Any Witches Here? Part 8.

[speakout]

Or Wiccans. or Pagans? Or anyone who is interested in a magical path or feels some magical stirrings.

A place for support, learning, swapping ideas and magical inspiration.

Yashmis I visualise drawing my aura right out when I want to close down and pushing it out further when I'm working and want to be open. When I want protection, I visualise myself covered in a golden cape.

Thank you Elphame and Violet- some helpful ideas to try 🙏

Beautiful twilight flower pictures Meadowlight

One of the rewards for me, of this path, is the opportunity for personal growth and development alongside the chance to be myself as I am

I love this. I feel the same

Grumpyoldmare here with my new user name.

I've neglected my path for a while,but last night I got out my new BoS and added a few bits to it as it was the Summer Solstice. You can almost sense a change in the atmosphere (or is it just me?) I got a very slight sense/smell of autumn yesterday and just as quickly it was gone.

StumpyinSomerset

I got a very slight sense/smell of autumn yesterday and just as quickly it was gone

I felt that too today. How interesting. The moment after the solstice too. Plants are still growing and many yet to flower, but as I looked out onto the forest today I had exactly the same feeling. The trees are settled into a deep royal warm green, no longer that lime spring vibrancy, I sensed a touch of golden and orange- I dismissed my thoughts, it is still June after all, but I could feel the sense of maturity.

DP threw a cushion at me when I dared to comment that the nights would soon be drawing in!

Elphame

That's so funny. I think I may have missed your posts about invisibility, but that sounds so interesting and what VioletCharlotte spoke of drawing down the aura makes so much sense.
I have had the ability to make myself invisible from a very early age, I do it often. In fact only yesterday. Sometimes I see someone in a supermarket or in the street or want to slip into a shop undisturbed, people I don't want to speak to or I am in a rush, I do exactly what VioletCharlotte describes, and I can pass inches from people wihout being noticed. Most times I am visible, but invisibility is something that comes easily to me.
I would make a good shoplifter or spy!!

Speakout I'm so glad that made sense to you. I love this thread so much, it means so much to have this space where we can talk about this stuff and everyone's on the same page 😊

Elphame that made me laugh! There's certainly been a shift since the solstice. I feel like I could almost hear the click of the wheel turning as we moved into summer. Everything just feels different today somehow.

I've been full of energy today, dog walk this morning with a friend, then working in the garden this afternoon. I've just had a lovely shower and I'm thinking of doing some bedtime yoga. I'm planning to get up early tomorrow for a walk in the forest.

Thank-you everyone who liked the Tapestry analogy, it just appeared from the keyboard.

Meadowlight well observed I've always been arty-crafty and find I add magic to my creations and am drawn to anyone else's where I sense that too.
Creation takes so many forms and when you recognise it, it can turn into inspiration to create something from what you've just seen or experienced, with your own energy added.
Your poppies are lovely.

There are some interesting Solstice Sunrise images here www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2019/jun/21/summer-solstice-2019-celebrations-stonehenge-avebury-in-pictures

I felt that too today. How interesting. The moment after the solstice too

How odd. The same sort of time as me.So it wasn't just wistful thinking on my part,then.

Morning everyone,
I just wanted to say that I pop on now and again (originally posted on the first thread I think) and see what you're all up to. I have an interest in all this but no idea where to start. I have some crystals to help me through a very difficult time at the moment but that's as far as I've got so far. I love the moon and stars and am trying to follow the moon's impact. It's such a lovely, calm place here that it's nice to spend a bit of time with you all (albeit quietly!) x

Good morning,

It’s good to have you with us Storm, quiet’s good too- all adds to the energy we create together. Following the moon’s impact sounds like a perfect place to focus your attention. Something that’s pivotal to many of our paths. Sorry to hear you’re going through a difficult time, I hope you’re able to find time to nurture yourself as you go through it. We talked recently about small everyday practices- a blessing over a cup of tea, an energy cleansing salt bath, a candle lit to honour your divine spirit, cleansing rituals to renew the energy in your space.. I’ve found a little of what I can manage during a difficult time sees me through. I hope circumstances soon improve for you.

Lovely solstice pictures BlankTimes, thank you for the link.

I’ve enjoyed reading about the shared awareness of the turning of the wheel of the year. Another lovely connection.

Cooler here again today- yesterday’s summery vibe a tease! I did get a lot of laundry dry in the sun and the grass was finally dry enough to cut yesterday. It’s looking neat and I think I prefer it more wild! Luckily the rest of the garden is fairly wild!

Wishing everyone a magical Sunday 💫

SheStoodInTheStorm

Lovely to have you here.
A quiet day here, my favourite type! DD off to work, DS still asleep, mother at church, OH at the supermarket.

So just me, some peaceful music playing, burning some jasmine incense.
I have large sliding doors in my living room which lead out to a deck area, I like to burn my incense just outside.
I find incense a little too strong to burn inside, but this way I get little wafts of it as the breeze bring is the odd little puff.

