I wanted to let you know about the things I’ve got going on this month, so here’s a quick update!
Tonight I’m offering a monthly community call for my Patreons, with an oracle reading and magical discussion on whatever questions you choose to bring! Join TEA to get the invite (and other magic)!
New Monthly Event – Storytime with the Faery Doctor!
Storytime with the Faery Doctor – join me on a livestream as the Faery Doctor, for a magical storytelling enchantment.
Each month we’ll choose a tale at random from my Doctor’s bags of yarns and explore the healing power of the story together. Come listen to a tale and experience the magic that arises.
The Faery Doctor first popped up a year ago in Portmeirion, at a Steampunk event. Perhaps that’s why they sport goggles on their top hat, or perhaps those are to peer into the otherworld with.
Tell me what ails and I’ll tell you a tale.
One by one the listeners are invited into the Doctor’s “office” and invited to feel into which medicine they need.
You’ll find no snake oil here but rather pure unadulterated healing tales
They choose a yarn, and the Doctor tells the tale, and the tale suggests the medicine.
It is said that the magical people, our cunning folk, often learned their magic from the Fair folk… and what’s more magical than a story?
And so the time goes, magic and healing and messages for the listeners divined from the tales that something in their hearts tell them that they need. And a prescription to take home, because the legend never truly finishes.
I never know which stories are going to be told when the Faery Doctor steps out, but I do know that stories offer insights and healing to everyone who hears them, if they choose to take them on. For some, the medicine they need is simply an escape, for others there’s a seed in the tale that grows into a new way of seeing a tricky situation.
And this is magic.
Meet The Faery Doctor…
Storytime with the Faery Doctor – join me on a livestream as the Faery Doctor, for a magical storytelling enchantment.
Each month we’ll choose a tale at random from my Doctor’s bags of yarns and explore the healing power of the story together. Come listen to a tale and experience the magic that arises.
Morgan Daimler has a very different background to me, so it was fascinating to read about a few of the Irish and Scottish named Queens of Fairy.
Daimler, as ever, takes an academic starting point to tease out the threads of these powerful beings, exploring the etymology of their names – because names hold power. If we understand the meanings held in a name we can uncover the nature of the name-holder, and Daimler unpicks these tangles with skill and conciseness.
This book holds discussions of several specific Irish and Scottish Fairy Queens, including Nicnevin, Aine, Una, Mab and Titania as literary fairies, the Queen of Elfhame, and others, followed by guided meditations to meet several of them, and suggestions for how to decorate an altar to them, and offerings that each one might like.
I enjoyed the exploration of lore and legend surrounding these Queens, and the presentation of the different courts, and though I found the details of courtly hierarchy a little literal compared to my experience, I come from a different landscape and a different tradition. I did, however, very much appreciate Daimler’s sensible approach of urging manners and caution in engaging with these very real and powerful Ladies.
On a different note, the opening section also includes a thoughtful discussion on how to traverse in a magical journey if you are physically disabled and find that your disability travels with you, including the reminder that mobility aids can in themselves be spirits that travel with you, if you set things up that way.
There are many different traditions for working with the Fair Folk, and definitely different approaches to working with the Fairy Queens, (at least as many as there are Queens themselves, I suspect) and this is a great introduction to the particular Queens and relationship styles that Daimler works with, and has some excellent pointers for any interaction with the Queens of Fairy. Make space for them, mind your manners, bring a gift, and remember; they are real, powerful, wonderful, and entirely untamed. Just the way they should be.
You can order Fairy Queens by Morgan Daimler from your local indie bookshop, the usual place you get books, or directly from the publisher.
Frigg is one of those deities that I’ve met, and valued at a distance, but never really been close to having found myself swept up by her wandering husband, Odin, who I prayed to often during my 12 year self-sacrificing, initiatory, search for knowledge (otherwise called PhD studies), and Freyja who, well, is all the things I adore; magic, sensuality, passion, the vibrancy of the land…
But Frigg, Frigg’s domain and I have a tricky relationship. On the one hand I need to do those practical housekeeping things that Frigg rules over, and I know her stories and attributes, and absolutely respect her power and value. On the other, my ADHD brain means I’m sporadic at it at best and never really felt her presence as an actual goddess. It happens sometimes, we’re not going to resonate with every deity, even if we get on with their family, and I had accepted that this was the case.
