full moon in Libra. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. Love & gratitude, Cassie

Opening to the Wisdom of East, Air, and Springtime

The Spring Equinox shifts our seasonal wheel to the East, the home of the element of air, inspiration, and new beginnings. 

In this share, you'll learn all of the delicious correspondences for this season, the significance of the season, how to deepen your connection with this season, and why you'll want to. This is a continuation of a larger series of exploring the wheel by seasons. 

If any of it sounds foreign or new, I encourage you to go back to read or listen to the episode about the North here, where I dive a little deeper into sacred wheels and their uses across cultures. 

Listen to this episode on my podcast here.

Every seasonal shift is an invitation to see the natural world as a mirror to our own lives and a call to notice how you are reflected in the natural world because you are the natural world. No matter how separate you may sometimes feel, you are nature. You are earth. Each shift is a call to remember this truth and attune yourself to these natural rhythms. 

Do you ever feel like you want a roadmap for life? Living cyclically offers a map. A map that reminds you to allow for times of expansion and growth as well as times of rest and even death and destruction. The roadmap of living cyclically with the seasons may not always be fun and exciting, but that's because life isn't always fun and exciting. Life is fucking hard sometimes, and living cyclically normalizes that truth. 

The season of Springtime, governed by the cardinal direction East, begins at the Spring Equinox and spans Beltaine until we reach Midsummer or the Summer Solstice. There are so many juicy things unfolding in this season. It's a season of action, play, and expansion! Let's explore the wisdom of the East and what this season has to offer. 

Wisdom of the East

On the sacred wheel, we shift East as we shift to the Spring Equinox. This shift also brings the beginning of a new zodiac year with Aries season. An immense burst of energy happens as we move into this season, and it's often easy to see in the natural world. It's getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and plants are starting to wake up. The earth is fertile for new life, and so are you. 

As a collective, oh, how we need some East energy! As I prepared this episode, something that stood out to me was the word humility. Being in a space of humility is very much associated with the East. There is action here, but there is also an openness and willingness to be open and allow new wisdom to permeate your being. It's a space that encourages us to be okay with not knowing. Humility seems to be something we've been missing deeply in our divided society. There's so much time and energy claiming to be the correct person with the only correct answer. I don't say this to point fingers; I certainly get caught up in it at times as well. This season reminds each of us that no one knows everything and to be open to new ideas. 

You know what I love more than anything is when someone says, "I don't know." What a breath of fresh air. This is the home of the East, the humility to continue to be open to continue to learn. We are each given this opportunity during this season to honor the not-knowingness, to sit in it, and to be open to what gifts of wisdom may want to come through.

Air Element Card from The Ritual Deck

Just as the plants begin to form buds and burst forth with life, your inner world is fertile for new growth. On a personal level, this season encourages you to open yourself up to new paths and to begin taking action. Feelings of uncertainty are a natural part of taking steps towards building something new; the East reminds us of this, that part of beginning a new path requires a certain amount of trust.

You don't wake up knowing everything that will transpire throughout your day; there are always certain unknown or out-of-control elements. The East invites you to honor this and embark on your day regardless. The tree doesn't know that it won't be struck down by lightning or some other unforeseen force as new buds and leaves grow, but it grows anyway. The tree does not sit wondering how I will grow these leaves, even amidst all the pain in the world. Rather it tends to its needs, supports life around itself, and continues to grow. We can apply this same thinking to new endeavors. Even when the path ahead is scary and unknown, you can move forward with what you do have and trust that you will know how to address situations as they arise. 

Here's a snippet from a book by one of my mentor's mentors called "Sacred Wheel of Our Ancestors" by Roberta Lee. I don't think it's in print anymore, and it's more like a pamphlet than a book, but you may be able to do some digging to find a used copy. In the chapter about the East, she says.

"It is in the East that we can call out and beg to know our paths. For this is the first step of many on this journey. However, be aware that while you search for your path, you're probably on it. If you cannot see it, it is likely that it is because you walk it. If you do see it, perhaps you are not there as yet. So take that step.

This is the place of surrender, of abandonment to the Great Mystery, of life itself. It is a commitment; certainly, a sense of risk accompanies us as we face the East. Dare to look into that sunrise, sense the warmth and healing of the sun as it begins its daily journey across our sky."

Sacred Wheel of Our Ancestors by Roberta Lee

East Correspondences

There are so many beautiful ways to connect with the energy of the east. Springtime itself is something that so many look forward to, so it's the ideal season to simply enjoy nature. If it doesn't yet feel like spring where you are, or you'd like to get in touch with the energy of the East in a different season, here are some ways to honor this season through corresponding energies or energies that match each other. 

• Moon Phase: Waxing crescent

• Phase of life: Childhood / the Maiden

• Themes: Play, joy, curiosity, fertility, growth, expansion

• Color: Yellow

• Element: Air

• Time of Year: Springtime

• Time of day: Dawn

• Items and tools: Flowers, eggs, herbal smoke, feathers, fresh herbs, rabbits, and hares

• Crystals: Kyanite, citrine, quartz

• Tarot: Suit of swords

• Ogham: Nuin/Ash and Huathe/Hawthorne

Air and East oracle cards from The Ritual Deck

Rituals to Connect with East

1. Honoring your inner child with play

Opening ourselves up to new ideas and wisdom can be hard. As we grow older, we tend to get more and more set in our ways for most of us. On a physiological level, our brains are less able to learn new things. It takes more of a conscious effort to open yourself up to learn new things. One of the secrets to being able to do this is allowing yourself to be open and receptive, and play is a powerful way to get into this receptive state of being. 

We already know that young children learn through play. Why is that? Play forces us to be in the moment, which opens us to new ideas and ways of being. It allows us to temporarily let go of all of the things we feel we need to carry as an adult—the money, job, responsibilities, and so on. Play is an opportunity to distance ourselves from all of these storylines and be present in a different way. Play is unpredictable and therefore fosters experiences of new insights. It cracks us open in a way. 

Explore "Journey to Your Inner Child" guided journey and workbook.

I'm fortunate to have two 3-year-olds in my life, so I'm frequently given opportunities to engage in play. Even with my two little busybodies, I still have to remind myself to let go of all the weights and stories I'm carrying and just be with them. Like everything, play can take some practice too. 

The way you decide to engage with play, children or not, will be unique to you. I encourage you to take some quiet moments to reflect inward and ask yourself what would feel like a playful and freeing activity to engage in. It may be on your own, with your kids, or with a partner. Consider thinking about what your favorite playful activities were when you were young. There's no wrong way to do this and no desired outcomes. Your only goal is to allow yourself to be in the energy of play, whatever that looks like for you. 

Here are some soft suggestions if you feel stuck. 

• Draw, paint, or color with no desired outcome 

• Cook or bake a new dish that excites you

• Turn on some fun music and move your body

• Make something with recycled materials

• Learn a new song and sing it to a friend or some plants

• Play a game solo, with family or friends

• Explore a new area of your city 

• Draw, paint, or color with no desired outcome 

• Cook or bake a new dish that excites you

• Turn on some fun music and move your body

• Make something with recycled materials

• Learn a new song and sing it to a friend or some plants

• Play a game solo, with family or friends

• Explore a new area of your city 

Another way to honor your inner child is to bring healing to your inner child. So many of us carry wounds related to trauma that happened to us as young children. There are several ways to approach inner child healing, one way is therapy, but there’s also a lot you can do on your own. Personally, I found a lot of healing through EMDR therapy, but I’ve also approached my inner child healing from a spiritual perspective as well by journeying to parts of my childhood that needed healing.

If this is an approach you’d like to try I held a group guided journey for this that’s now available in the shop. Of course, you can do this on your own as well, but if you’d like some support there’s a workbook and recording to help guide you through it. Click here to explore it. 

2. Connecting with the maiden of the Triple Goddess

We have the maiden, mother, and crone in our triplicity of Goddess archetypes. Each phase carries its own unique energies with both negative and positive attributes. The maiden aligns with the waxing crescent moon, steeped in exploratory and expansive energy. The maiden honors seek to expand, learn and grow in new ways. They do not shirk away from pleasure and rather lean into it. 

You do not need to be a particular age to lean into this energy; it can be called upon at any time in your life regardless of age and gender. This season is an opportunity to notice your relationship with the maiden and lean into it. How do you feel when in the presence of someone who feels safe and empowered in their sexuality and pleasure? Does it make you feel uncomfortable, angry, or do you celebrate them? The way you respond or feel when presented with the energy of the maiden can be a big indication of what your relationship is like with yourself in this area. 

Aphrodite card from The Goddess Oracle

There are many ways you can connect with the maiden energy. One way is to connect with maiden Goddesses. Every culture has maiden Goddesses, and I encourage you to explore Goddesses in line with your heritage. Here are some of my favorites that I often work with at this time. 

