Spring/Summer 2025 Newsletter

Spring is, naturally, our time to be reminded that it takes a lot of energy to grow and to flower. All that nourishment and energy stored in the dark of the earth, in the roots and the seeds, over winter is now flowing upward and outward. As the growing light and heat stirs the soft green leaves of the trees, as it grows the buds, spreads the blossoms, and stretches the seedlings from the soil, let it also move us to grow and share our beauty with those around us this season. There will be time again for rest as the wheel of the year turns. - Mason

Events - upcoming events for the Wilderness Between and friends

The finalized details on all WB events are on Meetup. Note that events may not be posted as of this newsletter as locations and times are being finalized by event organizers.

The next Planning Council Meeting for Jul-Sep events will be held on June 15, 2025.

In keeping with the spirit of growth and our purpose as a collective organization, we would like to hear from members who have skills they would like to share or events they would like to lead. If you feel called to do so, please visit the page on our website and fill out the form there.

Meeting Trees

Sat, Apr 19 · 10:00 AM

National Arboretum

Spring Hike

Sun, Apr 27 · 10:00 AM

Bears Den

Beltane Camping Weekend and Ritual Workshop

Fri May 2 - Sun May 4

Prince William Forest Park

Strawberry Festival

Sat, May 24 · 10:00 AM

Moon Valley Farm

Goods and Gear Swap

Sun, Jun 22 · Time TBD

Rock Creek Park

Four Seasons Summer Walk

Sat, Jun 28 · 11:00 AM

Wheaton Regional Park

Lughnasadh Cookout and Camping

Fri Aug 1 - Sun Aug 3

Elizabeth Furnace

Druid Practices Discussion Groups

4th Sunday of the month · 7:30 PM

Virtual

Beltane 2025: Ritual Craft

This year, Wilderness Between is delighted to be hosting a Beltane weekend on the theme of ritual craft. The campout will be May 2-4 at one of our favorite spots, Cabin Camp 3 in Prince William Forest Park.

What better way to celebrate this joyful holiday than with an expression of our community's creativity--the construction of our Saturday night ritual, which will culminate in a large ritual burning. The weekend will effectively be the ritual, in the form of a group working together in preparation. It's also an opportunity to learn more about making and performing rituals. There will be a facilitated workshop structure for those who would like to learn and contribute to:

-Concept development

-Ritual structure

-Prop design

-Stagecraft

-Wordsmithing

Some of these will be running in parallel, and you're free to come and go from the planning workshops (including just hanging out and not workshopping).

We're very excited to see what kind of ritual our community can put together! Some of you have been asking for a Beltane event for a while, and while it's not always in reach for the Stewards to construct a large ritual several times a year, we can certainly make time and space for us to explore together.

There's no requirement to camp for both nights or at all. Prince William Forest is about 1 hour south of DC, so for many folks it may be drivable to come for the day on Saturday. Planning activities will begin Friday night, but the bulk of the work and the ritual itself will be on Saturday.

More details will be coming shortly on the Meetup event. Feel free to reach out there or to Jillian or Mason with any questions. We hope to see you there!

Friends of WB 

Frederick CUUPS Fires of Spring Ritual

Sat Apr 26 · 7:00 PM

https://frederickcuups.com/events/

The Firefly House (https://www.meetup.com/thefireflyhouse/)

Stone Circle Council ( www.stonecirclecouncil.org)

Musings - articles and thoughts from the Stewards and members

Mason

I intended to write this after last Mabon, because it occurred to me there are some folks in our community that I only see a few times a year, Mabon being a common time. Now that I'm coming back from my own time away from Wilderness Between, it also feels appropriate to talk about how everyone who shows up in our community is valuable, whether we see you once a year or once a month. 

All of us likely have many varieties of what sociology and psychology call “weak” or “peripheral” social ties: folks we see infrequently or folks we may encounter often but have smaller, limited interactions. But I think those ties are anything but weak.

I know that for me there are only so many “strong social ties” I can maintain, because relationships take work from all involved parties. We all have limits on our time and energy. Which contributes to the value of those, let's call them, perhaps, liminal ties. I may not see you often, but I always get something from the experience. 

