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Goddess Speak Sanctuary of Solace Newsletter - September 2024

“Happy September! The world shall now transform into pumpkin everything” – Keith Wynn

Welcome to the 'ber months!

September Dates of Interest:

September...

....the month of the Full Harvest Supermoon, Hobbits Day and the Autumn Equinox!

Imagine that, the mundane world got a clue....

You’ve heard of forest bathing. Now try:

Forest Therapy

Article By: Maryam Siddiqi (as published in Nat Geo)

There are nearly two dozen certified trails around the world that guide visitors to engage with nature in ways that benefit their health and foster deeper exploration.

A walk in the woods is not only good for you physically, it’s also good for you psychologically. Studies show time spent in nature reduces mental fatigue and irritability, cortisol levels, and stress.

“Nature is important for our health in so many ways,” says Melissa Lem, a Vancouver doctor and director of PaRx, a Canadian program encouraging doctors to prescribe time in nature for their patients. “We have a standardized recommendation that you spend at least two hours in nature each week and at least 20 minutes each time.”

No wonder many cities and parks are installing forest therapy trails—short, self-guided paths meant to immerse users in nature and engage all their senses. Designed by organizations such as the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) and Global Institute of Forest Therapy and Nature Connection (GIFT), more than a dozen trails have launched in the United States, Costa Rica, Slovenia, and Canada. Here’s why you should seek out a therapeutic walk.

Western Brook Pond lies in the shadows of the Long Range Mountains in Canada’s Gros Morne National Park, one of a growing number of destinations with a certified forest therapy trail. Photograph by MICHAEL S. LEWIS, Nat Geo Image Collection

What makes a trail therapeutic?

Inspired by shinrin-yoku, the Japanese tradition of forest bathing, forest therapy trails are typically a mile or so long with little change in elevation, access to water, and a diversity of plants, including coniferous trees. Most are on unpaved dirt paths, an immediate visual and tactile clue that you’re not in an urban environment. “The main thing is that the trail should provide a relaxing experience,” says Amos Clifford, founder and CEO of ANFT. “The soundscape is also important, so next to freeways is not ideal.”

Certified trails have prompts (signs, brochures, or apps) that guide visitors to inhale deeply, listen to water, touch a tree, or close their eyes. “Typically in these spaces, people walk briskly as exercise or to identify things like birds, and their other senses often shut down,” says Ben Porchuk, founder of GIFT. “By closing your eyes, you enable the other senses to kick in.”

The trail guides also give users information about the surrounding environment and its effects on the body and mind. For instance, in Rouge Valley Park in Markham, Ontario, signs point out that pine trees emit phytoncides, essential oils which can have a calming effect, and that some evergreen needles—such as spruce, eastern hemlock, balsam, and pine—can be made into a tea rich in vitamin C.

El Yunque’s lush vegetation offers the ideal setting for forest therapy. Photograph by RAUL TOUZON, Nat Geo Image Collection

Lem says she was initially skeptical about the difference between a forest therapy session and simply spending time outdoors. “I thought, I spend lots of time hiking, running. How much better can it be? But I was surprised at how relaxed and connected I felt,” she says.

Building a trail, connecting a community

ANFT has certified 20 trails worldwide since 2018, from the U.S. to the U.K., Norway to New Zealand. In the past year, the organization received 40 new requests from groups seeking certification.

Earlier this year, a one-mile therapeutic trail opened in MacGregor Point Provincial Park along the shoreline of Lake Huron in southwest Ontario. “[Since] it passes through a beautiful ecosystem, forest therapy presented a new way for people to engage,” says John Foster, a spokesperson for Health Parks Healthy People, which helped to create the trail. Along the route, posted signs invite such users to breathe deeply, listen to nature, or observe their surroundings, perhaps by finding a “sit spot.”

La Mina River cascades over rocks in El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico. The National Forest Foundation is working with community leaders to build the region’s first certified forest therapy trail. Photograph by RAUL TOUZON, Nat Geo Image Collection

In January 2022, Pinnacle Park opened its forest therapy trail in Jackson County, North Carolina. Signs cue users to close their eyes and listen for rhythms in the nearby and distant sounds, to stop and explore the scents around them, and to watch a leaf placed on a stream drift away.

