One of my most favorite parts about creating the Many Moons Workbooks is being able ask incredible, wise practitioners to be a part of it! Liz Migliorelli is definitely one of these enchanted makers, a person it is easy to be blown away by! Founder of  Sister Spinster, Liz is a witch wearing a myriad of hats, all of them quite magical and healing. She runs several herbal and mystery schools throughout the year, makes potions for various healing processes, sees clients, and writes. Learn more about Liz below.

Hi Liz! You do many, many things: teach, make potions, give intuitive consult, give Western herbalist consultations, write, and many other things I'm sure I'm missing here! Did you consciously design your life/business in this way? Or is this something you are constantly experimenting with? 

Hi Sarah! I did not consciously design my business this way, it just kind of bloomed forth as such! I’ve always been really excited and inspired by so many different things, it was hard to imagine just picking one thing to do in my life.  When you work for yourself you have to wear so many hats, which also means you're never bored. One day I can wear my teacher hat, and the next day I can don my wide-brimmed gardening sun hat. I’m not very excited about putting on my accounting hat though, but I begrudgingly do it. Even with clients, I have some folks who come to me for magical work and ritual where others just come because they want an herbal clinician and are just looking to boost immune system function. It feels good to be able to create something new when I have energy for it but also to have spaciousness for refining other skills. I am always busy though. I learned the hard way that I can’t let myself write emails while cooking dinner. Can’t wear those two hats at once, otherwise your phone will drop in your soup....

For the 2018 Vol 1 edition, you offer the readers many, many different ways to begin working with plants. In a piece about the February Waxing Moon titled "Engaging with your plant coven", you talk about different ways to connect with plant friends in an intimate way. You talk about your own process becoming your own teacher and guide. What plant friends are currently showing up strongly in your own life? What are they teaching you? What are they saying? How are you working with them?

Oh yes! Since we are in the Autumnal plunge, the medicinal mushrooms have really been chirping. They are really popping up in dreams and in the woods behind my house. I wake up craving Reishi mushroom, which I just make into a chai by simmering it with cardamon, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper, etc. I also put it in all of my soup stocks. Mushrooms are so powerful during seasonal transitions, as they help us build deep immunity during these times where we are more vulnerable within the thin veil. Reishi has taught me a lot about boundaries with the internet too, which has been a very healthy move for me.

The mycelial web is similar to the internet, one giant web (although far more magical, I must admit) of communication. Sometimes when I tap into the world wide web I feel extremely overwhelmed by all of the voices that I suddenly am holding in this little screen in my palm. When I use my phone while drinking Reishi, I am able to be tapped into the internet in a way that feels really grounded and rooted. Like, hey, I can communicate AND keep strong boundaries and sense of self. It also prevents me from slipping into the scroll void.

What has been your favorite part about writing for the workbook? 

Honestly, working with you! You are a total inspiration and I really freakin’ admire your drive. I love seeing how you honor your visions truly and deeply and are able to create such a powerhouse tool! Also, I just enjoyed our email exchanges of “damn, life is busy as hell right now!”  I also loved the conversations that emerged with folks who read my piece in a previous workbook. I appreciate the connections that were made. 

What is your favorite time of the Moonth? 

Like the moon, my favorite time is always changing. I am currently digging full moons though. It sounds weird, but I’ve been enjoying the restlessness that comes with the full moon nights. Instead of feeling exhausting, it has been feeling really nourishing; pulling me to stand outside at 3 or 4 am and feel the night air as the cosmos swirl beyond. 

Has anything cool happened in your life as a result of paying attention to the different cycles of the Moon? Have you learned anything new about yourself/nature/plants as a result of this? 

I honestly feel like paying attention to the cycles of the moon was a major undercurrent in my move to the country three years ago, which has been a huge blessing. But yes, I’ve learned so much about myself from observing cycles— it is the foundation of everything. I think what has been really helpful is tuning in to the fact that it’s NORMAL to have cycles with libido too! Everything in my body cycles, everything rises, releases, retreats and rests and repeats.

Other than the upcoming workbook, any projects or anything coming up in your life you are excited about?

Well, I just bought land here in Mendocino county so I am really going to be focusing the next few years on major land projects and gardens for the herbal magic schoolhouse, which is on the land as well. I am going to build a sauna. I will house honeybees. I am planting hedges of elder and hawthorn and building shrines to the redwoods. I am so excited to plant trees I can watch grow. In the short term, I’m also in the process of planning some workshops in NYC in December, so stay tuned. :)

Visit the Sister Spinster website here.

Follow Liz on Instagram here.

Order Many Moons 2018, Vol 2, here.