Pisces is a sign of high emotional intelligence, intuition, empathy, service to humanity, creativity, and spiritual growth. When we are under the influence of this sign, we have access to dreams, abstract ideas, and guidance from the Other World. Virgo’s discernment with Piscean intuition are both needed to maximize the portal of a lunar eclipse. When we learn to listen to the wisdom within, we can let go of emotional baggage and outdated beliefs or relationships in order to recall our forgotten hopes and manifest our dreams. Reawaken your power with a spell to cultivate your intuition. See below.

My Magickal Mentorship Discovery Journey is BACK!

After taking a hiatus to complete my recent historical novel, I am pleased to reopen my Magickal Mentorship to those who want to embark on a journey together.

We begin with a FREE private, one-on-one 15-minute conversation between you and me, in which we discuss where you are in your magickal practice, life experiences, and what you want to learn. If you decide to work with me, we meet monthly for one hour to support your spiritual growth and magickal practice within a framework that aligns with the 12 topics of A Box of Magick, the 12 mythical steps of the Hero’s Journey, and your personal goals. It is not required to work with me for a full year if that does not align with your life.

Learn More

Each session is $150 and includes a follow-up email thread with suggestions for recommended reading, rituals, exercises, chants, etc., tailored to your specific path.

I am eager to help you discover the wisdom within YOU.

Read more

Oh my Stars!! The cosmos are talking this week! The New Moon in Leo will occur on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, at 10:37 a.m. Pacific Time, followed at 11:34 a.m. by a solar eclipse. After midnight this week, we will be treated to the Perseid meteor shower with up to 75-100 shooting stars per hour around 2 a.m. til dawn. They say the peak will be August 12-13. My plan is to set an alarm and get in the hot tub for the show. My friend will camp in her backyard, so she just has to open her eyes. Look toward the east-northeast — the radiant in the constellation Perseus will be high in the sky before dawn. It is a lot of energy coming at us. Interpreting the cosmic messages is a matter of identifying the terms and seeing how they fit together.

Leo’s Influence

The astrological sign of Leo will influence all of these stellar events. My favorite astrology book is The Inner Sky by Stephen Forrest and I always check in with Moon Omens on YouTube for amazing teaching videos. As you review the aspects of Leo, consider how you could cultivate a new relationship (New Moon); what needs to change so you can embody more of this energy (Solar Eclipse); where you can express more of your unique light (Meteor Showers); what would it take to be true to yourself, your needs (Perseus).

• Solar Vitality & Leadership: Leo’s ruling planet is the Sun, giving them a core of self-sustained confidence and a natural ability to lead without effort.

• Charisma & Popularity: Leos are charismatic, drawing people in with their warmth, joy, and a certain flair for performance and creativity

• Generosity & Loyalty: They care deeply for friends and loved ones, investing fully in relationships. Forrest’s focus on choice and living on one’s own terms would frame this as intentional generosity — choosing to nurture others because it aligns with their values

• Optimism & Positivity: Even in challenges, Leos find the bright side, using their optimism as a tool for persistence

• Fixed Modality Strength: Once committed, Leos are steady, discerning, and reliable — knowing when to hold firm and when to adapt

Read more

During the Lion’s Gate Portal, the two brightest stars in our skies 🐾Sirius the Dog Star and the Sun 🌞 are both beaming their light energy on Earth. Sirius represents loyalty and faith, and the Sun, represents the Self. The Lion’s Gate Portal is an opportunity to dance into the Leo bright season, while being true to yourself. It’s like the portkey from Harry Potter, transporting you directly where you most want to go.

Think of a beautiful summer day as children, a moment of pure freedom. Imagine being safe enough to throw your arms open wide to the entire love of the universe. With only love, there is no fear, no pressure or hurries. This is a time to feel into what is important to you. Take a page out of the Leo’s book and put yourself first!

Share

The consciousness of planetary movements themselves expands with the attention we give them. Now that more people are talking about Lion’s Gate, you will find more resources and more people willing to share their experiences. For me, I have discovered that with each Lion’s Gate Portal, I shed or accept something I did from my past and find I’m lighter without it.

We co-create as the Divine and attract magickal portals and doors of opportunities by responding to signs, omens, and messages from an alive world. The Lion’s Gate Portal asks you to own your star shine. This week, paid subscribers will receive the Own Your Star Shine spell from The Book of Spells with the intention to help you understand that you are a being of great light, and the world is incomplete when you shroud your light with feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, or false modesty.