Although the park is known for hiking, with some climbs upwards of 2,500 feet, the forest therapy trail’s accessibility has made it popular with those searching for a thoughtful, sometimes emotional, connection with nature, says Mark Ellison, one of the trail co-creators. “I’ve had people reach out to me who have lost a loved one. They use this experience as a way to enjoy nature and remember them,” he says.

For others, the trail is a place to unplug. “Our society is so fast-paced now,” Ellison adds. “It’s so connected through our technology. To be out there with none of that can be a different experience."

Image by Julie Timms

Other therapeutic trails have recently opened in small parks, such as Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, Minneapolis, and Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, and larger ones such as Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest and Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park. The eco-lodge Qii House installed its therapeutic trail amid the eucalyptus and beech trees of Australia’s Great Otway National Park. ANFT has a directory of trails on its website, and GIFT expects to launch one soon.

Canada’s Gros Morne National Park holds a freshwater fjord sheltered by towering cliffs, sandy beaches, and a new forest therapy trail. Photograph by DAVID DOUBILET, Nat Geo Image Collection

Porchuk says that these therapeutic trails might benefit the parks they’re in, too. “The deeper we connect, the more likely we are to make good stewardship choices in our lives and decisions that support natural areas,” he says.

Maryam Siddiqi is a travel journalist and founder of Provenance. Follow her on:

“We know that in September, we will wander through the warm winds of summer’s wreckage. We will welcome summer’s ghost.” – Henry Rollins

Each autumn, she would return to Hades, her descent marking the earth’s retreat into winter’s embrace....

Hades

By Jezibell Anat

What would you have been

If you had drawn another lot,

If you had won the land or the sea,

Instead of these caverns of shadows?

Is it any wonder that you became solemn and grim,

A source of fear among the living?

Those who once lived and loved and laughed

Beside fertile fields and shining streams

Are now pale phantoms, vacant and lost in the silence.

Still, you discovered subterranean treasures,

Not just the deep veins of gold and silver,

The bright jewels and crystals of the caves,

But you hold the sacred fallow time,

The wilting vines and decaying grain

That become the catalyst for new growth.

You are the downward shift, the nadir,

From you all things arise anew.

Hades art by Mind Maestro; All Rights Reserved.

“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.” – Elizabeth Lawrence
Image credit - Freepik

~ September's Astrology Spotlight ~

Excerpts from: Dark Pixie

New Moon in Virgo

The Virgo New Moon is a great time to get things done. Virgo rules work, small projects, tasks, chores, and the details, and we can focus on what we need to get done with extra productivity and efficiency. This can be a great time to pick up some projects that you can work through quickly, and dedicate yourself to smaller pursuits that can be accomplished fast.

The natural ruler of Virgo, Mercury, was just retrograde (appearing to move backward) before this New Moon, so productivity and efficiency likely suffered, and we had one little thing after another pile up. The Virgo New Moon provides an opportunity to make a list and go through everything that you didn't have the time or energy for in the month before, and get them out of the way now.

This New Moon is also a good time to focus on our health and wellness, and to take care of ourselves. We can perform routine maintenance for cars, computers, and homes, and can get routine checkups for our physical bodies.

The day before this New Moon, Pluto retrogrades back to Capricorn, so we may feel like we're back to working on some of the last-minute Capricorn issues we have to work on. Pluto is out of this sign in November, and that's it, so we've got 2 1/2 months to make final movements with our goals, direction, and responsibility.

Uranus also turns retrograde the day before this New Moon, and we may feel like we don't have as many options to make the changes we want. We may feel more impatient and impulsive as a result. We have to keep control of that, and break changes down into small steps and go one step at a time. This way, we can create changes, but we're smart about it and take a steady approach.

Full Moon in Pisces and a Lunar Eclipse!

The second Lunar Eclipse for 2024 comes to us in mid September in water sign Pisces, and this is the start of a whole new eclipse set. Eclipses occur in sets of opposing signs, and we've been in Libra and Aries. That continues for a little while longer (the next Solar Eclipse is in Libra), but we're now also focusing on starting a whole new eclipse set, which means a whole new chapter, journey, or focus.

