Slay, Queen. So, we are dealing with the Solar Queen Mountain Lion, and her fierceness, but really her ability to keep exquisite boundaries and use pride, not in the shadow aspect of that word, but in the ability to acknowledge what we are exceedingly good at and what we excel at.
Mountain Lion has gone by many names—cougar, puma, mountain lion, panther, and so many more names. Cougar is the South American name, while Puma is Quechuan (spoken by the Incans, means Powerful). Early colonists in the Americas mistook the Cougar for a female lion. When they asked the Natives why they only brought the skin of the female lion, they relished the ignorance and told the white traders that the males lived in the distant mountains and were so fierce that no one would dare hunt them—hence the name Mountain Lion for the North American cougar. Cougar are one of the largest wild cats and likes to hunt in twilight, when it can stalk and ambush its prey unseen. This ghost-like quality led some tribes to believe the scream of the Cougar was an omen of witchcraft. The Seminole and Shawnees revered Cougar for its hunting skills. Often Cougar fetishes were carried for courage and to invoke power for themselves. The Pueblo used Cougar as its guardian of the North. In South American, Cougar is used as a bringer of abundance and wealth. Cusco Peru is designed in the shape of a cougar and is associated with the Incan Sky and Thunder God. Traditional Aztec shaman understood that Cougar possessed healing power and would use a sharpened Cougar bone to ward off death, or they would hang Cougar body parts over their patients.
Cougar teaches us about power—how to step into our own power, how to handle power struggles from other people. Because Cougar is a solitary hunter, cougar teaches us to walk alone in our power and about our own strength—both when to display it and when to hold back. It stalks for a long time before it kills. It keeps watch. She is the boundaries keepers, as my teacher Pixie Lighthorse uses Mountain Lion, teaching us about honoring our boundaries and protecting ourselves. Cougar is territorial and carefully marks the area she patrols. By marking its boundaries, she walks confidently in the world. Cougar can act as a sentinel and you can call her in to stalk your own perimeter against attack. She also is lovely at protecting what needs to stay inside—reminding you when you are misplacing anger, rage, disappointment, vulnerability and fears onto other people. Cougar invites you to start being an expert of you, stalking your intentions, watching for who is overstepping your boundaries, asking how and if your needs are getting met, or are you compromising them to play nice? Hint: cougars don’t play nice. Cougar can help us look at who we are giving our power to. Blaming others is an obstacle to your own authenticity. Feeling guilty or ashamed will also trip up the path.
Young cougars learn how to use their power through trial and error, which helps strengthen them and hone their skills. So, when working with Cougar, expect to think about the ways in which your boundaries and power has been violated as a means of learning. Cougar shows up when you are ready to assert your power and you have worked through that process.
Cougar doesn’t often come when your boundaries are small or simply about saying no. Cougar comes as an ally to asserting yourself. Many times when we start setting boundaries, the people around us who violated those boundaries feel uncomfortable and resistant to us. Cougar can help us continually stay in our power, even when we are being bullied to acquiesce to the status quo. Since not many like it when we change the rules to the game they are winning, use Cougar as an ally to help rewrite the rules. Cougar is unequivocally a leader, but because they are solitary, the “leadership” is not out there, but in the soul. Cougar asks you to decide who is in charge of you—your soul or your ego, humility or competition? Are you recognizing your own strength and determination. Are you determining your own fate?
Cougar is fast and powerful and ask you to save and protect your energy and take action only when the time is right. But when cougar attacks, she is decisive and goes for the kill. The Mountain Lion is sometimes called the Solar Queen because she activates the Solar plexus. So, we will strengthen and work with Solar Plexus energy and working in the gut for intuitive guidance. I also like to use Cougar as a guardian and guide to the Lower World.
Our other medicine this month is Peridot and Sunflower. Let’s start with Sunflower, which are blooming all over the dang place.
Sunflowers are a gift from this land—North American born, sun-kissed and soul-deep. Long before they became backyard staples or Instagram darlings, sunflowers were a staple of life for Indigenous peoples across what is now the Southwest. In places like Arizona and New Mexico, they were cultivated over 3,000 years ago not just for beauty, but for sustenance and healing. The seeds were ground into flour, mixed into grain blends, or eaten by the handful. Their oil—rich with skin-loving vitamin E—was used for cooking, skin, and hair care. Even the stalks were repurposed for building materials. Nothing wasted. Everything honored.
