With fresh eyes--Let's talk about the small discoveries that each season brings, in a 4-season climate. This one is 15 minutes! All the best, Melissa. | For spiritual offerings, arts, and thoughts, visit https://melissashinehuang.com/

Let's talk about noticing our internal natural seasons and trusting it to find the way. All the best, Melissa. | For spiritual offerings, arts, and thoughts, visit https://melissashinehuang.com/

Just wanted to say hi and that I’ll be back! Take care of your health. P.S. I’m “having” (not drinking :) ) tofu, apples, and eggs as my recovery foods that soothe the throat.

This path is experiential. We rarely find true answers without going through many tests and experiments. Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

Did magic happen? Or did it not happen? We have the ability to see multiple sides of an experience, and that's actually how we can continue to find faith and find spiritual strength. Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

Daily weather is nature in small droplets that are still windows through which we can bond! Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com 

The more I was able to enjoy nature, the less I needed food as experiences. When one thing nourishes you, the clamor for something else seems to quiet down.

Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com 

Thanks for joining my musings on the public bathroom experience: something unpleasant but also forgettable; very self-centered but also one of the most universal. Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

This is not about dividing up chores, but about discovering that special relationship between the house and myself. Just the two of us.   Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

Tools, things, and spells may not work for or appeal to us all the time. I went from cannot own to not wanting to own through the natural process of adapting to life. The important thing is to acknowledge what you already have within you, and give them their power. 

A good resource is the Anatomy of the Witch book or deck by Laura Tempest Zakroff (which I haven't yet read, and just learned about at the time of recording.)

Shoot me a voice message at: https://anchor.fm/naturespirituality
Find out more about me at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

It’s one the most basic psychological/physical/metaphysical/what-have-you principles at work: change your environment to feel different. 

Shoot me a voice message at: https://anchor.fm/naturespirituality
Find out more about me at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

Our podcast is now under 9 minutes slice-of-life about how paganism nourishes us in magickal yet grounding ways. Fun detail about giving away my couch: The person picking it up said that the specific IKEA model worked so well for their family that each time they moved, they searched if that one was available second-hand in the community. He came with a big smile, and left me with one, too. Shoot me a voice message at: https://anchor.fm/naturespirituality Find out more about me at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

I wish this adult feels more comfortable running around and exercising like kids or puppies do. :)

An 8-minute break at your favorite nature destination, to recall how we've changed our ways in the past, and where the inspiration for change came from.

Mono Lake is an ancient lake to the east of Yosemite National Park in California. In this essay included in the newsletter and the calendar sent to Mono Lake Committee members, the writer calls for nature writing to change. Awe and wonder is not enough to save our planet; it is decision making that will. 

A 7-minute time travel to the 1870s to find out what John Muir meant when he wrote to his sister, "The mountains are calling and I must go...".  There is a second part to this popular quote, and it's written a year after John Muir discovered his first glacier in the Yosemite.

This is 1 letter out of John Muir's numerous books and correspondence, currently in process of being archived by University of the Pacific.

It's countdown to election day. Are environmental practices on your ballot or part of what you look for in local candidates? Share with us by sending a voice message at http://anchor.fm/naturespirituality.  

A 7 minute walk to birch trees at the edges of Elfland, where fairies dwell, stories are felt, and time is difficult to tell. 

This is taken from the book, The Runes of Elfland, a collection of the Elder Futhark runes and the stories they embody. Nature is not just something to study. Through stories and lore, emotions and imagination, we nurture the rich connections that become legacy. 

Written by Ari Berk and illustrated by Brian Froud, this is not a conventional take on the runes, but an interpretation from the perspective of Elfland, Elfheim, or the Otherworld of fairy lores.

This is 2 pages out of the 111-page book.

Following episode 3, here's a 10 minute reflection on how we think about illness, from Patrice Bouchardon's book, The Healing Energy of Trees. When are we the farmer, looking at the most obvious, and when are we the ecologist, taking time to consider what has brought us to this situation?  

"All of us carry microbes and viruses, but not everyone gets ill from them." If we believe health is larger than our individual state of being, this reflection will help us consider how to heal together with others and the environment.

This is 2 pages out of his 150-page book.

A 10 minute reflection on the 7 attitudes to nature: the farmer, the biologist, the romantic, the gardener, the shaman, the ecologist, and the mystic, from Patrice Bouchardon's book, The Healing Energy of Trees.