In Pisces, this might mean greater focus on our spirituality, our intuition, our subconscious, what's hidden, and the past. We can work to strengthen ourselves internally, quietly, and on our own. Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac, and Lunar Eclipses tie to endings, so this can be a big eclipse for finishing something.

This eclipse can also be huge for releasing baggage, whether it's spiritual, subconscious,, or karmic. The eclipse has major spiritual and subconscious and karmic energy, and we're likely being faced with something from the past or within ourselves that is difficult, but we have to come to terms with it and try to be more understanding, introspective, and ultimately let it go so it's not weighing us down anymore.

The Lunar Eclipse is sextile (beneficial aspect, 2 signs away) transit (moving) Uranus in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn, and conjunct (aligned with) ruler Neptune in Pisces. The sextiles to Uranus and Pluto brings some help with changes and transformations as Neptune amplifies the Pisces energy as its ruler. Saturn is also in Pisces but not conjunct this eclipse, but may still have some impact.

We need to make sure we're being smart with whatever we're doing, and that we're releasing in healthy, positive ways. This can push us far into the future and our potential and fate with the eclipse touching all 3 outer planets, and we may see an important event in the world (or two or five or ten!) around this eclipse.

We're likely going to be extra tired with this eclipse as well thanks to it being a Lunar Eclipse coupled with the Pisces, Neptune, and Saturn energy. We're more easily drained, and we need to make sure we're getting extra rest and taking the time to recharge after anything demanding. This exhaustion can not only be physical, but also mental, emotional, subconscious, and spiritual.

“There is a clarity about September… the sun seems brighter, the sky more blue, the white clouds take on marvelous shapes; the moon is a wonderful apparition, rising gold, cooling to silver; and the stars are so big” – Faith Baldwin

Feast Your Eyes on the Harvest Moon!

Adapted From: The Farmer's Almanac

September’s full Harvest Moon reaches its peak in the evening hours of September 17, 2024.

This year, look for September’s full Harvest Moon to appear just after sunset on Tuesday, September 17. It reaches peak illumination at 7:34 P.M. Las Vegas time.

Why is it called the Harvest Moon?

The full Moon that happens nearest to the fall equinox (September 22 or 23) always takes on the name “Harvest Moon.” Unlike other full Moons, this full Moon rises at nearly the same time—around sunset—for several evenings in a row, giving farmers several extra evenings of moonlight and allowing them to finish their harvests before the frosts of fall arrive.

While September’s full Moon is usually known as the Harvest Moon, if October’s full Moon happens to occur closer to the equinox than September’s, it takes on the name “Harvest Moon” instead. In this case, September’s full Moon is referred to as the Corn Moon.

Image from Farmers Almanac

This time of year—late summer into early fall—corresponds with the time of harvesting corn in much of the northern United States. For this reason, a number of Native American peoples traditionally used some variation of the name “Corn Moon” to refer to the Moon of either August or September. Examples include Corn Maker Moon (Western Abenaki) and Corn Harvest Moon (Dakota).

Other Moon names for this month highlight how September is the transitional period between summer and fall:

ALTERNATIVE SEPTEMBER MOON NAMES

  • Autumn Moon (Cree)
  • Falling Leaves Moon (Ojibwe)
  • Leaves Turning Moon (Anishinaabe)
  • Moon of Brown Leaves (Lakota)
  • Yellow Leaf Moon (Assiniboine)

The behavior of animals is also a common theme:

  • Child Moon (Tlingit) referring to the time when young animals are weaned
  • Mating Moon and Rutting Moon (both Cree) describing the time of year when certain animals, like moose, elk, and deer, are looking to mate.

Moon Facts & Folklore:

  • Usually, the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, but around the time of the autumnal equinox, it rises only around 30 minutes later in the United States—even less in Canada.
  • Frost occurring in the dark of the moon kills fruit buds and blossoms, but frost in the light of the moon will not.
“The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.” – Henry Beston

September Full Moon Magic

Article by: Patti Wigington @ LearnReligions.com

September brings us the Harvest Moon, sometimes referred to as the Wine Moon or the Singing Moon. This is the time of year when the last of the crops are being gathered from the fields and stored for the winter. There's a chill in the air, and the earth is slowly beginning its move towards dormancy as the sun pulls away from us. It's the season when we're celebrating Mabon, the Autumn Equinox.

