How do you perceive the world? What biases do you have? This is the perfect time to challenge them. It’s also a great time to explore anything you’re curious about. There are so many new things out there to try!
I’m in Germany as I write this, visiting friends.
Yesterday we drove from Frankfurt to Hamburg. I thought I saw squirrels’ nests in the trees but it turns out it was mistletoe, great big bunches of mistletoe.
Holly, ivy, and mistletoe are the plants associated with Yule. What a wonderful reminder for me to focus on nature and its cycles instead of on buying gifts.
Yule is one of the points on the wheel of the year that mark the seasons and the midpoints between them.
At the end of October I wrote about Samhain. The next sabbat, or festival, is Yule and it starts on December 21st.
Yule marks the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a time of reflection and thought. A time to look back on what happened in the last twelve months. It is a time to remember that even when things look dark for us, we can persevere.
It can be difficult to find time for quiet introspection when we’re decorating, shopping, baking, and beating ourselves up for not being holiday-perfect.
It is also a time of joy as we celebrate the starting point for light to enter the world again. A time of death of the old and birth of the new. A reminder that all our lives are made up of cycles and seasons.
How can we celebrate Yule in a Christmas world?
Does that last sentence make you feel like I just added something else to your endless holiday to-do list?
What we need to do is harness the Santa-energy.
Santa doesn’t make the toys. He doesn’t decorate or bake. He creates lists and delegates. He uses magic to expand time so that he can get everything done at midnight, his eyes twinkling all the while.
If you truly enjoy wrapping gifts, wrap. If you’re like me and you hate it, hand off that job.
Instead, get out into nature.
Walk and reflect.
What have you accomplished in the last year?
And don’t append “but” or “except” to your achievements.
My list looks like this:
–I kept up with physical therapy, got stronger, and can walk again.
(not “…but still have a long way to go.”)
–I learned how to use Mailchimp, Facebook Live, Teachable, Canva, Zoom.
–I wrote my tenth novel.
–I survived a bathroom remodel.
–I helped many people around the world by clearing their energy.
Go ahead. Make your list of achievements, gains, and positive lessons learned.
Where did you shine in the last twelve months? Let me know. I’d love to share your wins with you.
Wowza! Let this lunar event give you the courage and the kick in the pants you need to make some drastic changes.
What adventures are calling your name? What completely new thing do you want to try?
Pull some cards and then carry the answers into 2022.
Enjoy the stable energy that this full moon in Taurus brings.
Release any drama. Focus on peace. Heal Harvest. Start something new that requires a long-term commitment.
Ask yourself what three things that you’ve gathered in the last six months bring you the most joy?
What three things should you stop spending your money on?
Who have you picked up negative ideas from Forgive them. And forgive yourself for listening to their negativity.
Pull some cards to answer the following questions.
I loved everything about summer camp when I was young. Well, almost everything. I wasn’t a fan of the latrines. But other than that, I loved it.
I went to a camp near Eagle River, Wisconsin, called Northern Hills. It was a Girl Scout camp, so no boys.
When we arrived, we chose a camp name that everyone called us for those two weeks. Mel. Kermit. Farm. Dusk. I was Felix.
Each day we’d swim in the freezing cold lake. We’d learn about the native plants and trees. We’d hike. We’d sing. And we’d do all sorts of things with fire.
We would cook over the fire. And I’m not talking about weenies on a stick. We made some pretty sophisticated fare using a reflecting oven.
There were contests to see who could build and light a fire the fastest. I was good at that.
There were huge bonfires at night that we would sit around and sing.
It was magic.
Being drawn to a fire seems to be hardwired into us. We have fireplaces inside and firepits in our yards. We love to cook over a fire on the grill. For romance, we light candles. It’s the heat. The flickering and ever-changing light. The smoke.
Fire can also be used for ritual magic. For releasing. For cleansing. Here are some ideas.
Write an intention on a slip of paper. You can decorate it to deepen your connection to it, if you like. Place the paper under a candle in glass. These can be found in the Latinx section of many grocery stores. Or you can use what are called chime or altar or spell candles. They are bigger than birthday candles but thinner and shorter than tapers. You’ll need the proper holders for those. Either way, put a plate under them because you are going to let them burn all the way out. As you light the candle, speak your intention.
I like to light a candle to mark the start of a sacred time such as before meditating or at the end of the work week to remind me to take a “sabbath.”
If there are emotions you’d like to release, write them out. I find it’s best to be as raw as you’re feeling. This isn’t the time for flowery prose. If you want to scrawl Fuck forty-seven times on the page, do it. You can then burn the pages in a fire you build, or light them in your kitchen sink, or in a cauldron. Just remember: Safety pays in many ways.
You can send a desire off into the Universe to be fulfilled by writing a word or two on a leaf or tying a small piece of paper to a sprig of herb. Use lavender to attract love and devotion, for example. Or spearmint for wealth. Or rosemary to help you make a decision.
