Month: November 2020

Happens, when you are busy living your simple, yet complicated life, and then, out of nowhere, the world and people happen. The Coronavirus is bad enough. But I dread all the bullshit it its wake.

No need to inform you, dear readers and followers, just write mink scandal, and you can see and read your own conclusions. I only know that I´m happy that my life is as simple as possible.

No need to mention all the bullshit that seems to happen, when you are happy living your life. It is the world outside, not my daily world, oh yes it is, and I´m not amused as the late Queen Victoria would have said.

And no need to worry more than I already do, so this week I have been practicing several diversion techniques to better cope with the fact that the world is star crazy, and this year people are crazy in particular.

Necessary diversion is a list of strategies to use, when everything feels wrong, too fast, and scary. I´m into creative projects, but everything you love to do can be used as a way to a break from the world.

And this year has taught me many things, one of which is that I have to have some sort of protection against the overwhelming feeling of living in a horror movie, only the horror is extremely real these days.

My protection is also about my witchcraft practice, so in my next ritual that I´ll create this weekend, there will be attention to protection in general, house protection and personal protection.

I can wear jewelry, I can draw sigils, and I can create jars, potions, and spell bottles. The only issue is to choose the strongest possible mix of those things.

So my new creative projects are to create protection items than can be cleansed and consecrated in a ritual next week. It is Full Moon on Monday, so everything speaks for a ritual here.

At the moment, I´m re-writing old notes from my travel diaries. It is a fun and emotional journey to follow close. I also have a painting with water colors to continue with, a drawing to finish, and a colored pencil project.

Every time I feel too emotionally involved in the news stream, the press conferences, and the rising numbers, I go to one of my diversion projects and spend at least half an hour to calm down and to think positive again.

I have the time to do so because I´m early retired, but the technique is useful, whether you work or not. This way, I at the same time conquer both my anxiety and my bipolar disorder.

I had a good and life-affirming meeting with my new counselor yesterday. We talked about my life, the situation in the world, and useful ideas to learn to cope with a new normal.

Necessary diversion also happens when I´m busy doing something I love. If I do not control my time, I will forget it and keep on working with my project, until it is done.

When I concentrate, I do it like a pro. When I write that I soon will embark on my journey of research for my novel, I mean thorough research.

Things need to be closely examined, before I even consider using something for my novel. I´m a consequent boss for if something doesn´t sound natural, then I would rather rewrite than publish too soon.

This week has been busy. My husband has cleaned our kitchen and tidied his cabinet in our living room. In stages, of course, we are not 18 and 22 anymore.

But nevertheless, next Summer we can celebrate that we will be one hundred years old together, meaning my husband will be forty-eight and I will be fifty-two years old.

February 14th 2021, that date we will have known each other for twelve and a half years. It is a long time, but I would go all the way all over again, for my husband is the true love of my life, and vice versa.

By writing these lines, I just conquered a masked anxiety attack. I sensed the symptoms long before, it evolved, so I´m okay, thank you. It always happens, when you are busy doing something you love, like writing this.

Back on track again, this week has been pretty productive here, and we are close to the goal of overhauling the house and the garden to be presentable on pictures.

The little wise, old dog has also had a great week. He had his teeth fixed lately, and he doesn´t respond too well to anesthetics, so he has been poorly for a while, but he is okay again, thank you, dear Universe.

The whole week, I have listened to old school rock, beautiful ballads, and Danish music. I use music as an instant diversion, whenever I feel symptoms of anxiety. It calms me immediately.

Necessary diversion is also a positive way to control your response to what happens in the world of 2020. Therefore, I use my techniques as often as possible, and it helps so much.

I have laughed a lot more this week, been able to make my little extra daily effort, and had a great week almost without any signs of my different physical ailments and mental disorders.

The vaccines are coming, it is said. That´s great news, but I´m more interested in the practical implications for our little paradise here at my spot on Mother Earth.

So, we´ll wait as everybody else. And no more Corona in this blog post, thank you. I wish you a pleasant weekend, dear followers and readers. Please stay safe, please be careful, please be good to yourself.

So it is.

The pictures today are from my thanksgiving and gratitude ritual on Wednesday this week. The ritual itself lasted perhaps forty-five minutes. But the main conversation took a couple of hours.

It was true magick, because the atmosphere was calming, yet encouraging. There were lit candles and LED tea candles everywhere, I used sage as incense, and my close friend and I shared gratitude.

It felt so appropriate to share my ritual, talk about how much we should be grateful for, and create a feeling of happiness, inner peace, good health, and kindness.

When I finished tidying up after the ritual, I needed a big nap on the couch. I decided to wait for the writing part until today. Because true magick needs time to settle down in body, mind, and soul.

Yesterday, I met with my new counselor. We went for a long walk while we talked about my anxiety and my bipolar disorder. We will walk next Thursday again, because right now it is the best way to meet.