Subscribe now

Read more

Becoming invisible has been the hardest part of aging into the wise crone. Or as the saying goes, getting old is not for sissies. Recently, my friend Meloney and I seem to have aged out of the unrecognizable world of marketing. We both have cut years off our resumes, but still nary a call or interview. It’s daunting. Yesterday, my beloved friend expressed a deep concern: did my life have any meaning? Did anything I do even matter?

“You stacked the beans in our favor!” I blurted. We both laughed at the metaphor, but a huge pile of beans was too visual. It worked. “You have been a tantric teacher, a Goddess advocate, artist, author, producer, positivity mentor, and an unflappable rock in the middle of chaos.” Meloney and I were introduced by a mutual friend, Barbara Ardinger, at the start of Covid and maintained a weekly call for years before meeting in person.

“I help women amplify their self-esteem, raise their personal vibration, and boost their personal power. That’s how we become a positive influence on the planet.” — MELONEY HUDSON

Positive Energy Woman

“Who knows who will be inspired by Red Diamond Sisters Club?!” This phenomenal book and mission of Meloney’s were designed to help develop confidence and self-esteem in girls by framing their periods as a source of their power. “I cannot say what is coming,” I told my friend. “But you have always stacked the beans in favor of light, love, and positivity. And you always will.”

None of us can know what our ripple effect will be. Most of us cannot affect nations with a single phone call. But we can build positive energy toward equality, sustainability, and harmony with a daily practice of kindness to self and others. We can see the pearls of our good deeds and rejoice in our choice to stack the beans for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Share

Preserving Chaco Canyon

Stacking the beans in our favor includes standing with Nature. When we preserve the wild in nature, we preserve the wild in our spirits. Like a toddler careening through someone else’s tower of intricately laid blocks, this American government is attacking our natural treasures, and I will not be quiet about it. Right now, Chaco Canyon, an incredible epicenter of culture, is on that chopping block.

In 2012, I visited this awe-inspiring community that had flourished as the hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area from AD 850-1250. I admired the architectural designs of the long building but came to a sudden and abrupt halt when I got to the Great Kiva.

Deep and circular, this ceremonial site brought tears to my eyes for its attention to detail, beauty, and dedication to Spirit. I have a wooden ladder in my living room that symbolizes this descent to the quietness and peace that come with connection to the love that binds us all. Here before me was the birth center of this relationship.

Intricate astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering seemed to resonate with the intelligence, foresight and devotion of the Chacoan people as if they had just stepped away for a moment, rather than all but disappearing nearly one thousand years ago.

Subscribe now

Spell for Protection

You are a powerful being. If you would like to send protection to Chaco Canyon, Gaza, Dilley, or anywhere else that people or the wild need protection, mindfully draw the Algiz rune, a symbol of magickal protection, defense, connection to Spirit and guardians, onto a rock. Place black tourmaline, obsidian, or black onyx around the rune. Light a candle. Take three deep breaths. Close your eyes and imagine a golden, multi-petaled flower radiating from your third chakra, your personal seat of power. Watch it grow with each breath while chanting three times:

I am protected in front of me.
I am protected to the right of me.
I am protected behind me.
I am protected to the left of me.

As you sit in silence, watch the golden light begin to shine outside of your body and form a circle of light around you. Hold that image. With your mind’s eye, send your shield of protection to whichever part of the world needs your light energy.

My friend Vicki always says the Universe dreams a bigger dream for you than you dream for yourself. I agree. I believe the Universe, Great Spirit, Goddess has access to all the experiences and possibilities, the full diamond view, whereas we look through one facet. We literally cannot fathom all the possible ways to manifest our dreams. When I started taking writing courses with the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, my simple goal was to be published in Highlights Magazine with articles that empowered kids. I had no idea that thirty years later, I would have ten traditionally published books.

Have you noticed how creative life is made of twists and turns that don’t often make logical sense? It was the absurdity of wearing nylons in the 90s that did me in. With a desperate desire to free my creative spirit, I ditched my degree and the security of a public relations career to become a massage therapist and literary agent assistant for Julie Castiglia, reading the slush pile and corresponding with editors. I had been with Julie two years when an editor asked if she knew a writer who could write a Wicca Cookbook. Julie believed in me, knew I was Wiccan, and encouraged me to write a proposal, which was accepted to my great surprise. I was going to be an author!

