notes from EmaBee's creation station

Midsummer is the apex of the rising energy and light culminating in the longest day of the year, and the shortest night of the year. After this moment, the nights start to get longer and we start are drift down towards the longest night of the year, and the shortest day. Summer is high energy, long, hot days. It is the fire element marking high creativity and productivity. It is brightness and…

It’s been over three years since Timi & Cubby died. The are both buried under the fig tree in my back yard. Cubby has a fern planted next to his grave. A large, native Sword Fern. Ferns are one of my favorite plants. After I buried Timi, I planted a Lenten Rose a.k.a. Hellebore. I selected a white one for him. The Fern and the Hellebore are two of the most lush plants in my yard. The other sword…

I wrote the following in my Winter Solstice cards that went to family and friends this year: “As the darkness and cold deepen, a tiny light of hope comes to us on the winter solstice as the longest night ushers us toward longer days and eventually summer again. The cycle of the seasons continue, the ebb and flow of time will bring us back around. Sending you and yours Yuletide…

The PNW has a term for the shortening days of winter: The Big Dark. Many people experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which is an onset of depression and sadness due to less light and lower energy resulting in sleep issues, and withdrawal. Scandinavians and Nordics embrace winter’s darkness through cultural concepts like hygge (Danish), koselig (Norwegian), and mys (Swedish), which…

I’ve committed myself to learning about local native plants since I bought land and decided to make this place my permanent home. I live on and own land on the traditional territories of the Puyallup Nation. I realize that many people, especially of my generation, cannot afford to buy homes. Due to the complicated feelings of owning land I have committed myself to trying to undo some of the harm…

We have passed from early autumn, into late autumn marked by the passage of the fire festival and celebration of Samhuinn. It marks the halfway point between Alban Eluid or Alban Elfed and Alban Arthuan or Alban Arthan. Alban Elfed means “The Light of Water,” and is also known as the Autumn Equinox. Alban Arthuan is also known as the Winter Solstice or Yule. I made dandelion bitters for Samhuinn…

#WheelOfTheYear We’ve passed the autumn equinox, now the nights are longer than the days. The autumn winds are blowing, announcing the change of the season. The rains have started to return, quenching the earth after the parching of the summer. [Autumn Altar Ritual] I changed out the seasonal oracle cards (from Maia Toll’s Wild Wisdom Companion) to “The Elders,” “The Withdrawing,” and “The…

June 19, 2025 Federation Forest State Park I headed out—it is June 19th. I am driving along 410. I just stopped at the Federation Forest State Park. Sadly, the interpretive center was closed, but I walked around out front of the building, and there were a bunch of native plants that were labeled, some of which I didn’t know before. I can’t remember what their names are right now. Seeing native…

We are in the harvest season which started on August 1st with the Celtic holiday of Lughnasadh, or Lammas. It is the celebration of the first harvest of the year and traditionally a loaf of bread was made with the first grains of the harvest and herbs from the garden to celebrate abundance and gratitude for another year’s harvest. Sometimes an offering was left for the spirits/good…

There were only two creatures that bore witness to it all. The soul keepers, the secret keepers. The dream keepers, the life keepers. They hold it all. They held the weight of my world and cradled me to sleep. Their capacity for love and care is endless. These were my comrades through these dark days. They are the thread that keeps me tethered to myself. They are the gravity that keeps the world…

I haven’t been posting for each season change this year because I haven’t felt called to. But I do feel called to share this one. Hawthorn is also known as the May tree, it gets clusters of pink right around the first of May. My beloved hawthorn is getting a hard prune and some cables on May 19th. I’m trying to prepare that she will look very different but hopefully healthier so that she will…

Coming to the crest of the hill before I dip down into the valley, the sun nearly blinds me glinting off of the water in the roadway. The road dips, steeply and curves and before I plunge down, I can see all the way across to the other side of the valley and the entire valley is blanketed with fog making it look like a roiling cauldron or a lake. All I can see are the trees. I’m driving down…

I’ve Dreamt of this House Before.We enter throughA thick door, dark woodCarved with a detailedScene of a forest With animals treesMountains and a lakeVines curling along the sidesAs if we are peaking through a windowInto another world. We lift the tarnished bronze latchAnd heave open and push throughThe portal entrance  A wide, elegantSweeping staircase Curved into a gentle spiralUp to the 3rd…

Winding through the tall Red Cedar and Western Hemlock on a narrow two-lane road toward, the ocean comes in and out of view through the interstices of the trees as rain comes down in spits and spatters. At one point the sky becomes the ocean and we can barely see the road in front of us, but then miles later, the sun peeks through refusing to be swallowed. Then we are driving along the jagged…

On the drive up to the mountain, traveling back home after going to see the stars in the dark skies, there is a nondescript turnoff from the road. It’s rocky and dusty and you have to be careful not to bottom out. There are two small clearings along the river, well worn from use as off-road camping sites. There are Spruce and Cedar, and Nootka Rose. The shore of the river is rocky, and narrow…

I harvested some mugwort today, fresh from the small patch I am nurturing in my herb garden. I currently have it in an old whiskey barrel because the guy at my favorite nursery, Calendula Farms in Tacoma, WA, warned me it can spread and take over like mint. At this point I kind of wish it did! [mugwort harvest from my herb garden in the back, on Puyallup traditional land.] It’s the first…