Witchy Wednesday – Journals

“Do you keep a journal or diary of your experiences?”

And how!  Actually, I think the real answer is more along the lines of ‘sort of‘.

I have a more journals and notebooks than I can count.  I am also terrible at keeping track where they all are.  I’m told it’s a writer thing.

In recent months I have been compiling all my scattered assorted knowledge into a File of Shadows using Scrivener.  I have the file set to ‘Non-Fiction Novel’ and it’s been pretty great so far. Lots of work as I can’t just port old Word files into it (plus the assorted random scribblings are being typed and made pretty), but it forces me to go through everything and add bits here and there and take out things I never really ended up using.

I recently found my dream journal that I used to keep way back in the day from when I first started getting into dream interpretation.  I fell off using it, and it was probably about half full.  Years of experience have shown me that the messages in my dreams are of finite usefulness.  Things manifest pretty fast, and then there is nothing else of use other than a bit of fun nostalgia and a few laughs.  That said, I may start using again if only to fill the pages.

For daily writing, I have a love/hate relationship with diaries.  I have kept them off and on throughout the years to help me work through things.  Once on the other side of whatever crisis lead me to start it in the first place, an unshakable need to purge usually causes me to burn them.

For a long time I felt that this need was something that I should be fighting against and that I should just accept my flaws and not be ashamed of them.  But, a realization came to me a few weeks ago that I had never really considered before.  I am a Witch.  And the sealing of a spell requires that the words be burned and the ashes be offered to the universe.  If I don’t purge, the spell lies open, and it’s energy is not completed.

I love it when it all comes back around.  Don’t ignore your gut, people.  Even if you don’t understand it at the time, there is a reason for those urges you can’t ignore.

Another form of journalling I have tried and failed at keeping regularly is an art journal.  I have a handful of sketchbooks, but nothing that I really keep a finished project in.  I like those to be loose, and in my portfolio.

I think that the only real sort of journalling that I have kept up with regularly over the years is blogging.  I started with a Livejournal account way back in the early 2000s, and then I followed a bunch of folks to Dreamwidth, then I started my WordPress blog (along with dozens of others that fizzled over the years), and here we are.  250+ posts and counting.  I think that is the most steady I have been with anything writing related in a very long time.  And even as I try to make the leap to adding video, I think I will always be a blogger at heart.  It’s in my nature.

Next week we talk about moon phases.  This will be awesome.  Lunar stuff is so much fun – even something as small as watching my daughter’s face light up when I point out the moon in the sky.

Gratitude Catch-Up: Days 30 – 33

Day 30: I am grateful that Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back!!!  Yay!

31: I am grateful that people are helpful when you are enormously pregnant.  It sucks to feel weary, sore and enfeebled otherwise.

32: I am grateful to finally be able to shower like a normal person again.  And go swimming.  Water is your friend!

33: I am grateful that my little one loves to read.  At two, she doesn’t really read, but she has a great memory, and adores her story books.

Witchy Wednesday: Most Influential Books

The new year is time to get back into the swing of things, so here is our Witchy Wednesday post for the week.  The topic: What books have been the biggest influence on you?

I’ve been Pagan for a good long time, and in that time, I’ve read a lot of really bad books.  In the early years of the twenty-first century a lot of books were published that sought to make Paganism palatable to the general public by making it look like enviro-Christianity.

There have been a lot of books worth reading in that time as well. Good reference guides with great ideas for crafts, and creative little tips and tricks.  There haven’t, however, been a whole lot that I found to be inspiring and held elements that I felt were essential to my own path.

Below are four books that I have read and kept close at hand.  One that I have kept since I was 10 years old.

BOTW: To Ride a Silver Broomstick

This book was originally published in 1993, and I believe it was Ravenwolf’s first book.  It has been reprinted many times over the years with updates and some of the more controversial portions removed or changed.  This is one of the reasons that there is so much debate over this book.

Some will claim that it is full of dangerous and unethical information, and others will claim that they found nothing of the kind. It all depends on which volume you happen to read.  The version I read for this review was published prior to 2000 (I wish I could check the copyright page, but I no longer have this book, so I am going by the year that it was given to me).

BOTW: The Real Witches Garden

The Real Witches’ Garden by Kate West is filled with some great ideas for those who want to add a bit of the natural world to their magical practice.

If you have never had a garden before, then this is a good book to help you out in getting started in that direction. However, if you do know how to take care of plants, there isn’t a lot that is new in this volume.

BOTW: Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch

I really enjoyed this book. ‘Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch’ is a look at the little known path of traditional Irish Witchcraft.

This is not a how-to manual, or an Irish Witchcraft 101. Instead this book is a look at the myth and magic, history and fable that permeates Irish culture to this day. And also it’s a refreshingly practical take on contemporary witchcraft.

Lora O’Brien retells some of the better known Irish myths, discusses ways to contact and honor the faeries, and even takes on the topic of the European Witch Hunts. There is a wealth of ideas for rituals, life passage ceremonies, and ways for people to connect with their Irish heritage.

Book of the Week: Living Druidry

Living Druidry written by Emma Restall Orr is a glimpse at a religious practice that strives for total harmony with the natural world. The earth holds a romantic, poetic quality when seen through the eyes of a neo-Druid.

The guided meditations in this book are especially engaging, and if I found nothing else to love about this book, then I would have still gotten my money’s worth. The author puts forth some interesting theories concerning the divine that may appeal to those Pagans who have a difficult time holding on to the idea of personified deity.

Book of the Week: Wild Witchcraft

I was not as impressed with this book as I was with the author’s other works. On the whole I think that Marian Green is great for anyone interested in hedgecraft, but this book I found to be far too dogmatic for my tastes.

I find it prudent to mention that this is a reprint of an earlier work called ‘Elements of Natural Magic’. So it would seem that the author has since decided that a lot of the elements (if you’ll forgive the pun) she insists are ‘essential’ in this volume, are not really needed at all. Her attachment to tools and formal ritual work has also eased to a more fluid and natural practise in her later books.