Any Witches Here? Part 11

[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.

No hail here Elphame, but torrential rain for the past few hours. I won't see the eclipe either, but lookimg forward to a good full moon sleep- usually the best night I have. Already in bed after a salt bath, having some herbal tea, feeling very cosy here.

Yes Im in bed too! Handsome very restless nights and got up at 3.30 this morning.

I have a cup of mint tea cooling beside me.

Great minds thinking alike

I hope you had a restful night Elphame.

I slept very deeply, but with turbulent dreams of past times. I feel refreshed however, sometimes a lot of deep filing work needs to be done.
Up early now having a cup of blessed coffee to start my day.
OH and I are off shopping early, before the supermarket gets busy and queues form. I will do some yoga later in the day.
Despite that a busy day ahead, I have just closed my shop again for a few days,- my backlog is growing too large, and I can feel stress creeping in due to overload, so time to give myself some breathing space to catch up.

I scrubbed out my fridge yesterday, all the shelves washed in hot soapy water and left in the garden to dry for a few hours, so nice to have some clean space to replenish. I want to make some roasted peppers today, I love keeping a tub of them in the fridge. I half and deseed a lot of peppers- red, yellow or orange work best, lay in a single layer on a baking sheet, scatter on unpeeled garlic, plenty olive oil, salt and black pepper. I grill on a high heat until the peppers start to scorch.
Throw everything in a plastic bag while still hot, then when cool peel and discard the skin, including garlic skin. Slice the peppers mash the garlic ( which will be soft) between your fingers and add back into the mix. Keep all the juices- cooking juices and oil from the baking tray, bottom of the plastic bag and put into the container too.
The peppers will keep for several days in the fridge, and the taste is divine, sweet, smoky, an unctuous texture and very nutritious. A good vegetarian sandwich filling, great on a salad, lovely with olives, as an accompaniment to baked cheese or fish, I will have a spoonful just on its own.
Not sure how this post ended up being a recipe!!!
I am off for a quick shower and to crank up the day.
Have a blessed Saturday everyone.

I love it that your post became a recipe speakout! I can almost taste those delicious peppers-I could eat some on toast for breakfast!

After all the crazy weather of last night (me too with the hail and the plants Elphame!) the sky cleared here and after midnight the beautiful full moon lit up the sky- I went outside for a while to enjoy it. Despite the turn in weather there are ripe wild strawberries in the garden this morning and my full moon water feels like it’s sparking with energy.

speakout I’m glad to hear that you’ve shut up shop temporarily to give yourself space to catch up. So wise to catch the feelings of stress as they start to bubble up and take steps to address them. I hope you have some peaceful moments for yourself amongst it all too.

Ogress I really enjoyed reading about your blackbird and it’s young. I love them too, for all the reasons you describe. What a wonderful idea to honour them for midsummer.

Kate I’m glad your first week has gone well despite how different it’s been and how strange that must be. Your description of seeing the full moon in Zimbabwe is wonderful, that must have felt very powerful.

Violet, I hope you managed to find respite in the woods and that your weekend is set to be a peaceful one.

The garden is looking greener here for the rain and I’m enjoying it’s freshness this morning. A day of pottering at home ahead, clearing and cleaning ahead of the new week, I’m enjoying the feeling that it’s the weekend. I hope everyone has a good strawberry moon fuelled day 🍓

Morning everyone!
The Full Moon energies are certainly blowing in here! Gales and multiple hail showers yesterday, severe gales today.

My Moon Diary says this month will be pretty eventful. Paraphrasing, the advice is don't be taken in by the glamour that misleads you to ignore the important issues. The energy will change on the Solstice eclipse and spur you on to instigate change for the better.

The astrological forecasts are written a good 18 months in advance. Here's a comment on the website, www.astrocal.co.uk/news/2020-through-the-cosmic-lens/

Good morning friends.
A cool start to the day here, and had another full moon seep last night, deep and packed with dreams. BlankTimes t is a busy time astrologically this month, we need to hold on tight for a n eventful ride. I can't get that link to work unfortunately.

Another busy day, but I am feeling calm and organised, my mornings seem to have quite a routine to them- does anyone else find comfort in that? I find early starts nice if I have some structure.
I like to cleanse my yoga space before I start, open windows, I go though phases of incense, right now It's Dragon's Blood, I light it for five minutes before my yoga practice, or have it burn on the deck outside if I have the doors open. Also perfect for cleansing after the Sunday morning church service that is streamed into the house.

