So pleased to finally be able to announce the title of my brand new trad pub and that it is now available for preorder on Amazon!
Paganism for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Nature-Based Spirituality for Every New Seeker is a comprehensive and inclusive overview emphasizing the beautiful diversity of the modern Pagan movement. If you follow me on twitter or instagram, expect to see some excerpts (and maybe a giveaway) as we get closer to the release date!
Because I am (delightfully) predictable at times, I’m funneling this stirring into so many words. So very many words. This October is going to be a very full month and all of that warrants a blog post to let you know, dear reader, just what it is I’m up to over here.
Screencatch of The Tarot Witch from 9/23/10. This was mine & my husband's 1st website & my 1st venture into writing publically about witchcraft & Paganism. Pic is linked to the way back machine so you can see what the site was & was trying to be. It was later dissolved & all articles were moved here, such as the articles on "Candle Spells" & "Autumn: the Time of the Fall," as caught in this archive photo.
Itâs hard to believe this blog has been existence for seven years now! Throughout this time, my life has gone through rather extreme changes, however, this blog has stayed fairly well focused during it all. These past seven years has seen my family grow by three more children, weâve been homeless, bought a house, sold everything and moved to wilderness to live off grid, reluctantly returned to civilization and now travel about the West biding our time till we return to the wilderness.
Committing oneself to adventure and living life on one’s own terms almost requires that the unexpected is to be expected. The plans that one has for themselves are frequently found to be tossed into the wind, with Fate taking, rearranging, and replacing the pieces at will. It necessitates a need for internal calm and adaptability, for stubbornly trying to adhere to that which can no longer work will only make one miserably frustrated. That sort of stress, while to be expected on some occasion, will cripple an adventure and leave one questioning all the choices they’ve made, stretching back through the years to before the adventure ever began. That, for what I hope are obvious reasons, accomplishes nothing but to further one’s misery and prevent one from rising up, pushing through the current challenge, and continuing forward with a life heralded by freedom.
I’ve been negligent here.
Life is very full right now, poised on the brink of adventure. The last few months, the children and I have been paused, waiting, biding our time. But now… everything is falling into place and the remaining details are being worked out. The road calls, the wilderness beckons. The baby is nearly 9 months old now. The resulting hormonal changes have left me spread thin. I am here, and there, and also over there. Watching, feeling, seeing… A foot in both worlds; some days are easier than others. Easier to be functional, easier to handle the high energy of the children, easier to handle the emotional rollercoaster of doing the deep work, easier to handle the heavy weight of waiting. I’m sick of waiting. There’s so much to do and so little time to do it, yet there’s always enough time to toss out a misquote that borders on cliché. Scattered thin and pulled in so many directions. The promise of reclusion, of solitude, of quiet, of no other people around for miles …it’s enticing, intoxicating, my mental-caffeine (as it were) right now. It is this goal and coming future that are keeping me going right now, keeping me breathing and pushing away the garbage that only serves as a distraction. Why are there always so many distractions? Pulled so far, so thin… signs and omens are compounding, spirit whisperings are growing louder, binds that are being unraveled and cut are fighting back, winding tighter. But the force they once held is gone, burned by the brilliance of a future that rests strongly upon nothing more than daring, nothing more than the strength to say no. Don’t be afraid to say no. Don’t be afraid to do the irrational and adventurous things that your soul demands you do. Don’t allow other people’s fear and refusal to act keep you in place, keep you afraid, keep you waiting. The Spring holds promise. That’s only metaphorical if you choose to allow it to be so. I choose for that promise to be adventure. What do you choose for that promise to be? If you've been following my blog throughout it's sporadic posting these past six years, you will have noticed that I have a penchant for how-to's and lots of words. Writing is one of those things that I can't keep myself from doing and as has been an integral part of who I am as a person for far longer than I've ever been aware of it.
With that said, I'm finally taking action to do more writing, and not just on this blog (though that is, indeed, part of it) and I've a rather big (for me) announcement to that end.
For a while now, I've flirted with the idea of beginning a newsletter. But... the hyper promotional "buy now," "OMG I have a sale!!" "you need to do this or you're doing EVERYTHING WRONG!!!!1!!" feel of many newsletters is just gross.
I knew that if I were to put out anything for you lovely people that it would have to be something that I would not only love to put together, but that I would love to receive. Time is too precious to all of us and I don't have time to waste writing words that none of you want to read. Conversations with a few dear friends on twitter guided my thoughts and in the end the idea coalesced into something that is nostalgic (especially for you 90's witches,) wistful, and potentially inspiring at times. It's also about as un-newslettery as a newsletter can be -while still providing you, dear readers, with something of value. Every Dark Moon, I'm going to write you a letter. It will be filled with musings, tales of my latest adventures (did I mention I'm traveling about the country again?) and filled with practical, experienced based witchcraft that you can put to use now. None of that sparkly-crystals-light-a-candle-and-think-happy-thoughts shit (because we all know I could only fake that for half a paragraph) but pragmatic witchery that I've used effectively and want to pass on to you because I know it works. Plus, I want to babble to you all about random witchcraft centered things that are perhaps too intimate for a blog post and too convoluted for social media. And, because I love you, there will be offers for free bone readings every now and then, too. Consider me your penpal you never have to write back to (though I'd love it if you ever do!) If a once a Dark Moon letter from a witch-friend sounds good, you can subscribe here. Of course, as someone who tends to be reclusive more often than not, your privacy is respected and email addresses will never be used for anything other than this Dark Moon Newsletter. First newsletter comes out this next Monday, November 28! Thank you!You have successfully subscribed. There has been so much that has happened lately that my mind struggles with fitting it all into the course of the last two weeks. So many changes, some for the better with definite movement forward, others that leave me conflicted, my heart heavy, and with whispers on every bird song that bring me to tears. But all change is a step forward, even if we cannot see it. Even what feels like a step backward is still a step forward for while time may not be linear, our lives most certainly are and everything that happens to us moves us closer to who we will be in the end, influencing who we will be in the next.
In earlier blog posts, I’ve hinted at a massive change happening for my family and me. In truth, it’s something that I’ve vaguely mentioned for a few years now, actually. But, somehow, hope and intention have given way to reality, and the dream is finally poised to manifest, albeit in ways that I could have never imagined.
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January 2023
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