Any Witches Here? Part 10.

[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 love those images, particularly the little koala in the tree. The mind is such a powerful thing.

I love your gratitude list, and I can feel your joy at being reconnected with your DS, I'm so happy for you.

Thank you too for the beautiful picture of the sea. I'm planning a trip to the coast again this weekend. My walk New Year's Day was so lovely and it only takes me an hour to get there, I've promised myself to go more regularly.

Lovely reading about gratitude as I settle down to sleep.

I have gratitude to have my DD home after her trip and telling me what a nurturing place she finds her home and family.

I have gratitude that my DS brought me tea and biscuits on the sofa tonight, and asked if we could snuggle up to watch some TV together.

I have gratitude that the goddess has been with me closely these past few days bringing me calm, strength and optimism.

Good morning,
I slept long and deep last night, with thoughts of gratitude tumbling in my head.
What a lovely thought for a journal.
I love the thought of a gratitude jar too.

I have awoken very late ( for me) today, so just finishing my coffee before I make a start.
As an act of self care I submitted my Tax return, due at the end of January, it plays on my mind as soon as the festive season is over, I think of it daily with not a litttle dread, although the actual task is never as onerous as it seems.
I could feel it weighing, so settled myself down yesterday and completed the task. Done and dusted for another year.
And I feel lighter now I have put down that burden.
Who would have though that doing a Tax return is an act of self care!
I also took a whole load of stuff to the charity shop yesterday, clothes I never wear, some christmas gifts, hat and scarf sets, slippers, toiletry sets, costume jewellery. All new and still labelled. They were lying in a box in my bedroom, I wasn't sure what to do with them, knew I would never use them.
So donating them to my local charity shop also left me feeling lighter.
And that self care also passed on some care to others, which is lovely isn't it.

So off to the post office and to Lidl to buy some fresh bread, psatries and fruit for breakfast. May get some Greek yogurt too- I bought myself a jar of local honey yesterday, produced just half a mile from my home.

Have a magical day everyone.

I’m smiling reading the posts here

I love the gratitudes 💜

Violet thank you for being happy for me, it means a lot. Sharing joy is just as supportive as being there when someone is down isn’t it.
I’m delighted to hear of your plan to visit the sea more often, the water spirits will reward you with a sense of calm and equilibrium 🌊🧜‍♀️

speakout I got HMRC/end of January deadlines dealt with yesterday too! ✅ Totally agree it’s an act of self care. Your post reminded me of this and has spurred me on with another admin type job that’s been weighing me down for a while 🙏

We’ve said it before but it’s not all bubble baths and chocolate is it. I thought this was a useful reminder that self care spans all areas of our lives. I also like this about ‘checking our battery levels’ because self care needs to be appropriate to where we're at and sometimes we just need to give ourselves love, soothe the way and feel better before we can tackle the to do list.

speakout I love the energy of your charity donations and feel sure that those who end up with the items will sense the loving intention with which they were given. Loving the sunny energy of your breakfast 🌞

So far today I’m feeling gratitude for A favourite pair of comfy jeans,
Receiving some lovely feedback,
A creative idea that came to me in a dream! ✨

Love to all x

YashmisCrone

Those are such useful diagrams.

And I continue to learn about self care and see how multi faceted that can be. That diagram illustrates some useful key areas that we need to think about.
And ahat we need at one point may not be an act of self care at another. One cake is good, too many cakes are bad!
Declining social invites may be what we need sometimes, at other times a meeting with a good friend can lift us out of our fug,
But we know in our hearts what we need at any one time- whether it is a soak in the bath ,submitting a tax return or making a dreaded phone call.

Just dropped my DD off at work, and about to start dinner. The bitterly cold scouring winds of the past few days make me think of the Caillaich, but today those icy gales have given way to torrential downpours, but higher temperatures.
My mother is watching some gruesome "True Crime" documentaries, in the lounge- so time for me to set up some energy in the kitchen - light some candles, pour myself a glass of wine, put on some pagan music as I prepare dinner.

I love this- true magic!

*"As we dethrone our inner tyrants, we are contributing to the emancipation of people power in the world. As we replenish our inner scarcities, we are helping to create a culture that values and provides for its visionaries and outcasts. As we smash the influence of the patriarchy within, we are giving rise to Eros in the world. We are changing consciousness from the inside outwards.”

