Introducing the 2024 Lunica Planner!

The day is finally here and I have been wanting to share this with you for months! If you’ve been with me for awhile you may know that I launched the very first edition of the Lunica Planner last year: a land-based living planner that incorporates garden planning, herbalism, spiritual exploration and daily tasks. The goal was to create a seasonal guide that could be referenced daily throughout the entire year to help you live a more intentional life in connection with the soil and the stars.

This year’s cover is something I’ve been dreaming about since before the planner came to fruition. It features the lunica; an upside down crescent moon representing the Slavic belief in the powers of the moon and earth. Below the moon is an image inspired by old alchemical manuscripts with the latin phrase spes altera vitae meaning “hope of another life”. Plants growing from bones, then setting seed to return to the soil is the epitome of this cycle.

I learned SO much from creating that first edition as well as working with it myself for nine months now. There is so much I love about it, and so many more ideas have surfaced to make it even more aligned with those goals. I also reached out to you lovely folks earlier in the year to find out more about what you want from a planner, what you liked about the first edition and what you would change. This was helpful beyond words, so thank you so much for all of you who took the time to fill out that survey. I think the planner is so much more beautiful because of it.

With all of that said, the planner is now available for pre-order! They will begin shipping in late October, depending on when you place your order. Pre-orders help us out so much because they provide the upfront cost of getting the planners printed. Once again we are using a local printer here in Michigan (though the printer we are using now has been able to make the planner more durable than the first edition).

Because we are choosing to print locally, we are doing short-run prints, meaning once the planners are sold out there won’t be anymore! We sold out last year before the new year began, so ordering soon not only helps us out, but it also ensures you get your hands on one too. Keep in mind that if you order anything else from the shop, they will ship with your planner once they are released.

As a little thank you for the pre-orders, I will be packing the first 50 pre-orders with a free 2 oz Lilac Elixir. This delicious potion is made from fresh lilacs and can be added to sparkling water, teas, mocktails or cocktails. You don’t need to do anything to snag one, just order early and I will tuck one into your order as supplies last.

Since you’ve so graciously let me into your inbox, I also want to give you a sneak peek inside the planner. If you have last year’s edition, some things may look familiar, and many things will also look new. The beginning of the planner is a reference and planning resource for garden, apothecary, and journaling. The rest of the planner is for monthly and daily tasks. Keeping in mind this is just a taste, there are over 250 pages of seasonal goodness in here!

There are a few more pages of potions and recipes to keep your garden healthy and vibrant too.

I love this new layout for the monthly overviews. On the left, I created an open-ended space to write, draw or paste images to create a sort of monthly mood board. I think exploring how you want to feel and what you want to embody is so much more effective than setting “goals”. On the right, I list all of the garden and apothecary tasks along with the best dates to plan them in accordance with the moon. You can then plan your monthly tasks in the boxes below accordingly.

Many of you loved the monthly phenology wheel, so I kept that as a space to track any cycles you want such as mood, weather, etc. But I also included a traditional monthly spread for you to plan bill payments and events.

I am so excited about the new weekly spreads too. I got rid of the thick lines and left you with an open space to write and doodle. The right hand side also creates more opportunities to journal and connect (I also love checkboxes). There are spaces to create garden and home devotions, a gratitude box, a moon notes box where I describe the position of the moon and how it correlates to the garden that week, and a larger space for you to record observations and ideas. I also have a box in this large space with new and full moon prompts as well as other little musings. On the individual days you will also find the major lunar transits.

There is so much more than just pictured within the planner too. You will also find monthly essays from myself as well as other herbalists, growers and writers that I adore such as Damiana from La Luneria, Cat from The Olive Trees And The Moon, Farai from The Hillbilly African, Jacqui from Xalish Medicines, Marysia from School of the Sacred Wild, and more! Expense logs, time conversions, space for reflection and more journaling are all sprinkled throughout.

I would also like to note that this is a land-based planner, so I only added the core movements of the moon and stars that are relevant to the garden. These include each moon phase, eclipses, the lunar zodiac and the solar zodiac. I think this keeps things simple and accessible for people with busy schedules.

I will say that I have been working with herbs for many years, and this has been my absolute favorite project. It has taken months to put everything together, still with some final tweaks and edits, but I feel like it is the perfect culmination of land, body and spirit. I hope you love it as much as I do, and thank you for being here and supporting this idea as I learn how to bring it out into the world in the best way possible.

Much love,

Val

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If you know of anyone else who would love a land-based living planner, share away!

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