I found this monument to the sun* this week and thought it was very striking. By the following day it had been washed away by the tides and that got me thinking about the practice of creating fleeting beauty, as an act of joy and pleasure rather than as a construction of permanence.
Cycles and change.
There’s no going back… All we can do is cherish our happy memories, appreciate our strengths, and be present in the now.
Of course, the now is where we lay foundations for the future… And honestly I’m really excited about what this next season is bringing, the space being made by that which is ending and the warmth and joy that is growing still.
Happy longest/shortest day, dear ones, what foundations are you building and building on today? ☺️
PS: Last summer I recorded this meditation for Solstice days when the sun stands still, as a gift for you, and if you’d like to support me there are various tiers (which I’ve just updated, building on old foundations in the face that is opening up!) at which you can do so there: https://www.patreon.com/posts/solstice-38437372
Last month I had one of my “I’m not quite feeling it” phases, where the sparkle just kinda gets ironed out of the world. I wasn’t unhappy, just not sparkly. It happens sometimes, and I often get to a point where I worry that it’ll last forever… it’s the “but what if I never get that magical, enchanted feeling again” or worse “what if the magic is gone?””. That’s normally the thought that kickstarts me into using my tools and finding the magic very quickly. It wasn’t gone, just out of sight for a little while. And these always help me, so I thought I’d share them because maybe they’ll help you too.
1. When I’m tired it’s really hard to *feel* the magic, but that doesn’t mean it is gone. It just means my senses are tired! Instead of trying to push myself and work harder at feeling it, I trust that it is there and look for ways the universe and my spirits are supporting me. What signs are they sending me that I am not alone? So look for those signs. The white feathers that appear when you think of your ancestors, perhaps, or the unexpected tip…
2. Rather than pushing my personal energy at these times, I lean into kitchen witchery. Add ginger to your meals for a bit of extra fire. Soothe your nerves (and your stomach) with peppermint tea. Let the plants support you.
3. A daily practice can help ground you and carry you through rough times. Even something as simple as a prayer at bedtime for restful sleep and sweet dreams can help nourish your spirit and strengthen the relationship between you and those you pray to.
4. Candles. Fire is magic. Light a candle (safely) and let the fire warm your spirit and light your way. Using the aesthetic aspects of magic engages our senses and gets more of us in alignment with magic again. If you’ve got the energy, make a ritual of your candle lighting and let it be an act of magic that brings the sense of magic back.
5. Go and sit with a tree, or a river, or the ocean. Spend some time outside with one of the bigger beings that hold a steady connection to spirit. Let the waters, or the woods, hold you for a little while and wash away the muck of daily living. It’s good for you on all levels.
And as a bonus:
6. Rest and refill your creative well. Read something that inspires you, doodle or play with something creative, or have a cuppa with a friend (in person or over a video call). Magic is hard when you’re depleted so refuel, sleep well, and trust that things will feel better soon.
How do you recover that spark of enchantment when life starts getting grey? What advice would you give to someone struggling to reconnect to their magic? Let’s support each other in the comments and remember our way home together.
In delight,
~ Halo x
Originally posted on Patreon. Thank you to my Patrons for your support! If you like what I write then please do consider supporting me as a Patron here. Your support means I can write more for you! And you get the posts early… *tempts*
One thing I love doing is Priestessing. Facilitating ritual and magic for others makes my heart sing.
Holding that space just for myself though? Prioritising that can be really hard. Making the time to let go of what I’m told I *should* be doing to perform a ritual just for me feels decadent sometimes.
And yet, it’s important.
We can engage with the world magically every day, but making time for ritual adds an extra layer of connection, of honouring our selves and our gods and spirits. It can give structure to the passing of time, and support us through changes. More than that, it gives structure and space to our relationship with the divine in our lives.
We can nurture this relationship by praying and making offerings, but also by consciously wearing jewellery or colours that honour them, by keeping an altar, tending a garden, by dedicating our creative acts to them. Like any relationship, doing things with our gods brings us closer together.
Me exploring being a Priestess of Freya and the deities of love, magic, and sex – photo by Ruth Hogg, editing by me
I am both a witch, weaving active magic everyday, and a Priestess, honouring the Divine in the world. You may be one or the other, or both. You don’t need to work with gods to practice magic, and you don’t need to practice magic to honour the gods.
