The Northern Witch' s Blog

This week is dedicated to my family and friends. Today, we are busy preparing for Christmas Eve tomorrow. We give our animals a special treat this evening, and we eat rice porridge for dinner. The last Christmas presents have to be wrapped when the children are sound asleep.

Tomorrow is the big day with delicious food, lots of candy, and Christmas presents for the children.  We will eat the roast pork and my favorite dessert, rice pudding with almonds and whipped cream added.

In the meantime, we talk about the old times before the world went crazy. Change is inevitable, but some changes are better than others. There are too much stress and unhappiness today, and we can only try to avoid it as much as possible.

Therefore, we have planned our shopping for the season carefully. We do it in the mornings when there are not so many people around as in the afternoons. And we try to spend as little time as possible on mundane matters.

Here, we have a basic plan to use when life throws new challenges at us. It is about handling as many mundane matters as possible without stress and worry. That way there is a mental surplus for the more demanding issues that often show up without warning.

It implies keeping a strict budget and staying true to our goals in life. We want to live a quiet, peaceful life where there is room for the little joys in life. We don´t believe in consumerism as a means to gain happiness.

On the contrary, our happiness comes from daily experiences with our rainbow family and our friends for life. It may be so that the money flow is low at times, but we have freedom in return, and in a year, the new car will be paid

Then we will be debt-free again, as we should be. Had it not been necessary to get a new car, we would not have bought one. So 2020 will be a quiet year economically. We are used to living with a tight budget so it doesn´t “hurt” us in the everyday.

This week is dedicated to the typical Danish Christmas traditions for the sake of our neighbor´s sweet children. As a pagan, I don´t celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas, but I love to see and hear the happiness in the children when they get their presents.

They are yet so young and believe in the tale of Santa Claus. They have a unique directness and speak their mind without hesitating as grown-ups often tend to do. And they are spoiled with love rather than materialistic plastic things.

Presents are often homemade here, and we re-purpose as much as possible without being saints. I need to save money for the bills, Nature needs that we take greater care of Her, and it is fun to create something new from something old.

We settled accounts with the past a couple of years ago and changed our lives permanently. It was a conscious choice, and we never look back again. It is a good life, safe and creative. It took quite a few adjustments, but today, we wouldn´t have it any other way.

Although it is family time, as my 81-year-old father is sitting right next to me while I´m writing, there is also room and time for my writing adventure. I gave myself thirty minutes to write this blog post, before my father and I are to play the guitars together.

Yes, I´m trying to learn to play the guitar. I love the feeling of sitting with it practicing to epic music that I would wish I had written. I´m a person with many an interest. So why not the guitar, too? And the drums, the keyboard, the music is essential to me.

I use music in my writing depending on my mood for the day. It helps me concentrate on my thoughts in a creative way. It inspires me, and it gives a natural flow in my writing when I´m at my best. Today, I´m doing my best, however, the osteoarthritis is hurting my hands.

It is especially annoying today because I´m practicing the art of writing a draft without editing it before it is written. I know that I probably will make some mistakes, but it is fun to try. And then my hands pull tricks on me so that I have to pause more times than I like to.

Anyway, life is rough but wonderful. So I keep dancing across the keyboard with my aching hands. Like in a waltz for life, like slow jogging in a forest, like a loving hug to a needing soul. Yes, I´m a writing addict.

Next Monday it is time for the last blog post of the year 2019. 2020 will bring major changes to this blog. I will only write once a week about either writing or witchcraft. And next month, I will be working with the techniques I have studied this fall and winter.

Today, I´m working with a character questionnaire for my protagonist in my novel. I have more clarity now after my studies of the art of writing a novel. For it is an art, it is full-time dedication, and it is hard work.

At the same time, every baby-step of the way, I learn new things about myself and the world I live in. The world has always been a crazy place. The terms of survival are just as tough today as they were at the beginning of our world as we know it.

But it is wonderful to be alive and present to experience it. I´m grateful for my family and friends, and now it is family time again. In six hours we will be eating our rice porridge and having fun together. And I know it will be true happiness.

Merry Christmas, dear readers, may your holidays be fun and life-affirming. As we will it, so mote it be.

Due to the Christmas celebrations and family visit, this blog post and the blog posts for next week are shorter than usual. Today, my father arrives in a couple of hours, and then it is family time with many hours of joy and happiness.

The Tarot cards are my means of looking into the future. I do not plan my life after the cards, but I use their advice to be more honest with myself so that I can make clearer decisions about important matters.

I use the classical Rider Waite standard Tarot deck. I like the layout, and I feel comfortable using them. I have a bought deck for the big spreads, but in general, I use a mini version of the deck that I have created from free material on the Internet.

I always make three Tarot spreads when the new year is almost here. I use spreads with many Tarot cards because I like to reflect on the developments during the year and to compare to the previous years.

The first spread is about my inner journey as a witch and as a human being. I ask questions about the developments during the year, lessons learned, and what I need to do to improve myself next year. The second and third spreads are about the potential events in the new year, spread over the individual months.

My guidelines for 2020 are to stay focused on my project about writing my first novel, to remember to take some time off from time to time, and to seek joy in the small moments with my family and friends.

This year has been hectic and busy. Last year, my Tarot spreads spoke about getting my health sorted out, about decluttering my many projects, and about letting go of the past. Today, I´m as healthy as I can be, I´ve decided to write a novel, and I let go of yesterday as often as possible.

Such guidelines are understandable and down-to-earth. I always ask my Tarot cards precise questions, and I never use Tarot cards if I´m not feeling well. As with any other magickal work, I only work when I feel fit for it. The results have taught me that.

To me, using Tarot cards is like listening to friendly advice. How I decide to use the advice is depending on my mundane situation. If the Tarot cards speak of inner work, then I often do take the advice into consideration. However, are they speaking of mundane issues, I take it with a grain of salt.

I take the Tarot seriously because of my personal experience with a professional Tarot reader. I tried to live my life after the cards, I tried to do plan against them, anyway, things happened as the cards had said they would.

So I trust my Tarot cards on the part of inner guidance. I often use the results from Tarot spreads to work with my inner shadows in shadow work and vice versa. It is becoming more and more precise the more I practice.

It has taken me three years to learn to work with my Tarot cards. 78 cards demand time and dedication to be fully understood and useful in a daily practice of witchcraft. I have studied them one card at a time, learned the symbols, and worked with the Fool´s journey.

But still, I have to make cross-references all the time because of the complexity of the Tarot. It is an old and refined Craft to learn to work with on a daily basis. Today, I use both physical cards and an app for my cell phone, so I´m always close to my Tarot cards.

I use my cell phone on bad osteoarthritis days and whenever it comes in handy, like e.g. while I´m waiting for a doctor´s appointment. But on major occasions like the festivals of the Wheel of the Year, I use the big deck that I bought many years ago.

The deck has followed me ever since, and I like the feeling of old cards in my hands. And I have future plans about designing and creating my own special deck. But that´s in the future, the next year it is about writing my first novel.

My yearly spreads stress the importance of being as prepared as possible before engaging in such a major project. And equally important is to remember to take the necessary time off to be with my family and friends,

It corresponds well with what I´m already doing. So I have decided to take the advice with me and to do my very best when the writing begins for real from March 1, 2020. The challenge will be to find the time for witchcraft as well as writing.

But I have my daily mini-rituals to turn to, and with careful planning I´m sure it will work out well in the end. I need to have both writing and witchcraft in my life because they make me whole as a human being, as a writer, and as a witch.

The Tarot cards also showed a need for inner shadow work. So that will be my main concern in January where I like the darkness the least. It is suitable, too, for in my novel I´ll be working with the darker shadows of human nature. As I will, so it is.

Next Friday, I´ll show you my witchcraft study plan for 2020. Due to the ongoing work with my novel, I know that I will spend most of my time writing it. In return, I´ll create my own Tarot spreads for the festivals and the celebration of the New and the Full Moon.

Now, I´ll wish you a wonderful weekend filled with both peace and creativity. In less than two hours, my 81-year-old father will be here with us. I can´t wait to give him a big hug and sit and listen to him telling about other eras from long ago.

It took me fifty years to name myself a writer. I´m proud of trying to be one. And I´m grateful that I have both the time and the necessary resources to spend my time writing, It makes me happy to write, and it gives me a life quality that is difficult to describe and show at the same time.

But I dare to try for I cannot resist the temptation to sit down every day to write. It is to kiss the dragon´s tail, it is calming and life-affirming, and it is a true gift. Thank you, dear Ancestors, for leaving such a legacy.

My lifestyle is partly pagan, partly mundane. My lifestyle as a writer is direct, consistent, and dedicated. I take it very seriously and use every opportunity to get behind the keyboard or to grab a pen and paper.

There is always something to write something about. The world is full of opportunities if you only dare to live life in the present moment and enjoy it. Even on the worst possible day, there is always something to say and do.

I don´t preach any particular doctrine, my self-respect is not for sale, and I never back down. What I write about, I know about. I know that change is inevitable in life and that the response to fear is not to run, but to fight back and stand your ground.

To make the best out of everything is my motto. In life, you have to adapt to both fair and unfair terms, Sometimes there are challenges to overcome and learn from. Sometimes there are sweet moments without stress and worries. And sometimes there are both at the same time.

I believe that I might as well try to have a positive outlook and I try to do what I say I will do. I can be brutally honest at times, but I prefer that to any attempt to avoid the truth. I hate lies and what they bring with them to the people involved.

The positive outlook has helped me overcome quite a few direct blows from life. I carry it with me always, for you never know when the shit hits the fan again. Best as you feel sure that nothing else is about to happen, there it comes, just as unexpected as the one before it.

I´m getting used to deal with life as it is. I´m grateful for all my experiences, though. It gives me the inspiration to write stories worth reading. They have all played a part in who I am becoming as a writer and as a human being.

My aim with my writing is to write in a way that will make the readers feel that they are in the middle of a motion picture. It is the genre that thrills me, for a psychological thriller touches all the senses if written well. And I want to touch the readers, to thrill and to entertain.

A small glimpse into my writing world

Today, I´m in my living room with two lit candles, I listen to epic orchestral music, and I´m inspired by the motion picture “The Godfather” that was shown last night on TV. A masterpiece in writing, directing and acting. My favorite motion picture has taught me many things.

I have watched it so many times that I don´t count anymore. And every time there is something new to discover. That´s art, and I love it. The characters, the setting, the plot have an outstanding dramatic effect.

The following two evenings, I´ll be watching the second and the third motion picture in the “Godfather” trilogy. So tonight and tomorrow night, I ´ll take a well-deserved break from my writing adventures and enjoy art when it is best.

A small glimpse into my writing world includes my setup at my writing station. I have my notebooks and pen and paper ready because I write in hand as often as possible for my osteoarthritis. Next to that is my little basket with pens, my calendar and the book that I´m currently reading.

At this time of year, I´m either here or in my creative den, depending on my mood for the day. It is too cold to sit at my permanent writing desk, and I need to arrange better light in my witchy den before I can use it for writing purposes as well.

But in the Spring, I expect to switch between my working stations, depending on what feels best on the day. And of course, to sit outside in the garden and write too is a major goal for me. When the weather is fair, and there are green leaves on the trees.

Until then, I stay inside and allow myself to enjoy this dark season. It is perfect for writing on a daily basis. And day by day, my daily writing routine evolves. Now, it is a perfect daily routine after and between my mundane chores and my work with witchcraft and other creative purposes.

To write has become a daily pleasure that overrules any sign of a bad day. It calms, it soothes, it heals to write. I spend about two hours warming up with emails and interesting blog posts of the day. After that, I begin working with my notes from the day before.

Then, I either write new notes or practice a technique I have studied. And last, but not least, I spend about an hour contemplating the plot for my novel. In the evenings, I always have some notes to rewrite and something to do if there are no plans with family and friends.

So I work a lot, every day. But I also have many days where I can´t work effectively due to pain or other side-effects from ailments and prescription medicine. Then I work with the voice recorder on my cell phone instead. It took some time to adjust to but now it is both practical and fun.

About my new lifestyle as a writer

It is still all so new to me, being a writer, spending countless hours in solitude. But I can´t help loving it all the way. Writing gives me the mental surplus necessary to cope with life´s many challenges. When I´m writing, I feel happy, content, and at home.

Writing reduces my level of anxiety, writing is my favorite tool for coping with my physical and mental ailments, and writing makes my daily life a lot easier. Without it, I would feel lost. For here I can express myself in the best possible way.