Wilderness Between is not a coven or a grove. We're larger and looser than that. We are, to reclaim spiritual language I appreciate, a “fellowshipping community:” we share some common interests and values, we maybe have similar beliefs or practices, and we come together to share experiences, to socialize, to find support, and to learn together. 

My hope is that we foster opportunities where folks can show up for each other in little ways. By doing so, we weave together the fabric of community. (And I'm sure one of our engineers or builders or weavers could also speak to how small points of connection can be supportive!)

My hope is that we offer a space where you connect with and meet folks with whom you cultivate closer connections and create more opportunities to study or play or practice or worship together. I think that is one way we get through all of this … whatever… that we're facing.

If you can and want to, then hopefully we'll see you often. But if there's only a few things we offer that fit your schedule, your practice, or your interests, then come only to those things. We'll look forward to seeing you every year.

Herb Lore - information on the history, lore, and properties of herbs

J

Larkspurs are strikingly lovely flowers of the genera Delphinium and Consolida. They’re summer flowers that are possibly best known for being a) extremely deadly to most things, and b) the birth flower for the month of…

July.

Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking, and I have a very good reason for writing about them now. Despite their birth month symbolism and all that, they’re actually flowers that need a bit of cold. Depending on your zone, that means sowing the seeds in either autumn or spring so they can get a bit of a chill in. Lately, gardening stuff has been on my mind. Ergo, I figured now’d be a good time to write about…

Well.

Gardening stuff.

Larkspur Magical Uses, Folklore, and Medicinal History

Like the lovely hellebore and lobelia, larkspur is poisonous. All parts of it. They’re actually a major contributor to cattle poisonings, to the point where farmers will delay grazing their cattle at high elevation pastures until summer, when the larkspur has chilled out a little and is slightly less likely to cause problems.[1]

The name Delphinium comes from the Greek word delphínion, meaning “dolphin.” According to Discorides, this is because of the shape of the flowers, which resemble dolphins if you kind of squint.[2] The English common name comes from the idea that their flowers resemble the feet of larks.

Mythologically, larkspur is a very interesting plant. In the story of Hyacinthos and Apollo, in which Apollo and Zephyros vie for the affections of Hyacinthos, Apollo ends up killing Hyacinthos either accidentally or in a fit of jealous rage. It’s usually said that Apollo turned Hyacinthos’ body into the hyacinth, but some scholars hold that the flower was the larkspur instead.[3]

Another story holds that the larkspur sprang up from Ajax’s blood. After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus vied for his armor. Athena supported the latter and drove Ajax mad. In his madness, he fell on his sword. Where his blood spilled, larkspur flowers grew.[4]

Larkspur appears to have somewhat limited medicinal and magical uses. As with many poisonous herbs, it’s associated with protection — the alkaloids in larkspur are cardiotoxic, cause respiratory arrest and digestive issues, and are generally irritating to skin. Just as they naturally repel most animals who’d eat them, planting them in one’s garden is said to repel evil. Some writers suggest using larkspur in protection baths, but, given its potential as a skin irritant, I would caution against this.

Some also cite larkspur as a love herb, but I haven’t done so. It does bloom during “wedding season,” and the flowers make beautiful bouquets, but most of its associations seem to spring from its toxicity and connection to warfare. Even the story of Hyacinthos and Apollo, where larkspur is essentially a symbol of Apollo’s love for Hyacinthos, ends in tragedy. Your mileage may vary, of course, but larkspur has never done much for me in love workings.

(Interestingly, its medicinal uses seem to primarily lie in its appearance. Multiple sources cite folk practices of looking either at larkspur (or through bunches of larkspur) to soothe tired eyes and guard against eye problems.)[5]

Even in Victorian floriography, larkspur is a bit… sketch. In general, larkspur is associated with lightness and levity. You know, the kind of stuff you’d expect from a pretty summer flower with tall blooms. However, this meaning depends heavily on its color — pink larkspur indicates a fickle nature, while purple represents haughtiness.[6]

Using Larkspur

The easiest, and probably most straightforward, way to use larkspur is to plant a native variety in your garden. Not only is this said to repel evil, but it’s a huge help to native bees, butterflies, songbirds, and hummingbirds.