Read more

I wish I could remember to cast a spell of protection every day before I leave the house. I don’t, but there is one event that always gets a protective visualization — it’s when I fly. See, I’m not the biggest fan of flying; I love where it takes me, but the takeoff and landing are just not my cup of tea. So, as I’m sitting in my seat waiting for the inevitable thrust of the engine, I visualize the cone of protection I use every time I cast a circle. I close my eyes and see layers of astral and earthly protection cascading down in a cone from the heavens to perfectly surround the plane. I slow my breathing and watch the glittering green, blue, and white envelop it in warmth and safety. I then repeat the process before landing, allowing me to invite in a sense of peace as I move through an otherwise anxiety-inducing event.

Turbulence doesn’t let you skip your practice. It’s the quiet, ordinary mornings that are harder to remember: the ones where nothing dramatic is asking to be blessed, protected, or held. And yet those unremarkable mornings are exactly where a lasting practice gets built.

I just wish I could remember to invite in this potent Magick in all areas of my life.

In life, we can’t do everything; prioritization is a requirement. Sometimes, the priority is career-related. Others, it’s about your inner work. Practitioners of Magick expound on the virtues of creating a practice you can maintain no matter what life throws at you. It may feel unrealistic or unachievable to perform rituals every morning, evening, moon, or season. The definition of ritual, however, is varied. It does not need to relate to an elaborate circle casting and full coven activity. As we’ve covered in previous articles, it can be as simple as stirring your morning coffee with intention. If you feel you’ve lost touch with your magickal practice, read on for tips to invite it back in—even if it looks different than it once did.

That gentleness matters here, so let it sink in before we go further. So much of magickal culture we see online is aspirational: beautifully decorated altars, elaborate moon rituals, crystals at every window. It’s easy to look at that and feel like you’re doing it wrong, or not doing enough, or not “real” enough to call yourself a witch. But the truth seasoned practitioners return to again and again is this: magick is about intention, not aesthetic.

Read on for herbal allies, visualizations, and simple rituals to help rebuild a new practice. Check out A Box of Magick for more in-depth practices and rituals for moon cycles and sabbats.

Subscribe now

Read more

A Leading Lady

I wrote books. With her triple Aries fire, Elise Higley built an empire growing more than 80 medicinal and culinary herbs, some of which, like dandelion root, are the only source grown with sustainable regenerative practices. For the last 13 years, Elise, her husband Jeff, and their dedicated team have met the need for a reliable source of organic, sustainable herbs on 300 acres at Oshala Farm.

“The barn is on fire,” Elise said when I picked up her call two days ago.

The nightmare of flames licking those wooden buildings that I had just seen at Herb Camp the week before flashed before me. Teachers and students had come from all over the world to Oshala Farm, and it finally hit me how big an impact my cousin had on making sure people have access to the best herbal medicine. She works on agricultural advocacy as a board member of Our Family Farms, Rogue Valley Food System Network and represents a farmer’s voice on the board of the American Herbal Products Association. She fought Monsanto and won. (I love that). With a holistic approach to agriculture that restores soil health, enhances biodiversity, and improves ecosystem resilience while supporting farm productivity and profitability, Oshala Farm customers are families, producers of teas, tinctures, cosmetics, body products, nutraceuticals, and pet food, and distributors like Mountain Rose Herbs.

“I’m driving there now,” Elise continued. “Everyone is safe. They got most of the heavy equipment out of the way. We lost the drying room, the storage, the employees’ staff room, and all the mechanic’s tools. All of our inventory.” I recalled the huge white sacks, taller than me and wider than widespread arms, filled with dried herbs, the people’s medicine, carefully harvested and preserved, now gone. “I need to find the cat, oh God, I’m here. Gotta go.”

Have you ever felt the hopelessness of waiting? It is a sacred act to be a presence for others going through pain and hold them the best you can. It is an honor to help family and herbal industry leaders by sharing their story. True leaders, Elise and Jeff, looked at the damage, the carnage, the faces of 53 employees, and once again rose to the occasion. Please read their letter below.

The outpouring of love we’ve received over the past day has been overwhelming in the best possible way. Your messages, phone calls, prayers, and offers to help have reminded us that Oshala Farm has always been about so much more than buildings.

It’s about people.

It’s about community.

It’s about our shared belief that plants have the power to heal.

