Blooming Moon
*This blog was previously published May 12, 2025 in my 13 Moons Newsletter. If you enjoy this post please consider subscribing
As May unfolds around us, we welcome Waabgonii Giizis - the Blooming Moon.
The land comes alive with wildflowers, buds, and birdsong, and the Earth feels like it's remembering how to sing again.
In Anishinaabe teachings, the Blooming Moon celebrates the Spirit sides of plants as they bloom, offering powerful healing energy. It encourages us to explore our spiritual essence.
What the Blooming Moon Teaches Us
The Blooming Moon is a reminder that our growth does not need to be loud to be meaningful. Quiet transformation is still sacred. Just as the flowers bloom in their own time, we too are invited to open slowly and intentionally.
Traditionally, this moon is a time for plant knowledge to be shared, medicines to begin returning to the forest floor, and families to spend time gathering and connecting after a long winter. It's a beautiful reminder of our place in the web of life — part of the cycle, not separate from it.
“When we live by the seasons, we return to our original instructions — to be in relationship with the Earth and each other.”
— Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Alderville First Nation)
Ways to Celebrate the Blooming Moon:
🌸 Spend time with flowers and plants: Whether it's in the forest, your garden, or your neighbourhood — greet the blooming ones. Learn their names. Offer thanks.
If you follow me on social media you’ll have seen my recent posts about my adventures foraging for birch and fiddleheads. Blooming Moon is a time that indaanis (my daughter) and I spend out in nature — teaching each other about plant foods and medicines. It’s a sacred time with her that I cherish.
🌸 Create something: Write a poem, sketch a petal, take a photo of a wild bloom — creativity is a form of honouring.
🌸 Share beauty with someone: A kind word, a note, a fresh-picked flower — these small acts ripple outward more than we know.
Suggested reading: Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings by Mary Siisip Geniusz
Suggested nature app: iNaturalist
As the Blooming Moon rises, I invite you to reflect not only on what is blooming in the world around you — but what is blooming within you. This moon reminds us to honour the beauty we carry, the care we offer, and the way we each are part of nature’s traditional ecological knowledge.
Miigwech (thank you) for being here and for sharing in this journey through the moons with me,
♥Jennifer
P.S. Do you have a flower or plant you feel connected to? I’d love to hear what’s blooming where you are — feel free to comment below.