I have stories to tell, ideas to evolve, and opinions to discuss. Every day, I wake up happy and ready to work with something I love. To write my first novel is one of the best decisions in my life. Already I have learned so much and tried so many new things.

It is a lifestyle for me now. Now, I can´t imagine life without writing. It is something that I will keep on doing no matter what. Although there is more work to it than expected, it is the perspective of reaching the last sentence with the words the end that hooks me.

I admit it freely, I´m a writing addict. I feel restless when I´m not able to write for a longer period of time. I feel calm again, the moment I´m back behind the keyboard or with a pen in my left hand. So it has become essential to write every day.

But the mundane world and my family and friends come before anything else. Writing is therefore always second to the real world, and it should be. It must never overshadow life in general, so I´m careful to plan my writing so that there is always time for other important matters.

There is also my second passion, witchcraft, to consider. I have daily mini-rituals that I cherish and enjoy for at least twenty minutes every day. It covers my spiritual needs in more ways than I have words to express.

So, I love writing, but it does not overtake my life. My most cherished moments are related to family and friends. However, writing makes me feel that I use my talents for something positive, rather than sitting on the couch all day with nothing to do. Been there, done that.

Being early retired means that I have to do something myself to stay occupied with some kind of work. And why not writing, when I have my way with words, and it makes me mentally alert and happy. So, yes I name myself a writer.

I´m very serious about my writing, If I want to invest time and other resources, I must also be prepared to do the necessary hard work. My deadline for the first draft is December 31, 2020. It should be an attainable goal. I want to give it a try, and I believe that I will reach my goal. So it is.

My writing and reading plans for the remains of the year

My writing plans include the last four blog posts this month, grammar notes, and ideas to the plot of my novel. I prepare for my father´s visit from Friday this week. So I´ll write the blog post for this week and the next in advance.

I have also planned the work for the Christmas holidays, and it is restricted to taking some notes while my father has a rest in the afternoons. That week is dedicated to family time, but my family knows and accepts that I need to write something every day, so I still have an hour or two daily to write.

This way I get to practice how to keep a deadline and write at least 3-500 words daily. And in only fifteen days from now, I´ll be practicing the writing techniques I have studied this fall and winter so far. It is e.g. stream of consciousness, foreshadowing, and the difference between to tell and to show.

Soon also it will be February 2020, where I´ll use the month to plot and outline my novel. After that, it is writing time for real. Then it will a goal every day to write between 3-500 words daily for the novel. There will be some days with less or more than that. But it is my goal to accomplish it.

My reading plans include that I finish “How to write a damn good thriller” by James N. Frey and a novel that has been left alone for a couple of months. It is part of a series of historical fiction, so it takes some time to read through.

Living a writer´s lifestyle is exciting, demanding and fun. There is always something to read and something to write. It never gets boring because I´m my own boss. I write because I can´t resist the temptation to try.

I´m happy and content that I choose to become a writer. I dare to be proud because it is a great pleasure to be one. It is mentally stimulating to write. And the art is to try to make it better after each writing session, to make music out of words, and to make the reader want more.

I get up every morning in the hope of this day to find the right words to write. Some days get pretty close to that but there are also many days where even a single paragraph feels like going uphill. Today has been a little bit of both.

It has been one of the tough pain days, but I have managed to write this blog post anyway. It still hurts like hell, but I don´t mind it today. I´m too inspired, too happy, and too content to worry much about something that I only can change my attitude to.

What´s left for today is to wish you, dear readers, a fantastic week, and to relax to the second motion picture in the “Godfather” trilogy.

Yesterday, we celebrated both the Full Moon and Yule/Winter Solstice. I know it is an early celebration, as the Winter Solstice is first on December 21, 2019. But I decided to perform the ritual a week before because my father will be here next Friday to celebrate the Christmas holidays with us.

I planned the ritual the day before so that I had a couple of hours to set up altars and light the Yule log that my husband has made for me. I also took a ritual bath with a homemade bathing salt consisting of dried sage leaves, Himalaya rock salt, and lemon oil.

It is so refreshing to bathe with. The aroma stays in the bathroom for a long time, and it is easy and cheap to make. I plan to make a recipe notebook when I get the time to it. At the moment, it is mainly daily mini-rituals and the eight major festivals in the Wheel of the Year that I celebrate.

It was also renewing to celebrate the Full Moon. In 2020 I will try to follow the New and the Full Moons, so I plan my spell work around them.

My interpretation of the meaning of Yule

To me, Yule means the rebirth of the Sun, and the Winter Solstice is the first turning point in the Winter season. The shortest day and the longest night of the year are symbolic of the battle between light and darkness.

Where everything is connected, where one cycle replaces another, where there is a natural balance between the two.

Yes, I believe in rebirth, and I celebrate the cycle of the Sun. From December 21, 2019, the Sun will grow powerful and warm us all again to its peak at Litha/the Summer Solstice on June 21, 2020. I watch it happening every year, and this is a happy time.

This is the first breakpoint in the Winter season. From now on, the Winter has to fight with the Sun. And every time the Sun will win. The second breakpoint comes at Imbolc on February 1, 2020. It is the promise of Spring, it is inspiring during the long and dark Winter months, and it is a renewal each time.

To celebrate the light in the midst of darkness is life-affirming. We needed something to celebrate due to the news about my husband´s health. It is never easy to wait for answers. Fortunately, things were as they should be. So we are saved for this time.

My own health is a mixture of the highs and lows in a bipolar mind, of physical ailments and pain, and of the appreciated days without any side effects. My husband made me a healing candle the other day and read the spell aloud himself, too. Yes, he has an active part in my work with witchcraft.

Full Moon and Yule ritual

I called the elements around noon yesterday. I used aromatherapy (geranium) and crystals (moonstone, lapis lazuli, amethyst, clear quartz, and sunstone). There were Full Moon invocation and prayers, and then there was my Yule ritual.

I stood in front of my ritual altar, facing East to great the Sun, with my athame in my raised hand. I read a beautiful poem that welcomed the Sun. And I smudged myself and everything in my den with homemade sage incense.

The Tarot cards spoke of a need for contemplation and finding inner peace by doing shadow work soon again. To me, it means that I need to work a lot with the plot for my novel and that it will be worth the effort to work with my own shadows as well.

The ritual ended with a prayer of gratitude. At this time of year, it is good karma to show gratitude for what the old year brought of experiences and challenges. But I´m also grateful for all the possibilities that follow a fresh new year.

Creating traditions in a rainbow family

When we celebrate the Christmas holidays, we do it as pagans with a touch of childish joy. There is nothing like the joy in a child´s eyes when he or she still believes in the magick of Santa Claus. Christmas Eve is getting a tradition, as it is our second year we are spending it with our neighbors.

To us, the major point is to have a good time together, to eat delicious food and to give gifts to the children. We celebrate throughout December with homemade Christmas decorations, pancake puffs, and often also homemade gifts.

We are not following any traditions but our own. We prioritize quality time where we do things together and enjoy the company of sweet children who are eager to participate. Tomorrow, we will make ornaments for the Christmas tree in our local store, for the children, there are a treat and a meeting with Santa Claus himself in return.

We call ourselves a rainbow family for it is a chosen family, although it´s not in the blood. We like each other and function well together. And we are friends for life. It´s a wonderful privilege to be a part of a family with children, and it feels secure and safe. It feels like coming home.

Celebrating the coming of the light

The Yule log is still on my daily ritual altar and will remain there for the rest of this month. I like the idea of the Sun getting stronger by the day after the Winter Solstice. I always use a lot of candles in the Winter season.

It is my way of celebrating the coming of the light. But I also embrace the darkness for without it there would be no light and vice versa. It is a fragile balance between light and dark, and the core issue is to recognize that nothing is ever one hundred percent black and white.

It is in the shadows that you truly get to know yourself. So this time of year is a time of contemplation and deep inner shadow work, where I touch the sensitive parts as well as the areas of my life that I consider safe.

Nothing is sure in life with the exception of change. I may not be able to change what happens but I can change my attitude toward it. I may have to adapt to unwanted changes but I can choose how I respond to them, how many resources I invest in them, and how I handle the consequences of them.

And so I changed when I invested myself in the Craft. It´s a journey of a lifetime. I´m grateful I chose the path of witchcraft. It is the right path for me. And it has helped me so much since I embarked on this solitary quest.

Life as a writing witch and a witchy writer

The combination of being a witch and a writer is a wonderful experience to try out for real in a mentally cluttered world where everything else is so dreadfully hectic, where the big issue, even in a so-called modern society, still is the dance around the golden calf, and where the majority keep silent.

I often feel overwhelmed after a planned shopping trip. Why does everything have to be done in such a hurry? It is an enigma to me how people can believe that this is the only way to move forward in life. No thank you, please, let me live my simple, yet complicated life exactly as it is.

Living in the moment becomes essential after such stressful experiences

I retreat to my writing as often as I work with witchcraft. I like to combine things and draw on as many different resources as possible. So it is a privilege to write about the things I cherish the most after my health, my family, and my friends.

Therefore it is so important to me that I deliver something worth reading in return.

Witchcraft has given me inner peace and calm, qualities much appreciated here. It has enabled me to learn more about myself than I else would have been able to. It gives me hope, it inspires, it makes me whole as a human being.

It is a way of life, and it is a matter of changing attitudes toward many things in life. Life has become more simple, more understandable, more enchanted with witchcraft and writing.

I´m happy about yesterday´s ritual. Although it was my first ritual in my new year as a witch, it was at the same time the last in the old calendar year. Now there is only my yearly Tarot spreads left to consider, before it is time to plan new things to study in 2020.

Soon it´s family time again

I ´m looking forward to meeting my father again next Friday. In January 2020 he will be eighty-two years old. We live far from each other, so it is always a great joy to be with him. Our time is sacred in that we take the time necessary to talk about life´s many experiences.

The writing and the witchcraft are still here, though. I take also great care of myself, and I need to write daily to be truly happy. So I have saved notes that can be written while at the same time having a good time with my father.

But I have planned ahead, so the blog post for the weeks 51-52 will be written next week. That way I save more time to be with my father without compromising my other needs. I know it will be busy next week, and therefore, I take even more good care of myself than usual.

And here both writing and witchcraft come in handy. I use often writing as an inspirational bait to prevent me from procrastinating, which is a recurring issue at times. And witchcraft helps me balance my life better.

My family and friends know and accept that I´m a combination of a human being, a writer, and a witch. And I can´t wait to celebrate a pagan version of Christmas Eve with them.

Yet there is a whole week to prepare for seven days with my father and our rainbow family. Time is used with care, for we know by experience that things do take more time when a seasonal festival is coming up.

We still need to buy some of the food needed for seven days of treats, and we try to mentally prepare ourselves for the craziness that we meet when we are out shopping. I know there must be time to relax and regain our strength, so Thursday next week is saved for exactly that.

What to expect about this blog in 2020

I have now decided that due to my current project with my novel I will only publish once a week on this blog in 2020. I will also shift between witchcraft and writing as I do today, but it will be one week about witchcraft and the next with writing.

This week, I had to buy a new car, the old car is way too expensive to repair, and therefore my budget for 2020 does not include money for blog purposes. The only exception is the Grammarly upgrade. But, on the other hand, my blog is about the content, not the fancy look.

I will in return re-read my old blog post and update them as I find necessary. There are probably many mistakes to learn from, so I will spend a couple of weeks in January 2020 to overhaul my blog.

Now, I will use the remains of the day to completely relax and do as little as possible for a couple of hours before bedtime. Maybe there is a good movie on the TV, there is room for hope, anyway.

May your weekend be blessed and filled with joy, dear readers. May your life be blessed and filled with life-enriching experiences. May you find soothing inner peace and happiness.

Half-way through my research period, I´m busy studying and learning as much as possible about how to write a novel. My recommendation is to read a lot, especially concerning the genre of the novel. So it is both work and pleasure to read what other writers have done before me,

My notebooks are almost full, yet there is still much to do before I´m truly ready to sit down and do the writing part of my novel. I´m only a few weeks from practicing the techniques I have learned about. And soon it will be time to outline and plot the novel.

My dream has evolved into hard work on a daily basis. But I believe that a good start is half the battle, so I want to be as prepared as possible. I no longer count the hours, and I like my work. It is essential to have the basics in place, and the work can be used for more than one novel.

I´m also reading about psychological thrillers. They can keep the reader in a tight grip if written properly. And they can be both scary and interesting to watch in a motion picture. There are so many possibilities to choose from, and it thrills to the bone if luck strikes and I´m able to do it myself.

