Hello, all – Something I noticed about this reading that I want to mention up front is that three of these are from the same aicme – positions two, three, and four of the last standard set. They all lead up to Yew, which is the gateway to our next megacycle. I’m not much of an astrologer, but it also looks like a bunch of planetary cycles are primed to end (one way or another). Much of this reading is a call to deep knowledge of ourselves and our needs, while detaching from

I can’t pull Gooseberry without giggling, so it’s probably a good thing I don’t see it very often. Gooseberries are shrub-type plants, rather than full trees. They're lively and beautiful in the landscape, great for wildlife, and very yummy in pies. They do fine with some benign neglect, but if you want to harvest any of its fruit in volumes useful for human consumption, you’ll need to take care of it: mulching to prevent weeds, pruning old canes to encourage new growth, and

Like Beth mentioned, Spindle is an ogham with nuance. In the same context as Broom, Spindle relates to home life and chores, but more specifically in the sense that our efforts are part of a larger process. The European spindle tree is unfortunately invasive in my area, so I can’t plant it, but before we understood how aggressively it spread, I definitely liked the shape of it as a small tree and its vibrant color in autumn (it’s commonly called “burning bush” around here).

White Poplar grows well enough in many circumstances to be a problem, gaining up to 130 feet in height quickly. It grows eagerly on woodland edges, where it spreads by sucker and forms colonies of tall trees that sway in the breeze. As with Aspens, its silver-green foliage tremble in the slightest breeze. White Poplar flowers and catkins are small and unremarkable but its height and bark have a lot of ornamental interest. First introduced to the US in the 1800s, it quickly “