Journaling

 Keeping journals is an important part of growing and learning in witchcraft. One of the first pieces of advice I was given when I started studying the craft was to write everything down! It helps to keep track of your experiences, and it will help you see the progress you've made over time. I've found that if I go back and re-read my notes after time has passed, there is often much to be learned that I missed the first time around.

Not only that, but keeping detailed notes about things like tarot or scrying sessions, and even dreams can be helpful later on. If you go back and read your notes, you might find that your tarot readings have proven true, or that messages you received in dreams were giving you hints about something that was going to happen.

The problem with me though, is just picking a method and sticking to it! I use my Book of Shadows for references like spells I've written, lists of correspondences, and notes on topics I've been researching. But I like to keep journal entries somewhere else.

Handwritten journals are the more obvious choice. I can get a notebook small enough to fit in my purse, and I can whip it out and create an entry anywhere I want. Small problems occur though, like the fact that my hand isn't fast enough for my brain, and that these can be easily discovered by those you might not want reading them. My biggest problem with this, though, is locating what I've written previously. I often find myself needing to refer back to an entry I wrote about a specific topic, but I can't remember when I wrote it. I end up skimming half of the journal before I find what I need. This led me to the next option.

Online journals are where it's at, in my opinion. Unlike writing by hand, I can type almost as fast as I can form the thought I'm trying to communicate. It's easy for me to be meticulous about my writing, since I can go back and edit the mistakes I made! Best of all, I can tag topics in each post so I can easily search for it later, if I ever need it (BTW I use Penzu, in case you're wondering). The problem with this is I can't always access my computer to write. I can use the app for my phone, but my phone's just too small and I can't type fast enough on that thing. Maybe I just need to give in and buy a damn tablet. Whatever.

I often switch back and forth between these two journaling methods. I have a handwritten journal that I use while I'm away from home and late at night when I don't feel like powering up my laptop. I keep detailed and organized notes in my online journal for meditation sessions, tarot readings, dreams, and other experiences in magic. Many of the entries in my handwritten journal end up being typed into my online journal, just for the sake of tagging topics to find it later.

What kind of methods do you like to use for journaling? I'd love to know!

 

Magic

Magic. What is it, anyway?

Someone recently asked me this question. I have to admit, I was pretty stumped for a while. How do you explain something like that? How do you put it all into words and sum it up in a way that it can be easily understood?

It's not an easy thing to do right off the bat. To be honest, everyone you ask is probably going to give you a different answer, based on what magic means to them and their personal experiences with it. In fact, after a solid look at all of my journal entries on this matter, I realized that my own ideas of what magic is have changed over many years. I'll do my best here to explain it based on what I've learned and my own personal understanding.

Essentially, magic is energy. Energy is everywhere in one form or another. It's in you and it's in the tree in your backyard. It's in the wind and it's in the sea. It's deep inside the earth and it's in the sun. Energy is everything and nothing would exist without it.

So why is it magic? Well, when you "do magic," you connect your energy with the energy around you. You are using it and manipulating it. That energy is there and readily available for anyone and everyone. But sadly, most people don't realize that. Most people live their entire lives completely unaware of this concept, or believing it to be a supernatural fairytale or hoax. When one opens their mind and learns to work with those energies, that is magic.

Some might wonder what the point is. Why would anyone bother learning to connect with energies around them? All that time and effort, and for what? Well, first of all, learning to connect with the world around you puts you back in touch with yourself. You are essentially the same as every other living thing on the planet and once you realize that, you will be more likely to work with the world around you rather than against it. This creates and indescribable sense of peace.

Second, learning to manipulate energy helps to get shit done! There is immense power in intent, and learning to control and direct your intentions in the right ways can help you accomplish things you never thought were possible.

I do magic of some sort every single day. Some days it's as simple as sitting under a tree and listening to what it has to teach me. Other days I might need to do a spell and muster up enough energy and intent to get things moving in the direction I need them to. It's all magic.

Summer Solstice

I hope everyone had a wonderful solstice! I actually managed to get a Saturday off from work, and what better Saturday than the Summer Solstice?

I spent the day baking banana bread, tending my garden, making rose candles, spending lots of money on new tarot decks, and reading books out in the sun. 

It surely was a wonderfully long day! I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!

It's Time for a Change

I wake up every single morning and put on the same gross outfit. I scramble out the door to a job for which I get paid way too little to sell a product I don't give a rat's ass about. I spend my whole day kissing the asses of mindless, ignorant consumers who care about nothing except getting the best bang for their buck. They are glassy eyed, rude, and have no respect for the world around them.

My bosses constantly want more work for less pay, and nothing ever satisfies them. Every day is a new fight for equal and fair treatment.

And all this just so I can afford a home in which I spend four hours every evening. And then it's off to bed so I can do it all again tomorrow.

I can't do this anymore, pretending to care about a product that only pollutes the Earth and puts people's lives in danger, anyway. It's sucking the life out of my soul. I'm in the wrong industry, in the wrong world. I suspected it in college and it's becoming painfully more clear every single day. I don't belong here.

I want to do something that actually helps people. I want to do something that's productive, instead of contributing to an industry that is destructive (which is most industries, these days!). I want to do something that is not just a steady paycheck. I want to end my day knowing it was not wasted.

I'm not OK with this anymore. I can't do this for the rest of my life, it's not what I want my life to be. I'm posting this here as a way to announce it to the world, to hold myself accountable for doing something about it.

It's time for a change.