I know that I can write well, and I know that I can write my novel in another language than my native Danish. But I have the greatest respect for the writers before me. So I´m also nervous at times. Is my idea strong enough to carry a full-length novel? I believe it is.

It is that belief that keeps me writing and reading every day. The idea is slowly taking shape. My next research adventures are how to create a character-like setting, American English idioms, and the darker sides of human nature.

At the same time, this process is a healing one. I can release a lot of negativity when I´m writing about the darkness in the human light that creates villains and flaws in us all. And after good writing session like today, I always feel relaxed and filled with inner peace.

Even on days where nothing seems to work for me, I´m able to relax. I know that I have done my best for the day. I then finish marking the critical passages for tomorrow´s session. Usually, a good night´s sleep helps clarify a lot of things.

The good part of being in the process of writing a novel is that it keeps me motivated, the more I learn about the craft. The joy of reading other writers´ work is even bigger when you read with their techniques in mind.

The essence of the art of writing is to keep on doing it, no matter what. I will not be stopped by writer´s block anymore is my message to myself that I insist upon daily. There is always something to read and write.

Establishing a daily writing routine

My daily writing routine has evolved from being something I had ideas for but never did into a serious and yet alluring thing. I´m used to hard work, and it is hard to be a writer on some days. It is important to sit down and do the work, but it is equally necessary to leave the work and take reasonable breaks.

Physical exercise is easy with the little wise, old dog who loves to go for a walk.And the mental aspects are easily covered with daily chores and everyday life. Then the writing becomes work but also a mental retreat from the outside world.

I need that retreat, for I have been busy doing anything but save time for writing. Until now, at fifty years of age, now it is finally possible to reserve time for writing without having to compromise other parts of my life.

My writing time is sacred. I listen to music while I write, but I don´t otherwise use the Internet, my cell phone or any other unnecessary gadget. When I write, I´m concentrated on that process and not anything else. It depends, however, on what I´m writing.

When I´m writing notes, I may have the TV on instead of music, because I like to listen to it rather than watching it. When I´m writing outside in the garden, I like the combination of birds singing and the radio playing the latest tunes.

I have several workplaces to choose from. Today, the living room was chosen for I didn´t have then mental surplus to carry my writing gear to my creative den. My osteoarthritis is being mean today so I take good care of myself. I do things more slowly and relax much.

That means that I cannot write more than a thousand words in the blog post today. My hands hurt too much. I hate when it is like this. But there is nothing to do about it other than recording my thoughts and ideas with the sound recorder on my cell phone.

I plan my workday from the status of my ailments in the mornings. And I plan, knowing that there will be days like this. Therefore, I have a goal of only a thousand words per writing session. I´m thrilled when I achieve more than that. But I only use word counting to warm up, so to speak.

It is the content that matters in the end. And I would rather write less than I would deliver something below my best. Today is not a bad day besides the pain in my hands, and then there is more time to read. Currently, I´m reading three different books about writing.

So work will be done like every other day, just not the typing part. Next Monday I´ll write about my lifestyle as a writer to give you a glimpse into how my writing world looks and feels like. May your week be creative and positive, dear readers.

Today, it is often difficult to adapt to the demands of modern society. We need to convey ourselves as perfect as possible, for every sign of different behavior is frowned upon as weaknesses and too much individuality.

Have you noticed how many people, in general, tend to run after the latest trend in style and outer appearance? Have you stopped up and just listened to what people are saying? Have you thought about why a rising number of people turn from the conventions and try to develop their own?

Maybe it is due to the unwritten rules of society where everybody must fit in at any cost to not be ridiculed or mocked by someone who always knows better no matter what. It is especially tough to be different on social media, where the tolerance level is zero.

Besides the annoying follow-me trends, it is getting more and more boring to live as everybody else seems to be doing these years. Why does everything have to be done so perfectly, and who has set these rules anyway?

Oh yes, those who want to make big money, they know the game. They set the rules by pumping unnecessary and expensive gadgets into a stuffed market where the general population is running around as blind chickens in a game they have lost before they even begin.

During this time of year, it is especially discouraging to look at other people´s behavior. There is nothing wrong with the Christian celebrations of Christmas. But what is the message of Christmas? Is it about spending way too much money on presents? I think not.

In my country, we have easy access to fast money from many new loan companies and banks. But the bills have to be paid next month, and then we have the show with money worries and divorces afterward. At the same time, it is a grim misuse of resources for the no other reason than surpass last year´s spending. We celebrate Christmas here for the sake of the neighbor´s children only.

But we don´t have a budget to spend like crazy, and we don´t bend to unwritten rules of behavior. We have chosen to live our own life. We have chosen a pagan lifestyle. We have chosen to be ourselves. And it is our best decision ever.

We create our own traditions in our chosen rainbow family and don´t follow the latest trends. Even though we had the money, we would still not follow any unwritten rules about spending like everybody else.

We have everything we need and much more than we think we have. It is a conscious choice to live a pagan lifestyle. It makes things so much easier, it makes us happy, and it makes life a much greater joy than it was before this.

A choice for the rest of my life

The choice to become a witch was easy. I have seen what I wanted, I have heard my melody. The modern world is too hectic, too much, too crazy. I lost my beautiful classic car to a joyride for someone to enjoy three years ago.

I lost my ability to provide for myself at the age of 41. I had to do something other than to sit on my couch all day. And besides writing, witchcraft has been a life-changing choice. I have not forgotten anything, but I have learned the lesson about forgiveness.

To forgive is perhaps not the easiest choice to make. But it sure helps and heals. Witchcraft helps me learn to forgive for it makes me happy, it gives me inner peace, it affects my mental health positively, and it makes me want to be kind.

Letting go of what no longer serves me is a great way of getting rid of negativity in general. To forgive is to let go of the past and focus on the present moment. The only moment we humans can truly embrace, for the past is a constant, and the future is unknown territory.

It is an active choice where you do exactly what you say you will. There is no hidden agenda here. Things are out in the open, no matter how difficult an issue can be. And you learn soon that we take great care of each other in our little rainbow family.

It is also a choice for the rest of my life. 50 years old means business, it is so much easier to decide what you want and what you say no to. The art of saying no for the right reasons is tricky to learn, especially in a modern society where you are expected to say yes no matter what.

So, I say no to modern consumerism, quirky ideas of impossible imperfection, and weighing everything in money terms. Money is a necessary means to survive today. But money shouldn´t be the only issue worth fighting for, should it?

And I say yes to witchcraft as my pagan lifestyle. That doesn´t mean disrespect to other beliefs, but this is mine. It has meant a notable difference in my life. My mental health has never been better, and it relaxes my mind, body, and soul.

I was tired of many things three years ago on Samhain Eve, October 31, 2016. My world broke down, it took me a couple of years to recover. Today, I feel differently. Now, it is possible to live well with the scars from life´s many experiences.

Witchcraft and living a pagan lifestyle has changed my outlook on many things. But it has most of all taught me how to find happiness on a strict budget and with a big mixture of memories and feelings. It has given me inner peace, which to me is essential in being happy. Happiness is to live peacefully.

Everyday magick

It is in everyday life that I find most of my magick. The miracle of following a plant from seed to flower is as much magick as is the smile from my husband whenever our eyes meet. It is pure magick to walk with the little wise, old dog and to hear the three philosophical cats purr after their dinner.

It is in the little things that we share on a daily basis. Witchcraft enhances natural magick by using the senses to interpret life as it is. The beauty is in its simplicity. With only a few tools and small, daily mini-rituals, there is always witchcraft in our lives here.

Of course, there are also bigger festivals when all the good stuff is put on the altars. Newt week we celebrate Yule a little earlier than we use to. My 81-year-old father comes for the Christmas holidays, and we have only seven days together.

More would be too much for both of us, and therefore, we use time wisely. When we are together, we chat about the old times, about our loved ones gone before us to the Rainbow Bridge, about life. I will also write the blog posts the week before so there is as much time as possible.

I have several daily mini-rituals that I use depending on my mood and the resources available. Today, it is only two lit tea candles in the window sill in my creative den. The weather makes a contrasting setting, as it drizzles and the wind is rather harsh.

Musical magick in my ears, coffee ready to be taken in, a walk with the little wise, old dog and a new dog friend to get to know. Everything is magick at this moment, as I sit here behind the keyboard and try to write about my pagan lifestyle.

It all depends on how you perceive the concept of magick. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, it is said. But I think it is beautiful in every sense of the word that we are so lucky to have a life to live, no matter how tough the terms may be.

The key to my happiness lies in small things in life, things that are often taken for granted in this hectic, modern world of ours. The way my husband sighs in his afternoon sleep. The way my little wise, old dog wags and smiles his love to me. And the way I feel when I have a philosophical cat at my side.

Right now, my youngest cat, Milo, lies next to my laptop with a single paw following my fingers dance across the keyboard. He is always playful and sweet, and today he chose to help me write this blog post.

As the weather worsens, so do we withdraw to our living room. We have a big house, so we practically live there most of the winter season to save money on the central heating bill. We need to go shopping for a few daily necessities, but the weather has also magick to it.

It is all about choosing the right clothes for the journey and then to take a deep breath and go for it. And when it is all over, we will be happy that we did it. It is always refreshing to experience the elements roaring around us.

This weekend I´m hosting a seven-year-old and and three-year-old, both girls in the age where everything is yet exciting and new. So I´ll be busy and probably very tired afterward, too. There is also a Yule ritual to prepare and care for.

But it is the kind of magick that I´m writing about. Down-to-earth and simple and easy to adapt to a stressful modern world is my kind of witchcraft. That way I know I get to use my tools and ritual gear on a daily basis rather than occasionally at the bigger festivals.

Living a pagan lifestyle is easy. It is a choice, and I know what I´m choosing not to have in my life anymore. Negativity has no common ground here. I also say goodbye to modern stress and to keep on buying for the sake of buying.

When I occasionally go out to more than my local shop, I´m always extremely tired and used up for that day. I plan my shopping with great care. I only buy what I can afford, and I don´t like to lend money.

Living a pagan lifestyle on a budget is a privilege, and I´m grateful for every day of my life. I have everything I need, and I don´t need the latest gadget or to adapt to the newest trend whatsoever. Life is just easier without all that plastic and frankly spoken loads of crap that are sold way too expensive.

It is freedom not to feel a need to run after the same things as everybody else. It is freedom to choose one´s own lifestyle with care for Nature. And it is freedom not to have to depend on the terms of others. For that. I´m very, very grateful.

In my next blog post about witchcraft, I´ll try to show you how we celebrate the festival of Yule and the Winter Solstice. From December 21, 2019, the Sun will grow more and more powerful, and the darkness will retreat to its cave.

It is a joyful time of year. We are already celebrating some of the Christian Christmas traditions with the children next door. To me, the Christmas holidays are for family reunions and cozy times talking and having fun together.

Christmas is about spending valuable time together, not about how much money we spend on presents and accessories. The message from Christmas was originally about hope for humanity. I don´t see how today´s craziness in the shops reflects that. But then again. I´m pagan.

May you have a great weekend, dear readers. Now it is time to relax and enjoy life as it is.

Never has a phone call been more welcome. My husband is well, no serious challenges to face, only to live life to its fullest.

Thank you, dear Universe.

Sitting in an old creaky chair in my creative den an icy cold Monday morning, I´m contemplating how it will be to plan my novel in early spring 2020. I´m preparing myself, my family and my friends for a unique journey in which things will run fast across the keyboard.

On Black Friday of all days possible, I found five simple A4 notebooks. They are for my novel, for the handwritten parts of it, for countless hours of equal parts of fun and fear. The joy of writing versus the fear of not being good enough is my cross to bear as a writer and as a human being.

It all began with four simple sentences that soon became an idea, many notes, and half a page with dialog. Before I knew of it, I just felt that I had to do this. For I have stories to tell, I want to write the novel I have always wanted to write.

Now that the journey is ongoing, it is like steering a ship on the loose in a sea of turmoil. It is hard work, but I can´t help but love to do it. I admit frankly that I´m a writing addict, and it is becoming more and more obvious in my daily life.

I can´t wait to get a pen and paper or the keyboard in the mornings, I always carry a notebook with me wherever I go, and I´m always on the lookout for snappy dialog and relevant conflicts. Form early morning to late evening, you can find me writing on something.

I´m sharpening my tools, preparing for a whole year with almost endless possibilities. It is a true privilege to be able to put aside 365 days for one´s favorite activity. Without any other deadlines than my own, which is December 31, 2020.

Planning a novel also means re-arranging your plans as the main idea develops. I´ve bought a corkboard that will be my storyboard when I begin to plot for real in February 2020. Right now, I have a short outline of my story, but I´m not ready to work with the outlining process just yet.

