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At Beltane this year I stared into a flame, asking what I needed to commit to in body, mind and spirit. What was needing to come to the surface.
The first answer came quickly. Body? Movement, Dance. This made sense. No big surprise. Mind? Stillness, staring. Also not surprising. Expected even. Spirit? Devotion. Devotion? Devotion to what? As someone who doesn’t do a lot of work with deities in my own practice, I was surprised by this answer. Who or what was I supposed to be devoted to? I rolled this word around and around in my mind. I let it take up space in my mouth as I felt the texture of it. Speaking it aloud often in the coming weeks. The answer was not as far away as it first felt. The devotion I was (and am) being called to is creativity and specifically to my writing. I felt it when I picked up my pen to journal later that week. The spark and calling was pervasive as I scrawled page after page. My practice in devotion to creativity, to muse, to the godds of writing has been long flirted with. From one night stands to months long affairs, creativity and I have had some times. In moments it consumed me in story, late nights at the keyboard, hours with pen to paper in coffeehouses, on trains, between classes. For years I carried a notebook and wrote in every free moment I could find. Other times, (most times these last 15 years), creativity in the form of my writing has been pushed to the background as my responsibilities (and sometimes my fear) took over. Is it different this time? I don’t know. It feels different. But I’m pretty sure it’s felt different before. I’m also pretty sure that it's a day by day choice. Devotion can be sweet and like love can sweep us off our feet, yet also like love, when the initial rush of oxytocin wears off, devotion can require work, focus, and even discipline. How does devotion show up in your life? Where are you choosing to devote your time, your energy, your passion to? If it is not already, what would it look like, feel like, be like to make this devotion intentional? And are you willing to take the plunge?
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There is so much I want to share with you!
But since I must narrow it down to this one simple and hopefully digestible letter, I will begin with the most present thing. The little girl was dancing and dancing. Her cat eared, sound canceling headphones made her look almost as if she were an animal. So connected to her body. So present in the experience. Aware of her herself and completely embodied. Her little 7 year old self letting the music carry her deeper within, then without, taking in her surroundings before turning back in again, eyes closed. In and out, riding wave after wave of song. Music invites us back to ourselves. To all of ourselves. Maybe it’s a rhythm and that seeps into your skin and invokes movement you can’t help but surrender too. Maybe it’s a familiar lyric or tune that calls your past self (or selves) back from the depths of history, memory, another time and place. What was the last song that demanded an offering of presence from you? Last night I went to a Matchbox Twenty and Matt Nathanson concert at a nearby outdoor pavilion. It was amazing! Aside from the great company (shout out to my fellow Witch in the World Irisanya Moon), the fabulous music that awoke so many of my past selves and the gorgeous Spring evening, there was that sense of connection, of being a part of something. There was a sacred timeless space created there in that theater. Each of those 8000 plus people having their own experience, creating their own memories and simultaneously hearing the same music, a common and shining thread woven through the tapestry of moment. I have written before about music as magic, as time travel, and yet it is so much more. It is also a time stopper, a connector, a container, a Spell. I invite you to use this tool for your magic. Simples Practices: What is the energy you want to invoke? What song(s) call this forth for you? Choose one and play it, headphones in, world shut out and let it infiltrate your being. What happens? Take note. Or better yet, make a note. Tell the story of this transformation. Make a playlist- Choose a mood, a time, a self you want to connect with and make a playlist of songs to support this part of you. Let it be fuel, balm, whatever you need it to be. Listen as needed. Share the magic- Text a friend or loved one a link to a song that is speaking to you. Make playlists (remember mix tapes that you made for lovers and friends?), share them Co-create-pick a theme and invite a friend, loved one (or multiple friends and loved ones) to add songs to the playlist with this theme. (this is making magic together and creating connection, weaving your own thread through each others experiences across time and space). Most of all, have fun. Dance. Laugh. Cry. Let the music hold you and guide you. Last night I offered my Priestessing in the Modern World Class.