You could also crush the dried flowers into a powder (or salt) for protection and sprinkle it around whatever it is you wish to protect — your property, a room, et cetera. However, I caution against sprinkling it where a house pet may be able to step in it or get it on their fur, since ingesting it during grooming could cause serious harm.

The dried flowers are also a good addition to protection jars, sachets, or other container spells. Honestly, container spells are one of my favorite ways to use baneful herbs — they work, they’re easy, and I don’t have to worry about anyone trying to eat them.

Larkspurs are a beautiful summer plant, but they need cool seasons and humid summers to grow. Don’t wait until summer to add them to your garden. Sow them now, so they have time to stratify and establish themselves properly. You’ll be rewarded with their protection, tall spikes of colorful flowers, and an abundance of native pollinators.

Sources

1. Poisonous Plant Research: Logan, UT. Larkspur (Delphinium spp.)

2. Wikipedia, Delphinium

3. Theoi.com, Hyakinthos

4. Flower Database, Consolida ajacis

5. Magical Plant Folklore: Larkspur, Periwinkle, and Wormwood

6. Flower Meanings Dictionary from A to Z: the Secret Victorian Era Language of Flowers

Earth Skills - garden updates, foraging recommendations, and recipes for the season

Marybeth

Welcome to the first Earth Skills column!  In this quarterly newsletter feature, I plan to share information about what happens in the garden and plant world, share suggestions for what to plant or what’s available to forage, resources for learning an earth-friendly skill (“reskilling”), and perhaps a recipe or two.

Right now, in early April, perennials are returning in my garden - my lilac is a fragrant place for bumblebees to sleep, anise hyssop, perennial Egyptian walking onions, and raspberry shoots are poking their heads above ground, and last fall’s kale plants have been giving me a surprising amount of greens to cook with!  Apart from lilac, there are currently very few flowers in my garden right now, but calendula, cilantro, and Love-in-a-Mist are all beginning to emerge, too.

Now is the time to get busy in the garden!  Where I am in Maryland, it’s the perfect time to plant your cooler weather crops outdoors.  Bok choy and spring radishes both mature within a month, and are great beginner crops to start with, or to plant in a place you want warm weather crops to go later, since they should mature by mid-May or earlier.  Other things to plant now include carrots, kale, lettuces, mustard greens, onion sets, peas, potatoes, and turnips.  It is a little early for most flowers, but since calendula is coming up now, that indicates that this is a good time to plant them!

If you have indoor grow lights, you could start warm weather crops like eggplants, peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and tomatillos now. These need 4-6 weeks of growing indoors before planting outside in order to have a good fruiting season here.  It’s also perfectly fine to buy warm weather plants that others have grown to sell, too, but don’t buy them now! Wait until May.  Traditionally tomatoes are planted in this area after Mother’s Day, when the soil temperatures are 70 degrees fahrenheit or warmer.

Elsewhere in the living world, in parks and fields and wooded areas, spring ephemerals, plants that take advantage of extra light while the trees are not yet leafed out, are springing up now, including chickweed, Virginia Bluebells, spring beauty, dead nettle, henbit, violets, trout lilies, and many others!  Get out in the woods or parks as often as you can over the next few weeks - it is one of the most beautiful times of year to learn about plants, and these and other beautiful wildflowers won’t last long.

This is also when many of my favorite edible plants return! Magnolia blossoms have a lovely ginger-like flavor - if you came to Ostara, you might have tried the Magnolia cake I made by infusing the pedals in almond milk!  Field garlic, which you’ve seen as the patches of small wild onions everywhere right now, become my substitute for chives in my favorite savory scone recipe, and garlic mustard makes a delicious pesto.

