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Mumming was long a popular entertainment for the dark time of the year. The Christmas and New Years or Hogmanay plays offered adventures, dragons and Saint George and other wild characters -- Turkish Knights or Kings became popular after the Crusades. They offered an opportunity for hijinks, costumes and ritual of course. But they had another important theme, too.

At heart the plays were about healing.

Aligned with the planet and the god Mercury, silver is about communication. Silver has been associated with the moon for thousands of years. As such, it is a stabilizer of any crystal or gem. Rather than adding to the energy of a stone, it secures the energy and supports the gem. Silver is a healing metal that should not be worn all the time; let your body tell you when it feels right. Silver offers a mirror of your inner spirit, and this should be given very special attention. Silver is a detoxifying agent and communicates with the body to alert you to raised levels of hormones and other chemical imbalances. The metal is good to wear as a necklace, as it is very beneficial to the throat and lungs. Your synapses even fire more efficiently because silver acts as an energy conductor. Consequently, silver is good for people encountering memory reduction, psychological issues, and diseases affecting the brain.

 Your body knows the seasons are changing  before your mind does. Your bones feel the slight chill that hints to the coming of fall can the wind on your skin is colder. As your mind turns to warmer thoughts of bonfires and feasts, the best way to prepare for the coming of autumn and harvest high holidays, is to ramp up the sacred self-care until your skin is actually smoother and much  softer then silk. But, why pay so much for tiny jars full of chemicals when you can whip up a yummy blend of healing herbs and restorative essential oils that is far cheaper, healthier and imbued with your personal magic? What you’ll need:

stainless steel saucepan

We live in the age of anxiety. There is so much stress, bad news and soul-crushing chaos; it is hard to know how to get through each day. But here’s the thing; ancient wisdom is the best way to approach to deal with modern troubles. Try the following tried and true rite. Take a piece of plain white paper, palo santo incense blue candles, paper and a blue pen and have it at the ready. Palo santo literally means “holy wood” and it is a tree that grows in South America and is similar to cedar and copal. It is wonderfully grounding and also clears energy, including tension and disquiet.

Some people love the taste of kombucha tea; others don’t relish it at all.  It has been credited with miraculous properties and is a probiotic, making it very curative for digestive issues.  Kombucha also comes recommended for acne, constipation, arthritis, depression, and fatigue, and is hailed as a protection against cancer.  I regard it as a tasty tonic, and my family drinks it daily.  My nephews were the first to taste kombucha, and they loved its fizziness and flavor.  This healthful drink is easy to make so long as you have a “ferment” (some people call it a “mushroom” because of the way it looks).  To procure your ferment, try to find somebody who brews kombucha already.  They should have plenty of ferments to share, as every batch of tea grows an extra ferment on top of the original.

 1 large wide-necked glass jar, cloth or paper towel to cover the jar,

When you feel pain somewhere in your body, it is a small voice that needs to be listened to. It could be old energy that needs to be released or a blockage or imbalance. I was in a hit-and-run auto accident where I was hit by a drunk driver who plowed through a red light and totaled my car, and very nearly me. As I hit the brake, my foot and ankle were shattered, rather like a porcelain teacup thrown with great force. The doctors wanted to amputate my leg, but I managed to talk them out of it. I had to learn to walk again, but I can walk and even dance and run again after lots of physical therapy and healing. But nowadays whenever I hit the brake too hard, I feel pain because my body remembers. The tissue and bones old the memory imprint of that awful day and the terrible trauma.

There is a practice that has been repeated often enough by some of our covens that it has begun the process of crossing that nebulous line into the territory of something that we think of as one of our traditions. There are many people in our covens, and our extended community, who practice some healing modality. Whether it is a healing ritual, a hands-on energy healing method, herbal remedies, a shamanic intervention, or any of a number of other approaches, the actual healing work tends to occur once injury or illness has taken place.