If You Chose To Wrap Yourself In Roses, Know That Soft Petals Are No Shields From Thorns

🌱 little “good news” summer spell 🌤 gather clear quartz, mint leaves, and a handful of wildflowers. place them in a sachet and with both hands cup the sachet and take in the refreshing scent. with your eyes closed, while breathing in through your nose, think to yourself the mantra “beauty is on the horizon,” then slowly breathe out through your mouth. place the sachet on your windowsill or somewhere else in direct sunlight for the rest of the day. i’d recommend pressing the flowers the next morning.

Lughnasadh 101: A Guide

Autumn draws near and with it, comes Lughnasadh.

Lughnasadh, pronounced “LOO-nah-sah” and known also as Lammas, is a Celtic festival that occurs from the 31st of July through into the 1st of August. It was observed fervently throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man and marks the beginning of the harvest season.

Also called: Lúnasa (modern Irish), Lùnastal (Scottish Gaelic), Luanistyn (Manx Gaelic).

Lughnasadh is the celebration and ritual of the first harvest of fruit, wheat, and grain. This festival both acknowledges and celebrates the waning of light - Lughnasadh is the initiation of Winter preparation.

It is named for Lugh Lámhfada. and is in honour of his step-mother, Tailtiu who perished of exhaustion after clearing the fields of Ireland ready to be planted, sowed and seeded. Lughnasadh was originally a set of rituals, gatherings and funerary games (named Tailteann Games, or Áenach Tailteann) in honour of Tailtiu’s death and sacrifice. 

Some Symbols of Lughnasadh:

Wheat

Corn

Barely

Oats

Onions

Grapes

Straw dolls/straw bales

Corn dolls

Wood

Tarot (strength)

Runes (Eihwaz)

The Colours of Lughnasadh:

Yellow

Orange

Red

Violet

Dark green

Brown

The Stones & Crystals of Lughnasadh:

Carnelian

Cat’s Eye

Citrine

Marble

Sale

Granite

Lodestone

The Herbs of Lughnasadh:

Heather

Blackberry

Rose

Sandalwood

Goldenrod

Important/Celebrated Foods of Lughnasadh:

Bread

Apples

Corn

Beer/Ale/Mead

Grapes

Onions

Apricot

Pear

Activities to be done during Lughnasadh:

Baking/Cooking: Sharing food is a good thing to do with each sabbat, especially those with agricultural ties. If you incorporate seasonal foods, and foods associated with the sabbat itself, it can be seen as an offering or as being done in honour of what you’re celebrating.

Take some time to enjoy nature: Lughnasadh is a time when the seasons are changing, so take this time to walk and enjoy the last that summer has to offer. Collect things whilst you walk to put on your altar if you have one.

Construct an altar: if this is something you do, decorate your altar with some of the items mentioned in the list above. If you’re pagan and have a deity who corresponds with this holiday, leave an offering on your altar. In Lugh’s case, he is a god known for his skills in craftmanship and His ability to turn His hand to anything. He is also known for playing the harp, so anything you have crafted or that has taken skill to create will be well received by Him.

Decorate your home: if you like, small decor changes can really get you in the mood and act as a celebratory act.

Bonfires: Invite friends and/or family to a bonfire. Not only is Lughnasadh a celebration of waning light and of the god Lugh, it is a celebration of fire. Share plans to remove negative habits or influences from your life with your loved ones, burn representatives of negativity, drink to future prosperity and toast to Lugh. Light a candle and do the same, if you are not yet an outed witch.

Craft: as mentioned before, Lugh is a god of craft and skill. Make something! Finish a project you’ve been putting off!  If you don’t want to do something in Lugh’s name, you can make dolls out of corn (a very traditional activity) and they can be left on an altar if you have one, used as decoration or turned into a poppet.

Acts of athelticism: The funerary games of Lughnasadh were its primary reason for creation. To honour this, you can do something on a small scale, such as jogging or yoga, or going to the gym, if you are able.

Trading: Bake some bread and give it to your friends/family/coven in exchange for herbs, or some canldes! That’s just an idea. but you get the gist of it. Lots of trading took place at historic Lughnasadh celebrations, as they assembly for this season festival was always large.

Feasting: Ties into the baking/cooking aspect, but using things that come from the first harvest is a good way to honour Lughnasadh and Tailtiu.

Cardinal Signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn - The angular signs are absolutely determined to get what they want. They are the Queens of the four seasons, and now is the time to receive what they have earned the right to. But this is not entitlement. It has taken tremendous work -both privately and externally to be where they are now. And nobody is going to come along and take any of that away  

~~ Aries by virtue of starting with no memory and nothing but a name, and overcoming the odds to ensure other people they have a name people won’t ever forget it. The aim is not searching for their place and purpose in the world, the intention is to walk and build a new path at the same time, one without any footprints to follow. ~  Cancer in regards to the inner life and finding a way to manage the emotional typhoons so that other people won’t notice or realise that something is wrong. This takes tremendous and private inner work, and it’s also imperative for Cancer remaining in control of themselves out there in the world of work, friends, business, and pleasure. ~  Libra is the relationship sign, but they know too well that love is fallible, that love can be taken, or fade into nothing. So Libras are also very focused on career success because their professional path is something they can control completely. They work hard to tick all the business boxes- demonstrating their competence, relentless work ethic, willingness to learn, forming close bonds with colleagues, and charming superiors with everything Libra offers in one.    ~ Capricorns never take the easy road. Even if they believe they have done just that, they just return to the start and end up working harder. Capricorns are allowed to fail, but they are not permitted to give anything less than everything. They need to quell their desire for instant gratification, and remember that quantity is not quality. And they also need to learn when enough has been done, there is nothing more to add, analyse, or do, except for rest. 

