Spirituality and therapy have been intertwined since before psychotherapy became a respected field of study. Explore some of the complexities at the intersection of spiritual life and therapy.

Since psychotherapy was essentially invented by Sigmund Freud in the 1900s, the therapeutic industry has tried to present itself as hard science; as something that can be studied and that can produce predictable results. This idea has been touch and go, with some therapies showing great promise in scientific settings, and others falling flat.

The Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, brings potent magic and wisdom. Learn what this year’s Harvest Moon has to teach you.

Each full moon of the year has a special name that comes from cultures all over the world. Usually, these names refer to the season, and the moon’s appearance shifts depending on whether we’re in a year with twelve or thirteen moons. The Harvest Moon is a special name, as it refers to the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere). It’s called that because, at this time of the year, the full moon tends to rise around sunset for several nights in a row, giving farmers that little bit of extra light to work by during the vital harvest season. It usually rises sometime in September, but it can land in October as well.

When we are attracted to unhealed people, it’s often because of unhealed wounds within ourselves. Learn more about working with intuition to unravel conditioning in relationships.

What, exactly, is attraction? We often think of it in terms of a romantic draw towards someone with particular looks, or a type, but as many of us have experienced, our romantic interest in someone has so much more to do with things like the way they talk, what they are interested in, their mannerisms, and other mysterious factors. What if one of those mysterious factors is our own deeply held attachment wounds? What if attraction actually is our wounds trying to heal?

My birthday lands in late September, and while I love the season, I don’t always love my birthday. I tend to get really melancholy around it, always comparing my reality against what I thought my life was supposed to look like at whatever the age is. Then I do that thing where it’s never enough—you know that thing?

What we react negatively to—even and especially the foods we eat—can offer us deep wisdom. Learn more about the spiritual meaning of food allergies.

Food allergies are common and can range in severity from slight discomfort to anaphylactic shock. Food allergies can be life threatening, and it’s important to work with your doctor on managing these allergies appropriately. In the meantime, it can be useful to consider what your food allergies might be trying to tell you on an energetic or emotional level.

Learning this won’t necessarily cure your allergies, but it might help show you how to support your body to lessen the effects of allergies or even change something in your life for your greater good. What’s the spiritual meaning of food allergies?

The Law of Attraction empowers people to think more positively, but at what cost? Explore the complexities of the Law of Attraction.

The concept of the Law of Attraction, which is often called “manifesting,” refers to the idea that we can create our realities and make our dreams and wishes come true through the power of thought. Imagine hard enough, the theory goes, and you can get whatever you want.

The Blue Moon offers an opportunity for contemplation, completion, and tapping into divine femininity. Explore the spiritual meaning of this special full moon.

The length of a moon cycle is around 29.5 days, while the average length of a calendar month is 30.5 days. We usually have just one full moon per month, but every two or three years we have 13 moons in a year. This 13th moon is usually a Blue Moon, either the second full moon in a calendar month or the third full moon in a three-month season with four full moons. So what is the spiritual meaning of a blue moon?

What is holding you in chains? The Devil card may appear scary at first, but it has deep lessons for those who will listen.

The Devil tarot card often shows a classic Devil figure with horns, wings, and the legs of a goat, with two naked figures standing at his feet, held loosely in chains. The image in the traditional Rider Waite Smith deck is a clear inversion of the Lovers card, which depicts two naked figures standing at the feet of an angel who, on that card, is offering a blessing.

The naked figures standing with the Devil are often shown as demons with tails and horns themselves, seemingly unbothered by their tethered reality. It appears that they could remove the chains at any moment, but they do not: One of the classic illusions of the Devil card is that that is the only reality that exists.

Empaths often have a history of childhood trauma. Explore how empathy is both a gift and a challenge, and learn how to navigate your past experiences for a brighter future.

Empaths are people who tend to be very sensitive to other people’s moods, emotions, and energy. They can tell when what you’re saying doesn’t match what you’re feeling. They’ll feel other people’s emotions—both good and bad—as if they were their own. You won’t tend to find an empath in a crowd—it’s so overwhelming to have everyone’s energy coming in at once that many empaths would rather stay home with a few people they feel safe with (or only in exactly the right crowd).

