-
Art & Academia for October 2025
Here are a few of the art and academia pieces I was captivated by this past October. I tried to keep themes spooky and or witchy for Samhain/ Halloween! Science Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2025: Hermione’s Enchanted Handbag Some of you may have heard the Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry, announced on October 8th, 2025, work was likened to Hermione’s enchanted handbag. The reality might not be quite as fantastical as the enchanted bag from the Harry Potter series, but it’s still pretty freaking cool. This year’s Nobel Prize went to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi for their pioneering work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are crystalline networks built by linking metal atoms with…
-
Cody’s Column: For the Love of Wisdom
What wisdom does your land hold? How about the people who live there? These are two essential questions that have guided me on a quest to become more connected and explore a realm beyond my own, uncomfortable at times, but filled with adventure. It all started when I began working at the local library a little over a year ago. I had just finished a stint on an organic apple orchard, picking apples, juicing them, and bottling the juice on site. Before that, I had worked on my own farm, during which I experienced a manic episode that nearly separated me from reality and all that I love. The…
-
Learning Lunar: New Moon into Waxing Crescent, Autumn Equinox 2025
If you’ve been following previous issues of Learning Lunar, you’ll see that we’ve looked at some of the major moon phases both generally and in relation to the specific time of year. This month, I want to get super specific and look at the exact phase and movement of the moon around the Autumnal Equinox. Why? Because I love this time of year. The Autumn Equinox is very magical for me, and has seen me go through many changes, some good, some bad; some happy and some sad. This year’s equinox holds bittersweet mixed emotions, thanks to a run of events coming to an end, but with it, the opportunity…
-
Lughnasadh, Lammas, does it matter?
As this is my first year back as a practicing witch in many years, I wanted to re-learn the Pagan origins and celebrations of Lammas aka Lughnasadh. I keep seeing both names, but ignorant as to why some call it Lammas and some call it Lughnasadh. I was surprised to discover these two names were not always the same festival, however, got combined in the Wiccan community. This doesn’t surprise me given that old European pagan practices were mostly lost to time, due to the absence of written language, records, and the destruction of cultural heritage by the Roman Empire. Therefore, it makes sense that the bits and pieces we’ve…
-
Art and Academia I Enjoyed in June 2025
This is a column I hope to post regularly. I was inspired by Karissa Love’s Art I consumed this Month, YouTube videos, and thought, I also consume a lot of art, but I’d like to combine that with the academia I read as well. I’m sure plenty of other people make this kind of content since ‘What I Consumed This Month’ is a huge trend, but I’ll give her credit since she’s the only one I’ve personally seen do it with art! (Though, truth be told, I don’t watch her videos much, only seen a handful. She has a cool, Western flower-child, love-witch vibe if you want to check her…
-
Being Ethical in the Trending World of the Occult
Witchcraft, magick, paganism, manifestation, and all things occult have surged into the mainstream. I first got into the craft before major social media was a thing, it felt like being part of a secret world. Now, witchcraft is everywhere: tarot cards are sold at grocery stores, crystals come in any shape you can think of, and TikTok has it’s own WitchTok abundant with spell tutorials and aesthetic rituals. On one hand, it’s exciting to see the craft becoming more accessible. On the other, it means low quality products are constantly being pushed on us at a markup. It raises the question: How can we stay ethical in a world where…
-
April 8th, 2024
I wrote this last year right after the solar eclipse. I figured it was worth sharing since this month it had been a year. Enjoy! … I drag myself out of bed after only a few hours of sleep. I’m a nocturnal creature who has found her home on third shift. I leave the house in my galaxy pajama pants and “I love horror movies,” t-shirt, with my curly green hair floating around my head like seaweed. So many people asked me if I would get up to watch the Eclipse. I asked myself who would sleep through it?The roads are abnormally quiet for the middle of the day,…
-
Cody’s Column: Working With Land and Animal Spirits
It is eclipse night, and the rain is pouring down. I won’t get to see the eclipse, but I will feel it. I have been feeling it in the land and animal spirits that live here along the Magic Skagit River. The ravens who have been visiting again, the elk all standing in a line alongside the road, two eagles perched on a branch chattering with each other, circles of water rippling on the river, nettles peeking up off the forest floor, Indian Plum flowers blooming, and of course the iconic daffodils blooming in the Skagit Valley. Tonight, I write to you about being receptive to these spirits. For some…
-
Weyland’s Whey, March 2nd 2025 “Heartbeats” Column
Be Still My Heart Last month’s horoscope predicted surprises and the unexpected, and I promised to say how everything worked out: While they were loading me into the helicopter the pilot told Sparkle I’d had a visit from the Widowmaker. (She looked it up later. Eighteen percent survival rate.) If I hadn’t had the heart attack in my doctor’s office I probably wouldn’t have made it. Sparkle cancelled all of her classes and drove to the hospital every day to be with me. She brought me things to read and notebooks to write in. She made sure I had plenty to drink. We held hands a lot. She healed me.…
-
Book Review-The Language of Lenormand By- Erika Robinson
As someone fascinated with divination when offered the chance to read a book I haven’t heard of about divination I was excited, but at the same time I was sceptical. I find most “How To Read Tarot” books are either very specific with what each card means or ridiculously vague. It’s hard to get a feel of your own for the cards. I was happily surprised when reading Erika Robinson’s book. The author, Erika Robinson, does a fantastic job of focusing on how to read the cards in conjunction with each other, better than any how to book I’ve read. Reading about how the cards change as they, in her…
