My weekly post in which I share three things I enjoyed or thought about this week.
Irish Folklore in America
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to listen to the latest episode from one of my favorite podcasts , New World Witchery. Episode 164, “Irish Folklore and Magic with Morgan Daimler,” is excellent. If you’re inspired by Irish culture and live in America, it’s required listening!
Blodeuedd
Blodeuedd is a flower-faced figure from the Welsh Mabinogi. My friend, musician Green Mistletoe, created a beautiful instrumental arrangement about this floral goddess. I don’t often write to music, but I’ve found that atmospheric pieces like this are preferable to anything with vocals. Give it a listen!
Herb Spirals
My latest garden project involved moving my old herb spiral (which I built in 2018) closer to the house. Now it will be easier to harvest and maintain. My poor herbs were not too happy to leave their previous home, but I’m hoping they’ll adapt and bounce back. Not only are spirals pleasing to the eye, but they are a culturally significant symbol as evident from carvings on and in Newgrange. The shape also serves a very functional purpose in creating microclimates to benefit the plants’ needs (dry vs wet, more sun vs less). It’s a great permaculture design that, in my opinion, marries science with animism. Lugging all the stones and soil is also great exercise!
Author M. A. Phillips 
I love that idea of an herb spiral! I had to sadly take down a giant hardwood tree near my house, but now see see how huge stump can be repurposed in a productive way. What herbs have you grown there?
Oh, that would be a great way to honor the spirit of the tree! I transplanted common sage, lavender, chives, and German chamomile. I’ve since added flat-leafed parsley, lemon verbena, lovage, cilantro, and nasturtium. I keep my mint, catnip, and lemon balm in separate containers as they can spread very easily. As it is, I have to keep careful tabs on the chives! I have a whole extra pot I dug up because it was taking over the previous spiral.
Best of luck with your work! I hope you’ll post a photo!