This is a month of hearth and home. Spend some time preparing your environment for the upcoming chilly months. If you don't already have one, set up a hearth or kitchen altar for those times when you're cooking, baking and canning. Use this time to clear out clutter—both physical and emotional—before you have to spend the long winter days inside.

Correspondences:

Colors: Use browns and greens, earth tones, to represent the changing colors of the fields and lands around you.

Gemstones: Citrine, chrysolite, peridot, bloodstone, and other reds, oranges, and yellows can symbolize the colorful leaves on the trees in your area.

Trees: Bay, larch, hawthorn, and oak are all associated with this time of year.

Goddesses: Demeter, Brighid, Freyja, and Vesta, as well as other deities of the harvest, are appropriate to honor in September. You can also work with gods connected to vegetation and vines.

Element: Earth is typically associated with this time of year.

For magical herbal correspondences this month, look at using rosemary, rue, basil, and chamomile in your workings. All of these should be flourishing in your garden right now, and you can harvest and dry them for future use.

Harvest Moon Magic:

Finally, remember that the harvest moon is a season about reaping what you have sown. Remember those seeds you planted in the spring—not just the physical seeds, but the spiritual and emotional ones? This is the season where they are bearing fruit; take advantage of all of your hard work, and collect the bounty you deserve. Here are a few ways to benefit from this month's full moon energy.

  • Jessica at MoonKissed has a great suggestion for increasing your personal harvest, and says, "Increasing harvest is a two part process: first we give gratitude for the harvest we’ve already received, the abundant friends, lovers, passions, and support from the Universe. Then Ask for our cup to be full or re-filled, in balance. Anything you’d like to increase, desire more of, would like illumination about, put into this spell."
  • Use the harvest season to plan ahead for the coming winter months - stockpile magical supplies and ingredients so that you'll have them on hand when it's too cold or snowy to get them fresh.
  • Consider the abundance you have in your own life, and start thinking about ways you can share it with others. Can you donate things to organizations that help the needy? What about setting up a food drive, or volunteering your time at a homeless shelter? Use this time of year to pay things forward, both materially and magically.

~ The Elemental Series ~

Part 2

The Element of Earth

Direction: North

Substance: Tree, soil, plant, fungus, cave, mountain, ground, forest, grove, canyon, field, farm, garden, park, mine, basement, hole, crater, nursery, kitchen

Zodiac Signs: Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo

Planets: Earth

Earth Magical Properties: growth, femininity, prosperity, birth, fertility, stability, grounding, employment, finances, death, motherhood, sustenance

Earth Animals: deer, cow, dog, worm, gopher, mole, rat, horse, squirrel, ant, pig, goat, wolf, coyote

Colors: Green, brown, black

Magical Tools: salt, pentacle, stones/crystals

Magical Creatures with earth magical properties: gnomes, dwarves, garden fae, trolls, giants, dryads

Deities associated with the earth element: Gaia, Maia, Demeter, Modron, The Morrigan, Dea Matres, Pacha Mama, Cybele, Ceres, Sif, Jord, Mother Earth/Nature, Cernunnos, Green Man, Oak and Holly Kings

Plants with Earth Magical Properties: oak, patchouli, vetivert, moss, lichen, nuts, roots, potatoes, tumeric, ginger, cedar, hawthorn, elder

If you are an earth zodiac sign, your most powerful magick will facilitate the earth element to make change. Earth magic doesn’t have to be complicated, unless you want it to be. Here are some easy ways to cast earth magic and harness the energy of the earth element:

  • growing and maintaining a magical garden
  • making herbal infusions and brews
  • burying spells i.e. witch’s bottles and jars
  • using different kinds of dirt and sand in your spells
  • kitchen witchcraft: cooking, baking, herbalism, crafting
  • mountain witchcraft: working with the energies of the mountain
  • herbal offerings to the gods and ancestors
  • making spell bags with herbs and crystals
  • growing a plant intended to manifest magical intentions
  • using salt to cleanse your sacred space
  • divination with ogham staves, rune stones and crystals
  • healing with crystals and stones and herbs
  • working with gnomes, garden fairies, etc.
  • aligning and balancing your root and heart chakras
  • working with the magick of trees
  • hiking and camping
  • carving and woodworking
  • crafting magical wreaths
  • wearing and using earth element colors in your magick

