On Eggs and Balance

The Spring Equinox has typically been something I celebrate rather quietly: blessing some eggs before consuming them, noticing the increasing daylight and watching the flora and fauna begin to truly flourish. Usually our Catholic families have various Easter celebrations that we enjoy a few weeks after the actual equinox.

This year I barely put out the Equinox decorations. We have been insanely busy preparing our home (and our lives, really) for the imminent arrival of our child. We have less than a month until our due date, so the nursery has been assembled and organized, the rest of the home deep cleaned and prepared, and space has been made both physically and mentally for the little one. The to-do lists are dwindling, household supplies are stockpiled, and the freezer is slowly growing a stash of veggie meals.

I enjoyed my eggs and brightly colored fruit today, and then I sat in the glider in the nursery for a while, rubbing my huge belly. More than just consuming the symbol of life-to-be, I am that embodied potential right now. And just like the tipping point at the equinox, the moment between dark and light, of winter and spring, of repose and rebirth, I too am living at that tipping point between waiting and doing, between gestating and birthing, between growing and mothering. I can no longer live as though the baby isn’t almost here, but s/he’s still not here yet. My tipping point is longer, and will last until I finally deliver. Then, leading up to Beltane, we will enter a season of tiny first pleasures and joys with our little one, celebrating the end result of all that fertility and Great Rite-ing.

Since I discovered this path, I’ve worked to incorporate the Sabbats and the natural cycle of seasons and life into it, with varying results. Some holidays come naturally to the Witch, and some less so, I think. But now, at the end of my pregnancy, with less ritual and more meaning, I feel closer to the Goddess, closer to the Divine within, the God that I am, and closer to the cycles of nature than ever before. I feel holy as I go through my daily life, and I see myself reflected in the budding trees outside my window. Suddenly, I’m living the Wheel of the Year in my own way. How blessed we are.

Blessed Equinox, friends.

On Falling Off- a rambling post about endings, beginnings, mothers and the Goddess

My practice is irregular at best. There are periods of intense focus, work, and growth punctuated by periods of stagnation or just silence. I love feeling productive and devoted on my path, but I cannot “fake” the feelings during periods when they just aren’t there. A lot has changed in the last 7 months.

Last we spoke, I was working individually with a long distance teacher in an initiatory tradition, still firmly devoted to the Loba, even though more quietly so, and dealing with a lot of personal ick as a way of growing. It was difficult and uncomfortable, but I was pushing and I felt good about it. Then over the summer I had a wedding, quickly became pregnant, and suddenly lost the woman who mothered me most of my life.

As an unconventional bride, the wedding wasn’t more than a happy distraction from bigger life things, a chance to celebrate with close friends and family who rarely gather together, and make things official so we could move on to the next step. That next step was preparing for children, for settling down, and getting on to the business of family making. See, ever since I was very very small, I’ve always wanted to be a Mother. I often think that the reason I set my sights on being a teacher from such a young age was because I viewed teachers as paid mothers in a lot of respects. That has always been my goal: I want to have children, to create a strong family, to foster growth. Perhaps some of this stems from my own lack of stable, supportive family for much of my life; either way, I’ve always worked toward this goal. And, unknown to us at the time, we started that the night of our wedding. A month later I found out I was pregnant.

I was happily surprised, since we’d only just stopped intentionally preventing conception, and I was in a happy glowing bubble of semi-disbelief that we’d managed to conceive so quickly and easily when my aunt suddenly died.

She was young, and had always referred to me as her first kid. When people assumed she was my mother, I never corrected them. Though my actual mother has been alive and nearby for most of my life, my father had custody of my sister and me and the job of raising me was taken up by my aunt most of the time. The news hit me at the same time as my intense first trimester sickness, and I spent a couple of weeks in bed with a bucket, unable to really grieve because of the terrible retching it caused, and unable to help myself feel better physically because of my overwhelming grief. I couldn’t do more than shed a few tears and try to focus on eating something, anything. My mourning instead would have to sneak out at night in the form of vivid dreams that left me with a soaked pillow, moaning and heaving my sadness over the side of the bed as my husband did his best to comfort me.