It did not go as planned. My sleeping puppy was wide awake and ready to play. My husband and I had a miscommunication about timing and he wasn’t home or responding to my pre-class texts about how I needed him to take over puppy duties. But I said I was offering this class, spo I was showing up for it. When I commit I go all in. If I say I am going to do something, I do it. So I taught the class. I had an allergy coughing attack right out of the gate. My puppy wanted off the bed where I had tried to lull him into rest and alerted me with squeals. Once off the bed he popped on the floor and proceeded to squeal his desire to get back up. I kept talking. Working hard to modulate my voice and cover all my main points. When there was a pause in the meditation I scooped him back onto the bed where that little guy relentlessly chewed my clothing, my hand and intermittently the toys I kept offering him. My attention was totally split. By the time we wrapped the class, several people had left midway through. I was exhausted and frustrated and a little undone. We went outside where the dogs ran and I breathed and grounded and worked to recenter. Sometimes Priestessing looks like this. Sometimes it means showing up just as you are and staying the course. Other times it is pivoting last minute or rescheduling a commitment. Priestessing is the act of connecting to the energies of the earth and sky and Source, and letting those energies amplify your gifts. But what about the times you can’t connect? What about those moments when your attention is splintered? After all, we are human. The answer is “it depends”. There are moments in Priestessing/leading/teaching, where the show must go on even when distractions emerge. It is in these moments that I lean into my own strengths as a way to carry me through. It doesn’t always turn out as expected. But then I learn. After all there is always more to learn. Especially when in a leadership role. Allowing oneself to be humbled is a part of growth. So last night, I grew a little more. Accepted the reminder that sometimes a last minute reschedule might be in everyone’s best interest or a delay in start time to set myself up for puppy success could have been a benefit. And I leaned into my humanness with compassion and surrender. If you missed the class last night you can watch the replay with puppy whines, coughing and all here. If you want to learn more about the program or if you have been considering it and are now ready to join you can do so here. This was the question hanging in the balance in the late Summer of 2019.
There was aBusiness Witchery Retreat being held in Florida in November of that year and I wanted to go, but it was an investment. (And it meant flying across country for the second time that year, which as you likely know by now is not my favorite thing to do) I was waffling back and forth but couldn’t come to a clear conclusion. I did the pros and cons list. I processed it endlessly. But my yes and no were absent and I was just left hanging in the unknown. Finally while talking it over yet again, a very wise friend asked “So have you checked it out with your pendulum yet?” You might be asking yourself why I would consult my pendulum instead of my pros and cons list. The answer is quite simple. The act of divination takes me right out of my overthinking busy brain and back into the knowing of my body. A pendulum is just an extension of my energetic field. It is controlled not necessarily by spirit or source, but by that part of myself that is sometimes drowned out by the chatter of my mind. The pendulum said YES! And I booked my flight. The trip was amazing to say the least, plane ride and all. So the next time you find yourself going back and forth, having a difficult time making a decision, ask your pendulum. (a dry tea bag can work as a pendulum as well), and discover what your inner voice has to say. Reminder: Both the Priestess Path Awakening Series and the Wise Woman Witchery Outdoor Retreat, close for registration May 14th. The details for both can be found in the links. Dreams are portals. They lead us deep within the unconscious mind. They offer visions and insights. They make stories out of our day to day (wild and sometimes very choppy stories but stories nonetheless) in order to help us process and integrate our experiences.
Some people believe that dreams offer openings for messages from guides and our beloved dead. Some believe they gift us prophecies. Me? I believe it all. In the last two weeks my sleep has become a patchwork waking and dream. With the addition of a new puppy to the house, I’ve been waking every two hours to take him outside. These intermittent wakings have led to an encounter with a skunk at 2 am (we all walked away untarnished), standing in the pouring rain at midnight, a shooting star and a very vibrant encounter with the full moon. But these waking moments have also brought me much closer to my dreams. Those dreams that are embedded deep in the sleep realm, the ones we so often can not recall upon waking, have been close to the surface in these liminal moments. And the dead have been visiting. I have been surprised to find my Dad, an Uncle, my old boss and mentor, my dog Willow and several more people now gone, showing up vividly in these dreams. There hasn’t been a clear message or theme, only that for the two days before Beltane until this past Friday, I have dreamed of deceased loved ones every night. It wasn’t until I was talking to a friend about the thinning veils of Beltane and the potent full moon and eclipse that I