Any Witches Here?- Part 17.

[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..
This is the 17th thread- anyone looking for a deep dive into juicy magical topics may like to browse previous threads.....

It is a long list!!

Part 1 //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3241689-Any-witches-here?pg=1
Part 2
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3338025-Any-Witches-Here-Part-2?pg=1
Part 3
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3366411-Any-Witches-Here-Part-3?pg=1
Part 4
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3404406-Any-Witches-Here-Part-4-Edited-by-MNHQ?pg=1
Part5
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3437092-Any-Witches-Here-Part-5?pg=1
Part 6 //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3482023-Any-Witches-Here-Part-6?pg=1
Part 7 //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3520269-Any-Witches-Here-Part-7?pg=1
Part 8 //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/a3568622-Any-Witches-Here-Part-8?pg=1
Part 9 //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3637696-Any-Witches-Here-Part-9?pg=1
Part 10
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3726266-Any-Witches-Here-Part-10
Part 11
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3850635-Any-Witches-Here-Part-11
Part 12
//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/3997761-Any-Witches-Here-Part-12
Part 13 //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4116107-Any-Witches-here-Part-13
Part 14www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4213962-Any-Witches-Here-Part-14
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4328830-Any-Witches-Here-Part-15?msgid=113505801
www.mumsnet.com/talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4435233-Any-Witches-Here-Part-16?page=40&reply=118807589

@speakout yeah it is intense, I'm hoping years of working manic hours pre kids, then running on very little sleep with little kids, will both stand me on good stead for busy placements. I'm lucky to have a mega supportive husband and parents who will help me with childcare.

An 8pm bedtime sounds like my idea of bliss these days! I certainly won't be partaking in any freshers week activities 🤣

@queenrollo I do hope you're ok post procedure and can relax a little now it's over with. "Old gold" is the only real remedy I know for a stye... and keep an old gold ring in my jewellery box for this purpose only! Hopefully someone else has a good solution for you, a stye is so irritating!

Going to bed very early is the best! I can't sleep in anymore, so an early night is my equivalent these days. Our society conditions us to always be on the go, it's so important to allow ourselves the rest we need.

Queenrollo DS seems to get styes quite regularly, holding a hot compress on them seems to be the best way to draw them out. I hope it's not too painful.

Thank you for the tips on where to get academic planners, I just have been unlucky as Asda and Home Bargains don't seem to sell them, will try and pick one up today.

Fashiontatts great news that you're about to become a student nurse! I work for the NHS in a non clinical role, we really need new nurses! There's no denying it's a tough job, but all the nurses I know absolutely love it. Wishing you the very best of luck 😊

I hope you enjoyed your Body Balance class Soeakout. I've just got home from yoga, I love my Saturday morning class, it's half flow/ half restorative, and I always come up smiling and ready for the weekend. Although I've got a work event this afternoon that I'd rather not be going to, but will make the best of it! After that I'm off for a week and very much looking forward to a rest!

@Fashiontatts your comment about 'old gold' triggered a memory of my father giving me a ring when I saw him in 2018. It had been my grandfather's. Due to me being estranged from them as a child I never met him, but he was a practising Druid. I just wracked my brains as to the whereabouts of this ring and it was still in the hidden pocket of my coat. I have been unknowingly carrying this and its protection around ever since then!
It's split at the back and too big for me, but I have a neighbour who repairs jewellery so I may get him to adjust it so that I can wear it.

@VioletCharlotte I put a hot compress on it when I woke up and have done a couple more times since. This afternoon I can see a definite spot there so I think it is drawing it out.

We went into town to get some supplies, hoping to get meat and veg from the market but it's really a shadow of it's pre-Covid self and we ended up going to the supermarket anyway.
Home now, just having a cuppa and then some gentle pottering about the house.

Hi thank you for welcoming me so wonderfully!

@speakout I don’t think I’ll be able to read them all in this lifetime there’s so many amazing things being talked about. I remember seeing this thread when I was pregnant with DD, I wish I’d jumped in back then but I’m happy to be here now.

@1ittlegreen we will also be doing lots of baking, and we’re hopping to go back to Glastonbury Goddess temple to have a mooch around and get back to the springs too. Glastonbury is always our favourite place to be for the Sabbat’s

@TurquoiseDreamCatcher how exciting for you💕I’m also having my 2nd, due in November.

