$30.00
A giclee art print from an original crafted in watercolor magic for the 2025 Summer Seasonal Navigator's Toolkit.
Add a little magic to your walls or sacred space.
In May, the river just outside our Apothecary door changed its course. It transformed the riverbank and landscape around it, washing away rocks and trees and plants with its flooding current. It was difficult not to pause amidst its rushing and marvel at the ferocity of its powers of change. Just as the vulture is a harbinger of early spring, the river’s new course heralded a powerful astrological transit barely a month after the floods: Jupiter’s arrival in Cancer.
Though the river has a new course, the water still feels like home. It is ever nourishing and welcoming - a haven to soothe frayed nerves and emotions, and a murky depth within which you can find transformation.
With all this power, it’s hard to imagine that our river doesn’t have a spirit, or a guardian that watches over its waters, protecting the creatures within and below the ripples and foam, guiding it through its transformations, violent though these ebbs and flows sometimes might be.
In Greek Mythology, Naiads are spirits that preside over bodies of fresh water: lakes, streams, ponds, springs, and rivers. They are the water guardians, and with their connection to clean and fresh water, they are closely tied to purification, healing, and transformation. They can move among many forms, but they can also transform others with deep and ancient magics.
If our river has a spirit, I imagine they look something like this Naiad. Not quite a mermaid, but not quite human either, with fins reminiscent of a rainbow trout and a crown of moss, willow, and twigs. They are caught in between, in a constant state of transformation, perched on rocks at the river’s confluence singing with a melancholy voice - calling you to journey past the shallows and into the depths.
They reach a lithe hand towards a Luna Moth, a fellow creature with deep symbolism and connection to the powers of transformation. The moon lovingly gave its name to this moth, and the moon’s twenty-eight day cycle represents one of the most powerful transformations known in the natural world
The Naiad and the moth are our teachers this season. These creatures are our guides as Jupiter in Cancer calls us to transform through healing our communities, embracing and nurturing our emotions, protecting one another, and cultivating our inner strength and peace in times of grief and suffering.
The Luna Moth spirits us through darkness, helping us navigate times of uncertainty and chaos. Our Naiad guides us through the murky waters of the river, singing a siren song to step in and allow the current to carve away all that does not serve, and heal deep wounds festering in the heart, spirit, and mind. They are kindred spirits, reaching out to one another, moon and water longing for the next great metamorphosis.
Lauren Rose, the Bone Witch (@scorpius_sub_flore)