And that spirit of reciprocity? It still pulses through every golden spiral.
Physically, sunflower remains a generous ally. Its seeds are packed with calcium, magnesium, and vitamin E—a simple, joyful nourishment that feeds both body and nervous system. Its oil softens skin, soothes inflammation, and brings a little sun into every cell. Emotionally, sunflowers lift us. Literally. Studies—and everyday human experience—suggest that keeping sunflowers in the home can reduce anxiety, uplift mood, and ease feelings of depression. They turn their faces to the light. And when the light is hidden, they turn to each other. Isn’t that just the most tender thing?
Spiritually, the sunflower is a radiant teacher. Like little heliotropic saints, young sunflowers follow the sun across the sky each day. But beyond that celestial choreography is a deeper magic. The spiral of their seeds follows the Fibonacci sequence—nature’s sacred geometry—reminding us of infinite potential and perfect imperfection. We, too, are part of that same divine math.
In ritual, sunflower is potent solar magic. It carries the bold, bright energy of the Sun—life-giving, clarifying, unwavering. Place sunflowers on your altar to call in abundance, success, or simply the courage to shine. Use sunflower oil to anoint candles in prosperity spells, or blend it into bath rituals for confidence and joy. Dried petals tucked into a pouch can enhance intuition, bring psychic clarity, and help you reconnect to your inner light when things feel dim.
They also protect. Yes, these cheerful giants carry a quiet, ancient power. Hanging dried sunflowers above doorways can ward off negativity and invite in only what serves your growth. Their seeds, tucked into a charm bag, can anchor you in positivity and shield your spirit from the weight of others’ projections.
And emotionally? They are medicine for the heart. Gaze at a sunflower when you need to remember who you are. When you’re tired of hiding. When you’re unsure whether your joy matters. (It does.) Sunflower reminds us that blooming is not selfish—it’s sacred. The world needs your radiance.
In magical practice, sunflower helps with:
Manifestation – visualizing goals and holding them up to the light
Joy & positivity – especially when the weight of the world is too much
Divination – boosting intuition when used with tarot or dreamwork
Self-love & confidence – particularly in solar plexus energy healing
Protection & clarity – holding strong boundaries with warmth
And don’t forget: in the darkest of days, when the sun is nowhere to be found, sunflowers turn to each other. That, to me, is the real heart of this flower: community, resilience, and the quiet miracle of facing the light together.
You can work with sunflower in some practical, soulful ways in your spiritual, healing, and everyday life:
🌻 Practical & Magical Uses for Sunflower
1. Sunflower Tea (Petals or Leaves)
A gentle, uplifting herbal tea made from dried petals or young leaves.
✨ Use for:
Brightening low moods
Calming anxiety
Opening the heart and solar plexus chakras
🌞 Add a bit of lemon or honey for extra solar magic.
2. Sunflower Oil (Infused or Cold-Pressed)
Use high-quality sunflower oil as a base for ritual blends or body care.
✨ Use for:
Anointing candles in abundance and confidence rituals
Moisturizing the skin with solar energy
Massage oil for self-love, especially around the belly and chest
🌞 Infuse with calendula, orange peel, or cinnamon for a sun-charged boost.
3. Dried Petal Charm Bags or Spell Jars
Tuck dried sunflower petals into a small charm bag with a few sunflower seeds.
✨ Use for:
Joy, courage, and attracting good luck
Carrying in your bag for a little portable sunlight
Amplifying psychic clarity during tarot readings
🌞 Add citrine, bay leaf, or a written affirmation for extra power.
4. Sunflower Seeds on Your Altar
Place a small bowl of seeds on your altar as an offering or intention-holder.
✨ Use for:
Manifestation spells (each seed holds potential)
Representing abundance and new beginnings
Feeding birds and squirrels as a devotional act of kindness
🌞 Speak your wishes into the seeds before offering them.
5. Sunflower Petal Bath Soak
Add dried sunflower petals to a warm bath with Epsom salt and a few drops of sunflower oil.
✨ Use for:
Clearing energetic heaviness
Recharging your light when you feel dimmed
Ritual bathing on a Sunday or during a Leo moon
🌞 Bring a yellow candle into the bathroom to call in solar guidance.
6. Sunflower Crown or Flower Offering
Weave a sunflower into a crown or place a fresh bloom on your ancestor altar.
