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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.
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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 This week on the Witch Next Door podcast we are back to exploring magical tools! Ritual knives have been used throughout history, however they have shown up in witchcraft practice more recently with the name Athame. Learn the origins and listen in as Veronica wields her own athame during our chat.
The Witch Next Door can be found here and on all your favorite streaming platforms. Spring is almost here! Next Monday marks the Equinox, that point of balance between Solstices, where day and night take up equal space just before the sun takes over for the next 6 months. You may recall Erin Lafaive and I created a celebrating the seasons guidebook for the Solstices and Equinoxes. This guidebook is full of suggestions for reflections, recipes, rituals, divination and more. You can now get this guidebook in one of two ways-digitally you may access the Spring Equinox on its own. This also includes a recording of a Spring equinox ritual hosted by both Erin and I. Or, if you are a hard copy kind of person, you can get the printed guidebook that includes all four books in one. You can order either one of these books here. (Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the printed version) Dust off those Tarot decks, crack those journals and make sure your pen is full of ink! We’ve got some magical writing to do. This Saturday March 18th at 9:30 am PT, Once Upon a Time… the Tarot guided writing workshop is happening live! If you haven’t yet registered there is still time. We will use our lifetime and year cards, writing prompts and additional card pulls to inspire our storytelling. Register Here Early Bird pricing is about to end for the Cauldron of Wisdom 3! Get 20% when you register before midnight Saturday. We have 10 workshops over two days, a little ritual a round table chat with our presenters and of course giveaways too! See you round the Cauldron April 14th and 15th. Wise Ones, is the month of March roaring its way toward Spring where you live or are you still feeling the claws of Winter? We have been in a lion of a month, with so much rain (and snow at higher elevations). The water is a welcome for our parched soil and diminishing reservoirs, yet I find I am beginning to feel a bit soggy. The weather has kept me in a bit more which has led to house and creative projects unfurling all around me. Friday I taught a class about plant spirits and this morning as I was dancing with the muse, I was pondering magical herbs and wondering about the spices we have in our kitchen. These two endeavors sent me down a rabbit hole of rediscovery about the magic of everyday culinary spices. As you must know by now, I am all about everyday practical magic, and this can often mean using what you have on hand. So before you make a special order or pop out to the market to get the herb you need for your next spell, perhaps take a moment to see if you have a substitute already in your kitchen Here are a few discoveries I’d like to share with you: Thyme-courage, protection and even fairy communication Rosemary-energizing, good for memory, also great for clearing Cinnamon-protection, money, success (also good for speeding up spells) Anise-Calm, luck, psychic awareness Oregano- courage justice, luck Culinary Sage-wisdom, grounding and clarity Bay Leaves- wishes, protection during travel, success, healing And these are just a handful of the herbs many of us have in the cupboard. So as you craft and cast your spells and rituals remember that you likely have all you need at your fingertips! Super Simple Spell for wishing/manifesting- Take a Bay Leaf and write what you are wishing for on it. Burn the leaf and cast the ashes to the wind. Are you ready to write? Once Upon a Time… is less than a week away, This 2 hour workshop combines your lifetime and year cards with writing prompts and additional card pulls to inspire and guide you into telling the story of you in this moment. We gather Saturday, March 18th at 9:30 am PT. At the end of our writing time I will hold space for an additional half an hour for anyone who might like to share a piece of what they have written (this is totally optional). Register Here! The Cauldron is bubbling! Have you attended one of Wise Woman Witchery’s conferences before? If you have it is likely you have already signed up for this next one. If you haven’t, I promise you, you don’t want to miss this! We’ve got two full days of magical workshops, (10 in total), giveaways, a little bit of ritual and an after hours round table chat with our presenters all wrapped up in the circle of our witchy community. I love these events and I know you will too! It’s truly a time to celebrate your magic, explore new practices, enhance old ones and maybe even make some new friends. You can take advantage of early bird pricing when you register before Saturday March 18th. Let’s make some magic!  Whether its the coziness of my bed on these extra cold nights, the new moon, or just the creativity that has been cranked up a notch, I’m unsure.