Cherry

Medical School Resources! (and other human biology,physiology,biochemistry-related resources)

Hi Everyone! 

Update: I am now officially done with my second year! I know i’ve been MIA on here for a while now - but that’s only because I was drowning in textbooks and assignments! I will be writing a whole other post on what my second year in medical school was like - so watch out for that :)

I, for one, can not just rely on one method of learning. Meaning, I’ll jump from videos, to textbooks, to flashcards. In this post I’m going to list some of my holy grail youtube channels that have helped saved me. 

1) Handwritten Tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/user/harpinmartin

Every video in this channel is short, but not so much that you feel like you’re missing out on information. Definitely one to save as a favourite!

2) Armando Hasudungan

https://www.youtube.com/user/armandohasudungan

The best thing about this channel is the fact that there are over 300 videos, covering a wide range of core topics in endocrinology, neurology, physiology and pharmacology. Another pro is the presentation of topics (otherwise considered snooze-worthy) in an artistic manner!

3) Speed Pharmacology

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-i2EBYXH6-GAglvuDIaufQ

Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen asleep trying to read about the mechanism of action of opioids, their side effects and contraindications. I know I have. Fret not, for this youtube channel will introduce you to a world where pharmacology is actually interesting.

4) Wendy Riggs 

https://www.youtube.com/user/wendogg1

Wendy Riggs is a very down-to-earth professor in Northern California, and she covers a wide range of  topics in Anatomy, Physiology and General Biology. 

5) Anatomy Zone

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAnatomyZone

A better way to learn anatomy is to supplement your textbook information with videos from this channel. The explanations and visuals provided are absolute gold.

I hope you all find these channels as helpful as I did!

One Skillet Cheesy Homemade Hamburger Helper

Follow for recipes

Is this how you roll?

“Nobody else seems to belong in those empty spaces that you left behind in me”

—

Libra

Poem for Sabbats

Samhain begins the witches’ new year, and now Winter soon is here; the leaves fall, the harvest is done, so call your ancestors and let’s have some fun. 

Yule is the longest night, and signals the return of light. Everything is newly remade, and we wait for darkness to fade.

Imbolc we clean, cleanse and prepare for what the Spring may come to bear. Light the candles, light the fire, and build in yourself what does inspire. 

Ostara comes and Spring growth arrives, and all the Earth is truly alive. Winter is over and in it’s stead we bless our homes and our covensteads. 

Beltane, the fine May eve, we thank our gods for fertility. Bless the growing harvest and romance as we eat, drink, sing, and dance.

Litha is the longest day, the sun at it’s brightest but soon will fade. The Earth’s bounty is at it’s top, and abundance aids our spells nonstop. 

Lughnasadh, Lammas, both names are fine, herald the advent of harvest time. When fear and uncertainty are about, we ward our homes and both in and out. 

Mabon is a balance of seasons, where darkness and light remain within reason. The last harvest is called and the Summer is done, we give our thanks and farewell the sun. 

As every cycle begins once again, the wheel spins ‘round and we greet grandly Samhain.

Requested by @fish-egs. Thank you! :)

taurus, virgo, libra, and capricorn can be “have not” signs,  meaning they identity more with their inadequacies and the qualities they lack rather than they have  taurus always has their eye on the next long term gain, it’s sometimes a matter of what they are working towards having rather than what they have in the present, it can be a case of ‘if only’, or ‘when i have’, like ‘when i finally have a comfortable enough  virgo is focused on the abilities they don’t have, the subjects they struggle with, and everything they cannot do rather than all of the skills they have. they are always in a state of self-development, when they are finally ‘perfect’ enough, then they are enough to deserve good things, but it’s always a moving target 

libra makes a lot of comparisons with other people, they often idealise those who express the qualities they don’t have and rely on this person to fulfil or act out them out on their behalf. they can wrongly believe that they cannot source their own sense of ‘wellbeing’, ‘security’, ‘happiness’ or whatever unless they are in the company of this person, when these belong to libra in the first place capricorns have a long list of successes that they diminish in comparison to everything they ‘have not achieved’, they can have trouble self-reflecting without self-judgement and fail to see the progress they are making because the end goal is so tremendous and the person they need to become to reach this is seemingly so far away

C

Hey, um, don't ingest foreign objects

YOU CANNOT BE FEEDING THESE TO PEOPLE OMG 🤦🏽‍♀️

The horror I just came across on my ig 😷