Diving Deep: Tarot and Tea for Scorpio Season

Welcome to Scorpio Season and my latest post on tarot practices and herbal allies for the twelve seasons of the zodiac (you can learn more here).

Scorpio is a sign of depth which is reflected in the fact that its season arrives during the depth of autumn (for the northern hemisphere) or spring (for the southern hemisphere). Past the balance of Libra, which always seeks to balance multiple needs at once, Scorpio draws us beneath the surface and into what interests us most, to know ourselves and our worlds intimately. If Libra is an exhale, and the harmonizing of sound and breath in the wider community, Scorpio is the inhale, drawing in the relationships and patterns of relating that are most present and powerful in our lives.

Scorpio is a fixed water sign which means that it carries the energy of steadfastness, intensity, and strength (Taurus, Leo, and Aquarius are also fixed sign). While cardinal signs like Libra may introduce us to a new season, a new perspective, a change of pace, and mutable signs like Gemini may entice us away to a season or place over there, fixed signs like Scorpio help us to settle and get to know a season through and through. If Libra season helps us to recognize that there is so much beauty to know in the world, it is in the season of Scorpio that we form a long(er) term relationship with whatever beauty we are drawn most intensely to (and the beauty that draws itself most intensely to us). The season of Scorpio helps us to discover what it is that we are most curious about and what we want to learn about in-depth. Sometimes this is part of our life calling, sometimes it is a passing but important lesson, but the energy of Scorpio is always felt most acutely when we allow ourselves to be as focused and invested in something as we are called to be.

Learning and living our intensity is not always easy or comfortable. Allowing ourselves to be drawn into that which most interests us (including our own understanding of ourselves and our identities) can create schisms between the life that we were once living and the life we are beginning to live anew. But that's the nature of the season. For fixed sign seasons, where we are in the depth of a particular earthly season, there is no denying that what once was has passed and our new reality is here (i.e. the heat of summer has long given way to the cool damp of autumn and we need to change our habits accordingly). Sometimes our intensity drives us instead of us using it like a compass. Other times fear or shame is stirred up as we realize that the space we need for our curiosity and life calling isn't available in our current life. Too much intensity can cause rigidity, hubris, and an overdeveloped need to control our surroundings - things to guard against on any Scorpio adventure. But with care, the season of Scorpio can help us open up to the wonders of the world that can only be discovered when we spend time in the depths of wondering.

Diving Deep Scorpio
Season Tarot Spread

The quickest way to block Scorpio energy is to deny the time and space it needs to percolate, explore, and engage with an interest. Stagnated and frustrated Scorpio energy is something that shows up a lot in healing work. Many of us live within cultural systems that keep us overworked and underpaid, starved of time to just pursue that which we're interested in. Other times we've been skimming the surface of interests for so long that we don't know where to look to go deeper. We sense that a door to the mysteries we seek is out there somewhere, just beyond our peripheral vision, but it remains hidden. Scorpio energy helps us to understand that one of the ways to find your hidden door is to know what must change in order to unlock it.

Scorpio asks, "What needs to be transformed in your life for you to live more deeply?"

Understanding the need for transformation in our lives helps us to find the key which opens up the door of our curiosity to worlds we've yet to know. Intuition is required, compassion always, and more than a bit of bravery. The following spread helps us to find the hidden door to the places and spaces that we are being called to explore in more depth in our lives.

Card 1. The Hidden Door

This card helps you to glimpse at the hidden door which is calling to you. Listen to your intuition with this card, as its true message may be buried beneath the noisiness of your analytical mind.

Card 2. That Which Hides the Door

A card to help you understand what hinders your ability to live more deeply as you are called to, including pursuing the transformation that is necessary in your life.

Card 3. That Which Needs Transforming

This card illuminates the part of your life - a habit, a pattern of thought, a relationship, and so on - that is in most need of transforming.

Card 4. That Which Opens the Door

A card which gives a glimpse of what you need in order to open the hidden door and move through it. Sometimes this card will make startling sense, other times it may seem opaque in its meaning - take note of it either way and allow its meaning to come to you in other avenues of your life. Think of this card like a bit of a spell, something to start the process of unlocking your hidden door.

Card 5. A Message for Scorpio Season

A general message, signs to pay attention to, and perhaps next steps to take as we move into Scorpio season. This card can highlight energy which you might bring more into your life during Scorpio season so that you are better able to connect with the energetic flow of the next month.

