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You may have heard this saying before There is this idea that when we remember we keep the energy, the spirit of our beloved dead alive. We see this echoed in cultures throughout time. In statues, in gravestones, in stories, in altars...we build places of remembrance so that we never forget. As we move into the Autumn season the veil between worlds begins to thin. We might find ourselves remembering, we might find ourselves touching into our grief. The natural world around us in the Northern Hemisphere is dying. Preparing itself for quiet, for rest. As the energy of growth that we have been riding through the Summer wanes, we might discover a dying away, a quieting within ourselves. Autumn is my most favorite season, yet somehow it is also one that brings some sadness with it. I feel closer to my grief during this season, closer to memories of what was, of loved ones now passed over, of things not accomplished or ended, of relationships changed. There is a longing here in grief, an honoring too. Now is a time to be gentle with your tender heart. During this past few years we have spent more time apart, we have let more rites of passage, more rituals fall away. Being witnessed and held in community is one of the most powerful ways to honor and work with our grief. Irisanya Moon and I have worked together to create a ritual for just this purpose. Whatever you have lost, whatever you are mourning, whether it’s a person, an animal, a job, a relationship…whatever it is, there is room for you in this circle to name it, to feel it, to acknowledge it and to be acknowledged in your experience. The Leaves of Grief Ritual is scheduled for October 22nd at 4 pm PT. This ritual will last approximately an hour and a half. Here we create a sacred space for your grief, a space for feeling, healing and mourning. A space for remembering. 
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Tomorrow is the fall equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the Witch's Thanksgiving and is the second of three harvest festivals on the Wheel of the Year. This is also the day that night and day share equal time and the demarcation of the darkness of night beginning it's rule of the land (until the Winter Solstice, when the light begins to return). So Wise Ones, what are you thankful for? Let's bring some gratitude forward to celebrate this season. You can practice gratitude in a myriad of ways, One of my favorites is to reach out to the people in your life who you are thankful for and to let them know via phone or even by dropping a card in the post. You can also make a gratitude list, say intentional prayers of gratitude, or even practice random acts of kindness to spark some gratitude in someone else and find the gratitude for the ability to offer these. Gratitude changes our brain and our overall health. "When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside." (https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/) So why not use this holiday to cultivate the energy of gratitude in your life? Want a little more? If you haven't already be sure to get your free Autumn Equinox Celebration Guidesheets, for s few reflections on celebrating this seasonal shift. If you missed the community ritual this last weekend but want to experience an Autumn Equinox ceremony, you can get the replay by purchasing the full 40+ page Autumn Equinox Celebration Guidebook, that includes divination, recipes, reflections, crafts and more! Erin Lafaive of Full Circle Herbals and I lovingly crafted this for you to help you connect more deeply with the natural world and the way it lives in you!  I am sitting here listening to the rain outside. The doors and windows are thrown open even with the fierce and chilly wind blowing in. The sound of water hitting the roof, the earth, the leaves, is a balm to my body and the land. The elements doing the things they do, and speaking to the elements in my skin. The wind awakening my wild, the water quieting my inner, often overactive, fire and my body, like the earth, drinking it all in. The earth spoke earlier this week. Shaking and rolling in the way that it does. Settling into itself, as the fault lines shifted and reminded us that grounding is much more than earthing our roots. We talk about grounding all the time in witchery, and in mindfulness practices. I often think about it as a place to land. I assume that to ground means I am solid and safe. The earth is there, supporting us and providing stability. Until it isn’t. As the ground shook and my nervous system amped itself up, I remembered that grounding is not just about landing and rooting. It is not always about being still and steady. Truly grounding is actually about sway and flexibility. Bury your roots in the earth but as the soil and stone shakes, reorienting itself, remember to find the fluidity in your body, in your nervous system, in your thoughts and feelings. Be like the water and flow, be like the air and move, be like fire and find the motion, be like earth and let yourself shake. As I reflect on my own relationship to this land I call home, to this body I call home, it is the elements that I come back to again and again as my greatest asset, my greatest allies. I am them and they are in me. How do the elements live in you? What is your relationship to them? How do you see these in the land you live on? What do the elements teach you when you listen to their wisdom? When the ground shakes beneath you, literally or figuratively, how can you lean into the elements for support? Curious about the elements? Want to learn some new ways to work with them? Deepen your relationship with their energies? I will be teaching “You are Elemental”, at the 3rd annual Season of the Witch virtual conference on Friday October 7th. We will use experiential exercises to delve into the elements and their many gifts. This 2 day conference runs the 7th and 8th and this class is only one of 10 that will be happening over that time. Come fill your cup with Witchery! Early Bird pricing ends on the 23rd of September, so if you haven’t registered yet, be sure to take advantage of the 20% off by signing up now. Use the code EARLYBIRD at check out.  I am sitting here listening to the rain outside. The doors and windows are thrown open even with the fierce and chilly wind blowing in.