But if you do walk the path of priest/ess/x/hood, then I’d love to hear about how you connect with your gods every day, in the ways that aren’t flashy, that people outside might not notice. Please do comment below…
One of the ways I enact my devotion is through my writing, so my first two books are offerings to the Faery Queen and Gods of Wales. You can buy them here.
I am also a devotee of Freya, as Lady of Magic & Passion and The Crimson Coven is a collective or creative, magical folk founded to honour her and the other gods & powers of the Divine Erotic… You’d be very welcome to join us.
Next month is Pride month, a time where the LGBTQIA+ community around the world raises the rainbow flag and reminds everyone that we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.
Most people that know me have seen me in apparently straight relationships, but that’s not the whole story. That’s not even half of it. So here’s a little reminder that even those of us who don’t look queer to you very much can be, and no, we don’t owe anyone an elaboration.
What does this have to do with magic?
As witches and magicians we engage in practices that run counter to the mainstream, and so in our hearts we have to hold firm to who and what we are. We need to know our own nature, desires, drives, and loves so we may move with them and toward our True Wills.
“Know thyself” is only part of the equation: to claim your magic, stand tall in yourself. Be proud of yourself.
Like the Peacock God of Feri, know your own worth, your own value, your own beauty and let your glory make the heaven and earth answer to your Truth.
Pride, in Feri witchcraft, is part of our birthright.
Pride, which is neither arrogance nor false humility, but an honest recognition of our place as part of the world…
“You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.…”
~Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
… And they too have that same right. Knowing that, accepting that both are true, is part of pride.
Many of us are queer, and it can take a little longer to stand strong in a culture where that is considered lesser, but: when we embrace that in ourselves and stand with Pride in our Truth, knowing ourselves to be no more or less important and worthy of thriving than any other being in this wonderful world, we align ourselves with magic.
Subscribe to my mailing list for future posts and an invitation to TEA (The Enchanted Academy), where we explore the magic in the world.
Spring arrived, and with it went my focus. It’s always an inspirational time of year for me, the rush of energy bringing so many new ideas, so much potential, that I find myself led astray by beautiful new possibilities… And some things get dropped in the whirlwind romance of life. Like consistency.
Once upon a time I’d have felt guilty for that.
Coming to honour my cycles is a really important step in not beating myself up, and I don’t think I’m alone there. Each of us has cycles and seasons, and for some of us the effects are more pronounced than for others… Have you noticed that? Have you noticed your energy and attention fluctuating with the moon, or the sun?
Even e when it gets dark there’s light. Like here; there’s a boat on the horizon, dramatically lighting its own way in the dusk.
I definitely go with the seasons, the kiss of the sun on the land… Each season feeding into the other, a circle that repeats every year.
And each year I know a little more, recognise it a little sooner, so the circles become spirals, the same shape but a little further ahead, building a little higher than last time.
At least, that’s my goal.
And so far it seems to be working. I’ve noticed myself wanting to chase all the gorgeous idea-bunnies and remembered to pull myself back to centre. Those inspirations are wonderful, and if I follow them all I’ll forget the garden one been tending.
Do you find this? Do you find you cycle through patterns each day, month, year? Do you tend to overdo it in the summer, like me? Or do you let it go and take a holiday when the sun shines?
This Spring I’ve been nurturing a few writing seedlings which are strengthening day by day. The Enchanted Academy (TEA) with my courses on magic is one, the Crimson Coven is another, and if you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen today that I’ve just signed contracts for two new books!
I decided years ago that I wanted to write books and teach, and that’s the spiral staircase I’m climbing each year… Each revolution, a little further along the path of doing what I love, even when my energy waxes and wanes with the seasons.
Whatever the sun is doing, I keep my dream in mind. If you hold true to who you choose to be then, every season, every revolution, you’ll have spent a little longer doing what feeds your heart’s garden. Don’t let the down times make you forget that.
Oh and learning your cycles and patterns, recognising the flow of the world around you, and learning to work in tune with both, is part of the craft of the witch, too.