Eostre is a Germanic and Norse Goddess of the Springtime. The first written history of Eostre did not come about until a Christian monk named Bede wrote about her in 725 AD. This doesn't mean she wasn't around before this, but we don't have any evidence that she was. Eostre embodies the energy of fertility and growth. She's strongly associated with eggs and hares, both symbols of fertility. 

Freya and Frigg, a Norse Goddess (who some separate as two separate Goddesses) associated with pleasure, sexuality, and magic. Freya simply means lady, while Frigg comes from a root word for "beloved." We can even see Freya's connection with love and pleasure even today on our weekdays. Friday, the day of the week corresponding with love and romance, comes from the "day of Frigg."

Aphrodite and Ishtar are also associated with love and pleasure, which can be powerful to connect with or learn about at this time. Aphrodite is a Greek Goddess who many believe was modeled from the Middle Eastern Goddess of love, sexuality, and battle. 

There are so many ways to connect with and honor different Goddesses at this time. Consider meditating or journeying to connect with them. You could set up an altar to honor and celebrate them or learn about them. If you're feeling overwhelmed with which Goddess to connect with, I encourage you to go within and open yourself up to connecting with a maiden Goddess to see who and what comes through. We all have connections to different deities through our heritage, and sometimes the best way to connect is by honoring your inherent wisdom. 

If connecting with deities isn't in your practice, consider meditating during the waxing moon phase, exploring your sexuality, or working with magical tools that invoke a sense of pleasure and fertility to connect with the energy of the maiden.

3. Connecting with the element of air

The element associated with this season is air, so honoring and connecting with this element is a potent way to feel into this season. Air is such a unique element. Unlike the other elements, we can't see air. We can see its effects as it swirls about, but we cannot see air itself. This truth brings a unique energy to this element and how we connect with it. 

The air element is an active and outward-facing force that sets things in motion. It is also clearing but not the same healing way that water is. Rather, it brushes aside things so that we may be permeated more deeply. Air aims to mix and swirl about our perceived realities so we can see things from a new perspective. 

I think it's important to note that as we shift into Springtime and East on the wheel, we simultaneously move into the fire sign of Aries. We all know what happens with fire gets some extra air; it grows, it gets bigger. I see it as another beautiful expression of the power of this season. 

When out of balance, air can push us towards overthinking, anxiety, and lack of focus. Air can be overwhelming. We can see this quite easily in the suit of swords in the tarot, which corresponds with the element of air. In many ways, the suit of swords is one of the more feared suits. There's so much pain and mental anguish present on the cards. 

It's as powerful as a sword when you learn to engage with air in a more controlled way. Wielding the force of air allows you to cut through perceived realities and see new pathways. Air is the gracious idea bringer, and your job is to discern what's for you and what isn't. Air gives you the voice to say what needs to be said with truth and compassion. Air, though invisible, has the power to knock over buildings or subtle enough to blow out a candle. 

A powerful exercise to cozy up with the element of air and the tarot is to spend some time with the queen and king of swords. Notice how they appear so sovereign in their ability to control their chosen tool. This tool goes for any of the elements. The Kings and Queens of the suits show us what each element looks and feels like in its most exalted form. 

Beyond the tarot, I love experiencing the element of the air outside. Notice how the air feels against your skin, what it stirs within you, and how it makes you feel. I start so many days looking outside and noticing how the trees are moving from the air. I use it as a form of divination, a little nudge to be more still or to get busy. I've received so many messages from my "tree friends" by way of how the air moves them. I love visualizing the air clearing away blocks and stuck energy so that I may see and know more clearly. 

With spring upon us, I hope you can find time to be outside amidst the air, to feel it blow through your hair and over your body. I hope you can allow it to push aside any stories you need a break from so you can see things from new and playful perspectives. I hope you can honor your inner child and the maiden within you, calling out for play and pleasure. 

Full Moon in Virgo Ritual

The full moon in service-oriented Virgo offers an opportunity to celebrate your skills and release anything holding you back from using them. A mutable earth sign, practical and nurturing Virgo encourages you to explore how leaning into your abilities could better serve your community.

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this full moon: Sovereignty, service, nurturing, practicality, releasing what doesn’t serve yourself and others

Element: Earth

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before the full moon, the day of the full moon, or the day after the full moon. 

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Pen or pencil and paper

• Moss agate, tree agate, or any other earthy stone you have available (a common stone from your yard or neighborhood is sufficient)

1. This ritual will encourage you to tune into the skills that make you feel independent, what you may need to release to start leaning into these skills, and how you can share them with others. Prepare your items and connect with the breath and body. If it is in your practice to cast a circle or create sacred space, do that as well.

2. Have your stone nearby, close your eyes, if you feel safe to, and go within. Ask aloud or in your mind, “What skills make me feel independent and helpful?”

3. Take some time, five minutes or more if you like, to sit in this space of celebrating your abilities and the things in your life that make you feel free, autonomous, and of service.

4. If you’re not already, hold your stone in your hands as you take some time, five minutes or more, to see what comes to you in this space. As things come to mind, visualize their energy pouring into the stone you’re holding. 

5. Now ask, aloud or in your mind, “What do I need to release to lean into these skills more fully so I can be of better service to myself and others?”

6. When you feel ready to end this meditation, take some time to write out anything that came to mind to release that may help you feel better able to lean into your skills. 

7. When you’re done, release the paper in a way that feels significant to you. You can burn, bury, compost, or flush it down the toilet.

8. After the full moon, keep the stone as a reminder of what makes you feel independent and how to use it to be of service to others. Anytime you’re feeling disempowered or like your skills don’t matter, hold your stone as a reminder of what makes you, you. 

9. Consider placing your stone out under the light of the Virgo full moon to help amplify your ability to accept and use your skills to be of service to yourself and your community. 

This full moon ritual can be adapted or used for any full moon or any full moon in Virgo. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. 

Why trusting your intuition isn't the problem

Have you ever disregarded an intuitive hit or a psychic or spiritual experience more out of fear rather than a doubt? There's a weight that comes with accepting spiritual experiences as truth that goes so much deeper than just trusting your intuition, and I think it deserves a deeper look. Underneath the phrase "trust your intuition" or "trust your gut" is often a very real fear that you'll be judged, deemed crazy, or worse for honoring your intuitive and psychic experiences.   

You are not flawed if you struggle to trust your intuition. Rather, you are likely reacting to a very real threat response stored in your body from your life and your ancestors. 

Today I want to discuss why you are, by design, likely to not trust your intuition or other psychic experiences. 

Listen to this episode on my podcast Awen Guided by Spirit here.

Underneath a possible fear of being judged, there's something else lurking in the shadows, fear of mental and physical harm, violence, being locked up or deemed as crazy, and even death. The truth is, for most of us, we've experienced some degree of this or know family members who have. Beyond that, there's a history of judgment and violence that's happened to spiritual folks from all walks of life that I believe lives within each of us to a certain degree. 

Do you think you'd be able to be more trusting of your intuitive, psychic, and spiritual experiences if you didn't carry any fears around them? I want to make a case for giving ourselves more grace and taking a deeper look at what's underneath the knee-jerk reaction to blame our lack of trust in our intuitive voices. I want to invite you to begin focusing on what is underneath the lack of trust at the very real fears you may have around accepting your intuitive and psychic experiences as truth. 

Before we dive in, I also want to stress that I don't think anyone needs to stop saying, "trust your intuition," but I would invite you to notice when you're saying or thinking it and ask if it should be accompanied with some nuance, which we'll discuss later. 

I'm going to start this share a little differently and begin with some personal experiences that have led me to this discussion. Then we'll look more closely at why the phrase "trust your intuition" is not the issue and what to do about it. 

The Death of Crazy Older Woman

I often hear from folks who worry that they are going crazy or that others will think they're crazy because they receive psychic information or have had spiritual experiences. This is something I'm quite familiar with too. As someone who grew up around an uncle and a grandfather with untreated Schizophrenia, I've always been very aware of my mental health. 

The fear of being labeled as "crazy" is not unfounded. The very word "lunatic" is based on a belief that different phases of the moon could cause "lunacy" or "madness," and the term hysteria comes from the Greek word for the uterus, hystera. This is just scratching the surface. In many ways, we, especially those who identify as women, are conditioned to believe that our intuitive and spiritual experiences are madness rather than a gift. 

I will share a series of psychic and spiritual experiences I had and how they helped me see my gifts from a different viewpoint. I also want to note that I wholeheartedly honor and believe that mental illness is real. If you are concerned about mental illness, I encourage you to talk to your doctor or a therapist. This is not a black and white issue; it is an issue with a sea of grey areas. I've worked with a therapist at different times in my life and have mentors in my spiritual practice and run many of my spiritual experiences by both of them.