I cut off communication with my teacher. I stopped journaling. I stopped pretty much all of my practice. Sometimes I silently prayed that my worrying weight loss and inability to eat or take my prenatal vitamins wouldn’t harm the little one growing inside me or end the pregnancy altogether, but I had little faith. I tried to focus on the pregnancy, on that spark of hope and happiness and potential in my belly, but my belly was always sick and angry and the cause of my intense and unending discomfort. I referred to the tiny embryo as a demon, a parasite, and threatened to never procreate again if it kept this up. I’d bought a bunch of books about having a spiritual pregnancy, about connecting with the Mothering energies and the growing life and so on, but I couldn’t read them. Though we’d wanted a baby, I was not happily pregnant. I was miserable and without a real mother to turn to so she could tell me it would all pass and feed me spicy Indian food knowing somehow that the thing all the books tell you to avoid is the thing you need most sometimes. I hated being pregnant, but wouldn’t admit to it after years of anticipation of experiencing the magical miracle of procreation. I wanted my body, my emotions, and my happiness back. I couldn’t connect with myself as a Mother-to-be, I couldn’t connect with the Great Mother, while still dealing with the gaping hole left by mine.

How could I center, when there was something else growing at my center? How could I harness my personal power, when it was being drained and changed by the other life in me?

Slowly, with the help of medicine to dull the nausea just enough and a move back to the suburbs, I began to improve. By Samhain, we were moved in and almost completely settled and having more good days than bad ones. At Samhain, alone at my newly reconstructed altar, feeling estranged from my practice, my tools, and my Gods, I set out some wine and invited my aunt to come sit with me. I spoke to her, made bad jokes and cried a lot without needing to throw up.

A couple of weeks after that, I felt a small stirring in my gut.

A couple of weeks after that, I felt a small outward push under my hand. And I cried happy tears for the first time in a really long time.

My season of death and birth was extended this year. I disconnected nearly completely from everything that had held me up and together for so long. I worried that the She-Wolf was no longer nipping me along Her path; that prayers to Her would fall on deaf ears; that I’d failed and I’d never reconnect the way I once had. I still have those fears, if I’m being honest.

Tonight the Wolf Moon rises full. I’ve been eyeing this date on my calendar for weeks, trying to decide if and how I should handle it. For a number of years, this has been my time to meditate and rededicate myself to Her, a date held more sacred than any Sabbat in my personal practice. I’m still not sure what to do. But I also keep remembering one of the prayers (turned into a chant occasionally) that I wrote in my first year of dedication:

I try and fail and try again
I sense the truth from within
I hear Her call, respond in kind
I flow with nature and the tides

I am the She-Wolf,
Wild, wise and wiling.

Tonight, with a swelling belly, I’ll sit at my altar and try to have faith that La Loba will greet me in the candlelight again.

Diana, the Huntress

I’ve never been an artist in the traditional sense. I don’t have an eye for color, shape or space. I love words, though. And cooking. And I enjoy music, though I was rejected from my church’s children’s choir if that gives you a hint about my talent.

For the last two years I cut myself off from a lot of things. I had the perma-excuse of grad school, and a new, more-than-full-time career to boot. I stopped creating, other than in short bursts. I stopped cooking more than the easy, routine meals. I stopped writing nearly altogether in any form other than journaling, and even that was sparse. What little energy I had after work and work and study and work was left to sleeping, my partner(s) and my pets. My practice struggled as well, but it was a crutch in the best possible sense; I can see that already. I wouldn’t have survived without it.

I promised myself a guitar for graduation. And when I graduated (I did!) I bought a pretty little black acoustic baby. I named her Diana, because she’s a Huntress and that has significance for me on many levels. I’m not good at it. At all. And I have no idea why I thought I should have a guitar or what business I have playing one, but I bought her and I’m learning slowly. I’m terrible at it, a complete novice.

I love it. The pain in my fingers reminds me of the pain in my lower back after sitting at my altar for too long. I pick her up just to poke and make noise the same way how some days I just sit at my altar and poke around until I end up doing something. My insistence on practicing the same poorly executed chords and notes is nearly identical to the way I practice visualizations and chants and the rituals of my tradition, starting and re-starting, hesitant but sincere.

I’m starting to understand the connection between artists and the religious.

Not a circle, but a spiral

Over two years ago I was beginning a devotional path to the She Wolf. She was scaring me, loving me, inspiring me to push and fight and make myself uncomfortable. I found a program that would check off all of the near-future goals I’d had for a while: I’d be prepared to become a teacher, and I’d be enrolled in an accelerated Masters program without incurring debt, and I’d have a full time job with benefits.

