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.

Making all the decisions sounds brilliant!

Also I am fidgety today so I can do your filing speakout

You can listen to this and relax

LunaHeather

Thank you!! A beautiful piece of music.

There is a huge weather change here, temperature risen, winds increased. everything melting.
We have been encased in thick snow for a few weeks, as mush as I love it the thaw is very welcome!
I am making a batch of smudge spray this afternoon, lavender, rose and sage fragrances are very soothing.

speakout "as mush as I love it"

Deliberate mistake?

Glad you liked the music. Spray sounds fab!

Ha ha!!

. I am constantly having to juggle demands of work and family life. It is so hard. I am a mother and a carer, I have no extended family in this country, no siblings, only one elderly parent that needs care and can’t help.

Speakout another one here who doesn't have support with (proposed) business. Husband who works full time. 3 dcs including two younger ones and a teenager who requires a lot of emotional support. I am a middle aged orphan with no siblings. Absolutely zero extended family.
I suppose what I want to say is that you are not alone. I find this thread a great source of comfort.

Hilarious I love the sound of your family chocolate business. Sometimes I fantasize about one of my children owning their own business that I will somehow be a part of.

Speakout Also happy to act as a sounding board. I have a good friend in real life who does this in relation to my writing and without her I'd be a bit lost. Most of my activities/things that I am interested in are insular - writing and books so I'm thinking when little one starts school I need to get out a bit more - join a few more groups connected to my interests and perhaps volunteer (just a bit wary of overinvesting myself at present).

Daphnesmate04

So comforting to have you close.
I have found my warrior spirit thanks to this thread and am carving out my life. It is hard- I care for two adults, and work full time,. It is very hard, and I have been through a lot of trauma recently.
I still stamp my feet and claim my right to a joyful life.

@speakout I think we live quite close to each other as your weather sounds very like ours just now.

I’m in awe of all of with your own businesses, your all amazing. About 5/6 years ago I did seriously think about it, I was at a crossroads in life, thinking what to do next as our youngest was at school and I was thinking about returning to work after not having worked for a long time. I chose the safe option and looking back probably the wrong one for a variety of reasons it’s not been a good choice.

I’m like a lot of you in that we have zero extended family too there’s just DH, me and 4DCs, we aren’t native to this area either so sometimes it can feel quite isolating. I do have some lovely friends but they have very different interests to me for instance most are heavily involved in a local evangelical church which is fab for them it gives them a great sense of community but it’s just not for me obviously and I find I miss out on a lot of things (and conversation) as I’m not part of that.

On a brighter note I am loving my new Tarot set getting to know it just one card at a time but already it just seems know the answers. It’s just so lovely with the artwork too.

speakout
I still stamp my feet and claim my right to a joyful life.

I love that warrior spirit! It is beyond beautiful and very inspiring.

Loving the support, solidarity and community here and hearing everyone’s stories reminds me again what powerful beings us women are. So often with little or no support, we forge our way, having to work twice as hard and doing it anyway. It is such a blessing to have this circle of support, it’s made such a huge difference to me too through testing times. I know I wouldn’t feel as rooted as I do now without the sisterhood I’ve found here.

I hope everyone can find a moment to celebrate their strength and tenacity this evening, it really is beautiful

Aerwyna

I raise your spirit, and celebrate your words.
I too feel supported and rooted by this wild and strong sisterhood.

@speakout I'm usually around if you want company. Witches do tend to walk therir own way - we may met up and walk alongside each other for a while but our paths are our own. It's one of the prices we pay.

I admit to having quite a lot of Sri Lankan crystals - having lived out there I loved the artisanal mines so I have pink tourmaline, spinels. amethyst and star sapphire from the mines there. It's got a lot more commercialised though and "tourist prices" are way through the roof.

Do your homework and you can get prices that are fair to both parties - I've had gem sellers totally capitulate and run out after me when I've started to walk out of the door when haggling and they still won't meet my price. I was offering market price so not taking advantage but they see tourists as naive cash cows.

Star Sapphire is a great and almost unknown witchy stone - I wear it when I want to bend someone to my will - great for job interviews and if you have to return something!

Elphame your words are strong- your energy is so powerful.
You lived in Sri Lanka! Wow. I spent a month there, bought many sapphires- everyone seemed to have a small mine in their garden. I was ripped off at every turn, even by police, but the country is amazing, from Galle to Kandy. We didn't visit the North as it wasn't safe, but stayed at the Hill Club in Nuwara Eliya, complete with stone hot water bottles and white gloved waiters serving steak and kidney pudding. A week in Mount Lavinia, swam with elephants at the orphanage, ate lots of curds and trickle, of course all the tourist spots like Sigirya and Dambulla. Incredible and beautiful country.
Thanks for allowing me a trip down memory lane!!

Ah that brings back so many memories too - thank you in return. I went to school in Kandy (rather ironically a convent). I've stayed at the Hill Club too - it was an anachronism even back in the 1970s! I still can't eat Madeira cake without being transported instantly back to Mt Lavinia.