Toko-pa Turner, Excerpt from "Belonging" (belongingbook.com)8

Oh wow speakout that is magic.
So powerful. I’ve just read it 3 times to let it sink in.
Thank you so much for that. I love it too 💕✨

The energy on this thread just gets stronger and stronger. I feel that our energy is very much on the same wave length at the moment. I've been thinking a lot today about the power of positive thought and how it really is true that we get what we put out. The last couple of weeks I've been feel disconnected and out of balance and been carrying a 'world on my shoulder feeling'. This week, I've been practising gratitude, making an effort to eat healthily, doing yoga and regular meditation, and I can feel that my vibration has changed. Magic! 💫

Speakout I hope your enjoying your cosy evening in. We had strong winds here too, earlier in the week. I found it quite unsettling. The weekend is meant to be cold, crisp and bright, proper winter weather!

Yashmis the creative idea that came to you through a dream sounds exciting! Do keep us posted!

Today I am grateful for..
My wonderful yoga teacher for holding such a beautiful class tonight
My DM for helping me with a few things today
My amazing sisters on this thread for all of your warmth, love.strength and wisdom 🙏

A very elemental day here today! Bright sunshine, strong winds, heavy rain, now dark and blustery. It’s been good to work from home- steady pace, weaving in a bit of pottering and a rummage round the charity shops.
When I returned home I noticed these flowers tenaciously blooming from between the cracks in paving. A lovely reminder of Imbolc around the corner and of nature’s wild beauty.
I hope everyone has experienced some magic in amongst the demands of the day 💫

My amazing sisters on this thread for all of your warmth, love.strength and wisdom 🙏

violet I will echo that sentiment.

I have good energy today also, just booked a yoga workshop, and notice the change in light today.

YashmisCrone it's the tenacious spirit of plants and life that is most poingnant isn't it. That life find a way of not just surviving in harsh conditions but bringing beauty forth. Such an important message.

I also felt the first sniff of Imbolc in the air today. When I walked my dog at lunchtime it was very cold, but the sun was shining, birds singing and catkins starting to bud. A welcome reminder that the mornings and evenings will soon be getting lighter and spring is on the way.

I've been working from home too Yashmis it makes such a difference to how you feel doesn't it?

Speakout I can feel how positive your energy is. I hope you
enjoy the yoga workshop.

I'm going to my spiritual development group tonight for the first time in over a month. I can't wait!

Good morning, VioletCharlotte I hope you enjoyed your group last night- these things can be very nurturing.

DS and I watched a movie last night a gritty sci fi action movie, and the cast was almost entirely women in tough roles- so refreshing! But even nicer to sit under a blanket drinking tea with my first born!!

Off shopping with OH later for a couple of hours, I will do a some work for an hour or so first while he takes DD to work. It's 25 miles to her work, but she has so much equipment to carry needs a lift.

So just off for a spa shower- tangerine and rosewood, using some of my new oatmeal scrub.
Then downstairs to light some candles and more sacred coffee as I start my day.
Bright magical blessings to eveyone.

I hope everyone has had a good day, it’s been such a beautiful one here, wonderful winter sunshine given way to a gorgeous sunset.

Violet yes to the energy of wfh! I feel lucky to be able to some of the time when I’m not client facing. I hope you had a good group last night, I think your abilities have been particularly sharp recently so I imagine you had an interesting session.

speakout I get such a warm feeling from your posts about precious time with your DC and weaving everyday magic, very inspiring 🙏

Today I feeling gratitude for that wonderful winter sunshine, for the luxury of quiet days to myself, enjoyed all the more for knowing I have meaningful connections with others.

Love to all x

Good evening, it's been a beautiful day here too Yashmis. Brilliant blue sky and sunshine. I kept my promise to myself to go to the sea and enjoyed a lovely long walk with my dog, this evening I'm feeling calm and re-energised.

I very much enjoyed my group last night, it's so nice to be with like minded people and be able to talk openly about spiritual stuff. It always gives me a lift.

Speakout I completely agree with Yashmis about your relationship with your DC, your love for them radiates through your posts. I saw this picture in Facebook earlier, it made me think of you and your DD 😊

Today I'll join Yashmis in expressing gratitude for such a beautiful day and for being able to visit the beach. I'm grateful to my spiritual friends (online and irl) for all the love and laughter.

Wow Violet, thank you for the photo of the sea, the way the light is shining on it is stunning, like a spotlight 💖 so pleased to hear you kept that promise to yourself

I haven’t looked at fb for a while but I had a flick through this evening and was met with some lovely relevant gems.