So it was an absolute delight to read Ryan McClain’s book, or rather love letter, to the “Beloved Queen of Asgard” and come away with a sense of this powerful, important goddess, having glimpsed her in a new light.
McClain clearly adores Frigg, and in this book he shares a balanced blend of personal experience and lore-based research, recontextualising her, for me, as the Love that is Home.
This book is, as a Pagan Portal, only a brief introduction to Frigg, but it covers Early Sources, the Norse Record, her roles, symbols, and (importantly) relationships, all as keys and signposts to understanding her better. McClain also dedicates a chapter to her “Handmaidens”, those goddesses that carry her support and guidance through many different areas of life, and finally outlines ways in which you can begin to work with Frigg and her ladies.
I doubt she and I will ever be close, but I came away from this book with a new perspective on the Beloved Queen of Asgard, and a feeling that I’d, finally, been properly introduced.
You can order Frigg, Beloved Queen of Asgard by Ryan McClain from your local indie bookshop, the usual place you get books, or directly from the publisher.
I finally submitted the last of the edits for my next book…
Storytelling for Magic!
A practical book calling on the skills of the bard as a storyteller, performer, and magic-weaver to make better magic. It includes techniques for finding, learning, and telling stories, transforming them into rituals, and sharing their magic with confidence, in your own style.
Perfect timing as tomorrow is Imbolc. And the start of February Album Writing Month (FAWM), a challenge to write 14 songs in February. I signed up last year and discovered a hugely supportive community, filled with so much inspiration and encouragement, that I actually wrote 16 songs!
Several of these made it into my first solo-singing show in December. One became my third released single, Two Wolves, No Masters. I think it’s safe to say that FAWM had an impact.
And as the FAWM community gears up to start again tomorrow, I’m noticing that it’s Imbolc eve.
Imbolc – the festival of the light breaking through the cold
Imbolc – the celebration of the first signs of spring
Imbolc – the day of Brigid, Bridie, Ffraid. Saint, Goddess, and Divine Power.
Brigid is considered to be a Goddess of Inspiration, of poets. (As well as healing, and forging/creativity)
So it struck me that this is brilliant timing for the month of FAWM!
I don’t work with Brigid often, but I’ll be lighting a candle for the two deities who most guided my book writing, Taliesin the bard and the goddess Ceridwen, whose cauldron brews all Inspiration. And I think I’ll say a few words for Brigid, as it’s her day too, and it never hurts to have deities of inspiration and creativity on your side.
You can find a talk on Storytelling As Magic on my Patreon as part of January’s Enchanted Circle, for this month only I’ve released the recording to the public – Patrons get to join me live, ask questions, and choose topics – as well as meditations, courses, and classes at different tiers! Go, watch, and sign up for more…
As we head into the dark of the year it’s all too easy to feel it weighing down on us and I always used to feel like I was running out of time to do everything I hoped to do in the year.
December is always so full of events and travel that the end of the year is on us in a blink, and the cold and dark crowd in, and perhaps, like me, you tend to forget how much was worth celebrating in the year just gone.
And even if you’re in the middle of your summer, the turning of the calendar year still marks a point of ending and beginning…
But I invite you to remember, as January dawns, that you know the magic in attention.
I invite you to remember that you know the magic of shining a light where you choose in your life.
And I invite you to celebrate the highs, and the lows, of the year just gone, turning it into strength to carry you into the life you choose.
Fires of Celebration is a workshop and a ritual of gathering up all of the beauty that we’ve encountered in the year just gone, and shaping it into the light to carry us through the winter.
Fires of Celebration is a workshop and ritual of gathering up all the challenges of 2023 and weaving the magic of fire to transform them into wisdom which supports us in 2024.
Fires of Celebration is an invitation to take a moment as the year ends and to feed those fires that warm you, to strengthen your lifeforce, and bless your self with more pleasure, more play, more love, and more magic in 2024.