I didn’t think I’d be able to do it though. It would bring me to NYC, a place I never wanted to live or work, and only very few applicants were accepted anyway. I don’t think I would have even completed the application without my daily devotionals that kept me focused and a fraction less fearful. During my first Wolf Moon rite, I prayed for this, I howled for it.

And I got in.

Over the last 2 years my life changed completely. Nearly weekly I threatened to give up, because, damn. I moved to New York, fell in love with a bunch of kids in the Bronx, and wrung myself out between a full time teaching position, full MA course load, and trying to be a person. My practice became more intense, almost concentrated into the little time I could truly devote to it. I found a teacher, and my commitment to a new tradition has simultaneously stretched me thinner while giving me the strength to push through the last few months.

I’m supposed to graduate today. I had no intention of attending the ceremony, but I’m not actually certain that I have graduated because of issues within the school. I took the day off to celebrate, but I’m not sure if I’m jumping the gun. I’m in this liminal space between working and completion, culmination and celebration, work and rest.

I hate it. But I know that it is sacred.

Two years after dedicating myself to the Wolf, I can look back and see what She’s really taught me and how I’ve really grown. I prayed to Her two years ago and I promised to follow through if She would help me onto the path. I’ve come to know sacrifice and faith and dedication. I’ve come to know Her through myself, and myself through Her. This was my cleansing fire, my diamond pressure, my priestess training.

I’m using this middle space today to reflect and consider the best way to do a rite of gratitude for her. I won’t be attending a graduation ceremony, but I’ll be holding my own, with Her, once I know for sure that I’m done. And even then I won’t be done, I’ll just be moving onto the next phase.

The Nature of Magic and Sacrifice

This is something I’ve been working with a lot.

a m o r e t

“Real magic can never be made by offering someone else’s liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.” ~ Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

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Quick Booke Update

I’ve spent some serious time working on my Booke (and yes, that’s what I’m calling it). After gathering materials and testing out some of the DIY techniques I found in my internet travels, I’ve come up with a basic look and organization that I’m pleased with. It feels good and book-like, but I’ve already reorganized and added pages multiple times. I love the flexibility and adaptability.

I use parchment paper that I printed with very faint gray lines to keep my writing from being too terrible. Margins on both sides mean that I can reorder my pages without losing text.

I won’t be posting too many pages since much of it is personal, but because I drew so much from others who openly shared parts of their own books, I feel like I should at least send a little back out there.

I bought alphabet and some small embellishing stamps. They have been a godsend in helping me maintain a certain look while not fussing with my poor artistic abilities.

While creating the “reference” pages, I used information I’d earmarked in books, as well as my own notes, experiences and intuition of course. I found while creating my Color section that I disagreed greatly with Cunningham and Buckland, for example. While I’ve been working with my own system of color correspondences for years, it was a helpful meditative practice to consider how and why we differed, and what that says for sympathetic magic and our subconscious workings.

I printed pictures on pieces of parchment, and then tore gently using a ruler to keep the edges mostly straight. The parchment tears wonderfully and double-sided tape keeps everything secure, dry and wrinkle/warp-free.

I wasn’t sure at first if I would be adding to the pages or just inserting full-page images where appropriate, but the pictures really add to the feel and energy within sections. This is an early version from the Fire pages. While my book will never go full-scrapbook style, I like choosing and adding pictures, working with the stamps and taking my time on each part.

The project will be ongoing and forever incomplete, but I no longer feel burdened by the permanence of journals or the office-y feel of binders. I can make mistakes, add, subtract and change to my heart’s content. Most importantly, I know how and that it’ll be used. It’s simple, but I’m making it mine.

Herbalism: Tinctures

One of my first herbal projects has been to make tinctures, also known as extracts. Tinctures are simply herbs infused in alcohol for a time, and then strained out. The remaining liquid contains well-preserved components of the herbs in a concentrated form, so that the doses are relatively small.

I made a couple based on an old folk recipe (least complex, but also least precise when it comes to dosing): fill half a pint jar with dried herb, fill completely with 100 or 80 proof vodka (or grain alcohol). Stir well, and again daily (topping off with more vodka if there’s space) for a week, then leave alone for another 5 weeks. Always keep tightly capped and in a darker place and/or in tinted glass jars. After the total 6 weeks has passed, you strain with cheesecloth (to really squeeze the liquid from the herb), and then store in the jar or little dropper bottles as needed.