It also feels a little exotic and reminds me of times I spent in Indonesia, many homes, shops, businesses will have a little offering outside doorways to their old gods, a piece of fruit, some rice, a flower and usually an incense stick or two.
Although nominally a Muslim country, most people practice a much older pagan form of animism, which worships spirit in animals, plants, rocks, rivers, wind etc.
My outside incense takes me back to my happy travels.
And my washing maching is busy, a wonderful day for line magic!

And I had a lovely telephone converstaion with my MIL yesterday, she was a bit down as she recovers from painful surgery, but she told me how proud she is to have a DIL who is a witch. She tells all her friends apparently.
It's so good to be accepted. My OHs family are far more supportive of my ways than my own family. It is partly because of this thread that I came out and told them- and their reaction has been amazing.

I hope everyone finds some magical sparkle today.

Cooler here today too. DP is out helping the local AmDram group so peace reigns.

Not sure what I'm going to do actually!

peace reigns lovely- enjoy!

I love your descriptions of these peaceful moments and places you have traveled to speakout- you have such a gift for bringing a feeling or energy to life through words. You lift my spirits. So wonderful also to hear of the support and pride from your MIL. It means a lot to be accepted and loved for who we are doesn’t it.

I too have windows/patio doors open, incense burning. Looking for some uplifting music to play while I do some clearing (physical and energetic) in preparation for the week ahead. Energy clearing is very much a part of my cleaning routine.

I’ve been reflecting on the energy we’ve drummed up here in the context of BlankTimes tapestry analogy. I see and feel the evidence of this in my day to day life and love the thought of my sisters here feeling the same way. A connection as we each weave magic throughout our days.

A little while ago there was a discussion about love energy.( I think it was you who started it speakout ), and how powerful this is. I think that’s what we’re creating here and I saw this quote from bell hooks and thought of what Violet said about women rising collectively to create change and heal our planet.

I was also thinking of the little practices so many of us do every day- woven through everyday tasks to boost and sustain our energy. Social media seems to be full of so much quasi- spiritual ‘woo’ (I dislike that word but it describes what I’m talking about), much of it makes me cringe. I’m not the type of woman to have a ‘powered by fairies’ bumper sticker on my car or be overt in my expressions of spirituality. Each to their own but to me it’s something more private and personal than that; sacred.

I did however, quite like these ideas for self talk and a shower meditation . I think they’re the type of thing many of us do anyway but sometimes it’s nice to have some reminders when you feel like you don’t know where to start. For me it’s always self talk to raise my energy and everyday practices.

I enjoyed this podcast (another Starhawk interview!) about being a witch, pagan, working with the divine feminine.. so many subjects we’ve talked about here.

Thought others may enjoy it too

soundcloud.com/drewmarshall/starhawk

It's cooler here today too. I've just got back from a walk in the forest, it was so peaceful listening to the birds singing and sounds of the trees whispering in the wind.

I've been thinking today about finding pleasure in the simple things in life, I believe this is really key to leading a happy life. Someone (I think it may have been you, Speakout) described it as 'making magic out of the mundane'. When you change the way you look at things, cleaning is no longer drudgery, it's cleansing your home and putting the sparkle back; washing is no longer a chore, it's laundry witching 😊

Blanktimes thank you for sharing the solstice pictures, I really enjoyed looking at them. I especially liked the one of the sunrise over the sea. I really need to get down to the sea soon, I can feel it calling me.

Speakout I'm so pleased for you that your MIL is so lovely and accepting. There's so much criticism of MILs on MN, it's nice to hear you have such a. Good relationship with yours.

Yashmis I really enjoyed reading your post and thank you for sharing the quote 🙏

Storm welcome. Sorry you're having a hard time, I hope you find some comfort from this thread ❤️

Hello all, mind if I join your thread?

I have been going through some very intense spiritual turmoil the last few weeks. It has finally calmed down, but it has opened my mind to parts of myself which needed urgent improvement.

It has been very hard for me to be around people, I have decided to try and be by myself as much as possible to try and find that much needed peace and work on my self love and growing my power.

I have had an mc a few months ago and it has had a very bad effect on me, but I can finally see myself moving forward and seeing how that tough period I had was needed for me to finally come back to my spiritual side and help me grow.

I just wanted to come on here and express my gratitude for my sisters, as I have also turned my back on them in a way while going through the tough times, but I've now realized they have always been there with endless love and so I want to say thank you to the Universe, for blessing me with those people

Hello

It's always a wonder when I come back to this thread and discussion is mirroring my own recent thoughts!

I've been thinking a lot about the pagan path in comparison to Abrahamic religions and I've also been thinking a lot about the manifestation of the constructive, supportive energy that arises when women come together as equals. And I've been thinking about everyday 'magic', about the 'practices woven through everyday tasks to boost and sustain energy' (to quote Yashmi).

And here it all is being discussed!

Are you all mind-readers perhaps?

