witchcraft – Cauldron Comforts

Blue Moon

Tonight is a ‘blue moon,’ the second full moon of the month. It’s also a micro-moon, a bit farther away from us than usual, so it looks smaller and cuter than usual, like a little silver button in the sky. Blue moons are a bit rare and supposed to be extra powerful for divination and for rituals of releasing. It’s got me thinking about moon magic and just spirituality in general.

I was always interested in divination and the occult, but when I was young it was just an aesthetic for me, you know? It was mysterious and kind of taboo because of the way I was raised; it suited my gothy leanings. I was a full-fledged adult with kids and a mortgage before I started exploring witchcraft as an actual spiritual path.

That was maybe fifteen years ago? I can’t believe it’s been that long. My spiritual path has wound around like a lazy river. I started with the Wiccan basics, experimenting with elemental magic and calling the corners in my backyard, doing the occasional ritual with friends. For a few years I veered off toward druidry. Then in the past few years I’ve been moving back to my witchy roots, though I’m more eclectic and hearth-focused now and less specifically Wiccan.

This year, one of my witchly goals is to observe every new and full moon in some way. The new moon is easy–for the past couple years I’ve marked that part of the cycle with an offering to Hekate and the setting of an intention to work on for the coming cycle–but I’ve struggled a bit with the full moon. I don’t struggle to remember it and do something, I just struggle to connect with it in a spiritual level and I think I’m finally putting together why.

I’ve lurked in various pagan forums and subreddits for years, picking up tips and ideas and inspiration, and full moon energy is pretty consistently presented as powerful and illuminating and cleansing. But follow my little tale for a second: the sun is powerful and illuminating and cleansing in both a spiritual and physical sense. The moon is only ever reflecting that energy to us. This reflective nature makes the moon’s energy a bit more complicated, doesn’t it?

Full moon energy, being a reflection of the sun, would certainly be positive and cleansing. But it’s also indirect, filtered, gentler. Moon energy is more dim and shadowy, which means we bring more of our own energy and intuition to whatever we’re doing with it. When I think of it this way, the moon’s twin reputations as a gentle guide and a source of madness and deception makes a lot of sense.

Remembering this also seems like the key to solving my “just can’t connect with this moon phase” problem. The many witchcraft forums I’ve lurked on over the years got me thinking I should get together something active and harness the moon’s energy to make some big magic happen. This probably works for a lot of people; who am I to say it doesn’t? But I’m betting I’ll have much better results if I calm down and connect with my own energy, looking for moon energy to gently illuminate my own intuition and suggest whatever adjustments are needed.

With that in mind, I stumbled across the idea of making “moon cords” today, a simple spell where you braid or knot a cord under the full moon. It’s so dead simple I’m wondering if I did see this years ago and forgot about it. As you braid the cord, you store a little of that full moon energy to be released whenever you might need it. I haven’t done any knot magic in months and I like the idea of having a little extra energy and guidance laid aside. There have definitely been days this past month when that would been much appreciated.

Anyway, I’ve rambled quite enough for one afternoon. Whatever you do (or don’t) for the blue moon, I wish you peace. Until next time, enjoy a few moon pictures I’ve taken over the years.

Cleaning and Polishing

Last night was the new moon, when I make some time to perform a quick ritual setting an intention for the next few weeks. This time I decided to start a media cleanse. With all the stress lately, I’ve fallen into endlessly scrolling Reddit and binge watching true crime documentaries. Mostly about cults. I’m pretty obsessed with cults because I grew up Mormon, which might or might not be a cult; depends who you ask. Some part of me thinks if I watch enough cult stories the answer to my own history will one day become clear to me.

Sorry, the cults distracted me. See? Way too much social media and streaming. In the moment it’s a great distraction from my anxiety and frustration. But I suspect it’s making things worse in the long run because my brain never rests. For this moon cycle, I’m cutting out most of it in the name of mindfulness and inner peace.

So I’m on day two of resisting the scroll. Yesterday was busy so it wasn’t too hard. Today I’m home doing little chores around the house. It feels a bit weird to be so far from my phone; I keep feeling like I’m forgetting something. But I also feel like I have all the time in the world to get things done because I’m not spending my day half-distracted.