Bonus Card: That Which Guards the Reproductive System

If you feel connected with the philosophy of astroherbology you can pull an additional card to help you understand the current energies of your reproductive system, including sex organs, including physical experiences and energetic energies and what tension or wisdom you might be keeping there. I encourage you to take a somatic approach with this card - when you pull it and see the energy, follow the feelings and sensations that it evokes from your body to understand its meaning. 

image via @klim11

A Tea for Scorpio Season

How do we nourish the energy of Scorpio? Traditionally, Scorpio guards reproductive function as well as our sex organs (click here for a full list of traditional correspondences for Scorpio). Much of Scorpio energy feels intense because it is about the propagation of life and the desire to live. For all their beautiful intensity, Scorpio is able to locate the tenderness of the world (and our individual lives) with great precision. When supported, the energy of Scorpio can be one of great repair as our curiosity leads us to finding out what needs most healing in our life and how to go about doing it. Thorn magick plants like Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Rose (Rosa spp.) which simultaneously protect and open the heart are wonderful Scorpio plant allies. Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum) brings in much needed flexibility of spirit through its adaptogenic qualities as well as helping us to guide the intensity of Scorpio energy instead of being overwhelmed by it. All herbs support our ability to open up to that which we desire most - a very Scorpio trait indeed.

• 4 parts Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum)

• 2 parts Hawthorn Berry (Crataegus monogyna)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa spp.)

These proportions are only suggested guidelines, so feel free to play around with them to your liking. As you make your tea, slow down, breathe deep, and infuse the blend with your intentions for the season (or whenever you’re drinking this tea to connect with the energy of Scorpio). If you’re looking for more breathwork practices to help you connect with the energy of the season, come this way.

image via @francesco_ungaro

Seasonal Reflections

What does the land feel like, look like, smell like this season?

What is coming to the surface from within me?

What is receding within me?

What am I feeling grateful for?

What am I grieving for or feeling challenged by?

What am I feeling inspired and where is it calling me to this season?

What am I calling to me?

What am I called to give?

♏️

Want to learn more about the magick and astroherbalism of Scorpio? I’ve written a full profile on the sign for you to enjoy. You can also check out the rest of my seasons of astrology series. Looking for some more visual inspiration? Come have a look at my mood board for Scorpio season.

Another Scorpio herb that I think is a useful one for many folks is Nettles (Urtica dioica). If you're going to be plumbing the mysteries, it's good to have the herbal equivalent of a multivitamin on your side, and Nettles is just that and more. For those who struggle with the inflexibility that Scorpio energy can bring or an intensity that feels run amuck, consider connecting with Vervain (Verbena spp.).

May your Scorpio season be full of revelation and many interesting things to learn more about.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤ Thanks, friends. ❤

Depth of Power : The New Moon in Scorpio

It’s the journey that steels us.
The stumbling and
picking yourself back up,
the seeking, that staves off fear
and fills us with hope.

- Dr. Karen Tate -

The secret grin of the New Moon in Scorpio marks the end of the season of Samhain. Now we tumble headfirst into the dark. If Libra is about weighing our options, than Scorpio is about measuring our depths. A Scorpio Moon can bring heightened sensitivity to many of us and the New Moon is especially activating to our psychic centers. We find ourselves wanting to howl at the Moon, run our fingers through the starlight, and dissolve back into the earth from whence we came. The ecstatic, the erotic, the enchanted all become elevated during a Scorpio New Moon.

Even if folks don’t know much about western astrology they’ll know that Scorpio is supposed to be the sign of sex. I’m don't know the story of where Scorpio got that reputation from but it might be from the intense nature that this sign can bring out in folks. Perhaps it’s the intensity of exploration Scorpios tend to take and the resulting deaths (of ego, of expectation, of past selves) both big and little (and the subsequent rebirths). What I do know is that Scorpio is a sign of shadow work and transformation. At the New Moon in Libra we were asked to cut away the expectations of others and to choose to live our lives as we want to. Then the New Moon in Scorpio arrives and asks us, “Yes, that’s fine, but what lies beneath?”