I will not have home visits until the numbers drop again. Right now, they are way too high for my comfort zone, and we stay as close to our home as possible.

She described a method to align expectations with my loved ones. Therefore, my husband and I have decided to talk daily at around eleven A.M.

Today, we talked for about ten minutes, but we agreed that the time span can be longer, depending on my mood on the day and how my husband feels about it.

That way, we will catch personal issues long before they evolve into trouble. And I know that I have time every day to talk if it feels necessary.

It has been a long week with my bronchitis and my husband´s sore throat. But things are positive here, nevertheless. I speak with my father three times a week now, and it feels good.

We don´t know if it will be safe for him to travel at Christmas, so we plan a holiday for my husband and me only. I want him to visit, of course, but I think he needs to stay safe, so I pray that it may be so.

True magick is what we create ourselves and together. And my ritual this week has worked its special magick. I sleep much better, my ailments grant me freedom, and I have expressed my need to talk.

May I last, but not least, introduce you to my friend, Michelle, the artist behind the drawing of the goddess Hekate in the second picture. She is skilled, meticulous, and very talented as an artist.

May your weekend be pleasant, dear readers and followers. Thank you for your choice to follow my journey as a writing witch. I will do my best every time to respond to such a trust.

So mote it be.

To Goddess Hekate

Queen of the Witches, the crossroads, and the Night,

Please, hear my words of gratitude,

Carried to You by the smoke

From this letter.

I count my blessings :

• The freedom of being able to live in perfect trust and perfect harmony
• Living with the love of my life, my dog, my cats, my family, and my friends
• The wonderful life here at this beautiful and creative place
• My creative, mental, and psychic abilities
• My good health, my possibilities, and my many memories in life

Without which I would not know my strengths.

I count my challenges :

• My past experiences that teach me how to learn my life´s lessons
• Transforming negative past experiences into positive future physical, mental, and spiritual events
• My anxiety, bipolar disorder, and physical ailments that teach me how to face my fears and fight
• The way people in my life act outside my control in times of trouble
• Unforeseen events outside my control, especially in times of trouble

Without which I would not know my weaknesses.

To Goddess Hekate,

Queen of the Witches, the crossroads, and the Night,

I thank You for the blessings and challenges in my life.

For all that I am grateful.

This is my letter of gratitude that I will use in my upcoming thanksgiving ritual next week. I will, of course, again walk you through my ritual by creating an atmosphere as if you are here with me.

It is a first-take letter that I wrote this Summer. I will burn it during my ritual for the Goddess Hekate with whom I feel a special bond as a witch and a becoming Crone.

It feels right to pick up that letter now. Many things have taken place these last couple of months, and I believe that it is time to create a beautiful thanksgiving ritual.

It is also an attempt of direct diversion from all the bad news that are haunting the world right now. I need to think of something better, and there a witchcraft ritual feels so appropriate.

To me, a letter of gratitude is appropriate, too. Especially, because I live a privileged life where the world outside my house and my garden are kept at bay to help me stay as sane as possible.

I wanted to share it with you, dear readers and followers. It is my hope that it will inspire, bring joy, and make room for positive reflections about life in general and this difficult era in particular.

There need to be positive moments a lot more these days than we are aware of as human beings. Let us send an online prayer to the Universe and join each other in creating a better world together.

It all begins with yourself and the attitude with which you meet both blessings and challenges. The attitude can be controlled, life will happen no matter what.

But we can take the first step by acknowledging that change begins with each of us. Before we take action and think with a positive outlook, nothing will be achieved.

I embrace change now and try to live in the present moment only. For the past is a constant, and nobody can promise a future. It is therefore up to ourselves to adapt to change and to change attitude.

May your evening be pleasant and comfortable, dear readers and followers. A letter of gratitude does not harm anybody or anything. It is, in fact, a fine way to do shadow work with a positive twist.

So it is.

My primary goal this 2020 is to remain as sane as possible. To do that demands lots of energy, determination and a long daily recess. And I´m slowly, but surely getting closer to that goal.

I take a look on the news stream to my morning coffee. I sigh, turn to my recess time and live my life. Because I can´t change anything but my own reaction to what I hear and see.

This week has been long, crazy, and tough. I had a good conversation with my new counselor with whom I will meet next Thursday. But it is no ordinary meeting between people in a private home.

No, due to the Corona precautions, we are to walk for half an hour outside, wearing face masks. But I need the help and the psychoeducation, so I agreed on doing it.

My daily recess time depends on my mood and how many chores there are to do. So some days I have longer time to do what I love the most to do.

The whole week, I have fought a nasty cold and bronchitis. I was tested for the Coronavirus before I could see a doctor. Thank you, dear Universe, I was negative.

But nevertheless, I have finished four canvases, illustrating the four elements, the four seasons, and the four directions. All symbolized in a tree in different colors.

