Category Archives: Self Care

November 17, 2017

Simple Witchcraft: Magical Self-Care To Get You Through The Holi-Daze

By JL

As published on Medium.

Unless you’ve been living alone on a desert island, you’ve probably noticed that witchcraft is a thing. What you may not know, is that you don’t have to be a witch to stir up a little practical magic, you just need to activate your own personal mojo.

Witch or not, everybody has tried a little magic. When you will the traffic light to turn green as you approach, carry around an image of that boat you want to own some day, or plan the details of a trip you yearn to take, you’re focusing your intention and directing your energy to manifest a desired outcome.

You’ve got the power in you—that’s what witchcrafting is all about. Which is exactly why it’s so important to keep your battery charged. Energy begets energy; you have to have it before you can use it.

Easier said than done with the secular holiday season upon us. There’s shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning, planning, more shopping, more cooking, more baking, then gathering and gifting to be done. How’s a witchy gal supposed to find time for a little R&R—Respite & Ritual?

  • What do we need?
  • Self Care
  • Why?
  • Personal power.
  • When do we need it?
  • Now.
  • How do we get it?

Good question. It’s tough to squeeze in personal care when we’re already pressed for time. If only there was a way to get more hours into the day. Oh wait—there is. Lucky for us, this is the perfect season to harness the energy of time and stretch it out.

Yule is a time of transition. It marks the ending of the dark half of the year and the beginning of the light half. Within that transition is a moment when the hours of night and day are equal and time seems to stand still. Mythologically speaking, the Goddess, having descended into the dark underworld at Samhain, is awaiting the rebirth of the God. She is biding her time.

Time Stretching Spell
You can tap into the energies of Yule to cast a simple spell for stretching time to your advantage. You’ll need popcorn, string (dental floss works well) and a needle with an eye large enough to thread the string through. Before you start popping the corn, take a moment to ground and center yourself. Invite the properties and energy of time to combine with your intent. Pop the corn in a microwave, electric popper or on the stove (Jiffy Pop is perfect for this spell).

As the popcorn expands in it’s container, imagine time expanding within the container of a day. If you think of time as linear, see a straight line between two points begin to curve, waving up and down, making mountains and valleys, getting longer while still beginning and ending at the same points. If you see time on a daily calendar, envision the number of squares increasing on the same page. Or, imagine the face of a clock with extra numbers around the dial.

When the corn is popped, put some on a plate as an offering to Spirit, the deitie(s), ancestors, nature, or the universe, as thanks for their help. Place the offering outdoors. Eat some some of the popcorn yourself, with the intention that you are combining this energy of time expansion with your own personal energy. String the rest to decorate your Yule/Christmas tree, or treat your neighborhood birds by decorating a small tree outside. No hurry though, you have all the time you need and stale popcorn is easier to string.

So now that time is on your side, use it to try these simple, witchy, self-care tips to power through the busy days ahead.

Create a Daily Ritual
Set aside a little time and space just for you. Whether it’s a quiet moment of meditation or prayer in the morning, or a few moments of R&R at the end of the day. Brew a cup of your favorite coffee or tea, stirring in your intentions to feel calm and at ease. You can use sugar to add sweetness to your day, and cream to enrich your experiences. Light a candle while thinking of seeing your way throughout the day.

In the morning, listen to uplifting music; at night choose soothing tunes. You can take the time to read inspirational stories or poems or simply close your eyes and let your thoughts go inward. You can also try listening to a guided visualization for a few minutes.

Take Five
For this one, I like to think of my body as the vessel of the Goddess (God, Spirit, chosen deity. etc.). What I do for my own wellbeing or pleasure, is an offering , something that can be experienced through my flesh and blood. So I remind myself to take short breaks at regular intervals during the day, standing and stretching to relieve tension in my body. I take three to five slow, deep breath, breathing in calmness and contentment. then I exhale stress, anxiety and disappointment. I finish by drinking a glass of water before returning to the work at hand.

