Scattered thoughts and finding balance.

Hello….not sure where this post is going to go, hence its title. I seem to be a bit all over the place of late.

Today is a New Moon which falls in Libra, we all know that the image for Libra is a set of scales..balance and a new moon is a time for setting intentions for the coming Lunar cycle….so maybe that is what is needed, I need to balance things out?

I didn’t renew my contract with my employer at the beginning of September, we had discussed this as a family and the decision was made for me to be more available to my husband and daughters to support them. He has a number of medical conditions that have left him disabled and the girls have some serious mental health issues, that I felt would be better managed if I was with them before and after school. By not working the split shift driving, I am also able to invest more time in my small business, the aim of which is to add some financial support to us as a family.

Trying to establish a new routine of self employed working alongside domesticity is taking some time but I feel like I am starting to get somewhere…yet at other times I feel I am not getting anywhere, but I assume I will find a healthy balance soon if I stick at it.

We had a slight financial hiccup last month (I took my eye off the ball!), but this forced the issue of taking stock of the bank account, as like so many other families up and down the country, changes are being made that will hit everyone in the pocket, from benefits to fuel, to cost of shopping to heating, everything has a knock on effect. I now have a better grasp on the finances and the changes I have made will take some time to balance out to make it manageable in the long term.

With everything that has been going on, I feel I have let my practice slide somewhat…but I keep being reminded that Herself, Hekate, is not far away. She reminds me of this by making sure that I find random keys in my path, literally right in front of me as I am walking along, these are the latest 2! Another nudge that I need to find balance in my schedule for Her along with everything else, even if it is just lighting a candle for her on my altar instead of a big ritual.

Speaking of which, as it is a New Moon or should I more accurately call it, a Dark Moon, I am going to clean and sort my altar space out today so that when it truly is a New Moon, when I see the first sliver in the night sky, I can go and leave my offerings to Her at the crossroads.

As we approach the Crone part of the year, as we near Samhuinn, when The Cailleach strides through the landscape once again, I find that I am biologically approaching my Crone-dom…I am walking a fine line, balancing between my Mother phase and my Crone phase (I am already feeling sorry for my husband and my daughters!). I don’t rail against this next stage of my life, in fact I am looking forward to it….I am just a bit wary of the roller coaster ride it might take to get there fully, but now that I am aware of the changes that are happening, I can build self care onto my daily habit, go easy on myself (and others) if I find myself struggling etc.

And lastly, as it is the New Moon, I want to sow seeds/intentions for upcoming months/lunar cycles, so following last nights high winds and while I was out walking the dog, I collected fallen seeds from various trees as I found them. I will sow them and let them overwinter with my intentions for next calendar year, business and personal and hopefully they will germinate and grow – intentions and trees! If successful with trees, there may be a bit of guerilla planting going on!

Anyway, there you go, I did warn you that my thoughts were a bit all over the place didn’t I?At least it is out of my head now so that should allow me to get on with other things now….but first, cleaning my altar space! New Moon blessings to you all, x

Samhain

It is here…Samhain is here, the air is charged and magick is afoot!

Samhain means ‘Summers End’ and marks the end of a Pagan’s year and the start of a new one.

The veil between the world we live and the world in which our ancestors live is at its thinnest making it the perfect time to honour them and invite them to join you in your celebration.

The death of the year, the dying of the plants are all part of the cycle of life, the wheel of the year, death in itself is a fact and therefore not to be feared. We acknowledge that on this day more than any other. Many Pagans believe that light follows darkness, that we cannot have the light without the dark so the new year starts with the dark part of the year and we move through it towards the light again.

There is the area of Paganism that acknowledges the Goddess in her Crone phase, there are witches whose deities are Heckate and Cerridwen,  again working with darkness, birth, death and rebirth. There are Druidic and Celtic ways of marking this day along with many others but the same theme runs through all of these practices, it marks the end of the old and the start of the new while honouring those who have come before.

As the veil is thinner it also allows easier passage for tricksome spirits and the Fae so to appease them you leave an offering of food, unsalted bread and a libation of one variety or another.

Alongside the loaf of bread I have made for our family, I have made a smaller unsalted one for the Fae,

I have my altar set for tonight, with photographs of my grandparents and my great aunts, uncles and great grandmother.

I may also have a fire outside tonight after I come back from a Samhain gathering in a local park. A simple ceremony I will do if I have a fire is to collect some small sticks from the park, write a simple word or phrase for something I want to get rid of, that I don’t want to take forward into the new year and then throw into the fire to be removed from my life.

This is what I wish for everyone I know and love today, may you have a wonderful and blessed Samhain!

First New Moon of 2016

image

Hello and good evening!

It is the first New Moon of 2016, new beginings abound.

I have written out a ritual for myself…it is my first and is how I intend to observe each new moon. As my journey progresses, my rituals may change as I work out what works for me and what doesn’t but this felt right as I worked it tonight.
As a New Moon is a time for putting plans in place for growth, I aired the house out earlier, I have re-potted some young house plants and top dressed others ready for them to wake slowly over the next few weeks.
I got my altar ready for this evening, my black candle has been inscribed with the sigil for a New Moon all the way down and I have my black stones of jet and obsidian on my altar too.

I have my manifestations that I want to achieve, this contains mainly personal things that I want to work on as the moon grows in her brightness and intensity. These I will read daily to re-affirm them as we journey towards the Full Moon.

It is while the moon is growing that I will work on my full Moon ritual and what I would like to release after the full moon as she wanes in her never-ending cycle.

Until next time, enjoy your New Moon!

2016.

Hello and welcome to 2016, I hope this year is full of magick for you.

A brand new year full of new and undiscovered magickal potential, and in order to help your magickal workings here is a list of this years full moons for you to work with.  Enjoy, x.

Full moons for 2016

ETA: Ocotober also has a Black Moon, 2 New Moons in the same month!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Moon

New Moon

Hello again!

Today is a New Moon!  Are you ready to manifest?

Its time to start afresh, ask the universe for help in something or make new plans!

Last new moon, I wrote out my list of things I needed/intended to achieve before this new moon, I needed to complete some crochet patterns on a blog that people were following as I had fallen behind (the way life catches up and takes over sometimes!) and I set down some intentions that I wanted to establish. I kept my list on my altar space and read it out loud daily.

Well the New Moon has arrived and I am pleased to say that I have managed most of my list…I have totally caught up with the crochet project, I have even managed to go past were I needed to as well so that is extremely good news and I succeeded with most of my intentions…I say most as I didn’t manage establish all of them so I will start again with today’s moon.

New Moon manifestions.

Try it for yourself this new moon and see what you CAN achieve!