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At the bend in the road where we veer off 2022 and into 2023
Endings and Beginnings are pooling in my world at present and it is strange to be submerged in several at once. Just before the new year began my Circle of almost 19 years disbanded. There was no arguing or discord, just a slow descent into fragments and shifts of life paths that led us to decide this incarnation of the group was complete. I had felt it coming for a long time. New work demands, pandemic life and a shrinking of our membership had all taken a toll. I thought I was ready. I actually felt rather relieved. Yet as we sat in our Circle on Zoom and I heard each woman calling in directions I was transported across time, to every circle we had ever cast together, to every ritual we performed, to the births and deaths, weddings and divorces, graduations and career changes. This was my community. As each woman spoke about her gratitude for this space we had created, my grief unexpectedly made an appearance. It was not grief about the ending of what we were in that moment, but that grief of losing all that had come before. All those times when our Circle was healthy and thriving, all the times we supported each other and made space for each other and created magic and healing together. It was a bitter sweet ending, and although our last ritual was not in person, I felt like we did it really well. With cords cut and computers turned off, I could feel these sisters of mine out there across the miles and feel the way that although the cords of our circle had been severed, each of them left a tattoo on my soul. This Circle brought much inspiration into the creation of Wise Woman Witchery’s classes and offerings, as well as informed the creation and structure of the Priestess Path. As the year ended I said good bye to Circle and as it begins, I am holding initiation for one of the current cohorts of the Priestess Path. 2 endings of Circles. Both intentional, both done with love. And also on this tide of the new year, a new cohort of the Priestess path is born. 1 beginning, a new circle of Priestesses. Endings are so much a part of this life, just as beginnings are. When we take the time to celebrate both, we are living more in tune with the world around us. Nature cycles and circles all of the time. Recognizing these in nature, in our lives and in our inner realms (body mind and spirit), allows us to connect more deeply with the energies that surround us and work with them. After all that is what is at the heart of Witchery, working with both your consciousness and the energy of the world around you. If you are feeling ready for a new beginning I invite you to join me in the Priestess Path. \ We will be starting our journey together on January 14th. This path consists of 12 lessons of written curriculum including exercises and rituals for you to explore (almost 200 pages worth!) Twice a month meetings usually held on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month at 9 am PT where we explore the curriculum through experiential exercises and hold a ritual based on the current lesson A Private off Facebook platform for connection between meetings Plus membership toi the Diving Deeper Circle where you will have access to monthly new and full moon rituals Wheel of the year celebrations A massive library of classes and workshops Seasonal astrology and plant classes And more!
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The last few years I have ditched new year’s resolutions and instead have chosen a word for guidance, anchoring and support for the coming year. This year’s word? Nourish If I’m honest I dance with this energy and then flirt and then ignore it completely. Cycling in and out of my relationship with nourishment. In times of busyness or overwhelm or even just exhaustion, nourishment takes a backseat to convenience. And convenience is not always in my best interest. So this year I’m working with this word to help guide my decisions. Will this food nourish me? This movement? This rest? Will this class I’m taking or offering nourish me? It’s a different lens to be certain. Nourishment can come from relationships, careers, naps, walks, kitchen dance parties and even spiritual practices. In 2023 I’m tending to myself in a new way. Through the lens of nourishing body, mind and soul. Will I do it perfectly? Nope! In fact it’s likely I’ll still make some choices out of alignment with nourishment. I am, after all human. Yet intention matters. And having a word helps me focus my intention. What’s your word Wise One? How are you nourishing yourself in this shiny new year? What new things are you ready to explore, what old practices are ready to be dusted off and revisited? Do you want to make more magic? Build community? Anchor yourself to the cycles of the seasons and moon? The Priestess Path offers all this and more! Through our year together you will be asked to carve out time for yourself twice a month for our meetings. (One might say this is time to nourish yourself) These sessions are meant to support your spiritual practice, to nurture your Priestess Self and to offer you a touchstone in the flow of your life. A placeholder for your practice. You will learn the basics of circle casting, working with the elements, be invited to explore your inner realms and discover a myriad of magical tools to deepen your work. In addition you will also be added to the Diving Deeper Membership Circle, where we gather for monthly new and full moon ceremonies, celebrate the Wheel of the Year together and more! Our time together culminates in an initiation ceremony where you cross the threshold and step fully into your power as the Priestess you are! If you desire a deeper and consistent connection to your magical practices, have been wanting to grow your spiritual work and would like to be a part of a community while you do all this, then this path is for you! Registration is open We begin January 14th! (You can check out the schedule for the first 7 modules here )  So often at the start of a new year we find ourselves making resolutions, commitments to ourselves to make a change or transform. What if 2023 was a year where you committed more deeply to your magic? What would that mean to you?
