Last week´s post was about the changing seasons related to my work with witchcraft. Today, I will try to relate them to other areas of my life as a writing witch.
Fall
At present moment I embrace the rain, the cold, and the changing colors of the leaves on the trees. It all inspires me to tie up loose ends and begin new indoor projects like developing my characters for my novel and try to show mood and tone in both the setting and the dialog.
Regarding witchcraft projects, I have the Sabbat Samhain to prepare for. It is my kind of New Year, so it is also time for new intentions about the year to begin soon. My intentions for the year ahead is to stay attuned to Nature and Her changing seasons by celebrating the Sabbats, the New Moons and the Full Moons.
I need to harvest sage, thyme and rosemary for incense, kitchen spices and protection. And I need to rewrite my dedication as a witch, as I do every year, it´s a tradition now.
We are about to do our physical Fall cleaning, old clutter needs to be recycled, and the garden needs tender care to prepare for the coming of Spring.
I like to write to sounds. Not only music, but also sounds like the different feelings that different kinds of weather stir up in me. Loud, as when the gigantic cloudbursts of rain pour and flood my back yard, silent, like the soft rain drops on my cheeks on a walk with my little old and wise dog of mine.
I also like to work with music around me, no matter what I do. There are few days with little music in my earplugs. It is so inspirational, it is like riding a roller coaster all by myself, it is making my fingers dance across the keyboard.
The season of Fall I relate to my creative areas of life. There will be other creative projects to handle with care and love. There is always a drawing to draw, a painting to paint, and words to write.
And there is always magick around me whatever I´m working with. Lit candles, a cozy, relaxed, and stress free atmosphere. A little incense and chai tea.
I have strong, good memories with me about this time of year. My grandfather on my mother´s side used to take me to interesting places, where we always ended up gathering chestnuts which later that day were used to make funny and cute animals with matches as legs.
Winter
In December, the light month, it is time to say hello to the Sun. This time the dark forces loose the battle, because freethinkers like me believe that the darkness always will equal with light. And at some point there is no need to run from darkness, because after the Winter Solstice/Yule, the light prevails.
Physically, there is light both inside and outside. That beautiful sight of an early Winter morning with the Sun in its most reddish and violet-bluish tones is too early for me to get up and write, but I get to see it from time to time.
The light inside is from my strong working lamp without which I would be in serious trouble doing creative projects. My sight is getting older than I like to think of.
But, on the other hand, life is a funny compilation of ups and downs. I´m experiencing the advantages of becoming a Crone. With time comes also ailments and mental changes to adapt to. Some days are just reminders of what you no longer can do.
I try my best such Winter days to keep my positive outlook, and that is best done with a lot of self-care and light creative projects I can make in our living room, where the district heating is on, plaids are comfortable and warm to wear, and the lit candles glow with a soft, smooth light.
The season of Winter I relate to my healing areas of life. I have heard a lot, seen more than enough in my life to know to take good care of myself. So I dedicate myself to aromatherapy baths, pain soothing creams, and learning new skills and tricks.
Mental care to me is also to learn new things and keep the brain busy, especially since I became early-retired. I cannot sit on the couch with nothing to do. So I practice to learn as much as possible about witchcraft, writing and my many interests.
It is the Christmas season for my rainbow family to celebrate together with pleasant common traditions and happy hours of laughter and togetherness. We like to make homemade presents and ornaments together, because we can´t live without each other.
It is more than family and friendship, it is a unique way of life, and it is so rare in this so-called modern world, so we care for each other.
Spring
Along with the growing light comes Spring, and it is again time for outdoor activities. I can´t wait to be able to sit outside in my yard with my fresh brewed coffee and just listen to the birds singing for Spring to blossom.
The projects that were planned during Winter are now to be set in motion, and the Spring cleaning sets off the next couple of months being outside as much as possible. All these hours of waiting, it is worth all the efforts to see.
Next Spring will be in writing mode most of the time, though. If everything work out as planned, I will embark on writing the first draft of my novel from Spring to Winter 2020. But if the weather gods behave their best, it might be possible to be writing in the garden.
