Any Witches here? Part 13

[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.

I love all the talk about the beauty of the mundane. I couldn't agree with you more, speakout, that it's where the magic lies. I'm glad you're feeling lighter, moregarlic. I hope you enjoyed your walk. I dreamed of the sea last night. I miss it. Sorry to hear that you are literally stuck in, Hills. At least the light is growing now and spring will soon be in the air.

That's great to hear, agapanthus. I wish I'd had someone to teach me about it when I was that age.

Hills sorry to hear you're struggling. I share your pain about people being everywhere! I find the weekends particularly frustrating as all my dog walking haunts which are normally so quiet this time of year are full of people! I know they have as much right to be there as me, but it's still annoying.

Agapanthus1979 I love that you introduced Imbolc to your students, you sound like a great teacher. Well done for everything you're doing. I imagine teaching online can be challenging!

I was treated to a glorious sunset on tonight's dog walk. It gave me a the lift I needed today. I can't seem to add photos though for some reason.

The blue skies helped today! Here’s a picture of one of my local beaches for anyone that needs a seaside lift.

@HillsBesideTheSea I'm sorry to hear you’re struggling, that sounds like a difficult place to find yourself. Could you drive somewhere more remote? Or take a walk first / last thing?

@Lalavande I love the sentiment about your life always being rich if you can find joy in the mundane. It’s so true and something I drift and return to constantly.

@VioletCharlotte your sunset dog walk sounds blissful. There’s something endlessly awe inspiring about sunrise and sunset I find.

Tonight I’m grateful for shakshuka, such a simple and easy recipe that tastes incredible for not a lot of effort. (Especially as I add a generous chunk of halloumi).

Ps. Does anyone have any good YouTuber recommendations? I’m especially interested in our connection to the earth / living in tune with the seasons.

moregarlic

A few youtubers that I watch are- I know many on his thread watch a few of these too-

I watch a few witch/pagan ones too, but the following are good for earth/seasons/simplicity.

Bealtaine Cottage
Jonna Jinton
Fairyland Cottage
Jeri Landers
Northern Heart
Liziqi- (divine imagery)

Oh I feel you all with it being too peopley out especially at weekends, our local woods are just swarming with people and the litter

On an exciting note my Everyday Witch Tarot arrived yesterday so I’ve started reading the book and getting to know the cards. It seems so daunting starting out baby steps I know.

I can totally understand everyone who is just feeling so low and drained just now I think we all are, it feels like the end is never in sight just now. The constant rainy cold dark weather doesn’t help either. I’m trying so hard to look for signs of Spring and light at the end of the tunnel and take comfort in those little things @speakout

@speakout thank you very much - exactly what I was after! How’re you doing at the moment?

@sweetkitty every now and then I get a sense of the quickening of spring and my whole body floods with joy! Already the evenings are lighter and it’s ever so slightly warmer in the sun. I can’t wait - for a million reasons spring is my favourite time of year and this year I’m eagerly anticipating it more than ever. How exciting to receive your new tarot cards - are you new to the practice? I am and late last year in my favourite witchy shop I was drawn to this goddess deck. I’ve since realised this isn’t a standard deck, but I’m having great fun nevertheless.

Today looks grey at the moment. But I have plans to meet a friend for a walk - good for us and good for the babies to realise other humans exist. More than anything motherhood in lockdown has taught me I need people! (As an introvert this has been quite revelatory).

I’ve started making an effort to do little tiny things to lift my spirits. One of my favourites is setting up our living room environment as DD and I spend so much time in there. I put our salt rock lamp on, play relaxing classical music and have the diffuser going. Makes such a difference. Any nice essential oil blends you’d recommend? We have sweet orange and peppermint at the moment, which is lovely and uplifting and gently energising. We’ve had less luck with vetiver (overpowering) and rose (surprisingly genuinely unpleasant).

