July 2025 Almanac
Coloring through July, rushbearing, and re-imagining Ordinary Time
Sweet July, warm July!
Month when mosses near the stream,
Soft green mosses thick and shy,
Are a rapture and a dream.
Summer Queen! whose foot the fern
Fades beneath while chestnuts burn…George Meredith, excerpt from “July” (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 July days…and a playlist to serenade.
Consider saving this post to peek back at it throughout the month!
Pax+bonum, Kristin.
Updated July 10:
I’ve been on an impromptu pilgrimage (more on that later!), so I’m following the Spirit and revising this month’s post schedule with some of the inspiration that has hit me. Thanks for joining me for the journey!
TBD | Reflections on Ordinary Time
» It’s easy to feel unmoored in this longest season of the Church calendar. This is my favorite season, though - this month, I’ll be sharing some thoughts on the helpful patterns that make this such a rich stretch of the liturgical year!
JULY 2 | Wednesday | Begin coloring!
WEEK OF JULY 9 | Rushbearing Festival invitation with details wings its way to you!
» This July, please join me for our first annual (online) Rushbearing Festival! We’ll gather for some wonderful conversation, impactful discussions and speakers, and more.MID-JULY | How to build your liturgical binder (second installment!)
» Let’s keep working on our liturgical year binders - have you been collecting your summertime resources? In the next installment, we’ll sort out ways to distill all of it into a system that works for you.JULY 18 & 19 | Friday & Saturday | Rushbearing Festival for paid members!
LAST HALF OF JULY | Summer Pilgrimage
» As so many of us have full summer days, I’m shifting our July schedule to better accommodate us all! I went on a driving trip that turned into a pilgrimage, and I’ll be sharing more about that with you.
LAST HALF OF JULY | Botanical Liturgy: Linden
» On my pilgrimage, 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.
JULY 25 | Friday | St. James’ Day
JULY 25 | Friday | Welcome gathering chat for Midsummer Book Club
You can also find this calendar of upcoming events posted in the Village Green
As the feasts of Ordinary Time reveal the beauty and mystery in our July days, let’s color through this summer month a little bit at a time...revealing a whole spectrum of both color and tradition by the time we’ve reached the last days of July.
The feasts we celebrate come into greater clarity when we recall their seasonal context within Christ’s life & ministry, and by patiently coloring this month’s image - one feast at a time - we can better sense the layers of beauty and story that accumulate.
Consider ways you can try out different media - watercolor paint, crayons, pastels… - throughout the month, making a multimedia piece. Or, print out several copies of the coloring page and play around with ways to bring it to life!
Included with the coloring page is a helpful, succinct set of notes to introduce you to each of the celebrations featured in the artwork - including the folk names and scientific names for each plant or critter. This is a great opportunity to search for photos of these natural elements & learn more about them!
» Available in the Scriptorium for paid subscribers:
P.S. If you color your way through July, I would love to see your artwork! EVERYONE is an artist - I promise. Please share pictures in our Substack Chat, if you’d like!
This month, we’ll dive into the feast of St. Mary Magdalene - an enigmatic, mysterious, profoundly impactful saint.
Reflections, history, folk traditions, art, and more will be available later in July
Paid members will receive a printable cover page and booklet for their liturgical year binders
Thank you so much for joining me on the journey, friends. 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.
I can’t wait to join you for our first online Rushbearing Festival!!
Pax et bonum,
Kristin