The Unique Magick of the Earth Element

The earth element works in conjunction with all other elements to sustain life on this planet. In fact, it IS the planet. Think about how earth works with the others: earth feeds fire, requires water for growth, produces air (trees/plants) in conjunction with water. But can also suffocate fire and air and impede water. We live on the earth, our feet and homes planted in the soil, and grow our food in the earth. Without earth, we would not survive. Earth is nurturing, grounding, loving, growing, replenishing, moving, sowing, and reaping.

Earth Element Exercises:

As a witch, you will commune and connect with all 5 elements over the span of your lifetime. Sometimes you’ll love one element over the others. But you should explore all elements in the same regard. With the earth element, study the earth magical properties. Write them down in your grimoire or Book of Shadows. Learn about plants and trees. Work with herbs and crystals. Take time to dive into grounding techniques. Understand the very essence of earth. You can eat things that relate to earth (nearly everything). Wear the colors of earth. Take a trip to a cave system or forest.

Original post by: otherworldlyoracle.com

~ Crafty Corner ~

How to Make a Gourd Rattle

by Molly at Brigid's Grove

Why use a gourd?

Gourds are natural musical instruments that have more than 10,000 years of history, spanning multiple continents and uncountable cultures. Evidence from the Smithsonian is that gourds were the first domesticated crop ever grown in the Americas, probably cultivated by women as water containers. The origination of the gourds still grown today is in Africa, where seeds were then transported to Asia and then from Asia to the Americas by Paleoindian peoples who crossed the Bering Strait and originally colonized the Americas.

Supplies needed:

  • Clean, dry, dipper gourd in the size of your choosing (also possible: bottle gourd, pear gourd, or birdhouse gourd).
  • Thick bladed exacto knife, or other cutting implement
  • Small stones, beads, beans, seeds, or other objects to fill the gourd with sound
  • Wood glue (super glue also possible)
  • Sharpies, paints, gourd dye/stain, wood burner, Dremel tool, or other tools for embellishment

Editors' notes:

  • I have found that decorative gourds also make for lovely hand shakers
  • These small gourds can be dried out and simply used 'as is' with the see.ds inside creating a natural rattle
  • To learn how to dry your own gourds follow this link:

Step-by-Step:

  • Draw a line around the widest part of your gourd about 1 inch down from the top. Make the line slightly curving, rather than straight, so that when the top is sliced off, it will be “keyed” to fit back together, rather than trying to match up two straight lines.
  • Using a thick bladed Exacto knife, cut over your line multiple times until it starts to cut through. Do not force it. Take your time. Be very careful. It is easy to cut yourself!
  • After it is separated, scrape the materials out of the inside (reserve some seeds if you’d like to put them back into the rattle, or keep them to plant).
  • Color or paint along the inside edges of the cut lines (this keeps the cut from being very visible when finished).
  • Glue back together with wood glue (super glue might also work).
  • Embellish the outside using permanent markers, gourd dye/stain, paint, a wood burner, or a carving implement, like a Dremel tool.

You can fill your own rattle with any shakeable, rattly material you’d like. It was important to me that mine contain consciously, intentionally collected materials for specific purposes, so that each time we pass the rattle and shake it energy and intention is brought in to support our words. So, mine contains:

  • Some of the original seeds from the inside, for the seeds of new ideas and for the connection to heritage, the generations, and the earth.
  • Moonstone chips, for women’s wisdom.
  • Amethyst chips, for intuition and healing.
  • Job’s Tears for luck and manifestation.
  • Pea gravel, for a good rattly sound
“Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.” – Shira Tamir