Join me on Wednesday 17th January, 7pm UK time for a magical gathering where you will
~ learn tools to increase pleasure in your life
~ make magic to heal the blocks that are keeping you from creativity and magic
~ transform the challenges of 2023 into the wisdom of 2024
Join the Coven (tier) to take part! (9 spaces left!)
We will meet live on Zoom for 1.5 hours, and there will be a recording available.
Today I flicked through a copy of “Cults and New Religions; A History” by Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley, and I naturally went straight to the chapter on “Wicca and Modern Witchcraft”, to see what they were saying about my religion – Pagan Witchcraft (and yes, I consider myself religious, but not dogmatic!).
The bits I saw I thought were quite accurate – Modern Witchcraft and Wicca are both paths under the “Pagan” umbrella, alongside Heathenry (generally speaking) and Druidry… with a fair amount of overlap! Not every Witch will consider themselves Pagan, and that’s ok, but most seem to be happy to sit under that umbrella.
What I did really like was how they characterised “Pagan” paths as, for the most part, sharing three common beliefs (paraphrased!):
The Earth is Sacred.
The Divine is immanent (in the world, including us).
We have the ability to interact with the divine/spiritual/magical forces of the world. (i.e. Magic is possible!)
There will be a few pagans who disagree, or want to elaborate, but I think that’s a pretty good description.
So if you believe these three things and don’t subscribe to another faith, and the vibe of Paganism appeals to you, you might be one of us! You don’t even have to pick a tradition or a specific Path, you can just be Pagan. Or you can be Pagan and… like me.
Picture of autumnal trees by a frosty patch of grass in the sunshine – the beauty of the world is all around us.
I do have some thoughts, of course, like recognising that just because we can “interact with the spiritual forces of the world”, doesn’t mean we all do, or that what we do always works out as we intend, but many of us do absolutey do things that we call magic based on this understanding of the world.
And this makes me wonder about “belief” vs “experience” – I don’t just “believe” these things, I experience Nature as Sacred, the world as Divine, and magic as possible.
Our understanding of the world shapes how we treat it and how we experience it.
The stories we tell change the world we live in.
Our experiences.
And our actions.
In my Crimson Craft teachings I often speak about how “love” is a verb, it isn’t just something we feel, it is also something we do.
And if nature is Sacred, the world is Divine, and we can effect it, then how does that understanding, those beliefs, shape how we act in the world?
Many of my friends are protestors, street-activists, and campaigners for change in policy.
Most people I know are trying to live more lightly upon this beautiful, sacred, earth.
In Reclaiming Witchcraft, we’re having conversations about how we can treat each other better, be better allies to indigenous folk, queer folk, disabled folk, BIPOC and folk disproportinately effected by the systems of power that would rather keep us apart. We’re working to remember and act from the understanding that we are each divine.
We each take the steps we can, and one piece of this is remembering that we are part of the world.
Remembering that, if the divine is in the world… it is in us too.
If the Earth is Sacred, then you too are Sacred.
So how will you choose to treat yourself as such? To treat others as such?
All while holding those essential boundaries and practicalities of life, of course, which can seem paradoxical!
(Which is why I love working with the Red Goddesses who hold both radical Love and strong boundaries, they are lovers and fighters… but that’s a story for the future… join my mailing list to make sure you don’t miss it!)
What do you think? Is that a good way of describing the fundamental beliefs/ethos of Paganism? And if you are Pagan, what ways do you treat yourself, others, and the world as holding the divine?
Sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do, why do I take the risk of talking openly about taboo topics, of teaching on things that many people not only dismiss, but look at with suspicion?
It’s healthy to check in with yourself, to wonder sometimes, and remembering the WHY helps with showing up in devotion, but the answer, for me, is simple.
I know this is important.
The very fact that the response I get from folk is mixed shows that this beautiful, wonderful, healing work of being whole, of being all of ourselves despite the pressure from the world to split and hide and repress our creative selves, divinely rising from pleasure, of truly enjoying this precious time embodied on earth – the fact that the response to that is suspicion just shows me that speaking openly is needed.
It is natural to seek pleasure, to give and receive love, to be present with each other.
It is natural to seek pleasure, to give and receive love, to be present with each other.
It is your birthright, simply by the fact that you are alive, to know yourself as whole and worthy of pleasure and play and love.