This morning we gathered together as a team. Many of us have worked side by side for more than a decade. We cried together, hugged one another, and made one decision:

We are going to rebuild.

Donate to Oshala Farm

It won’t happen overnight, and we know the road ahead will be long. But we also know we won’t be walking it alone.

While our fields are still full of life, the fire destroyed the vast majority of this year’s harvested herbs, along with the buildings, tools, and equipment we rely on to harvest, dry, process, and store the herbs that are still growing. We have only a limited selection of inventory available while we rebuild, making your support during this season all the more meaningful.

Many of you have asked how you can help. If you’d like to support our team as we begin rebuilding our drying and processing facilities, replacing essential equipment, and keeping our employees working through this unimaginable loss, we’ve created a fundraiser.

Donate to Help Rebuild Oshala Farm

If donating isn’t possible, sharing our fundraiser with your community is another meaningful way to help.

Share

Are you an herbalist? In the same way that we can shop for fresh produce at the farmers’ market, we can shop for farm-direct herbs. Without the middleman, your herbs will be fresher and therefore more potent, more vibrant. Oshala Farm also saves seeds so that the control of the source remains in the people’s hands. Discover more about regenerative, sustainable practices on their website. Please be patient as they go through their inventory and discover what is available now. Thank you. We are stronger together.

Oshala Farm

Thank you,

Jamie

Image from the Ffern seasonal film “The Green Knight”

There is a whimsical fragrance company that crafts and sends a new fragrance in honor of every solstice and equinox. A short film accompanies each fragrance, and the summer scent was paired with “The Green Knight,” evoking images of a fearsome and beautiful protector of nature.

We, too, may use nature for protection (and protect it in turn). For this week’s Hearth Magick article, we dive into a host of magickal protection tools (symbols, tarot, stone, herb, and deity) so you can begin building your own practice of protection, rooted in whatever tradition calls to you.

Read on for runes, color correspondences, deities, and herbs associated with protection. Protect your home with a banishing and protection ritual.

Subscribe now

Read more

Learn about Anthropic class action suit

“It’s already here” is the lamest and most common excuse I hear for using AI with a convenient disregard for the consequences. When somebody throws a cigarette out the car window, we can see the littering and call it out for what it is: a selfish act with no apparent awareness or concern for how their actions impact others. When we use AI, we put a tax on the environment and our humanity that we do not see, which others may end up paying.

AI is not a panacea. It is eliminating work, imagination, and jobs. If we rely excessively on AI, we will lose our ability for deductive reasoning and cognitive abilities may decline, leading to difficulties in decision-making and problem-solving. This decline can occur because the brain relies on regular mental activity to maintain its functions and connections.

We can do better

Yes, AI has infiltrated nearly everything, and it takes effort to pay attention. I could never give advice without trying it first. When my son told me that it takes exorbitant resources to create images (far more than answering questions), I stopped using AI to create posters and promotional graphics. I deleted Grammarly and got out of thesaurus (one of my favorite changes). I stopped using Chrome and Google and began using DuckDuckGo and disabled AI. All these changes got my brain working again in a way that has been deeply satisfying.

Subscribe now

I am so grateful to Andrea, who had reviewed The Book of Spells when it first came out. When my literary agent alerted me to this class action suit, I discovered FIVE of my books had been downloaded from sites like Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror without permission, infringing on copyright laws. I messaged Andi and asked how I could show my gratitude for her courage in preserving creativity and fighting for other authors. She suggested that I buy one of her books. Instead of ordering through Amazon. I took it upon myself on this recent road trip to walk into independent bookstores and ask about Andi’s books. If they didn’t have them, and even if they did, I told them what Andi had done to fight for imagination and community. The first couple of bookstores didn’t have her book, but they ordered it. I struck gold at the third shop with Andrea Bartz’ latest book. The Last Ferry Out, a mystery thriller that I cannot wait to dive into!

Weaving Magick into the Mundane

On June 29 the full moon will be in Capricorn, a sign known for its diligence, integrity, and hard work. Take a moment for reflection under the influence of the Seagoat, who does not accept the impossible by climbing the highest peaks and diving into the mightiest depths. Take out your grounding stones, your hematite, garnet, obsidian, or black tourmaline. Create a calm environment where you can sit in peace or perhaps put your feet on the Earth. Take three solid breaths. Imagine your legs turning into the roots of tall trees that are hundreds of years old. They hold you grounded and steady on the Earth. In the stillness, ask yourself where you can be more invested in what is most important to you. Capricorns see their word as their bond. Is there anything that you have committed to that you’ve neglected to follow through on? Allow the Capricorn sun to shine on your unyielding personal stance, boundaries, and responsibilities.