Did you climb Adam's Peak? It's a place of pilgrimage with a footprint on the summit. Who that foot belonged to depends on the religion of the pilgrim of course. It's sacred to Christian, Muslim and Buddhist ( and probably Hindu)

It was lovely when I lived there with a true emphasis on hospitality. It's still there under the surface but the tourist traps are many. We fell into a couple last time we visited.

Thank you both for sharing your
wonderful memories, very uplifting on a grey day. Also fascinating to hear of different cultures. Lovely to come here and find sunshine!

Thank you all.
I am being gentle on myself as best I can.
Grief is so awful when one so loved and close suffers and goes.
I draw as much comfort as I can from mum's eternal love and her messages.
It's still hard though! I almost still can't believe it.
I am looking into my witchery more seriously again and looking at my path.

The magic is strong here tonight!

Let's just say that the boiler replacement is going as well as can be expected in a house which has 50 year old pre metric plumbing and a lot of idiosyncrasies! Poor chap - he's drained most of the downstairs radiators and will tackle the 6 ( yes 6) in the sitting room tomorrow.

3 more days if all goes well

And a reminder that spring is almost here - this is the centre of the village this morning

Oh it is isn’t it Elphame! What glorious fire energy. I see (probably the obvious!) two figures dancing together in the flames, one with a fox head the other, I think, a pig.
Glad to hear the work is underway and hope all continues to go smoothly. Lovely to see the spring flowers too.

Good to see you Spiritwriter, glad to hear you are going gently as much as you can. I agree, seeing one we love suffer and then go is so hard. If it’s any comfort at all, for me the memories of the suffering faded with time, happier earlier memories are more prominent now. I’m glad you can take comfort in your path.

Aerwyna you've just sent shivers down my spine! I've just been looking at Elphame's fire picture and was about to type a response when I saw your post...you saw almost exactly the same as me!

I can see two figures dancing at the rear, one a slender, younger woman, and a fox at the front...wow!

Elphame thank you for sharing the image, I've been feeling a little disconnected with my magical side recently, it was so good to feel the powerful pull of the magic in those flames. Thank you too for the picture of the spring flowers, it's so good to see the signs of spring being around the corner.

I also enjoyed hearing about Sri Lanka. I've not travelled much at all, so I always enjoy hearing about others experiences. It sounds like an amazing place.

Spiritwriter it's good to see you and I'm so glad you're being kind and gentle on yourself. Grief is a strange thing, after the initial shock, it starts to recede, but then comes back and hits you when you're least expecting it. I'm sending some loving energy to you ❤️

@Aerwyna and @VioletCharlotte thank you for your kindness.
It helps to hear from others who know.
And yes, it sure does creep up and shock me at times. It is strange. Not linear. Tonight I have felt so anxious and stressed 😢
I am holding my charm and breathing and reading.
I had such a close moment with mum earlier too. You would think it would take it all away. But it doesn't. I almost feel like I'm under a huge weight. So am trying to clear that away.
I had thought about honing the path I am, but maybe it isn't right to. I don't know.
The card today was six of Wands. I am hanging in there and do believe in myself.
I can do this.

Sending you nurturing energy @Spiritwriter

I have been having a weird old witchy time. I am exhausted, overwhelmed and so incredibly busy being mum/wife that anything spiritual is not finding space. But last weekend I spent my entire Sunday just watching magical films and TV shows. I really indulged it. I have had the maddest dreams, lots of imagery all with the same meaning. I always have vivid dreams so I am used to this.
But I kept dreaming about this little shop window, down a tiny alleyway. In the window is all sorts of treasure but I see little pottery gnome houses and gnomes and toadstools. It is a memory from childhood, but so vague I was never sure if I imagined it or not and I was always sure the lady who ran the shop was a witch. But despite the whole narrative around witches in stories being bad I was drawn to this woman and never wanted to leave.
Well....today someone in a local group on Facebook, dedicated to sharing history and memories of this town, shared a photo of this very shop and with the owner stood outside! The comments very soon turned to talk of her being a 'white witch' and eventually one of her relatives came on and confirmed it.
I had such a swell of emotion at this. I was really never sure if this was a memory or a dream. Now I know it was a memory.

Oh feeling all the loving witchy energy in here tonight and the memories. Not much to add just loving hearing the stories whilst drinking my tea getting ready for bed.

Making wishes on the lovely crescent moon.

I've had another crazy couple of days and keep finding myself drawn back here to the gentle magic and genuine warmth - thank you all 💙

Speakout, and anyone else who's businessy, I'm always happy to be a listening ear or idea-bouncing partner :) it's only more recently I've had the joint ventures and my main work is my own, with no one else involved, so I totally get both sides and I'd be lost without a couple of my friends who are always there for business and life chat. Sometimes it's just nice to know someone else is there to bounce things off - so please do shout if ever you want to :)

The tech fae / mercury retrograde has been playing havoc with me for the last 48 hours so I'm admitting defeat and heading for bed much earlier than usual 😂