Photo by Lyndsey Marie

Scorpio is a fixed water sign which means that it’s an ocean with no sea floor. In the mutable water sign of Pisces we are asked to feel while in the cardinal water sign of Cancer we are asked to shelter. In Scorpio we are asked to know. The depths that Scorpio takes us to aren’t always comfortable. They can feel be pressurized, yet endlessly vast, and what we thought was up is really down, what we thought was truth was really just assumption. But the mystery unfolds when it is sought and so it is the calling of Scorpio to seek. Who of us as healers has not met someone and marveled at the vastness of both their pain as well as their remarkable resilience? That is the power of Scorpio. 

Blessed Thistle (Cnicus bendictus)
The New Moon in Scorpio Plant Ally

Spiky and unexpectedly useful, Blessed Thistle is already distinguished as a Scorpio herb by the doctrine of signatures. Blessed Thistle has recorded use since ancient Greece and is a powerful bitter herb that awakens a damp and weak digestion (listen for sounds of gurgling, poor digestion of fats, as well as feelings of distention and flatulence). 

As an alterative, Blessed Thistle’s eliminatory powers are applied to the blood and acting as a purifier. In combination with its skin-opening diaphoretic properties, Blessed Thistle helps to re-establish balance or homeostasis in the body. The herb is also a nervine and can be used to relieve spastic pain and headaches, especially when brought on by nervous tension. Blessed Thistle relieves brain fog and has a markedly uplifting effect.

Blessed Thistle is a very protective herb and can be used in all sorts of charms and rituals for boundary-setting, warding, and making safe people and places. It’s an herb that helps keep us safe as we journey into our depths. Blessed Thistle also has a resonance with students, both for its medicinal use for clearing brain fog and its magickal properties in awakening the inner spark of inspiration.

Flower + Gems Essences for the New Moon in Scorpio: Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), Holly (Ilex aquifolium), Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), Aquamarine, Bloodstone, Tiger’s Eye.

Essential Oils of Scorpio: Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin), Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Black Pepper (Piper nigrum), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).

Photo by Falco Negenman

Scrying the Depths

What better way to dive into the depths than through the ancient art of water scrying? The key to successful scrying is learning how to relax your gaze which means being able to look at a fixed point and allow your vision to grow soft and blurry around the edges. For our rite, you can focus on a specific issue that you want revelation around (such as a path of healing for a particular ailment) or simply ask to have it be revealed something that you need to know as part of your personal development as a healer.

You will need a bowl of water and candle. Begin in a sacred way (read the New Moon in Aquarius post for further inspiration). Place the bowl of water in front of you and the candle in a place where it illuminates the water, but you cannot sees its reflection. With you intention in mind, touch your third eye and say:

Vision beyond vision,
open to me.

Touch the right side of the bowl and say:

The depths are known…

Touch the left side of the bowl and say:

And revealed to me.

Repeat this ritual sequence twice more. Press your palms together and hold them over the bowl. Open them slowly, visualizing the veil between the known and unknown parting, and the bowl acting as a portal for you to gaze through. Relax your gaze and let the images arise. 

After a period has passed and your scrying is complete, hold your hands over the bowl and slowly bring them together, visualizing the veil between the known and unknown coming back together. Touch your third eye and say:

I have seen what has been shown.

Touch the left side of the bowl and say:

The depths have revealed…

Touch the right side of the bowl and say:

What is to be known.

Ground and center, ending the right by blowing out the candle and pouring out the water (preferably outside) and saying, “Blessed be!”

Oracle

With a divinatory tool of your choosing ask the following question. You can also ponder it during meditation or through journaling.

When I gaze into my depths what is gazing back at me?

Additional queries to consider:

What emotions have I repressed that need to be honored and expressed?
How does resentment or jealously prevent me from living my dreams?

Tarot Cards of Scorpio

Every card within the tarot deck has an astrological association. The following correspondences follow the system laid out by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. You can add these cards to your altar as part of your New Moon in Libra magick or use them in readings to help with determining celestial influence or timing (i.e. this will come to pass at when the Moon is in Scorpio).

• The Sign of Scorpio: Death
• The Water Signs of Cancer, Scorpio, + Pisces: Ace of Cups
• Mars in Scorpio: Five of Cups
• Sun in Scorpio: Six of Cups
• Venus in Scorpio: Seven of Cups

Find all of the New Moon Healers Project posts right over here. Be sure to share your insights and experiences in the comments below or via instagram with the tag #NewMoonHealersProject.