The next Cohort of the Priestess Path begins January 14th. This small group 12 lesson 13 moon journey, invites you to build and strengthen your Witchery. These 12 lessons are split up into 4 sections.
Registration is open! Learn more and sign up here. Questions? Reply to this email. I’m also happy to schedule a 15 minute chat to determine if this is the right fit for you.  I am writing this from that liminal space that resides between Christmas and New Years. In this last week of the calendar year, I have finally sunk deep into the desire for quiet and solitude. The hut of Winter around me, cozy cats, and soft music, tea and blankets and a journal at hand. In this place work feels far away and my desire for communication and making plans is absent. Instead I want to nestle down into myself. I want to move really really slow. To create only when called, to make space for staring out the window and deeply resting. This is a territory I do not traverse often. And so many times when I reach these lands of quiet I am brought here by burnout, not choice. But now I am choosing this. I am allowing myself the space to rest, to refill my tank. To ponder this past year and dream about the next. To sink fully into the experience of petting a cat, of sipping warm tea, of reading a book. How are you moving through this final week of 2022? Craving some deep rest? I am gifting you this 14 minute meditation inviting you into that rest. You can listen in here . Prophecy and Dream In the liminal, the space where we allow our consciousness to drift, we often discover visions and dreams filtering in. It is here we become the Seer. This Friday, December 30th 2022 at 4 pm PT I am offering a class that invites you into the place of inner visioning to discover what is in the cards for your 2023. I will guide you through a meditation and card spread that invites you to Become the Seer and gives you the gift of Prophecy for 2023. You can register here (If you are already in the Diving Deeper Membership circle, this course is included)  Spoon in hand, dinner cooking on the stove, I braced myself against the counter with my free fingers as grief filled me and tears rolled down my cheeks.
Only moments before I had been laughing and singing along to Winter Solstice chants and songs. So where did this grief come from? What were the tears all about anyway? The song the Christians and the Pagans was playing (I freaking love this song), and when the line “Amber's uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and like her father. He thought about his brother, how they hadn't spoken in a year, He thought he'd call him up and say, "It's Christmas, and your daughter's here." Suddenly the loss of my Father was palpable. It’s been 11 Christmases without my Dad, yet the simple lyrics to a song brought my grief in like a punch in the gut. And this is how it works. Grief arrives suddenly and without warning. My husband who had his back to me as I cried was now staring at me as I wiped tears from my face. “Did the song get you?” he asked. (He knows me really well) I told him how much I was missing my Dad. And after a couple good sobs the grief passed. Not gone completely, but the wave had crashed and begun to eb. I lit a candle on my altar and spoke to my Dad as I did it. The holiday season is full of feelings. Most of us are not living the Hallmark dream, and our families, relationships and expectations are complex. Many of us have experienced losses that during this time of year can often be spotlighted as traditions are recalled and the ghost of Christmas past comes for a visit. If you too are finding yourself in moments of grief waves, know you are not alone, that this like all feelings will flow and eb and perhaps flow once more. Give yourself some space to honor your experience whatever it might be. Whether it is with ritual, a whispered prayer, a hug, thoughts scribbled in your journal or an intentional moment of connection or solitude. Part of tending to your sacred Self is letting your experience flow. On this Solstice eve, I invite you to take some moments in the quiet and the dark to feel your feelings whatever they may be. (If you are following along on our calendar this is the day to take a bath or make tea with your moon water, making these moments the perfect time to drop in deeper with you). I am sending you all love and blessings on the longest night and always. Hello Wise Ones, One of my most favorite things this time of year is the lights strung up on trees and houses. The illumination filling the lengthening nights with spots of color and cheer. In just a few days the longest night arrives, bringing Winter with it. How are you feeling in these shortening days and lengthening nights? Do you celebrate the Winter Solstice? On this day when the sun returns we welcome the light back and with it, hope. Even as the first day of Winter promises colder days and more varied weather, the sun promises that Spring too will arrive one day and that there is light to be had in the darkness. In this week before Christmas when travel and shopping and gatherings spur hustle and bustle in the collective, I invite you to slow down and take some moments to breathe in the cooler air, to step outside in the darkness and see the stars, to light a candle and sit with it in the darkness. If you want some inspiration for celebration take a listen to the Winter Solstice Playlist And if you want even more you can get the Winter Solstice Celebration Guidebook crafted up by Erin LaFaive and I. Prophecy and Dream During this darker time of year we might find ourselves visioning and dreaming deeper and more often. This is a perfect time for divination! On December 30th at 4 pm PT, I am hosting Become the Seer-Prophecy 2023, where we will spend about 2 hours together, moving through a guided meditation and card spread for the coming year. All you need is a deck of Oracle or Tarot cards (or two if you prefer) and your Book of Shadows (or a notebook). Registration is Open. I wish you all Happy and Blessed Holidays, whatever you might celebrate.  