realized these between the world spaces are easier to pass through now, whether beings from other realms/dimensions, or spirits from the otherworld. If you want to increase dream recall, regardless of time of year or lunar cycle, segmented sleep actually assists with this process. Waking up a couple of times in the night you may discover yourself remembering those places your psyche was traveling only moments before and you don’t need a puppy to make it happen. Just set your alarm clock for three hours after you fall asleep and when you awaken, write down what you remember from your dream travels. Not sure you want to disrupt your beauty sleep? Daily dream journaling penned upon waking and discussions of your dreams with friends or in a dream group can help increase recall and understanding of the information coming through. Sweet dreams Wise Ones. “Once we start to work with Feminine power we begin to see that it is not our minds that are in control of this power – it ebbs and flows with the movements of the planets, the procession of the seasons, the moons and tides, our own internal cycles of menstruality, anniversaries, the events around us. All these and more impact our experience and expressions of power. We learn to become aware of these various patterns and their impact on us and work more consciously with rather than against or in spite of them. We learn that they are all part of the same process. We open towards the energy, rather than shut down to it. We learn to trust the flow.” ― Lucy H. Pearce, Burning Woman I found this quote to day and it gave me chills. THIS is exactly what the Priestess Path Awakening series is all about. Tuning in to the energies around us. Learning and practicing skills to align with these energies, to find our place within their rhythm and flow and to let this guide us in both our mystical and mundane lives, until we discover more and more overlap between the two. The next cohort of the Priestess Path begins May 20th. This is less than two weeks away! Registration closes May 14th. Are you ready to embrace your magic and step into your power? You can find all the details and Register here. I’ll see you on the Path! I want to hold your hand. To sing with you. To craft with you. To hear your story. I want to listen to the wind in the trees with you. Watch the stars with you. Laugh with you. Maybe cry a little too. I want to circle around a crackling fire with you and make magic in the arms of the wild. The Wise Woman Witchery Outdoor Summer Retreat is closing for registration on Sunday May 14th. If you want to join us now is the time to sign up. We gather Sunday June 25th to Tuesday June 27th, for three days of sweet medicine that can only be found in nature, mixed with ceremony and community, an alchemical potion of pure magic. The details of this event can be found here. It won’t make you thinner or more muscular.
It won’t dissolve your wrinkles. Witchcraft will not heal all ailments. Or make the person you have been pining after love you Contrary to some of the pop culture depictions, Witchcraft is not a fix it all solution for whatever ails you. But here is what Witchcraft can do. It can help you connect more deeply with your inner knowing. Witchcraft offers opportunities to delve into the river of energy that runs through EVERYTHING! It will help you live more in tune with the cycles of the moon and the seasons, and in turn, allow you to understand and live more in tune with the cycles within you! Witchcraft will help you discover your magic, your unique gifts and strengths that make you shine a little brighter. It can help you craft daily practices that become touchstones, and grounding points in your life. It opens doors you didn’t know existed. Witchcraft can bring more confidence into your body, more certainty, more alignment. It can help you step into YOUR power. This is why I was called to this path. Living in tune with the rhythms of the natural world, of my spiritual practice aligning with care for the earth, of finding the energy around me and working with it intentionally, have all brought with them a resounding “YES” in my body and spirit. When I started Wise Woman Witchery, I did it because I wanted you to feel this too! I wanted to share with you my own journey and experience and through this help you connect to that magic inside of yourself and feel empowered by it. The culmination of my offerings arrived in the form of the Priestess Path Awakening series. In the last few years I have been honored to get to guide, teach and learn from the cohorts of women who have chosen to grow their practices with this path. The next cohort begins May 20th and together we will be learning foundational practices (like casting a circle and creating ritual), deepen our relationships with ourselves through our inner work (shadow, sacred sensuality), add more tools to our toolboxes, (divination, dream work and more) and end our journey with an initiation ceremony where we claim the Priestess within! The Priestess Path Awakening program, is designed to run for 12 months, (13 moons) and builds on itself through each section. Yet many of the pieces of this program can also stand alone, either as a series (ie: foundational practices), or as an individual class/ritual combo. For those of you who might be intrigued by the program and feel called to be a part of it, yet find yourself questioning if a year commitment feels doable, I have a solution for you. I am now offering three ways to register for this program.
Today is a day of rest and reflection for me. A time of integration.