In my healing sessions with clients, I began being confronted by an angry and wild older woman. Upon the first visit, I assumed this woman was associated with the client I was working with, but nothing about this woman seemed to connect for my client. The following week, the same woman showed up again during another session. At this point, I knew she was for me, so I asked her to leave so I could connect with her later. 

I later journeyed to the north to connect with my ancestors and also this older woman who'd been intruding in my sessions. She was there along with others, again acting very erratic. From the others there, I understood the purpose of this angry crone.

She was the part of me afraid to step more fully into my power and abilities. This was my opportunity to heal this part of myself. If you would have asked me before these experiences if I was afraid to step fully into my power, I'm sure I would have told you "no." However, this hag came through to tell me otherwise. She came through to open my eyes to the centuries of pain, so many before me have experienced for doing what I'm doing now. She wanted to bring my attention to the ancestral pain I'd been carrying that needed to be addressed and released more fully. 

During this journey, with the aid of my well ancestors and guides, I knew it was time to allow this version of myself and the hag to die. I told her it was okay to leave, that I no longer needed to carry the energy of being labeled "crazy," and that I could accept my gifts from a place of power. She laid down with a smile on her face as we all thanked her for her protection. For the rest of the journey, my ancestors and I placed beautiful flowers all over her still body and danced as I felt her energy shift and integrate back into my body as healed. 

Upon leaving this space, I knew something powerful had happened. I knew that part of this experience was an invitation to heal wounds connected to myself through my ancestors. It was an experience bigger than me. It was a call to bring healing to those who came before me who could not express their true spiritual nature openly. I could feel it in my body and in the tears that I shed that something big had shifted. 

In the coming months, I later journeyed to the Annwn, the lower world, and was greeted again by an old hag. But this time, she was calm, still, and had a palpable sense of power. I've had some of the most intense spiritual and psychic experiences of my life since working with her. I won't go into detail here as I'm still processing and integrating these new experiences into my being and practice. I do not doubt that these new experiences result from beginning to heal and release these older wounds and fears. 

The problem with "trust your intuition"

So much has come up and been revealed to me after these experiences. One thing that I've been more mindful of is my use of the phrase "trust your intuition." It leaves out the nuance of why so many of us have difficulty trusting our intuition. 

Now, as I said, I'm not saying you shouldn't say this phrase. I mean, I have oracle cards and books that say "trust your intuition." What I am saying is that trusting your intuition is complex. I want to encourage more folks to spend time honoring and exploring why it can be so challenging to trust our intuition rather than accepting it as an innate flaw. 

I've already started catching myself in situations where I've wanted to say, "trust your intuition!" and thought about if there's a better question to ask. I think in many cases, there are. For example, "What is your intuition telling you about the situation?", "What would it feel like for you to honor this intuitive experience?", "What fears do you have around trusting this intuition?" or "What kind of support do you need to feel able to trust this experience?"

Let's try something right now to explore some of the nuances of the phrase "trust your intuition." If you're in a space where you can go within, I invite you to close your eyes if that feels safe and begin imagining what a world might look and feel like with some shifts. 

Imagine you live in a world without organized religion where you could decide for yourself what a connection to spirit looks and feels like. Imagine that the burning times did not happen in Europe. If your lineage is from Africa, what would your world look and feel like if your ancestors were not taken from your land and you had a deeper connection with the spiritual practices that your ancestors practiced? If you're native to the so-called United States, Canada, or Australia, how would you feel if your land and practices were not taken from you if your ancestors weren't killed for their spiritual practices? How would you feel if it was a common and accepted practice and express your spiritual beliefs openly without the weight of these past harms that continue today in many ways? 

How does it feel in your body to imagine a world without these past and present experiences? Now, in this space, ask yourself how it would feel to trust your intuition or to claim your spiritual gifts? Does it feel easier or less scary? Notice how your relationship to your spirituality shifts when you imagine a world like this. 

I hope that whatever your ancestral lineage is, you can take a few minutes to sit in the energy and feeling of what it would be like to have full agency over your spiritual path and experiences and not carry the weight of the pain from those who were harmed before you. 

Though it may seem extreme to tie things that happened to our ancestors to your ability to trust your intuition as truth, I believe it's worth exploring. Not only have I found great benefit in understanding and working with these blocks, but we're starting to see some scientific evidence that backs this up. The study of epigenetics has begun to show a connection between our lived experiences and how they relate to the experiences of our ancestors. 

I am not an expert in epigenetics by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm not going to dive into that here. This share is based solely on my personal experiences around this topic. However, it's always exciting to hear how the scientific community can name things that many have already known to be true. I certainly encourage anyone interested in learning more about epigenetics to further research the topic. 

It's important for me to point out, as a white woman, the extreme need for nuance and to be right-sized about the ancestral wounds that other European-Americans and I have. Today, in this body, I am the colonizer, living on stolen land, with a line of ancestors who no doubt had their hand in murdering and stripping away spiritual practices of the indigenous people of this land. 

Here's the thing, the harms that have been inflicted upon me and my ancestors and the pain that myself and my ancestors have inflicted on others can exist both exist. I can have my wounds while also acknowledging my participation in causing harm. I can work to heal and honor my wounds while also actively dismantling white supremacy and the patriarchy. Both can and need to exist in the same space. We'll continue to cause harm based on our unhealed trauma if they don't. 

Healing the wounds that keep you from honoring your intuitive gifts

Let's dive into some ways to bring more nuance to the topic of trusting your intuition and explore possibilities for you to encourage healing wounds connected to your intuitive or psychic abilities. 

These offerings can be helpful if you've experienced uncertainty or fear around your intuitive or psychic abilities. I think some of these suggestions are also powerful ways to bring healing to your ancestral lineage as well.  

The suggestions I share here are ones that I've personally explored in my spiritual practice. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. Each of our experiences and paths is unique, and I do not believe that there's a single "correct" pathway to honor and heal the wounds that keep so many of us from honoring our gifts more fully. 

1. Connect with your ancestry and spiritual roots. 

Connecting more deeply with spiritual practices in line with your heritage, if available, can offer potent medicine to healing wounds around honoring and accepting your spiritual gifts. I realize this isn't possible for everyone. Some of us do not know our heritage for various reasons, including being adopted or that your ancestors were forcibly taken from their native land. 

If you can learn more about the spiritual practices that were honored by your ancestors through a family tree or a DNA test, I've found that it can offer a lot of healing. I know, for me, these pathways did not open up until I became more fully absorbed in a path connected to my heritage. I also think learning more about your ancestry gives each of us more context about what our ancestors have gone through, especially regarding spiritual practices. 

I want to honor that doing this can be easier for some than others. For most of us, the spiritual practices honored by our ancestors have gone through various stages of erasure. I encourage you to be gentle with yourself as you navigate through this kind of discovery and to do what you can with what you have. 

2. Journeying to the north or ancestral meditations

If journeying is a part of your practice, the north is the home of your ancestors and can certainly open up pathways to this work as well. If you're unfamiliar with journeying, you can also explore meditations to connect with your ancestors. Learning about your ancestry is one thing but experiencing it within the realm of non-ordinary reality is an entirely different thing that can offer deeper wisdom and healing on a more physical level.

This is something I offered earlier this year, so if you do feel like you'd like some more support doing some guided journeys to the north, you can begin the process of this work. Learn more about "Journey to your Ancestors" or get it here.

I often tell those I serve not to be discouraged if you don't have a powerful experience right away with a journey or a meditation. The experience I shared earlier in this post resulted from several journeys to the north. If you are struggling with connecting and want to start opening the doors to a deeper connection with your ancestors, I encourage you to start an altar dedicated to your well ancestors to help you engage with their energy. 

3. Journal prompts and contemplations

I think there are a lot of questions we can start asking ourselves to become more aware of why we may be struggling to trust our intuitive and psychic experiences as truth. Here are some questions to think or journal about to explore this topic more deeply. 

- When I experience an intuitive hit or experience, what are my initial thoughts about it? 

- What fears, concerns or worries arise within me when I think about sharing intuitive or psychic experiences with others? 

- If I experience an aversion to an intuitive or psychic experience, where does it manifest in my body? Where do I feel it, and what does it feel like? 

- What have I learned throughout my life about trusting my intuitive and psychic experiences as truth? 

- Do I have fears of losing friends family members, of being judged, or of being harmed by honoring or expressing my intuitive or psychic experiences? 

- What kind of support do I feel like I need to feel safe when I honor and explore my intuitive or psychic abilities. 

The next time you receive an intuitive nudge or have a spiritual experience, I invite you to notice what comes up for you immediately following it and consider applying some of these questions to any reactions you have. These questions could also be used for some powerful card spreads. 

4. Breathwork, somatics, and energy healing

Sometimes deeper healing like this may require time to step out of the thinking mind. Breathwork, somatic healing, and energy healing are three powerful ways to do this. Our thinking minds can get in the way sometimes and quite literally block us from the wounds that need healing. 