I need to finish my notes, to practice the techniques I´ve studied, and to attain as much knowledge as possible about psychological thrillers. I want to be well-equipped before I embark on the second part of this long journey, the drafting period from March 1, 2020.

And then life happens in between writing and contemplating. Tomorrow, we are going to the hospital with my husband for some answers that we need to the questions we don´t dare to ask. It has been two weeks with the kind of ticking clock that nobody wants near.

I will consecrate a healing candle for my husband tonight accompanied by a prayer of release. It is a long time to wait for answers, and I´m grateful it is over by tomorrow. We´ve been through hell, my husband and I.

From general to detailed research

Day by day, I work my way through the vast territory of writing a psychological thriller. I just finished my general research. Now it is time for the details, the setting, the techniques behind it all. My ring binder filled with notes will also contain maps, drawings of scenes, and lists with plot twists.

My plans also include upgrading my free version of Grammarly, as I find it extremely helpful in my daily writing. I´m currently studying American English grammar, and I know that I make some mistakes here on this blog. I´ll try to be as correct as possible, the more I learn.

But as with everything else, my budget needs to balance, so I´ll buy tthe upgrade from March 1, 2020, where I begin writing the first draft for my novel. In the meantime, I´ll do my best not to make too many silly mistakes here.

This sugary sweet Christmas season is in no way matched by the plot in my novel. A psychological thriller needs to thrill the reader on the edge of the seat. That and nothing less is what awaits me in the new year.

I believe that if what I write is scaring me, then there should be a chance that it will scare the readers too. And I´m writing about what scares me the most. That is the way we humans treat each other psychologically when the shit hits the fan, pardon my French.

I have experienced enough for a lifetime with other human beings, in high as well as low places, for better or for worse. But nevertheless, humans never stop to amaze me. We´re busy enough taking care of physical violence, but with it psychological counterpart, we act like cowards.

Take e.g. mocking at the workplace, where many unfortunately have to work together with a psychologically mean boss who can spread an intolerable atmosphere. It should be considered much more serious to treat people like shit, just because you can get away with it.

I have personally experienced domestic violence, where the main issue was psychological warfare. It took me several years to recover from a narcissistic and very little man. Today, I´m married to a wonderful and sweet man who treats me with love and respect.

In my younger days, life took place in the fast lane much of the time. So I´ve seen and heard what I need to create thrills in a novel. But I will not use my direct experiences without filter, for there is no need to involve other people than the characters in my novel.

On the contrary, my characters are fictional persons with no reference to any living or dead souls. They act in a fictional world that could be real, however. For daily around the world, there are people getting seriously hurt by psychological violence.

And we should handle it much better than today. The consequences are as severe as physical violence, if not even worse some times.

From endless puzzle to drafting a novel

These past two months have been hectic and interesting. I´ve learned so much from other writers and I´m beginning to realize the size of my work in progress (WIP). There is yet so much to learn and to test out, but soon there will be a whole month to practice it all.

At the moment, it seems like an endless puzzle to solve. But is is the best challenge that I have ever taken up. It feels so right to write that novel now at this time of my life where I have every possible chance to create something worth reading.

Now, it´s late afternoon, and the winter darkness it lit up by my husband´s outdoor Christmas tree. He was so happy decorating it Saturday afternoon, and it is kind of cozy to have it standing right outside my windows to my creative den.

On my table are some of my many notes, a couple of books, and my writing gear to carry around the house (and the garden when spring arrives). It is like piecing together a giant puzzle where you don´t know the end of it yet.

I think of making cards for my storyboard with short character sketches, notes about setting and mood, and scene lists. I think it is a good idea to use a storyboard to get an overview of the novel structure on the way towards writing it. That way it is easier to move things around if necessary.

It will also be a welcome change to be creative in more than one way. To be creative while writing the novel is essential to me since I enjoy being creative in everything I do. And everybody needs a break from time to time.

Today, I´ve taken quite a few breaks. My osteoarthritis is irritating and won´t leave me in peace, so I take extra breaks instead of more prescription medicine. The worst part is when it hurts my hands, so it is painful to write in hand or to make creative projects.

Then, I admit, I may speak a few not so nice words and thunder at the Universe for some time. But it won´t take the pain away, so I only speak of pain when it is a bad pain day indeed. As it is today where it has been almost impossible for me to feel warm, although I have the central heating on.

I have also taken into consideration that I have some mental and physical ailments that might require a day off once in a while. Therefore, I have put aside nine months for my drafting period, so that there should be plenty of time to write the first draft of my novel.

Next Monday, the process continues to the writing part. I can´t help it, little by little I have begun writing down snippets that I hope to evolve during 2020. So Mote It Be.

Thoughts about blogging in 2020

Concerning the blogging part of my writing, I consider only writing one blog post per week. I will let you know soon, dear readers, what I decide to do, but this is a very possible scenario. I need time to write 4-500 words per day for my novel.

And until I know whether I´m able to write that on a regular basis, there must be a certain amount of elasticity in running a blog, too. I have decided, however, not to assign any money to the blog, for the time being, the reason being that the budget is not for both this and the Grammarly upgrade.

We live in expensive times and prioritizing a budget before anything else has never been more necessary than now. It is so easy to go out and spend a lot of money on something so uncertain as to the succes or failure of a blog.

But I believe that my readers read this blog because they like what I write. And to me, the main focus must always be on the content rather than the wrapping of a blog. Quite frankly, I think that many out there seriously need to look closely at their prices versus their offered services.

There are no guarantees in this world or in anyone else that buying a lot of extras will help propel the blog more forward than hard work and engaged determination. And I´m not a gambler with any kind of money, especially not the money for the extras that make the blogging life money-oriented.

It´s all about money so many other places today that I believe it is necessary to calm down a lot. We cannot keep spending and consuming as we do today. It´s the wrong signal to send while the Earth is fighting for its and our lives because of our way of misusing its resources.

No, things need to change, and the only way they do that is when we each decide to do something different than we do today. Here we re-purpose everything possible to re-purpose, we sort our garbage, and we choose carefully before we buy anything other than daily necessities.

I´m not dependent on having a blog as an income source, and throughout my life, I´ve learned the hard way that there isn´t any easy money on the loose anywhere. Success demands hard work and strong-willed concentration.

Besides, I´m not running a blog to become rich. I´m content with my life as it is now, and I would rather live on a strict budget than would I loan money to spend on unnecessary items that so many others seem to be doing in the country I live in. No, being debt-free is freedom to care deeply for.

It is getting close to dinner time, so I´ll wish you a creative week, dear readers. I hope that your projects will be successful, and I send you all the positive energy I have to give. May your dreams turn into reality.

To live with shadows close by is not new to me. All my life, I have felt the presence of something from time to time.

The worst I experienced a couple of years ago. I literally felt that I had to hide deep under the sheets to be safe from whatever went crazy in my kitchen. There was nothing to see, but the kitchen cabinets clattered and rattled as if a gigantic force got hold of them.

Another time I experienced to see some shadows shortly after my mother´s passing five years ago. I sat in a park when a dog walker passed by. The dog barked and snarled at something. When I turned around there was nothing. But when I was alone again, I saw some shadows in the forest.

It was okay, but my hair was laden with electricity.

Three years ago I became the witch I was born to be. I come from a series of very strong women. Who didn´t meant yes when they said no. Who was used to fight for their rights. Who is still strong just here behind the keyboard.

Living with the shadows is a choice that I´m proud of. It is an active choice where you recognize that there are certain things in this world that you are not meant to control. I don´t believe in fate as a concept. But yet I believe that things happen for a reason.

The main reason is for us to learn and grow from what happens to us.

I have no explanation to give to the two experiences. It just happened, and it scared me at first. Today, I feel differently. It meant that I had to move away and that the death of my mother was a tough, but also a beautiful experience. She got peace at the right moment, she was beautiful to kiss goodbye.

It is quite different from the icy cold feeling when something is wrong in our lives. We have felt that coldness quite a few times, but today we know how to handle it. We lit some more candles, draw the pentagram three times in the air, and pray for unity, friendship, and love.

Today, living with the shadows is as natural as breathing. I´m careful not to draw too much energy from myself into my work with witchcraft. I take my occasional breaks here as I do anywhere else. But I give everything I have when necessary.

Shadow work has become essential to me in many ways. One of them being that I get to know myself on a whole new level. Facing fears has always been an issue for me and I have tried to escape it for many years. Today, I´m no longer scared. Witchcraft and shadow work has enabled me to face up to it.

I use a tool as simple as the bathroom mirror. There I often look myself in the eyes. It is a good mentor to trust, for those eyes don´t lie. If they try to, they´ll show. So I trust that look as well as my gut feelings.

To look into one´s own shadows in a mirror is a strong experience at times. But I can guarantee you, dear readers, it is a trustworthy wake-up call. I know immediately if something is wrong in my life by looking in a mirror for a few minutes.

The eyes are said to be the portal of the soul. My eyes have taught me to face up to my fears and to stay true to myself. For the moment, the shadows are yet to answer our questions about my husband´s health. We were told it was not lung cancer this week.

Thank you, dear Universe. It was part of the answer. The rest still awaits us on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. So we are not safe just yet. But the atmosphere is not so stressed anymore, it is quiet and patient. We have to get through this waiting time together.

For changes affect the whole family.

Other than that, we live in a peaceful place where the only shadows are the ones we make out of fear of changes. And, of course, the shadows that belong to the house. They are gentle, make but little noise, and do not seem to have other than good intentions.

Working with witchcraft is also working with the shadows, e.g. in ancestor work. So it is a choice of lifestyle as well as it is a Craft. It is a choice that means business. It has changed the world view here.  We have changed with it.

Today, we went out to buy Christmas presents for the neighbor´s children, however. We saw quickly how small a budget we live on compared to the many, many people that went Black Friday bananas. Scary to see how much plastic we are willing to buy when the Earth is choking on it.

Other shadows there were the customers whose money comes from fast loans at the last minute. That means up for payment in January, where the divorce rate rises accordingly. Here we are debt-free and still use cash money whenever it is possible.

That way we know exactly how much money we can afford to spend and the fun part of it is that it is possible to get good stuff even though it may not be the latest edition. I´m shocked to see close up how people act when there are events like Black Friday. Courtesy no longer exists.

We even saw a crashed car in the middle of the parking lot.

Now, we try to relax and recover from our experiences with people today. Tomorrow I´m going to consecrate a healing candle for my husband. And we are having the whole day for ourselves and will enjoy each other´s company only.

We share some shadows between us, but we have chosen not to fight anymore. We love each other too much for that. That doesn´t mean, however, that we always agree on everything, and we also still have our small discussions. But never in a harsh or spiteful voice.

We´ve been there long enough, and we´ve decided to live our life on our own terms that differ a lot from the more conventional parts of our family. The parts that we no longer share the moments with, because we live separate lives.

Fortunately, we have created our own rainbow family with our sweet neighbors and a few close friends. To live in an extended family is a privilege, both demanding and fun at the same time. Demanding in the sense that there are mutual respect and friendship between us. Fun, for there are three children.

At the age of seven, almost four, and almost two.

Living with the shadows means working with my ancestors. Their shadows are a welcome experience every time it happens. I can often feel them very near me as if they were following me from a distance. And it is a good feeling. It is warm inside, it is comforting to think of them, and it is right in my heart.

So, in many different ways, the shadows play a major part here. But in everyday life, not so much. I just know that there is something I cannot otherwise explain. And I try to avoid conjuring anything that I cannot dispel.

As a gray witch, I know that magick is not only black or white. There are worlds of shadows around us that we humans cannot comprehend. So I´m always careful not to touch more energy than I have to. At some time, that energy will bounce back, and then it is better to be safe than sorry.

I prefer the simple, yet complicated life without more money worries than to get from one month to the next. I probably have a high credit standing in my bank, if I were to ask for a loan. But I´m not, I prefer not to be dependent on more people than absolutely necessary.

Saying no thanks to fast loans may make it a larger challenge to live on a strict budget. But I would rather be free as the soaring eagle than would I owe money to anybody. Been there, done with that. No longer past shadows to diminish my world.

I have made peace with my past. Letting go is a fantastic way to get better fast. It heals to let go of old over-used patterns and bad decisions from the past. To live in the present moment is all what life is about when it comes to the meaning of life.

My own shadow is my consciousness, and that and self-respect rules my world. If I can manage to look myself in the eyes, then I know that everything will be okay if I work hard enough for it. Denial and fear won´t solve the problems and won´t change anything.