The Kitchen Witch's Cauldron

~ A Mabon Tart ~

Fig, thyme and goat's cheese tart

Since the Neolithic era, the esteemed self-fertilizing fruit has been linked to the goddess's procreative power, featuring prominently in numerous ancient texts and artifacts. The Egyptian mother goddess Hathor is believed to have originated from a legendary fig tree, similar to Inanna-Ishtar in Mesopotamian lore. Temple offering records list cakes composed of barley flour, dates, figs, nuts, syrups, sesame seeds, rose water, and honey, which were fed to Inanna's sacred doves. This offering evidently pleased Inanna, who "from the heart of heaven gazed down with joy." When she was content, fertility, prosperity, good health, and joy graced the land, its creatures, and its inhabitants. ~ Gather Victoria Blog
Recipe from Sainsbury's of the UK
"Fresh figs are at home alfresco, in a rocket salad with Golden Delicious apples, pine nuts, and picnic cheeses or roasted with slices of Roquefort and a drizzle of honey to begin a fall fireside dinner.” ― Elizabeth Bard, Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes

~MABON~

The Second Harvest

September 22, 2024

By Priestess Novaembre

Mabon is the seventh sabbat on the Wheel of the Year. It is the autumn equinox, a solar sabbat, when the hours of darkness and the hours of light are exactly equal, as if the scales are perfectly balanced, but the hours of darkness will now increase. Equinox literally means “equal night.” It is the middle of autumn. It is also known as Second Harvest. First Harvest, the bread harvest is Lammas, July 30/Aug 1. Second Harvest is the harvest of grapes and other fruit. Samhain is the third harvest, the last one before the hard freeze when all the crops must be in.

The word “Mabon” is said to come from Queen Mab of the faery people (Maeve of the Celts). The Sabbat was also called Alban Elved in Wales, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, and Harvest Home. Because a harvest supper, a dinner of thanksgiving and celebration, was part of this sabbat, along with the themes of thankfulness, this sabbat is known as the “Witches Thanksgiving.” We pay our respects to the approaching dark time of the year and give thanks to the waning sunlight.

At this sabbat we are poised between light and darkness, life, and death. We mourn what is passing, celebrate that which is bountiful and are reminded that the Mother will hold the seed of Light in Her womb until the time of rebirth. This is a time for us to look at our own scales, the bounty of our own personal harvest weighted against our life’s experience. This is a time to take the gifts given from experience and make them a part of who and what we are. These experiences regenerate into wisdom. By doing so we honor these events, people and experiences that have so impacted our journey and our being and in honoring these we make them sacred.

At this time, the sun enters the constellation of Libra, the scales, and we celebrate all we have harvested, both physically and spiritually. In China this is Chung Ch’ui, the end of the rice harvest. In Judaism it is Succoth, the harvest holiday. This is one of the oldest harvest celebrations in Europe. Themes are abundance, balance, and thanksgiving.

To Celebrate Mabon Today

excerpt from: https://www.sacredwicca.com/mabon-sabbat

  • Make solar disks for the birds by hanging sunflowers in the trees. Bless them with a prayer.
  • Gather food and place in a basket to give to a local food bank.
  • Make a Sun Wheel using paper plates and gold glitter.
  • Wire two sticks together to form an equal-armed cross and decorate with leaves etc.
  • Fill a cornucopia with apples, nuts, grapes etc. and place it in the center of your altar.
  • Harvest what is ready in your garden and tend what is not yet ready. Give thanks to your plants for their bounty.
  • Create a small outdoor altar as a sacred space to honor the spirits of your land. Leave offerings of your garden's bounty.
  • Make offerings to animals by scattering seeds and grains in special shapes such as solar disks or yin-yang symbols.
  • Make offerings to woodland creatures by leaving some of your garden fruits, nuts and vegetables in the forest.
  • Collect seeds from your garden for next year's crops.
  • If you have grapevines, leave an offering of wine to Bacchus.
  • Go for a walk outdoors and gather brightly colored leaves.
  • Plant herbs, bulbs, vines and new trees.
  • Gather with your friends and have a potluck feast.
  • String a necklace of hazelnuts and place on your altar to gain protection over the coming dark months.