In Summer, we bloom. In Fall, we release. In Winter, we rest. In Spring, we birth.

Summer is a time for shining your brightest self. It is a time to be unapologetically you, to fully express your being. Within your spirit, you hold a unique combination of experiences, talents, and traits. This is your chance to let that exquisite Self glow bright. This is not the time to compare yourself to others, but rather a season to radiate the best, most authentic you.

Consider the lessons from the flowers in the garden: the sunflower has no desire to be a rose. One is tall, the other aromatic. The lily does not want to be chamomile. One is for resurrection and one is for sleep. Just like humans, each flower has its own medicine, its own beauty, its own purpose. There is no one on this planet who has been misplaced in Mother Earth’s garden. You are a flower who must bloom where you are planted.

Sometimes magickal advice can feel vague. To “bloom where you are planted” can be expressed in many ways: thinking for yourself, loving yourself exactly as you are, surrounding yourself with people and resources that help you grow, listening to the positive voice, and opening up like a flower in bloom.

Read more

This article is guest written by Magickal Mentee Lo MacLeod

There is a particular kind of magic that lives only in a group text sent after dark — the kind that arrives uninvited, pulls you away from your careful plans, and reminds you that sometimes the ritual you need is not the one you prepared for.

On Sunday, May 30, I received a notification: I had been added to the group “Full Moon Dance Party.”

I stared at my phone for a moment, reading the words again. Full Moon Dance Party. There was something both ridiculous and irresistible about it, the way the best things often are.

Subscribe now

Read more

I didn’t plan on becoming a witch author. My plan was to become a high-paid public relations executive who climbed the corporate ladder as a free spirit, inspiring others to embrace surprises rather than the monotony of routine. It didn’t take long for the daily grind to crush my lightheartedness. I assumed that, in time, I would find the tenacity to bu…

Read more

There is a particular kind of longing that creeps into a magickal practice: the sense that you need more, that the right crystal or the perfect tool or the sacred object you haven’t yet found is the missing piece. It’s the sense that you should be doing more, or collecting more, for your practice.

Magick lives within each of us and in every part of the world around us. Magick is found in loving yourself and an ongoing communication with an alive world. The oldest magick on this planet will never ask anything of you except your presence. Any part of nature can be a most generous teacher. This week, we will explore water as the conscious energy that draws strongly on human nature. Taking a deeper dive into the element of water makes sense, as we are made of over 60% water.

Subscribe to learn more of the language of water. Connect with water spirits, perform rituals, and incorporate water into your daily magickal practice.

Subscribe now

Read more

Beltane was the first Sabbat I ever hosted. The year was 1999; my son, Kobe, had been born six weeks earlier on Ostara. I wanted to bury his umbilical cord under an orange tree in a sacred circle that I created. I placed tiki torches in the four directions with colored silks in accord with each direction’s corresponding element. I served the ham and calendula finger sandwich recipe in The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual, and Lore, which was currently being edited by my publisher.

I waited until the last minute to sever the cord from the placenta. The guests had arrived and my cousin Elise hid me from view as I got out the steak knife. Moments later, composed by the chaos of Beltane, I cast a circle with ground eggshells and poured a libation of wine at each blazing tiki torch to invoke the protection and presence of the Divine embodied in each direction. I lit a candle for the Divine Male and Divine Female. I raised my son to the heavens, bestowing his name upon him -Kobe James Wood. My mother walked the circle with our babe in her arms. I did all this and, in my excitement, I forgot to release the four directions or return the grounds of our sacred ritual to the mundane.

My mentor Jeanette gently reminded me that closing a ceremonial circle seals the container of all that was created in the union of Spirit and the collective of humans in ritual together. We’re supposed to let go as proof that we trust the Divine to handle it. Lol. This is the part that trips me up each time.

Read more

The root of all Magick is to be present to your Divine Self, aware of your needs, be they physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional. Every moment is a chance to begin again. Every breath can invite the Magick of the day. Every morning we can choose to tune into the conversation.