The sound of water hitting the roof, the earth, the leaves, is a balm to my body and the land. The elements doing the things they do, and speaking to the elements in my skin. The wind awakening my wild, the water quieting my inner, often overactive, fire and my body, like the earth, drinking it all in. The earth spoke earlier this week. Shaking and rolling in the way that it does. Settling into itself, as the faultlines shifted and reminded us that grounding is much more than earthing our roots. We talk about grounding all the time in witchery, and in mindfulness practices. I often think about it as a place to land. I assume that when I ground I am solid and safe. The earth is there, supporting us and providing stability. Until it isn’t. As the ground shook and my nervous system amped itself up, I remembered that grounding is not just about landing and rooting. It is not always about being still and steady. Truly grounding is actually about sway and flexibility. Bury your roots in the earth but as the soil and stone shakes, reorienting itself, remember to find the fluidity in your body, in your nervous system, in your thoughts and feelings. Be like the water and flow, be like the air and move, be like fire and find the motion, be like earth and let yourself shake. As I reflect on my own relationship to this land I call home, to this body I call home, it is the elements that I come back to again and again as my greatest asset, my greatest allies. I am them and they are in me. How do the elements live in you? What is your relationship to them? How do you see these in the land you live on? What do the elements teach you when you listen to their wisdom? When the ground shakes beneath you, literally or figuratively, how can you lean into the elements for support? Curious about the elements? Want to learn some new ways to work with them? Deepen your relationship with their energies? I will be teaching “You are Elemental”, at the 3rd annual Season of the Witch virtual conference on Friday October 7th. We will use experiential exercises to delve into the elements and their many gifts. This 2 day conference runs the 7th and 8th and this class is only one of 10 that will be happening over that time. Come fill your cup with Witchery! Early Bird pricing ends on the 23rd of September, so if you haven’t registered yet, be sure to take advantage of the 20% off by signing up now. Use the code EARLYBIRD at check out. Some of you may recall several months back we created a community booklist, made up of magical books, both non-fiction and fiction. I have recently updated this list and have added my Amazon affiliate links to the list. (If you use these Wise Woman Witchery gets a small percentage of the purchase price.) You can find the most recently updated list HERE. Over time new books will be added to the list so you may want to save this email to be able to find the list with ease. (I will also be posting it on my website as well). Oracle and Tarot Cards As most of you know, I LOVE cards. I have pulled out a few of my favorite decks and created a list with links for you to check out as well. If you are like me and already have a comprehensive collection, you may recognize some of these already. List of cards and links. Readers One of the things I am often asked about is if I know of any good psychics, mediums or card, rune or astrology readers. I have compiled a list of people whose work I am familiar with and who I trust. There are so many people doing this work out there it can be hard sometimes to know who to book with. Here is my recommended list. Christine Michele and Jen Untalan are on this list and both will be teaching at the 3rd annual Season of the Witch Conference. Come check these Wise Witchy Women out, along with 8 other workshops, on October 7th and 8th. Early Bird Pricing for registration is available now! Gather your notebooks, snacks and tea and settle in for two days of Witchery, Community, Practice and Learning! No matter your experience level there is something here for everyone!  I am a bit of a magpie. When I love a magical tool, I want to collect it. I have tarot and oracle decks, pendulums and loads of crystals that speak volumes about this habit. I love to use these tools when I am working with magic. Pulling cards, using crystals to focus energy and asking my pendulum for clarity are all things I do often. Maybe you too have these practices. Maybe you too are a bit of a collector and find yourself with a myriad of such tools to choose from. I want to share a secret about tools with you. You don’t need them. Seriously. If you got rid of all your cards, crystals and pendulums tomorrow (which I am by no means suggesting you do), you would still be just as magical as you are today. These tools are just a way to hone our focus, to guide our energy to assist us in accessing our intuition. When these tools are unavailable your magical powers are not lost, they might just require a little rebooting, a little pivoting. Your body with all of its senses is the most powerful tool you have access to. And it is with you ALL THE TIME! The more you build your relationship with your body, the easier it is to understand what your body is trying to tell you in a given moment. The more you practice meditation and begin to understand the messages given to you through symbols the greater this symbol library becomes and the easier you can translate the information you receive. When you connect to your body and to your sensation, your feelings, and even your thoughts, you are creating a habitat for connection with other energies around you. Your relationships with the elements, with the cycles of the seasons and the moon will grow deeper and you will be able to use these energies in your craft with more ease. Simple Practice Take some time to sit with yourself. Bring your awareness first to what you see. Really look around the space you have chosen and discover what colors and textures you see. Close your eyes. And listen to what sounds you hear. Notice what is near and what is further away. See if you can identify these sounds. What do you smell? Is there more than one scent you can identify? What do you feel with your fingers. What surfaces are in the space you are in, what fabric, what does your skin feel like under your fingertips? Now how are you feeling? What emotions arise as you sit here with your sensations? What thoughts? Take a few minutes to jot down your reflections and revisit this exercise often. Announcements Today is the LAST day to take advantage of the 50% off birthday sale. Hop over to the course site pick a class and use the coupon code BIRTHDAY50 at checkout! This coupon code works for 50% off your first month of the Moon Ritual Subscription or the Diving Deeper Membership Circle too! Ready to kick your Witchery up a notch? The 3rd Annual Season of the Witch Conference October 7th and 8th. Over two days we will explore a myriad of magical topics with 10 workshops led by some Wise and Witchy Women. You can register, checkout the full lineup, schedule and details HERE. The early bird pricing is in effect, so be sure to sign up before it disappears. The Autumn Equinox Celebration Guidesheets The Equinox is just weeks away and the shift toward Fall has already begun. Get some FREE tips on celebrating the season with these guidesheets. What is Remembered Lives We all love and born of this love is grief. Over the last couple of years we have not had the opportunity to come together as often in community to honor and hold our grief and each other in our grief. This sacred act is so important, so with the coming thinning of the veils, Irisanaya Moon and I have come together to create a ritual for all of us to have a space to name our grief. Regardless of what you are grieving or when your loss occurred, you are welcome in this Circle. The Leaves of Grief ritual is scheduled for October 22nd. Save the date, registration will open soon.  |
Emily Morrison MA, MFTArchives
August 2024
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