KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

July 27 through August 2, 2026

Our two most productive days of the week will occur on Monday and Tuesday as the Moon travels through Capricorn. If there’s anything you simply must have completed this week, these are the two days to make it happen! The chaos begins on Wednesday, as the Moon waxes full in Aquarius. Known for its unpredictable nature, we can expect sudden changes or reversals in movement, and the best way to handle things is to practice higher awareness and greater patience! Full Moons herald in a two-week period of release, and with the Moon traveling through Pisces the remainder of the week, we’ll be called to go inward to see where our spiritual and emotional levels are out of balance. Meditation, journaling, or sharing our innermost fears with another person are wonderful ways to release anything that is currently holding us back.

The Garden As Sacred Space, by Laurel Woodward

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

I am a magically minded person who looks at the world with an animist's perspective as I mindfully acknowledge and honor the lives of the others I encounter, from the large elementals to the tiny devic energies underfoot. I talk to my plants and hug the trees. I call out greetings to the geese as they pass overhead and stop to help the earthworm stranded on the sidewalk. There is a message in the visit from tiny hummingbird hanging on the breeze, the crow cawing loudly in the tree, the surprise sighting of a garden snake, and the colorful dragonfly lighting on a grass head. The outdoors holds both magick and mystery, and I immerse myself in its beauty whenever I am able to.

Our brains evolved in nature. When we leave our man-made environments and return to a natural setting, we are able to step out of the busyness of our lives and leave our worries behind. Being outside is a magickal, full-on sensory experience that quiets worry, eases anxiety, and grants the spirit peace.

When we immerse ourselves in a natural setting, it boosts health by strengthening the immune system. Step into nature and you step into beauty. The act of catching sunlight in your eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin, breathing in the scent of the green world from the smell of the dirt to the fragrance of flowers, or having natural sounds fill your ears, like the call of birds, the chatter of squirrels, or the rattle of the wind through the trees, are experiences that foster healing feelings of serenity and joy.

While forest bathing and hiking are popular nature therapies, gardening in your own yard, if done mindfully, becomes a vehicle to immerse yourself in nature and foster a relationship with the natural world. If you have never tried gardening you might be surprised by how therapeutic the experience is. When you take up gardening, working under the sky with the sun on your arms and your hands in the dirt, it engages all of your senses to create a place of refuge and solace. Being out in the fresh air doing yard and garden work lifts outlook and elevates mood. The activity tones muscles and makes the body feel good, and when done mindfully, the overall experience fills the heart with a joyful sense of purpose that inspires creativity and helps us rediscover our sense of wonder.

When we take an area of land under our care we nurture a reverence for nature that allows the heart to swell with gratitude every time we invest ourselves in the work, because it doesn't matter if you are a first-time gardener or a veteran—there is always something new waiting to surprise and inspire. The simple joy of discovering the seed that you planted sprouted, the surprising beauty of a mound of clematis that opened overnight, or the delicious taste of a ripe, home-grown tomato you plucked fresh from the vine deepens satisfaction and improves our sense of well-being. Step into the garden and we step out of worry and into nature's grace.

The wisdom of an ancient practice waits in the garden. If you follow an earth-based spirituality, you will find the act of gardening creates sacred space and puts nature back into the center of your practice. By caring for plants and being aware of their life cycles, we become aware of the turning of the seasons and sync with the natural rhythms. The garden becomes a window into the workings of the Universe and allows us to sense the thrumming webs of power. It is in the garden we connect to the deepest parts of our being as we become a witness to the miracle of life unfolding right before our eyes.

If you have never gardened before, you may want to start by taking a few chosen plants under your care. Identify and research each one, making note of their individual needs so that you may provide what each needs to thrive. Visit them often. Talk to your plants and shower them with attention, and soon you will find you have made a friend that may become a helpful ally in your magical practice. While some plant allies provide food or medicine, others provide ingredients to empower ritual, potions, incense, bath magick, candle dressing, and wash water. When we use ingredients from a plant that we help to grow, we delve into an ancient craft laden with wisdom and knowledge, a craft that deepens spirituality as it acts a bridge to the past to help us see beyond modern restrictions as it links us to a reality in which we are able to recognize and interpret the magickal connections all around us. The garden then becomes a liminal space where we may go to meet Deity or converse with the Universe.

My garden is my church. Step into the garden and I step out of time and into sanctuary. Being in my garden allows me to leave the troubles of the modern world behind and take up the practice of the old ways. In my garden I find peace and joy. It is in my garden where I find magick. You, too, can create your own personal outdoor sanctuary, a place of safety and wellness to nourish your soul and help you foster a relationship with your local energy web. For more ideas on how to design and implement a garden plan for your very own personal sanctuary garden, pick up my new book, Backyard Garden Witchery, a guide to help you manifest a magickal space outside your door. Backyard Garden Witchery contains a collection of meditations, exercises, and an extensive list of garden plants and their magickal properties with suggested uses to empower your magickal practice.

