Welcome to the new monthly version (for values of ‘month’) of the Witch in Practice series. I’ll be putting these up around time the sun moves into a new sign of the Zodiac.
(Gives me a little more flexibility, and lines up well with my personal year, so let’s see how this goes.)
New articles!
I managed to get a batch of articles from my draft writing folder onto the site. Enjoy! (Some of these are less applicable in the current pandemic than others, alas.)
- What is witchcraft? (My personal take)
- My practice (historical and now)
- Things I don’t do (things that are not a part of my practice, and why.)
- A brief bio – tips on introducing yourself in new Pagan spaces, both online and in person.
- Culture and customs: learning about interacting with the Pagan communities when you’re new.
- After the ritual: Tips for after the ritual care and support.
- A well-stocked cabinet: Things worth keeping on hand to give you options.
Last month
Coven
My last month has felt like lots of coven stuff (not unreasonably, looking at my calendar) but some of that was in service of sorting out a manageable schedule going forward.
On that front, I’ve had:
- Seeker class #3 with a Seeker.
- A very long day that involved a flu shot, initiate discussion, rune discussion, and another Seeker class (classes 4 and 5 of 5)
- A few follow up discussions and a bunch of emails.
- Dedication for two new Dedicants (students in the coven) on the 17th.
- Planning for how we’re doing Samhain this year (also on the 17th)
- Notes and additional material for Dedicants (especially because we’re doing this all remotely.)
- Additional conversations with a couple of people about life, the universe, forward progress in their witchy learning, and … yeah, that’s about it.
There was also a massive 5 hour binge one Saturday where I sat down and figured out scheduling that should work for coven things through May. It feels really good to have that done (and very good that one – and sometimes two – weekends a month, I have the entire weekend free to do other things with.)
Personal witchiness
I did a satisfactory amount of personal witchy work for my birthday, and I think I’ve found a combination I like that’s reasonably sustainable for the year.
I’ve been slowly continuing to work on putting things in my book of shadows that I want in there, but slower on reading and learning new stuff than I’d like. (Not least because the complexity of library questions at work has picked up a bit, and there’s only so much brain in a day.)
This month
I’m going to drive (2.5 hours each way) to see my mother tomorrow – she had some complicated health stuff in September.
She’s home and doing well, but if I’m going to go chat to her in person (carefully distanced and masked on her patio…) now is the time to do it We’re in New England, so we’re about to hit “too cold to sit around outside for any length of time” season.
(It looks like it should be a gorgeous day tomorrow, at least – 70 and sunny, then it’s dropping into the 50s next week.)
This is the first extended conversation I’ve had in person with anyone in 7 months, and I feel very much out of practice. However, it’s likely good for me, and certainly going to be good to see her.
Coven
Samhain is, of course, the next big thing on the calendar. It’s the one ritual our tradition does more or less the same way each year (modified for number of people and number of people who can do some specific pieces of it.)
This year is taking a lot more creativity than usual, to keep enough of that through-line while still being manageable over video chat with everyone at home.
November 14th, we start our new Dedicant class cycle, so I’m also working on reviewing my notes for the first class, updating some links, and otherwise nudging things.
Personal
I’m taking some vacation time the week of November 2nd for a combination of reasons, and looking forward to the chance to catch up on some reading, work on some larger personal projects, and do some more things in my book of shadows and some other projects.
This is also the time of year when I start setting up all the things for next year – my one spreadsheet to rule them all for tracking (mostly done except for some astrological info), my planner book, and my working notebook for the year (more or less bullet journal style, but I don’t actually use it for daily planning, just for longer-term notes and plans.)
