As the nights shorten in the early days of sweet summertime, our focus is drawn to exploring the spaces between - the soft haze between spring and summer, the stunning flash of color between day and night (and night back to day again), the floral brambles between meadow and forest, and the ethereal spaces between worlds, between dreams. The magic of wilderness beckons and holds captive our eager attention as we roll into a new seasonal energy. Wonder surrounds us, hidden in all of those nooks and crannies, all of the spaces between. Get lost in its sweetness. 

From the outgoing masculine strength of walnuts and dandelions to the soft sweet femininity of wild rose, this month is about embracing the beauty of duality and feeding yourself what you need to keep in balance. It's about answering those calls to adventure to get to know and embrace your true wilderness. It's about celebrating the fiery magic of the Summer Solstice and then slipping gracefully and gently into dusk's mystery. But mostly it's about leaning in to the magical unknown, feeling the anticipation and curiosity wash over you with the floral flood of rose and elderflower, baking something worthy of the Queen of Fairies herself because the lusciousness of early summer deserves a celebration. Yes. Let's all eat cake, shall we? 

If you are one of my wonderful Patrons, head on over to your membership area to find a high-quality digital download of June's beautiful mandala for your personal use! If you're not familiar with this program, it's a way for generous like-minded people to support my efforts to share wonder with all of you, for free. I believe in generosity and am so grateful that others do too, otherwise I wouldn't be able to share all of this goodness with you! If you'd like to sign up, you can simply choose an amount to contribute every month and get some lovely goodies (like the mandala download) as thanks for your contribution. 

If you'd like to get this beautiful mandala in another form, please take a look at my brand-sparkling-new Society6 Shoppe! There you can get this lovely design in everything from wall prints to clocks to tote bags to pillows. I get a percentage of the profits to help fund running this blog. And how lovely does this design look as a foraging bag?? 

P.S. As you may have noticed, we are well into July as I'm publishing this. Time is a funny thing, isn't it? Lately it's been a bit jumbled up for me, I have to admit... while my photography has stayed firmly attached to June, my mind is wandering all through August, planning projects for the golden days of late summer. It's taken a bit of corralling to convince it to come back to the present moment of July and relish in its fiery beauty. But don't worry, I've got some great new projects coming up to celebrate... and just WAIT until you see this month's mandala! 

With lots of love and gratitude, 

Miss Wondersmith