By designing your own unique garden setting, and implementing features that speak to you personally, you will manifest a sanctuary to nourish your soul. Keeping a flower garden, an herb garden, a vegetable patch, or even tending a collection of patio pots allows interaction with nature and opens a doorway for us to experience her amazing wonder. By working, and planting, and tending the earth, the garden becomes a liminal space to nourish our spirituality and connect us to the larger world. When you become a gardener, you become an artist working with nature to create amazing beauty, and as life sprouts and grows under your care, it opens the heart to wonder and solace as it provides flowers or herbs to use in your practice, or food to nourish your body, and the results bring an incredible sense of accomplishment. Gardening is a remarkable rewarding experience that has nourished mankind since the beginning of time. It has the power to change your life. If you have never gardened I hope you give it a try.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

I am in my mid twenties and I have never fallen in love. Is it possible that no soul mate exists for me - that I've never loved before, and this is why I haven't been reunited with anyone in this lifetime? Or have I just not found him yet? Is it possible that my past lives are preventing me from finding real love in this life?

Brandy

Astrea:

At your age, most of your friends are coupling up and settling down, so I imagine it's difficult NOT to feel left out or different, but your mid twenties is NOT the time to give up on love!

While our past lives will contribute to the way we handle relationships in this one, nothing dictates what your heart will or will not feel but you. One of the best parts of reincarnation is that we learn a few things from one life to the next. Be glad. You seem to have taken the lessons from yours into your being, and you're using those lessons to plan and create the life you want.

While our behavior in past lives can sometimes dictate who we are with in this one, I don't feel that is the case with you. You're not meant to be alone; you're meant to be with someone wonderful and fulfilling. You're waiting for that person, and sometimes that can take a while. We can't dictate or control when our past life people come BACK, and our timing isn't always in sync. If you are meant to be with someone from a past incarnation, don't worry - he'll show up before you're too old to enjoy him!

If this time around you're going to select a new and improved soul mate, it's still much too early to despair. New relationships with old souls often do not manifest until someone is between 30-35 years of age. Gifted, intelligent people often wait until much later than that to fall in love and create that relationship they've been waiting for. People who are smart and mature tend to not rush into something that is going to dissatisfy them later on. While they're waiting for the right relationship, they focus on things like education and creating a fulfilling career.

You probably have always viewed your life in a mature way. If you think back, you'll remember people in your family saying how bright and secure you seemed even as a little one. Look around at all your friends who have been heartbroken by a bad relationship and be HAPPY to be in your mid twenties without experiencing several failed relationships and broken hearts! You have a rare gift for someone your age. It's called DISCERNMENT. People usually don't develop that trait until their mid to late thirties, and some people never do.

Just because you're willing to take care in selecting your soul mate doesn't mean that you won't find that person. He or she will manifest in your life at the RIGHT time. You can thank all the wise choices you made in your past lives for that!

*****

Susyn:

There's no need to worry that just because you haven't fallen in love yet, you won't. These days it's not unusual for people to be well into their 30s, 40s and beyond before meeting their soul mate. You may be trying too hard. Love isn't something we can put a time frame around, and it's not dependent on whether or not we loved in a past life.

If it's in your heart to have a loving relationship, it will come to you. You must be ready, however, and in order to become ready, you will have to experience certain things in life. The lessons you need to learn are where past lives come in. To clear past life karma, you may have to go through a number of relationships or go without a relationship for long periods of time.

One of the rituals I recommend to my clients is to become more specific about the kind of relationship you are looking for. This ritual will outline what you are looking for and reveal the areas of your life you need to develop to attract your soul mate.

First, gather together two unlined sheets of white paper, a white candle and a blue candle. Find a quiet place where you can focus on this exercise undisturbed. Light the white candle and on the first piece of paper, make a list of all the things you want in a partner. Include your ideals about their physical appearance, along with their spiritual, emotional and mental traits. Your list might look something like this: honesty, integrity, tall, blonde, wants children, etc. Make the list as detailed as you can.

Once finished, review the list to determine which of these qualities you may need to work on yourself. For example, if you want someone who is healthy, be sure you are healthy. If you want someone who is honest, evaluate your level of honesty.

Fold the paper and place it in a jewelry box or other special location, perhaps in a bedside table or between the pages of your favorite book. This list will serve as an open prayer to the Universe. You can add more traits as you think of them, or change them as your clarity grows.

Next, light the blue candle. On the second sheet of paper, make a list of the qualities you donít want, such as dishonest, unfaithful, etc. When you are done, burn this list. This will keep you from attracting the wrong kind of man.

Once you've completed this ritual, Spirit will see that you are ready for true love to come into your life, and that you are willing to grow and keep moving forward until he becomes a reality for you.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.