Any Witches Here?- Part 19

[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 18th 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

www.mumsnet.com/talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4598225-any-witches-here-part-17?page=40&reply=122990208

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4717929-any-witches-here-part-18?page=1

Thank you for that heads up @FizzingAda I will see if I can find it on BBC sounds. I was actually awake in time for it, but couldn't put the radio on without waking DH and Ddog. It was one of Jekka's books that first awakened my interest in all things herbal. She is an inspiring plantswoman.

I hope you managed to find come calm today ISaySteadyOn.
I see temperatures are very high in the South of the UK right now- just when we thought summer was at an end. It's not too hot here in the North, but feels strange to be having this weather in September.
Thanks for the listening suggestion FizzingAda, and good to see you.
I am having a calm day. Yesterday was the last of my current psychotherapy sessions. 46 weekly sessions hours over 18 months.
Things were not desperate when I started, but the therapy was free, and I took the opportunity to heal.
It has been life changing. Coming to understand myself and move on from dysfunctional and disregulated thoughts and emotions, I feel much calmer and stronger and will continue on my healing journey.

I have been using a new Oracle deck in my morning card work. I work with Tarot a little as part of my morning ritual, but have started using the Goddess Dream Oracle illustrated by Wendy Andrew.
A dear friend gave me the deck over a year ago, and I have only used it on the odd occasion, but having a deep dive now. The cards are so full of wisdom and guidance.

My FIL was a teacher through the late 70s, 80s and 90s. He said that the hottest weather was always the first week of term 😄.

I found calm in the garden and with DH's help. I wish I could be less afraid of those who I perceive to be in authority over me. The school attendance thing really gets to me. I don't know why what some bullying bureaucrat thinks bothers me so but it does.

Wishing you all peaceful days. It would have been my mum’s birthday today and she loved this time of year, too. I’m taking myself off for a walk and meeting a friend later. I think I’m ‘seizing the days’ at the moment because once Mr C is back home, I won’t be able to just pop out when I feel like it. He came for a visit yesterday, and was clearly sorting out in his head where everything should be, and reminding himself of his home. He did quite well for a fleeting visit, so I am hopeful he will continue to make progress once he’s back, but it will be a very different sort of life.

We found two hedgehogs yesterday, that had been trapped in a pipe in the garden. Cutting a long story short, one is absolutely fine and was raiding the cat food in the garage last night (put down for stray cat) but the other wasn't moving about as much. So I contained it overnight and it went to the vet first thing this morning.
I stupidly posted about it on my social media and now am being slated for not taking it straight to the vet and how damaging it is when people try to rehab and make things worse. Even if I had phoned the vet at 9pm last night, there is no way they would have opened up for me to drop it off!
I was following the advice of a wildlife hospital, I spoke to them at length yesterday.
I feel quite upset by this. I was also told that I should not be handling wild animals and trying to check for injuries - only a vet should be doing that. The vet ASKED me to check.

Honestly I don't have the time, petrol etc to rush immediately to the vets every time I find injured wildlife. So many times the vet has said it was fine and I could have just rested it in a box with food and water to recover.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Craftycorvid I hope you find some calm and soothing today.
I imagine you may be feeling a little apprehensive about Mr C's return. Wonderful that he is coming hope, but having a new day to day reality will take a little time to establish.
Make sure that you are still able to carve out time and energy for yourself when he returns.

queenrollo - Damned if you do and damned if you don't..

Absolutely. The internet is full of keyboard warriors waiting to pounce. I am sorry you are feeling upset. You have acted with kindness.
I would have carried out the same course of action in your position. Over the years I have found a few injured birds and other wildlife, I would always give the animal a look over for anything obvious, without causing further injury or stress.
Our local SPCA is really good, they usually arrive quite quickly and will take the animal to the wildlife hospital.

Queenrollo thank you for saving the hedgehogs. You absolutely did the right thing.

queenrollo You absolutely did the right thing, and well done. It can be very upsetting when people have a go at you online from the safety of their keyboards. I hope they both do well. I love hedgehogs, we don't seem to have many here.

I once posted on our local facebook page that I had sadly found a dead cat on my morning dog walk and that I had moved it to the side of the road if anyone had lost their cat. Some people were disgusted that I had not taken it to the vet for scanning - I was on foot and I had my German Shepherd with me, who thought he was going for a walk, so not the easiest thing to do logistically. Someone also accused me of running it over myself! I thought next time I won't bother, but no I won't let horrible people stop me from doing the right thing.

