News from Our Bookshop | Curated by Rebecca Traver

“Autumn is associated with the direction West and the element of Water. This is the realm of emotion, integration, matters of the heart, healing, receiving, assessing, gaining wisdom, harvest, celebration, abundance, and gratitude. Fall invites us to replenish our stores by refilling our wells and realigning with our hearts and our creative flow. All with gratitude and wonder.”

~ Victoria Smith, The Mojo Lab and creator of Wonder Club + Firefly Guild

This month’s New Moon falls on September 17th in earthy Virgo, bringing with it the possibilities of creating and maintaining a sense of practical order for our lives and visions for our future. One of the best ways we know of to gain clarity over those possibilities is to engage with our creative imaginations as we ground them in reliable and resonant practices. Julia Cameron’s classic work The Artist's Way comes to mind as a path of employing our creativity in service of discovering a deeper connection to process and purpose. Along those same lines we recommend Art as Therapy by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong, The Creative Habit by the great choreographer Twyla Tharp, Making Comics by Lynda Barry, and customer favorite Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg – to name but a few. Do drop by the online bookshop to have a browse around and find something special that catches your eye.Close on the heels of the New Moon the Wheel of the Year turns toward Mabon or the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd when we are invited to turn our attention away from the outward activities of Summer toward more intimate, personal concerns such as settling into our body, exploring our life's purpose, or dreaming a new course for ourselves into being. Looking back six months to the Spring Equinox and the seeds of intention and desire we sowed then, we can now focus on harvesting and celebrating what has grown from the quality of our tending. As we take a moment to reflect on what has come to pass, we may also be seeking a counter-balance to these tumultuous accelerated times by intentionally slowing down, reconnecting with Nature, and replacing worry with wonder.Fall is a perfect time to notice and appreciate the many and varied forms of abundance and gratitude in our lives, to renew and anchor our truest motivations behind our choices, and to be open to the inspiration that comes from learning how others have grappled with and prevailed over whatever similar issues are troubling us now. As the days become shorter, the nights longer, and the weather cooler many of us will also be heeding the call to both small and large adventures before Winter’s chill settles in around us. After all, it’s no accident that J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved characters Bilbo of The Hobbit and Frodo of The Lord of the Rings began their epic adventures in Autumn.Wherever this season may take you, we wish you good health, good cheer, and good fellowship.