I have, however, accidentally let the purple sprouting broccoli in my actual garden blossom and go to seed (I think?) because I was writing. Oops. It’s still pretty though!
In an attempt to get better at this while “making a living writing” thing, may I just remind you that I have books for sale! You can find them in my new online bookshop, Quin’s Books, or at your local bookshop. Or, if you’d like, you can support me on Patreon and unlock bonus audio content and early access to magical writings…
I wanted to invite you over for tea, but the world being as it is, that’s a bit tricky… so I made an academy for us to all hang out in instead. An Enchanted Academy… The Enchanted Academy, to be precise, or TEA for short.
This is where I’ll be hosting classes and hang out sessions – I’m hoping for a free live chat once every month or two – and you can use the text based forums whenever you fancy. To avoid too many trolls turning up I’ve set it up so you have to register for my mailing list to get an invite link but I do hope you’ll join me there!
I would really love to know what you’d be interested in chatting about, so do drop me a comment below if you’ve got a curiousity about anything magical which you’ve seen me mention, and I’ll see what I can do.
Next up I reckon I’ll do something on divination… with a focus on Tarot. How does that sound?
So, if you haven’t signed up already, here’s a button!
The launch party for All That Glitters was really lovely, thank you to everyone that came! I’ll be sending a link out to the recording via my mailing list soon… *grins* Next up on my writing pile… The sacredness of pleasure, and the divine erotic. Given how important embodiment is to the pagan path, and my kinky poetry book, Twisted out last year I think it’s time to engage with that Iron Pentacle point of Sex (including pleasure, desire, and lifeforce), don’t you?
As spring is here I’m thinking about the allotment I’ll be working on this summer, and that reminded me of my indoor plants and of course the thought train then got all metaphorical…
ID: Roses, back-lit in a window, next to a barely recovering mint plant.
People tell me that indoor roses are fussy and mint is impossible to kill… But roses were the first plant I managed to keep alive for more than a season, and this is the first potted mint plant that has recovered from meeting me… And trust me, I’ve tried many times!
Perhaps those of us that are “fussy”, “difficult”, “sensitive”, or “too much” are simply in the wrong environment… And the apparently hardy ones are mostly just getting more of what *they* need? I’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating…
Plants are tenacious, and so are we. But we all need different things. Look for your magic, your relationship with the world, your rhythm and home, in the places that make sense to you. Don’t treat yourself like mint if you’re a rose, or rose if you’re a mint.
But remember, either way, to breathe, rest, bathe in the growing sunlight, and drink your water!
I’m learning to do better with mint, at least. And I’ll be repotting both (separately!) soon.
(Oh, and there’s a meditation up for my Patreons for the Equinox – Spring or Autumn – use whenever you need a moment of calm before a change.)
I’ve been working a lot with Earth this past winter, getting into my body, experimenting with herbal medicine, grounding the magic. Focusing on the practical, manifest steps of the day by day, and the sensual nature of living as an embodied creature of the earth.
Physically embodying divine aspects of myself as Priestess.
Growing up I spent a long time in the realm of air, escaping into imaginary landscapes and worlds woven of words. I even studied philosophy, a subject known for residing firmly in the domain of the mind. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love words and the space in which air manifests, but coming back down to earth has its own pleasure and gifts… And I struggled with it!
Dance helped me with enjoying being in my body a lot, but working with the element of earth has been key to really getting into a healthy relationship with the physical realm. Each time I return to this work, I feel more at home in my body and in the land, and my material life improves. (Yes, by this I mean money, home, and physical health!)
Literally feeding your body is earth work…
I’m looking forward to starting the elemental magic course on 10th March, and I thought it’d be nice to share some pointerd with you lovelies before that kicks off, so 7:30pm (GMT/UTC) next Wednesday, 3rd March 2021, I’ll be hopping onto discord and hosting an introductory chat on the elements of magic and my relationship with them, including a guided meditation for you to tune into them and hints for getting started with them (or revitalising your practice!) Sign up to my mailing list for the invite!
Sign up to my email list below to get the invite to join the conversation. You’ll get access to a forum for chatting with other like minded souls too. And there are still spaces on my Elemental Magic course starting Wednesday 10th March if you’d like to join us for 10 weeks packed with practical magic!