I will light a candle at 8am for everyone, the intention of my yoga practice this morning is courage. Almost like spell work in physical form. I will send courage to anyone who needs it right now.

Good morning, just catching up on all the posts. This week has been a bit of a whirlwind work-wise, I felt quite drained yesterday and not capable of doing much at all. The rain and the wind was a blessing actually, as it gave me a good excuse to stay indoors and rest, rather than run errands!

Feeling refreshed today after a long and deep sleep. It's so nice to see the sunshine again, I'm enjoying my coffee in the garden, the rain has certainly helped my plants and grass.

Speakout lovely to heard about your calm, mindful start to the day. I hope you enjoyed your morning yoga practise.

Blanktimes thank you for the links. It's does seem like we're in for a bit of a roller coaster month...although actually this year feels a bit like a roller coaster ride in itself. I'll brace myself ready for whatever's coming next!

Yashmis I'm so pleased you were able to see the full moon, I've seen some amazing photos online. Unfortunately it's been too cloudy here, but I can still feel her energy.

Love to you all for a peaceful Sunday.

Good evening sisters! I haven't been with you in this space for quite some time, but I have been with you in spirit and often project my energies to you all.
I have spent the day on and off catching up on the thread over the past couple of months and it's comforting to find that nothing has changed (even in this strange situation we find ourselves in) you are the same wonderful bunch of supportive women dealing with daily life in the most simplistic but meaningful of ways.
Welcome to all our new friends too! It's so wonderful, that this circle just keeps on expanding!
Lockdown has had lots of negatives but also many positives for me. We live close to the beach but it has been so busy with people exercising there that my DH and I have avoided it and instead have found ourselves exploring lots of countryside and forests local to us on our daily dog walks. We have found hills, rivers, beautiful old trees and so much wildlife. Just the other day as we walked over the brow of a hill we stumbled across a group of around 10 deer. They were just a few feet away! Stunning!
Our DC are early teens and we have benefitted from spending quality time with them, when under normal circumstances they would only be at home when tired or hungry, preferring to spend time with friends rather than with their uncool parents!
Personally, I have chosen to use some of my spare time more creatively. By no means do I consider myself to be artistic or creative but, I have been sewing - making some sweet little homemade Christmas gifts, mindfulness colouring and I even used my colouring pencils to do some freehand drawing - so unlike me!
I'm so pleased you are all well and embracing the changes you are facing individually.
Wishing you all a restful evening.

Lovely to see you littleninja, I enjoy reading about your life, glad you have found a creative outlet, it can be usch a nurturing thing to do.

Start of another week here, although there is nothing to differentiate the weekens from week days- all are identical, but somehow Monday still feels like a Monday, and I have a post office run to do.
Lockdown eases a little, but I think we are all feeling trepidation about the future, for lots of reasons.
I am generally doing OK, but I find myself getting irritated at time for no good reason- a manifeststion of stress I am guessing.
I should have a little more free time this week, although a lot of it will be geared towards jobs that I have been nelegting- weeking in the garden, tidying shelves- while not relaxation, these things are therapeutic, and it is good to have a change of activity.

I feel the need to do some Tarot work in the next few days too, and use my oracle cards, to better understand my current terrain.
OH and DD are planning a day out tomorrow, they will be gone for most of the day so that will also give them- and me some breathing space.
I hope everyone finds some magic to brighten their day.

I was just thinking today that I must get out my oracle cards. They have been gathering dust on the book shelf for quite some time!
Hope you are not working too hard @speakout

Evening all, joining you to sit by the fire for a bit and sip tea with you all.

Speakout it feels like a good time to get your cards out, you've inspired me actually! At the start of lockdown I was doing regular daily readings energy forecasts (as you may remember), I need to start doing that again. It really helped me to connect at the beginning of the day, rather than diving straight into work as I have been recently.

Littleninja lovely to hear from you and so glad to hear you've been making the most of this period of quiet. I think many of us have enjoyed having this time to spend doing simple things that we don't normally make the time for in our busy lives. I'm determined to find a way of not getting back on that treadmill of always 'doing' things and having plans scheduled.

The sun came out this evening after a rather great, cloudy day. I met a friend for a walk in the countryside, I love watching how nature is changing - the corn is now knee high, double the height it was when I did the same walk two weeks ago.

Found my drop spindle the other day and thought I'd do some spinning ( great for meditation) but I was out of wool roving so I ordered some.

Got a delivery this morning of black Welsh mountain fleece all ready to spin.

Can I find my spindle? No of course not! I even set DP to look and he's drawn a blank too!

Sooooo annoying

Elphame
How annoying.

