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.

Welcome @Ideclarethumbwar - join us by the fire!

Thank you @Lalavande, definitely feeling more like I can cope this week.

@speakout that is the most gorgeous tree!

What a lovely post Speakout I always enjoy reading your wise words but tonight's tree wisdom particularly resonated with me.

Welcome Ideclarethumbwar grab a beanbag by the fire and have a brew. Fortnum's Nocturne for me please. Do read through our previous threads, there's a lot of answers to new peoples' questions in there.
Magical Dreams everyone!

BlankTimes you are so kind. I hope you have had a restful night.
It has been stormy here for the past few days, and some personal challenges, but I slept so deep and so long last night I feel much restored.

Ideclarethumbwar glad you have joined us, new faces are always welcome. I hope you have made yourself cosy.

I may have jumped the gun with my tomato seeds, and planted to early-they show now sign of germination and the soil in my propagator has a white mould covering the surface. I fear my porch has been too cold for germination. Other seeds are doing well, flowers and chillies. I have brought the tomatoes into the kitchen to see if the warmth may kick start them. Otherwise I may have to buy some new seeds and start again.
Another day of tending to my roots all round.
I hopoe everyone is able to create some magical space today.

A warm welcome from me too Ideclarethumbwar, there’s always tea in the pot and solidarity here. Make yourself at home, as BlankTimes says, there’s lots of inspiration throughout the previous threads if you have time to read through.

I loved your tree wisdom too speakout, your words and energy are always inspiring. Pleased to hear you had a restorative sleep and I hope today is calmer as you tend your roots.

hilarious I’m glad you’re feeling stronger following the anniversary. It sounds trite but for me they become less painful as the years pass. There’s reflection and perhaps some melancholy but not so much intense emotion for me around anniversaries these days. I hope your week continues in a manageable way and that there’s time to take care of yourself amongst it all.

I’ve been conjuring confidence this morning, and belief in my abilities. I’ll need to stay calm whilst stepping outside my comfort zone later this morning so I’m tending to my roots too. Any spare ‘shine’ energy that could be sent my way would be gratefully received!

Wishing everyone a magical day

Morning all, I hope you don’t mind if I join? I found the thread last week and have been poring through the old ones ever since. What a warm and amazing group you are and what wonderful energy there is on here.

Thank you so much for your kind words, they have meant a lot and really bolstered my spirit. What a wonderful community of women ❤️. I’m so sorry to hear some of you have had to deal with loss (and multiple losses) this year too.

@speakout I loved your tree prose, so eloquent and it really resonated with me. I keep joking that after this last year we’re all going to be SO resilient.

I wonder if I could ask for a bit of reassurance? So I had a dream my relative died a week before they died. It slightly unnerved me, but I’d largely forgotten about it. Last night I had a dream another relative died and now I’m petrified it will come true.

I am trying to counsel myself that the relative who died was in hospital, so my brain was probably processing that. And last night I thought to myself: what a horrible thing to dream about, so it was very much on my mind.

I promise I’ll be back with more capacity for others soon. I very much realise I’m not adding much at the moment. X

I’m sorry for your loss @moregarlic. I know that my dreams tend to play on my anxieties, so I would put it down to worry for your loved ones. Dreams like that can really drain us, be sure to take some time to reenergise.

Sabel

A warm welcome. Grab a cuppa and a comfy spot near the fire.

Friday greets us once again.

Today we have the Balsamic moon, the final sliver of lunar light in the sky before the birth of the new moon. Balsam brings us soothing and salve, a space to let down our burdens and decompress.
The dark energy of the balsamic moon can be harnessed to connect, heal, and nurture our emotional health in order to release what is no longer working in our lives. A time to release tension, anxiety, or worry.

*The Balsamic Moon brings us face to face with the idea that we must let go of the old in order to make space for the new. It reminds us that new beginnings are fresh and exciting – but they also require a dying (metaphorically perhaps), a closing, a letting go of something that no longer serves us.

As you prepare for the New Moon and the new beginning it ushers in over this weekend, take a moment today to reflect on any endings in your own life.
Allow yourself to feel the feelings that arise with that. The most beautiful thing about life is the ability for beauty and sorrow to exist at the same time, at the same moment, even in the same breath. The realization and experience of this makes us human, makes us whole.

