Month: July 2025

How to Celebrate Lammas: 6 Simple Ideas for the First Harvest

Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato Leave a comment

Lammas (also known as Lughnasadh) falls around August 1st and marks the beginning of harvest season. It’s a time to pause, take stock of what’s come to life this year, and prepare for the seasonal shift toward fall. It’s a great reason to slow down, reflect and reconnect with nature.

1. Bring the Season Indoors

Celebrate the shift to late summer by decorating your home or workspace with what’s growing now. That might mean:

  • A mason jar of fresh flowers like sunflowers, zinnias, or black-eyed Susans
  • A bowl of tomatoes, cucumbers, or peaches on your kitchen table
  • A few clippings of herbs from your garden

This isn’t about aesthetics—it’s about staying in touch with what’s growing around you. Adding a seasonal touch helps mark the passage of time and reminds us to appreciate the moment.
Inspired by: Tiny Rituals

2. Bake Some Carbs

The name “Lammas” literally means “loaf mass,” and it’s traditionally a time to bake bread from the year’s first grain harvest. You don’t have to be a baker. Just make something simple using grains: banana bread, muffins, canned biscuits or even a box mix!

As you bake, think about what’s “risen” in your life this year. What have you grown? What’s turned out well? Then share the food with someone as a way to enjoy what the season is offering.
Inspired by: Lancs Green Witch

3. Make a List of What’s Working

Lammas is a good time to pause and check in. Grab a piece of paper or your notes app and jot down a few things that are going well right now. What goals have you made progress on? What habits are sticking? What are you proud of? Some people like to bury the list. But you can also keep it—stick it on your fridge! The point is to recognize your effort and notice your own momentum.
Inspired by: Lancs Green Witch

4. Watch the Sunset

This time of year, the sun is still strong but starting to shift. Set aside one evening this week to watch the sunset. Let your brain go quiet for a few minutes. You can ask yourself:

  • What’s wrapping up in my life?
  • What needs my attention before fall?
  • What do I want to let go of?

Sometimes just being still and noticing the light change is enough.
Inspired by: Lancs Green Witch

5. Clean Up a Natural Space

Give something back to nature. Go to a local trail, park or garden and spend 20 minutes picking up trash or pulling invasive weeds. Bring gloves and a bag, and don’t overdo it. It’s a low-key, concrete way to show appreciation for the land you live on.
Inspired by: Tiny Rituals

6. Try a Simple Seasonal Craft

Try making a small corn husk figure, bundling dried herbs with twine or putting together a small vase arrangement with flowers from your yard.
Inspired by: The Wholesome Witch

Final Thoughts

You don’t have to be a practicing Pagan or celebrate Lammas in a spiritual way to benefit from seasonal rituals. These little check-ins with the land, the kitchen, or your own thoughts are just part of living with intention. They help us slow down in a busy world and notice what’s worth holding on to—and what we’re ready to release.

Bread Image: Wesual Click
Photo of loaves of bread on a black tabletop.

photo of two hands, one holding a small glass amber dropper and dropping essential oil onto the palm of the other hand. black background

Natural Scalp Psoriasis Treatment DIY Recipe

Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato Leave a comment

I’m incredibly grateful for modern medicine—it’s saved me from so many painful health issues.

That said, scalp psoriasis is tricky. A lot of the long-term medications on the market just aren’t ideal for your overall health, so I started researching more natural options to help manage symptoms. This blend isn’t a cure, but it has seriously reduced the burning, itching and pain I deal with on a regular basis.

A few notes before you dive in:

  • You can tweak the amounts, but start small and increase slowly.
  • Always do a patch test first.
  • Only buy from high-quality, trusted suppliers. Grocery store essential oils (yes, even from Whole Foods) won’t cut it. I recommend Aromatics International for essential oils and Making Cosmetics Inc. for liquid salicylic acid. Want more on why sourcing matters? Check out this post.
  • Several of the recommendations contain antifungal properties. That’s because all humans naturally have fungi and yeast on their skin. When psoriasis causes the skin to crack and triggers an immune response, it can create an environment where these organisms grow more rapidly—contributing to the intense burning and itching that often come with the condition.
  • I also use this recipe for bug bites and itchy rashes.
  • How did I pick these ingredients? I read a lot of academic studies. It was slow going but worth it!