Read more

Each day of the week carries its own Magick. Friday, named after Freya, the Norse Goddess of Love, Fertility, War, and Witchcraft, is a day to embrace beauty, love, romance, and creativity. Freya is the patroness of unbridled living out loud. She makes no apologies for her sexual exploits, her complexity, her moods, or introducing the Norse pantheon to seiðr, a form of magic that involves seeing and influencing the future, as well as manipulating the minds and fates of others.

Freya reminds us to live boldly and bodily. Life offers no guarantees; we are not owed anything. We need to embrace what and who we love every single day. Freya insists that we leave no stone unturned and welcome love even when it’s hiding on the edges of a torn world.

She was a mystery, a ghost as close as my skin. I discovered her love through the scent of old photographs and White Shoulders perfume. And there she was: Della Ruiz Martinez, my nana.

I bought a bottle of White Shoulders when I discovered it was her favorite perfume. I was 19. The first whiff of bergamot is astringent and sharp, like her acerbic tongue. They say she could cut you to pieces with her words. She was a Scorpio woman: born on November 12, 1920, and died November 14, 1967 – 39 days before I was born. They say she happily anticipated the birth of her first grandchild. But liver disease prevented her from holding me in her loving arms. She became two-dimensional and flat: a framed image of young Della at four years old, a brown-skinned cherub with a crown of baby’s breath at an altar. They gave me her name as my middle name: an angel and a legacy. It was nearly twenty years before I saw another picture of her.

I breathe in the pungent scent of the square, black-and-white photograph of Della with her friends Annie and Rosie, wearing sombreros in Tijuana, circa 1942. She’s laughing wide-mouthed – you can tell the lipstick is red. I decided her heavy drinking caused an early death. It was easier to be mad at her than miss the love I never got.

Neroli is the top note in White Shoulders and carries an intoxicating aroma, and unbidden images of pastoral lands with rows of orchards and rolling green hills appear in my mind’s eye. Freedom to roam paradise on horseback with my hair flowing in the wind, without a care in the world. On this aroma, I float in ancestral memory through Della’s lineage as a Daughter of the Dons, their vast ranchos, fiestas, and regal composure. I hold the glass rectangular perfume bottle, and my finger grazes the embossing of a woman with cascading, long hair, a strong chin, and bare shoulders.

The delicate neroli comes from the orange blossoms that turned into the fruit Della picked under clouds of DDT. She met my grandfather at the citrus packing house. He loved her perfume. Years later, Rosie told me they would get caught in the spider webs reaching through the thicket of branches to clip oranges and lemons for nineteen cents an hour. Only recently did I learn that perhaps a can of pesticides, not a bottle of tequila, took my nana’s life.

The bouquet, which unfolds and develops a few moments after the perfume has settled on my skin, begins with jasmine and rose. These two powerhouse flowers imbue me with confidence and burgeoning self-love that carry me through moments of self-doubt and timidity. I spray this perfume and automatically my shoulders square and straighten. The cloud of clove in the middle, also known as the heart of perfume, serendipitously strengthens memory and is also known and used for its heating and healing power. When I lift my face to the warm sunshine, I imagine the rays are her kisses on my cheeks.

Next, the classic floral blend of tuberose, lily-of-the-valley, lilac, and orris speaks to her feminine elegance, and I can feel her tenderness. I sense the purity of our connection with these fragrant white blooms. This is how she hugs me and tells me she is always with me, has never left me.

Sandalwood, an aphrodisiac, is the first of the base or back notes. This is where she teaches me about sensuality. I imagine her as a naturally sultry woman who knows how to command a room’s attention, dancing with the magic technique to “Sway” by Dean Martin. And now the perfume weaves in the reintroduction of indole, an essence found in the earlier notes of neroli, jasmine, and tuberose, as well as the civet and musk that come from animal pheromones. Unapologetically seducing along a fine line between arousal and the forbidden, these indole notes orchestrate a genuine eroticism and unbridled passion. And now I see that we are mirror images of each other. And I learned to love myself, including in the most hedonistic, feral sense.

Share

The oak moss, also found in the base notes, has a rich, pleasant undertone of the forest that grounds me and grants me a sense of security. This is how she directs my feet when I don’t know where to go. The final notes of amber and benzoin work as an emollient, the balsam of understanding and appreciation. It is a salve to help heal and soothe the wound caused by her death. I feel her in front, beside, and behind me in a way she could not have been in life. I can reach for the stars and never be alone.