So if you, too, have been feeling for the last few days like it’s not the right time for starting something new, like you’re spinning your wheels just trying to get your regular stuff accomplished – you’re right.

We’re in a very yin phase of the month and it’s a wonderful time to allow yourself some extra space to breathe.

Be kind to yourself if you’re not getting everything done. Fully allow yourself some time to just “be” instead.

Ponder what you’re ready to let go of. And appreciate that a new beginning is just around the corner.*

Thank you speakout for the welcome and the very appropriate post on the new moon. Looking forward here to the new beginnings...

Yes, thank you speakout. Wise words and pertinent here too. I like dark moon energy, find it comforting.

Welcome Sabel, good to have you join us and I’m glad you’re enjoying the previous threads, they’re a treasure trove aren’t they. I like to read back sometimes too.

moregarlic I’m so sorry you’re having such a tough time, I can see the anguish your dream has caused. If it were me I’d be aiming to reframe and reassure myself in the same way you are. It makes sense that your brain would react in this way. I hope you had a better night. Take good care of you x

Hi, been absent. Necessary self care and attention. That's my focus at the moment.
But dropping in to say hi and catch up a little.

Hope you're ok @Spiritwriter.

I'm doing a lot of writing this week to try and work through feelings. And plotting getting back out on the water because I need that soothing river magic!

Good to hear that you are turning attention to your needs hilariousnamehere and spiritwriter.

Happy mothers day to all, honouring the creative and abundant spirit within us all.
Mothers day can be traced back to pre christian Rome and Greece where Magna Mater and Rhea were honoured .
I am a little ambivalent about mother's day, preferring to use Oestre as my focus of spring fertility celebrations. Of course the whole of spring time from Imbolc onwards is peppered with days of pagan significance.
I woke to a golden dawn this morning- the sunrise is coming so early as we approach the equinox.
I planted lots of sunflowers in pots yesterday, seems this is the time of year that I can't help myself! I thought I had lost a big tray of tomato seeds as a trace of fluffy white mould covered the soil before they germinated. But I moved them to a warmer spot in the kitchen and noticed the tiny seeds leaves starting to poke through the soil.
I am pleased because they are a funky variety pack I was given for christmas.
Off to light my incense, light a candle for my friends here on this thread and start my day.
Have a magical one sisters.

Thank you speakout, and your golden dawn sounds beautiful. It’s interesting isn’t it that Mother’s Day as we know it falls close to the spring equinox, likewise Father’s Day and the summer solstice.

A whole mixture of collective consciousness energy today, bitter sweet as most things are. The celebration of women as creators and nurturers, of Gaia energy and the divine feminine in us all. Of course for many it brings a sense of loss or a trigger for the mother wound. Or the spiral dance of life as many women take on caring responsibilities for their own mothers in later years. So many possibilities and meanings.

In addition to more contemporary customs, I’m focusing on Mother Earth energy and honouring my younger self as she embarked on the journey of motherhood. I have a picture of my pregnant, teenage younger self alongside some cherry blossom in a vase (I loved that idea, thank you speakout). I’m also sending love to those for whom today is a difficult day. I hope you can find a moment to celebrate and nurture the creator spirit that is part of your divine being.

The sun is out here for now but the weather is changeable so I may take the opportunity to visit the river whilst it’s bright.

Spiritwriter I’m glad to hear your focus on self care and I’m sharing an intent for a gentle day for you today.

hilarious, likewise I’m glad you are doing what your soul is telling you it needs too. I also use writing therapeutically to help work through feelings, it can be so powerful can’t it. I love Jeanette Winterson’s thoughts on this. I hope you’re able to get to the water soon, I also share your love of water magic. I’m curious, if you don’t mind sharing, about what form your being in the water takes, do you like to be in it too?

Love to all 💐

Wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day. Such lovely energy on the thread, it's comforting to feel surrounded by so many wise women. The power of women never ceases to amaze me and when we come together, we're a force to be reckoned with.