@VioletCharlotte autumn has always felt like the beginning of a new year for me, I think because I associate it with going back to school as a child. I think I’ll also be looking for an academic planner. I hope you manage to get back down to Glastonbury.

@Fashiontatts Good luck with your degree, that’s really exciting💕

@hilariousnamehere I love that planner it’s gorgeous, I’m also a bit of a stationary geek😂 I have a moon diary, but I’ve been terrible this year keeping up with it. I’ll definitely get the 2023 one and keep up with it though that’s my New Years resolution

@queenrollo I’m glad all went well. A chamomile tea bag, that you’ve let steep is good. Put it on the eye for about 5 mins, it should reduce any inflammation. Or soak some cotton wool in 2 drops of apple cider vinegar in a cup of hot water and then keep it on the eye for about a min and do it a few times a day.

We have some other boaty friends coming over tonight for a little jam session by the camp fire. I’m really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone is well

Just been reading an article - on paper so no link - saying we produce less melatonin round full moon and most people sleep less. I seem to be extra tired round full moons though. Also a full moon is ten times brighter than a half. Thought you all might be interested.

Hoping to do another bat walk this week but with earlier sunset, it delends what time I finish work.

For those who "get it", still totally stuck. I'm trying to think the spirits are protecting me from something. Keep meaning to sit down and do that tarot spread someone linked to.

Foolishly paid - not much thankfully - for an online tarot reading which told me nothing. Not even food for thought.

One thing has changed but you know when something happens that should be a big deal and turns out not to be? It was like that.

Trying to concentrate on gratitude. I know so many people are having a really tough time right now.

Still never been to Glastonbury, seems to be a very marmite sort of place when people talk about it!

An unexpected warm day here, seems summer isn't quite finished with us.
It has been lovely to get laundry dried outdoors and pad around in the garden with bare feet.
I had a yoga class this morning, last week dipped into another yoga studio for a full on serious astanga practice.
Fast moving, intense, but I enjoyed the class. Usually too expensive to me, but I am thinking of buying a monthly pass when I get back from holiday and take 4 weeks to deepen my practice.
I will see how I feel after my break.
I have a hairdressers appointment tomorrow, not my most enjoyable activity, but I need a trim, and a professional root touch up. I am not giving into grey just yet!
I can touch up my roots at home, and usually do, but it is hard to see the top and back of my head- my stylist does a better job.

I have been harvesting lavender, a good crop this year, so I will be stuffing sachets to keep in my linen cupboard. I love jobs that involve fragrance!

My lavender has not produced this year, but i didn't kill it so that is a start. My scent thing was i found a nice scented candle in BnM. I find a lot of the scented candles smell more of chemicals then anything else to me so I am appreciating this cinamon sugar scent and hope to light it later.

I have been lucky enough to fall asleep watching/listening to thunder storms the last two nights. It has felt a little like a hug from the universe. Both the people here have taken massive backward steps in their capabilities and it has lead to the usual frustrations and adjustment period which is stressful for everyone.

Ds has returned to college, hopefully we will be able to find some sort of routine to the shenangians that go on in this building site of a house. Roll on getting it back in order and being able to enjoy the tidy and organisation before the next round which will be the roof. <sigh>

I hope that you are all able to find a moment or 10 of peace in this period of transitions for many.

My DS goes back to school on Thursday and I have so many mixed emotions about it. I really need some solitude and time to get on with transforming my eldests former bedroom into my sanctuary. But I also despise school and curriculum and homework and the negative impact it all has on us as a family. I am at odds with so much about formal education that I find term time incredibly stressful.
DS himself is very eager to go back, so I keep my own feelings hidden.

And I realise that all my life I have put on a mask to enable other people to be happy. It's a real strain and DH and I had a bit of a disagreement yesterday because there was yet another compromise from me and I told him I am simply sick to death of ignoring my own wants and needs all the time.
I think I've hit that classic point of perimenopause where my tolerance is lowered.
Anyway....i'm lighting incense and having a meditation and watching some witchy Youtube videos to try and balance myself a little.

Sending positivity out to those with DC back at school this week. Those days have passed for me, but I remember them well. A real mix of emotions, not just for the DC as they get used to new classrooms and new teachers, but also for us as Mothers as we watch them go off, hoping they will settle in and make friends.