But what I know is true is that I am finding my dreams creeping into my waking reality and bringing up questions and imaginings and wonderings too! Although we are moving into longer days and shorter nights, we are still in Winter and the season of deeper sleep. This invokes that sense of journeying deeper into the dream and “other” realms. Have you ever posed a question to your dream self and slept on it (literally, with the question under your pillow) to see what would come? If not, it is a fun exercise and one that can be repeated with the same question several nights in a row for a little added bit of information and perspective. The tricky thing about working with dreams is that they offer an abundance of information but we don’t always know the best way to interpret it. “But I don’t remember my dreams…” you may not remember your dreams upon waking, or you may only recall a snippet of one and without a context, or perhaps you just find yourself at a loss for meaning. I want to encourage you to start a dream journal, or perhaps just a morning journal if you can’t recall images or feelings from your sleep journey. The more you take the time to connect with your dreams the clearer they become. And if you aren’t connecting with your dreams because you find it challenging to recall them, a morning journal will allow you to tap into that between worlds just awakened state of mind which is often rich with messages. Some people have experienced what they call visitations in their dream state, often from those that have passed away, or from guides. Other have had premonitory dreams where what they dream happens in the waking world in the future. Have images you just can’t quite figure out? People or places or beings that don’t seem to translate. Try writing from the perspective of that being or place. For example, the other night I dreamed of being on a ferry boat and the water felt vast all around. The images have lingered over the last week and to discover more about the dream I wrote in the voice of the water and then the ferry too. This is just one way to work with your dreamscape and the rich information that resides there. It is also a way to play with your creativity, your intuition and story telling. It’s true that sometimes our dreams are just a way of processing our day, or our feelings, but sometimes they offer insight and wisdom we might not have accessed otherwise. Sometimes our dreams truly are Magic! Once Upon a Time… When we set aside our logic and let our creativity flow, we discover new angles and edges of our Selves. We might find the answer to a question we have, or insight into our Shadow, or we might just have fun! Once Upon a Time is a 2 hour workshop that utilizes your lifetime card, your year card, a series of additional Tarot card draws and writing prompts to create a story of YOU in this moment. This class is a little playful and often insightful for participants. It also offers you an opportunity to explore your work with Tarot in a new way. We gather Saturday March 18th at 9:30 am PT to embark on this journey. Register Here. Outdoor Summer Retreat Have you been dreaming of the warmer days and magical nights of Summer? Does the idea of gathering with other Witches in ceremony, and around the fire in storytelling make your heart beat just a little bit faster? The Wise Woman Witchery Outdoor Summer Retreat is scheduled for June 25th-27th. Together we will co-create sacred space, delve into ceremony, connect with the spirits of the land, cast spells and bask in our magic. You can find all the details here And every story shifts and changes as we move through our lives. One of my passions is creative writing. I have written poetry, short stories, plays, a very cringy vampire novel and have filled stacks of journals, matchbooks, and receipts with ideas and story for most of my life. It is also one of the things I drop when practical writing (in college it was papers in my career it is client records) takes the forefront. One of the things I love about Wise Woman Witchery is that it keeps me writing. Each time I sit down and write you an email, or create curriculum, I get to write. As a result I have notebooks and word files with thousands upon thousands of words and ideas and outlines, littering my bookshelves and desk drawers. Sometime near the end of last year arrows started pointing me back to my writing. Early this year I had a reading with a psychic medium (shout out to Sara Carlson), that was very clear about the fact that I am to be writing. So I made a commitment to myself to bring writing back into focus. I’ve signed up for creative writing classes, dusted off a couple of story ideas and gotten to work. Yesterday during an astrology reading (thank you Christine Michele @ My Tarot Lady) this focus was once more reaffirmed (along with the purpose of Wise Woman Witchery (to empower women) and my purpose within it to bring people and their gifts together)). So today with this re-affirmation at the forefront I am inviting you to bring your writing gifts and join me in a circle. Last year I created a 2 hour writing and Tarot class called Once Upon a Time. This class uses writing prompts coupled with Tarot cards to guide you into the telling of your story. It also includes your lifetime card and year card to bring extra personalization to your story. The class is mostly writing with an additional 30 min at the end for anyone interested in sharing their writing. It was a really enlightening opportunity to explore some inner realms, intuition and creativity and we are going to dive back into all of it! I am offering Once Upon a Time live on Saturday March 18th at 9:30 am PT. If you can’t make the livestream, the class will be recorded for you to come back to. If you registered for this class with me last year you are welcome to join us using the link in the course site. Grab your notebook, your cards, your favorite pen and register!  |
Emily Morrison MA, MFTArchives
September 2023
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