sweetkitty

Glad to hear you bought yourself a new Tarot deck- it's a beautiful deck, isn't it, immediately became my favourite the moment I picked it up.
Rainy and cold here too, just back from food shopping, now curled up warm on the sofa with my familiar. I have been buying a few packets of seeds, last year was an unexpectedly large crop of tomatoes grown in the front porch, but I learned a few lessons, I will be trying again this year. It's too cold where I live to grow tomatoes outside.
moregarlic I love the sound of enhancing your living space- I am a huge fan of spa pimping my my home.
Candles, low lights, incense, music, chanting, whatever takes my mood.
Essential oils is such a personal thing, I like the citrus ones too, jasmine and rose- although so expensive- ylang ylang is also nice.
I have started making simmer pots with hwhatever I have to hand, and whenever I have eaten an orange or used a lemon I place the skin on a plate on top of a radiator. Dried peel ca be used in spell work or again in simmer pots.
I often do cleansing or saining (smudging), and even on the coldest days I throw open my windows, even just for 10 minutes to freshen the energy of a room.

Moregarlic I love essential oil blends. I put my diffuser on every morning before I start work. My current favourite is orange, peppermint, lemon and rosemary. I also like Orange and Bergamot. I prefer the citrusy smells to the more woody ones.

I hope you enjoyed your walk with your friend. Like you, I'm quite surprised at how much I miss seeing people. I prefer working from home and being honest, I don't miss seeing work colleagues at all, but I do miss my friends.

SweetKitty Im so glad you're pleased with your tarot deck. The Everyday with deck is beautiful, I really connected with it straight way. When I read for others, everyone always loves the cards and can really relate to the images.

Speakout your simmer pots sound divine, I can imagine how good your house must smell. Like you, I'm a fan of fresh air and like to throw the windows open every morning to let the house air.

Don't ask how i got these pictures of the backgarden it was too cold to be out for long and really be worth it tbh but it was nice to pretend I was young, energetic even if painkillers are needed now
The bird was giving me the side eye the entire time I was out there.

@HillsBesideTheSea - you've just described my front door. Drives me absolutely mad. It's missing half the stained glass at the moment as some of it fell out when it was banged shut. Now the rain comes into the porch through the hole.... New glass is awaiting fitting and has been for weeks!

It's a sad state of affairs when the highlight of the week is an 8hr 400+ mile round trip to flush out hot water pipes. I was only there an hour. The dog is not speaking to me because I didn't take him. ( Don't worry - DP had him)

I'm shattered. I've now had several glasses of wine and heading for bed.

Lovely photos Hills well done on capturing springtime, this was my back garden on the 2nd, there's a bird in mine too, in the branches mid-left of shot. Too far away to see if it was looking at me.
hope you get your door replaced soon, can't be helping your pain with that level of cold air slicing through the house.
Would a heated throw help?

I have quite a few salt lamps Moregarlic one of the electric ones is 20 years old and used every day. A few of the salt tealights must be close to that too.

I love all the deep mysterious woody scents. I often put vetiver in the bath salt. Aldi had Oud and Bergamot large double wick candles last week, I got the last 2. I'll keep an eye out for any more they may have. If anyone knows of anything that smells like Oud but doesn't cost megabucks please let me know.
I love Rose and Lavender too and the herb oils are so refreshing and cleansing, sage, rosemary and thyme.

I've currently got a tissue stuck in my jumper neckline with eucalyptus and peppermint EOs on it as my sinuses aren't great today, a tissue with a few drops beside my pillow at bedtime usually means it will have resolved by morning.

Aiming for an earlier night tonight, the weather forecast looks poor for the next few days and we're quite low on fresh food supplies.

Have a magical night everyone!

The bird in my photo - there's a demo of me not knowing right from left, but it's just about in the middle anyway

I may or may not have a mini version of the Everyday Witch deck on its way... you ladies are dangerous 😂 but also wonderful, I've been after a small deck for ages but wasn't sure if having a mini version of one I already owned would feel weird, so this is perfect.

I've had the least magical day ever with a kitty panic (she's fine, my nerves are not) and an emergency dentist visit.

I have lots of lavender oil and soothing rain sounds and am hoping sleep will make everything look better tomorrow. @BlankTimes I'll keep an eye out for those candles on my next shop if you'd like any more - I lived in the gulf for a while and oud was everywhere. Not my most favourite but a magical time machine of memories whenever I smell it. Not seen it much over here though sadly.