Need more astroherbology in your life? You can learn more about the astroherbology of Scorpio by reading my in-depth profile on the sign. Check out the magick of each phase of the Moon. For those of you ready to learn how to live your magick and create your herbal remedies by the cycle of Moon and star, you're invited to join the The Lunar Apothecary.

Blessed New Moon, wise healers.
May your healing be healing to us all.
May our healing be healing to you.
Blessed be! Blessed be! Blessed be!

The Herbs + Astrology of Samhain (Celebrating Lunar Samhain)

I am the hallow-tide of all souls passing,
I am the bright releaser of all pain,
I am the quickener of the fallen seed-case,
I am the glance of snow, the strike of rain,
I am the hollow of the winter twilight,
I am the hearth-fire and the welcome bread,
I am the curtained awning of the pillow,
I am the unending wisdom's golden thread.

Song of Samhain
from Celtic Devotional: Daily Prayers and Blessings by Caitlin Matthews

I love Samhain. I love the season of growing dark and increase of candle light. I love the thinning of the veil which helps each of us to travel between the worlds with greater ease. I love the possibilities of the future showing up in our dreams. I love the opportunity to set out a feast for the living and the dead. I love the smell of mulling spices and black candles burning. And I love the break from the busy outgoing energy of the bright half of the year to the welcome retreat of the dark. And I love Lunar Samhain, too!

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Of course, Samhain is only one holy day within the modern Pagan calendar (blessed be the Pagan love of celebrating the ongoing revelation of the sacred through all parts of the year). Within the modern Pagan wheel of the year there are eight major sabbats and each are tied not only the the earthly cycle of harvest and the mythological cycle of the God/dess/es (if that is your cup of tea), but the astrological wheel of stars. The eight sabbats are separated into two primary groups: the quarter sabbats and the cross-quarter sabbats. 

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The quarter sabbats are the four equinoxes and solstices of the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, and Winter Solstice.

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The cross-quarter holidays (also known as the fire festivals) fall between the quarter sabbats and include the festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain. While most folks are familiar with the fact the the quarter sabbats are observed when specific astrological markers occur, not everyone knows that the same happens for the cross-quarter sabbats as well. The cross-quarter sabbats are generally celebrated on fixed dates. Samhain, for example, is celebrated on October 31 each year. But, there is an astrological measurement for Samhain, too!

Samhain falls in the season of Scorpio. Scorpio is a fixed water sign which means it has a steady elemental energy that acts more like a place of energy than the passing of energy like at the quarter sabbats (which take place in the seasons of cardinal signs of beginning). The mysterious scorpion is a sign that is interested in the depths of any given matter, especially if it involves secrets, mysteries, and serious contemplation. When the Sun moves into 15 degrees of Scorpio or the mid-point of the sign, astrological Samhain occurs.  15 degrees Scorpio is the exact midpoint between 0 degrees Libra (aka the Autumn Equinox) and 0 degrees Capricorn (aka the Winter Solstice). Don’t you feel a bit more clever and magickally sophisticated understanding the astrological measurements to determine the dates of our beloved sabbats? 

In 2016, astrological Samhain is on October 30 which is delightfully close to the modern celebration of Samhain on the 31st. You should make sure to read up on the astroherbology profile of Scorpio to get a more in-depth understanding of the sign, season, and sabbat.

But there is even more fun to be had!

In college I was introduced to the celebration of Lunar Samhain and my Moon-centered heart was delighted. I was already excited to learn that I could extend the celebrations of my favorite sabbat to its traditional astrological date (which can be as far into the first week or so of November), but there was also a lunar celebration!

So when is Lunar Samhain?

I have seen Lunar Samhain calculated in two ways. The first is by finding the New Moon closest to the October 31 celebration of Samhain. The second way is by finding the New Moon in the sign of Scorpio which will be closer to the Sun’s position at 15 degrees of Scorpio. Using the latter calculation, in 2016, we’ll have a real treat, in that the New Moon closest to the Sun entering 15 degrees Scorpio will happen on October 30. Next year, Lunar Samhain could be as early as October 19 (using the first method) or as late as the New Moon in Scorpio on November 18 (which is my preferred calculation). 

Samhain is the traditional celebration of the New Year within Celtic culture and since the Celts considered both solar and lunar signs for their calendar, the New Moon at Samhain marked the true beginning of the New Year. 