@speakout I’ve enjoyed a quiet walk in the woods and lunch with a friend. We have a discharge planning meeting next week, so I guess we’ll find out their perception versus ours, but they sometimes seem to pathologise entirely understandable things Mr C has said or done. Apparently they asked if he found the route from the hospital to home familiar - he didn’t, mainly as it’s not one we ever take and we don’t drive.

@queenrollo always someone willing to take a pop, isn’t there? You did right by the little travellers. We try to keep hedgehog highways in the garden. 🦔

Gorgeous sunny day. I've been enjoying gifts from the Mother...picking apples from.next door's tree( he said I could!) and then foraging in the sunlight for elderberries and brambles. Chatted to the trees and the birds. So many blessings in one day

@queenrollo , you did exactly the right things, I think. I hope you are feeling better now.

@Craftycorvid , I hope Mr C' s homecoming goes well. We don't drive either and it's funny how some people can't conceive of how you can live without it.

@Hedjwitch , that sounds wonderful. The apples on our tree are not quite ripe yet, I don't think but I should probably check.

I have made a decision to leave some things up to the goddesses and for me relinquishing some control is quite liberating. I feel more in tune with nature somehow.

I agree Steadyon. Just listening more and allowing oneself to go with the energy and flow is incredibly liberating. It feels like the right way to be. Decided on an elderberry glycerite..a new thing for me on my learning curve..which I will combine with Wild cherry bark as a cough syrup.

I agree too ISaySteadyOn.
We all carry a great wisdom inside, call it instinct, our inner voice or the divine.
We don't always have to rationalise with our thinking brain, often the answer will be found if we have trust

CraftyCorvid "Cotton eyed joe" made me laugh so much, thank you.
quuen thank you for saving he hedgehogs. I haven't seen one in years.

I did a little ritual in our communal garden today. I haven't got anywhere I can safely start a fire so I wrote some things in watercolour, put the paper in water, then let the water run off into the ground. I had an incense stick going while I did it, I imagine that might worry people but I hope not.

i thought returning my troubling thoughts to earth might help me.

Morning all! I have just caught up with the latest posts and I’m loving our connections to the natural world; my own connection with Nature has been a great comfort to me over the years. I have been enjoying the peace and quiet of early morning and looking at the rampant anarchy in the garden. The brambles are taking over and the hedges need a haircut. The apple tree has struggled a bit this year - maybe a fungal thing plus all the wet weather? The fruit has mostly stopped developing at crab apple size, and some has rotted on the bough. It’s food for birds and wasps, I think, as I’ve got what I can from the windfalls. I love these September mornings, they’re golden.

Craftycorvid I love the golden mornings too.
Another one here, and set to be another warm day, it is a bit concerning to have such heat in September, but I am taking advantage and washing blankets, cushion covers in preparation for the colder months.

EmmaEmerald your ritual sounds lovely- please try not to worry what people think. For some reason some people think it is OK to attack pagan religions, wicca, earth based spirituality, and yet wouldn't be so critical of having someone carrying out faith based practices of a Muslim or Hindu person.

Earth based practices are still the target of a church led campaign to vilify the old ways, and it still persists. The word witch is used as an insult, we are assumed to eat babies, carry out human sacrifice, worship their devil, wish for evil.
Somehow that's fair game, although even the law will protect others from religious persecution.

I feel it too, and although I am as far out of the closet as I have ever been I do still feel judged. It doesn't help having lots of christian people visit my home. I do have a besom in my front porch, but only a keen eye or a fervent christian would notice the other artifacts and prints. My witch weather vane, figures of the goddess and hares, pictures of sacred sites, herbs drying in the kitchen.

I am off for a shower with my new jasmine scented soap, then heading to the next town for a body balance class. It's a lovely little place, right on the coast, with clean beaches, lots of hagstones and a good cafe and ice cream shop.
Mr S will take me and do some shopping while I am in class.

Have a magical weekend sisters.

Crafty I love how you write.
speakout oh, I probably explained that badly! It wasn't at all obvious that I was doing a ritual. It probably just looked as if I was writing, unless anyone was looking when the torn pieces went into the cup of water. (Garden is overlooked by many flats).

But, I would understand if anyone saw the glow of an incense stick and got worried, especially in this weather. Tbh if there's been anyone in the garden at the time, I'd have left.

I feel SO much better this morning. I didn't have a good night's sleep but am seeing things much more clearly. Things that are hard to face up to, but that's got to be done.

I'm going to do an altar space in the lounge but I don't think it will be obvious that's what it is. I have far fewer visitors now, so doesn't matter really. I like hares, and cats, but there's just two little trinket boxes with them on.

Got the wrong end of the stick EmmaEmerald - sorry!