Check out my website

No one offered to take me to her grave, so I found it on my own. I was 22. It was the first time I saw her name in print and she began to become real to me. The following year on Dia de los Muertos, I tried to visit her grave and became afraid – of what I’m not sure. I sat on a hill, perhaps five miles from the cemetery and hoped that the warm, electric Santa Ana wind would carry my words to her. Near midnight, when the veil between the worlds was at its thinnest, I promised my nana that whenever I smelled the scent of old photographs, especially if it came from nowhere, that would be our sign that she was with me. And when I need to reach out to my nana, I spray her perfume and immediately she surrounds me.

I leave the glass bottle of honey-colored perfume in my delicates drawer so it can infuse the layers I wear closest to my skin and embolden me with a love that death could not destroy.

Beltane is also known as May Day, in honor of Maia, a Sister in the Pleiades, Goddess of Fertility and Growth, Mother of Hermes, and namesake for the month of May.

Traditionally, celebrants lit huge bonfires, jumped over them, and literally partied all night on April 30. The next day, they would erect a Maypole and crown it with wildflowers and multicolored ribbons. Dancers would sing as they wove ribbons around the pole in a ritual symbolizing the union or marriage of the Goddess and God. In particular, we call upon Flora, the Goddess of Flowers and Divine Mother in her most fecund and loving wombspace and The Horned God, also known as Cernunnos or Pan, the Divine Male, and Spirit of wild places.

The ribbons represent the Divine Female, Mother Earth, who wraps Herself around the Divine Male, the Seed. The joining of two energies creates a third entity, the Divine Child, an abundant harvest. You are all these three sacred entities rolled into one. Within you pulses a nurturing heart, a throbbing sacral chakra, and the rootedness of belonging as a child of earth and sky. Celebrate and honor all that you are this Beltane. You are Beautiful. You are Divine. Below is a video from our women’s group. It’s still cold at 7,000 feet elevation, but we made do!!

Read more

The collapse of this worn-out patriarchy is terrifying to watch, even with the donations, letters to Congress, and marching. It doesn’t always feel like enough to avert the negative impact of the flailing, unbalanced ego. To position a gut-wrenching attack on environmental protection on the week of Earth Day is way below the belt. With Aries in so many planets recently, it is easy to lash out with rough words; the fire is rising to purify what has become toxic.

Share

The Aries, whose statement is I AM – pushes you to be the living example of your beliefs. Now we are in Taurus season, whose statement is I HAVE. I want to encourage us all to direct our passion toward what we love in our lives right now and not get lost in the fight. We are not wired to take on the world’s problems. Instead, we are being asked to honor locality - from our communities to the light within.

Socrates said, “Know Thyself.” Create a simple ritual with all four elements: Incense of inspiration for air, candlelight for passion of fire, a bowl or cup of water to trust those feelings, and a pencil or pen for the tactile earth. Consider what activities, places, or people feed you energy. Journal or draw – give voice to what you resonate with. This first step merely sets the table, or the stage. The rest of the Magick unfolds as you walk through your days looking for the signs that the Universe is listening and respond to the ongoing conversation.

Subscribe now

Listening to nature is how I calm my central nervous system enough to hear my quiet inner voice. I return to the hollows for long stretches of complete immersion in the silence among trees much older than me, who fill my cup with their musky, verdant love. When certain plants grow well in my garden, I recognize these allies have the exact medicine that I need in the moment. Right now, the rose geranium (self-love), oregano (health), red clover (calming), and thyme (purification) are flourishing and so now in my facial steams, teas, and spritzers.

Surrounded by madness, she gathered with her sisterhood and raised the vibration the world over by treating herself like the Goddess she is!

“It is Time NOW
What a time to be Alive!
In this Great Turning
We Shall Learn
To Lead with Love
We Shall be Known
By the Company we Keep
By the Ones who Circle Round
To tend these Fires.”
We Shall Be Known by Mamusemusic

Join me for an evening of luscious self-care, beginning with a magical circle, rose hip tea, ceremony, guided self-Reiki, facial steam with roses, lavender and lilac, facial massage with I Love My Body oil, gua sha instruction for facial and breast massage, chef inspired dinner, Goddess Maia mythology and ritual for blooming.

Twenty-five years ago, I graduated with a degree in public relations, the craft and science of spinning stories that win the support of constituents and consumers. My professors predicted the speed of communication, the invasion of privacy, and the consolidation of media companies, pulling back the curtain to reveal the carefully crafted production of the nightly news. Some call it burying your head in the sand, but I disagree. I am feeding the vibration of love and joy.