I used a lot of glue and glitter, and for tonight I plan to create an abstract image on a canvas, with glue, glitter and artist tape. It is my reward for making it through this day that brought yet another press conference.

A daily recess is necessary for me because of my many different mental disorders and physical ailments. That became a good idea this week due to the many bad and shocking news in my country.

At the moment, 15-17 million mink are being euthanized around my country. We have mink farms close by, so we are as precautious as possible.

The worst part is that there has been incidents where the culling went wrong, where dead mink were dropped on the roads by mistake, and our government did not have the law behind them.

It is becoming a major political scandal in our country, although it is too risky for the public health to keep on producing mink. I agree that the risk is too big, but at least they can treat the animals correctly.

So, there have been extremely disgusting pictures and videos in the news. Especially those showing some of the mink mass graves was tough to watch.

Therefore, my daily recess time has gone up to whole days. I need to recover from a hard week. Today, I write and work with my creative spirit.

For the weekend I have absolutely no plans. Except from meditation time in my witch´s den with my Book of Shadows, my Spellbook, and lit candles.

I want to make a ritual of gratitude for next week. Where only positive matters are allowed. Where there is room for inner peace and happiness. And where beauty and calmness is the main priority.

Tonight, there is singalong night again in Denmark. I will watch it, and then I will go to my creative den and listen to even more music. Loud. Strong. Happy.

Diversion techniques are essential to my mental well-being, and I try to use every strategy available to keep on feeling well. I´m still in the high end of the scale, but I have discovered that I have rapid cycling.

Which means that I can be in both sides simultaneously. I can feel it, and some days it is so disturbing that I take the whole day out of the calendar and sleep instead.

I will discuss it more next week with my counselor, who I have asked to help me understand the implications of rapid cycling. The more I know, the more I can do to work with it in my everyday.

But today, I´m enjoying my daily recess in my creative den. It is warm and cozy here, I have everything I need close by, and there is a room full of peace.

May you also enjoy moments of inner peace, wherever you are, dear readers and followers. And let us light a healing candle of hope for the world tonight. So it is.

Yesterday, I had a mental fog, I slept most of the day, and the tears came forth like a tsunami, due to stress from the many press conferences, the news, and the world outside.

Therefore, writing would not have been the wisest tool to turn to. Witchcraft was impossible because I´m fighting coughs and sneezes and don´t practice magick when I don´t feel good.

Today, the tears come in more tolerable amounts, and writing seems to be my only refuge. Witchcraft I save for tomorrow, where I will meditate over a cup of chai tea and say a silent prayer to the Universe.

Today, I waited for the right time to begin writing, when yet another press conference was announced with short notice. We watched the necessary stuff and let the medias deal with the rising number of questions.

I took a couple of deep breaths, made my creative den warm and comfortable, and began thinking of why writing and witchcraft can help in times of trouble.

Writing is calming, mentally challenging, and fun. Witchcraft is soothing, spiritually enriching, and fun. Concepts that I search for during this damned pandemic with crazy stuff in its wake.

I need to divert myself a lot this year, because I don´t trust the human factor, and certainly not, when the shit hits the fan as much as it has been doing lately.

Going out is extremely stressful for me, and this crappy year only worsens my anxiety when among many people. I use almost every resource in me to come through a shopping trip outside my little peaceful town.

So I´m trying to protect myself from too much stress generated from the world outside. Therefore, I´m looking into the possibility of being tested in my home rather than standing in a long queue with cough and sneezes.

Writing helps me to think twice, to relax, and to breathe calmly. I can use this window to the world without having to actually go out there. For that I´m grateful.

Writing gives me the possibility to express my emotions and my thoughts, often more clearly than when I speak. Throughout my life, writing has been and is a loyal companion to trust, especially in times of trouble.

And writing refines my language, whether it is in American English or my native Danish. So, I love writing for its liberating momentum of the dance with the fingers.

Witchcraft helps me to find a spiritual reference point in the midst of chaos, to work at my own pace, and to focus my thoughts. I´m in my fifth year as a witch, and I´m grateful that I have chosen this path.

Witchcraft gives me the possibility to express myself creatively and to practice effective shadow work. For more than four years now, it has changed me for the better permanently.

And witchcraft refines my thoughts and emotions to a degree, where I find deep inner peace, serenity, and long-lasting emotional balance. So, I love witchcraft for its life-affirming feeling of happiness.

Stop …

We just learned that Mr. Joe Biden will be the next president of the U.S.A. And Mrs. Kamala Harris will be the first female vice president. Congratulations, America.

The first good and positive news for a very long time.

This is also help in times of trouble, and tonight, I´m proud to be a quarter American (my grand mother was born in the U.S.A, in Akron, Ohio).

It feels like true magick. And it is so liberating to write: Yes, yes, yes!