The pictures attached really spoke to me. Until fairly recently I hadn’t thought of myself as a particularly creative person because I’m not especially ‘arty’, musical etc. but over the last year or so (I see it as no coincidence that this is since I ‘met’ you wonderful women here) I’ve realised that creativity is more of an integral thing. It can be the way we perceive the world and make connections, how we approach something. Not always about something that is produced. It’s been good to accept this and feel my creative self grow.

I also loved this, reading it on the other side of the couple of days pause she mentions it makes a lot of sense to me. I love libra energy:

www.facebook.com/124892437597802/posts/2771268846293468/

“The frantic start of this new year has been a lot to wrangle. The world has been galloping through catastrophe and calamity and none of us are immune to its impacts. Enter the gorgeous balm of the moon in Libra for the next two days, an invitation to rediscover beauty and new balance alike.

The full moon eclipse was a tipping point writ large, the kind designed to knock us off our spot and out of our comfort zones. Now we see and know what requires our urgent attention. The moon wane is this mad season completing and through it we can make required alterations, excising or reworking that which undercuts our grander dreams for our life.

As any card carrying Libran will ruefully tell you, their divinely symmetrical faces contorting ever so briefly, balance is a journey not a destination. It is the art of constant adjustment, whose counterpoint is held in its opposite. There is a very good reason we have so many little bones and so much sinew weaved in our feet. There we find our steadiness in that which roots us and grounds us. Balance is what keeps us upright.

Ironically enough in our deeply superficial modern world, beauty has been reduced to its glamour as shallow veneer, the kind that trades its blessing for marginalising insult. Beauty confers its own power, only threatening to those helpless or hapless in its presence. Everything has its own peculiar beauty. How - and what - you see is a function of the lens through which you behold it.

Spend the next two days cultivating beauty and reclaiming balance in your life. The Libran moon proffers both in spades. Come back to your middle ground. Let your eyes rest on all that is beautiful there. Drink in its power as elixir and let it scrub clean your lens clouded by horror or etched with judgement. See beyond the chaos and mess to what is still beautiful and plant your feet there.

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, then you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.
~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Art by Kate Tova
Words c. Kerrie Basha 2020
www.bohomofo.com “

Good morning. YashmisCrone and violet thank you for your lovely kind words.
violet you have a talent for photography. Beautiful pictures- you capture a very uplifting energy.
That is profound writing- , balance is a journey not a destination. It is the art of constant adjustment, whose counterpoint is held in its opposite.

Absolutely- the prizes are in the work when we seek balance, not the point of balance itself. When we evaluate our lives, give time and space to activities, make decisions about what is important.

I think of a balance in yoga- standing on one leg in tree pose for instance. Some days harder than others, and everyone has a wobble, a tremble, a slight lean or shift which threatens to bring the balance crashing down..
But as we seek that still point our bodies are working, our brain performing a multitude of calculations sending signals to our muscles to keep seeking that point of balance.

And that is where the improvement happens- the "work is in the wobble" as I have said to my yoga teacher. The point of stillness is not where the learning is to be found, it is the pursuit of that point.
Similarly with meditation. If we use a focus, a mantra we seek to think only of that singularity, but our minds will wander and we will start to think of other things, even momentarily. But again the work is in recognising our mind has drifted, and herding out thoughts back to the task. That is where the value of a mantra or breathing type meditation lies. It hones our “thought herding” abilities, which gives us tools to lessen intrusive or negative thoughts during everyday life when we are not meditating.
And in every day life too- we seek balance, to care for others/to care for ourselves. Activity/rest, lots of decisions in order to live a life that is fruitful. And if we consider seeking balance our decisions – even at mundane levels will help to make sure we keep upright and strong.
The next few days are full of family demands, everyone wants my time, lifts, food, packed lunches etc. and I can see that could be a potential time for me wearing thin, ditch my yoga classes etc.
So I am seeking a balance in prioritising my own needs with the needs of others. Sometimes that is not easy I too often throw in the towel and put my own needs bottom of the pile. So this is balance work for me too- the work is in the wobble!

I hope everyone has a magical Sunday.

Wise words Speakout something. That's something I've learned through yoga too, achieving the final goal isn't so important, it's what we learn on the journey to get there. I hope you manage to find some balance over the next few days.

Yashmis I was interested to read to your post about creativity. Like you, I never really thought of myself as creative. I've been thinking recently though about how I was as a child - I had a vivid imagination, I was always playing pretend or writing stories, I loved to draw, I enjoyed singing (albeit badly!) played several instruments... but somewhere along the way, life knocked all that out of me. Our education system forces children to conform and to focus on the academic subjects, there needs to be more balance somehow.