Note: Images in this post are decorative versions of extracts from the text, over a background image of golden light through a dark forest that forms a tunnel.
Periodically people tell me they’d love to learn magic, but they don’t know where to start so last month I wrote up a little introduction to the Elements of magic as many neopagans (and occultists) in the “Western World” view them. They are both foundational and ever present in my magical practice and yet, even after over two decades I still find my relationship with them evolves and deepens the more I return to them. So I’d love to share some of that with you.
Enter; Elemental Magic! A 10 Week Online Course – Cycle 2 starts 10th March 2021
10 Weeks of magical theory & practice, working with Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Spirit. Conjuring cash, increasing inspiration, flowing with intuition, and more. Learn and practice foundational skills for spell working, ritual crafting & deepening your practice by building on your understanding of the elements in yourself and the world.
Course Includes:
*Weekly materials via email
*Fortnightly chats online (video optional)
*Group discussion board so you can support each other
*Support from me to answer any questions you have (I’m told it’s 42)
If you’ve ever wanted to learn magic in an inclusive environment, from a witch with 20+ years of experience, now’s your chance.
To reiterate: this practice is inclusive and these practices are not limited by sex, gender, orientation, race, dis/ability… Any accessibility or other concerns? Ping me: Haloquin@gmail.com. I will do my best.
Course starts 10th March 2021
Fees are on a sliding scale, pick what you can afford from £69 – £99
A guideline: (skint-ish) £69 – (doing ok) £85 – (finances are good, actually) £99.
No proof required. I trust you to choose what is right for where you are now. If £69 is still too high for you, then please, absolutely, drop me an email. If I get enough people on the higher end of the scale I’ll be able to offer a couple of bursary places for this or a later course.
I want to be able to support you properly so places are limited to keep the class size small… email me if you’ve got questions and I’ll send details of how to reserve your space with a deposit. Email: Haloquin@gmail.com
We often live our lives disconnected from our bodies and from the land. The fae folk are deeply embedded in the land and the living landscape and developing a relationship with them involves coming into a good relationship with the land on which we live and with nature as a whole. Simultaneously we realise that we are part of the natural world and we come back into better relationship with our own bodies and untamed selves.
We also have records of people;
Looking for faeries
gaining healing powers from them
seeking treasure
honouring their places
attempting to summon Faery Queens for power, support or wish granting
warding against their ill-will
leaving offerings
Among other practices. All of this shows that the fae have power and can help us in very practical ways, or can hinder us if we do not have a good relationship with them. This is mirrored in materialistic terms when we look at how a disrespectful attitude towards nature in general has led to a great deal of pollution and ill-health, and the loss of resources… i.e. wealth!
Basically, a good relationship with the Fair Folk is a good relationship with the spirits who share the land that looks after us, and they can support us in our magical work if we look after them in return, just as the land supports us in our general lives if we treat it with respect. This, in turn, helps to heal us, them and the world around us.
Not all of them want to work with us, even of those that are generally of friendly natures. There are numerous stories where one sibling is kind and generous and is given gifts from the faeries they meet, and another is rude to the same beings and comes away much the worse for it. And there are tales of some, like the kelpies, who steal young people away to drown them. In the New Age model fairies are generally beings of light and always willing to grant wishes in return for offerings. In the folkloric traditions some of the fae are powerful allies, but that same power means that some are worth avoiding!
Approaching these beings with respect is thus the foundation of building a mutually supportive relationship and respect gives them a good sense of who and where you are.
A good first step is to reflect on your motivations, and to ask yourself; what can I offer them?
This is an extract from my online Folkloric Faery course, including both theory and plenty of practice. and there are currently spaces on the beta testing cycle available! Come join us!
Originally posted on Patreon. Thank you to my Patrons for your support! If you like what I write then please do consider supporting me as a Patron here. Your support means I can write more for you! And you get the posts early… *tempts*
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Over to you in the comments… why would you build a relationship with spirits such as the Fae?
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PS: You can also read more of my earlier thoughts on the magic of faery and how we can cultivate it in ourselves in my book Pagan Portals: Your Faery Magic published in 2015 by Moon Books.