Here’s what I use and why:

Jojoba Oil, 2 tbsp: A lightweight carrier oil that closely mimics your skin’s natural oils—so it absorbs really well without making your scalp greasy. It dilutes the essential oils to make them safe to use.

Rosemary Essential Oil, 8 drops: Soothes itching and irritation.

Turmeric Essential Oil, 5 drops: Powerful anti-inflammatory.

Salicylic Acid (liquid form), 1/4 tsp: Gently breaks down and loosens psoriasis scales.

(Optional) Tamanu Oil, 1 tbsp: Another carrier oil, rich and nutty-smelling, great for skin healing.

(Optional) Cedarwood Essential Oil, 5 drops: Thought to support skin health and calm inflammation.

(Optional) German Chamomile Essential Oil, 3 drops: Deeply calming and anti-inflammatory.

(Optional) Tea Tree Essential Oil, 4 drops: Antimicrobial and soothing for irritated skin.

(Optional) Rose & Geranium Essential Oils, 4 drops: Good anti-inflammatory, according to some studies, and adds a lovely scent.

(Optional) Neem Oil, 1 tsp: Super effective anti-fungal but has a strong smell!

Store the liquid in a glass jar in the fridge if you can. (Tinted glass is ideal if you have it, but not essential.) It melts quickly, and the cool temperature feels amazing on psoriasis flare-ups. I use a paintbrush to apply it to my scalp. Most times, I put it on before bed and rinse it out in the morning, but I also do frequent spot treatments and just keep it on until my next wash.

Image Credit: Christin Hume
Description: photo of two hands, one holding a small glass amber dropper and dropping essential oil onto the palm of the other hand. black background.

Should I Do the Hard Thing Rubric

Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato Leave a comment

I’m someone who’s very justice-oriented. If I see something wrong happening, I have a hard time just letting it go. Sometimes, that’s a great quality. Other times, it’s absolutely exhausting.

I constantly run into little moral quandaries. Like, when my husband and I were on vacation, we found a lost dog—an older pup, clearly confused, dehydrated, and wandering into traffic. No one stopped. Even though we were just visiting, we spent hours trying to find his owner. When animal control ghosted us, we paid for an Uber to take him to the nearest shelter. Worth it? Absolutely.

But not everything is so clear-cut. Like recently, my doctor’s office overcharged me $30 for a procedure. Do I hate that? YES. Do I think they probably do it to other people too? Also yes. Is it wrong? No question. But… should I spend 3+ hours fighting a $30 charge?

Cue the “Should I Do the Hard Thing?” Rubric!

Even though my entire being wants to go to battle, the numbers don’t lie: it’s probably not worth the soul-crushing hold music and circular phone conversations that would eat up my whole afternoon.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? How do you decide when it’s worth taking on a fight like that? LMK!

Image Credit: Glen Carrie

Jalynn Norling Autumn Therapy Review

Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato Leave a comment

Finding a therapist is so hard, y’all. We reached out to Jalynn Norling, who I’m sure is a well-meaning person, but unfortunately, she wasn’t accommodating. Her website specifically says she works with neurodivergent folks, but that didn’t match our experience.

My husband and I have a short list of questions we send to potential therapists to help us figure out if they’re a good fit—because like many people, we don’t have the time or resources to schedule consultations or pay for sessions only to discover it’s not a match. The questions are very standard—things like “How often do you work with neurodivergent clients?” and “What’s your therapeutic style?”

After a back-and-forth, Jalynn declined to answer our questions or continue the conversation. She responded with some vague, buzzword-heavy language and referenced that most providers are required to offer accommodations—but didn’t actually model that in her own approach. Unfortunately, this kind of response is all too familiar. As a neurodivergent person, I often hear the word accommodations used in theory, but when it comes to putting that into practice, people back away. It’s disappointing and honestly hurtful—especially when it comes from professionals who position themselves as neurodiversity-affirming.

And it felt really out of step with what her website says:

I am tired, unsure and searching—and I was hopeful this could be a good fit. But a truly responsive space includes being willing to answer questions up front. Feeling emotionally safe, especially as a neurodivergent person, often starts with clear communication and flexibility. I didn’t get that here.

I’m sharing this because the process of finding a therapist is already so exhausting. If I can save someone else from the stress, it’s worth the time it took me to write this up.

Image Credit: Leuchtterm Entertainment