After two fabulous days of the Cauldron of Wisdom virtual conference, I feel full and grateful (and a little tired too). Each time one of these events take place, I am reminded of the sacredness of connection, of sharing, or openness and the gift that comes with both giving and receiving wisdom. Even within a Zoom room sacred space can be created and connections can be made. Even across miles we can find our roots and intertwine them into a circle where magic is born. With Spring traipsing across the land here in the Northern Hemisphere and that ongoing quickening pushes us forward, I invite you to pause and ask yourself what you are integrating in this moment. What have you been learning, practicing, working on? How is this integrating into your awareness? Your body? Your way of being? Yesterday one of the classes we took was about altar magic. Altars are a favorite practice of mine and one that anyone can do at any time. Drawing off Jen Untalan’s class, here is a simple practice for you to play with. After asking yourself the questions about integration, take ten minutes and look around your house or outdoor space and grab items that stand out to you in relationship to this integration process. Maybe there's a crystal or rock that speaks to the way this thing you have been absorbing is routine into your body. Maybe a statue or flower that sparks a connection for you. Whatever these items are, gather them together and set them out on a table, or counter or the top of your dresser. Set a candle in the middle and light it. Let this space be your ally in your integration. Sit here and journal, meditate, gaze… Add and subtract items as you feel called. Opportunity to Connect The conference might be over but there is still the opportunity to connect. The next cohort of the Priestess Path begins May 20th. I’ll be sharing about this and leading you on a journey to meet your inner Priestess this coming Friday at 4:30 pm PT. Priestessing in the Modern World is a free 45 min class that explores the concept of Priestessing and invites you inward to connect with this part of yourself. You can register here Summer Outdoor Retreat Our in person retreat is happening here in Sonoma County California June 25th-27th. We will gather together in a co-created sacred space where we will move through ceremony, spell work, connection with each other and with the land. All the details can be found here Sometimes the best laid plans go belly up.
My camping trip? The plan to relax, be, connect? That was one of those. My period arrived the night before we left and had me longing for indoor plumbing more than I’d like to admit (we even had a camper but it wasn’t quite the same). Then my husband decided to let my dog off the leash in a place she had never been with vast space all around and the warning of wild pigs traversing the area. My anxiety skyrocketed. (my dog was fine by the way) Being disconnected and out in the great wide open did not feel quite so great, or open. I want to be that brave nature connected, dirt worshiping, totally comfortable in the middle of nowhere kind of witch. But I’m not. I love to hike and camp. But I like it better when I’m in screaming distance from help. I am not a backpacking, PCT or AT kind of gal. You will likely never read my version of the time I backpacked solo into the wilderness. Because it’s not going to happen. It’s embarrassing to admit that. But it’s true. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed and was grateful for the beauty that was all around. The land is familiar and very sacred to my husband who grew up there. I loved the sound of the full creek, turkey calls, the frogs, the wind in the trees, the smell of the buck brush and damp earth and the sighting of foxes, hawks, and a coyote. It was just that I didn’t feel safe. I felt challenged and on high alert. I tried to talk myself through it. To calm my nerves, to drop in. And there were moments of that to be certain. But it wasn’t the way I had planned (hoped, daydreamed about) And although I’ve camped on that land over 20 times in the last 20+ years the last time I had visited was 2016 or 2017. We weren’t acquainted with each other the way we had once been . My point? Even though my longing was to connect with the land in a deep and magical way, even though I dream of being someone who can let their guard down and be fully present in a vast natural space, I’m not. But that does not make me any less of a Witch. And if you, like me, find yourself concerned about mountain lions and wild pigs (and possibly monsters because my imagination is a powerful force) and would rather camp with a group than just your husband (because safety in numbers), know that you are not any less of a witch either. I long for space to spread out in, to be loud in, to be surrounded by nature in, but I don’t want too much space, nor too little. Like our criminal B and E friend Goldilocks I too need something that is “just right”. So I’m home from camping. I’ve got my moon charged creek water and quartz treasures to mark the passage of the magic I did while away. And I’m remembering that, it’s ok to honor my limits. To Witch the way that fits for me. And I want you to remember that too! Your magic and the way you work with it and wield it is specific to who you are. Embrace it! My friends, just a reminder that the 3rd Annual Cauldron of Wisdom Virtual Conference is less than a week away. All ten classes will be streamed via Zoom and in a private Facebook group, plus they are all recorded so you can join us live or watch and rewatch at your convenience. You can find the full lineup, schedule and registration HERE As a bonus, all registrants not already enrolled in the Diving Deeper Membership Circle will receive a coupon code to get one month FREE! Keep the community going by joining in for New and Full Moon rituals and wheel of the year ceremonies, then uplevel your practice with access to a myriad of classes and meditations. See you round the cauldron! Wise Ones, How is the