My magical practice is what has kept me healing, moving towards kindness and delight. Every day that I breathe in Love, dance with my gods, sing to the fair folk and spirits who walk with me, is a day that I open to the magic in the world which is wonder and possibility.
When I pull out my tarot cards, I listen and hear, and discover that I am not alone, there is guidance there.
When I light a candle to bridge the worlds, when I pour my offerings, I give and receive, and discover that I am supported, I am in community.
When I pull on the threads, untangle the knots of Wyrd in a spellworking, or nudge the flow of life further toward beauty, balance, and delight, I feel into what is true and what is possible, and I discover that I am a part of the web and the weaving.
Magic isn’t just about the tools to heal, to stay centred in the chaos, to grow, to create change. It is also about the connection, the remembering that we are part of the community of beings and the flow of energies. We are not separate from the world.
Magic isn’t just about the tools to heal, to stay centred in the chaos, to grow, to create change. It is also about the connection, the remembering that we are part of the community of beings and the flow of energies. We are not separate from the world.
This is why I offer the classes that I do, why I show up for weekly livestreams and share as the gods inspire me, why I offer up meditations on Divine Love and embodiment, and why I gently share the reminder that our bodies, including our sexual natures, are part of this whole gift that is life.
When you allow yourself to be present with all of your parts, with your embodied self, and allow yourself to feel that pleasure, that desire, that love moving in the body, then healing happens.
You begin to reclaim your capacity to find pleasure, to create, to be content. It isn’t always an easy path, and there are many reasons we might shy away from this work of integration within ourselves, and so we move softly, in the Crimson Coven, with Love.
Always, always, coming back to reclaiming our own bodies as our temples, as divine spaces, however they are, in all their pleasure and pain, freedoms and limitations, blessings and challenges.
Always, always, coming back to reclaiming our own bodies as our temples, as divine spaces, however they are, in all their pleasure and pain, freedoms and limitations, blessings and challenges.
If the Divine is immanent, if the God/dess is present in all things, including the earth, then our bodies are Sacred too.
And this is why I do what I do.
Why I share stories and write books and make music and write erotica and offer classes and show up as all my self.
Even when it raises eyebrows.
To remind all with hearts to hear that there is beauty and possibility in the world, that remembering your wholeness is possible, that you are divine, in all your parts, and that you too are part of that community which is magic, weaving and woven and wondrous.
Thank you for showing up with me.
I hope you enjoy my offerings, and that they help you remember what your truest heart already knows…
You are here for more pleasure, play, magic, and love than you can even imagine.
When Danny Robins interviewed me for “The Witch House” (which I didn’t realise would be a horror until months later!) I taught him a healing chant and a rune for self-protection, and he asked me;
So, what do witches actually do?
Danny Robins (and so many other people I’ve spoken to!)
And I answered, something like:
In my tradition, we tune into the flow of magic, build relationships with the spirits, and work magic to change our selves, our lives, and the world for the better.
Me, paraphrased, from memory
And then… he asked me again. Twice more.
I was completely confused, until about two hours later when I realised that he wanted to know :
How do witches do what they do?
(At least, I guess that’s what he was asking?)
Now, ask 13 witches what they do and you’ll get at least 3 dozen different answers, but I can give you some idea of the most common things at least!
SIDENOTE: When I say “witch”, I mean those of us choosing it as a religious and spiritual term, and not the nasty meaning (wicked magic users) or the aesthetic (Halloween-tastic) or the political feminist (Woman In Total Control of Herself) – though I enjoy that it can mean so many things. I love that “Witch” is a shapeshifter term used, today, most often as an empowerment for those of us magical folk outside the mainstream. (Read my thoughts on why I use the term “witch” even though some people still see it as negative!)
Generally, though, Witches today often:
Make offerings of incense, food, drink, and song to build relationship with spirits, deities, ancestors, and the beings of the land
Honour the land with environmental action and/or energetic healing and mindfulness of our impact
Use household or found objects like candles, herbs, string, pebbles, shells to cast spells (sympathetically enacting the change we want to happen in the world – I’ve got a whole course on this!)