Sounds like the type of game my Brownie plays with me. He will always start to play fair in exchange for some chocolate .

Hello - can I please join? I'm at a point in my life when I'm investing in myself and working out who I am / what I like etc. etc.

I've realised that I've always been drawn to magical things; loved trawling around new age shops, bought lots of crystals / incense as a teenager, always loved (what I realise from reading past versions of this thread!) fire scrying and have just naturally done it and had some wonderful reflective moments around a fire since I was a child. I remember being entranced by nature, fairies living in the woods, making love potions from flower petals and marvelling at trees.

For whatever reason I sort of put these things away for a good 20 years but I really want to connect with them again. Having said that, the last few years I've always honoured the solstices with my DDs and together we have smudged our house repeating ceremonial words. I'd love to give them some magical tools as they grow.

Last year I bought a wonderful book "Hedgewitch Book of Days" that has been delightful reading. I'd love to learn more.

Blurpblorp

A warm welcome, I am glad you dropped by. THere is always tea in the pot and a soft cushion by the fire.
Lovely to read of your childhood memories, children are not phased by magic one bit- it all makes complete sense to them doesn't it.
I am glad you are finding your magical feet again.

Thank you @speakout Your post has made me think that I need a teapot. I don't have one at all and I love tea so much! There's something magical about a pot of tea... off to find one...

Welcome Blurpblop your post made me smile as you sound very much like me. I very much believe in magic as a child and could often be found looking for fairies at the bottom of the garden, and as a teenager used to spend many a happy hour trawling around new age shops and markets.

I think sometimes "real life" takes over, but then something happens and we remember who we really are

Did you find your spindle Elphame? I agree with Speakout, there's some mischief going on there!

Thanks @VioletCharlotte you're so right and it's such a joy to come back to your natural self. Hello old friend etc

Such a warm welcoming thread. Happy to be here. Thank you; I'm learning lots already from reading past threads.

Hello Blurpblorp and welcome aboard

The spindle is still missing VioletCharlotte. I have looked everywhere likely and unlikely but no sign of it. I've just ordered a new one so I'm sure the original will show up on the day it arrives!

On the plus side the missing one was very basic so I've treated myself to a very pretty one

Thanks @Elphame Glad you've treated yourself. I bet it'll turn up in a jacket pocket somewhere... that's usually where my lost stuff goes. Or down the sofa...

Haha - yes you are probably right!

Elphame - also a mesage from the Universe saying you deserve to treat yourself.

Hello all... can't believe it's the afternoon already... I hope you're all well. I've just discovered this which I will definitely watch! www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a32502125/stonehenge-summer-solstice-2020-livestream/

I've got a few questions if you don't mind?

Do any of you know much about crystals? Or have any recommendations about what / where to buy? I've got one small piece of smooth quartz that I carry around with me but I am really being drawn to buy more. I saw a photo of a mezze platter with huge chunks of rose quartz in the middle... not the reason I'm drawn to crystals but might do similar!

Also I'd like to create a sort of altar in my house. Do you have an alter? If so, where is it and what do you have on it? I have looked for this online but would love to hear real life inspiration.

Questions over!

Blurpblorp thank you for that link, I will pay a visit around the solstice.

Re crystals- many of us use crystals, I know there is a real concern surrounding the non ethical mining of crystals around the world, miners working in unsafe conditions, use of child labour , the destruction and pollution of environment and waterways.
So it seems many crystals come at a cost. But I think that is up to the individual to research. Some crystal types generally do less harm, and there is a growing number of ethical suppliers.
There are UK mines and suppliers which will be generally from an ethical source, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Cairngorm etc.

Many of us like to use stones and crystals collected from rivers or beaches, or the soil. Beaches are a great source of quartz- I have bought a number of crystals from charity shops too- perfect after a cleanse.

I don't have a permanent altar- I would love one, but lots of curious/unsympathetic house guests means unwanted attention.
I don't like people fiddling with my stuff.
I keep my precious things in my bedroom.
I do set up altars for specific purposes- Sabbats , divination etc.
I am generally a very private person, I know many people post pictures of their altar online- and I love looking at them, but not for me. But each to their own- it is a personal decision to share an image of an altar.

I think the most important thing to remember about an altar is that there are no rules.
It may be just a simple collection of magical and inspiring objects and pictures that you can sit beside for quiet contemplation.
It may be a grand affair with compass points, displays of the elements, sacred plinths depicting deities- again each to their own.

It may change daily, with the seasons, on a whim, or never.

Most of all it is your place, your space.