If you feel like you want support in uncovering wounds that may be blocking you from honoring your intuitive abilities more fully, breathwork, somatic healing, and energy healing can all be powerful ways to tune into these parts of yourself. I already shared a much longer episode that dives into many of these techniques, called "What is energy work and do you need it?" click here to read it.

I come across blocks of this nature in my clients often. If this speaks to you or you feel you'd like support in this area, you can book an energy healing session with me here. 

I also want to mention Tori Feldman's work with her business Sacred Ancestry. I've not taken any of her courses, but it seems like she offers some very specific one-to-one and group programs for healing ancestral wounds. 

A call for more grace and nuance around trusting intuition

Most humans do not spend a lot of time exploring non-ordinary reality. A beautiful lesson I've learned from my mentor, Robin Afinowich, is to give myself a lot of grace as I navigate through new spiritual experiences. She often reminds me that our human brains, especially in this society, are not accustomed to making sense of nonsensical things, which is often how we experience intuitive and psychic experiences.  

The spiritual world does not follow the same rules as the physical world. It's non-ordinary and even nonsensical at times. It makes perfect sense that it will often require more time and patience to wrap our minds around intuitive and psychic experiences, especially if you have trauma, past and present, around expressing spiritual experiences. 

I offer all of this as a gentle reminder to be kind to yourself and others. Each of us has a different past that brought us to where we are today. Those past experiences, both in this lifetime and beyond, have affected our abilities to honor our spiritual abilities. What works for you to learn how to trust your intuition will undoubtedly look different for others.

So yes, please trust your intuition, but if you're struggling to do so, it is not a flaw. It may be an opportunity to heal. 

New Moon in Pisces Ritual

The new moon in Pisces is an invitation to feel and honor your emotional world and be open to spiritual growth through love. As a mutable water sign, Pisces energy encourages you to celebrate your sensitivities. Coupled with the new moon, it promotes open and inquisitive exploration of your sensitive nature, even when it feels hard. 

This new moon is a call to touch into your heart space where you can honor your spiritual journey through a lens of love and compassion. It can often feel difficult or unsafe to feel into our hearts in a world with so much complexity, but this new moon wants to offer you a container to do just that and asks you to breathe more love into your spiritual practice.

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this new moon: honoring emotions, allowing feelings, being open to spiritual growth through love, 

Element: Water

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. 

You’ll need: 

• 20-40 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Cup of water

• Optional: rose quartz

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too.

2. Sit, close your eyes, and begin to connect with your breath and body. If you’re working with rose quartz crystal, you can hold it or place it near you to help you tune into your heart space.

3. In this space, allow yourself to feel into the realm of your heart space and your emotions. Notice what surfaces and allow yourself to feel. Stay here for as long as you want to or are able.

4. Notice how these emotions feel in your body, where they show up in the body any qualities they have. 

5. When you feel ready, ask aloud or in your mind, “How can these emotions help me live from a place of love and inform my spiritual path?” Breathe and allow your mind to take you where it wants to go. Be open to visualizations, messages, or feelings that may arise. 

6. When you feel ready to come out of your meditation, pick up your cup of water and hold it in your hands at your heart space. Visualize the love you feel going into the water. 

7. Take a drink of the water and then pour some outside as an offering of love to the world and all its inhabitants. 

8. Optional: Place your piece of rose quartz into the water if you used it, and then place your cup of water on an altar or sacred space as a reminder of your commitment to move from a place of love. Allow it to stay there until the full moon. The moon has a special relationship with water and will help magnify your intention. 

This new moon ritual can be adapted or used for any new moon or new moon in Pisces. As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

Full Moon in Leo Ritual

The full moon in Leo is an opportunity to cultivate more joy in your life through authentic creative expression. The energy of Leo encourages you to seek out what lights you up and to do more of that. The energy of this moon is both intense and playful. Leo brings a sense of not caring what others think and encourages authentic creative expression. 

Leo’s planetary correspondence is the sun, so this full moon can feel especially intense because, in many ways, it carries the opposite energy of the moon. You may feel pulled to express yourself in ways that feel good but may seem out of character for you. This lunation is a call to explore and revel in playful and creative acts that your heart and soul are calling out for. 

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this full moon: Self-expression, creativity, play, and joy

Element: fire

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before, the day of, or the day after the full moon. 

You’ll need: 

• 20-60 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• A candle (orange, red, or yellow chime/spell candle is ideal, but any candle will do!)

• Creative tool of choice: Music to dance to, tools to draw or paint with, pen/paper to write with, an instrument to make music with, or something else you find creative

• Optional: Sunstone or citrine

1. This ritual will encourage you to tune into your inner light for creative inspiration to cultivate more joy. Some questions to consider. Are there any creative activities you love but haven’t given yourself the time to enjoy or that you’ve felt called to but are nervous to try?

2. You will be invited to create in a way that feels joyful to you. Dancing, singing, writing, painting, or anything you consider creative is great.

Prepare and collect any items you’ll need for this ritual. Once you have everything nearby and ready, take time to arrange your items around you and tune into your breath and body. Create a sacred space in a way that feels good to you. Cast a circle if it is in your practice. 

3. If you’re using a candle, hold it in your hands, close your eyes, and call in the intention to express yourself from a place of joy and for you to experience joy. Light your candle (never leave your candle unattended.)

4. Close your eyes and go within for about 2-5 minutes. If you’re working with sunstone or citrine, you can hold it at this time. Visualize a light radiating from your solar plexus area. Visualize the light of the full moon, helping this area to glow brighter and take up more space. Notice how it feels to tune into this area and feel it fill up with light. 

5. In this space, ask for inspiration to create authentically from your soul in a way that will bring you joy.

6. When you feel ready, begin creating using your tools of choice. Dance, sing, paint, draw, cross-stitch, play an instrument, write, or do whatever your heart desires to express itself creatively. 

7. Allow yourself to explore and experience this act of creativity for as long as you want to and can. 

8. When you feel complete, take some time to turn inwards again. Notice how your body feels and honor yourself for taking this time for joy and creativity. 

9. If you created something physical, consider placing it on your altar as an offering to your joy and to any guides or ancestors. 

10. Take a few moments to close your sacred space. If your candle has not fully burned, snuff it out and consider revisiting this ritual at a later time. 

This full moon ritual can be adapted or used for any full moon or any full moon in Leo. As always, take what you like and leave the rest! In love and gratitude, Cassie

Honoring Imbolc and Brigid

Imbolc is our collective season of hope and renewal. I liken it to the star card after the tower. We've been deep in the cauldron throughout Samhain and Yule, and with the arrival of Imbolc, we can start to see the slightest stirrings of life and an increase in sunlight. Imbolc brings a palpable sense of renewed energy in the air.

In this share, you'll learn more about what Imbolc is, common correspondences, and ways to connect with the Goddess Brigid through ritual for the season. 

What is Imbolc?

On the wheel of the year, Imbolc is the midway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. It occurs on February 1st and 2nd in the Northern hemisphere and August 1st and 2nd in the Southern Hemisphere. Imbolc translates to "in the belly," which refers to a couple of things for this season. This season is often called "the quickening," which relates to the time in utero when the mother first begins to feel movement from her baby. The earth is starting to show signs of first stirrings as well. The second reference is that ewes often gave birth during this season, which was of utmost importance to our ancestors as it provided nutrient-rich milk to those in the community.

Imbolc is a time to tend to your hearth, home, and physical well-being on a personal and energetic level. It's also a time to tune into feelings of hope and renewal. Imbolc energy aligns with the early stages of a freshly waxing moon. It's a time to explore what's inspiring you and cultivate more of that inspiration. If you have specific goals or intentions in mind for the year ahead, this season is the time to form a solid plan and begin taking action. Like all seasonal celebrations, there's also a theme of community that weaves through Imbolc, which I find is often overlooked but important. 

Listen to this post on my podcast, AwenGuided by Spirit, here.

The Goddess Brigid, who we'll discuss in more detail, is strongly tied to this season. She is a Goddess of healing, fire, and the hearth. She brings inspiration and a renewed sense of hope like the season itself. 

As always, I encourage you to honor these shifts when you feel called. There are no hard rules for honoring the wheel and the seasons. Trust your intuition. Your connection with nature is the most important part of working with the wheel. Each season is unique to you and your climate. 

I live in Arizona, and people often ask how I connect with the seasons here when it's just sunny all day every day. Especially for seasons like Imbolc, when my ancestors were likely dealing with bitter cold and snowfall. The short answer is that I can assure you that if you're spending regular time outside, you will see shifts and changes for every season on the wheel. 

