A lot of people suffer from depression and anxiety, me included. It can act as a blockage to spirituality, too. All too often we don’t talk about it, for various reasons. We want to post content that cheers us and others up. And we don’t want loads of spurious advice about how to cheer up. But sometimes we need to be real.
CN: depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation. But also what I did to overcome them.
Continue readingA healthy mind in a healthy body… not going to happen as a result of school sports.
Games involving the pursuit of a ball on a cold wet field are absolutely pointless and stupid.
Continue readingJoanna Wiedźma (polish.folk.witch on Instagram) has shared some prompts to get people thinking about online witchcraft community. To participate, use the hashtag #occultea and tag her on Instagram or Threads.
• Out of what I share on social media, how much of it is staged vs. reality?
• Do I think there is an element of censorship in online spaces?
• How do I decipher what is “appropriate” to share online vs. what to keep privately? Is this based on “social media etiquette” or a personal preference?
• Have I ever encountered or heard of grifters in our community?
• Do I recognize them? What are significant signs of grifters in the community?
• What tools are helpful to decipher misinformation, and how can we as a community prevent widespread misinformation?
• How does a large following impact the perception of the creator?
• Does this immediately make them an “expert”? Or are there other assumptions as to why they may have a large following?
• How does one maintain the balance of authenticity and content creation?
Continue readingJoanna Wiedźma (polish.folk.witch on Instagram) has shared some prompts to get people thinking about online witchcraft community. To participate, use the hashtag #occultea and tag her on Instagram or Threads.
Topic 1: Impact on Community
• What is my personal reasoning/inspiration behind sharing my practice online?
• What am I looking to achieve by participating? Do I seek to educate, learn or connect?
• How do I believe social media, as a whole, has impacted the community?
• How do I think social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have each impacted education/sharing information?
• Is consuming witchcraft content becoming a substitute for practice?
Continue readingOn Thursday evening last week, I had flashes in my peripheral vision. At lunchtime on Friday, I saw an alarming dark plume entering my visual field from the lower left. It then spread across my eye until it looked rather like the Horsehead Nebula.
CW: if you’re squeamish about medical details, don’t read on.
Continue readingIt’s interesting to look back and reflect on how long I have been a Pagan and a Wiccan. The various milestones along the way could be described as tide marks — welcome ones, as the seasonal round keeps turning and I find I’ve been celebrating the festivals for more than half my life.
Continue readingI had a really weird dream on Sunday morning where I was going for a hike with a group of people. We stopped at a café among some trees. One of the group looked askance at the pancakes, but he and another person ate them. It turned out that the café was an outpost of the Fae and the pancakes were faery food so they were now in thrall to the Queen of Elfhame. (Not a person who normally shows up in my dreams.) I lucid-dreamed my way back into the dream and rescued them by reciting the Old English Nine Herbs Charm (later I reflected that Wið fǣrstice — against elf shot — would’ve been a better choice).
As the nights draw in and the winter cold sweeps over the land, thoughts turn to inner experience, trees and night. I was reminiscing a couple of days ago about the childhood feeling of being warm in the back of the car while my parents were driving in the dark, and the car headlights illuminating the trunks of trees in passing. Such a mysterious light.
Check out my conversation with the wonderful Elyse Wells (writer and podcast host) on The Magick Kitchen podcast, series 5, episode 9.
Changing Paths challenge day 31 — where I am now
Nowadays I am fairly and squarely a Pagan and an inclusive polytheist Wiccan, but one who has been enriched by my wobble.
Dowsing for Divinity 