Yes of course there is a safety aspect to consider- I hadn't considered that!

I love the sound of your altar- I have mine in my bedroom, as I don't like people touching my sacred things- especially random church visitors! My mother is a Mormon ( a recent convert) and the Mormon visitors are actually fairly open minded- they have Halloween parties for the kids at the church.

But my mother also has a clandestine membership of another church- a charismatic right wing Baptist church, and those are the visitors that take an overly keen eye- they seek out satan at every turn!

I see thunderstorms are predicted for some parts of the UK- that's exciting!

I may leave out some crystals to charge and collect storm water if it rains. It is still pretty warm, but clouds are gathering, so fingers crossed!

It has been a while since i was here. it took a stupid long time to recover from the last round of heat stroke, so the fact that a much needed holiday down south ended up being affected by the heat was kinda ironic.

Glastonbury was delightful, although my bookcase is side eyeing me for how many extra books it needs to now accommodate. I have books on foraging, folk lore amongst others. A lot of the books i had been eyeing up for a while and had saved up for but hadn't acquired because i have a dislike for online shopping. So it was really nice to pop into an actual store for the books. People can be so much better. Especially when I have questions. Amusingly i was asked directly if something i was purchasing was for my altar. Apparently there are some things i can't hide from those who know and can recognise. (its not been the first time)

Amongst my adventures was history and old buildings and caves. If any ones towards Glastonbury and has time to visit Bradford on Avon, they have a huge tithe barn which the wood working on is stunning. So many lost skills. But look careful at the stone work which has lots of carved markings (charms). I particularly loved the reconstructed pharmacy in the local museum. The jars etc were fun to see, and has given me goals for my medicinal/herbal storage.

Some of the history was a little disappointing as it was reconstructed and thus lost its atmosphere, and knowledge on symbolism on things included lost. But it was a good break for the soul. The body, however, is a little tired.

But home now and the reality has hit hard. Building work here has been delayed for very good understandable reasons, but it means the chaos and mess might take til chirstmas (or beyond) to get sorted. And now the job of finding a new job needs to happen with more urgency.

However, i do have a few more places (more local) that i would like to adventure to before the weather draws in properly.

I hope you are all able to thrive despite this weather, and the weekend (and following week) treat you gently.

Hills it's good to see you. Glad you enjoyed your trip to Glastonbury. Was that your first visit? It's an amazing place, like nowhere else I've ever visited... the High Street always reminds me of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter books! I'm planning to go the week after next when I've for some time off work. I want to visit the White Spring as I've not been there yet.

@speakout I think thunderstorms are forecast for Scotland, but not down in the south unfortunately! It's been unbearably hot for the last few days, I've had enough now. I took myself down to the beach this morning, got there for 8.30, which was fabulous as the beach was quiet and not too hot. I sunbathes and swam in the sea until midday when it got too hot. A lovely way to spend the morning.

I have been there several times, but it is the only time i have enjoyed the experience. The atmosphere can be very very off. I still wasn't entirely comfortable but it was much more pleasant. However, that is not an phenomena that is unique to Glastonbury ime. There are other places where you have to get the timing right to have a good atmosphere rather than oppressive one.

I hope the weather breaks sooner than the mid week they are expecting.

I’ve only once visited Glastonbury but would love to return. Last time I was there, I was treated to the sight of a lady in a feather boa and tiara rollerblading down the street - as you do. ‘I’m at home,’ I thought. Always interesting to be one of the least eccentric sights for once! It was also where I eavesdropped a fabulous conversation in a charity shop. A woman was trying to sell her cloak and was in full ‘do you know who I am?’ mode, claiming lineage from some ancient coven. Brilliant!

It’s shaping up for thunder here, if I’m not mistaken. Very sticky.

@HillsBesideTheSea , that's fascinating about places having different atmosphere s depending on your timing.

I would love a good thunderstorm. They are so clearing.

Craftycorvid your description of the woman at Glastonbury sounds like Edinburgh in August. I have never visited glastonbury, it sounds wonderful, although I have heard mixed reports about the energy too.

No thunder here yet, but forecast for today, and much cooler- 16 degrees right now.
I have a quiet day planned ahead. The moon is snuggled up in Cancer this morning, bringing nurturing energy, a sense of familiarity, belonging and calm.

I have a yoga class later and pondering what to make for dinner. I have quite a lot of food in the fridge and freezer, so I will work around that rather than buying any more.

Have an enchanted day magical friends.

I would like to share this piece of music I came across a few weeks ago. It is so beautiful, poignant, almost too touching to listen to. Especially if you read the lyrics which are in the comments section.

Rebirth by Yaima

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