How are you feeling as it wanes? Are you leaning into the deepening darkness? We are inching closer to the longest night. And here in that cave of darkness the time for prophecy and dream in unfolding. During the colder and darker months I find myself pulled outside at night more and more often. The star song is so much louder in the cold, the twinkle so much brighter and crisper. Beneath us the roots are sleeping, dreaming their dreams and offering us insight in our own slumber while the stars tell their stories in messages and visions casting these into our psyches through “Aha’s” and deep knowing. As the calendar year comes to a close, as Autumn transitions into Winter and the return of the Sun is near, you might begin to unravel the time between last December and this one. You might go for a wander in the natural world and allow the wind to remind you of where you have been, and the trees to whisper the truths of what you have learned as you traversed this strange year of 2022. This is a moment for remembering, and taking in the messages you receive. You may not yet understand the visions in your dreams and that is ok. Now is a time to gather memories and future sight. Divination, dream journaling and reflection all ask for space in the deepening dark. If you chose a word for this last year, now is a powerful time to revisit that word, to discover the ways it has wound itself throughout your version of 2022. If you set an intention for the year, how has it come into being? Chances are there were surprises along the way. How did these guide you? Grow you? Nourish you? Explore, wonder, discover, remember. Use this time to prepare for visioning the curious year called 2023. You are invited to join me in visioning this is in community. On December 30th at 4 pm PT, I am hosting Become the Seer-Prophecy 2023, where we will spend about 2 hours together, moving through a guided meditation and card spread for the coming year. All you need is a deck of Oracle or Tarot cards (or two if you prefer) and your Book of Shadows (or a notebook). Registration is Open. Winter Solstice is coming! The Winter Solstice Celebration Guidebook is available to help you explore the season with recipes, crafts ritual and altar ideas a playlist a tarot spread and more... Plus you get access to last years Solstice ritual replay! Get the guidebook here! Finally, if you are wanting to gather live in community this year, I am hosting a Winter Solstice Ritual next Sunday, December 18th at 10 am PT. We will journey through the darkness to welcome back the light! This is the ceremony I host for Diving Deeper Members, but I am opening it up to the greater community on a donation basis. Suggested Donation $11-$22 paypal.me/wisewomanwitchery Be sure to add your preferred email address in the notes if it is different than your paypal address, so I can send you the information and the link. However you are moving through the darkening days and chilly nights, I am sending you blessings of the Season.  Winter looks different in different parts of the world. Here in Northern California we have been having frost and rain. Many trees are now naked from the season and boots and sweaters have made there way out of hiding. Astronomically the Winter Solstice arrives at the end of the month usually between the 20-23 of December. This year it lands on December 21st. On this shortest day/longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, we also mark the first day of Winter. However there is also something called the Meteorological start of Winter which begins the coldest months on December 1st. Regardless of when you mark the season beginning, winter brings in an energy of deep rest. Our culture has expectations of maintaining Summer vibrancy and "go mode" throughout the year. But our bodies often have different ideas. Longer nights might mean longer sleep. Colder weather might mean ore time indoors and less desire to be out and about. Certainly these are generalizations as every Body is different. However this shift in the energy of the land does often influence us. How are you feeling Wise One? What is your body needing, longing for, desiring at this time? How are you nourishing yourself? Working with the energy of the seasons, means listening to the way we connect with them personally. It also means noticing how it influences your magical practices. I find this time of year I get much more crafty, and much more creative. I put more time into making tangible things both magically and mugglely. I also drink way more tea (if you know me then you know this is really saying something as I drink tea all the time!). I can tell the Winter is approaching quickly when I am finding empty mugs in every room of my house. Some green witches use this time to make medicine out of their harvests, whether it's salves or tinctures or tea blends. And some other folks find this a good time for practicing more meditation, or spending more time in reflection. Where are you guided at this time? How are you answering that call? https://wise-woman-witchery.teachable.com/p/astrology-fundamentals-part-one https://wise-woman-witchery.teachable.com/p/astrology-fundamentals-part-one-two What’s all this about astrological charts anyway? I am a Sagittarius sun, Capricorn moon, and Libra rising. The first time I discovered this I had no idea what this meant or where exactly this fact was in the wheel like, drawing of my astrological chart. In fact when I first discovered I was a Sagittarius, (hearkening back to the days of seventeen magazine), the only thing I understood about my sign was represented by the archer. Yet in the last 5 years or so I have begun to get more curious and have found myself exploring deeper into the realms of astrology and the relationship between the planets and signs and houses therein. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about that’s ok. I wasn’t sure either. In fact even after study and completing a certification course in astrology, I still lean heavy on my notes every time I read a chart. What I have discovered though is that astrology is a valuable tool in many aspects of relationships including the one you have with yourself. The cosmic energies we are born under and the ones that influence us at any given point in time can help us to understand behaviors, drives and even feelings. Each season I offer an astrology class to the Diving Deeper Community. I have recently invited My Tarot Lady Christine Michele to take the reins on teaching these classes. You may remember her from The Cauldron of Wisdom and Season of the Witch conference this last year, where she taught us about The Tarot Cards that Scare Us and Intuitive Tarot. But what you might not know is that she is also an astrologer (nad a darn good one at that). We have decided to offer her astrology classes ala cart to both our communities. (That means you 😉) The first class is part one of Astrology Fundamentals and is happening this Sunday, December 4th at 1 pm PT. (The second part of this class will be hosted February 12th at 1 pm PT) Part one will be packed full of information on Elements, Modes, Planets, and Signs. (Note that if you are wanting to join but are unable to make the livestream, you will have access to the replay of the class as well as the materials Christine offers). There are 2 options for registration- You can sign up for Part One only, HERE Or if you want all the fundamentals you can sign up for both classes now and get a 20% discount Sign up for Parts One and Two Here Questions? You can reply to this email. Looking forward to exploring the cosmos with you all!  I am a Sagittarius sun, Capricorn moon, and Libra rising. The first time I discovered this I had no idea what this meant or where exactly this fact was in the wheel like, drawing of my astrological chart. In fact when I first discovered I was a Sagittarius, (hearkening back to the days when I would excitedly turn the pages of Seventeen magazine to read my horoscope and find out my fate), the only thing I understood about my sign was represented by the archer. Yet in the last 5 years or so I have begun to get more curious and have found myself exploring deeper into the realms of astrology and the relationship between the planets and signs and houses therein. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about that’s ok. I wasn’t sure either. In fact even after study and completing a certification course in astrology, I still lean heavy on my notes every time I read a chart. What I have discovered though is that astrology is a valuable tool in many aspects of relationships including the one you have with yourself. The cosmic energies we are born under and the ones that influence us at any given point in time can help us to understand behaviors, drives and even feelings. Each season I offer an astrology class to the Diving Deeper Community. Recently I invited My Tarot Lady Christine Michele to take the reins on teaching these classes. You may remember her from The Cauldron of Wisdom and Season of the Witch conference this last year, where she taught us about The Tarot Cards that Scare Us and Intuitive Tarot. But what you might not know is that she is also an astrologer (and a darn good one at that). We have decided to offer her astrology classes ala cart to both our communities. (That means you ) The first class is part one of Astrology Fundamentals and is happening this Sunday, December 4th at 1 pm PT. (The second part of this class will be hosted February 12th at 1 pm PT) Part one will be packed full of information on Elements, Modes, Planets, and Signs. (Note that if you are wanting to join but are unable to make the livestream, you will have access to the replay of the class as well as the materials Christine offers). There are 2 options for registration- You can sign up for Part One Only, HERE Or if you want all the Fundamentals you can sign up for both classes now and get a 20% discount Sign up for Parts One and Two Here Questions? You can reply to this email. Looking forward to exploring astrology with you all!  When I was little my sister and I had handmade felt advent calendars.
Each day of December leading up to Christmas, my sister and I would awaken and rush to the living room to see what was tucked into the pockets of our calendars. Sometimes it was gum, or nuts, or a small toy or charm. No matter what we discovered, there was something really exciting about the mystery and surprise of it all. According to the dictionary “Advent is the the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.” In Christian traditions it is the the first season of the Christian church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays. For me it is simply the magical countdown to the coming of a new calendar year. Once again this year I am sharing a countdown calendar with you! Each day includes a prompt for a magical practice to help you connect with simple daily practices that infuse some witchery into your day to day. You can download your free calendar here Then follow along with us over in the Facebook group as we collectively infuse this last month of the year with magic! Speaking of calendars… The Wise Woman Witchery 2023 Daily Planner has arrived! This paperback tome, offers you pages for each day with spaces for plannings your schedule, your to do list, setting your intentions and making notes. It also includes the lunar calendar for the year, monthly pages for setting your lunar intentions, a two page spread of the months calendar and information on some of the cosmic and seasonal energies that are influencing each month, along with simple practices to keep the magic in your inner cauldron cooking throughout the year. You can order yours here! Here’s to making every day magic! |
Emily Morrison MA, MFTArchives
February 2023
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