A New Twist on the Gratitude List
It’s easy to forget all the good things in our lives when we’re feeling rushed and overwhelmed with responsibility, but you can toss the tedious gratitude list out with the trash. Instead manifest some positive energy using a platform like Pinterest or Instagram to curate images of favorite things you’re grateful for. Include pictures of loved ones, vacation spots, pets, and hobbies (you can make it a secret board on Pinterest so you won’t be sharing personal images with the whole world). When you’re feeling down, take a moment to swipe through this visual reminder of all you have to be thankful for.

Give Your To-Do List a Magical Boost
Take your To Do lists to the next level with my Ta Done! list. Early in December I write down everything I have to accomplish for the holidays— things like baking cookies for the exchange, decorating the tree, shopping for gifts, planning a Solstice ritual. I’m a bit of an artsy-fartsy sorta witch, so I jazz my list up with colored markers, and doodles. I draw a check box alongside each task on the list and X it out when completed. Sometimes, I draw a hash-line through the box if I’m making progress but not quite done. If a task becomes urgent (code for I’ve procrastinated too long), I circle the box in red. When I complete tasks I shout, “Ta Done!” and do a little dance. Shouting and dancing, or chanting, clapping, and ringing of bells is the magical part. You’ll find if you do this your lists become easier and easier to complete.

And don’t throw your Ta Da! lists out when you’re done. I clip mine together and save them. Anytime I want to feel a sense of accomplishment, I just get out my lists and pat myself on the back for all I’ve accomplished.

Give and Take
Even if a witch could be all things to all people, she’s wise enough to know it’s not worth it. Honor your limitations, ask for help, and learn to say, “No thank you.” Don’t place crazy expectations on yourself during the holiday madness, or waste time worrying about everything that has to be done (does it really?). Take time to enjoy the moments and give the gift of your presence.

Joyous Yule, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to you.
Blessed Be and Journey Well!

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in RITUALS & PASSAGES, Self Care, WITCHCRAFTING

September 28, 2017

Cold Swimming

By JL

I live north, way up north, bordering Canada north. The summers here are absolutely gorgeous, but short lived. Every day after the last of August that the sun shines and the temperature approaches something over 70-degrees I’m counting my lucky sunbeams.

We’re doing pretty good this year.  I was in the pool (above ground, not heated) on September 25th. I think that might be a record. You must understand, I’m conditioned to cold water swimming. I grew up swimming in Lake Superior—the largest and coldest of the Great Lakes. Average summer water temperature is about 65-degrees on the surface. My pool mimics this to a T; it was 64-degrees the last time I was in it.

I’m thinking this might be healthy? I know it’s pretty dang refreshing.

penguin-56101_640

Penguins only live about 20 years. But they live in harsh conditions most other creatures cannot survive. I wouldn’t live a day in the Antartic, so I’m figuring I can get by with saying they are healthy old birds under the circumstances. Me too. I’m sure it’s the cold water swims—just let me have this one.

Sometimes, we (hubby and I)  go to Florida in the winter. The people there are like, “The water in the pool is so cold. They need to turn the heater up.”

I get in and I’m thinking it’s just a big bathtub at 84-degrees. It makes me all sleepy and wrinkly skinned like one of those cute-pathetic puppies that hasn’t grown into its skin-suit yet.

Come to think of it, everybody in those Florida pools looks that way.

I stayed at an RV park in Picayune Mississippi once, in February. They had an olympic sized swimming pool just sitting there, filled but not open for the season yet. I told them if they started the filter and opened the pool, I’d go swimming. So they did.

First day in it took me almost five minutes to ease my whole body into the frigid water, but once I did and then didn’t have a stroke, it was kind of a rush—like what I imagine taking speed must be like. I just felt alive and electric all over. Or maybe that was the tingle before going completely numb.

Anyway, I was blissfully swimming my laps, completely unaware that a crowd had gathered behind the two sets of double patio doors in the clubhouse, overlooking the pool.

After that I was the crazy lady from Wisconsin.