My week off isn't going quite as I'd expected, I had all sorts of plans, but the universe has other ideas and hit me with a migraine that forced me to spend Monday and Tuesday resting. I've been burning the candle at both ends for a while now so it's no real surprise. So I've decided to listen to my body and put plans on hold. Instead. I had a lovely massage yesterday which relieved some of the tension in my neck and shoulders. This morning I've taken myself off to my favourite vegan cafe for coffee and internet browsing. It's been raining heavily all week, but the sun seems to be pushing through so maybe a gentle walk with the dog this afternoon.

Sending love to you all.

It is very quiet here too- our schools went back 3 weeks ago and it is strange not to have the happy noise and laughter of children.
queenrollo it's no bad thing to redefine our boundaries- and assess what we will tolerate. Not sure it is a menopause thing, for me it is just an age thing.
I spent the first half of my life being a people pleaser, but I have had a belly full of that.
The strange thing is that when I prioritise myself people seem to warm to me just as much.
I am going through a deep process at the moment learning to connect and come home to myself.
Holding ourselves with value doesn't have to mean that we treat others badly, in fact the opposite- for me it has increased my tolerance for others, opened my mind to how valuable differences are, and strengthened my capacity to love.
VioletCharlotte I am glad you are feeling a little better, and how wise of you to know what you need- the massage- a vegan internet cafe in the rain ( you paint a beautifully cosy image).
It has been raining here most of the week too, including some thunderstorms. A little disconcerting that there is a puddle in the corner of my porch.
I hope it is just due to the volume of rain.
I will check the drain on the porch roof, the drain there sometimes gets blocked.
I have a ball of rolled chicken wire in the opening of the drain to stop leaves getting into the pipework and taking a blockage deep.
I need to climb out of my bedroom window and lower onto the porch roof.
It always amazes me to see my immediate surroundings from a new angle!
I will wait until the rain stops though.

Hello all 👋

Am not too sure why I’m posting here, but wondered if anyone could give me some advice, have had a string of bad luck and general feeling down, and wondered if anyone could recommend some crystals or spells that can help?

I have been joking that I think I’ve been cursed, but kind of don’t feel like I’m joking anymore.

I wondered if anybody could advise me about crystals for protection, I’ve heard about sage smudging etc and actually have a sage bundle already, but I’m not sure what I would need to do.

just anything for drawing in positive energy and warding off bad.

apologies if this isn’t the right topic x

I’ve been feeling quite tired lately @EmmaH2022, but that might be due to the pregnancy and not the moon, really interesting though. I’m sorry you’re feeling stuck, I felt like that for years and still do sometimes. I hope your own tarot spread works.

@speakout your yoga class sounds good. I’m hoping that when the DC get a bit older and I have more time to myself I can join a proper yoga class instead of doing it on my own. I also keep lavender in my closets, it’s such a beautiful smell.

@HillsBesideTheSea it has been lovely having the noise of the thunderstorms to fall asleep too. I woke up in the middle of the night to heavy rain and it was so peaceful.

@queenrollo my DD is only little so no school yet but I’m struggling with the idea of sending her to school (at least a mainstream one), due to the curriculum. So I understand your frustrations. I hope you managed to find some balance, and also that you start putting yourself first

@VioletCharlotte that massage and cafe sounds idyllic

@PicturesOfDogs I’ve attached a link of the stuff that the psychic tree has for protection (put myself in a rabbit hole of browsing) www.thepsychictree.co.uk/search?type=product&options%5Bprefix%5D=last&options%5Bunavailable_products%5D=last&q=Protection also found these steps for helping you sage

1. Light the end of a sage bundle with a match. Blow out quickly if it catches on fire.
2. The tips of the leaves should smolder slowly, releasing thick smoke. Direct this smoke around your body and space with one hand while holding the bundle in the other.
3. Allow the incense to linger on the areas of your body or surroundings you’d like to focus on. Using a fan or feather can also help direct the smoke, though this is optional.
4. Allow the ash to collect in a ceramic bowl or shell.

I hope that helps!. Im sure someone will be along with better advice.

We’ve been moored near my paternal family for the last 2 weeks and are now cruising back to our home mooring for the next few months to prepare for welcoming the baby. It’s been wonderful being close to family but I’m looking forward to get back home.

Evening all :)
Tonight I had a little ritual for the full moon. It's in my sign too! I haven't done any witchy stuff in over a decade. I learnt pieces here and there from my aunt and then had my own ways and habits from my teenage years on. Tonight I could remember to cast a circle, to invoke the guardians. I remembered the name I had chosen for myself so many years ago and saying it out loud stirred something in me.
That felt so replenishing. I felt so grounded and at peace afterwards. I'd like to walk this path again.
Good night!