No Celtic lore or druidry here, but a down-to-earth examination of our own journeys in developing a relationship with nature.

This is 2 pages out of his 150-page book.

A 5-minute peek into the late spiritual activist Patricia Monaghan's deep dive into "the landscape of Celtic myth and spirit", in the chapter "Mountains of the Hag".

This is 2 pages out of her 250 pages book, The Red Haired Girl from the Bog.

These Irish words or English words derived from Irish are listed:

* Ceann na Cailleach: Hag's Head

* Slieve Echtghe: mountains of the awful one

* rath: hill fort

A 5-minute peek into Seamus Heaney's essay on the praises of the Irish landscape in words and poetry throughout time.

Starting new, starting small, starting fresh with fairy folks 🧚‍♀️🧚🧚‍♂️

Chinese New Year arrives in January this year, about ten days before Imbolc. Here are 3 ways to welcome it in an everyday, low-key manner. Since January to me should still be a time of slowness, and Chinese New Year is a bustling, cheerful time, I’m viewing it as my time point to get up and back into the world.

An episode where I indulge in talking about how wonderful candles are. Im just one of many many candle lovers.

Happy winter solstice! Here are thoughts on rest as I recover from Covid and imagine being a bare winter tree in the freezing cold. Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

Even in the best hero’s journey, there’s magic and there’s sorrow, there’s mistakes and downfalls. Happy or unhappy, successful or unsuccessful - it has nothing to do with whether life is magical or not. I can believe my life is good regardless. Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

Fall is a fun time to collect leaves and branches to decorate or craft with. Why is it so satisfying to use natural materials? Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

This is inspired by a quick fire spell for recharging energy, in the book “Spells for Living Well.” Get spiritual readings, arts, and thoughts at: http://MelissaShineHuang.com

It's like going on dates without makeup to attract a person who really likes you as you are (?!) |All the best, Melissa. For meditations, podcast, and spiritual guidance, visit my website: http://www.melissashinehuang.com

I embrace a Disney princess dancing with animals aesthetics and also scientific and empirical views of how to live with nature in peace. All the best, Melissa. For meditations, podcast, and spiritual guidance, visit my website: http://www.melissashinehuang.com

As we appreciate the unseen like fairies and the liminal of the natural and metaphysical world, let us apply that appreciation to our own life journeys. I also want to mention a resource I came across online: "Walking Between Worlds: Threshold Thinking for Complex Times" by Jeffrey Keefer.

All the best, Melissa. | For spiritual offerings, arts, and thoughts, visit https://melissashinehuang.com/

🎧🌍Have you heard of Podcasthon? 🎧🌍

It’s a fast-growing non-profit initiative that unites 1000+ podcasters globally. There's no money involved—it’s all about raising awareness for various charitable causes. ❤️

In this episode, I'll touch on the ACLU, an organization we need to fight for democracy, justice, and freedom. Tied to my insignificant (in the scheme of things!) story debating moving to the mountains-- a closer look at fears, assumptions, and identity.💪 If this resonates with you, check out whttp://www.podcasthon.org and http://aclu.org/

Thanks for listening!

All the best, Melissa. | For spiritual offerings, arts, and thoughts, visit https://melissashinehuang.com/

I feel like I'm always supposed to want to move closer to nature. But the worries outweigh the romance. All the best, Melissa. | For spiritual offerings, arts, and thoughts, visit https://melissashinehuang.com/

Anyone can know more than you do about something; the resistance to carelessness; and the comfort in maybe having some fairy blood. | All the best, Melissa. For meditations, podcast, and spiritual guidance, visit my website: http://www.melissashinehuang.com

Flowers are popping up in Northern Colorado, which I heard is a little too soon! While I love the distinct seasons here, most of us have lived with season cycles that look different from the “textbook” pagan wheel of the year, not to mention changing climate. How are you maintaining spiritual connection?

| All the best, Melissa. For meditations, podcast, and spiritual guidance, visit my website: http://www.melissashinehuang.com

Book mentioned: The Year of the Witch by Temperance Alden

Of the four elements, earth has been the least familiar to me, until I moved to Northern Colorado, where (red) rocks are the most prominent features of the land. | All the best, Melissa. For meditations, podcast, and spiritual guidance, visit my website: http://www.melissashinehuang.com