What changes you is the inner process of realizing that you cannot control anything but your own reaction to those moments when things happen. I had to learn it the hard way to truly understand that fighting against change only makes things worse.

By facing my own fears and flaws, I have learned many new sides of myself. It´s okay to be thoughtful and sentimental at times. It ´s only natural to be upset when things are not working out as planned. And it´s perfectly alright to allow oneself to feel instead of running in the opposite direction.

There more I do shadow work the more I learn and the more I relax.

November has been a long, wet, and anxious month. I long for the Sun to return with its healing rays of warmth that in the Spring goes straight to the body, mind, and soul. The shadows have come earlier and earlier in the afternoon, and the twilight hour has become so midnight black.

The clock is still ticking, tick-tock. Our answers are now only three days and four nights away. Yet it feels like years and then only a few hasty moments. This week has been one of the quick ones, first, we saw it begin, now, it´s almost over again.

But we are getting through it together. And everything will be fine sooner or later. We´re just getting older and need more care than we used to. When you have to learn at a young age that there is only you to take care of you, you learn it the hard way. Either to get up and fight or stay down and cry.

But once learned, it will always stick with you, the lessons from the school of life. The ones that mattered the most. The ones that you will never forget. The ones that learned you how to survive in today´s world.

Next Friday the blog post will be about how we live as pagans in a modern world. A choice of lifestyle that was easy compared to what the alternative was. To be like so many others. No thank you, dear Universe, let us live the simple life instead where we make our own decisions.

What to expect in December 2019

Last, but not least, here is the blog menu for December 2019:

• Monday, December 2, 2019:  Planning a novel
• Friday, December 6, 2019: Living a pagan lifestyle
• Monday, December 9, 2019: Writing a novel
• Friday, December 13, 2019: Early celebration of Yule
• Monday, December 16, 2019: Living a writer´s lifestyle
• Friday, December 20, 2019: My Tarot guidelines for 2020
• Monday, December 23, 2019: Family time
• Friday, December 27, 2019: My witchcraft learning plan for 2020
• Monday, December 30, 2019: Testing techniques and what to expect in January 2019

This is it for today. I´m tired from today´s shopping trip to the happy plastic fantastic modern world. I wish you a blessed weekend, dear readers, with peace and calm. As I say it, so it is.

When things happen …

… drizzling rain on a gray and tense November day and the sound of epic orchestral music makes me think and wonder.

My mood is a strange mixture of nostalgia, high spirit, and quiet worry. I´m waiting for questions to be answered. I´m waiting for the big unknown. I´m waiting for something I fear more than anything.

My husband may be very ill, or he may have to undergo some temporary treatment for the better, but we fear the worst when it comes to our loved ones.

Today´s theme is not about this, for we try not to think so much about it. There´s a little more than a week left to think, worry and fear.

It´s not my favorite ticking clock at all. But in real life things happen. And they happen, while you´re busy doing anything but thinking about changes.

The only constant we need to consider besides fear. To fight or flight, and to change no matter what. To adapt to the current situation, to accept what you cannot change, and to change what you cannot accept.

So today, I´m serious about life. Yet with a positive outlook, I believe things happen for a reason. That things happen whatever we do. Sometimes, it is just the way it is.

As a writer, the show must go on, however. It is also necessary to keep my thoughts busy creating words worth reading.

This natural tension is unintended. Today, I will write my heart out, and it may thrill, it may evoke icy movements down the spine, and it may be my first attempt to experiment with some of the many techniques and guidelines that the genre psychological thriller demands.

I write best under a certain amount of pressure. But real life is about living under constant pressure. And I live with a new friend of mine, name bipolar disorder. We became friends this fall, but that doesn´t mean that I trust this new friend more than I have to.

It´s under strict control, as it should be, and it has been liberating to let go of the fear of it. Now, I know what I´m dealing with, what it takes to get a good life despite it, and what consequences are if I try to escape it again.

It has taken me more than two and a half years to recover this time. Yes, I was born with it. But in those old days, nobody knew. My acceptance came with the way I went to the hospital. It took three attempts where we thought it was my heart that needed care and treatment before I managed to pull myself together and ask for the right help.

A week´s stay in a hospital where there is a crisis to resolve. And a journey to embark on that feels like a roller coaster on the loose.

Now, I save my tears for the time when they are needed. That time may come soon enough, so I try to smile, although today feels like a trip uphill.

Writing plays a major role in my new friendship. As do witchcraft. No matter how high or low a day might be, there is always the writing and a ritual to turn to. It keeps my mind busy, and it draws focus to anything but disorders and other ailments.

It´s better to try to build up a friendship with things as they happen. Being enemies won´t help anything. But complete trust is not the issue here. I only trust it to remain calm as long as I do my work and take good care of myself.

So, how do I get through today with this silent yet roaring fear of mine, lying there all coiled up as if just waiting for the right moment to hit me straight in the heart?

The only snakes here are those we built out of fear. Should I flee or should I fight? I have tried both, and only the fight was worth the troubles. I will also fight this, one step at a time, one hour at a time. Counting down, tick-tock.

I will fight that fear today by taking the little old, wise dog on a long walk with one of my friends for life and cry my heart out. I have fought all my life, I really don´t need this. Tears on the keyboard, need a break, will be right back …

… sorry, dear readers, real-life became very real for a moment. I´m okay, on the outside. Inside is a serious cloudburst of held back tears. Nobody wants to show their vulnerability. And I need to be strong for the sake of my husband and myself.

Once again, my life is changed. We know there´s something going on, otherwise, the hospital would not want to see my husband. The issue is therefore only what it is and what it is not.

It haunts me, I shiver from its coldness, and it makes me want to cry “Stop” to the world. But I know that it is something that we have to face together. That thought is comforting, together.

He is the love of my life. I don´t know what I should do, if … No, I must think positive. The thoughts of mine are crashing in on me like the waves of the ocean hammering into the beach.

The weather does not make anything better today. Getting tired of all this grayish stuff, the icy watery cold, this threatening unknown.

But I´m a born fighter. I won´t and I can´t flee from this. So be it, we´ll fight back with all we´ve got in hand. And then some more. This is only the beginning of something new. something different, something unknown.

Seems like today´s post is about life when it is raw and unpolished. But it is okay to have days like this. And it is also okay for a writer to be personal, direct, and authentic.

And we have to change …

… whether we like it or not. I comfort myself with the thought of our love for each other. It is forever, it is true, it is genuine. And we have been through so much already that we also will conquer this.

Changing the subject, I´m almost through my second month of research for my novel. I´m beginning to feel the story evolve and gain momentum. Now the general part of learning from other authors is leaping into the next phase, research the details.

At the moment, my focus is on the setting and the raw character sketches. I´m also thinking a lot about what themes I would like to include in my novel. It is going to sting, it is going to hurt, it is going to be thrill after thrill.

I have tried to work with a little dialog in my novel. It was fun, however difficult. It is so easy to make mistakes here, so I´m very careful to think more than twice before I write a conversation between my characters.

My notes are growing in size and content. I need to study for one more month before testing the different techniques that I´m getting to know, a little more for every day. In the one-woman writing course that I have designed for myself, there is time to practice, to make mistakes, to learn from them.

My daily writing habit is already an indispensable routine. I begin with the morning coffee and the walk with the little wise, old dog. Then I lit tea light candles and put the central heating on. When I open the laptop and begin writing, it feels like coming home mentally.

Before I know of it, I have worked for a couple of hours. Then it is time for a longer lunch break with my husband and my daily chores. After that, writing until around four in the afternoon. And last, but not least, my evening notes in the living room with my family close by.

My decision about writing a novel changes my life. Gradually, the story comes alive and wants to be written by me. But I wait for I have absolutely no hurry. I would rather spend countless hours and numerous writing sessions preparing the work properly than deliver a pile of bullshit.

For now, it is afternoon coffee time. And after that homework with a seven-year-old who for a while will still my thoughts with her contagious smile and laughter.

Fortunately, we have some basic routines to turn to when life plays rough. Fortunately, we have close friends to talk with. Fortunately, we have a stable and good life.

We will beat this too, I know we will. As the clock keeps ticking, tick-tock, my inner feelings are upset. This is the love of my life, this is too close up, this is anything but fair. Life isn´t fair, I know it, but it knows when to strike.

When you are least prepared for it, it will grab you by the heart and threaten to dismantle your world. When life itself becomes an antagonist, there is something going on. The pain of it all is to wait for the answer to the question we don´t dare to ask just yet.

I wish that I could take it upon myself, that this gut-wrenching waiting period was over. Not knowing what´s going on is dreadful. I can take a lot of bullshit coming my way, but not when it comes to my loved ones. Then I feel lost.

At the same time, I need to be strong and able to cope with whatever life throws at me. Right now, I don´t know where to find such a strength. It will show up, as it always does when things happen. But the waiting process is mean.

So please, dear Universe, help me aid my husband in this difficult time of our life. Let him be safe, let it be something less severe than we both fear, let his recovery be fast and without too much discomfort.

Give us peace of mind. So Mote It Be.

So the theme for today became real-life issues close up. Not exactly what I had prepared for, but writing about it helps. It´s just one of these days, where everything seems out of order, where nothing goes as planned, where the thoughts need to be set free.

But, then again, if you want to write about what hurts in life, you might as well speak from experience. And my novel ain´t going to be for the faint-hearted. On the contrary, it´s going to be a rough ride, to be unpleasant and frightening, and to be scary as hell.

For it is a scary ride, to ride with a roller coaster on the loose. I know that I can write that novel when I prepare myself thoroughly. And it might be a good companion along this unknown path we are about to follow here.

It keeps my mind busy being creative rather than to think the unthinkable things. It underlines the seriousness of life as it is when nothing is left to be said. We have been through a couple of those strong conversations before where even the unspoken hurts and aches.

But this time is different. Now it is not between us but ahead of us. Counting down until Tuesday, December 2, 2019 … the clock is ticking, tick-tock …

… I´m sorry, dear readers, but today has been tough to deal with. I needed to vent a little, I needed to tell about my feelings about this big unknown, we´re facing here.

The world can take care of itself today. I will go to my husband and just hug him. Be with my close family and friends tonight. Let my thoughts run free, allow myself to feel. And then I will write.

Be careful out there, take care of your loved ones while you can. While there´s still time.

So, you are inspired to make daily mini-rituals, and you have the necessary time for it. But money is an issue, for there is a tight budget to keep. In today´s blog post, I´ll show you, dear readers, that it is still possible to have a daily practice with witchcraft without too many money concerns.

The secret is to plan ahead and to be as creative as possible. We live with a pretty strict budget on a daily basis so every major shopping event needs to be planned carefully. We look for good offers, and we prioritize needs before wants.

I began my journey of witchcraft with a cabinet from the local second-hand shop, a few books and some items from our collection of decorative items and trinkets. Now, three years later, I probably could open my own curiosity shop.

But only about a quarter of it is bought. I love to DIY, so I try to create things as often as possible. I´m also careful not to spend money unless I have to. And when I do spend money, I always look for the best possible buy so that I get the most out of it.

Only recently did I find the perfect athame, before that I used a wooden wand as my athame. And don´t forget that your index finger is always a great choice as an athame. The strength lies within you and not in any bought item alone.

I keep an inventory list that also serves as my more or less permanent witchy shopping list. I check it after each major ritual so that I always have what I need. I only use white candles on a daily basis and save the colored ones for the festivals/Sabbaths and special occasions.

My husband grows sage, rosemary, and thyme for me to use in my work with witchcraft. Most of the kitchen herbs you already know have magickal correspondences and it is both practical and beautiful to keep them on the window sill.

In general, be optimistic and positive even though there always is a budget to keep. Living on a strict budget can be demanding at times, but it also gives you the opportunity to be creative with what you already have. And, believe me, you will discover that you often have more than enough.

I have inherited quite a few things after my mother´s passing five years ago. So I´m both fortunate and privileged. I´m able to live in a big house because we prioritize everything. But I have also learned the hard way how it is to live without much money.

It has taken us more than eights years to come to the point where we are now. I know the feeling of not having enough money and of having to live on the terms of others. But I have never been the big spender anyway. It is possible to practice witchcraft even on a strict budget.

Be creative and practical before shopping

Living on a tight budget means creativity and practicality. To get everything in balance is not easy, however. You need to prioritize needs before wants, to pay the bills before spending extra money on e.g. witchcraft, and to choose whether you should buy something for the Craft or go to the cinema.

Think witchcraft into mundane matters and see how creative you end up being. Then take ordinary items and make them witchy by adding e.g. paint, rhinestones, and glitter. And don´t be afraid to re-purpose items, it will also stress the environment less.