✨ Use for:
Ceremonies of joy, transformation, or creative birth
Honoring solar deities or spirit guides
Reclaiming your radiance and celebrating your unique magic
🌞 Especially powerful for summer solstice, Lammas, or Leo season.
7. Hanging Sunflowers for Protection
Hang a dried sunflower head near your front door or above a window.
✨ Use for:
Warding off negative energy or envy
Protecting your home with cheerful boundaries
Inviting warmth, peace, and light into your space
🌞 Wrap with yellow ribbon or herbs like rosemary for added strength.
8. Spiral Meditation with Sunflower Seeds
Follow the spiral of a sunflower’s seed pattern during meditation.
✨ Use for:
Connecting to the cycles of life, death, and rebirth
Grounding in nature’s design and your place within it
Accessing deeper inner wisdom and trusting your path
🌞 Journal afterward to record any insights or guidance.
Now, Let’s talk about Peridot—an often forgotten ally in crystal healing. Peridot is used for clearing emotional heaviness and reconnecting to your true heart
Peridot is the gem-quality form of olivine, a mineral forged deep within the Earth’s mantle—way below where most crystals are born. It’s one of the only gemstones that forms not in the crust, but in the fire of the Earth’s belly, then gets pushed to the surface through volcanic activity. Literal lava child.
Even cooler? Peridot is one of only two gems that’s also found in meteorites—which means some of the peridot we’ve discovered on Earth didn’t come from Earth at all. Cosmic adoption.
Its signature chartreuse glow—somewhere between olive green and golden lime—comes from iron content. The higher the iron, the deeper the green. And unlike most crystals, peridot isn’t pleochroic. That means it doesn’t change color depending on the angle or light. It stays true. Just like its medicine.
🌿 Healing Work with Peridot
Peridot is a stone of the heart and the solar plexus, which is a rare combo. Most stones pick one chakra and stick with it. But peridot? She bridges power and softness. She’s for people learning to lead with love while still holding boundaries. For people reclaiming their voice without shutting down their heart.
Some emotional + energetic medicine of peridot:
Releases old emotional baggage – especially guilt, shame, and resentment. Think of it like spiritual composting.
Clears the heart – helps with jealousy, bitterness, or grief that’s hardened into armor.
Empowers the solar plexus – helping you stand in your truth, in your enoughness, without needing approval.
Invites growth and renewal – especially after long, dark seasons. Peridot says: You can rise again, and this time, softer.
Working with peridot in healing sessions or ritual can be especially potent when you're…
Calling your energy back from past relationships
Healing the inner child around receiving love
Breaking ancestral cycles of emotional suppression or martyrdom
Rebuilding self-trust after burnout or betrayal
Tending the nervous system after a period of chronic hypervigilance
You can lay it over the heart or solar plexus in energy work, wear it over your chest, or just hold it during journaling or prayer. It also works beautifully with breathwork or toning (especially low hums that vibrate in the belly).
🔮 Peridot in Spiritual & Magical Work
Spiritually, peridot is a cleanser and light-bringer. It’s associated with:
The Sun – bringing life force, joy, and clarity
The element of Fire and Earth – grounding transformation
The planet Mercury – communication and thought (it’s also August’s birthstone!)
The sign of Leo – courage, radiance, and openhearted presence
In magical and intuitive work, peridot can be used to:
Protect the aura from emotional vampires and energy leaks
Enhance clairvoyance and psychic boundaries—it helps you see clearly without absorbing others’ stuff
Open the path to abundance—especially when your blocks are emotional or karmic
Align with solar deities or cosmic consciousness—great for channeling or solar plexus invocations
Because of its cosmic connections (hello, meteorites!), peridot also links us to star energy, making it a bridge for working with starseeds, galactic healing guides, or cosmic ancestry.
It’s also excellent for empaths who want to stay open and protected—not armored, but sovereign.
🌞 Final Notes for the Heart
Peridot is like a personal solar flare for the soul. Not in an overwhelming way, but in a gentle reawakening kind of way. Like sunlight on closed eyes. Like coming home to a version of yourself you’d forgotten existed.
She says:
You don’t have to earn your radiance.
You don’t have to hide your fire.
You don’t have to carry what’s not yours.
Just exhale. Let it go.
Let your heart glow green-gold.