And sometimes things don’t shift. Sometimes we’re stuck in a rut for a long long while and nothing seems to change no matter how many full moons pass us by. I’ll be honest—with everything I’ve been dealing with this year, I am in a sort of self-imposed, restorative rut. I’m in day-by-day mode.

Celebrate Lughnasadh, a pagan summer harvest festival, with an earth-centered ritual. Enjoy the abundance of late summer and honor the ancestors.

Lughnasadh (pronounced “LOO-nuh-suh”) is an ancient harvest festival usually held around August 1st in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the beginning of the harvest season, the shift from summer towards fall, and commemorates the move from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one in Celtic mythology.

At the cross-quarter date between the summer solstice and fall equinox, many modern pagans celebrate Lughnasadh. Learn more about this ancient Celtic harvest festival, and explore how to celebrate it yourself.

Ever caught yourself waiting before making a decision, but not knowing why? Explore how hesitation can be a meaningful manifestation of intuition.

You’ve thought about it, you’ve weighed the pros and cons, you’ve made your decision and then…you hesitate. Your mouse hovers over the “purchase now” button, you’ve written the text but can’t quite bring yourself to press “send,” or you put your key in the ignition but can’t quite seem to start the car. You hesitate.

The Wiccans and English Medieval traditions refer to the full moon closest to the summer solstice as the Mead Moon. At this time of year, beehives are heavy with sweet honey that can be fermented into an alcoholic elixir called mead.

The Five of Cups instructs us to explore our relationship to trauma and how we process. Learn more about the spiritual meaning of this tarot card.

The Five of Cups tarot card usually shows a cloaked figure looking down at three cups that have been spilled. Two cups remain upright just behind this person where they can’t be seen. In the distance is a bridge across water, some faraway land that must be crossed.

Eclipses hold strong spiritual energy that you’ve probably sensed yourself. Explore the spiritual meaning of these beautiful cosmic events.

Eclipse season comes twice a year. Every two weeks or so, we have a full or a new moon, which happens because the earth, sun, and moon line up, either completely obscuring the light of the moon between the sun and the earth (new moon) or fully illuminating it with the moon on the far side of the earth (full moon).

Celebrate Litha, a summer solstice festival, with a simple fire ritual. Delight in the longest day of the year and enjoy the fruits of the season.

Litha is the ancient pagan celebration of the summer solstice, the moment when daytime is at its longest, usually around June 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s one of the eight sabbats of the Wheel of the Year that are still celebrated by many modern witches today. You do not need to call yourself a witch to celebrate, of course, as this is a moment in the solar year that we all experience, no matter what our religion or background may be.

Litha, a pagan summer holiday, marks the longest day of the year. Explore more about the spiritual meaning of Litha and what it represents.

Litha is an ancient pagan holiday that celebrates the summer solstice, also known as Midsummer (around June 21). It is one of the eight sabbats of the Wheel of the Year that are still celebrated by modern-day witches. Many traditions all over the world have some version of celebration at the summer solstice, which marks the longest day and shortest night of the year.

I’ve been writing lately about a loss I’ve been going through, and I know many of you can relate. You’ve had your own losses or are maybe even going through one now. And when we’re experiencing a loss, there are a lot of uncomfortable feelings that can come up—anger and sadness being the big ones. So we often resist them. But in my long history of dealing with loss, trauma, and the big feelings that can come with simply being a sensitive person in a world that doesn’t always support that, I’ve learned that one of the absolute most powerful things that you can do to resolve uncomfortable feelings is to feel them. Just feel them. Just let them be there.

Who sits between you and God? Learn more about the meaning of this masculine major arcana card.

The Hierophant tarot card generally depicts an imposing masculine figure sitting between two pillars, clad in three robes of different colors with a triple-pointed crown on his head. One hand is held up in a gesture of teaching or speaking, two fingers pointed to the sky, and the other hand holds a scepter. Two people sit below him listening, rapt, to his sermon.