Any Witches Here? Part 21

[speakout]

Just settling into the new place, plumping the cushions and opening the windows. Welcome to n everyone, newcomers, old friends, the curious.
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..

Blessed 2026 to you all. I have blown cinammon through the door, rang the witch bells and opened the windows. If I sage the house now to remove negative energies hopefully dh will disappear.

Blessed 2026 to you all, too!

@Hedjwitch I have blown cinnamon and salt too. I hear what you say about negative energies and your dh! I felt that way this morning about dp.

Happy New Year All!
That did make me laugh @hedjwitch, I feel like that sometimes too! I made some smudge sticks with leftover sage and thyme. I've never used one before so hopefully I don't burn the house down when I go to use them!
I completed my 12 nights today, and have my focus for the year. It's finance based which is a bit boring, but this way I can draw dh into my plans and get him to make changes too - hopefully!

Loving all the smudge sticks!

Beautiful sunset this evening: one photo from my sitting room and another from the front door. (Ironically I'm watching Stranger Things with a red sky).

Nice to hear what everyone has been doing.
Your smudge sticks are much neater than mine @CailleachGhlas
From reading other threads I know most of you don't tend to celebrate the new year but I must say I find it a very positive time of year where I feel able to look and plan ahead full of optimism. So other the next week or so I will be thinking of what I want from the year, clearing out things we don't need and doing a cleansing.
Last night we thought about the negative attitudes and feelings we'd allowed to accumulate last year and did a ceremony to banish them and look to more positive ways of thinking. It had been on my mind the need to do something like this due to a worsening negativity in the house and then DH came up with the idea and it was very uplifting to consciously decide to let these negative thought processes go.

Beautiful sunset @quirkychick

@GreenSageBlueTopaz I love the idea of letting go of all your negativity. I use the whole Solstice/Yule/Christmas/ New Year period to think about moving forward in small steps.

I did try out our local hotpod yoga with a code a friend gave me and then bumped into another friend. It was a nurturing flow, so a lovely, gentle start to the year (before I start to deal with SEN stuff that's accumulating for January).

Hello all, may I pull up and seat and join you. I’ve always been interested in all things witchy but life has gotten in the way the past few years. Recently I have felt the urge to go back to some witchy ways, I adore the sea and the woods. I have a new puppy so am walking in the woods everyday which has been so great. I love the idea of wintering and hunkering down between Yule and Imbolc. A time to rest.

Welcome @sweetkitty pull up a chair and have some tea.

Beautiful snow here this morning, I went for a walk when it was just starting and came back looking like a snowman! It was very cold, but so lovely to be in the beautiful white snow as it was transforming the streets, trees and houses into a Winter Wonderland.

No snow here but bitterly cold! Welcome SweetKitty

I have some empty baubles that I'd like to gradually turn into witches balls over the year.
I have some ideas in mind but suggestions of appropriate correspondences that would work well would be much appreciated.
The ideas I have so far are:
I want one centred around positivity and confidence. I want it to reflect joy and vitality and was thinking maybe orange, red currant, cinnamon not sure what else.
I want one for being kind to ourselves so was thinking rose petals, pink salt, rosemary, rose quartz.
And I want one for romantic love, mainly because we had a couple of small flowers dried from our wedding and they are so small now I want to keep them safe, so not sure what would go maybe in with more rose petals.
Anyway I've never made witches balls before so any inspiration or advice would be gratefully received.

@GreenSageBlueTopaz the witchballs sound interesting.

Happy Full Moon, I managed to capture a photo of the Wolf Moon as it briefly came out from behind the snow clouds. Full moon and the first snowfall for a few years seem magical. The trees and rooftop are also covered in snow.

My father died before Christmas and I found out on the 2nd of January when one of his friends learned the news and realised I did not know.
All of this is in Berlin, obviously I am not listed as next of kin anywhere as I had no official contact. I can’t go to Berlin because if my upcoming surgery and prior appointments, and after I will be in recovery for 8 weeks.
It is a complete mess.

@queenrollo that sounds so hard, I will light a candle for you. It's the last thing you need when you're trying to deal with your own health. I have a complicated relationship with my dad atm and know how much that would upset me.

Sorry to hear your news.

I'm sorry @queenrollo . That must be so hard.

I am sorry hear about your father queenrollo I will also* *light a candle to support you. Could you appoint an agent to represent you in Berlin if there is legal work to be done.
A warm welcome sweetkitty , I am glad you have joined us.Grab a seat by the fire and help yourself to tea.

I'm sorry @queenrollo that sounds really hard to deal with. <unmumsnetty hugs>

I stumbled upon this thread and my heart smiled.
I've always been interested in the otherworld, stemming from my childhood hearing the stories of the fairy people, the gods and goddesses of the Tuath Dé Dannan and the might of the Irish Druids. In later years I explored Irish paganism and incorporated it into my life.

Queen rollo, sorry about your father 💐

Can I join please?. I am a Christian but also follow the wheel of the year and would probably also identify as pagan. I find my Christianity and paganism honour each other, it’s a very personal journey for me and when I am in church I find that I am also honouring my pagan beliefs and Mother Earth. It’s confused quite a few people in my family, as they think some of my beliefs might contradict each other but it works for me!.

I try to keep on top of working with the moon but with family life I do find that I sometimes forget when a full moon is happening, so one of my resolution’s is to work more closely with the moon this year and joining you all might help me keep on top of that!.

visionpools welcome I am glad you have joined us. Many of us work with moon energy, even in simple ways. I sleep with curtains open on a full moon, spellcasting, meditation, making moon water or charging crystals according to the phase.
Your spiritual path sounds interesting, so many oppositional ideas in christianity and paganism, but I am glad it works for you.
We have escaped heavy snow so far, but still bitterly cold. I will put out extra food for the birdies. I was emptying a bucket of ice in te garden and remembered the magical ice candles some of us made a few years ago. I may make some more if the cold weather lasts.

speakout I started charging crystals and then always seem to forget, so I’m happy that a lot of you work with the moon so you can keep me on track!.
It is a very unique journey, I’m very lucky that I didn’t come from a family of God fearing Christian’s and God was almost like a friend growing up, which has helped me with my journey in paganism. I wouldn’t say I am religious, it’s not something that I feel I have to practice constantly and that I have a set of rules I need to follow, it just feels like I have a friend who wants me to do well. If that makes any sense!. I also don’t whole heartedly believe the bible is complete truth, to me it’s just a way of explaining things people couldn’t explain with science, but I feel a closeness with God and that’s enough for me!. I suppose that’s the same as how I feel about paganism, I feel close to the seasons and the moon and the Earth. Sorry if that felt like I was info dumping!!.

We got quite a bit of snow here, but more ice. It’s very cold my poor dogs are not happy that they’re being taken out for walks!.

Funny you mention the ice candles as I've been reading through the old threads and found your photos so have attempted one. I think my small bowl for the candle to go in fell slightly under water level though and I had to fiddle a bit to get it out so I think that has clouded the water a bit. But I am saving it for imbolc so will see then. It has rosemary, heather, cotoneaster and ivy in there.
I bought a book on the wheel of the year which I'm really pleased with. Has lots of ideas.
And I've signed up to a treadwell session on winter traditions and reflections so I'm looking forward to that.

Those photos are beautiful! Would you recommend the book for the wheel of the year? I’ve got some left over Christmas money so am looking at getting a few more books to add to my collection.