i work at the ohlone center herbal clinic.
to draw in more clients i have been working on a flier.

florentina craft is bringing its herbal trunk to the wing and talon salon!
happening on january 23RD at the naughty monk loft
4701 san leandro street in oakland

for the new moon
a blood red pomegranate sliced open.
ripe and red.

sagittarius dark moon, reminds us to look at where we are pointing our arrow.
digging in, way down deep into our spiritual satchel. pulling out our sharpened arrow, making a cool and collected shot this winter. preparing for the darkest night of the year. breathing in deep, the cool air of quiet. making the shot that will feed us through the season of deep hibernation.

how lucky am i to have two grand old holly trees in my very own front yard? how old, well i live in a queen anne victorian built in 1892 on an old orchard tract...in east oakland.

today was sunny after the needed glorious rain. i decided to make an urban flower essence. in honor of the coming season. this is holly flower time, just before the red winter berry.

pictured below are:

  holly berries                 holly flowers           holly magic making on a pedestal,
                                                                                         on my front stoop

we are in between fall and winter...
i honored the acorn for fall with the reminder to harvest. soon i will be decking the halls with holly.

on my adventure into the world wide web i found this useful story:

"The triad image of father, mother, and child also prevail as we await the rebirth of the Sun King, but let us not forget the harbinger of the holly, the Holly King. Just as the Oak is the tree of the associated with the Sun King, so the holly tree, or kerm oak, is the tree of the Holly King. The two are oppositional twins one to another. To put the perspective of the twinned trees in perspective with their Celtic mythic origins, we look to the Druids. The Druid's place called Gwynvyd was /is a place where man communed with that which created. It was a void where all evil was abolished, and which could not be destroyed. A Rainbow River flowed into the entrance of Gwynvyd, and to enter it, one had to cross over a bridge, which was bounded on one side by an oak, and a holly on the other." (© Kimberly Moore)