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Samhain Elemental Insights 2025

Samhain Elemental Insights 2025

The Wheel of the Year: Samhain (31st Oct / 1st Nov)

Variety is the Spice of Life

My yoga practice has become a real mix of influences lately. I go to classes with several different teachers, and each one brings their own flavour. One begins with soft music and deep breathing, turning the room into a little sanctuary. Another has us giggling like school kids before we’ve even hit the mat. Then there’s the one who can talk non-stop about anatomy turning class into the most intriguing biology lesson ever. And it’s not just the teachers that vary…  the classes are full of all sorts of people; a range of ages, abilities and characters. There are the slimline and graceful who float airily through every pose, the determined who wobble, grimace and occasionally topple, and the quiet, focused ones who bring a calm energy to the whole room. Somehow, we all fit together in our space, each finding our own version of the same shape.

As Samhain approaches, I’ve been thinking about how much this variety mirrors nature. The trees don’t all turn the same shade or shed their leaves on the same day. Every oak, birch and beech does it in its own time and way, yet together they create the beauty of autumn. Yoga class feels much the same, a gathering of differences that make a much more beautiful “whole”.

Samhain blessings from me to you.
Joanne.
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If you’ve ever heard someone say “I’m a Rowan” or “I’m an Oak” and wondered what on earth they were talking about, it might have been the Celtic Tree Zodiac. It’s a modern system that links tree species to parts of the calendar year, a bit like star signs, but for trees.

It isn’t an ancient Druidic practice, though it often gets shared as if it is. The version most people refer to today comes from Robert Graves’ 1948 book The White Goddess, where he connected the Ogham alphabet (an early Irish script with tree associations) to a lunar calendar. Later writers turned that into a zodiac of sorts, with personality traits and symbolic meanings for each tree.

So it’s not “old Celtic wisdom” but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. For those of us who feel drawn to trees or want to mark time in more seasonal, nature-based ways, it provides a focus for us to explore each month, as well as great inspiration for my pendants.

What has our jewellery brand Harmonite been up to?

Very excited to announce that the OBOD online store has expanded its products to include my Forest Bathing book and two more of my pendants (Ivy and Oak) which are not available on Amazon.
Check it out here…
Harmonite Store on Amazon UK
Harmonite Store on Amazon USA

What have I been writing?

Forest bathing is being turned into an audiobook by the lovely Kim Bretton. Hopefully out by the end of the year on Audible!

If you fancy a shorter read, why not check out some of my blog posts… the latest is a quick guide to the main types of clouds you will find hanging about in the autumn skies.

I’m still undecided on whether or not to progress with a book about lefthandedness, mainly because I fear it may just turn into a lengthy woe-is-me rant about how hard it is to be left-handed in a right-handed world – I’m worried that if I get started, I might not stop!

And finally, despite giving away over 2000 downloads of my latest book, I’ve only managed to convince 30 or so people to leave a review on the Amazon platform. A kind review online, or even just a rating would mean the world to me and they really do make a huge difference to Amazon. Here are two links taking you direct to the review pages in either Amazon UK or Amazon USA.

      

Follow My Author Page

What have I been influenced by lately?

Flicking through my journal the other day, I came across a quote I’d scribbled down that I’ve been turning over in my mind for some time now: “Leaves are verbs that conjugate the seasons,” (often credited to Gretel Ehrlich). It stops me in my tracks every time I read it. I know it’s profound, but trying to explain why just makes my brain ache.
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Part of me thinks I should just let it be beautiful without pulling it apart. But another part of me just can’t help trying.
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Leaves get busy doing so much stuff; they bud, unfurl, photosynthesise, shade, fall, decompose, nourish…  Simply put, they do stuff, and through all that doing, they show us what time of year it is, like the way verbs change shape to tell us when something happened.Leaves “conjugate the seasons” not only through what they do, but also through their colour, size, texture, even taste. Am I making any sense?I don’t think I’ll ever pin it down neatly. Maybe that’s the point. Some things are meant to stay just beyond our grasp, so we keep wondering. And at Samhain, when the leaves are letting go, maybe it’s enough to notice their language without needing to fully translate it.

One business helping out another …

Eleven Labs AI Voice Generator – I had a go at creating my own voice with an AI voice cloning tool recently… turns out not only do I not like my own voice, I also don’t like it when a robot can mimic it so accurately! Whilst the tool is not really suitable for narrating my books for me yet, it’s great at creating voiceovers for reels (if I had the courage to make reels, of course).

A final word from the woodland…

Storm Amy Came and went, and although she was a blustery one at times, the wood survived without any upsetting damage.

We cleared out the bracken from inside the protective cages around a few of the native fruit trees and widened them to ensure the young saplings have space to grow, whilst still being safe from the growing herd of deer that roam the woods.  We nearly always see Fallow deer down there at the moment.

Being a mast year, the place is covered in acorns, chestnuts and berries as well as an incredible carpet of fungi.
My acorn coffee was a definite win this year and I’m still tempted to go back for a second harvest to make another jar.  It’s a time-consuming process, but for me, worth every moment. 

So, until next time…

Blessings from Rais wood.
Joanne
x

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