I’ve celebrated the dual holidays of Halloween and Samhain for years. Halloween is a cultural celebration with fun community celebrations and I love dressing up on the 31st as well as getting together with my extended family of Pagan kin for spiritual celebrations. Lunar Samhain is when I celebrate with my smaller community of Pagan family to mark the new year, share stories of our ancestors, and cast divinations for the year ahead. Both celebrations feature a variety of herbs chosen for their magickal and ancestral significance. I've listed some of my favorites below.

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Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Rosemary for remembrance goes the old saying and so it is a useful herb for remembering and connecting to our ancestors. Magickally, Rosemary is a wonderful smudge for protection and clearing space for magick. Burn to bring good health for the new year and invite in vitality. Create a rosemary charm bundle to attract the Good Folk to you and mix with Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) to be able to see them. It is also a traditional incense to burn at funerary rights to honor the dying and the power of death as the great renewer of life. Rosemary, as with Mugwort discussed below, has an association with womyn’s culture. It is said that it grows in front of the house where womyn are in charge - I make sure to always have Rosemary growing in my front yard for that reason. A bath of Rosemary is an excellent way to prepare the temple of the body for a Samhain rite and help to awaken the long dormant memory to lost rituals of magick.

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Blessed Thistle (Cnicus benedictus)

Blessed Thistle is an herb of Scorpio and a very protective herb one at that! The herb can be used in all sorts of charms and rituals for protection, warding, and making safe people and places. It is an herb of manifesting dreams into reality by creating firm boundaries and has an affinity for students both for its medicinal use for clearing brain fog and its magickal properties in awakening the inner spark of inspiration. Plant in gardens and keep in the home to protect against thievery, unkind spirits, and hexes. Use Blessed Thistle in rituals assisting spirits to move on from our realm into the next. It is an excellent uncrossing and hex-breaking herb. Blessed Thistle also bestows blessings as its name implies and can be used in healing work. In his Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs Scott Cunningham recommends the following ritual to call spirits: 

…place some thistle in boiling water. Remove from heat and lie or sit beside it. As the steam rises call the spirits and listen carefully; they may answer your questions.

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Mugwort (Artemisia spp.)

As a profoundly magickal herb, you find Mugwort showing up again and again at sabbat celebrations. As a magickal herb, Mugwort brings on visionary states whether through dream or trance. Use it in dream sachets and visionary teas. The herb has a special affinity to womyn and womyn’s rituals and communities, especially in rites of Artemis. Use in charms to bring those who have acted violently towards womyn to justice and offer healing to those harmed. Remember, too, that Mugwort is an herb freed from the confines of womyn as gender making it delightfully disruptive to the gender binary. Wash your scrying mirrors and crystal balls with a strong infusion of Mugwort and Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) for consecration and blessing. Add it to traveling charms (including trance traveling charms) and use it in your shoes to protect against weariness. Burn as an incense when your home is threatened by impending danger or simply needs to have its wards reinforced.

Ancestral Herbs

What herbs these might be depend on your ancestral and cultural lineage. Rue, for example, is a sacred plant for Italian witches as well as Mexican curanderas. Elder is the Goddess embodied in Northern European myth. Kava is a powerfully sacred plant in many Polynesian cultures. Take some time to learn about the ancestral plants of your lineage. Decorating your altar with ancestral plants and consuming them in brews can be a powerful way to connect with those who have gone before. Working with plants at Samhain can be especially powerful when there has been ancestral trauma due to separation or forced migration - the names and stories that we might have forgotten or never known are never forgotten by the plants. 

Make sure to read the Scorpio Astroherbology Profile for even more inspiration for working with herbs and healing during the season of the scorpion. Cast some cards with the Samhain tarot spread and get settled in to the season of spooky. Wherever your revelries take you, I hope that you find yourself in midst of enchantment and wonder as the dark calls the song from your starry-hearted spirit.

Make Your Own Lovely Lughnasadh Brew

Lughnasadh, also known as Lammas, is the first harvest festival of the wheel of the year.

Traditionally, the day is a time of athletic competition and funeral games in honor of Lugh's foster-mother Tailtu, an ancient earth mother and incredibly powerful queen, who cleared the land in Ireland, died from her efforts, and became the life-sustaining grain that sprang forth from the fields. The intermingling celebrations of life and death is a common theme in both ancient and modern Pagan festivals. Lughnasadh is a reminder to celebrate our harvest and show off the skills we have developed over the previous season. It is also a period to remember the ancestors whose shoulders we stand upon - those who have given their lives in the struggle so that we may be sustained and grow. May we be able vessels of their memories, may we speak their names, and may we carry on their work for the betterment of our communities.