Fire can also be used for meditation, staring into it with a softened gaze, entering a liminal space where ideas and answers can flow to you.
There is also magic to be found in simply sitting by a fire with those you love, either romantically or platonically. It opens our souls to the mysteries in the depths we share and allows us to feel connected.
“Why did you slash the shirt I gave you?” My fiancé had come up from the basement holding out a T-shirt.
“I didn’t slash any shirt,” I said. It didn’t even sound like something I would do. Obviously he didn’t know me. Which was just as well, since he was leaving and moving to Texas in a few days. I guess that made him my ex-fiancé.
We settled in to watch TV while he folded the laundry.
The screen went ffffzzzzzzzztttttt! It then went blank.
He got up to check the back of the television and to see if it was still plugged in.
He jumped back like he had gotten shocked. He called me over.
There was a reddish-brown liquid oozing out of the wall.
He left for Dallas a couple of days later, both freaked out and convinced that I had rigged up some pranks.
Those weren’t pranks.
They were evidence of the power of what lies within each of us.
This man, let’s call him Andren (because that’s his name), had planned his move without discussing it with me and then told me of it at the last minute.
I’ve written before about energy going haywire when we’re upset. Stopping printers. Immobilizing cars. Blowing out the internet. Disabling phones and watches.
What if we could use that power for good instead of destruction?
Guess what—we can.
Which appeals to you most?
If candles, fire and the sun are your jam, you are a fire witch.
If you prefer baths, teas, and the moon, you are a water witch.
If smoke, words, and breath are your thing, you’re a wind witch.
If nature, crystals and herbs appeal to you, you’re an earth witch.
Knowing our preferred magical method can help us manifest more quickly because we have a stronger emotional connection to that element. The more emotion we infuse into our intention, the faster our desires come to us.
Which element calls to you? Which witch are you?
Are you ready to transform? Ask for a new path and then get ready to listen to the Universe’s directions.
This is also the prefect time to take stock of your goals for 2021. You still have time to accomplish them.
Samhain (SOW-in) is the last of the annual sabbats celebrated by modern witches. It honors both our ancestors and the final harvest. It marks the end of the lunar year and the beginning of a new one.
Whether you celebrate the new year in September with Rosh Hashanah, in October with Samhain, at the end of December when the calendar ends, it is typically marked by making a resolution to change.
We constantly challenge ourselves to learn something different and to go to new places. We might pick up a book by an unfamiliar author or listen to a podcast that piques our interest. We are constantly curious. We thirst for knowledge and understanding.
This year, I challenge you to challenge yourself by signing up for my FREE six-day live class.
Starting November first (That’s tomorrow!) I’ll be teaching Inner Wisdom: Your Guide Within.
In it we’ll explore
In addition to the live calls each day, there’s a Facebook group for practice and support, printable worksheets, and on the final day, we’ll be giving away an oracle deck to one lucky winner.
This course sets the groundwork for moving to the next spiritual level in your life.
Leveling up means you will be in alignment with your true purpose. It will allow you to manifest your desires more quickly.
Working with your guardians, guides and angels will show you how to co-create with the Universe.
Learning your personal lexicon of symbols and synchronicities will take you to more advanced spiritual practices.
If you’re reading this, it’s for a reason. You have been brought here because you are ready to knock down your limiting beliefs and to take daily steps that are aligned with your highest good and greater purpose.
If you’re ready, and I believe you are, click below to enroll. Your future self is waiting.
Intake, ignition, power, exhaust. Intake, ignition, power, exhaust. Intake, ignition, power, exhaust.
Who else knows the stages of the four-stroke engine? Just me?
It’s probably the sound my heart makes. Intake, ignition, power, exhaust.
I was born in Detroit back when Detroit being called the Motor City meant something. In the fall, my dad and I would go look at the new model cars as search lights drew us from one dealership to another, like moths to a flame.
You might need to be from Detroit to know there are five events in the four-stroke cycle. It’s actually intake, compression, ignition, power, exhaust. But you don’t have to be from there to know that if one piston is working and the others are not, you’re in for a bumpy ride.
When one thing is off in our lives, it makes it easier for something else to be out of sync. It always seems to snowball, doesn’t it? You’re already running late, you spill your coffee on your shirt, you trip and stub your toe on the way upstairs to change.
When you finally get into the car you realize the gas gauge is on empty and there’s no way you can make it on the fumes that are left in the tank, but you can’t get to the gas station because of the construction detour.
When nothing seems to be going right, it feels like there’s no salvaging the day. May as well buy a pink sprinkle donut to try to sooth your frayed nerves.
Before you give in to the siren song of pastry, here are some things to try.
Here are some more esoteric things to try to get your “pistons” working in concert with each other.
The Hunter Moon or Blood moon is in the fiery warrior sign of Aries. Honor your inner warrior, but choose your battles. Celebrate your strength. And get ready to be playfully alluring.
