Remember when summer was a time to relax and enjoy life? Nah, me neither. I think that the idea of summertime as a fun and laid-back period dates back to school vacations when we were kids. Most of the adults I know spend most of their summer busier than ever. I know I am, with garden and yard work thrown in on top of all the other things I usually do, and the shop I run inundated with tourists.

Don’t get me wrong—I love summer. But sometimes it can be hard to keep up with the mundane tasks, nonetheless set aside time for spiritual practice during a season when many of us seem to spend most of our days running from one place to another at full speed. (If you get to go spend a week on a beach somewhere, can I come?)

So how do we make the space for a spiritual practice in the midst of the whirlwind of practical demands on our time? I find it can help to combine the two. After all, isn’t the witchcraft path all about walking our talk 24/7 anyway?

For instance, this last Lammas, my group decided to forgo the usual complicated ritual. We were all exhausted, and more than anything we just wanted to gift ourselves with an afternoon and evening to hang out together and enjoy each other’s company. So that WAS our ritual: we had a barbeque, and each of us brought food made with love to share with the others, and we sat and talked and relaxed. It seemed a suitable was to celebrate the first harvest festival of the season.

I try to make gardening into a spiritual endeavor as well. Even when I am not tending my magickal herb garden, I look on my time in the garden as a means of communing with nature, with the gods, and also a way to put positive energy into the food I will be eating later. Even pulling weeds is a way of connecting with earth, and the small pond in the middle of the garden gives me a way to connect with water and the life that resides there. (Yes, I was talking to the frogs the other day. And your point?) Seeds turn into plants, animals and bugs (both beneficial and not) abound, and the cycle of life could not be clearer. Also, the bunny rabbits are exceedingly cute—especially since they can’t get past the fence to eat my carrots.

My favorite part of summer (besides my imaginary beach vacation) is eating all the wonderful fresh fruits and veggies, whether it is something I grew myself or picked up from a local farmer at the farmer’s market or farmstand store. For me, eating food that is so close to the earth it comes from and the labor that created it is a spiritual experience all its own. Tonight’s dinner was fresh corn on the cob (not mine, since it isn’t ready yet), and tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and herbs from my garden. I can’t think of any magick more powerful than that, can you?

So I guess my advice, such as it is, is not to worry too much about not having time to practice your craft during the summer. Instead, use everyday moments—like blowing bubbles with your kids (air and water!) or listening to the birds or a rainstorm out your window—to remind you that the summer is still a time for celebration, and that magick surrounds us in ways that might seem mundane to others, but which are as magickal as we want to make them.