Thank you too for the post about Libra energy, I really enjoyed reading it. I'm a Libra.

We've got the most beautiful frost here this morning. I decided to go for a walk down to Costa, the everyday surroundings looks so magical.

the work is in the wobble! I love this speakout, and completely agree. I love the reframe of seeing those moments when we’re working at it as the pertinent moments, rather than focusing on the ‘achievement’ of the moment of balance. It feels more rewarding somehow, and gives us more moments to celebrate. Thank you for your wise words- got my cogs turning!

Violet it is interesting isn’t it, creativity. I’ve always had friends who can draw/paint/play music etc. Something in my mindset had cut me out of that category of creative because these are not skills I have. I agree schooling doesn’t value these things in the same way as academic ability either. It’s quite liberating to shed the preconceived ideas I’ve gathered over the years and explore what my creative self wants to express.

Beautiful sunshine again today, I have washing out and windows open to invite the bright crisp energy in. It carries a promise of new shoots of life 🌱

Indeed beautiful sunny and icy day today. Went for a cycle just after sunrise and the frost was beautiful in the rising and changing light of the sun. Lots of laundry done today as well, most of it on the line and aired out a blanket and pillows as well, will have to bring it all in soon.

I've had a riverside walk in very cold but glorious sunshine. I saw a friend and gave her a little gift which she loved.

We had a difficult task this afternoon. We keep chickens. We ended up with a cockerel, which we did not want. I have tried to rehome him but no luck at all and as he has turned out to be a vicious thing we had to dispatch him. He has been attacking me and it's not been at all safe for my youngest son to go out into the garden.
He was quite beautiful to look at though and I have taken some of his tail feathers to use in future ritual. They are on my altar at the moment and I have lit a candle and done a small ritual to acknowledge him.

A contemplative evening ahead I think.

rivierliedje lovely to hear or your outdoor energies today, thank you. And great to have a sister laundry witch!!

queenrollo sounds like a hard task. And I know that you have great empathy for the animal.
It is not easy. I remember as an 8 year old waking early to find a bird with unsurvivable injuries in our family garden. My father was in bed and insisted I take an axe and dispatch it promptly. Which I did,
Had to be done, but unpleasant.
Sending love and understanding.

Speakout living rurally we often encounter wild animals with injuries and we need to help them on their way to peace. Rabbits in particular.
It's never an easy task but always the kindest thing to do. I have also nursed several creatures back to health or taken to them to various friends and aquaintances who have a way with them. One friend (definitely a fellow witch and not bashful about it) reared a baby crow that someone took to her. She has a very deep connection to nature and animals in particular.

It is very cold here tonight. I have both woodburners alight as well as our Rayburn and my Victorian house is still full of draughts seeking me out!
I've put my hot water bottle in my bed to warm it up nicely for when I go up to read.

Queenrollo good to hear from you. Sounds like a difficult day.

Rivier the frost was beautiful, wasn't it? This is my favourite type of weather. Despite the cold, I've had windows and back door open day. It felt so good to let the fresh air in.

I've had an enjoyable afternoon cooking. I'm a bit of a chaotic kitchen witch and make a terrible mess! I'm experimenting with vegan baking (I'm not vegan, but trying to look for dairy alternatives where I can). Its interesting to see how many substitutes there are for egg - I used apple sauce in my muffins and chick peas in my brownies. I'm going to take my efforts into work tomorrow so it'll interesting to see how they land.

I've also been working on a new tarot spread. I'm working at a readings fayre next weekend and thought it would be nice to give insight and guidance for the year ahead. I'm quite excited about it, the spread seems to flow beautifully.

Love to you all for the week ahead ❤️

Once again it has been so lovely to read through your posts over the last week. My mood has changed in line with the weather and I'm feeling much brighter and happier after having had a couple of weeks of the winter blues. Wrapping up to protect myself from the cold, I love getting out in the fresh, crisp air, and these days give way to beautiful sunsets. The perfect way to lift my spirits!
Your comments about being creative have really struck a chord with me too @VioletCharlotte and @YashmisCrone. I have never considered myself to be artistic. In my younger days I was quite musical - played the guitar and was part of a choir, but as life took over these things fell by the wayside. Since joining this thread however, my creative side has been craving some input and I find I am using this as part of my self care routine. I've taken up knitting and cross-stitch and doing these thing means I have to sit in one place for a good amount of time. I find it meditative too, as my mind is focussed only on that one task. My next step is booking piano lessons!
Wishing you all a wonderful week