I’m about halfway through my first round of tinctures. Once they’re done, I’ll experiment with their doses and potency. There are, of course, more precise methods of measuring, so I’ll be testing those out too. I can take these directly by mouth from the dropper, or in a warm glass of water.

Right now I’ve got brewing: willow bark, valerian, echinacea, and yarrow. Once I’ve strained and stored them I’ll post an update about how they turned out so far. Enjoy!

Herbalism

A slowly building theme in my witchly desires lately has been to study herbalism. At first I just wanted a better understanding of how to create teas and incenses for ritual use, but now I am investing in herbs as a way to prevent and treat ailments physically and psychically, alter my consciousness, increase balance and overall holistic health in my life, and nurture my relationship with nature (see what I did there?). I’d considered breaking this post up to discuss each of those reasons separately, but honestly they are all the same. I plan to discuss my different projects and include some of the information I’m learning as I go.

I’m still very much a beginner, so I’m drawing on many resources as I learn and do more with this practice. I’m not receiving any sort of kickback for linking or discussing these resources, but if they’ve been useful to me so far I figured I’d pass them along.

HerbMentor/LearningHerbs– This affordable subscription-based website helped me take the first steps into working with herbs, and I can’t say enough good things about it. The videos and articles run the gamut from beginner techniques and reminders to more advanced formulas and combinations and nutrition. People come to this site looking to treat or cure specific issues, gain a new skill, or draw off the knowledge of well-known herbalists from many different traditions. All of the courses are self-paced but structured enough that you know exactly what you’re doing, why, and how. Because I get to choose how I want to use these resources, I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the Herbal Basics Course, where I’m learning basic techniques and uses for common issues and herbs, to the in-depth entries about the herbal properties, and from herbal remedy theory to columns by professionals. The site is generous with their materials (I can download and/or print just about everything I see), I’m not bombarded by ads and I don’t feel constantly pressured to buy more of anything (except herbs, because, well, yeah).
The Earthwise Herbal books– Both the “Old World” and “New World” herbal texts have been great resources about the properties and uses of many different herbs. I acquired these just about brand new on a whim when a friend was selling a box of Pagan- and herb-related books, but later found out just how well-received they are in the herbal community. I use this as a reference when I’m interested in working with an herb and want to know more, but it also includes in depth information about the history of herbalism and different approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
The Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs by Richard Alan Miller- I went into this expecting a 60’s hippie’s guide to burning incense and getting high (I heard a rumor that the original title was in fact “Legal Highs”). What I found instead was a concise, focused and well-informed primer on popular, legal, mind-altering herbs. While there are a few small sections on hallucinogenic mushrooms, the text also includes a section on Skullcap, a popular and strong calming herb (depressant), for example. A trained scientist and ritualist, the author includes the known (at that time) chemical compounds active in the herbs, a quick botanical summary, historical notes and at least 1 culturally appropriate ritual use with preparation notes as well as contraindications and cautions for each featured herb. It’s a tiny book, but well worth it for my interests.
Susun Weed– I was introduced to Susun’s work through HerbMentor (where she has a column and has done podcasts for them), but now I spend a good amount of time on her website and YouTube Channel learning about her respected, spiritual herbal tradition called the Wise Woman Way. She’s very experienced and practical, and I’m hoping that one day I’ll be able to apprentice with her; I always imagined learning herbalism from a wise Crone, yknow?

These are the main resources I’ve been working with and drawing on as I start down the herbal path. After some research and planning I bought select herbs in bulk from Mountain Rose Herbs since they’re highly recommended, made for consumption, organic and cheaper than anything else I trusted as much. Over the last week I moved most of the herbs (THERE’S SO MUCH PLANT MATERIAL IN MY KITCHEN) into jars and labelled them, and began working on some tinctures. I’ll be posting about that process soon! In the meantime, just having a bunch of jars full of herbs that I know something about and a few uses for has made me feel extra witchy.

Ye Olde Booke

As promised, I’m sharing my quest (and possible success!) in finally obtaining the right materials for my own WitchyBook (and yes, that’s what I’m calling it for now).

