August’s full moon is known as the Sturgeon Moon and it will peak in the wee hours of the moon around 3:55am eastern on Saturday morning. Tonight, this Friday, it is a chance to look up in the air to see it’s full summery beauty. The sturgeon moon’s name comes from Native American traditions since sturgeon were abundant for hunting this time of year.

The Sturgeon Moon is the perfect reminder of August’s bounty, and the fullness of this moon can be felt in even small ways if we give ourselves a moment to pause. There are seasons in life, especially summers, where things fill to capacity, perhaps even overflowing. But this full moon is an opportunity to find joy in abundance, instead of being overwhelmed by it.

Anyone can use this full moon as a chance to breath in all of departing energies of summer, whether you believe in the moon magick or not. As humans, our rhythms get tied to the energy of the earth and its celestial bodies. One doesn’t have to be an expert at reading the stars to use moments like a full moon for reflection and contemplation.

At any full moon, I like to take a moment to pause, but especially on the Sturgeon Moon I like to try to feel gratitude for the immense abundance that the summer season brings. I can get bogged down in looking ahead to things far off into the future and worrying about what is to come. August’s full moon is a moment to soak in everything, even the overflowing chaos, and let it all pass into the next season of life.

One of the most powerful tools that I have developed over the last few years of my life is journaling. I have found that when I regularly journal my head is clearer, my heart more discerning, and that over all my mental health is more stable. Whenever I can, I like to practice Julie Cameron’s “morning pages” approach from The Artist’s Way. Three pages: front, back, front. I dump all of my thoughts out onto the paper and immediately feel clarity for the day.

I wanted to bring the power of journaling here to From the Aerie. If you’re not a journaler yet, I invite you to give it a try! Or simply use these journaling focused missives for reflection or conversation. Regardless, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on the seasonal topics as we share them.

This time of year is full of abundance. Harvests beginning. New school years starting. The conclusion of summer vacations and good times spent with loved ones. As we look ahead to the fruition of fall, it’s important to take this moment and savor it.

How has this season of your life been abundant? What areas can you enjoy the hard work you’ve put into your life’s garden? What fruits have ripened that you are grateful for? Who has been alongside you this season that you can now share in abundance with?

Sometimes abundance is hard to reflect on. I myself often can only see the areas I’m lacking in or haven’t accomplished enough on. But when we are able to look at things with gratitude and see how a season has actually provided so much for us, our perspectives shift and we take back the power of our own narratives. Everything may not overflowing in perfect milk and honey, but I invite you to try to find the areas of your life where things are going right. This is where we unlock joy together.

Lughnasadh is the first harvest festival of the year, traditionally happening on or around August 1st. It is a Gaelic celebration that marks the beginning of the harvest season. It has a very rich history, especially in the Middle Ages where huge harvest feasts were held for it. While I recommend doing your research on this festival, I have a more modern practice for celebrating the wheel of the year that I invite you to explore with me here at From the Aerie.

I don’t believe that you have to be a devout practitioner of witchcraft or paganism in order to engage in these seasonal holidays or many other “witchy” practices. In fact, something that is so appealing to earth and seasonal-based spiritual practices to me is that the practitioner really gets to make it into whatever she wants. Tarot, crystals, astrology, and even the wheel of the year celebrations can happily co-exist alongside other beliefs and rituals you might already hold. For me, celebrating the marking of the passage of time just makes sense.

Lughnasadh marks the halfway point between the Summer Solstice (the longest day of the year) and the Fall Equinox (when the sun and moon are equal). In other words, we’re one quarter of the way to the Winter Solstice. And it’s truly such a fun time to celebrate. Harvest is becoming plentiful, and we still get to soak up the sun for a while longer. Traditionally, this festival is celebrated with bread. Lots and lots of bread.

My favorite ways to celebrate a wheel of the year festival is with food and reflection. Lughnasadh is a great opportunity to make a meal with some of the seasonal bounty, and you don’t have to know how to bake bread to do so. Stop by your local farmer’s market or even just see what fresh seasonal fruits and veggies might by available at your grocery. There’s nothing like a delicious seasonal charcuterie, especially when so much is currently in season.

As for reflection, I like to take some time during any of the sabbats to check in with myself. What has changed between Litha (the Summer Solstice) and now? How have I changed from this time a year ago? What are the ways that I can be present in this season now, while preparing for the season yet to come? At this moment of beginning harvest, what am I harvesting or will I be harvesting? I usually take some time to meditate or journal on a seasonal holiday. Perhaps you might like to do the same!

However you may celebrate the turning of the seasons, I hope you do so with joy.

August is a month full of the golden glow of sunsets. It’s the last full month of summer where everything becomes slow as the tendrils of fall begin to emerge. Berries are bursting off the vine, evenings might finally be taking cooler turns, and that final rush to hang onto the days of languishing in the sun before the cycle turns over come autumn clings to our skin.

August is one of my favorite months. It holds many important dates in my own life, birthdays and anniversaries. It feels like it stretches on forever. Most of summer, the chaotic energy feels like wild roller coaster as we try to capture as much sun as we can. But in August, the month grows long as the days slowly begin to shorten. I’m never the same at the beginning of August as I am by the end.

As a kid, I went to the beach every year during the month of August. The sands were still hot and the skies were still blue, but there was a declining as the busy summer season started to come to an end on the little beach island town we’d visit. Licking slushie cups and hunting for seashells, our annual family beach vacation was an opportunity to slow down. To read thousands of pages of fantasy and romance under the umbrella. To hunt for turtle nests that might hatch in the moonlight. And to do my very best to not get sunburnt. (I usually failed in this regard.)

This August I won’t be visiting the beaches of the Carolinas, though my local Vermont swimming hole on a hot day hits a similar spot. Nevertheless, I’m taking a beach vacation mindset into my month ahead. Doing things because I want to do them and because they bring me joy to do. I’m setting intentions instead of goals, and letting the end of the summer be a fitting conclusion, rather than a sad ending.

How are you spending your August and the ends of your summer season?

What is an aerie?

No, it has nothing to do with an underwear brand. An aerie is the name for a nest of a bird who dwells on a cliffside of a mountaintop. It is their home, their safe spot, their dwelling, usually high up.

Aerie is also the name I’ve given my apartment that I currently write from and have decided to start this new Substack in. My tiny second story home in an old Victorian in a tiny town in upstate New York deserved a title fitting of it’s cozy and lofty nature. This physical space is my little nest that I’m making home in this chapter of my life.

From the Aerie is a collection of missives sent out to you quite literally from the Aerie. From my nest to your inbox, these are tiny seasonal musings that anchors all of us back in the practice of finding joy.

Why should you read this?

At the time of creating this, I find myself completely overwhelmed by bad news, endless algorithms, and an impending sense of hopelessness. The world continues to shrink smaller, become more expensive, and somehow find a way to make everything an advertisement.

From the Aerie is an invitation to slow down. It’s meant to be read over a morning cup of coffee, an afternoon cup of tea, or an evening cocktail. It’s designed to spark conversation, create connection, and to be shared with friends. Its intention is to become part of your rituals and rhythms without notifications that drive you to tears. It asks you to savor the simple and find harmony in the everyday.

From the Aerie is kernels of sunshine to fill your pocket with.

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