A lot of this is running alongside my desire to live a simpler, more intentional life. I am finding that my interest in trying to live a more environmentally aware life, my interest in owning less, and 'being' more (as opposed to 'doing' more for the sake of doing ) all run right alongside my desire for spiritual fulfilment.

I find ideas linking across from Starhawk to Leo Babatua. From YouTube witches across to YouTube minimalists. They shouldn't necessarily link, but they do.

There is an undercurrent of thought underneath all these seemingly disparate themes.

Perhaps it is the desire to realign with a collective, positive consciousness that has been suffocated under years and centuries of patriarchal power, religious dogma and an increasing focus on consumption above connection.

I ramble again! I ponder, I come here, read, reflect and find myself stringing my thoughts together the 'coloured threads' you offer. And then something here sets me off a-pondering once more and the spiral begins again!

Welcome to newcomers and sorry to hear of the difficult times some of you have been enduring. I hope joining us here is a supportive and nurturing experience for you.

Blessings.x

I wanted to ask what you ladies think about syncronocity or extreme coincidences I suppose. This happens to me A LOT! Thinking of words and then someone says that word, or a song, or a phrase.

The otjher day I decided to drive to another town about half an hour away, to go to a certain supermarket there and go somwhere new. I didn't bother putting on make up or putting much effort into dressing well, as I thought 'I only know one person there', let's call her Kate. I thought oh god I hope I don't run into Kate! But it's unlikely, I told myself. What are the chances?

Well who was behind me at the checkout? KATE!

I feel these incidences can't just be put down to coincidence, and it happens to me a lot!

Hi NewMoon and welcome, grab a beanbag and a cuppa.
yep, synchronicity's a thing, see FitzFool's post above yours.

Most people discount it as coincidence, but you reach the point where you have so many coincidences it seems impossible to be just chance, then you start to consider synchronicity.

It happens quite often in the following way. You hear about something you may be interested in learning about. but you don't do anything about it. Suddenly and within about a week, every magazine you pick up has an article about it, there's a snippet about it on TV, you put the radio on in the car for two minutes and that subject's mentioned, a work colleague mentions a relative's done a course on it, you overhear a conversation that mentions it while you're in the checkout queue, a book falls off the shelf in a charity shop next to you and it opens at a page about the subject.

Good morning,

I had a big clean and clear yesterday- the energy in the house feels much better. I notice I get the desire to do this when everything feels a bit much. I think I need to book some time off work soon! I’m away next week visiting a family member who is unwell, so I’ll think about some time for me later in the month.

Fitz I always love reading your posts and love the way we’re all so in tune with our learning and exploration of ideas. I agree that there’s so many common threads throughout seemingly different sources of information/schools of thought and also about the desire to align with a ‘collective positive consciousness’ lovely description.

I love your description of reframing things like domestic tasks Violet and agree that simple pleasures create a happier life. Amazing how much power the way we perceive things has isn’t it.

Welcome Shelvesoutofbooks, it’s good that you’ve found us. Sorry to hear you’ve recently experienced such loss. I do think that spiritual/emotional growth can follow these difficult times. Lovely to hear you have supportive friends and your gratitude for them.

NewMoonSOS we seem to experience a lot of synchronicity between us! As BlankTimes describes, it’s often about things we’re learning about- new paths to explore. For me it’s more likely to happen when I’m most aligned with my path, when I get overwhelmed it’s harder to see. Carl Jung wrote a lot about synchronicity or ‘uncanny coincidences’

Hope everyone has a good day x

Good afternoon wise ones, and a warm welcome to NewMoonSOS

I love the talk of synchronicity, yes I think it is something that many of us experience on a magical path.
Always particulaty profound when tied into manifestation.

It has been torrential rain all day here, thunder this morning, and quite dark too. No laundry witching today!! Managed to get to my yoga class this morning which was lovely, just having a little break after my daily trip to the post office before tackling the next task!!
Good to hear of your refreshing clearing YashmisCrone, I need to do the same. I may take time off work a few days before my holiday so I can get things in order before I leave.
Time to light some scented candles - add a bit of fire to balance all this water energy.
Have a blessed day everyone.

No thunderstorms here yet, but they are definitely on the way, it's been veryhumid here today. A really strange feeling in the air too.

The atmosphere does have a strange feel to it before a storm doesn’t it. NewMoon Haven’t had one here either although it feels like we should have and I have an atmospheric headache that would also welcome a storm!

Good to hear you were able to get to yoga this morning speakout

I agree about synchronicity and manifestation- I was thinking the same earlier! I see it as a sign that my manifestation energy is flowing well and in turn harness the energy to work towards my goal.

Hope everyone’s having a restful evening 💫

No thunderstorms here yet either. Like you, Yashmis, I have a headache. I would love a storm, but my poor dog is so frightened of the thunder, I'm hoping we don't get one.

Glad you made it to yoga Speakout. I've just got back from a lovely class and feeling relaxed and ready for bed.