This has been a backburner issue for me pretty much since I learned that I was supposed to have one of these tomes. In all of the Wicca and Craft-related books I own, there’s always one of these blurbs: Your Book of Shadows will be a lifelong creation, full of your knowledge, practices, dreams, associations and beliefs. It will be your Craft and your spirituality in a book. Make sure it’s unique, sacred, and protected. If you don’t have one you’ll never amount to anything. Okay, that last bit was probably me reading too far into it, but that is a lot to tell a person with anxiety and mixed feelings about Witchcraft. I went through journals, notebooks, an expensive-as-hell binder system, an electronic version and back again multiple times. Every time I’d stop and give up, not because I lost interest or didn’t care, but because I kept feeling like I wasn’t doing it right (not by anyone else’s standards but my own). So my attempts pile up in my bookshelf, awaiting their next 3am leaf-through and possible rebirth…

I spent an embarrassingly long amount of time earlier this week working through every permutation to find the book that was right for me. So many different options presented themselves, and I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of blog posts by people who are have one of the options I’ll dismiss below and are perfectly content. That’s great for them, but not for me. These were my considerations:

It needs to be approachable. I can’t have a giant handmade engraved aged tome sitting on my altar. I’m a lefty with terrible handwriting and severe design impairment. That thing belongs an artist. Or a calligrapher. Probably both. Someone who will write it down the first time perfectly and who considers mistakes to be “opportunities”. Ugh. I’m not that person. That’s too epic. It won’t be used.
It needs to be adaptable. Large bound journals, no matter the cover (and there are some awesome ones), are great for just that: journaling. Because there’s no way to change things around, you have two options: write everything you’ll ever need to know in one well-planned sitting; or write chronologically with a very confusing table of contents. I change my mind 15 times mid-sentence. I need something that I can change to fit my needs as they change, and I’m not going to invest my money or my time in another pretty journal (or sketchbook-turned-journal/BOS) and then give it up when I had more I wanted to add in the chants section than I’d anticipated. Nope. I fill journals with chronological writing, reflections, notes, etc. But Le Book is for record keeping. My Virgo records will not work here.
It needs to be affordable. I know that some investment is expected for a long-lasting Craft tool, but at the same time I can’t drop $500+ on a handmade post-bound book that someone’s selling on Etsy. I love these. They’re wonderful. But I can’t do that. Especially for an endeavor that I have repeatedly failed for 10+ years.
It needs to be low-maintenance. With this requirement I knocked out a lot of the remaining DIY options. I considered (and by that I mean heavily researched for a couple of hours) adapting a scrapbooking system to my needs, but issues of compatibility, cost and availability made that a no-go. Too much coordination across systems and reconstructing to make this something I’d want to continue spending my energy on, etc. I also considered actually making my own book, from scratch, at home by watching YouTube videos. Then I laughed at myself, remembered that I don’t yet have a spell to suddenly give me the skills necessary to not have a mental breakdown doing this, and moved along.
It needs to not be a 3-ring binder. I know by this point most of you are like “Lady, just quit whining and get a binder.” I have one. Two, actually, but I eventually tried to combine them. This was my longest, best effort, but in the end I kept tucking it away and never touching it. I covered it, aged the pages, scented it with oils and herbs, and it still just does not feel an ounce magickal to me. No matter how I love the cover and the pages, there’s a giant gap between my pages with big unwieldy metal rings that makes me think of school and my summers spent filing in the accounts payable office. This is a wonderful, simple, sane and adaptable option for so many people, and I wanted it to work so badly, but it just doesn’t have the right feel for regular use. It’s a miniature filing cabinet in my bookshelf, not a book of empowerment for me.

*I also needed something that was not made of leather, and that wouldn’t involve me covering all my pages in plastic page protectors of any kind.

So with my exacting and incredibly picky expectations worked out, I landed on two options: post-bound binders (used by offices mostly) and spring-bound binders (used by British family historians and doctoral degree candidates). I love the post-bound binder idea, but I haven’t ever dealt with one and haven’t seen from others online how they work out in the long term. I read somewhere in the corners of the internet that because the binder works more like a book, there can be additional stress on the pages and they often tear out at the holes, but that’s about it. I couldn’t find any options that didn’t look super utilitarian, so I’m treating this as a back-up experiment if all else fails.

