The end of a chapter

19 Saturday Feb 2022

Posted by Haloquin in Creative Process, Following Delight, Magic, Philosophy, Reflections, Storytelling

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ADHD, Adventures, Author, Bardic, Celebration, Commitment, Completion, courage, Creation, Dancing in Wales, Diary of an Adventuress, disability, elemental magic, Empowerment, Enchantment, Faery philosoper, Festivals, freedom, goblin circus, goblins, gratitude, learn magic, learn witchcraft, Living Life, Love, online course, Pagan, PhD, Philosophy, Plants, Power, Pride, process, Self Empowerment, steampunk, Stories, Storytelling, Strangeness of Life, The Enchanted Academy, Wheel of the Year, Workshop, writing

And that’s it. This month, on Imbolc eve, I finished my PhD corrections and submitted the final FINAL version. This week I got confirmation that it has been accepted!

I’m officially Dr Halo!

The thesis! Yes, I have a theme… “The power of storytelling to re-enchant the world” fits it quite nicely, don’t you think?

I celebrated with a trip to the bookshop, hot chocolate with friends, dinner for one and a movie… Then cuddles from my fella the following night, of course!

I started by letting my brain decompress and dealing with those bits of life that now need dealing with, like clearing out some old books to make space for the new ones! And contemplating where I go from here… With a foxy companion for Imbolc reminding me that spring is emerging from the dark, just like me. 🥰

If you’re on my mailing list you’ll know that I’ve got a whole bunch of monthly discussion based classes that I’m offering through Patreon, or which you can sign up for individually if you’d rather, starting with an online elements of magic workshop next month, on 16th March at 7pm GMT. (And in April I’ll be kicking off a ten week course working with them too…)

Find out more here

Uncover your inner witch - magical workshops in 2023 with Halo Quin - background image of lit candle on a beach at night.

And the Goblin Masquerade is coming together! Last autumn I was chatting with fellow changeling poet Kate Garrett, and somehow got the inspiration to host a goblin market followed by a Masked fairy ball this spring. Everything is coming together and we have music, talks, dancing, and even the steampunk debut of an Ominous Folk of Hopeless Maine show. It’s going to be a lovely day of community and play, and I’m considering it my party for escaping studenthood with a Doctorate at last!

Flier for the Goblin Masquerade in Borth, Ceredigion, Wales, 12th March, from 1pm. Free afternoon market, evening ball £6. Click for more details.

I’ve also been researching ADHD and neurodivergences… There’s so little support for adults with ADHD and we can do amazing things with the right help! So I’m writing occasional thoughts on that over here… On the newsletter “Living with Squirrels” not sure where it’ll go but you’re welcome to sign up if you like.

Living with Squirrels

So I guess I do know where I’m going next… To play with the goblins and re-enchant the world!

PS: If you want to get workshops, extra posts, advance access to material, and more things as and when the goblins inspire me… And support my adventures so I can keep building the academy into something sustainable you can sign up to my Patreon here:

Patreonise me! 😉

Cycles and Stillness

20 Sunday Jun 2021

Posted by Haloquin in Following Delight, Magic, Witchcraft 101

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Festivals, learn magic, learn witchcraft, Magic, Meditation, Solstice, Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice, witchcraft

🌞 Happy Solstice! 🌞

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

~~~

*that’s my interpretation anyway 😉

Feyhearted – Pixie Kiss #4 – Trees and Spaces

25 Saturday Dec 2010

Posted by Haloquin in Faery

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Faery, Festivals, Feyhearted path, life, musings, Trees

This is the Fourth of a series of suggestions for re-enchanting your life, one pixie kiss at a time, originally posted here. The introduction is here, and you can watch the path unfold here.

From Thomas Moore’s Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life:

“Every patch of ground that has a tree growing in it echoes Eden and is a reminder of our origins in an enchanted garden. Once we stop taking trees literally, we begin to see how they frame the world we look at every minute of our outdoor life… Eden is always with us, unless and until we narrow our vision, forgetting myth and disregarding aesthetic perception, and the trees of Eden are also always with us, full of mystery and implication.”*

Trees are central, in so many ways, to our lives. We know that they provide oxygen, and soak up CO2… its like we breathe with the plants of the world, we breathe out as they breathe in, they breathe out and we breathe in.

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