Since it snowed a bunch, and since I’ve had a whopper of a cold for the past week, I am spending the weekend in the house and on the couch, watching movies and reading books and coughing a lot. This means that I have time to give an actual update – fancy that!
The holidays were kind of rough for me, in ways that I didn’t anticipate. I really missed my mom, and my family, and cried at really unexpected times (I bawled my eyes out while watching Elf, for instance) and was just, in general, an introverted hermity mess. But I got through it. I allowed myself to feel all the crappy, real feelings at the squirmy, uncomfortably real level – it wasn’t easy, but I did it. (I will admit to cooking all day on Christmas day to have something to do while avoiding deep conversations.)
A moment of happiness with the hubby on Christmas Day
For Yule, Vasalisa bought me the Wild Unknown tarot deck – I have been coveting it for a long, long time, and have been using it almost exclusively since the start of the new year (and doing my readings on a bandana I purchased from Poison Apple Print Shop):
I love the feel of the images and the readings – there is something really intimate about the deck, as if it is for me and me alone.
I also received two books this holiday season: A Witch’s Book of Silence by Karina BlackHeart and Apocalyptic Witchcraft by Peter Grey. I finished Karina’s book – it is excellent and I highly recommend it. I am still working through Apocalyptic Witchcraft – as I have conflicting thoughts and emotions about this work, and am only about 20 pages into it, I will report back with a more thorough review later.
I have dubbed 2016 the year of Nothing to Guard Against, and thus, the new year appears to have ushered in new energies for me – I am feeling a lot less sad and a lot less stagnant. I have renewed my daily practices, and am doing stretching, meditation, kala and tarot pulls about five days a week. I have been using the journal my husband purchased for me for Yule to record my practices, specifically the feel of my three souls when I do morning kala and my tarot and rune pulls for the day. Morning routine = happy Amoret.
Last weekend, I teamed up with Orion to facilitate a workshop for the SpiralHeart Reclaiming Community – Unflinching Gaze, Unflinching Heart:
The Mirror of Community & the Role of the Priestess. The workshop was originally scheduled to take place around Samhain, but was postponed until January. It was such an honor to work with the 11 community members/leaders that attended the workshop and sought out Medusa’s Unflinching Gaze to transform their service in community. I can’t wait until July for SpiralHeart’s Witchcamp, where we will be continuing Medusa’s potent work.
Up next: Reclaiming Pittsburgh will be hosting an Imbolc ritual on Saturday, February 6th – all are welcome, so come on out! And I’m sure I’ll be doing a tarot Periscope as soon as I am over this cold.
What have you been up to? Where have you been putting your time and attention?
Images by Amoret (unless otherwise specified)
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