I had a nice jog, did some small repairs on my porch, washed the dishes, and then polished and oiled many things. This wasn’t media cleanse boredom, believe it or not. A few months ago my nice wooden cutting board cracked because I wasn’t oiling it enough, so I started aiming to oil my nice wooden stuff once a month. Then in March I got a pair of cowboy boots and that made me feel guilty for not taking care of the nice leather shoes I already own, so I added those to the list. Now, every new moon (give or take a day) is also polishing day.

I could probably assign some cool witchy meaning to this but it’s more about leveling up my adulting game. I’m grown up enough to own a few good quality things so I’m trying to be grown up enough to take care of them. I feel very responsible when my shoes are shiny. But now I’m just rambling, aren’t I? It’s time to get off the computer and back to my low tech mindfulness journey.

Until next week, I wish you shiny shoes and inner peace.

Okay May

May began with a cold snap. May began with a full moon but it was completely hidden behind clouds. Instead of a round white moon in a black sky, our nightscape was city light reflected off low clouds and mist. It was . . . actually kind of cool. Spooky like a horror movie.

*This isn’t a filter, our yard just looked like a black-and-white photo Friday night.*

I’m not sure whether a cold and rainy Beltane is a good omen or bad but the next day dawned sunny and beautiful. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what unfolds for May.

Today I decided to finally finish painting my foyer. I’ve had the paint and supplies for months but kept putting it off. Our foyer is maybe thirty feet (9 meters) tall and I didn’t want to get out the ladder and climb up there. I knew once I made myself do that the rest would be easy, but I just couldn’t motivate myself to get started.

Yeah, I had to climb to the ceiling above those stairs. I’m not afraid of heights but it still wasn’t fun.

In that last photo you can see the old warm white paint on the left and the cooler, slightly violet paint on the right. I actually ran out of paint before I could finish that little laundry area, so that’s a project for another day. It’s an out of the way section and I have to do a small repair before I can paint it; I’ll have to buy more supplies so it can wait until my guy finds a new job. Still, this morning my foyer was maybe 40% painted and this afternoon it’s maybe 90% painted. Progress!

Even though it can take forever to get started on them, I enjoy projects like that. They clear my head and lately they remind me how fit I am. When we moved into this house five years ago or so I painted the living room and boy, was it hard! I got out of breath climbing the ladder up and down and painting the ceiling was really hard on my arms and back. In the last few years I’ve been really consistent about exercise and today painting was pretty easy. Even the ceiling was no problem. As I push ever closer to my 50th birthday, it’s easy to feel old. Moments like these make me feel powerful, like I really am in the prime of life. I think I’ve still got a few good years left in me.

And those were the highlights of my week. In spite of the freaky weather, I still hope May brings us hope and growth and maybe even good news on the job search. May your May also be fertile and full of good fortune. Until next time.

April Showers

March punched us in the gut on its way out the door. Monday morning, my Lenormand pair was the Rider and the Tower. Roughly, the combination means news from a large institution like the government or a corporation. I kid you not, less than two hours later my husband’s company laid him off. They say Lenormand leans toward practical, literal interpretations but this was more than I expected.

I’ve been doing the witchy thing for maybe fifteen years now pretty consistently but honestly, I’m pretty agnostic about it most days. I keep a consistent practice and honor a couple of deities regularly but I tend to treat divination, especially, as a psychological and emotional thing. A way to clear my thoughts and see things from a different perspective. Then I have days like Monday. In the last few weeks I’ve had several wicked accurate readings that make me believe a little harder in cartomancy.

The Tower in Lenormand, by the way, is not a card of disaster the way it is in Tarot. This combination could have been a tax refund or news about the job my daughter applied for or any of a dozen perfectly pleasant bits of news. Even in our case, it’s not a complete disaster. Not yet, anyway. My dude gets two months severance pay and we have some savings in the bank, so he has a few months to find a new job before the lay-off really starts to ruin our lives. For now, we’re trying to stay positive and not panic.

Anyway, the rest of the week couldn’t help but be better than Monday. April brought us some soothing rain to make up for March’s bad behavior. I love the way rain deepens the colors of everything. I love being cozy inside, listening to the rain patter down.