For example, not all trees lose their leaves here, but many do, and it is around Imbolc that those trees begin sprouting new growth. Another way I notice the shifts in each season, which has nothing to do with the temperature outside, is the length and orientation of the sun. No matter where you live, the sun is beginning to shine a little longer each day. In my house, I can see the sunrise from our kitchen window, and for a couple of hours every morning, we have to close our blinds a bit because the sunlight comes in so brightly. It's a physical reminder that the season of Brigid is coming. If you live in a climate that differs from Northern Europe, I invite you to begin noticing subtle changes like where the sunlight comes in your windows at different times of the year. 

Now, let's take some time to explore the Goddess Brigid and her role in this season. 

Who is Brigid

Imbolc belongs to the Goddess Brigid, the Goddess of home, healing, fire, and smithcraft (among many other things.) Brigid is one of the most well-loved and recognized Goddesses of the Celtic pantheon. So much so that she survived the test of time and Christianity she even was adopted into Christianity as St. Brigid. She goes by many names, and you'll likely hear other pronunciations that may include Brigid, Brighid, Brigantia, and so many others. All of them are correct options. I'll be referring to her as Brigid here today. 

There are two translations associated with Brigid. One is "exalted one," and the other is "fiery arrow" as you'll see, she lives up to both of these names. She was said to have been born with light radiating out from around her and fed milk from a sacred cow as a baby. Both milk and light are sacred to Imbolc and Brigid. She is a Goddess of birth and fertility and is often called upon during childbirth as a protective aid. Healing is another strong theme for Brigid. There are sacred fires and healing springs dedicated to Brigid throughout the British isles. 

Here's an excerpt from the book Brigid by Courtney Weber that beautifully captures Brigid's robust and contrasting energy.

This is the Goddess of the forge and the anvil, of poets, painters, and prophets. She is a Goddess of healing as well as battle, of fire but also water, love and death. She blesses small animals, guards orphaned children, and challenges authority. She has crossed the chasm of regional land Goddess to Christian saint and back again to contemporary Goddess of global scope. Distinct as the multitude of tongues that speak her name, and deeply rooted in creation, destruction, regeneration, and sometimes contradiction - this is Brigid.

Courtney Weber, Brigid

Brigid essentially took a "demotion" to continue to live on as St. Brigid as Christianity spread throughout Europe. Perhaps she knew she'd be reborn again in her full sovereignty in the hearts and minds of people across the globe. Another interesting point about Brigid is her connection to the sun and fire, which are often associated with Gods and masculine energy. She offers us a reminder not to become so rigid in the masculine vs. feminine energy binary or perhaps to let it go completely. We all contain these elemental energies regardless of how we identify ourselves. The forceful and action-oriented energies associated with fire can and should be owned by all. Brigid holds the power of fire, the inspiration of air, the healing powers of water, and the regenerative power of earth. She uses these elements from a seat of power and wisdom and invites us to do so. 

Copyright Cassie Uhl 2022, please credit when sharing.

We'll discuss more ways to connect with Brigid through ritual this season but first, let's explore common correspondences because they will very much come into play for the rituals. 

Correspondences for Imbolc

Understanding the correspondences of each season brings in so many additional layers. It also empowers you to craft your own rituals each season. In this section, I will share some common correspondences for the season and dive a little deeper into the overlaps between Imbolc, tarot, and astrology. 

Think of this list as a buffet of options to choose from to help you build personal meaning around the season of Imbolc. As always, if there are seasonal things unique to your environment, add that to your list of correspondences for the season. For example, here in the desert where I live, all of the citrus trees are fruiting and ripening at this time. Citrus fruits are certainly not a standard correspondence for this season, but they are for me. 

Themes: Renewal, new beginnings, hearth, home, cleansing, health, inspiration

Colors: White, green, yellow

Moon phase: waxing crescent

Herbs & Plants: rosemary, basil, bay leaf, angelica

Crystals: moss agate, quartz, green aventurine, kyanite, citrine, green opal

Foods: Milk, cheese, butter

Tools & items: Brigid's cross, white cloth, candles, fire, besom

Elements: Fire, earth, air

Cardinal direction: North East

Runes: Uruz, Kenaz 

Ogham: Birch, Rowan, Ash

Tarot card: The Star

Zodiac: Aquarius

Goddess: Brigid

Most of these come from my book, Understanding the Wheel of the Year. Grab it here if you'd like a handy physical guide of the correspondences for each season. 

Bringing in physical objects, like the ones I mention, in your altar or even as decorations in your home is a way to invite in the energy of the season. Working with altars in this way is a powerful way to build relationships with each season.

There are ways to work with these correspondences on an energetic level. At the beginning of this share, I brought up how Imbolc is much like the start card in the tarot. I find that Imbolc carries the same energy as the star card. Imbolc also falls within Aquarius season, the astrological correspondence for the star card. In the tarot, the light increases after the tower card. We start with the star, the moon, and then the sun. If we compare this to our seasons, we have the sun's increasing light with Imbolc, the Spring Equinox, and Beltane. 

I find that this season, and the coming seasons, are a potent time to explore themes surrounding the increasing light after the tower card in the tarot. There are a lot of layers to explore, and I think exploring the star card more deeply through meditation, journaling, or reading, can be a great place to start. I know that was a bit of a departure from the rest of this share, but I wanted to bring it up.

Let's talk rituals for this season because there are so many! You can already find a few Imbolc rituals on past blog posts. Here are some favorites. 

Rituals for Imbolc

In this section, you'll learn a few ways to connect with the energy of this season through ritual. We'll discuss candle magic, a ritual to connect with the Goddess Brigid, and some suggestions for cleansing yourself and your space in preparation for this season. 

Candle Magick for Imbolc

Imbolc has a strong theme of fire and inspiration, which makes candle magick a powerful option for this season. The sun's light is finally increasing at this time, it's a season of inspiration and taking action, and the Goddess Brigid embodies the energy of fire. 

One of the simplest and most powerful ways to connect with the energy of this season and Brigid is through candle magic. Something as simple as lighting a candle with intention can help you call in inspiration, honor Brigid, and honor the sun. Last year, I shared a full blog post and reel with steps to perform an inspiration ritual to call on Brigid for inspiration. Find the past blog post here and the reel here. If you're feeling uninspired, don't know what direction to go, or are experiencing a creative block, I encourage you to explore themes of inspiration through working with candles.

Watch a reel of this candle ritual here.

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Here's an excerpt from The Magical Year by Danu Forest about working with candles of this season. 

To call in inspiration is to begin to see our life infused with spirit, to discover a new or renewed vision for greater creativity on all levels. To call in healing is to resolve the things that hold us back or limit our potential. We all have parts of our lives and bodies that need healing, and to give this aspect of ourselves a boost at this time of the year sets us up for a more empowered and happier future. To call in the blessings of the hearth or the forge at this time summons greater positive energy for our families, friends, and communities, with all our relationships, strengthened and blessed. 

Danu Forest, The Magical Year

Who doesn't need a little bit of that right now? This is one of the reasons I love candle work so much. Candles are such a powerful way to foster inspiration. Working with candles for ritual can also be so creative. You can keep it simple, or you can anoint your candles with oil, dress them with herbs, or add crystals on it or around it. There's a lot of room for play and experimentation with candles. If working with candles is new to you, I have some great past posts on the blog to get you started. Click here to check them out. 

Brigid Healing Ritual 

As we discussed above, Brigid is also a Goddess of healing. One of the many reasons she was associated with the season of Imbolc is because this was a very challenging time for our ancestors living in Northern Europe. It is still quite cold this time of year for many people. For our ancestor's food may have been in short supply at this point of the year, and disease may have been spreading as well. Imbolc is a season of hope because nature shows its first signs of waking up. A celebration dedicated to the healing powers of Brigid would be warmly welcomed for our ancestors at this time. 

A common ritual at Imbolc is to place a white cloth outside on the eve of Imbolc. Brigid is said to bless and infuse these white cloths with her healing energy. The cloths may then be used as a form of comfort, healing, and a reminder of Brigid. Try this for yourself by placing a white cloth outside on the even of Imbolc for Brigid to bless. You could use the white cloth as part of your altar spread, sleep with it, hold onto it to clean wounds, or give it to someone who's sick. 

Renewal Bath 

The final ritual I'd like to share with you is a renewal bath. I love using baths as a form of ritual and energy clearing, and this is a beautiful season to use baths for the purpose. It's common to cleanse your space and yourself for the arrival of Brigid at Imbolc. This is one way to offer yourself a deeply nourishing and cleaning experience, both physically and spiritually. 

This ritual is adapted from a "Lustral Bath" recipe in "The Magical Year" by Danu Forest, which I highly recommend! I made some additions to my version. Don't sweat it if you don't have everything you need. Use what you have. A bath with some table salt, a candle, and an intention to be renewed can be just as powerful. 

Watch a reel of the bath ritual here.

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Renewal bath recipe

1. Fill a cloth bag with cleansing herbs of choice. About a 1/4 c. will do. I used lavender, sage, and mint. Let the bag soak in the tub as you fill it or hang it from the faucet to let the water run over it.