Morning sister,

I'm still reading the thread and learning from and being inspired by the wonderful women here. I just flying by to tell you that baby turquoise arrived 2 days ago. We had a bumpy start with a intensive care stay but we are both fighting fit now and looking forward to going home soon.

A huge congratulations TurquoiseDreamCatcher, wonderful news, good to hear you and baby are doing well now. x

Welcome @Amphoran

Congrats @TurquoiseDreamCatcher sending you love and here's hoping for an easy discharge. In my experience you do a lot of sitting around waiting for someone to sign the relevant papers, but you'll be home soon enough and really starting to settle into your new family structure.

I started painting my new craft/altar room yesterday. It's actually still piled up with stuff but I needed to move furniture to properly sort it. It seemed silly to have to move it all around again to paint so I have dived right in! Am very excited to get all my things moved into there! And DH and DS excited too as. DH said he's actually looking forward to moving things around and making changes. We currenlty share a room that is his office. He and DS have a shared hobby which is currently all over our dining table. They are moving it all into the office.
This means we can eat together at the table again!

Congratulations Turquoise! Hope you are both well.

Barefoot "I’ve been feeling quite tired lately @EmmaH2022, but that might be due to the pregnancy and not the moon, really interesting though. I’m sorry you’re feeling stuck, I felt like that for years and still do sometimes. I hope your own tarot spread works."

i'm going to say pregnancy much more likely than the moon. I'm just always extra tired around full moon. The moon was lovely last night but I get so confused about the position of it. When I was up north recently, the moon seemed huge - not something I have seen down here.

actually the spread was quite something, drawing the Devil as a guide was unexpected! It did underline that something I have been focussed on is not doing me any good.

then again, events of recent days have underlined certain things for me, underlined what is important. I know when I feel stuck for long periods, I go chasing after the wrong thing just because I am desperate for change. As per the healer I saw, nothing in the cards, or indeed in my life, indicates change. So I have to get on with trying to accept that.

Thank you @barefootnomadmam

I will try that, and take a look at that link. May end up down the rabbit hole myself 🙂

Congratulations @TurquoiseDreamCatcher !

I’ve had an incredibly busy first week back at school but it should begin to calm down a little now. Present pace is unsustainable!

@Amphoran I’m glad you had such a wonderful full moon ritual🌕

@TurquoiseDreamCatcher massive congratulations! What wonderful news I hope you’re both doing well❤️

@queenrollo that’s so exciting! I wish I had room for a whole altar room but I’ve currently made little loving spaces for little bits. Hooray for family dinners at the dining table again!

@EmmaH2022 it is interesting how different the moon can look. I remember once when DH was working away he called me to tell me how big the moon was and to look outside, and I looked in every direction and couldn’t see a thing and it wasn’t even cloudy. Really weird. I’m glad the cards have helped you, and that you’re opening yourself up to their message.

@PicturesOfDogs you’re welcome! I hoped it helps!

@Trenzalor the rush here has been crazy too, not for me personally because we aren’t back to school, but seeing other parents taking their kids to school/pre school and back to work properly there’s a definite shift in the air. I’m hoping you settle into it soon.

It’s been a really gorgeous autumnal day here today. Cloudy and drizzly but so cosy.

@TurquoiseDreamCatcher
Congratulations!!! 😍

@queenrollo
Amazing to have a whole room to play with

@EmmaH2022
I know when I feel stuck for long periods, I go chasing after the wrong thing just because I am desperate for change
This really resonated with me. I was in a particularly binding set of circumstances and threw so much time, emotion and energy into trying to find a place to buy, when that was absolutely not what I needed. In fact it would have been disastrous. When we feel stuck I think it's often to do with a conflict between our instinct and our rational mind and/or our sense of duty. It can be really difficult to untangle all the threads.

It's interesting "getting back" into this. There is so much information about witchcraft, paganism, wicca out there now. Just looking online, I even saw an article in Cosmpolitan! I wonder what it is that has resonated with the modern age so cleanly.