The following are my own suggestions as to how it can be done without ending up bankrupt:

• Try first to use what you already have or create something yourself.
• Use things found during a walk in Nature, e.g. the forest or the beach.
• Write down a list of supplies for the daily work with witchcraft and prioritize it as you would do with your typical shopping list.
• Carry it with you always so that you can pick a good offer when you spot one.
• Plan your shopping so you go to the grocery shop, the second-hand shop, and/or the local dollar store when you are out there anyway.
• Plan a witchy shopping day when you have saved a nice little sum of money to use with a good conscience.
• Buy birthday candles for spells. It saves large candles for the bigger ritual occasions, and it makes spellwork easier in daily life.
• Use tea bags as spell and charm bags.
• Try to go to local markets and garage sales to see if there should be something useful for witchcraft purposes. Often ordinary things can be as useful as specialties in an expensive shop.
• Use your imagination. It is the best tool available, and it is often the best way to save money.

Whenever I´m out of the house, I´m on the lookout for items suitable for my daily witchcraft practice. I often pass by several second-hand shops and have found many fine things of good quality there. And with a little moderation, you have the best possible tools to work with.

For when being creative you are also at the same time infusing your work with your personal energy, the strongest tool of them all. And when things become personal, there is a much greater chance that you will use it again and again rather than leaving the bought stuff at the farthest corner of the closet.

Being careful with money has become a common rule here at our place. It has made us able to save up some money to use once a month for whatever we want. Often, we skip the buying and leave the money to further grow.

But every once in a while I plan a special shopping trip. Then I perhaps have about 100 dollars from the savings to use for witchcraft or other purposes. And the key is to get as much as possible for them.

Do it yourself and learn the Craft on a practical level

The word witchcraft indicates that being a witch is as much a craft as it is a beautiful way of living. Making your own tools is a satisfying way of practicing the Craft on a daily basis, for you are being creative with something you love to do, to practice witchcraft.

Witchcraft is not only big rituals and fancy stuff. It is also a craft where you use tools as you would in any trade. You get, so to speak, to be a jack of all trades when you are practicing witchcraft on a daily basis with a tight budget.

These are my own ways of being creative on a strict budget:

• Use Pinterest to get inspiration and ideas to work with at home.
• Design and create your own Tarot/Lenormand cards.
• Make your own runes, pentagrams, and wands from wood found in the forest or at the beach.
• Use the jewelry you wear for magickal purposes, e.g. rose quartz for calming and reassuring on a troublesome day.
• Grow your own herbs for witchcraft in your kitchen´s window sill or at your sacred place.
• Try to produce your own candles, it is great fun and something that children will love to participate in.
• Create Goddess figurines form homemade salt dough or clay.
• Craft your own notebooks and Book of Shadows.
• Buy fabric for altar cloths and ritual robes at the local second-hand shop.
• Use ordinary items whenever possible rather than just buying the latest fancy stuff.

When I´m in the creative mood, I sit in my creative den with lit tea light candles and a mini-ritual where I say a few positive words and ask the Universe to aid me in my work. I also use incense whenever possible, for it creates a wonderful, calming atmosphere that I love to work in.

It is almost like a ritual in itself to be able to be creative despite living on a tight budget. So I do it as often as possible on the good days where my osteoarthritis allows me to work with creative things, and it can really save my day.

I have been working with DIY for many years, and I´ll never stop to find creative outlets for my inspiration. There is something undeniably satisfying in making things yourself. It doesn´t need to be perfect to fit into my world of witchcraft.

But it has to be made with love and respect, both for the materials and for the intention behind. I don´t rush my projects, I let them take their time and wait. As I wait, when the money is too tight, even though I would love to buy this and that.

When I have to prioritize, I always do it with the thought that there has to be something left for tomorrow as well as today. Often I find what I need in what I already have. Then the money issue becomes less important than I thought.

From daily mini-rituals to a novel

This is the last blog post about daily mini-rituals. We have been through issues with inspiration, time, and money. I have tried to show you how it can be done, so it is still fun and worth the effort to practice witchcraft on a daily basis in a stressed, modern world.

The last blog post this gray and rainy November is about living with the shadows. I live with them daily because I choose to do so. It gives me the mental surplus that we all need to get through the very mundane issues that so often tend to fill out every time of the day.

I also live with other kinds of shadows than the witchy ones. In my novel, there are the human shadows that we don´t want to feel ourselves. But we do feel them, we are all flawed in some way. And thank the Universe for that. I would not wish for a world of perfection, just watch and listen to what goes on.

On Monday, the theme is free-writing. I need a day to write from the bottom of my heart without any strings attached, so it will depend on my mood what the blog post will be about. But I will probably mention my novel, my best choice ever.

After I have decided to go on with it, it has changed my life. It is a major part of my life now. I spend about six hours daily on it, and the more I work with it, the more I love it. I should have done this a long time ago, but maybe it is for the best. I was not ready for it until now.

Being a mature woman and a Crone helps a lot. As do life experiences, of which I can find inspiration for many a novel. Yes, I have ideas for writing for a long time. And I will use these ideas, as they show up in my mind.

Practicing witchcraft on a daily basis has given me the necessary discipline to sit down and stay there until I have finished what I came for. It is about getting certain routines in place, and then to stick with them no matter what.

Allow me to quote the following (author unknown to me at present moment):

“Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool.”

It always makes me happy and content to see these words. They are so full of meaning, they are so simple, yet complicated to attain in life. They hang on my wall close to my writing desk as a reminder of being satisfied in life.

But now it is time to wish you a pleasant and enriching weekend, dear readers. May your creativity blossom, may you find the inspiration, time, and money for whatever your dreams are. May you find peace of mind. So Mote It Be.

Acknowledging being a writer

The idea of writing a novel has followed me as long as I can remember. It began with poems, a school novella, and my needs for writing down my life experiences from time to time. I was taught how to read and write before I went to school by my grandfather on my mother´s side.

I have realized now that my true inheritance from my ancestors is found in my ability to write. It took me quite some time to understand that I was born to be a writer. I have been told so on numerous occasions, but I didn´t dare to believe it is true.

Along came an irresistible sentence that quickly became a page. This fall I finally decided to write the novel that I have been wanting to write for so many years. With the decision came also the acknowledgment of how much work I need to do before there is a first draft to present to the world.

So I took a deep dive into the world of the writer. Is is at times a path of loneliness, at other times it involves the people closest to me for constructive criticism. But mostly it feels like dancing to the rhythms of music in the words.

It is like having an inner voice telling you this is the right thing to do, like taming a wild horse, like running across the field in the heat of the moment. It has become both a want and a need for me to express myself through the written word.

The world of words has always fascinated me. The feeling of reading a good book that is impossible to lie down before the last period. And then the hunt resumes, for the next intriguing adventure. At the moment, I´m reading “Mercedes Man” by Stephen King, and soon I will need yet another book.

I have a decent home library that I use often, but I also go to our local public library to find inspiring new writers to read. I read daily for 2-3 hours and write for 3-5 hours. It is like having a full-time job, except that I don´t get paid just yet.

Yes, I´m a passionate writer. I´m more addicted to writing than I would have believed just a few months ago. And this blog gets the credit straight after the main credit that goes to my family, my friends, and my readers.

I´m very proud of having readers. It is a privilege to write for you. It makes me want to do better than last time, every time I write something. It makes me able to write more every day. It makes me bow my head in equal parts of inner terror and respectful awe.

The inner terror is the fear of the white paper, the writer´s block. I have conquered it at the present moment, but I´m also prepared to do something serious about it should it arrive.

Building a writer´s daily habit

Blogging demands consistence, will-power, and determination, especially when excitement becomes routine. But writing on this blog twice a week has given me the ability to keep on writing even on a truly bad day. It makes me able to hold onto a pretty strict discipline on a daily basis.

My writing habit is under construction, but now I have the basics settled. I sit in my creative den after the morning coffee and the morning routine of the little wise, old dog. I write for about two hours before opening any email or researching for my novel on the Internet.

I have no TV in my creative den for it is too big a distraction. I listen to a lot of different music and I´m building playlists corresponding to my mood and the purpose of writing. I´m surrounded by a world of creativity here as the pictures will show you later.

It is too cold at my usual writing desk. And I have yet to re-arrange my witch´s den so it is possible to write parts of a novel in there. I´m not in a hurry, though, I take the necessary time to create the frames for writing a novel under almost perfect circumstances.

Our house used to be a bakery, a kiosk, and a pizzeria. So it is a big house, and therefore, we only put on the central heating in strategic places. We have the perfect frames for being creative and happy. And I´m grateful to the core of my heart.

Right now, I´m writing here in my creative den. With the view to our yard and the changing seasons. It is gray November outside, silent rain whispers about adventures ahead, and the wind is gaining momentum.

There is a storm on the way, I can feel it with every inch of my body, mind and soul. I can also feel that my novel is about the gray zones between good and evil. As it should be since I´m writing a psychological thriller.

From time to time, I will experiment here on this blog with the writing techniques I´m learning to handle. To foreshadow is a difficult task, but it is fun like dialog, rising action, and the aftermath after climax.

It feels as if the time stands still for a brief moment before really bad weather is coming. We have been promised a week filled with rain and wind. This fall I´m inspired by the quick, yet subtle changes in the weather.

It is like it is foreshadowing a harsh winter outside. It sets the mood for some serious writing. And serious it is to create a psychological thriller. One thing is the demands of the genre. Another big issue is its effect on the readers. To thrill is my aim.

Without mentioning my past with a single word, I can from the bottom of my heart say brutally honest that I know what thrill in real life can be like.

Research in progress

I have begun working with dialog. It is a devilish game, it sounds so easy, but I can promise you it is not. There is only one way forward, keep on an get it done. Then read it aloud or let someone else read it to you. And rewrite rewrite, rewrite.

I must sound real, but not too real. One hundred percent reality is not the aim of a psychological thriller. But close enough is still hard to attain. It is fun, though, for here the characters really can be challenged.

I hate physical violence, but I dread psychic violence. The way that manipulating people have the ability to crawl under your skin is scary, is intolerable, is scarring for life. It should be treated with much more seriousness than it is today, for it has many victims in its trail.

To write about what scares me the most seems like a fitting way to let go of some leftover baggage from memory lane. And it is time to discuss how we treat each other and ourselves in this modern world where only the jungle law seems to rule when it comes to human behavior.

So I research the psychological aspects of being a human being in a modern world full of stress, fake news and human evil on a daily basis. How does all this affect us in the long run? How do we learn to cope with new sub-diagnoses on everything from a pimple to serious mental conditions?

Are there people who are born evil, or it is a combination of genes and the environment? And how do we deal with them if we run into them in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way? How do we handle ourselves being flawed by nature?

Big questions, yes, but real enough. Because there are people out there who are bad for us. Yet we search for them and get thrilled to the bone when we meet them. They are searchers, too, but it is in a much more subtle way. And then, you´re attached to them like a trophy.

Bittersweet memories as inspiration, no one is mentioned, no one is forgotten. Indeed, there is a storm on the way. And it´s going to be the roller coaster ride of my life to write it out. Gradually, my characters are lining up in the near future. They are more insisting by now, but I can wait.

There is still plenty of time to get prepared for the drafting process. Coming through the first half part of my research period, I´m beginning to notice the techniques in the works of others and the flaws, too. I now see more clearly what awaits me.

But I´m not scared anymore. I know I can do it well if I prepare myself properly and follow a guideline or two on the way. It is a journey already set in motion by myself.

From idea to novel

The idea consist of four simple sentences, written like the snowflake method where you build up a novel from a basic sentence that evolves into a paragraph, and then one day ends up in a novel. It is a page and numerous notes by now.

When I finish my research I believe that I will have about 60,000 words in my notes. Most of them handwritten. So by now, I´m able to write that and much more. I will try to write as much as possible in hand, for it is by far preferable to writing on a laptop.

It forces me to think more than twice about my word choice, my aim with the novel, and the amount of thrill that I want to apply. I study snappy dialog as much as possible, for in a psychological thriller there must be quite a lot of action for it to balance the psychological effects of the thrills.

I have the raw character sketch almost ready for further exploration soon. The characters need to grow forth themselves, so I wait patiently with any writing about them. I wait until I can feel them with all my senses. Then I will take one by one and let them get to know each other throughout the novel.

I have parts of the setting in place, but everything is yet open for discussion. Mood and atmosphere are developing in my mind these gray November days, place and time will be my next goal to study, and then I need to look a potential conflicts to use on my novel.