Mabon correspondences include:

excerpt from: https://www.sacredwicca.com/mabon-sabbat

  • Goddesses - Arawn, Ashtoreth, Ceridwen, Demeter & Persephone, Epona, Freya, Hathor, Inanna, Ishtar, Isis, Kore, Ma'at, Modrun, Morrigan, Venus
  • Symbols of Mabon - Cornucopia, Rattles, Sun Wheels
  • Colors - Brown, Red, Maroon, Orange, Yellow, Gold,
  • Stones - Amber, Amethyst, Citrine, Topaz, Tiger-Eye, Cat's-Eye
  • Animals - Blackbird, Butterfly, Dog, Eagle, Hawk, Owl, Pig, Salmon, Snake, Stag, Swallow, Swan, Turkey Vulture, Wolf,
  • Plants - Acorns, Apples, Aster, Blackberry, Chamomile, Chrysanthemum, Corn, Fern, Gourds, Grain, Grapes, Hazel, Hops, Ivy, Marigold, Milkweed, Nuts, Pomegranate, Pumpkin, Rose, Rue, Saffron, Sage, Solomon's Seal, Sunflower, Thistle, Tobacco, Wheat, Yarrow
  • Incense - Benzoin, Cedar, Frankincense, Myrrh, Pine

Nearly all of the myths and legends popular at this time of the year focus on the themes of life, death, and rebirth. Not much of a surprise, when you consider that this is the time at which the earth begins to die before winter sets in!

“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.” - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The monthly Book Review section!

Stories of the Seasons:

A Collection of Tales Inspired by Holidays

By: Darragh Metzger

A collection of five short fantasy, fiction, and urban fantasy stories from the fertile imagination of Darragh Metzger, inspired by some of our favorite holidays.

About the Book:

And all through the house Not a creature was stirring… Until someone whispered, "Trick or Treat". A book of five more stories from the fertile imagination of Darragh Metzger, inspired by the magic of our favorite holidays-from your own neighborhood to realms where angels fear to tread!

  • The Return of the King: Mab, the Queen of Dreams and Madness, has devised a cunning plan to restore faerie to power in the modern world on April the First. There's only one problem…
  • Trick'ed Treat: When little costumed callers arrive on your doorstep on Halloween, it's never wise to choose the trick over the treat.
  • Dreams Come in Painted Clay: A woman in a house emptied by death and surrounded by memories of Christmas past learns something new about grief…and love.
  • Nutcracker Sweet: Julie returns to the scene of her glory days as a prima ballerina with her students in tow, only to be offered a double-edged Christmas gift by the strange and glamorous dancer who replaced her.
  • Cody's Day: A dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do. Cody has one chance to give his beloved master and mistress the best Valentine's present ever.

The second book in Darragh Metzger's Holiday Stories series, with tales to brighten any holiday, to share with those you love, to be read aloud or savored in private; to bring smiles to little angels and fill snowy evenings with laughter, love, shivers, and dreams of adventure. The author of the popular Triads of Tir na n'Og series and hilarious novel The Strawberry Roan takes the reader far and wide through time and space, from the realms of magic and mystery to places that might be just around the corner; from days of yore to dreams of tomorrow. An "Author's Note" before each story tells of the inspiration behind each imaginative adventure. Ranging from science fiction to romance to thriller, this set of tales will delight and inspire, tickle your funny bone and, perhaps, wring the occasional tear.

About the Author:

Darragh Metzger was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and adventured around the world for a time before making her home in Seattle, Washington.

While attempting to make her living in the world's two lowest-paying professions--acting and writing--she appeared (briefly) in a number of commercials and films, and spent years in various theater productions around the northwest. She also played several roles for a jousting and armored stage combat theatrical troupe called The Seattle Knights.

Her essays, articles, and interviews have been published in trade journals and small press magazines, and her plays performed by theater groups around the northwest. Previous novels originally published in 2002 have been re-released by TFA Press as part of the Triads of Tir na n'Og series. In 2018, she released her first non-fiction work, Alaska Over Israel: Operation Magic Carpet, the Men and Women Who Made It Fly, and the Little Airline That Could, to critical acclaim.

For more information about Darragh and her books, please visit:

www.darraghmetzger.com

September Laughs:

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Goddess Speak accepts submissions for articles, stories, poetry, recipes, guided meditations, creative fiction, chants, artwork, photography and more. Please send submissions to Laurelinn, in care of  goddessspeakeditor@gmail.com. If your submission is selected you will be notified by email.

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