“Hey, Wisconsin, you going swimming today?” any of a number of residents would call out as I rode my bike through the park.

“You betcha, as soon as that sun peeks out from behind those there clouds.”

There was a thee-foot tall monkey living in that park. Her human kept her on a leash and dressed her in very feminine little shirts and skirts—size 2-T. She sat in a highchair and ate with the rest of the residents at the monthly potlucks.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve really lived this life, or if I did decide to take that speed way back when in high school, when my friends offered it, and all of this has just been one wild trip.

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I’ve been blogging all month long with the wildy talented Effy Wild! It’s been a blast and

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Vist Effy’s Website

I can’t thank her enough for putting the challenge out there. The MADGoddess has her mojo back again!

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Joie de Vivre, MUSINGS, Self Care

September 12, 2017

The Light That Shines Within You

By JL

I’m always a little sad when summer draws to a close. I’m just not that much into winter. It’s cold, the roads are often treacherous, it’s dark more hours than light, (light being a relative term when gray days are the best I get). Mostly, it’s cold—bone chilling, mind numbing, freezes the breath in your lungs cold.

Do you know what passes for fun around here in the winter? Waiting for the exact right temperature below zero to blow soap bubbles and watch them freeze. If it’s not cold enough they just do their normal thing. If it’s too cold, they freeze and shatter almost instantaneously. It’s sort of like trying to stand an egg on end at the exact moment of the spring equinox. Good luck achieving either.

Don’t bother to tell me about wonderfully invigorating activities like skiing, snowshoeing, mushing, snowmobiling, ice fishing . . . it’s still cold. Doing those things in the cold is not fun. Anybody who tells you it’s fun is evil and lying, because you know misery loves company.

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I don’t think there has ever been a more apt acronym. SAD is what I have and sad is what I am for the duration of Wisconsin winter. Vitamin D and full spectrum light exposure helps, a little. I’m still sad in winter.

My toes are sad they cannot expose their perfect pedicure in a rocking pair of sandals, or even peek out of a pair of peek-toe pumps.

My skin crawls at the feel of fabric covering every inch again. I spend weeks of transition pulling on jeans only to peel them off again. Perplexed and perturbed, I stand there in my grannie panties (who needs a thong up your ass when your skimpy wardrobe is relegated to storage) seriously debating the reality of living in my jammies for the next six months—or eight.

My ears are sad that they will not hear the lovely songbirds, the whisper-shimmy of leaves, the rumble of a thunderstorm and the pattering rain it brings, the hum of tires on bare pavement and the chorus of tree toads serenading the night outside my open window.

My nose is sad, missing the smell of cut grass, grill fires, and the scent of flowers and herbs growing in my gardens.

My tastebuds are sad, longing for a reunion with the flavor of fresh picked berries, corn on the cob, vine ripened tomatoes, peas and beans, or basil, thyme, sage and chives snipped from the herb bed just outside my door. Any of these shipped to the supermarket, out of season and from places afar taste like a big mouthful of nothing. Seriously, even cardboard has more flavor.

Don’t judge. You all know you’ve had a paper based product in your mouth at least once in your life, whether you ate a note you didn’t want to get caught passing or had the munchies so bad you neglected to peel all the cardboard away from the Twinkie before shoving it whole into your mouth. Whatever, I’m just telling you that even that pulp has more flavor than the winter produce we get in Wisconsin.

Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to escape to a warmer place for a few months, but I am not yet a full fledged snowbird.

I put this little visual together a few years ago. I watch it on the gray days. It helps me feel less sad—and less SAD, if you know what I mean.

I hope it lifts you into the light that shines within you.

Music Credit: Longtime Sun—Amrit Kirtan
Available on Sacred Circle from Spirit Voyage Record

 

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I’m blogging along with Effy Wild and her tribe for the whole month of September. Find out more here. This post is in response to a prompt for a give-away. I’m a writer—I give words. Here are some more of them, a different perspective of counting my blessing in the face of my SAD winters.
Making Peace With the Harbinger of Winter

 

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