Each Dark Moon i write an Art Love Letter and post it off to everyone signed up to the mailing list. Every month my beloved husband reads it and beautifully says - more people need to read this. He is my biggest encourager - bless him. He suggested i pop them on the Blog, but i really want the newsletter to be of value or why would anyone subscribe if they can just find it on the blog. This month, i really felt like sharing my heArt wider so i'm popping some of my musings here -

Here we meet in the darkness of the Libra flavoured moon, a time of Balance as the Equinoxes also approach.

I have recently returned from a week-long witch crafting intensive called Witchcamp in the Reclaiming style of magik. This was in no way a retreat from the world, instead, it has been a magikal intense 6 days of ritual, pathworking and optional offerings. My goodness, I have come home so fricken high, I have slain demons, cried bucket loads of tears and snot, I have danced and chanted and visioned and meditated, I have faced so many parts of myself. I have come to know so many parts of myself. This is probably the most intensive spiritual work I have done since I did shamanic training in 2011 and by golly did that shake me and change me. I am in total awe and gratitude for all the witches of Reclaiming that make these camps happen all over the world.

Each camp is centred around a theme, a story, a myth. This year’s Earthsong worked with Kali Maa, the Hindu goddess. I remember being 15 and having a very strong desire to meet Kali and when I mentioned this to some spiritual adults in my life I remember the look of alarm on their faces.

"How interesting," my dark little teen-self mused, now I really wanted to meet the one that could cause that reaction. I thought I would have to travel to India to meet her, I never realised it would happen in a circle of witches near Bendigo.

In 2016 when my dear friend died I remember being in a visualisation, my body becoming a literal puddle of grief for my loss, Kali suddenly appeared and roared “GET UP” she stomped her foot and a giant staff that she later gave to me to get the fuck up, now this isn’t to say she was negating my grief but rather the part that wanted to never get up again. She asked me to be fierce and brave. And again, she did this all camp “can you be fierce, can you be brave” oh yes, I can.

I feel I have come home a changed witch, a changed woman. I feel open, wide-eyed with wonder. My heart feels saddened that I need to dull down to fit in here, we do a dial down ritual at the end of camp to help us adjust back into this world, heavens forbid we give eye contact and smiles to strangers and speak from the heart rather than about thin mindless chit-chat. What a miserable, sad place we have created, where to smile at strangers, give eye contact and speak from the heart with joy and love is too much. How sad. How sad, that being a witch is a weird thing. But you know as I untangle the parts frightened to be myself in this world, as I try very hard not to go back to hiding, strangers are talking to me in the street, people are recognising not me as such but perhaps my colourful heart shining through, we smile us strangers and speak of flowers and trees and rainbow scarves and Woodstock in the veggie aisle at the grocery store.

My connection to spirit feels so alive right now, I don’t want it to get quieter, I am really feeling into the value of being a witch and an artist in this world. I do need to balance it out though, doing practical shit like responding to emails or buying groceries has been hard but I am also realising I can’t effectively function in this world without this connection, I’m of no use. Imagine the power and transformation that would ripple out if we were all connected into the universal source energy, imagine the power that would ripple out if we all valued ourselves and each other, accepted ourselves and each other as is. Not in resignation, but in actual deep acceptance of what is, without trying to hide or fade or fix certain things, oh the peace.

You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one…. Thanks John.

An oracle during a particularly confronting ritual at the camp said "Our ability to love ourselves is equal to our ability to love the earth". This worried me, because often I feel like I love the earth way more than myself, I also remember a time last year when a little fern grew out of the garden wall and she whispered to me about the power of the earth, the resilience of the mother. That I didn’t need to worry about her, she said I didn’t need to heal her, to save her, In fact its more me that needs her. I need her green spaces, her life and vitality much more than she needs me. I have to heal myself. We have to heal ourselves. From this space of absolute surrender into the Earth as our mother that healing on all levels begins. I don’t think there is anything much more healing than radical self-acceptance, despite our challenges.

I went to the beach on the weekend to ground back into the world gently and the smell of the ocean was so nourishing and the sound of the waves so healing. A big dose of Vitamin Sea our friend said.

It's raining today and the nature sounds of raindrops pitter-pattering and Blackbirds scurrying about in the mulch is so soothing, I have the studio door wide open to fill the space with the symphony. I can also hear a moron with a blower vac and the highway traffic in the distance and I’m trying to not get depressed about it all, nor call strangers morons - gah! The moon asks me to focus my attention on what I am wanting, on what is nourishing, on balance.

I posted a spirit doll off to California this morning and wrote a spell to go with her to help connect her to her new friend. I’ll include this spell with all the new spirit dolls emerging, I really love it. Perhaps this dark moon I shall stitch myself a spirit doll to remember the magik within, the bravery and wonder found at Witchcamp.

My question for us at this Dark Moon beloved friends is “Where are you focusing your attention?”

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Stay magik and seek wonder

love faerie

xxx

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