My process is very intense right now, for I´m both learning and experimenting at the same time. There are many new ideas and techniques to get to know, but I stick with my genre and choose with great care what to use as learning materials.

I can really recommend “How to write a damn good thriller” by James N. Frey. And, of course, “On Writing” by Stephen King. And I would also like to recommend watching “The Silence of the Lambs” or “Cape Fear”.

In my novel, however, there will not be physical violence. There is enough of that better written elsewhere, and I find the psychological aspect of violence more interesting than fistfights and dirty tricks with weapons. With me, the weapon is only a threat, but threatening enough.

Have a creative and meaningful week, dear readers. Next Monday is about free-writing, so I son´t know until that time what the theme for the blog post will be. I need a writing day where I can experiment and dance to the music of the words without having to consider a pre-scheduled content.

It will probably be some sort of stream of consciousness. I return to it quite often, for I like the way it always sets my writing truly free. No strings attached, except for the love of writing.

Time became an issue for me this week. I was busy writing Monday´s blog post, I had a huge amount of notes for my novel to deal with, and then the mundane world hit me with a major anxiety attack on Tuesday morning.

I decided therefore not to celebrate the Full Moon this time and it was a great decision, for it took me hours to get better after the anxiety attack. I have made it a rule not to do any sort of magickal workings when having a rotten day.

But I lit some candles, and I watched the Full Moon or rather watched what was there to watch, for it was a cloudy day and night on Tuesday. But I went to my witch´s den and sat there for a while, just two lit candles, the little wise, old dog and me. What matters is that I did something, however short it was.

Sometimes even with the best of intentions time is an issue. The mundane world takes its toll on us to be effective, smart and yet having the surplus energy to do something for both our loved ones and ourselves.

Witchcraft is by no means a time-saving project to hasten through as if the Devil himself was chasing you. Witchcraft takes it time, it needs to be nourished and taken care of with love, and it is like slow-cooking food.

Often, spells take more time than the usual five to ten minutes to put the ingredients together and say a prayer or an inspirational text. At the moment, I´m working with several spells that need long-term patience for them to work properly. One of them is for this blog to do well.

In today´s blog post, I´ll try to show you that it is possible to have a satisfying life with witchcraft, even though you are busy with other important things on a daily basis. Even with only a little time left for anything but the mundane aspects of life, there are little things that can easily be done.

Personally, I absolutely hate to have to hurry to get things done. It can really trash my whole day. As an early retired, I do have time. But to stay happy and content with life, I need to fill my days with something other than providing for myself.

So I practice witchcraft, write, am creative throughout the day. Yes, a witch has a busy life from time to time. I also need to take a look at the watch now and then. But I have created quite a few mini-rituals that don´t take up much time on a busy day.

The key is to dedicate yourself to do something, also if that something is only lighting a candle or two. Another is to acknowledge that there never will be time enough and to prioritize your wants and needs. Generally, I work with 5-10 minutes or 20-30 minutes intervals.

Think small, think easy

I have a thing with lists. They are easy to make and use, and you get to follow your progress when you strike out one point at a time. What follows is my list of ideas for your inspiration that is easily adapted to your preferences:

• Think witchcraft when cleaning your home, by e.g. adding some herbs to the cleaning water and saying a prayer of release when throwing out the water.
• Grow kitchen herbs, whereof many have magickal correspondences, in the window sill. You can use them in food or for magickal purposes, and they are ready at hand when you need them.
• Cook with magickal intentions and stir clockwise/anti-clockwise to seal e.g. a spell about healing for your loved ones and yourself.
• Take your dog for a walk, or walk alone and feel the elements around you work together in a delicate balance. Let thoughts and feelings be released through a silent prayer of gratitude.
• Use aromatherapy for the little extra luxury of a peaceful bath after a hard days`s/night´s work and wear your favorite perfume/have a handkerchief with a few drops of oils in your bag/purse.
• Pick a Tarot/Lenormand card in the morning and trust it as your inner guidance of the day. This is also a great way to get to know the cards quickly.
• Place crystals in the window sills and let them re-charge or use them to protect your home. Be careful to choose crystals that can tolerate the Sun´s rays or water, if used in a house plant.
• Get into the habit of journaling your thoughts and ideas the moment they occur and create a practical organizational routine so that your notes are sorted at once instead of making clutter.
• Create a portable mini-altar to use outside of your home or when you don´t have the time to set up your ritual altar.
• Meditate daily over a cup of your favorite beverage, lit candles. and aromatherapy/incense to relax after a rough day. Make e.g. a spell when you are preparing tea/coffee.

These are the ideas I use myself on a busy day. It keeps me grounded, it keeps my love to witchcraft alive, and it keeps me calm in that I know that I have witchcraft with me in whatever I do and wherever I go.

I´m a practical kind of witch who never leave anything to chance. I prefer working with witchcraft several places in my home for my work changes with my mood of the day. When I´m busy, I tend to forget about time.

But time is important for me because it is so easy nowadays to get lost in the world of mundane issues that need immediate attention. Often it is little, annoying matters that end up being the content of the day, and it is due to very impractical solutions from the authorities who state that life is easier with it.

Believe me, it is not. But witchcraft is possible even after such annoyances.

Think routines, think creative

Be creative and practical at the same time and pre-arrange a few setups around your home on a day where you have the necessary time to do it. Then all the daily mini-rituals will be easy in the sense that you will save time to practice witchcraft with little efforts even on the busiest of days:

• Place candle holders and/or LED candles strategically in your home so that you quickly can arrange a pleasant mood for your mini-ritual.
• Write down short prayers/inspirational words for the mini-rituals so that you can create a daily routine from memorizing them.
• Only use a few ingredients so it is always easy to gather them for the ritual and keep them handy in small containers. This can also serve as temporary altars.
• Write down your witchy supply list next to your mundane grocery list. Often, many ingredient can be found in the local grocery shop or second-hand store.
• Include your home in your witchcraft practice. A sacred place is what you make of it, and magick can be done everywhere in a home.
• Place notebooks and your Book of Shadows at a central place you can reach from everywhere of your home, no matter what else you are doing. This way good ideas become reality.
• Decorate your home with witchy items you have created yourself. This is also a great way to be artistic and creative even on a day with little time for witchcraft.
• Check out the possibilities on the Internet and then go to the local dollar store or second-hand shop to get good quality stuff for a reasonable amount of money.
• Use what you already have to create a magickal home and make it an ongoing project only to own what you need instead of owning something for the sake of owning it.
• Less is definitely more when it comes to witchcraft. Fewer things also make it easier to use symbolism in your magickal workings.

These are the routines and guidelines I use myself on a day with fewer hours than I would wish there were. It keeps me organized, it keeps my mind from wandering off to mundane issues, it keeps me to my path of witchcraft.

I prefer to be as organized as possible, for I´m not at ease with messy details when I´m working with witchcraft on one of the busy days. It has to be easy attainable for it to work for me. It also needs to be the small miracles that make my day for me to be able to maintain my daily practice.

It should preferably not be a task as with the mundane chores. It should be a pleasure, a daily joy to work with witchcraft. And if the basics are sorted out, everything becomes so much easier in the long run. It has worked for me so that I today almost every day practice some kind of witchcraft.

But, like everybody else, I sometimes just relax and let go.

Today´s mini-ritual and reflections about time

Today, as I have been writing this blog post, I have worked with lit candles in the window sill, I have cleared my creative den with white sage incense, and I have been on a long walk with the little wise, old dog in stormy and rainy weather.

Time flies so quickly, especially when you grow older. I once believed that when I got retired, I would have more than enough time to do what I really want. The faith is transformed into the fact that I got retired much earlier than I expected and that time flies whatever you do to try to tame it.

I keep myself busy. for I simply cannot sit still and ponder whole days about my life´s challenges. There has to be some kind of action, life is too short not to be fully enjoyed, and all of a sudden time became an issue to me.

Physically, I can´t do as much as I would like to do due to my osteoarthritis and degenerated disc disease in my lower back. Mentally, I have days where I can only lie down and try to relax as much as possible due to my bipolar disorder and chronic depression.

But still, I´m often busy getting my daily chores done as the first thing in the morning, for I have other important things to do like writing my novel and practicing witchcraft on a daily basis. And then there are all the other interesting creative projects to finish.

Today, it has taken me the whole day to write this blog post. I have taken more pauses than I normally do, for I have had a couple of busy days with anything but witchcraft. I have used the pauses to work with some of my daily mini-rituals.

Now I feel much better having worked just a little bit with witchcraft. It is as if every negative issue this week has gone up in smoke and disappeared with the incense smoke this afternoon. Now the candles have gone out, it is time to reminding you of my next blog post about writing.

On Monday I´ll show you how I came from the idea of writing a novel to actually do something about is in a serious way. So serious in fact that is has become quite a rival to my love for witchcraft. Therefore, I´m happy to have made quick mini-rituals, so I still can maintain a daily witchcraft routine.

Now the time is closing in for a night off from any work, writing, and witchcraft. I would like to wish you a pleasant weekend, dear readers. May it enlighten your dreams so that they may become alive right in front of you and make you happy and proud. So it is.

Now it is time for me to close the laptop, turn off the electric lights and go to our living room where my family awaits me. Thank you, Universe, for everything.

Going fast through my second month with research for my novel, I´m also getting closer to get to know my characters as types. I´m working on a framework for them, in that I build layer upon layer like an onion.

The time feels short at this of year for me. I tend to have a disposition for winter depressions, so I engage in as much work as I can handle. I don´t need to sit and sob half of the year, and therefore I work my way through it.

Slowly, but steady, I´m preparing myself and my loved ones for nine months of drafting. It will not be so different from now, except that I will need to focus my concentration on writing in certain periods of time.

I plan to work two hours at a time with regular breaks and then take half an hour off for daily chores and doing something completely different from writing. There also has to be time for my loved ones, and occasionally I will take a day off.

I´m excited to the point of wanting to let the horses out and dance across the keyboard to the sound of epic instrumental music with howling bass guitar riffs and intriguing thundering drums. But I control myself, I know there will be plenty of time for that soon, and I concentrate on the learning process.

If I wore a hat, I would take it off in awe and admiration. It is not easy to write a novel. It shouldn´t be, for the road to the destination is a journey of experiences. The feeling of working with the tools and ideas like a big puzzle is impossible to let go of.

It is a want and a need. To write has become essential to me. It is my reward for having being present for my loved ones. It is my reward for having participated in the issues of the mundane world. It is my reward for having done my duties as a human being.

Preparing for nine months of drafting is about much more than “just” creating a world from an idea. It is recognizing that the body, mind, and soul need to be in the best shape possible. Half, if not more, of the workload, is in the research and the physical-mental well-being of the writer.

Gradually, I´m creating a writing habit that fulfills my goals about writing 3-500 words daily in my novel. I´m also aware that there will be days where I can´t write so much or so little. But that is the reason behind my choice of using nine months to create the first draft for my novel.

Living with several mental disorders and physical ailments as well can seem like a huge mountain to climb. I try to immerse myself in life as it is, and my main recipe for success is to engage yourself with a positive outlook. To never, never back down.

Physical preparations

This week I need to clean my creative den and re-arrange it, for it is going to be one of my work stations when I begin the drafting period on March 1st, 2020. And then I pick one place at a time and do the same there. When the cleaning is done, I´ll use my white sage incense to clear any stale energy.

Today, I cleared my permanent writing desk and my working place in the living room. Now I have my late mother´s working bag at a central place with the most important tools to carry around with me, depending on my mood of the day and the time of day.

I prefer writing in natural light in the mornings, comfortable in the afternoons, and as simple as possible in the evenings and nights. So I plan to sit in my creative den in the mornings, surrounded by creativity, to relax, meditate and write in my witch´s den in the afternoons, and the rest of the time either at my writing desk or in the living room.

When re-writing notes, I prefer my writing desk where it is easier to write in hand, but when taking notes, I prefer doing it everywhere else. I seldom sit still for longer periods of time due to the side effects of prescription medicine, and therefore, I have several places to work.

Physical preparations are also to make sure that the necessary tools and supplies are available, so I have been going through my stock of paper, pens, sticky notes, etc, and soon I will have everything I need. I wait for the budget-friendly offers, for the main budget has to remain stable no matter what.

One important issue is the quality of the light at my work stations. The permanent places are equipped with lamps with both sharp and comfortable light. And my findings are often from a local second-hand shop, for the stuff there are usually as good as any expensive items.

And I like the concept of re-purposing things before throwing them away. There is enough garbage going around in the world already, and there is only one way to change that. And that is to begin by yourself and get going instead of preaching.