Like the Fall season I tie up many loose ends and clear out clutter at this time of year. That includes sorting through papers and documents, looking for unworn clothes in the farthest corner of the closet, and letting go of clutter not used for two years or more.
The season of Spring I relate to my outgoing and extroverted areas of life. Being inside both in Fall and in Winter makes me long for warmer days and the possibility to bask in the Sun with a touch of freshness and high spirit.
To enjoy my sweet dog lying in his basket outside, gnawing on a bone or with all four legs straight up in the air just being a dog, to watch my three philosophical cats in their garden den, half-sleeping curled up in a ball or sitting on one of the boxes or branches to watch me, that is animated setting.
The perfect frame for an early Spring picture to capture on my camera or to paint from memory is enhanced by flowers of all sizes and colors surrounding me everywhere in the garden. To me Spring is also my husband working hard to present wonders to me, the love of his life.
He is the love of my life, too. Without him I simply don´t know where to begin and where to end anything. He is my soul mate, my best friend, and my one and only. We owe each other much. We have been together for more than eleven years and been married in ten.
Summer
We have only just passed this year´s Summer, and already I long for the next to show up. I was born in Summer, I´m a Cancer, with Moon sign Cancer, and Rising in Leo. Here I gather energy and vitamin D enough for a year if possible.
I`m at my best during the year at this time. That doesn´t mean, however, that I lived happily ever after or rode into the sunset. My physical and mental ailments take their toll on me whatever season. But it is not so annoying and tiring when the weather is fair and warm.
Oh, those long, sweet Summer nights, gathered around a bonfire in the garden with the chosen family and the best friends to ever wish for. Sitting in silence, listening to the crisp, crackling sounds of the flames rising and lowering in their own natural rhythm, or talking about life´s diversity, laughing together at funny quotes and ourselves, I wish those days were here now.
The season of Summer I relate to my most private areas of life. I reload, so to speak. I gather my needed strengths to live a simple, yet complicated life with bipolar disorder and degenerative disc disorder in my lower back, And I have now learned to live with it controlled and still plenty of space to be just me, the way I am.
I try to take the light hours with me into the darker seasons. I need that to keep advocating for a positive outlook and to practice it myself as well. There is no need to recommend something, if you do not try it out yourself. So what I speak, I do. It can be as simple as that, and as difficult as that.
But life is not meant to be easy and laid back. If you want anything to happen, you need to do the work necessary. And there is also work to be done in the Summer season. The hardest work for me is to be more extroverted and to come out when the weather is too fair to let go of.
Being an introvert by nature, I´m inclined to withdraw from social activities, if there is too much going on with too many people. But in these months I´m more often outside, because we love to barbecue and play with the children of our sweet neighbors in the garden.
In conclusion …
… I relate all the seasons to other areas in my life than witchcraft and writing. I respond fast to changes in the weather, and I adapt myself to the corresponding changes in life, as the Wheel of the Year turns once again.
Today, things are beginning to fit together, once and for all. I´m at my best age. I have the necessary resources for being a writer and a witch, and I´m being kind to myself for the first time in my life. It´s about time, yes, and once you have stepped into the stage of Crone, there is no turning back.
I prefer the road not taken like Robert Frost.
It may be slippery at times, it may be challenging to walk that path, and it may be a path to transform along the way. But it is my path, and I´m proud of it.
Next time we meet on a Friday, dear reader, I´ll be writing about shadow work on the birthday of my grandfather on my mother´s side. Born in 1913, it is truly an ancestor I like to work with. I have a porcelain bear that he got after twenty-five years as a typographer/typesetter.
It resides in my permanent decorative altar, and every year at Samhain the bear is let loose on one of my altars that day and night. It is a mighty reminder of my inheritance of knowledge and an almost sixth sense for making words dance in the wind with a sound of music attached.
Whenever I do shadow work I make sure to be in a suitable mood. I never do it on days where I feel like shit, only when I feel fit for it. Shadow work is not to be taken lightly. It goes deep, because our shadow prefers darkness to light.
But when the basics are settled, then shadow work is a true delight. It is a way of getting to know myself better, so that I may present myself as positive as possible. Knowing that I´m not flawless. And thank the Universe for that.
Have a comfortable, pleasant and memorable weekend, dear reader.
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