2. Light some candles to call upon the healing powers of the Goddess Brigid or to honor the increasing light of the sun. White, green, or yellow candles are great options. I adore the beeswax candles by Lit Rituals. 

3. Add about 2 cups of dried milk powder. Use coconut milk powder to make it vegan. Give it a good stir. Milk is strongly associated with Brigid and Imbolc. It will also make your skin super soft!

4. Add some fresh spring water, structured water, or charged water. Just a little will do. Water talks to water. By adding it to the bath, it will have a positive influence on all of the water in your bath. 

5. Add 1-3 cups of Epsom salt or any salt you have available. Plain or a scented blend works. I love the bath salt blends by Herbonyx.

6. Optional, make it extra decadent by adding some fresh flowers. Whatever is in season or you can find is great. 

7. Set an intention to be cleansed and renewed. Enjoy!

8. Add some cleansing smoke if you feel called. I used a renewal wand you can find in our shop here. 

9. When you're done, collect the herbs and flowers, thank them, and consider using them as an earth offering or compost.

There are so many ways to honor this season and Brigid. I hope you're feeling as excited about this shift as I am and empowered to bring it to life with ritual. I am wishing you a bright and hopeful Imbolc. 

Building Relationship with North, Earth, and Your Ancestors

On the sacred wheel, the North encompasses the realm of earth, winter, death, rebirth, and your ancestors. The North is the still and sacred portal where we're allowed to break down and shed to rebuild for a new cycle. It is the seat of deep wisdom where the ancestral knowledge from all of those who've come before you resides. The North encompasses endings, new beginnings, and the space in between.  

I've been wanting to dedicate a post to each of the four elements and decided that honoring them through the cardinal directions on our seasonal wheel throughout the year would be the most fluid and meaningful way to do so. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we're amidst winter, so it's the ideal time to dive into the themes of the North and the element of earth. I will explore the realm of the East and the element of air at Springtime, South and the element of fire at summertime, and West and the element of water in the autumn. 

In this post, we'll explore the wisdom of the North and all that it encompasses. You'll also learn common correspondences and ways to build relationship with the North. Because this is the first in a series of posts, I'll also spend some time discussing sacred circles and wheels in various cultures and how they're used with the directions and elements. 

honoring the north and earth awen podcast

I started working with the cardinal directions in my practice regularly about five or six years ago, primarily as a way to cast a circle and create sacred space. My work with the wheel has evolved, and working with the directions and wheel has become an intrinsic part of my practice. I use the wheel as a tool to connect with the seasons, the cardinal directions, the elements, and all of the wisdom each section encompasses. Circles similar to the seasonal wheel used by many Celtic, Druidic, and Wiccan spiritual practices are sacred across many cultures and have a lot of overlap in meaning. 

If you'd like a frame of reference for the sort of wheel I'll be referring to throughout this share and series, you can find one in my book "Understanding the Wheel of the Year." The wheel I created for the book shows each season's color, direction, elemental, lunar, and zodiac alignments. If you don't have the book, I've shared an image below, and if you're listening, feel free to pause and look up this share on my blog. 

Understanding The Wheel of The Year by Cassie Uhl, shop it here.

It's a common framework used by cultures worldwide, though you will find subtle differences from practice to practice. Let's start there and look at how other cultures work with sacred wheels. 

Sacred Wheels Across Cultures

The medicine wheel or sacred hoop is a tool and symbol used by many First Nations and Indigenous cultures from the land referred to as Canada and North America. Stone structures that have been used for ceremonial purposes dating back as early as 3200 BCE have been found in Canada. Though stone structure dates back far into the past, medicine wheels and sacred hoops are still alive today with many Indigenous people and communities. They can be used for ceremony, ritual, and to connect with the four directions, elements, animals, and more. 

In Mongolian Cosmology, the ger often referred to as a yurt here in the West represents a sacred wheel. The ger is viewed as a microcosm, or a map, of the universe. Each direction has a unique significance related to who and what resides in that location and what takes place. For example, the entrance of the ger always faces North, the fire is always at the center, women sit on Eastside, and men on the West. 

In yogic practices, the directions hold significance as well. It is not uncommon to face specific directions for specific asanas and meditations. There are myths, Gods, and Goddesses associated with each direction which each share insights about the significance of each direction in yogic philosophy. I'm always intrigued by the overlap in different cultures around common spiritual tools and symbols. Here, in an article from Pandit Rajmani Tigunait of Yoga International, he shares a bit about the direction of the North in Yogic tradition, "The North is determined by the polar star, the symbol of stability; it is the fixed goal that never wavers. It represents unshakable conviction." I love this because it's similar to my understanding and relationship with the North. 

Of course, these are just little snippets of each of these sacred practices. 

There are symbols and practices throughout Europe that use sacred wheels, although, as usual, with little historical reference. The sun cross or solar wheel, a circle with a cross in the middle, is a common symbol found throughout prehistoric Europe. However, even the name that was given to this symbol, the "sun cross," is relatively new, which shows how little we truly know about its true significance. Between the sun cross and circular structures like Stonehenge and Woodhenge, it's not difficult to see that wheels were sacred to many throughout Europe. 

Today many practices like Wicca and Druidry use the wheel in different ways like connecting with the seasons, elements, cardinal directions, creating sacred space, and more. This is how I connect with the wheel in my practice and the lens through which I'll be sharing from here. 

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Before we dive into the bulk of this share, I want to give you a little bit of a reference of my process for this share and how I intend to craft future shares in this series. The North is an important topic because it encompasses many other significant issues like the element of earth, Wintertime, our ancestors, and more. My goal with this share, and the future directions, is to give you a framework to begin building a relationship with the North and its many facets. Much of what I share will be from my personal experiences building a relationship with the North. As always, remember that your experiences may differ based on your cultural background and personal gnosis. 

I've been spending a lot of time connecting with my local nature spirits and journeying about the topic for this post. This share has not come easily to me. I have a deep sense of reverence for the North and a feeling of not wanting to get it wrong. The North and the earth element are our sacred foundation and the home of our ancestors, and it feels relevant that I stress the importance and sacredness of the North.

Let's begin exploring wisdom from the North.

North Wisdom

The North is the cauldron of creation that encompasses death, birth, and the space between these two realms. It is the simultaneous end and beginning and the dark moon phase. I think our linear human minds sometimes struggle with this. We're so used to endings and beginnings that a pause between the two, or the idea that endings and beginnings live in the same space, seems somewhat foreign. But, of course, we can always find glimpses of this in nature. 

cardinal direction north in the ritual deck

Even here in the desert, I find subtle reminders of the wisdom of the North and those in-between spaces. There's an oleander plant I often notice on my walks. It seems to be always blooming. However, since around the time of the Winter Solstice, it's dropped its flower and, as of recently, has formed tiny buds. I've enjoyed noticing how long the buds have been there, waiting, as the plant rebuilds and absorbs more nutrients to bloom again. I've used it as a bit of a marker for myself as I find myself in a similar space of rebuilding. It's been a comforting reminder to pay more attention to plants in their death and "in-between" phases this winter season. People often ask how I connect with the seasons being in the desert, and I'm here to tell you that the seasons are very much alive, even in the desert, albeit on a smaller scale. 

Wintertime, the season of the North, also coincides with our shift into Capricorn season. It makes my heart sing when these seasons overlap so perfectly. Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign and corresponds with the planet of Saturn. The cardinal earthy energy signals a time to build a solid foundation upon which we can build. The Saturn correspondence invites in structure. These themes fit perfectly into the realm of the North and the element of earth. 

Understanding what tools you need to build a strong foundation requires time and introspection. I'd say there's even a thread of shadow work that weaves through this space. To create a solid foundation, you'll need to take stock of what's working and what's not working in your life, assess where you need to set different boundaries and notice where you may need to ask for help or call in reinforcements. Deep processing, shedding, and collecting happen in the North. 

Your body and physical wellbeing correspond with the North and this season as well. You are the earth of the North. We often forget that our bodies are nature itself. This space is an invitation to notice how you're tending to your body or your physical foundation. The North is where we address the physical body's needs, so you feel safe and supported during this incarnation. The earth and all its inhabitants live within the realm of the North. Everything comes from the earth and will decompose back into the earth. The earth is the foundation for all life. 

This is where your ancestors come in. You have centuries of ancestral knowledge living within your blood, bones, and DNA. Outside of your physical body, there's ancestral knowledge within the soil, stones, and water as well. Of course, not all of our ancestors have left positive influences that will be for you to parse out, work with, and hea. But there's wisdom and learning nonetheless. On a very physical level, the earth below your feet holds the wisdom of every ancestor who's come before you. When you connect with the power of the North, you connect with this wisdom and knowledge. 