This week I found, researched and purchased a spring-bound binder (sometimes called pinch binders). It cost me about $30, is sturdy (these are known to hold up for 50+ years), is simple so I can decorate/cover it as I choose, and it feels like a book. I can easily remove the pages, rearrange as I need and insert back into the book. I can attach ribbons to the inner spine as bookmarks and buy/age/print/whatever any sort of letter-sized paper I want, meaning if I want to color-code sections, insert printed artwork, decide I need to use thicker/thinner/fancier paper, I can at any time. If I think ahead and keep ~1inch margin on each side of the page, I can easily make what was a left-facing page into a right-facing page while I’m rearranging.

I think these are going to become more popular in the Pagan community for these reasons, and I’m in love with mine already. Below are some photos I took. The paper is ivory parchment that has a very light marbling design and is printer- and pen-friendly. The binder has a 2″ spine (the largest I could find available in the US, and generally the largest by most manufacturers I found), and is currently holding 100 sheets (200 pages front and back). I’ve seen estimates that the 2″ binders can hold up to 200-250 sheets, which is enormous; importantly though, it won’t look overly empty or full with half that amount for the time.

So what do you use? Why did you choose that option? What’s working and what isn’t?

Thoughts on a new face

Of late, I’ve been preoccupied with my aforementioned witchiness. Reviewing my own personal journals now I can see that this has been building up, but only recently have I given it any attention: Hecate is present. I don’t know if She’s been calling to me, or if, in my quest to reclaim my witch-hood, I’ve been calling to Her without fully realizing it, but the results are the same.

This is actually the first time I’ve ever felt connected to a more traditional, classical and well-known Goddess. Already in my light studies I’ve learned more about Hecate (or Hekate/Ekate, depending on your preferred transliteration) than was available to me directly when I began learning about the Wolf. While I’ve already read many of the Greek historical/mythological texts that reference Her, I’m taking it easy on the “known associations” popular in Wicca 101 websites and books. I’ve enjoyed the slow, exploratory and experimental relationship I’ve had with the She-Wolf (and yes, I know that sounds very naughty co-ed), and having to discover Her mostly on my own. It caused me to be extra attuned to how I felt offerings should be given, how they were received, and how I would celebrate Her. My proudest writings are the chants, prayers and invocations I had to create because they weren’t available through Googlefu or any other shared gnosis. Now so much is available at my fingertips that I need to slowly work through it and see what works best for my relationship with Hecate.

That said, Hecate is far more present right now than the She-Wolf felt most of the time. Perhaps it’s because She is helping me get in touch with the witchy side of myself again, so I should expect some less than mundane occurrences I suppose. Or, perhaps it’s because She has a more solid image or energy due to her longstanding popularity, especially in Pagan circles. The effects have been somewhat frightening, but my time with Loba has taught me that fear is good, and I need to walk in that direction.

I’m preparing to do a formal rite welcoming Hecate into my life, blessing our work together, blessing the space I am setting up for Her and my witchy tools I will rededicate in Her honor, claiming my position as a Witch outright, and doing some trance work if possible. From the coming Full Moon to the New moon (the second in July!) I’ll be preparing by meditating on what I need to release to make room for Her and my Witch self in my life. I’ll perform the rite on the New Moon and then spend the waxing moon seeing what She brings, working on increasing my Witchy skills, etc.

I’m still working out whether I should perform devotionals to her the way I do to the Wolf. That relationship is incredibly deep and daily I dedicate myself to the Loba that I may bear Her name. I’ve already felt very driven to leave offerings for Hecate, but I’m not sure I will have the same all-out dedicated/devoted relationship with Her. That’s okay, though, because it’s a lot to bear. I’m a soft polytheist, meaning I think that Hecate is a facet of the greater Feminine Divine (that Loba represents in many ways) which is a facet of the greater Divine/All. But they are as separate in their own beings as an elephant’s butt and it’s trunk– same being, but the experience is hugely different.

Right now I know that I will begin by treating Hecate as a sort of patroness, to guide, empower and inspire my Craft. As you’ll soon see, I’m working much more seriously with herbs than before, and I’m putting in obsessive effort to construct a lasting Witchy Book (I’m actually not a fan of Book of Shadows as a term. My knowledge and experience is concrete; a shadow is not) that I will likely share at least my concept for. These are some of the things I’ll be writing about shortly and which I’ll be dedicating to Witchly purposes in the name of Hecate.

Hopefully she likes it.

A Howling Witch

Forging and Exploring a Goddess Path