August 2025 Almanac
A bookish, floral transition from summer to fall
Look! the round-cheeked moon floats high,
In the glowing August sky,
Quenching all her neighbor stars,
Save the steady flame of Mars.
White as silver shines the sea,
Far-off sails like phantoms be,
Gliding o'er that lake of light,
Vanishing in nether night.
Heavy hangs the tasseled corn,
Sighing for the cordial morn;
But the marshy-meadows bare,
Love this spectral-lighted air,
Drink the dews and lift their song,
Chirp of crickets all night long;
Earth and sea enchanted lie
'Neath that moon-usurped sky.Emma Lazarus, excerpt from “August Moon” (19th c.)
In each Almanac, you’ll find a ‘book of days’ to track this month’s HF gatherings & resources…a reveal of our monthly in-depth focus…a whimsical coloring page to inspire us throughout all our August days…and a playlist to serenade.
Consider saving this post to peek back at it throughout the month!
Pax+bonum, Kristin.
AUGUST 1 | Friday | Lammas | Begin preparing your Almanac bookmarks!
WEEK OF AUGUST 4 | August festal focus launches with printables & reflections
AUGUST 10 | Sunday | Feast of St. Lawrence (our August focus)
AUGUST 15 | Friday | The Solemnity of the Assumption of the BVM
AUGUST 23 | Saturday at 10 am Pacific Time | Book club discussion with author Francesca Kay
» For Paid Members: We’ll be discussing Francesca Kay’s beautiful historical fiction - The Book of Days - with the author herself!
AUGUST 24 | Sunday | Bartlemas
AUGUST 27 | Wednesday at 1 pm Pacific Time | Discussion with author
» For Paid Members: Let’s hang out with Haley, award-winning author, the Editor of Word on Fire Votive, and host of the Votive Podcast - author of one of my favorite liturgical cookbooks!AUGUST 30 | Saturday at 11 am Pacific | Book of Hours Make-a-long
» For All Subscribers: I’ll be hopping onto Substack Live to chat with all subscribers as I build the summer months of a liturgical year binder! Bring your binder & supplies (or not!), and let’s puzzle through this together.LAST HALF OF AUGUST | Botanical Liturgy: Linden
» On my (surprise) pilgrimage in July, I was struck by the linden trees in bloom around a historic Mission church. We’ll be digging into the Christian symbolism of this meaningful tree. (Thank you for your patience as I’ve continued to meditate on this tree’s role in Church tradition - and in my own life!)
LAST HALF OF AUGUST | Book of Hours (Part 3)
» Let’s keep working on our liturgical year binders - now that we’ve collected our summertime resources (Part 1) and sorted them with new printables (Part 2), let’s continue to flesh things out.
You can also find this calendar of upcoming events posted in the Village Green
August tends to be a seasonal threshold for us, where summer begins to blend - almost imperceptibly - to fall. Around the start of the month, we often notice our first cool breeze of the summer (even if hot days are still coming our way).
This is a great month to dig into that TBR pile. Summer is waning, and whether we find ourselves reading in the shade of a tree on a blazing hot August day or wearing an extra layer while we dip into a book on a cooler August evening…the harvest is coming in, and a glimmer of fall weather is on the horizon.
Let’s lean into this transitional month with a bouquet for our books!
Just print the bookmarks - each flower symbolic of a feast in August - fold them, and let them adorn your books.
Maybe you want to mark multiple pages in a single volume (you’ll have a lovely bouquet!)…or maybe you want to use a bookmark for each book in your nightstand stack. However you choose to use these, each flower is a lovely prompt to remind you to pause for the feast day it symbolizes.
Available in the Scriptorium for paid subscribers:
P.S. I’d love to see these flowers ‘growing’ in your library! Please feel free to share photos with our community:
This August, we’ll be reflecting on St. Lawrence (and, yes, his gridiron) - his life, testimony, and the growth of traditions over the years as the Church has interacted with him and his legacy.
Reflections, history, folk traditions, art, and more will be available the week of August 4
Paid members will receive a printable cover page and booklet for their liturgical year binders
It was SUCH a delight to go rushbearing with you last month!! Thank you so, so much to all of the guest speakers, attendees, and supporters who joined for the Rushbearing Festival (whether live, or watching on the replay!)
Your support helps me to continue researching, reflecting, & creating art, which gets poured back into this wonderful liturgical ecosystem…through resources created just for you, as well as the financial support that I can in turn offer to all of the authors, teachers, & creators who join us as guest speakers.
Pax et bonum,
Kristin
Not being Catholic, it's interesting to me how different Substackers focus on different feasts and saints: https://open.substack.com/pub/tanglewoodatelier/p/august-journal-striding-into-high.