Here are some edible plants, and approximately when you can expect to see them, over the next few months:

• Curly Dock, leaves - April

• Dandelion, whole plant - April

• Field garlic/wild onion, whole plant - April

• Garlic mustard, whole plant (young leaves and flower shoots best) - April - May

• Japanese Knotweed, young shoots - April

• Lamb's quarters, leaves - May - June

• Magnolia, flowers - April

• Mugwort, leaves - April - June (note: this is also a great magickal plant for cleansing a space)

• Plantain, young leaves - April

• Redbud, blossoms - April

• Serviceberries, berries - late May/early June (this is my favorite fruit, and makes absolutely the best pies/galettes) 

• Stinging Nettle, leaves (cook first, and wear gloves to gather!) - April - May

• Violet, flowers and leaves - April

• Wild Ginger, rhizomes - April-June

• Wineberry - Early July

• Wood sorrel - around June

Reskilling Resources - Foraging

I would be remiss to recommend foraging without giving you safe information about how!  The most important rule is this: if you are not 100% certain what a plant is, and couldn’t confidently tell someone they were wrong if they told you it was something else, do not eat it. That said, there are many safe and delicious plants in this area that are likely already familiar to you, and easy to identify - you just need to do your due diligence by consulting a reliable source, and to make sure each plant has every characteristic described.  (I’m not an expert, so don’t rely entirely on me here or when we’re out and about, either!)

Foraging is a wonderful way to deepen your relationship with the living world, and an important skill that has brought me a great deal of joy and meaning.  It’s also a great way to help slow the spread of edible invasive plants!  Here are my favorite resources for foraging to help you get started:

• Northeast Foraging - Leda Meredith - a great, easy to use introductory guide.

• Wild Remedies - Rosalee de la Forêt - Has detailed information on how to ID plants, detailed profiles on edible and medicinal uses of common plants by season, and great recipes.

• The Forager’s Harvest, Nature’s Garden, Incredible Wild Edibles, and Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern & Central North America - all by Sam Thayer.  Absolutely the best resources on foraging in these parts of the country available.

• Alexis Nikole Nelson, AKA Black Forager on Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok: not only reliable and highly informative, but entirely delightful.

• Feral Foraging on YouTube - Great, detailed guides about finding, harvesting, and preparing a lot of different foraged food

Magnolia Cream Cake Recipe

Magnolia (or other flower) Cream Cake from The Forager’s Pantry: Cooking with Wild Edibles by Ellen Zachos

Photo credit -  https://becomingpartoftheland.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/img_2331.jpg

This recipe works well with plum blossoms, rose petals, and magnolia flowers. [Note from Marybeth - when my lilac bush gets bigger and has more blooms, I will be trying that, too!]  Be sure to save some fresh petals to use as a garnish. Remember, we also eat with our eyes!

Yield - one cake

2 cups clean flowers or petals, roughly chopped

2 cups cream [I substitute almond or other non-dairy milk]

¾ cups sugar

1 ½ cups all-purpose [or gluten free 1-to-1 flour]

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs 

Confectioner’s sugar, to taste

[Note from Marybeth - if any vegans or people who don’t eat eggs can recommend egg substitutes they like in baking, please send me a message on Meetup or Discord, and I will include them next time I share a recipe with eggs!]

Rinse flowers, then roughly chop into pieces about an inch square.  If you’re using magnolia flowers, the pistils and stamens are just as flavorful as the petals, so no need to remove them.  You may also use whole plum flowers, but with roses, use only the petals.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the cream and flowers.  Heat the liquid gently, whisking occasionally to avoid scorching.  You don’t want to boil the cream.  When bubbles begin to appear around the edge of the saucepan, reduce the heat and barely simmer for 25 minutes.  Strain the cream and throw away the flowers.  You’ll use this infused cream both in the cake and for the icing.  [MB: This can be done a day or two before the rest of the cake.]

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and coat the inside of a small Bundt pan with nonstick spray.  This recipe is intended for a 3-cup Bundt pan, but if you have a 6-cup Bundt pan, you can use that.  Just note that the cake will be shorter and cook more quickly.  [MB: Any metal loaf, cake, or cupcake pan will work, too - and I use butter or oil to grease instead of spray.]

Combine the sugar, flour, and baking powder in a mixing bowl, and whisk together.  Add ⅔ cup of the infused cream and the eggs, whisking to remove all lumps.