Subscribe now

We have forgotten our wild roots.

When I leave my mountain home for the occasional city weekend, the exclamations are always the same:

“The nearest city is 3 hours away??”

“Your home is so beautiful, but I could never go without Uber/DoorDash/Trader Joe’s.”

“No concerts? I love nature, but I need ‘culture’.”

Society prioritizes a life of comfort, convenience, and capitalism. There is the constant pressure to purchase, consume, and save time. But in turning on central heating with the push of a button, you miss the quiet ritual of lighting the hearth fire. If you exercise only to “look” a certain way, you will miss the satisfaction of a walk under the trees, hearing the birds, and smelling the dirt. If you invest all your resources into finding the perfect “anti-aging” routine, you lose time that could be spent investing in knowledge.

As the Wheel of the Year turns to lusty, feral Beltane, leave the people of your phone on “read,” throw it into a creek, tear off your bras and jeans, and reclaim the earth-connected beast within you.

Subscribe now

Read more

The Queen is the face of the Goddess between the Mother and the Crone. The Queen knows herself well, listens to her own counsel, and considers herself a sovereign nation. In tarot, the Queen reveals the message that you are being asked to honor your own divine presence, support, intuition, reliability, femininity, knowledge, and refinement. Although all phases of the Goddess can alight upon our shoulders at any age, the Queen’s wisdom typically rises to the surface after years of conscious experience and self-reflection. She has been through the dark season of The Change.

Seven years ago, I was smack dab in menopause, seeking to better know who I was now that I was no longer a mother with children at home, slowly descending into the unknown. We are biologically new every seven years, a chorus of cells rewriting our song, as old skin sheds like a whispering encore and fresh ones take the stage; our bones quietly recast their stories. Each heartbeat redefines the refrain of who you are today and constantly becoming. I journaled a lot at this time, writing the passage below and this article Who Are You Now?

Invoke the Queen Within

Magickal Preparation

• Create a quiet space: dim lighting, a small altar or desk, and a comfortable seat.

• Gather a cup of water, a small mirror or reflective surface, a candle (white or pale gold), a few petals or a sprig of lavender/herbs, and a written intention card.

• Set a timer for 5–10 minutes.

Ritual Steps

1. Ground and Center
Sit comfortably. Spend a minute breathing deeply, feeling your body present in the room. Place the water cup in front of you as a symbol of life and flow.

2. Invocation of the Queen
Speak or silently invite the Queen as a symbol of feminine wisdom, nurturing, and authority. Say: “I welcome the Queen within and around me—gentle, strong, radiant. May her wisdom illuminate my path.”

3. Reflection on Leadership and Intuition
Hold the mirror or reflective surface a few inches from your face. Gaze gently into it. Reflect on three qualities you wish to embody (e.g., compassion, clarity, courage) and one area where you seek guidance.

4. Offering Gratitude
Place a petal or sprig on the water’s surface or next to the candle. Say a gratitude line for each of the three qualities or for what the Queen represents in your life.

5. Candle Reverence
Light the candle. Visualize a warm, regal light expanding from the flame, filling the room and your chest with calm authority and compassionate strength.

6. Intention Note
Write an intention on the card, focusing on growth, protection, and inner sovereignty. Fold it toward you and place it the altar.

7. Seal with Silence
Sit in quiet for 3–5 minutes, receiving the Queen’s presence and letting insights surface.

8. Closing
Blow out the candle with gratitude, and say: “May this Queen’s grace guide my days.” Sip the water slowly as a symbol of steady, ongoing renewal.

Optional Adaptations
Add a circle of names or virtues you honor, placing small tokens for each. Replace the mirror with a photo or symbol of a guiding woman figure you admire.

Share

Join us for the Invoke the Queen ritual together at my Self-Care Women’s Circle in Orange CA on
Saturday, May 9, 6-8pm.

At this Women’s Circle at my childhood home on our ancestral land. I will introduce Maia, a Sister in the Pleiades, Goddess of Fertility and Growth, Mother of Hermes, and namesake for the month of May.

We’ll learn about rosehips through its nourishing tea and a very special oil experience. Freshly picked rose geranium, lilac, and lavender will infuse a facial steam. Dinner and conversation will be scrumptious. I trust our Ceremonial Circle will be transformative for all of us. Save your spot today. Email jamiedellawrites@gmail.com.

Leave a comment