Almond Tree Almanac

31/10/2025

30/10/2025

SAMHAIN - START OF WINTER
Samhain is the start of winter. The hours of daylight continue to dwindle; the powers of growth are winding down, while the powers of darkness and cold gain ascendancy. Plant growth has stopped. The vegetation harvest has long been gathered in, and root crops, nuts, berries and apples have been stored against hungry winter. Animals have been brought down from their summer pastures to more sheltered winter quarters, to be fed on stored hay. We turn to the hearth and the warmth of the crackling fire and the cheer of the singing kettle on the hob.

We enter the season of the Crone, the Hag of Winter. She is no gentle old lady but wild, fierce and primal, just like winter itself. With her holly staff in her hand and a carrion crow perched on her shoulder, she strides across the land, beating down the vegetation, and hardening the earth with ice. But when the earth is bare and the trees skeletal, when everything showy is stripped away, we feel the underlying bones of creation and we see more clearly into its deepest secrets; we approach its elemental power.

The myths of the Crone tell us something fundamental about winter; there is a deep connection between fertility and winter death. While the Maiden begins it, the Mother bears it, and the Harvest Queen reaps it, the fertility of the next year’s harvest is fundamentally the Crone’s gift – the sleeping seeds in the underworld are in her care.

Winter is a powerful time of radical change. We should not mourn the passing of spring and summer, but celebrate life returned to the cauldron of creation where it is held, where the compost of old forms feeds the roots and seeds of the new.

Though the modern world tells us that we should be the same all year round, our bodies tell us that this is not so. Winter affects us on a physical, emotional and spiritual level, and we need to acknowledge that we too are cyclical beings. Mother Earth teaches us that periods of withdrawal from busyness, slowing down, resting and recuperating are necessary.

All growth takes place in darkness from idea in the mind to seed in the ground. We withdraw our energies into our roots and nurture the seeds sleeping in the darkness. We undertake deep inner work and dreaming magic. Samhain is a chance to enter the Crone’s cauldron of transformation, to shed our old forms and use them as fuel for new ones.

Samhain is time to acknowledge the role of death, seasonally and personally. We all return to Mother Earth, and death is the price we pay for life. Our lives are ephemeral, existing they do in a time that passes. Time will destroy all, and all things dissolve in the blackness of the Crone’s cauldron. But the Goddess promises us that the tomb is the womb from which we shall be reborn.

Death is an absolute transition from one state to another with no possibility of return. We experience many small deaths in our lives as various stages and experiences end to make way for new phases and experiences, up until to the ultimate transformation of physical death and rebirth. Death initiates change. We take this time to acknowledge death in all its forms, and to mourn what we need to mourn. We think of all the lives that have touched ours, and the ancestors that have brought us to this place.

© Anna Franklin, The Hearth Witch’s Path, Llewellyn, 2025

07/10/2025

Tonight, the Hunter’s Moon rises, the full moon following the Harvest Moon.

Long ago, its bright light guided hunters as they gathered food for the coming winter, when fields were bare and nights grew cold. This moon glows with clarity, preparation, and renewal. It is a reminder to focus your energy, release what no longer serves you, and gather the strength you’ll need for the season ahead.

Step outside tonight, watch it rise in fiery gold, and feel the rhythm of the ancient world as it still moves across the sky.

22/09/2025

Bright blessings at this point of balance, the autumn equinox 🍁🌰🍂 A wonderful time to reflect on your adventures through the year so far - the harvest of your labours, hopes and dreams.
May your autumn be filled with love, laughter and a wonderful harvest 💜

20/09/2025

Over the next few days, we celebrate the Autumn equinox - a time of balance, the energy of late summer genty letting go into the softer, slower autumnal seasons. The breath out and the easing away from activity, bustle and abundance.
You may like to honour this change in the energy by going for a walk and observing the changes in the hedgerows and fields around you. Perhaps making a warming, comforting meal from local, seasonal produce. Gather leaves, acorns, warm orange and red colours and make a little space in your home for a little piece of autumn 🍁🌰🍂

20/09/2025

💜 beautiful

May All Beings Be Peaceful and Free

May all beings be peaceful and free.

May the weary find gentle rest,
the wounded discover tender healing,
and the lost be guided safely home.

May tenderness ripple through every heart,
soothing each sorrow,
and may joy rise like the morning sun in every life.

May compassion overflow within each of us
and may kindness and boundless love bloom in all.

~ 'May All Beings Be Peaceful and Free' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Lori Portka

07/09/2025

This evening marks the full moon for September - the Harvest moon. However this full moon is also a Blood moon - so called because there will be a total lunar eclipse this evening. This will begin as the moon rises at 7.34pm, and we should be able to see the moon turn to a shade of red (if the cloud clears). This is a particularly potent time to shift and release energies - deeply buried emotions, habits and issues. Not the best time to recharge crystals due to the powerful and somewhat chaotic energy - perhaps wait until the next full moon for this 🌕

24/04/2025

On May 1st we celebrate Beltane, welcoming the beginning of summer, the season of beauty, bounty and fertility.

How to make Beltane Faerie Fire Cakes 🧁

Magical Honey Cakes for Love, Joy & Fertility

Serves: 8 fae, lovers, or kindred spirits
Best prepared: On Beltane Eve or May 1st, with candles lit and fresh flowers nearby.

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Magical Correspondences:
• Honey – love, prosperity, and joy
• Rosemary – protection, love, remembrance
• Lavender – peace, sensuality, tranquility
• Oats – abundance, grounding, fertility
• Eggs – life, rebirth, creation
• Fire – transformation, Beltane’s sacred element

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Ingredients:
• 1 cup rolled oats (ground into flour or use oat flour)

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or substitute with almond flour for deeper earthy magic)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp sea salt

• 1 tsp dried lavender flowers

• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

• 1/3 cup melted butter (or coconut oil for a vegan twist)

• 1/2 cup raw honey (plus more for drizzling)
• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

• Optional: edible flowers or dried rose petals for garnish

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Ritual Prep:
1. Cleanse your space with incense (frankincense, rose, or sandalwood are ideal).
2. Set your intention: love, abundance, joy—whatever you wish to cultivate.
3. Light a candle (or more!) to honor the flame of Beltane.
4. As you cook, stir clockwise, focusing on your intention with each step.

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Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, mix oat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, lavender, and rosemary.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, honey, melted butter, and vanilla until golden and glossy.

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring clockwise and focusing on love and light.

5. Drop spoonfuls onto the baking sheet, flatten slightly.

6. Bake for 12–15 minutes, until edges are golden and your kitchen smells like a faerie glade.

7. Let cool slightly, then drizzle with more honey and sprinkle with edible petals if desired.

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Serving Suggestion (Witchy Style):
• Enjoy warm under the moon or sun, barefoot in the grass.

• Pair with mead, herbal tea, or a Beltane elixir (rose & hibiscus infusion).

• Share with someone you love—or offer to the spirits of the land.

Blessed be ###

20/03/2025

Mark the turning of the year with seasonal flowers, symbols of birth and new beginnings, and candles - yellow, white, pinks and soft green mirroring the beauty of Ostara 🌸🥚