Work on knowing ourselves – through journaling, meditation, paying attention, exploring our stories, ritual, reflection, divination…
Work on being the best version of ourselves – better at magic, better people, better at being the most us we can be
Use ritual and magical tools to improve ourselves and our lives – and the lives of people around us, if they choose (or we’re responsible for them)
Pay attention to the land and the energy of the world to work with the flow of magic
Healing! Through ritual, spellwork, or healing modalities we’ve learned! (I trained as a holistic therapist in my teens to improve my healing skills!)
Divination – tarot, runes, ogham, tea leaves, pendulums, coffee grounds… so many different ways to Listen to the Divine in the world.
Celebrate the turning of the seasons and our communities – picture from our Samhain ritual, as we moved into the winter.
Explore different states of consciousness – such as through dream, trance, ecstatic ritual – to learn about ourselves and the world, to connect with magic, and to change things for the better.
And whatever else we want to do, because, honestly, we make our own rules!
I probably need to talk a bit more about a lot of those, so watch out for future blogposts…
And I’d love to hear from my witchy folk in the comments… if someone asked you “what do witches do?” what would you say???
You know that there is magic in the world, wonder and beauty and possibility. There is something beyond the obvious, and you’ve felt that deep sense that you can connect with it, that it can support you… if you just knew how.
You might even have started down a magical path, but the world (particularly the internet!) is so full of conflicting information and “you must this” or “you should that” which just doesn’t work for you and you’re ready for something different.
You’re ready to bring your magic into your everyday life, to root it in embodiment, and turn it into a practice that works for you, regardless of what anyone else says it should look like.
So that’s what I’m here to support you in doing. I learned how to weave my own path and to make magic a natural, easy part of my life, with ease and delight, and you can too.
This is your invitation to bring enchantment deeper into your world, and to live your magical life, where the mysterious and wondrous are everyday and you have the tools to create the life you dream of.
Just like magic.
This is what The Enchanted Academy is all about… what the Crimson Coven Collective opens the door for.
So tell me, do you want more?
Study with Me
While you can book workshops individually, the best way to dive deep is by joining my Patreon. You can choose your tier based on how deep you’re ready to dive… Head over and discover your options here. Or read on…
If you’d like to just dip your toe in, at the £5 tier you’ll be able to explore the library of musings and meditations, and stories, that I’ve shared with my Patreons. Each month I’ll be adding replays of the Crimson Coven Collective livestreams with musings, meditations and practices, along with monthly Patreon-exclusive meditations.
Stepping a little deeper, for £10 a month join me for live Enchanted Circles on magical topics, which will include an oracle reading for the community, a mini-talk on a magical topic, a meditation or practice, and a Q&A. The replays will be available, and there will be options for submitting questions to be asked anonymously (or if you can’t attend live.) This tier also includes the meditations and musings!
The library is ever growing, where you can watch replays of previous classes, and each month I’ll be sharing a self-study class from one of my courses, for you to explore at your own pace. As the months go by the library will continue to expand, and you’ll get the chance to have input on future courses too! At £15 a month, along with the self study options, this tier also includes the live Enchanted Circles, plus meditations and musings.
Or you can go all in and Join the Coven as an apprentice for £25 a month. Every month I offer a workshop diving into theory and practices to help you deepen your connection, embody your magic, weave it into your life, and craft your own magical path. These classes include tools, practices, and energetic and journeying work to shift blocks and open opportunities for you. You also get access to the self study classes, the live Enchanted Circles, the meditations and musings… and anything else I feel like sharing.
In these classes we explore topics such as – the magic of the moon and other heavenly bodies, Elemental magic, embodiment, Your Body as Your Temple, how to work with pleasure in magic, strengthening your discernment, Fires of Devotion, Language as self love spells, invocations, the energy of the festivals… and more.
If you feel the call to witchcraft, to the path of magic, here’s your sign.
There is also the option to offer your support for my work with monthly donation of your choosing. This helps support the work I offer for free in the world, making it as accessible as I can. Like many creatives and magic workers, often when I’m teaching or performing at events I’m not getting paid (not always, big thank you to hosts that do support us!), so any donation given from the heart is received with love and gratitude as it truly does help. As a thank you I often share bonus pieces or give early access to public material, to my patrons on this tier.
Halo Quin 