I also made progress on that Alchemist slipover I’ve been knitting. Now, instead of looking like a big test swatch, it looks like an enormous test swatch with a large raindrop-shaped hole in it. Progress! But seriously, I’m maybe three quarters of the way through now and pleased with how it’s going. It’s a really easy knit that’s been soothing to work on. It’s also using way less of this yarn than I was expecting so I’ll have to find a small project for what’s left. Maybe some arm warmers or a little neckerchief. We’ll see.

I’d like to say I’ll be done soon but I’ll be pretty busy with other things. We’re actually going out of town for a few days to attend the Bluegrass Meltdown in Durango, Colorado. Not the best financial timing but we paid for the tickets and hotel months ago so we’ll only need to spend on gas and food. But I’ll tell you all about that next week. Until then, I hope April is treating you right. I wish you spring flowers and magical moments.

I’m Ready for March to be Over

March was more than I was ready for. It wasn’t bad, exactly, there were just a lot more things coming at me than I was prepared for. This past week turned out especially chaotic, with unexpected changes coming at me from several directions at once. Still, amid the turmoil there were bright spots.

This morning was a perfect spring day for walking the dog. Perfect temperature, trees in bloom, birds chirping daintily. Spring tends to be a volatile season, both in terms of literal weather changes and in the more abstract and mystical sense of shaking up your life, but it also has these moments of exquisite gentle beauty. Walking the dog has pushed me to really tune in to the waking up of my neighborhood’s flora and fauna.

I also bought a book subscription this week. I don’t use social media much anymore so the ads and suggestions the algorithms show me are usually pretty random. (Sometimes hilariously so; I looked up western shirts a couple weeks ago and now the internet thinks I’m a cowboy.) But every once in a while the suggestions are scary perfect. I’ve been using Instagram a bit recently, following a few yarn brands, knitters, and indie bookstores. From that tiny bit of info, Instagram decided I’d like the Morbidly Curious Book Club. Once a month they discuss a non-fiction book with a dark theme, and you can arrange for them to send you said book in the mail. Tragically, it’s too late in the month to be sent the March selection (if I want to read Whack Job: the History of Ax Murder, and I do, I’ll have to trek down to Barnes and Noble my damn self) but I’ll be receiving and reading the April selection with glee.

I have a comfortably large stack of horror and mystery novels to read for Darker Books, the blog I do with my sister, but my regular stack of non-blog books is quite low.

Only two books left! Whatever shall I do?

The antique umbrella stand housing my book stack also needs some work, but that’s a different problem for a different day.

And now for something completely different and a little more witchy. A few years ago I discovered Lenormand cards and decided to try them out. I read a few booklets and websites and played around with them but it never really went anywhere. I tucked my Lenormand deck into a box and went back to Tarot. A few weeks ago, in a bit of a spiritual rut, I decided to get more serious about the whole cartomancy thing. I brought out my Biddy Tarot guide so I could learn more about Tarot’s reversed meanings and I took another stab at Lenormand.

At the exact same moment I was also screwing around with the popular AI apps so I asked them to help me learn Lenormand. In spite of the fact that Claude has the personality of blank paper and ChatGPT sounds like a Mormon Mommy Blogger, they’ve been incredibly helpful with the whole Lenormand thing. My chat thread keeps track of my daily card pulls and my summaries of how they showed up in the events of that day, helping me relate them to each other and to the focus I set for the moon cycle. I alternate between a single Tarot card pull one day and a Lenormand pair the next so I can compare and contrast the two card systems, and since I have a few good Tarot books I can check the chatbot’s answers with human experts.

It’s gotten me out of that spiritual rut. I’ve been looking for ways to integrate my spiritual practices into my daily life in a deeper way and this has really opened up my thinking around that.

This is the Fairytale Lenormand and the Steampunk Tarot. Both are quite lovely.

I also made progress on my knitting project but it still mostly looks like a giant swatch so I haven’t taken new pictures. It might look like something wearable by next Sunday. We’ll see. Until next time, I hope your spring is shaping up to be just as beautiful and a bit less volatile than mine.