As the Wheel of the Year turns, spring gives way to summer, and roses return to the gardens and wild places. In their oracular gardens, Witches and Pagans engage with flower magick. Flower divination is known as Floromancy, and we’ve been talking with the roses since childhood…

Come April's full moon, the wildflowers are whispering. Our seasonal harbinger, the hare, trades its den for a shelter made of sun, and birdsong blossoms as temperatures warm. You remind yourself that in animistic communities, bird-watching is a form of divination.

“Cooking is one of the most ancient and overlooked forms of magick!”

Madam Spider’s Soup Spells - Coming Soon!

What does it mean to ‘tell the bees?’ Many moons ago, magick was part of everyday life. Bees brewed honey and pollinated flowers, but they also worked as household psychopomps, fuzzy messengers that carried our stories between worlds.

With so much to look forward to this April – burgeoning wildflowers, warmer days, the promise of a new season - why does a month of potential begin with All Fool's Day? Better known as April Fool's Day, the first of April has been dedicated to trickery and shenanigans for ages. In fact, while there are several theories as to how and when this tradition began, nobody can say for sure. Here are some interesting theories:

Whispering from her earthen altar, Hecate returns to the wild places in spring. Masked in moonlit prayers, her arrival is marked by crocus flowers and the return of springtime goddess, Persephone. Beneath this full moon, our fourth of the year, Hecate speaks about resurrection, her beloved crossroads, and following the hasty tracks of the Hare…

Like the moon illuminates the steps of our mythical journeys, a bee can serve as a guide or an oracle. In addition to supernatural sight, these winged creatures are master builders. Legend says that the Temple of Delphi, one of the most holy temples in the ancient world, was constructed by bees.

Place your ear to the pages of your favorite fairy tale, and you'll hear the gentle murmuring of bees. Many times, a hive takes the role that a fairy might – saving the day when all hope seems lost. Folk stories of yesteryear say bees are born within budding flowers. Like the fae folk, a bee takes its first breath within a bassinet of velvety petals. While the elder bees leave to forage for pollen, the flowers watch their kin, and the wind rocks them to sleep.

Alongside Persephone and the Fairies, join Little Witch for high tea with the hive! As you and the bees sip honeyed potions, Madam Spider spins riddles and Little Witch describes a curious dream – one about a moonstruck hare, moving at your own pace, and the origin of fairy tales.

So long as we decide it will be, the year's first full moon is a spell. It's a spell that doesn't require fancy tools or heaps of practice, nor do we need to follow a strict set of rules or memorize unfamiliar scripts and sigils. January's moon is a spell that summons magick from our dreams. So, while it's often called the Old Moon, Quiet Moon, Moon After Yule, or Wolf Moon, we've crowned it the Dreamer's Moon.

Seasonal epics are long and winding, and before the chapters of ol’ St. Nicolas and Father Frost, the pages of winter featured another Solstice spirit. She, too, was a guardian and bringer of light but wiser and much older than the rest. And she did not carry the sun in her hands, as one might expect, but cradled within her horns. Back then, dashing between the pages of winter was Mother Deer.

Sometimes called the Frost Moon, Freezing Moon, Scratching Moon, or Digging Moon, traditionally, November's moon is nicknamed after our hardworking, crafty, semi-aquatic friend – the beaver. Like other warm-blooded animals, come November, the beaver is busy preparing his winter den.

As the rumor went, the Old One knew everything. She was educated in magick and fate and the ways of fairies and the four-footed. She held the secrets of the horned huntresses, hoofed women, and the sisters holding the slippery reigns of time. The Old One was every bit as mesmerizing as she was maddening. She'd answer every question asked of her, although finding reason in her riddles proved near impossible.

“…the Hunter has another aspect: that of searching, of seeking. He embodies all quests, whether physical, spiritual, artistic, scientific, or social. His image is poemagogic: It both symbolizes and sparks the creative process, which is itself a Quest. The God seeks for the Goddess, as King Arthur seeks for the Grail, as each of us seeks for that which we have lost and for all that has never yet been found.” - Starhawk, The Spiral Dance

As luck would have it, spooky friends, we have a new Little Witch Tale live on the blog! Click here to read The Headless Maiden, an illustrated tale about harvesttime wishes, haunted hearts, and Ariadne, the heroine who lost her head.

Do you see any ghosts creeping around the garden? Which plants wave hello? How many colors are winding their way up your ankles, around your spine, and into your heart? Where are the crossroads carved into this next chapter?

Once in a blue moon, we return home to the stories that made us. We cast a net into a golden tide of remembering, harvesting moon flowers and mystery from the succulent vines of nostalgia. Once in a blue moon, we're given opportunities to revisit the things we loved as children – our favorite books, creative companions, and the wistful seeds of yesteryear.

Serving as our midway point between Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, Lughnasadh is a Celtic fire festival. Inspired by the grain mysteries, sacred partnerships, and the recently-ripened fruits of our labor, seasonal stories like the myth of Lugh and Tailtiu mirror these sentiments.

The Celtic god Lugh will soon be knocking at our doors, scythe in hand, sights set on our golden fields (look for Lughnasadh lore later this month!), but not until we've met July's moon and tasted her wild nectar, a blend of shapeshifting and untethered passions, a brew stirred by the one who wears the antlered crown.

In some parts of the Northern Hemisphere, June marked the start of berry season. Known as the Strawberry Moon, Blackberry Moon, Raspberry Moon, or Garden Moon, June's moon was dedicated to the berries ripening in the wild. Originally named by indigenous communities throughout Northern America and Canada, June is a welcome reminder that all things bloom in their own time.