Spring season moving through and around you? This time of year I usually take some time off work. Sometimes I travel, sometimes I camp. This year I’m doing both. After a trip up to the Pacific Northwest I am now headed out to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. The thing about both of these trips is that they give me the opportunity to get closer to nature. To wander the land without a schedule outside of my body’s needs and heart desires. I can spend hours in motion or stillness. I can hike trails, traverse water or just stare at the leaves in the trees and listen to the epic bird song of the season. It’s simple really, this act of reconnecting to the earth and to my body. Yet it can sometimes feel challenging to take this time. What’s true is I don’t need to be on vacation to do it, yet somehow the spaciousness of these moments allow me a deeper drop in and connection. And connect I have. On the ferry across Puget Sound I was mesmerized by the water and all the life within. In Olympic National Park, I felt the story of the earth and the land spirits that live there. And I know the beings of the land I am about to embark upon. I have seen them over the years peeking out of trees and stumps, blending into the granite formations and slipping beneath the creeks surface, disguising their voices in the nightly frogsong. Every place has its beings, its spirits, its lifeforces. Do you believe in fairies? I do. And this is one of their incarnations. These nature spirits that surround us, wherever we go. I once wrote a persuasive speech about why you should believe in fairies. I got an A. Because it was really good. And I had legit research to back it up. Maybe you believe in the spirits of place and land but maybe “fairy” takes it a little too far for you. I’d like to invite you to join me at the 3rd annual Cauldron of Wisdom Virtual Conference where I will be teaching about working with the Fae. I’ll present to you some history of these beings, some theories about their existence and origins and we will discover ways to connect with them and work with their energies. Then you can decide if you believe in fairies too. (And I might be overly confident but I think you will!) This virtual conference is happening in just under two weeks on April 14th and 15th. Over two days and 10 workshops we will be deepening into our magical wisdom and practice, building community and celebrating our witchery! The conference is available via zoom or if you prefer you can watch it in our private Facebook group. All workshops will be recorded and registrants have lifetime access to the replays. There is still time to register! I’m off to the mountains to dance with the Fae under the Full Moon, to leave them offerings in the crooks of trees and the grooves of stone. May you have a most enchanting week Wise Ones!  As the convergence of this new season, the new moon and Aries season quicken the world around us and the one inside of us, I wonder how you are feeling.
This time of year always brings with it a little bit of anxiety in my being. Where I live the awakening feels fast. My body is still shedding Winter and the pace at which the energy is moving all around brings with it rapid fire ideas, a general increase in vibration and the inner conflict of ready not ready. On this day where day and night hold equal court, I invite you to pause and find the sensation of this moment within. What do you feel? Desire? What does your body crave? Movement? Stillness? Something in between? What if you gave yourself 5 minutes to just move in a way that felt like you in this now? As we move toward the solar energy of Spring and Summer I’ve been feeling my longing for my magical community swell and the void where my women’s circle used to reside making itself bigger, darker and more empty in sensation. For those of you who are new to the list or perhaps don’t recall, my women’s circle of 19 years disbanded at Solstice. Although it was high time for this dissolution, and the magic between us had been quieted and untended for some time, the space this group of sisters took up in my world was big, powerful, familiar and I relied on it. In this absence my initial reaction was to launch into something new. To create a new group immediately. (and to be honest I did try but the timing wasn’t right and the universe apparently wanted me sloooow down). So I’ve been hanging with the void, feeling the loss and the grief and with the arrival of Spring this feels somehow more acute. What to do with this now? I’m feeling into the edges to discover what will emerge. I’m looking for signs, invitations and connections and being gentle with my tender heart, and calming the fire that still wants to leap without looking. I’m sitting in reflection. In pause. I’m noticing what the convergence of this moment is igniting and deepening within me. I’m listening. Are you? We are welcoming the emergence of Spring with our own convergence. One of Wise Women coming together to make magic through sharing of knowledge and practice. The Cauldron of Wisdom 3, virtual conference is happening April 14th and 15th. I’ve been playing with my workshop, Working with the Fae and can’t wait to introduce you to these beings! This is just one of the 10 workshops/classes being offered at the event. This year there are three ways to watch. When you register you can join us live via Zoom or Facebook or if you can’t make the livestream you can watch the replay which will be in the conference site for you to access always. We have also added an after hours hang out and Q and A with our presenters for Friday evening. You can learn more about the conference and register here! Want to Witch with me? The Wise Woman Witchery Outdoor Summer Retreat is scheduled for June 25th-27th in Sonoma County California. Together we will create ritual, altars, cast a spell and connect with the land and each other. Details can be found here |
Emily Morrison MA, MFTArchives
May 2023
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