Modern celebrations of Lughnasadh is typically take place between July 31 and August 2. Astrologically speaking, Lughnasadh is marked by the Sun reaching the midpoint of the sign of Leo (or 15 degrees Leo). Which basically means that you can celebrate the First Harvest for a whole week if you like, which would be quite lovely. You can learn more about the significance of Leo within astroherbology over here.

My tea of the season celebrates the slow burning end of summer with some spicy heat and beautiful berries. Make a big community pot to heal the hearts of your kindreds after a long, hot summer season. If you don't have blackberries available, use another local sweet berry in its place - especially if you've harvested them yourself!

The tea features Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) which is an amazing African herb that is a rich source of antioxidants and it's a great daily tonic tea. The tea is a beautiful red color (it's name is Afrikaans for "red bush") and is rich in flavonoids which do all sorts of great things in our body from reducing inflammation and easing tension. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a great digestive herb helping to soothe angry intestines while Cinnamon (Cinnamomum spp.) is well known for its ability to manage blood sugar and is another digestive aid. Black Pepper (Piper nigra) harmonizes and sparks the blend, again, helping with digestion (specifically awakening a sluggish digestive system) and having an overall clearing affect in the body.

Lovely Lughnasadh Brew

Blend together the following herbs:

• 5 parts Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis)
• 1/2 part Fennel Seeds (Foeniculum vulgare)
• 1/2 part Cinnamon Chips (Cinnamomum spp.)
• 1/4 - 1/8 part Freshly ground Black Pepper (Piper nigrum)

Add 1 teaspoon to 1 cup of hot water. Then add 2 - 3 Blackberries to each cup of tea and allow to steep for 5 - 7 minutes. You can adjust the level of spiciness by adding or reducing the amount of Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) or omitting it all together. Want it more sweet? Add more Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). No fresh berries available? (That's a shame.) The tea is still good without them (but really find some berries if you can).  You'll be set for some Lughnasadh feasting with this cuppa in your hands! 

Looking for more recipes? Sure thing! Check out my recipes + tutorials section. You can also find out more about what is ripening in your life, what is changing, and what needs to be given with my First Harvest Tarot Spread.

I hope you have a blessed and magickal first harvest festival! Do you have a favorite Lughnasadh recipe? Share in the comments below!

Make Your Own Magickal Midsummer Brew

How about a sweet and summery brew for your Midsummer celebration?

Golden milks have grown in popularity beyond their Ayurvedic roots in recent years and they are such a pleasant way of enjoying the healing qualities of the sunny root known as Turmeric (Curcuma longa). Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory working its magick throughout the body, from soothing a irritated intestines to musculoskeletal pain. Turmeric's medicinal qualities are vast and I encourage you to spend time reading about it's gifts in your favorite materia medicas. You might even consider working with it for 30 days as a plant ally. Magickally, Turmeric's bright yellow roots align it with the Sun and the solar energies of vitality, will, and clarity of purpose.

When creating a Turmeric brew it is important to combine the herb with black pepper to make the plant's healing qualities more bioavailable to us which is why my variation of a golden milk is a delicious spicy brew. I've also included another Midsummer herb, Elder (Sambucus nigra), into the mix as another cooling remedy for the long days of summer.

My Midsummer Brew is created in two steps. First, you combine all the herbs in hot water and let them steep. Then you add in some coconut milk and  

Begin by combining the following into a saucepan with your water:

• 2 parts Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
• 1 part Elder flower (Sambucus nigra)
• 1/4 - 1/8 part Black Pepper (Piper nigrum)

Bring to a boil, cover, and turn off the heat. Let steep for 10 minutes. Sing to the sun and dance about the kitchen or cookfire. Then to every 1 part water add:

• 1 part coconut milk
• 2 parts milk of choice (I like almond or soy milk) 

Heat your brew just before boiling, strain, and sweeten with honey or other sweetener of choice. My Midsummer Brew is delicious hot or iced!

I hope all of your Midsummer adventures are full of love and luck as only the longest day can bring! If you're looking for some divinatory insight, check out my tarot spread for the season -  Bonfire Offerings : Summer Solstice Tarot Spread. Otherwise, enjoy the day and dance through the night, clever ones!