I love the idea of honouring yourself as a younger Mother. Birthdays and Mother's Day always make me nostalgic and take me back to what it was like to hold my sons for the first time, the sheer force of the love I felt for them, but also the feeling of being overwhelmed and wanting desperately to get everything right. I don't think anyone could ever prepare us for those first few days and weeks, and the storm of emotions that hits us.

The sun is hiding behind the clouds today, I'm hoping the rain will hold off as I'm hoping to go for a walk with DS1 this afternoon before a doorstep visit with my own Mum.

Sending love and happiness to you all all for a magical day.

Hi all sorry I’ve been a bit absent recently not been a good time for me mental health wise, am hoping I’m on the mend now.

It’s Mother’s Day and I’m sad. The recent loss of my nan haunts me, I feel so immature to grief; I just cannot wrap my head around the permanence of it all. I am endlessly grateful for what I do have, but so scared of how easily I could lose it too.

My daughters small, toddler body heavy on my lap, her request for milk (and more milk) is a grounding reminder that we are here and we are ok. But that’s all I feel at the moment: ok. I’m just surviving, very far from thriving. I want to be magically better - vibrant! My best self! Healthy! Bursting with vim and vigour! - but the more I will it the less likely it seems. I chastise myself for not being better, for her. I joke about “mum guilt” but the truth is it throttles me.

The news this weekend has been like blow after blow. I try to disengage, but I can’t. Not on matters like this. I look around and feel a bit hopeless with the way of the world. We’ve got so much so wrong.

An yet, I do fundamentally believe in the inherent goodness of most humans. It’s just bloody hard being one right now.

I hope you wonderful wise women are happy and well. I hope next week is full of blue skies and magic. X

@Aerwyna I also share your love of water magic. I’m curious, if you don’t mind sharing, about what form your being in the water takes, do you like to be in it too?

I'm so glad to meet a kindred spirit! Probably enormously outing but mostly I swim in a mermaid tail it feels like flying under the surface and mermaiding holds some of my most magical memories and experiences. But my favourite tail is enormous and not very practical, plus people have a tendency to come and touch it (I actually don't mind the curiosity and questions as it's obviously unusual but people stroking my legs gets a bit wearing after a while), and my favourite pool with a proper depth so I can hang out 3m underwater has been closed for most of covid - I've not swum in my tail for more than a year now.

Kayaking is something I've also always done (though never had my own before, this is my first), to get close to the water in a slightly more sociable manner :) and I love that you can get to places which are inaccessible on foot or by swimming, in a small boat.

I'd love to hear about your love of water too 💙 are you on, in or both?

Sending solidarity and love to all of you struggling - I'm holding space for you with my own candle lighting tonight, for loved ones lost but never truly gone from us.

Beautiful to hear of all the water magic.
Something I am learning to love in this past while, I am fortunate to have a strong river that runs near my house, in a thickly wooded gorge. Home to kingfishers and otters, the river provides a lifeblood.
The sky is a crystalline blue this morning, and a thick frost carpets the ground.
I too watch the news with sadness, but also with hope. Sad events like these in years gone by would not have generated so much energy, now they do, as women scream forcing others to listen.
Now is the time, now we will not be silenced.
The old pillars will not be dismantled silently, they will be broken with skirmishes, and noise, and fury,
Their time is limited.
We also need a spiritual shift. That is where the real crux exists. A church and establishment that validates the authority of men over women is toxic. We need to dig deep to excavate the rotten core. We can reclaim our power, stand tall in our own right, not as an assistant or an extra or by bleating meekly to an angry old man who has outstayed his welcome.
The power within magic, a pagan path, the reclaiming are all the tools we need for the future.

We also need a spiritual shift. That is where the real crux exists. A church and establishment that validates the authority of men over women is toxic. We need to dig deep to excavate the rotten core. We can reclaim our power, stand tall in our own right, not as an assistant or an extra or by bleating meekly to an angry old man who has outstayed his welcome.

This 100 times speakout, you are so right. I am another whose normally optimistic nature has been pummelled recently, not only by the news but the constant and seemingly unending damage we are doing to our world. Hard to feel positive today, but somehow we must find better ways and maybe this thread is part of that.

