I’ve never been so in tune with what is in bloom as I am this year. Luna has been taking me on daily walks to gather wildflowers. She mostly grunts and points, but delights in smelling each flower, and making sure everyone else who is on the walk smells the flowers as well, including our dog Finn 🤣! He’s a good sport about it. Sometimes her daddy hums the song by Pete Seeger, “Where have all the flowers gone? The girls have picked them every one.”
These moment of slow magic are just so special, of enjoying the purple asters and yellow golden rod, noticing details in the flowers I’ve never seen before, smelling aromas I’ve never taken the time to smell. I’m still working on turning off my mind and slowing down to noticing the miracles all around. Do you find your mind wandering elsewhere, even when you’re intending to be mindful?? I’m often amazed at how frequently mine can bounce around to focus on other things, and I think, wait a minute, we were reveling in the beauty of wildflowers, what happened?! I appreciate my little guru continuing to bring me back to the present moment, pointing, over here, there’s more flowers to be gathered.
Finding new details in nature to be in awe of, noticing the slight changes from day to day, is a gentle tuning to the season that is working its magic on me.
I invite you – will you go pick a handful of wildflowers today? Pause to smell them and notice new details you’ve never seen before. And hopefully, for a moment, find yourself in that blissful state of awe.
The rains have come after such a hot dry summer, and my own thirst for autumn themed creative projects needs quenching too. I love to start a new journal, and this practice of seasonal journalcrafting with the muses works well for me! Each of the four seasons also contain another season within it, for example, Autumn begins Sept. 22, then about 6 weeks later we have Samhain which takes us through another 6 weeks or so until the Winter Solstice, or Yule. Each of the four seasons is roughly 13 weeks, and each of the 8 seasons is about 6-7 weeks — the perfect amounts of time to hold my attention span for goal setting, habit tracking, learning cycles, various creative projects and anything that just goes better with a bit of structure.
I am excited about my autumn projects – it’s my favorite season — the Season of Mist & Magic! I’ll be journalcrafting with the muses as usual, but also creating pixie-besoms, running a time-travel journey with the tarot, unboxing 6 more mini-witch house toys, celebrating my 50th birthday, playing in the leaves, and making more of my portable fairy portals!
I recently finished my summer treasure box, which we gave the magical name of Portofae – a portable storage box for the special items collected over the season. It’s amazing what can be done with a bit of cardboard, images and glue! Enjoy this sped up show-and-tell video! The Season of Bloom & Balefire (summer) is now safely tucked away until next summer.
I’m always curious about how other’s creative projects ebb & flow throughout the seasons. Do others find themselves as heavily influenced by the seasons as I? A walk in nature in the autumn is a completely different experience than one in the spring! I notice how the light changes, the air feels different, and different things call to me. It’s quite magical how the first whiff of autumn bubbles up an effervescent buzz of delight!
May your autumn be full of spiced delights, crunchy leaves and a harvest of love,
Every lunar month we collectively suggest playful names for the moon and then vote on one to inspire our crafting and creativity! What looks like play from the surface is really a much deeper journey into nature and ourselves, and the synergy born of interaction as we spark each other builds beyond what we can create alone!
This past month we celebrated Sunflower Moon! In Capri’s Moon Ring Crafting Collective we gathered image boards of various artistic styles and mediums for inspiration.
Sometimes layering in our intentions or celebrations, with Sunflower as Muse, here are examples of our own creations!
Some of our creations we mailed to each other as Sunflower Moon Mail for our community art correspondence project in The Lunar Society! Inspired by our moon name and infused with hidden new moon intentions to be magnified by recipients, together we weave a web of magic through tangible mail art!
In Lady Isabella’s Tea & Tarot, once a month we come together on Zoom to pull cards and explore an original card spread inspired by our moon theme! Here you can tap into the wisdom of Sunflower and try out our Sunflower Spread!
Continuing to tune into Sunflower messages, we wrote love letters to our inner Sunflower!
In our Mystic Raven Secret Garden & Apothecary we celebrated and became inspired by Sunflower with vintage naturalist drawings, learned about its healing and medicinal properties, explored soap and edible recipes, plant essence techniques, and enjoyed bountiful bouquets!
Will you go pick a bouquet of flowers – wild or cultivated, and perhaps include Sunflower?!
Wow this summer has flown by! Quiet days playing in the pond, exploring nature, and finding joy in the simple life. Painting doors to the Faerie Realm adds a layer of magic to our daily walks, and reminds me to connect with whimsey and my imagination.
One of the highlights is our time spent in Moon Hollow Hideaway – Luna’s playhouse and my Imaginarium.
My childhood treehouse, built by my dad and grandpa, (here’s me and my sisters back in the day!) was re-painted with the help of my niece and nephew two summers ago when I was pregnant, refreshened with a cheery red, bright white inside, and a repurposed door so that we can actually keep things inside.
What a difference! So fun to realize that when painting it I was full of hope and anticipation for these very moments, now that Luna is big enough to enjoy it together. We have fully moved in – with rugs, pillows, decorations, instruments, books and art supplies! There is something magically cozy about small spaces. I have discovered an appreciation for colored pencils and coloring books lol. I’m hoping to be able to continue to enjoy this space as the weather cools.
A few of us in The Hollow are intentionally creating sacred spaces for our art and crafting – our Imaginariums. And we’re creating portals to each other’s spaces to peak in and offer inspiration, because, well, who doesn’t like a secret portal?! (You can spy mine to the lower left side of the door).
Do you have a special place where you create? Is there anything you can do to spruce it up or give it a refresh of energy? We continue to realize how decluttering and organization can add to our creative vitality in big ways!
We are so excited as The Hollow continues to expand and inspire new creative endeavors. Our muses have been flooding us with a steady stream of inspiration to share with our community and we feel so blessed to have this creative exchange. Sending so much love to each of you as we step into this Season of Mist & Magic!
We just opened a Redbubble Shop so our whimsical Mythical Muses can be on t-shirts, bags, notebooks, oh my!
We have been working with Aimee’s childhood friend Suzie to create these sweet caricature designs of our beloved muses! Now you can show your Unicorn, Dragon, Pixie or Mermaid pride as you go about your day! We’d love to hear which is your favorite! We have them shown here on a pillow, t-shirt, bag and sticker, but they are available on many more products! (Click on the image to visit product. Once there, scroll down to click “View this design on more products”.)
Moxie the fox has been weaving her way into our hearts and joined as Fig’s sidekick in his Wander & Wonder mini-course (which you can still join)! Here she is on a fun Wander & Wonder Bag!
If you subscribe to our newsletter, you’ll recognize our sweet Owl from Moon Feather Hollow which you can now get on postcards and other products!
Of course Lady Isabella wanted to represent Tea & Tarot with some fun merch of her own!
Our Seasonal courses now have spiral notebooks available, if you don’t want to make your own journal or need a sidekick to carry with you on your adventures! (Ruled or graph paper available.)
And our logo that Aimee painted has been transformed into vector artwork that can be enjoyed as pillows, bags or stickers! Any of our products really, as you’ll see when you visit our store!
All of our designs can be purchased on most of the products which also include mugs, blankets, computer and phone cases, clothing, journals, clocks, art prints and lots more! Let us know which is your favorite and if you have any special requests!
