Witch in Practice: Aquarius season

Welcome to the second half of February!

Coven

We’ve had one person decide that she’s not able to keep up with coven things right now (entirely understandable), so she’s left the coven. We’ll be glad to discuss coming back in the future if/when her circumstances change.

(Talking about this stuff is always a little weird, because it’s internal group stuff. On the other hand, I want to mention it briefly, because this is a really normal process for group work. Things change and flow and that’s okay.)

We’ve also had:

• January 23rd: Rune discussion and Dedicant class (on ritual tools)
• January 30th: We had our (online) Imbolc ritual, and initiate discussion time.
• I cancelled things on the February 6th (see the personal notes)

Coming up tomorrow, we get into one of my favourite Dedicant classes . That’s talking about what a magical persona is and why you might want one, which is one of those topics I still need to figure out how to write about, because it’s not something widely discussed in a lot of books. And more rune discussion.

Witchy

I’m currently taking a series of astrology classes (Five classes meeting every two weeks via Zoom) with a local priestess and astrologer. I’m enjoying it a lot.

“Get deeper into astrology” has been on my list for a couple of years, and thought that this framework would give me a good jumping off point. It’s definitely doing that, and helping me figure out how to combine material from multiple sources

(I’m also using this as a model for some of what I’m going to be talking about in the Pagan Learning project, which is slowly progressing.)

On the other hand, it’s taking up both class time and a lot of note-taking time.

Personal

Two bits of personally good news!

The reason I cancelled coven things on Feburary 6th (and will be figuring out alternate options for what’s scheduled March 6th) is that I was able to get my first dose of the Covid vaccine via some extra doses available through my employer.

(I’m not planning on changing my activities any time soon, but I do have a couple of medical appointments I need to do in the next few months that I will feel a lot better about dealing with post-vaccine.)

And on the writing side, I released a new book at the beginning of the month, a number of people have loved it, and it has been my best sales month by far so far. (We’re starting from fairly small numbers here, mind you!)

I am so very delighted by that, and comments like “I was up until 3am reading this” are never going to get old.

If you’re interested in the Scottish Highlands in 1922 with a broken magical portal, a possible dangerous mythical beast (a beithir), everyone having secrets, and a fair bit of magic, you can learn more over here.

I’m currently in editing mode for the next book to come out, set at the elitist magical school of my world. It is fully and unashamedly influenced by my experiences as a student in boarding school and a librarian in an independent school. And by all the ways that Hogwarts as an institution of learning completely frustrates me. (The staffing is completely inadequate for the stated schedule, never mind the lack of attention to pedagogy or wanting qualified teachers.) Also contains lots of astronomy and teachers trying to figure out how to help their students.

In other words, hi, I’m keeping busy around here.