We often think of connecting with those on the other side as somewhere outside of us or up in a heaven of sorts. While it may be that the spirits of our ancestors are in a different realm, their blood, bones, and all of the wisdom therein have been absorbed back into the earth. This is why we connect with the ancestors in the earth and the wisdom of the North on a very physical level. That is where their wisdom lives. 

Are you're starting to see and feel the layers of this sacred space emerge? 

Correspondences of the North

You could probably pick up on quite a few correspondences from what I shared above. Here are a few more common energetic connections for the North. A quick note before I dive in, as I shared earlier, the cardinal directions and the elements are spiritual practices that show up across cultures. It's also important to keep in mind that you may have unique connections to the directions and their correspondences. Suppose the way you connect with each direction varies from what I share here. That is normal and certainly not a reason to discount your connections or mine, whether it be from another culture or a personal connection. 

Correspondences for the North

Element: Earth

Season: Winter

Time of day: Midnight

Moon Phase: Dark moon

Tarot: Pentacles

Colors: black, brown, green, white

Animal: bear or any other earthy animal you connect to the North

Other: dirt, stones, plants, bones, clay

Working with corresponding tools is one way to help honor and connect with the energy associated with the North. Tools and symbols can draw our awareness to where we are trying to focus. I will also share ways to use these correspondences in the following section. 

3 Ways to Build Relationship with the North

Now my favorite section! You hear me say this often because it's been so true for my practice. For there to be a connection or learning to happen, there must be relationship. So before any deep work can be done within the North and its many corresponding energies, I encourage you to build a relationship with the North. 

Understanding each direction on the wheel has far less to do with what I share here and much more to do with how you experience them. 

There are so many ways to begin building a relationship with the North and the earth, and I find it is a beautiful starting point because it is a place of foundations. The North is the infrastructure for the rest of the wheel and your spiritual practice and an ever-present touchpoint you can come back to at any time to feel supported and to tap into a deep well of wisdom. That said, there are many who also like to start in the East as it is a place of new beginnings. For example, when I cast a circle, I begin with the East and end with the North. I'll leave it up to you, but in my opinion, there are no strict rules about this, especially when deciding where to begin forming a deeper relationship. 

If you are looking for more personal guidance, as I mentioned earlier in this share, I am offering my "Journey to the Ancestors," which will provide a more robust look at connecting with the North with even more tools, including journal prompts a card spread, and guided journey meditation. 

Here we'll focus on connecting with the earth and your local natural environment, tuning into your physical body, and journeying or meditating on the North. 

1. Connecting with the earth 

Because the North encompasses the element of earth, connecting with the earth is a powerful portal to experience the North and its wisdom. There are so many ways to connect with the earth, and you likely already have some beautiful practices to help you do this. For me, the most powerful way I've found to connect with the earth is through regular connection with my natural environment. I do this by going on regular walking meditations, usually 15-30 minutes 4-5 times a week. As always, I encourage you to try whatever feels like a doable and sustainable amount of time for you and your unique schedule.

When I walk, I try to focus my full attention on the environment around me. I say try because, just like sitting meditation, my mind tries to remind me of all of my to-do's and interject with other random thoughts. To help me stay present and aware, I have a process to become more engrossed in my surroundings. I do this by noticing the temperature, the speed of the wind, the warmth and location of the sun, how the ground feels beneath my feet, how the air feels in my mouth and lungs, varying sounds of the animals, and any changes in different trees and plants.

I've found that connecting with nature regularly and intentionally creates a very natural pathway to forming a deep relationship with the earth and your environment. You'll soon see patterns and cycles of death and rebirth all around you, perhaps in ways that you hadn't previously noticed. You'll begin to feel more connected to the plants, animals, and soil. These relationships can then initiate a more profound unfolding and help you to form a deeper relationship with the element of earth, your ancestors, and the realm of the North. 

2. Connecting with the physical body

Another way I enjoy connecting with the realm of the North and the element of earth is by focusing on my physical body. Your body is a deep well of wisdom. Sometimes we discount this wisdom, especially when our physical bodies do not feel or perform the way we want them to or think they should.

The North reminds us that the body is a living vessel of cyclical wisdom, just like nature. Just like the oleander plant I mentioned earlier, you are not intended to bloom at all times either, nor are you intended to be a picture of perfect health at all times. Like nature, our bodies encounter seasons of sickness, decay, and growth. There is not one stage that is more spiritual than another, and you are not less spiritual if your body or mind experiences temporary or long-term illness. Have you ever looked at a tree losing its leaves and thought, "what a stupid tree? It must not have absorbed enough of the right kind of nutrients. Otherwise, it wouldn't be losing its leaves." I gather you probably haven't, but how often have you had thoughts like this about yourself or another person? 

It might seem like an unusual concept to build a relationship with your body, the very vessel you reside in, but I think, much like the earth, it's something we often take for granted. Our bodies always give us signs and nudges about what we need and don't need, but we don't always listen. When you permit yourself to connect with the body more regularly, you create a pathway to build a relationship with it and learn from its wisdom. 

Connecting with my body in a very intentional way is something I usually do before any meditation. You can add another layer of energy to this practice by facing North for a body meditation, either lying down with your head pointing towards the North or by sitting up and facing the North. I like to start at my feet and work my way up through the body. I try to notice each area, how it feels, and what the energy of each space is bringing up. 

I'll never forget when I started doing this. It was a suggestion from my now mentor, Robin Afinowich, years ago when I saw her for energy work. I remember sitting in meditation, focusing on my body, and noticing that I had a lot of pain in my body that I was unaware of and had become completely used to. I began breathing into these spaces and found that the pain would slowly dissipate as I noticed it, allowed it, and breathed. 

My body had been trying to communicate with me through physical pain for who knows how long, and it wasn't until I sat down and really felt into my body that I even noticed it! I think a lot of us become accustomed to certain sensations so much so that we don't even notice when our body is trying to tell us it's time to pause or try something different. I'd also like to point out that I'm 100% not implying here that meditation can be a cure-all for all physical ailments. Nope, sometimes the sensations you tune into may indicate that it's time to see a doctor. But, in this instance, it helped me draw my attention back to my body to start using some tools to tend to my nervous system and body in ways that I previously hadn't been doing. 

The wisdom from the North here is that when we tune into the body, it will often tell us what it needs to feel better supported. Sometimes this looks like allowing more time for rest, eating nourishing foods, moving the body more, or reaching out for support from a doctor. Our bodies are wise beyond what our human brains can even fathom. 

If you'd like to explore a body-focused meditation, my "Meditate with the Moon" guided meditation package offers a body scan meditation for the dark moon phase that is a great way to tune into your body and connect with the North. 

3. Journeying and meditation

Another way to deepen your relationship is to journey to the North or meditate on the North. This can be a really powerful way to deepen your relationship with the North. The previous invitations can also help pave the way to connecting through meditation and journeying. This technique can be especially helpful when you want to connect with your ancestors. 

First, a bit about meditation vs. journeying, because they are different and often interchangeably, even by myself. I've mentioned journeying here in this space, but I haven't spent much time going into detail about what it is. 

There are likely others who will have a different opinion than I do, but these are my thoughts. I think of meditation as an umbrella term for training the mind to be more present and aware. However, there are many different kinds of meditation. I think of journeying as one kind of meditation. Journeying is akin to astral travel in that you focus your awareness on journeying to somewhere in the astral plane. Though it can be like an out-of-body experience, it often occurs within the mind's eye. 

This is a brief introduction to journeying, I could spend an entire post on what journeying is and different techniques, and I probably will someday. I think the best place to get started when wanting to learn how to journey is to meditate regularly and begin building your anchor point or the location within the astral realm that's your home. The better you visualize and hold the visualization, the more natural journeying will come to you over time. You can also get a taste for journeying in my free guided mediation to meet your spirit guides. That's a free offering for joining my email list, which you can find here. Or join me in my monthly journey, which this month is to your Ancestors in the North. 

If journeying is a part of your practice, I encourage you to try this method for connecting with the North. If journeying is new to you, I encourage you to try a meditation on the North. There's still deep wisdom there as well. To do a meditation to the North, I'd invite you to bring in some physical elements representing the North, like a black/brown candle or a stone, and to face the North. I'd also suggest stating aloud or in your mind that you desire to connect with the North. Then, close your eyes, connect with your breath and body and see where your mind takes you. How do you feel, what do you see in your mind's eye, and do any messages come through? This may take more than one go, and that's okay. Remember, building a relationship takes time. 

Meditating or journeying to the North can be a powerful tool when you need wisdom around matters of the North, like death, birth, the physical body, and ancestral healing. 

I hope in reading this you already feel more connected with the North and all its wisdom and that it's encouraged you to start building a deeper relationship with this "space." Getting this share out feels like a birth for me. It took me a long time to gather my thoughts around this big topic, so I hope you enjoyed it! I plan to explore the East around the equinox when our wheel shifts to the Spring. 