Loving these photos- hills that blackbird is a fine fellow- keeping his eye on things!
blank the candle sounds lovely, Aldi candles are generally really good quality- I have bought myself a few different varieties.
No Aldi near me unfortunately, not without crossing into the next county, which is forbidden right now.
It is the greyest of days here, heavy cloud and drizzle, just above freezing. I need to go out later to the post office and buy some fresh food, fruit stocks are getting low.
I eat a lot of frozen fruit, blueberries and raspberries are expensive in the winter months, but frozen so much cheaper- I know not quite as nutritious, but I do eat a lot of them!
Some fruits don't freeze well, but OK for smoothies etc.

It's a day for candles and easy music. hilariousnamehere that mini deck sounds useful- the box from my deck is starting to show signs of wear, although I am very careful, but I use it on a daily basis.

Sending a sprinkle of magic to everyone.

I want to know how Hills escaped to take those lovely photos!

I'm inspired to get a simmer pot going, speakout. And I also eat lots and lots of frozen blueberries (and cherries). Aldi do the best ones imo, but I see you can't get there at the moment.

I am currently getting immense pleasure from the myriad of rainbows dancing round my walls and ceiling. I have glass crystals hung in all my windows, and it only takes a glimmer of sunshine to produce an amazing display. I also have a small glass mirror ball nestled between shells and pebbles on my window sill which reflects little circles of light everywhere. Happy days

Lalavande yes- to ALDI blueberries, they are the best! I am a big ALDI fan generally though. I get through tons of frozen fruit, LIDL have packs of cherries on offer a the moment, so picked up a couple of those.

Had a strange experience with a knife yesterday. One of my best big kick ass knives went missing a few weeks ago- OH was annoyed as his favourite, he even searched through the trash. We resigned ouselves to the fact it was lost.
I had been cooking in the kitchen yesterday afternoon, a new complicated recipe, and the only person in the kitchen for a couple of hours. I turned around and the knife was lying right in the middle of the kitchen table, placed precisely. I had been using the table just 10 minutes before - I know for a fact the knife wasn't there.
In fact I jumped when I saw it.
Missing for two weeks and then suddenly turned up, right under my nose.
Not sure what is going on there at all!!

At least you've got it back now speakout ! Clearly "somebody" had a use for it and borrowed it! I've turned the house upside down in the past looking for things and then they've reappeared in an obvious place where I've looked multiple times.

So annoying. I've been known to stand in the sitting room and yell give me back my xxxxx! Usually works. Last thing to go oddly was also a knife. It reappeared hanging exactly where it should have been all along.

It feels good to be understood Elphame!!
I am just glad the knife turned up- I hope it was useful to whoever needed it.
I have a house Brownie, usually helpful in such matters, but I didn't ask this time.
Settling down to a hot mug of chamomile tea now.
I hope everyone is safe and warm.

I thought of your Brownie when I read that speakout! Interesting that it’s knives that have gone missing for both you and Elphame

I’ve been at the mercy of a warped and stuck door too today. Got stuck in my work building! The brute force required to get me out transpired to be cathartic in terms of my feelings about the place.

Loving everyone’s pictures too, thank you for sharing them. They reminded me how important it is to make time to be outdoors and I spent a therapeutic half an hour in the woods by the river. It’s always busy over the other side of the river and the clambering required to get to a favourite spot on the quiet side was well worth it. I needed that. It feels hard to stay afloat sometimes but the flow of the river always seems to bring perspective

Oh that's gorgeous @Aerwyna - I live near a river but it's not that pretty for some way either side of my village 😂

Apparently we are forecast snow over the weekend, which as we've not had any at all here is making me happy!

Glad you got your knife back Speakout Very strange as you say, sounds like there's some meddling going on!

Commiserations to everyone with a stuck door! My back door is sticking too, it always does when the weather gets very cold or very hot, I should probably do something about it really.

My new bedroom curtains arrived today, they're a vibrant yellow, I'm so pleased with them. I've put my new bedding in too, my room looks so much brighter. I'm looking forward to going to bed now! I'm now on the look out for a matching yellow lampshade.

Hi, thanks for letting me know about the new thread.
I am glad to settle and sit here in safety.
Forest blend... Pine or fir springs to mind. I also like the earthy tones of vetiver.

Spiritwriter

Hi, glad you made it!