We sort our garbage, we re-purpose as much as possible, and we use only what we need. Were it not for the condition of my eyes, I wouldn´t mind writing in candlelight alone. But fortunately, today it is possible to get light bulbs with low energy consumption.

Another important issue in my physical preparations for nine months of drafting is to make sure to remember to back up my material. I have before been in situations where a laptop decided to get a life of its own and mess everything up, so I only had some curly notes with coffee stains to work from.

So I have learned from past mistakes. I´m as prepared as possible. It is the second-best part of writing.

Mental preparations

The best part of writing is to feel the words come alive both in my mind and on paper/the screen. That´s when it feels like riding an untamed roller coaster or flying on a magic carpet.

This is the heavy-duty part of my preparations as a writer and a human being. Besides the obvious part of researching my novel, it is a major learning journey that I have embarked on. I learn so many new things on a daily basis that I need some time to relax and stretch my mind.

I meditate at least half an hour daily to be able to concentrate long enough to write in longer sessions. When I meditate, I think of the task before me, of what I wrote the day before, and of the long-term goal with all this.

When I´m not preparing notes, I try to read and watch as many psychological thrillers as possible. At the moment I´m reading “Mercedes Man” by Stephen King, and I´m eagerly awaiting my Christmas present, “How to write a damn good thriller” by James N. Frey.

But I also take time off to do completely different things, for working with a psychological thriller takes it toll on the writer. It is a complex area to work with, and it is necessary to debrief form time to time. After all, it is about trying to work inside the minds of fictive people with serious flaws.

So when I take time off or do something else, I think as little as possible about my writing, to free myself from the sinister world in my psychological thriller. I use my life experiences with many different people, both from high and low places.

For where there is darkness, there is also light. And I know from a life of experiences for better or for worse that people will do their best to stay on the light side as long as possible. But I also know that we all carry the seeds for doing wrong at some point in our lives.

That we are all flawed in some way. Perfectionism is an ideal that I myself have had my struggles with. It is only in my later years that I have been willing to acknowledge that it is an impossible ideal. What lies beyond perfection, boredom because if perfection is accomplished, it can´t be done better.

I believe that there always is room for improvement in the way we act towards each other and other species. Being flawed by nature is often misunderstood as being undesirable, but I believe it is essential to be a human being. How would we learn from our mistakes if perfection were to rule the world ?

Just watch and listen when things go wrong in the world of perfection. It scars people for life, in a way that is undesirable for us all. It is all about the money, the famous fifteen minutes of fame, and “see me, hear me” cries.

What´s the reward being a writer

A writer´s reward is the feeling that I´m contributing something to the world of opportunities that I live in. It is the sensation in the body, mind, and soul that I´m using my abilities to create what I´m capable of creating.

Dancing words play a strange, yet familiar tune of the pitfalls of life and the human wrecks that modern society so often create these years. Abruptly interrupted by a distinctive switch to the positive outlook that is my conclusion about my perception of the meaning of life.

No matter how harsh and how unfair circumstances people grow up with, there is a personal responsibility for us all. Unless we suffer from disorders and ailments beyond our control. The space between these two absolutes is vast and is under recurring research.

That space is what I dream to write about in a novel. I find it interesting and life-affirming to learn about myself through the spoken words and actions of other people. By observing and listening, I get to question my own beliefs and assumptions. It is healthy to look outside oneself from time to time.

Therefore, a writer´s reward is also the feeling that everything will be quite okay in this writing life of mine. It may turn out to be the most difficult and yet the most giving time of my life. One thing is to write about writing a novel. Another issue is to do it in real life, alone, for real.

I´m extremely careful not to let all this exciting stuff clutter my mind. I take a lot of breaks, and today, I took a long nap in the afternoon, just because it felt right. I knew with myself that I would get the post for today done later.

And so I sit here in my living room with a new, old-fashioned lamp with a bow attached to it. The evening is here, the twilight has passed for the day. In my next blog post on writing, I´ll show my journey from idea to a novel with a view into my working process with my characters.

My husband is cooking a late, but delicious dinner, the little wise, old dog chews on his bone wagging his tail, and the three philosophical cats are playing around as they do every evening with us. It is quiet, no cars thundering down the street, only a few young people gathered at the green area next to our local grocery store.

It´s peaceful, a night full of every possible adventure, only the imagination sets the limits. It´s a privilege to write and get new readers. I know that tonight will be one of the great sessions until late at night.

I get rewarded every time I write. It is a pleasure in itself, it is a dream coming true right before me, it is worth every inch of the efforts. May you find such a joy in life, may your dreams come true.

All dressed up and nowhere to go? Do you have the time, can you use what you already have, and has inspiration run away from you? Then it is time to sit down and think about basic setups for your daily witchcraft.

When I have an issue with inspiration in my daily work with witchcraft, I turn to the simplest of ideas, to the littlest of things that make me happy, to the easiest way out of the rut. Today, I´ll show you a couple of ideas to work further with depending on your personal preferences.

I prefer to keep things as simple as possible to be able to stay inspired on a daily basis. I prefer quality to quantity, so this is by no means an exhaustive cheat sheet. I prefer using what´s already available to me before buying something.

I often use my daily walks with the little wise, old dog to get inspired to go back home and work that magick. I don´t believe in the idea of re-inventing the wheel to bring forth a self-confident attitude about the “political correct” way to practice witchcraft.

This will be the first time that I write these things down in full length. I´m an eclectic cottage witch and a busy writer, so I don´t always get things down on paper. But in return, I make small daily routines that are easily adapted to whatever intention I may have on a particular day.

In my blog post “Waning Moon Quarter Ritual” from August 24, 2019, I wrote about my daily tea ritual :

“Daily Tea Meditation Ritual

Clear and clean your sacred space. Make a pot of your favorite tea. Pick your special cup and whatever comes in handy and significant to the intention of the meditation ritual.

To, it is to relax and to heal with a good book close by, some calming music, and an inspiring atmosphere from incense/oil burners.

I always bring a notebook and a pen, just in case inspiration strikes for some writing. I also include a small decorative altar cloth, scented candles, crystals, and my aromatherapy blend/fragrance for the intention behind, be it physical, mental, or spiritual.

Make sure to be undisturbed, turn off the cell phone (unless you are going to use it to listen to inspirational music) and the TV. Set an egg timer for 20 minutes, if you need to, more if it appeals to you and you have the time for it.

And sit/lie down as comfortable as you can. This is your time, dear readers, make good use of it. Calm your breath and meditate upon what comes into your mind or what you have planned for the day. Remember to write down good ideas and thoughts.

The goal of this is to relax the mind, the body, and the soul. We live in stressful times, so every attempt to regain energy is of great importance. And 20 minutes at a time is not much time, but it is enough to calm down and do some well-deserved grounding.”

Candles, candles, candles …

I admit it straight up, we are candle people here. Throughout the year, my husband and I use candles whenever there is a chance. We love to sit in the light from nothing but candles, to watch the flames twist and turn with a life of their own, and to use as little electricity as possible.

In my Book of Shadows, there are many correspondences, a big one being candles. I correspond my choice of candles to intentions, colors, days of the week, Moon phase, and nearest festival/Sabbat. But the color white goes with everything, and it is the intention behind that matters the most.

Sometimes just to use what´s available is the better solution, however, for when uninspired, your thoughts will circle around anything but to get in the mood for witchcraft. So grab a candle or two, put the kettle on, make your sacred space comfortable and light the candles.

Sometimes there is magick in the simplest of things to do.

Incence/aromatherapy

As a witch, incense and/or aromatherapy are indispensable in my daily life.

I use aromatherapy as a mild and safe alternative treatment for my troubles as a Crone and for anxiety relief. I use incense to cleanse my sacred spaces and my home and to create moods depending on what sort of witchcraft I´m working with.

I´m extremely careful only to buy safe products or else I try to DIY my way through it. I wear my favorite perfumes, add a few drops to a handkerchief, and make my own rose water with fresh rose petals from the garden and demineralized water.

My husband grows sage for me in the garden that I use for incense sticks. Or I buy coffee beans and add them to a small bowl onto which I place a tea light candle. You can also cut an orange in half and squeeze yourself a healthy glass of orange juice, and then place tea light candles in the orange peel.

If you are into crystals, it is both beautiful and calming work, I mostly use crystals for healing purposes, since I discovered that it made me feel better to be near them. I cannot and will not explain why I believe in the positive effects of crystal healing.

I just know that it works for me and my husband.

Regular pebbles always do well when nothing else is speaking about magick on an uninspired day.

Kitchen magick

Stir clockwise/anti-clockwise when you make dinner. Use well-known herbs and spices which usually have magickal correspondences for almost any intention. And say a meal blessing before you and your loved ones eat.

As simple as that is enough.

To cure a witch´s block

It´s only the imagination, dear readers, that sets the limit. There are so many possibilities today that we sometimes forget the fact that often it is the simplest of things that truly matter in the long run. To get inspired as a witch is about calming down and listen to your inner voice.

I have practiced witchcraft for three years, and I still find new ways to attune to the rhythms of Nature. Due to my bipolar disorder, I have better days and should-have-stayed-in-bed days. I use my ideas on days where just two lit candles behind my laptop are more than enough.

My daily tea ritual has evolved since I wrote about it. Today, every afternoon there is a quick and fairy light knock-knock on my kitchen window. That is my neighbors eldest daughter, seven years old. She has homework, and we want chai tea and preferably at least one lit candle.

Between diligent study, she and I go to my witch´s den to talk and to plan what to do next time we play together. She is to come here tomorrow to learn to paint on pebbles, to draw beautiful talented drawings, and to touch and talk about the content of my daily decorative altar cabinet.

But like everybody else, I have days where there is no inspiration at all. Then I turn to the lit candles and go from there. I make a virtue out of going to my witch´s den at least once a day to meditate for at least five minutes.

Some days, minutes become hours. Other times, five minutes is more than enough. It depends on my mood, my level of physical pain, and my priorities for the day. As a busy writer, there is a tight schedule to adapt to daily life, so my kind of magick is direct, simple, and easy to follow through.

Elaborate setups I reserve for the major festival/Sabbats and the celebrations of the Moon´s phases. But there are little pieces of magick everywhere in my home. I have strategically placed them in every room of the house as a source of inspiration and for protection purposes as well.

To cure a witch´s block is as with writing : keep on doing daily mini-rituals, keep on believing it is worth the effort, keep on being creative with small means. To me, it has become a habit that never fails me, especially on a rotten day.

It took me time to realize that to be a witch it is not necessary to have ll the right tools, all the right texts to read aloud, all the right this and that. The most important tool is the witch herself/himself. The best text is often written on the go. There are no strict guidelines in witchcraft.

And it is quite alright that there will be times when you are practicing less or more than usual. It all depends on your intentions behind the wish to work with witchcraft on a daily basis. To be creative is to be able to see possibilities in the small things of life and make magick with what is available now.

At the moment, I´m only celebrating the big festivals and doing my daily tea ritual together with a sweet and clever seven-year-old girl, whose perception of magisk is even broader than mine, for she knows more than many people already.

Tomorrow, she is coming here to play, to be creative, and to be herself as much as I have energy to allow. It is a great pleasure every time, we get to know each other on a deeper level than I have with most grown-up people.

After a couple of hours with her, I feel inspired for a long time. Her directness and subtle ways of expressing pure joy and true feelings at the moment is half the way to creating intentions for work with witchcraft. She doesn´t know that, yet, for she must come herself one day as a grown-up woman.

Then, and not before, will I teach her, if she asks. It has to come from deep within her heart and soul, for it is not an easy choice of path. There is a lot of work behind the scenes, and sadly, there are still ignorant and hateful perceptions of witchcraft in this world.

For the remains of the day, I´ll write more notes in my research for my novel, and on Monday I´ll let you come close to my preparations for nine months of drafting in 2020. It is getting more serious by the day, and I admit, with a big smile, that I´m a writing addict.

Next Friday, I´ll show you what I do about daily mini-rituals when time is an issue. In a modern stressed world, it is extremely important to slow down from time to time, but it is getting increasingly difficult to find the necessary time between work and mundane problems to solve.

Writing this blog post has already inspired me to celebrate the Full Moon on Tuesday next week. I need beauty, inner peace and mental clarity. Dear Universe, let it be so that these three needs will manifest during and after my Full Moon ritual. So Mote It Be.

I wish you a happy and relaxing weekend, dear readers. May it bring forth the best in you, may it be worth your time, may you find what you search for. Now, it is time to enjoy the company of happy, sweet children with their Friday candy.