Now is the time, now we will not be silenced.

Such powerful words speakout, like Sabel, I feel such resonance with your post; in the horror there is hope for change, I agree it must be change at the core. I feel fury for the needless suffering and deep sadness at the loss of life. We know our worth and will stand for our sisters, for ourselves.

hilarious oh wow! Mermaiding! Fabulous I’ve never done this but sometimes used to swim with long freediving fins so I can understand that flying feeling. I think there’s something magical about the feeling of height when you’re in deep water too. I used to snorkel regularly, tried scuba diving but for me the kit was too restrictive. I love the feeling of entering another world, watching the underwater wildlife, it feels such an honour to be in their environment. Instant therapy. I’ve also done some kayaking, I agree that it’s wonderful to be able to access places that are harder to by other means.

These days my interactions with the water tend to be just getting near it, breathing it in, in the warmer months I like to get in and swim, I prefer to be in a swimming costume than wetsuit and enjoy the different energy of different bodies of water. When I’m not brave enough to fully submerge I’ll wade in! The pull of the water is strong for me, I find it very healing, it’s been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember.

Like speakout I’m lucky enough to live close to a river and agree with the ‘lifeblood’ feel of this. I’ve also been so fortunate to always live close to the coast, again I love the way different parts of the ocean feel when you interact with them.

I love hearing about everyone’s connections with the elements, what they feel most drawn to. We’ve discussed it here before but I also think it’s interesting to note the make up of our astrological charts elementally. For all my love of water mine is almost all fire and air (all hot air!!)

moregarlic your post touched my heart. Your words are beautifully raw and authentic. Thank you for sharing them with us, there’s such wisdom in the shadows, both personally and societally. I agree with what speakout says that we must dismantle the core to achieve change, and this involves bravely staring the beast in the eye. I hope you are able to go gently today. Wishing you peace and comfort.

sweetkitty it’s good to see you and hear that you are on the mend. I hope you also have some opportunity for some gentle self care. I know it’s hard when life is busy and demands are high but I think small practices can shore our roots over time.

Violet I hope you managed to get out for your walk yesterday and enjoyed your brief time with your mum. I relate to what you say about special days and reflections, they can be like portals to another time in our lives can’t they? I think this is why I’m drawn to working with my past self at these times.

I hope everyone’s day is flowing as well as it can be and that the coming of spring brings a sense of possibility

@hilariousnamehere I have a friend who is a professional mermaid! Who knew it was a thing?! She's amazing and I am in awe of her.

Now hasn't the female energy been just so very palpable the last week? I have kept shivering, like the old wives tale 'someone walked over your grave'? It's like some deep feminine magic that slumbered so long has finally been awaken by the war cry this week. Increasingly I feel we are moving into a new era where women are coming together in their grief and anger and building something very powerful indeed.
Here in lockdown I feel a deep urge to be in the physical prescence of other women who feel this same need to assert ourselves and rescue humanity and the earth from the apathy and damage of years of male dominance.
I am reflecting on how this manifests for me personally though. I am no crusader, I'm not a frontline protestor - i feel very much that my power is in healing people and the earth in my own personal orbit and spreading the light and power that way as they move through the world.

It is hard to maintain optimisim in the face of so much negativity, and I think it natural and indeed necessary to sometimes sit in the darkness of pessimism - or even to disengage fully. We cannot be in optimism and warrior mode all the time. Rest, a quiet mind, the gathering of ourselves is so very important.

I am feeling very high vibration at the moment (you cn probably tell!) and I must take care not to burn out.

It's like some deep feminine magic that slumbered so long has finally been awaken by the war cry this week

Yes queen!! Your words are powerful and I think they capture the collective energy beautifully. Crystal clear. I like your reflections on ‘what does this mean for me’ and the self awareness of knowing your strengths. It’s so interesting to me as I personally feel like I’m going through a shift in terms of what role I tend to play and I’m not acting on default right now. It can feel a bit like being lost sometimes. The quiet mind and gathering energy are very pertinent to me, to feel ok in this space and willing to embody what emerges. We all have a part to play in the collective energy of change but I guess it might be different to how we presumed it would be.