Sources

The Ger and the Sacred Circle: http://buryatmongol.org/a-course-in-mongolian-shamanism/mongolian-cosmology/the-ger-and-the-sacred-circle/

Four Elements, Four Directions: Is that Celtic or Druidic:

https://www.oocities.org/rainforest/canopy/2178/celtic2.html

The Significance of the four directions in practice:

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/the-significance-of-the-four-directions-in-practice

Lakota Medicine Wheel:

http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8592

Full Moon in Cancer Ritual

The full moon in Cancer offers a supportive and nurturing space for you to explore the watery world of your emotions, and initiate healing. 

Cancer’s planetary correspondence is the moon, so this full moon can feel especially intense, emotional, and intuitive moon. You may feel more sensitive and emotional than usual. This lunation is a call to explore and revel in any feelings and sensitivities that arise rather than pushing them away. Be gentle with yourself and open to rolling with any waves this moon stirs up. 

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this full moon: Nurturing, supportive, family-oriented, intuitive, healing, cleansing

Element: water

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before, the day of, or the day after the full moon. 

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Bath, shower, or body of water

• A glass of water or cup of tea

• Cozy clothes

• Optional: moonstone, any scented oils or herbs that feel nurturing and supportive to add to your bath

1. For this ritual, you’ll be invited to soak in a bath or body of water. If you do not have one, you can perform this ritual in a shower as well. Before you begin the ritual, take a moment to prepare a cup of tea or have a glass of water ready for when your bath or shower is over.

2. Draw your bath, or begin your shower. Add any herbs you’d like to use. If working with moonstone, you could place it in the tub or around the shower area. 

3. In the bath or shower, begin connecting with your breath and body to help you root into the moment. Notice your breath and body, how they feel, what feels good, and any aches or pains you may have. Notice how the water feels on your body. 

4. Once you feel connected to your body and the water, allow yourself to explore your emotions. Are there any feelings that need to be felt or come out that you haven’t had time to allow? Feel and allow. 

5. As you explore and allow your emotions to come up, choose one that you’d like to release. Imagine it being cleansed from your body by the water. Stay in your bath or shower for as long as you’d like to explore and feel your emotions. 

6. When you feel ready to get out of the bath or shower, turn off the shower or unplug the bath, and visualize anything you released going down the drain with the water. 

7. Finish up your bath or shower and put on some clothes or pajamas that feel exceptionally comfortable and nurturing. Feel free to add in any additional self-care here, like self-massage with a favorite oil. 

8. When you’re ready, take a few moments to connect inward again with your cup of tea or water in hand. Bring to mind something that would make you feel nurtured and at home. Infuse your water or tea with these thoughts. 

9. Begin taking drinks of your water or tea and feel your body become filled with this support and care. Consider saving a bit of water or tea to pour into the heart as a sign of gratitude and as a way to share this support with others who may need it too. 

10. If you feel called, consider following up with some journaling or a card pull to explore this experience and full moon further. 

This full moon ritual can be adapted or used for any full moon or any full moon in Cancer. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. In love & gratitude, Cassie

New Moon in Capricorn Ritual

The new moon in the cardinal sign of Capricorn is an invitation to explore themes of building supportive and nurturing foundations. This timely Capricorn new moon usually falls around the new year on the Gregorian calendar, where you may already be exploring goals or new paths for your year ahead. 

The energy of Capricorn reminds you to pause and reflect on how you may need to nurture and care for yourself to grow in new ways. Because Capricorn is a cardinal sign, it carries an energy of initiation. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking direct action towards your goals but instead pausing to ensure that you have taken the necessary steps to build a structurally sound and sturdy foundation in which you can build upon. 

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this full moon: Structure, stability, building foundations, planning necessary steps to begin a new phase, nurturing yourself

Element: Earth

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. 

You’ll need: 

• 20-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Comfortable place to sit or lie down

• Pen/pencil and paper

• Any grounding crystal or stone from outside

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too.

2. Sit or lie down, close your eyes, and begin to connect with your breath and body. Place your grounding stone in your hands, on your lap, or somewhere on your body.  

3. Take a few moments to reflect on something you’d like to initiate in the coming weeks or months. Because this sign calls you to build a strong foundation, this is an ideal time to reflect on something that may feel daunting or big to begin. 

4. Once you have something in mind, place your hands on your grounding stone and notice its weight, solidness, and structure. Think about the new adventure you have in mind to initiate and what you would need to feel supported, nurtured, and held as you begin taking action towards it. 

5. As ideas come to mind, imagine sending them into your grounding stone upon which your hands are resting. Allow yourself to think of as many supportive and nurturing things to support you in this new endeavor. Don’t worry about how feasible any of them are. Simply allow yourself to feel into this space of being held and supported. 

6. When you feel ready, slowly come out of the meditation. Take a few moments to write down suggestions or ideas that came to you around feeling supported and ways to build a strong foundation for any new endeavor. 

7. Close your ritual in a way that feels good to you. Thank any guides, spirits, or ancestors who came through. 

8. Ritual follow-up: Place your grounding rock on top of your paper under the new moon. Keep your rock with you as a reminder of all the nurturing and supportive ideas that came to you. Consider placing your list somewhere you’ll see it regularly so you can begin adding these ideas into your days. 

This new moon ritual can be adapted or used for any new moon or new moon in Capricorn. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. xoxo Cassie

Card spread & ritual for Capricorn season

Capricorn, our cardinal Earth sign, invites us to create structure, heal around masculinity, and climb the mountain towards our dreams.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing a card spread and a ritual for Capricorn season. To learn more about Capricorn energy and your personal birth chart’s connection to Capricorn, check out our Understanding the Energy of Capricorn Season blog post.

Card Spread for Capricorn Season

We’ll use this card spread to explore the invitations and lessons Capricorn has to teach you this season. Feel free to use a tarot deck or an oracle deck for this spread - whichever resonates with you. 

I invite you to create a ritual space for you and your deck to communicate by taking a moment to ground and center yourself however feels good to you. In the spirit of Capricorn season and Earth energy, you might like to ground and center by rooting your feet into the ground or placing your hands somewhere on your body and breathing into them.  

When you feel grounded and ready, shuffle your deck and draw a card for each of the following questions:

1. What is Capricorn season here to teach me? 

2. How can I build my dreams and desires this season?

3. How to create a structure for my softness this season?

4. Possibilities Capricorn season is opening up for me?

After you pull your cards, sit with them. Try to take some time to journal or meditate with them to really connect with the full meaning they have to offer you. At the end of the season, you might like to revisit your cards and reflect on how they unfolded throughout the season. How did they show up? What did you learn about yourself, and about the cards through the way they manifested this season?

Capricorn Season Ritual for Holding Your Softness

This is a ritual to support you in holding your softness. This is the Capricorn/Cancer polarity: Capricorn creates the supportive space for you to feel all that you feel. In this ritual, you'll create a sacred space to explore your feelings in a supportive and nurturing space.

You’ll need:

• a bowl

• water

• some stones (they could be any kind of stones — I like using stones I’ve gathered from nature around me!)

• the structure card you pulled in the tarot spread above. 

Ritual steps:

1. Open your ritual with some kind of grounding and centering that feels good to you. If calling in the directions or casting a circle is in your practice, feel free to do that here. 

2. When you feel ready, invite in any energies, plants, ancestors, and/or other beings who embody healthy, liberated, masculine energy and have your highest and best at heart. Gender is a construct and energies go beyond binaries, so don’t limit yourself! If it feels like masculine energy and it feels good to you, go ahead and invite it in. You can do this by speaking aloud or silently offering the invitation. If there are no energies or beings you specifically want to name, you can just cast out a wide invitation. 

3. When you feel those energies join, notice how you feel. Let them really be here and let it be an invitation to embody your masculine, too — whatever that means to you. Let it take up residence in your body, unfurl this energy from where it already exists within you. See how it feels and what it brings up as you sit in meditation with these energies. Ask them to support you in holding structure for your softness — perhaps breathing into your ribs, the hard, flexible structure that holds your soft organs underneath as inspiration. 

4. When you feel ready, place your tarot card next to your bowl and begin lining it with stones. Notice how the stones feel in your hands as you intentionally build an Earth structure for water to sink into.

5. After your structure feels complete, pour water into your bowl. Let the water represent your softness, your feelings, your heart. See how the bowl and the stones can hold it. If feelings arise, trust that you are held by these energies and soften into them. Let this ritual rewire old stories that it isn’t safe to feel, that there isn’t anyone there to hold you, that you can’t fall apart. 

6. Stay here as long as you like, and close with a few deep breaths. Leave your bowl on your altar for a few days if you’d like as a reminder of this Capricorn/Cancer polarity, and how held you are in your softness. 

Happy Capricorn season and winter solstice! I hope this card spread and ritual support you - share your spreads and rituals on Instagram and tag us @cassieuhl so we can see them!