The result is now I feel quite insecure about my way of doing things. I don't work with gods and goddesses, I don't like to have structured rituals or specific words to say. Back in the day (and still now with my full moon ritual), I just like to cast a circle, call the guardians, and use a lot of symbolism to charge items or to ask for answers. I almost have a kind of monotheistic relationship to the moon. I speak to the moon directly as if it were God. Once I've cast a circle, then I'll speak out loud to the moon, confiding in it, releasing things up to it, asking it for help with something. That's what used to feel right to me and it still feels right now. I used to only ever work outside even in the cold and that's something I plan on continuing. If I ever moved to a flat I guess I'd have to work indoors.
I don't connect with fairies or spirit beings or pantheons, but am very attached to the specific properties of plants, crystals, colours and reflecting back the seasons. The only structure in my rituals would be the circle, and then it would all be very informal once that is done. Informal but serious.

Maybe I'm just an agnostic with an attachment to the moon? Everything I have read online the past few days seems to suggest that witchcraft and paganism are much more formal than my leanings. Anyone have any thoughts?

@Amphoran i'm always a little sceptical of any text which tries to describe what paganism and witchcraft 'are' because it cannot be quantified.
Your own practice sounds absolutely wonderful and intuitive and completely from the heart.
Unless you wish to follow a path of Gardnerian Wicca or deeply immerse in the folk witchcraft practices of a particular region (if you are Scottish for example) then I don't think narrow descriptives or rules really mean anything.

The rules of Wicca feel as constricted to me personally as the rules of the Methodist church that I was baptsed into as a child. Other people find the structure and carefully designed rituals speak to them. There isn't a right or wrong as long as we respect others paths.
I don't believe in the Threefold Return law, some non-wiccan friends do.
I think the feeling of having to 'belong' or do things the 'right way' held back my practice for years. Once I started listening to my heart, and the plants and talking to the moon then I blossomed.

Amphoran thank you for understanding and for phrasing it so well. In fact, I hadn't realised it, but for me, intuition can be hard to hear in practical matters and those are the times I wonder what, if anything, spirit might be trying to tell me.

In terms of finding definitions - I wanted those too. I lurked on the thread for a while, thinking I was attracted to all the subjects, and I seek the comfort of ritual - ideally one that's not just me alone. But I find no solid ground so far. I have a great attraction for specific things like the moon, the woods... but no longer sure it puts me in any kind of pagan bracket.

I'm attracted to crystals too but on a practical level, they just add to clutter. If I ever have a house and garden...but sadly that day is unlikely to come soon, if ever.

@queenrollo and @EmmaH2022 thank you for your thoughts on this! It's good timing as I just flipped to day three in a book I'm following, and it asked me to think of certain words and their meanings to me (see pic). Its a 'year and a day' course that gently leads you through embracing a spiritual practice.

Emma, are you in the thick of things or coming out the other end? Maybe the waning moon is a good opportunity to shake off self doubt and blocks. Personally I spent a long time wrenched and undecided about my decision and finally I managed to let go ( it took me 5 years of inner wrestling though). Now I'm trying to get clarity on what I actually DO want and need, rather than what I DONT.

Queen, thank you for sharing your thoughts, and interesting about your Methodist background. I guess our past spiritual experiences inform what we feel comfortable with in our adopted outlooks. Personally I was raised in a "casual Quaker" household which is probably where the "just FEEEEEL it come to you, man" thing comes from. I always felt envious of catholics growing up (lived in a big catholic area): the rosary beads, the communions, the saint specific candles and chanting. They were pretty and seemed fun!

Amphora "Emma, are you in the thick of things or coming out the other end?"

I'm at a point where everything I try to do, work, finance, friendships, really anything...isn't working. Going on for months now. Not in the thick of anything, nor coming out of anything.

Something else that came out of my tarot spread was ...I forget which card....an indicator that if you work too hard for something, it might not feel worth it. I was interested to see that because I'm a great believer in that (for me). Sometimes you can plug away at things that seem thankless, because they are. Sometimes it takes so much out of you to do the hard work, you can't enjoy anything if you do achieve it in the end.

I have been working with the waxing and waning moon for all this time and nothing really. I was just looking at a diary/journal trying to track the date of something. It was quite alarming to see how stuck things have been for months.

I do believe in the possibility of a spirit and the last period of stuckness ended with something happening that was brilliant for me. But I don't want to depend in that sort of thing because false hope is terrible, and what happened was a once in a lifetime type of thing.

To bring the thread to a very down to earth point, it's like Carrie Bradshaw asking "is hope a drug we need to come off - or is it keeping us alive?"

The problematic thing I have been pursuing as a solution is being removed from my life this week. I hope I wind up feeling better rather than worse!

I relate to your point about rituals, though I am not familiar with Catholic churches. I often think it would be nice to have some sort of pagan equivalent.