I think what I am going to try to start doing is in the first few days of each month I am going to create a witchy blog post about the month prior. Lets face it I do kind of need a little poke and kick sometimes to remember to check in here. Life just gets so busy, but writing and sharing is the whole point of being here and creating this blog and I want to do that more. Hopefully once a month for sure and more if I am feeling a topic isn’t too tall of a glass to fill? We shall see. (But if you are reading this keep my honest ya? Comments are encouraging)

November was amazing. I know I am probably looking at it with rose colored glasses because I am still on a high from the last little bit of it but in general, November was a pretty darn fabulous month. It was birthday month and while I spent far less time thinking about my birthday and more time thinking about my spirituality and witchy practices and how they will take a larger part in my life, its the happiest I have been in a long time.

Much earlier in the year I had thought to book a getaway for myself, not really planning much just booking a cottage at a retreat center by myself. I had even thought, hey, maybe I should ask a friend to come with but at the time I was really needing some me time and I knew adding a friend would change the dynamic completely. This was before what I am now calling the great re-awakening… but somehow my intuition just knew that I needed it all to myself. To accomplish what? I didn’t even know. I just knew that alone and in nature was what I wanted even if I slept the whole weekend. My goodness did I ever need what actually ended up happening that weekend. But lets start at the beginning.

The great Re-awakening happened around Mabon, as you know if you have been reading past posts, and I was tentative, but really enjoying the Comfy Cozy Witch podcast. Her words were music in my ears and set fire to my brain (good fire… not destructive fire 😉 ). I think it is really neat that I started it around Mabon which is a topic of the first episode and I caught up not long after she recorded the latest episode on my birthday. It was like 2 years of stuff coming together with 2-3 months of my reawakening and I am still so happy to be here, looking into SO many mysteries in life that seemed just out of reach before now. If you ever find the time to read this Jennie I will be forever grateful.

Since Mabon I was just furiously happy to say ‘I am a Witch’ and work on accepting that it is an acceptable and even logical thing to say. Its not rebellion or living in a fantasy world, its not like it is in the movies and REALLY not what you see on #witchtok either to be frank. And while I don’t view Witchcraft as a religion, being a Pagan Witch that uses alters, candles, incense and tools to feel my spirituality in a different life I could easily be saying that I am Catholic and yes I use alters, candles, incense and tools to accomplish the very same thing. Not that Catholicism is the ruler for legitimacy, but I digress. This spiritual awakening has been growing and molding and asking questions and making decisions about what it’s going to look like for me and still back of my brain questioning whether I was going about this the right way or if this was the right path. This was very loudly answered on my retreat.

November brought a lot of other lovely things into my life too. I went to Dance Church for the first AND second time. Just to dispel any immediate thoughts on what Dance Church might be, yes it is on Sunday morning but that is the only similarity it has to the pew sitting version of church. That and I am actually finding it to be a deeply spiritual activity, and even though I am surrounded by people, deeply personal as well. Hi, I am a Sagittarian exrovert, and I LOVE community and activity and people…. and I have found my “church” that has all the good things that come with organized religion and none of the bad. They will never knock on my door, or ask for money, or tell me what to think. They will only welcome me in and allow space and music to create, for myself, a beautiful and spiritual experience. Quickly put, there is a DJ, there is a dance hall, there are many people and there is dancing. It sounds simple but it is so much more then that. The rules are you are kind to the space and everyone in it and no talking or touching without consent in the dance space. There is space set aside for Yoga and stretching, a space for snacking and chatting and then there is the dance space where you move your body to music in in way you see fit given the amount of space that is available to you. Its magickal, and the energy that fills the space is so beautiful. And ANYONE is welcome, we are getting our own experience out of it. The day I cam back from retreat was Sunday and I was so happy that I made it to dance church that day, they do this thing where they ask if anyone has a birthday that was recent and if you are willing, you lay on the floor and the group lifts you up and over their heads and sing Happy Birthday to you. Having that experience shortly after having 2 days of blissful solitude, for me, was just the right way to be introduced back into peopling.

Have I teased long enough?

I booked a a little place called The Hermitage for two nights at Arc Retreat Community center. I had waffled between that and staying a the lodge (where there was running water and likely other people) but something told me that a tiny cabin all to yself surrounded by nature was the right choice. The picture on the website does it no justice. I half figured I would be staying in a ramshackle little hut and might find myself spending more time at the lodge in the communal areas if it was no comfortable. I was even entertained the idea on the drive up that maybe I could switch to a lodge room if they had any rooms available. I am so glad that I make the short hike out to the cabin instead.

I know. This picture doesn’t do it justice either, but I see this picture and I want to go back. Maybe I will even make it a yearly thing for my birthday. I am one of those people who really likes to do new things instead of repeating things I have already done (hello, Sagittarius). I don’t have that feeling when I think of going back there because I would be able to make it whatever I wanted to make it. Like I did this time, going with a rolling sewing machine case of witchy things that spoke to me as I packed.

The energy here is so thick, and not in a bad way, but heavy like there was a lot of spirit energy collected here. I brought things to cleanse the space but the urge to sit with this heaviness was too great. None of it negative. I could tell that this had been a place of peace for many people, and maybe a little bit like it was self cleansing, or someone took the care to cleanse it before I got there (which honestly wouldn’t surprise me at all after meeting the staff there). My apprehension was immediately lifted the minute I drove onto the property. I new this was going to be a special place the minute I turned onto the driveway because I was crying. I was already crying. Just so you know, crying is how I feel many different deep emotions. This was a good cry and I hadn’t even seen the buildings yet.

When I parked I couldn’t even move, I was just so elated. I can’t tell you why but the sudden feeling that I needed to drink in this place slowly was ever apparent. All of my movement after that point was very purposeful and mindful. I didn’t feel heavey I felt like a weight had lifted off my chest and the sacred land I had just come upon was releasing me of it….

To be continued… (mama needs to run errands while she can LOL)