From time to time I wish that more people shared aspects of their craft here, that this community was a diverse and active as others here on HIVE. On the other hand, I totally understand that desire to keep one's witchy practice hidden from view. The root meaning of the word esoteric is hidden, after all.
For a while I was sharing here each and every week; taking pictures of little rituals, discussing the enchanting aspects of herbs and nature. During the past couple of months, however, I have been struggling to find subjects for my witchy articles.
Instead of pretending like my spiritual practice is always easy and fun, I want to be honest with you all and share what I am going through right now. As life and work become more demanding I feel pressure to do more & more rituals to assist all the projects I have going on. Instead I have re-coiled a bit from doing any types of spells and set a new goal for myself.
Instead of letting my craft get ever more complicated. I am stripping back to the essence of what called me to natural magick. Quite simply: the connection with nature.
No more complicated rituals, no more buying of unneeded tools. Just nature and books because my practice was getting too complicated. It was as if I felt I had something to prove.
Or maybe I felt the pressure (that so many content creators do) to share each and every aspect of my life online...
Time to reel things back in. It is summer now. The season of abundance & lengthy days. Summer is the season of flowers, long walks around the forest, and harvesting bouquets just for fun.
Instead of looking toward to future (which is my constant distraction) I am focusing on the this current moment. The horses roaming the land, the bright flowers in the garden, and the bees that visit them.
And, of course, the most important part of my craft has always been harvesting herbs that grow around me both for their spiritual and medicinal properties. This herb, called Jarilla, is a perfect example of both: as a medicinal herb it is wonderful for cleaning wounds and healing the skin when used in a bath or poultice. And magickally, this herb is great for spiritual cleansing. I made a couple of bouquets for "sweeping" out bad vibes that might linger in our home.
Contemplating all of this I opened up the book of shadows that I have been slowly adding to over the past few years. And, to my great surprise I found that I have already learned this lesson.
In my very own handwriting I had written down this wisdom: "When I feel lost, overwhelmed, of confused I can always return to the plant path".
Life if funny like that. I so often wander off my path, tempted by consumerism and a desire to appear a certain way. And then I reminded (again and again) to keep it simple. I spelled out so clearly for myself to simply: focus on the plants.