A light of hope is now lit. May it bring us all peace of mind, at least for a little while, before it is back to the “new normal” that was left in the ashes of my Samhain ritual.

So Mote It Be.

Yesterday afternoon, our prime minister told us that all mink on Danish farms are to be euthanized ASAP. Mutations of the Coronavirus has been found in mink, and 12people are affected already.

It has serious consequences, if the authorities do not respond to this. So, it is truly a sad day for Denmark. Until yesterday, we were the number one in the world regarding the production of mink fur.

My parents had a mink farm when I was a kid, so I know the drill, it is hard work. My thoughts today go to the brave people who are to do this. It is no fun at all, it is devastating for a whole trade.

But it would be so much more worse not to respond before it was too late. We are so lucky if this is stopped in due time. The consequences could affect this planet, and we must do all we can to take proper action.

It is estimated that this will cost the Danish state a huge sum of money. There are all the practical and logistical precautions, there are jobs to re-create, and there are families, generations to help.

So, I´m sad today. Because this also implies more restrictions that can be used wherever the authorities find it necessary. Therefore, I need to follow the news stream a lot more these days.

And it takes it toll on us all. I need to rant a bit today, I need to cry, and I need to divert my mind from this damned Coronavirus. Writing about it helps immediately, and there are both chores and creative projects.

We truly live in dangerous times, and at the same time, there is the American Presidential Election to follow close. I sincerely hope that Mr. Joe Biden wins, for four more years with Mr. Trump is scary.

To be able to breathe and fight my anxiety today, I think deliberately of the most positive things I can think of. My privileged life here, my family, my friends.

And I do the things I love to do at home. My husband went shopping this morning, so now there are four days before it is my turn to go. I did it the day before yesterday, but today I stay home.

I have an irritating cough, running nose, but luckily no fever. The kids next door will be tested for Coronavirus Saturday, and until we know any further, we take our strict precautions.

If the kids are positive, we will go for a test, too. We will do it anyway soon, because it is only appropriate to do so now. I´m sorry to have to write about such sad news, dear readers and followers.

But I feel I have an obligation to write, especially today of all days. For this is serious news. Worldwide, Denmark got its fifteen minutes of fame, yesterday afternoon was an eye-opener of dimensions.

The threat is simply too big a chance to take. With mutating potential and documented incidents already, we need to move fast. Also faster than we are used to here in Denmark.

Our county borders two counties with this threat only a few miles away from my spot on Mother Earth. We have mink farms close by, so we could potentially be under a severe lockdown too.

We shop as little as possible in physical shops effected immediately. We have a big retail chain, Bilka, with a To-Go concept, where you order from home, and they pack your goods and place them in your car.

We will try this for the next payday on November 30. However, I have absolutely no need to go shopping physically, if it is possible to buy online. And to stay home now feels like a sanctuary from a world in chaos.

A sad day for Denmark indeed, I will return tomorrow with a brighter post about how witchcraft and writing can help in times of trouble. Please be careful out there, people of the world.

Yesterday, I celebrated Samhain with my husband. In this blog post, you will find my photos of the event, so you can imagine the atmosphere that I try to bring forth, both here and with you.

I began several days before to plan my ritual. I always use a homemade worksheet because I personally can´t remember everything without notes and a certain structure around the ritual.

Right before the ritual, I enjoyed a hot and long ritual bath, where I used a mix of sage leaves, lemon oil, and Himalaya rock salt, which has a refreshing aroma.

I evoked the elemental forces of Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Spirit/Akasha, and I summoned my ancestors and my favorite Crone goddess, Hecate, the Queen of Witches.

Then I read a couple of beautiful and serious poems before taking a look into our New Year Wishing Box that I made in my second year as a witch. There were new changes to add, as life has been crazy lately.

We also shared a renewal spell for the new year and a wishing spell. Even my Tarot cards looked upon me with favor. I have been through a rough ride, and now it is time to harvest my hard shadow work results.

I used as many crystals and essential oils as possible because their presence assured me that things will turn out for the better in due time. I wore my best witch dress and my red cloak, too.

And yes, we used Halloween decorations, although we were celebrating the old ways rather than the modern edition. Sage was a pleasant and calming incense.

I have added two more daily altars to my collection. Now, I have five altars, where only one is permanent, the cabinet in my witch´s den. It would work well as an old curiosity shop.

I love second-hand shops and to use what I already have in new combinations. So I make a few changes in my witch´s den from time to time, which I hope you will like.

If it makes you feel at home, safe, and comfortable, my aim is reached. For cakes and ale, we only had chocolate and soft drinks. Perhaps next year, I will prepare a whole meal and share the recipe with you.

Today, I tidied the room, put the good stuff back in place, and rested for several hours in the afternoon. Tonight, I think of you, dear readers and followers. Please take extra good care of yourself wherever you are.