Pour the batter into the greased pan, and bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  In a full-size pan, start checking at 30 minutes.  In a 3-cup pan, start checking at 40 minutes.  [MB: This recipe usually takes about an hour in a loaf pan, 30ish minutes in a muffin tin.]

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes before turning it out onto a plate.

While the cake cools, assemble your icing.  Transfer the rest of the cream to a small bowl [MB: Not all of it! It takes a lot of powdered sugar to make it thicken, so start with just a little bit of cream and use more sugar than you think. Save leftover cream for coffee or other baked goods. It freezes well for later, too] and add confectioner’s sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.  Whisk after each addition until the icing reaches the desired consistency.  [MB: I add organic red food dye here - it’s just a nicer color, and matches the color of the petals.]  It should be liquid enough to pour onto the warm cake, but not so thick that it slides right off.  Don’t skimp on the icing!  Because this is a simple cake and the icing is flower-flavored, you want it in every bite.  [MB: Poking holes in the top to let the icing saturate the cake would also be delicious.]

Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

Reading Nook - featured book recommendations

Amelia

A Year Across Maryland: A Week-by-Week Guide to Discovering Nature in the Chesapeake Region by Bryan MacKay

Goldfinches nesting. Asiatic dayflower blossoming. Pokeweed fruiting. Waterfowl returning north.

These natural events happen every year, more or less around the same time (depending on conditions), whether or not I notice them happening. But this past year, I noticed them for the first time, thanks to the book A Year Across Maryland: A Week-by-Week Guide to Discovering Nature in the Chesapeake Region by Bryan MacKay.

I’ve lived in the DC area for a bit more than four full years now, and have seen four complete cycles of the seasons. Every year I welcome the first flowering street trees, and wonder whether the redbuds didn't bloom before the dogwoods last year, or was it the other way around? Our human ancestors have paid attention to the environmental cycles around them since the very beginning, using them as a calendar to know when to gather specific roots, move to summer pastures, store certain foods, plant in anticipation of the floods. 

Noticing seasonal changes is still vitally important to many residents of the DC area, if the excitement about peak cherry bloom is any indication! And as a Pagan and a Druid, someone who honors the Wheel of the Year in a series of seasonal festivals, shouldn't I be more in tune with the cycles of the seasons than the average Washingtonian? Thankfully, this book can help.

In A Year Across Maryland, biologist Bryan MacKay identifies two to four natural happenings for each week of the year (well, four weeks per month, for a total of 48). Goldfinches and pokeweed don't use the Gregorian calendar, so of course his predictions may be off by a bit, but they fairly closely illustrate a typical year. More than once I have noticed a certain plant or animal behavior (Asiatic bittersweet berries, an abundance of stink bugs, tickseed sunflower) only to read about it in the week’s selection a day or two later.

True to the title, the guide describes biological events that take place across the state of Maryland, from the Allegheny Plateau to the Atlantic coast. Since starting the book last summer, I’ve read about a few things that I’d have to travel hours to see (manatees in the Bay, fringed gentians blooming) - but most are, at least in theory, locatable in and around the DC metro area.

Reading this book has encouraged me to notice very specific parts of the natural world around me, and to be mindful of what they're doing. It's a reminder that nature is change: nothing is the same from one moment to the next, but all repeats in a cyclical pattern. The world is full of busy, bustling beings, going about their lives, growing and mating and nesting, settling down for the winter, and doing it all again next year.

For those interested in following along, and perhaps sharing photos of the natural things you spot each week, the Wilderness Between Discord server has a channel dedicated to exploring A Year Across Maryland. You can join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/5UjQXUTG

Meet a Steward

Amelia

Amelia is a druid, polytheist, nature enthusiast, life embracer, tea drinker, wildlife watcher, and lover of woodland streams. Hailing from the Great Lakes where she grew up camping every summer, she spent a few years in the desert before landing here in the Mid-Atlantic. She is interested in a lot of things and aims to never stop learning.

WB Online

Website: https://www.wildernessbetween.org/

Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/wilderness-between/

Discord: https://discord.gg/5UjQXUTG

Contact Caitlin via Meetup or Discord if you have something you would like to share with the community and we will include it in the next newsletter.