In the 8 months I’ve been here in Oregon, so much has happened. I’ve found new friends, created circles and community, and have expanded my Etsy shop and online offerings. And Triune Moon is Growing-again!
Back in August I met Molly. I had answered her post on a Facebook page looking to start sister circles in our area. Right away I knew this incredible woman was someone I was meant to work with. She was new in the area as well so a friendship was quickly formed.
Molly and Terry
Move forward several months. Molly, a fabulous boudoir photographer and owner of Zealous Stills, was tired of driving the long 30 miles or so into her studio in Bend and wanted to be closer to home. As for me, I needed a spot where we could continue to hold our circles and where I could add in classes, workshops, and have a dedicated space for my Reiki and reading clients. We put our heads together and started looking for places in La Pine.
I know, get to the point already! Drum roll please…. We have joined forces and will be opening our shared studio in April. And we are having an open house!
Come in and visit us!
Along with the new studio space, I will be revamping my website, adding calendars with class schedules (some will be available online). I will be creating new Goddess circles and additional sister circles will be added. A newsletter will be in the works as well.
Come celebrate with Molly and I on our new adventure together. Triune Moon is growing – and watch as Zealous Stills grows as well.
When we are fledgling witches and magicians we tend to start out on our path trying everything. Kitchen Witchery, Spellcasting, Elemental work, Alchemy, Herbalism. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Some of these paths never resonate and others make our soul sing. In time we may decide that we want to specialize, gain mastery (comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or accomplishment), or become an adept (skilled, expert, highly proficient), at one facet of our magickal repertoire. You feel you have grown as far as you can with your old approach to magick. Now you are being called towards discovering your magickal niche.
Before we move on, let me say that not everyone wants or needs to find a magickal niche, a magickal specialty. You may not want to become an adept or master just one style, and that’s okay. We all need to do what works best for us. I love being an Eclectic Witch, but I am also adept at Energy work and Spellcasting. Do you have to be to be an Adept or Master to feel validated as a Witch or magickal practitioner? Hell no! In witchcraft we do what feels right to us – period. There is no need for fancy titles or labels. However, some of us yearn to push ourselves further, hone and mold our craft to a fine point. This is the call to mastery, to adeptness. But first, we need to decide what part of our craft we wish to focus our time and work on.
The Search for Your Magickal Niche
Let’s face it, discovering your magickal niche, your specialty, isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. There are so many fascinating practices out there to delve into. So how do we look for “the one”, the practice that calls us to go deeper, further into its core? Where do we begin our search for our magickal niche?
For me it started with a tingle, a knowing. Many, many, moons ago when I began my Craft, I was like the majority of you. I read, researched, and experimented with many different forms. Yet two things kept pulling me deeper in. Two things which felt good, right, and dang it, I was good at them. Energy work – directing, molding and transforming it in ritual, spells and healing work- and Spellcasting. No matter what other type of magick or work I went on to learn, they kept calling me back.
How about you? Do you have a part of your practice or Craft that keeps calling to you? Perhaps it is stones and crystals that you are consistently working with. Or perhaps herbs and plants tend to have your focus. Are you always casting spells with kitchen tools and stirring your food with specific intentions in mind? Then perhaps Kitchen Witchery is your niche.
Take a few moments, right now, to write down what you mostly work on and with when you are doing magick. What is always on your mind when you begin to formulate a ritual, a spell, or casting? Allow your hand to just write. Let the words flow. Then look at what you’ve written. Was it one thing? Two or more? If more than one, meditate on them for a few moments. Which dominates your thoughts? This path, this thought, is your niche, your focus, your one “thing”.
The epitome of Mastery and Adeptness – The Magician card.
Working With Your Niche
Now comes the fun part, working with your new-found niche. Okay, it is also the hard part. Mastery and adeptness is work – lots of it. It is study, research, and practice, practice, practice. You will find yourself learning and re-learning your Craft, adding and subtracting techniques and changing how you’ve always done things. In a sense, mastery and adeptness is about reinventing yourself, your Craft, and your life. You will be seeing everything with a new set of eyes, the eyes of the knowing, of the Master.
Each and every day you will be doing something to strengthen your skills, even if it is just a few minutes at a time. You will flex your magickal muscles, grab your notebooks and the latest volume filled with words of wisdom, and break out the magickal tools. Spells, castings, and rituals- oh, my. Your life becomes magick, YOU become the magick.
Then comes the day when you feel that you’ve finally reached “it”. Mastery of your given path. But no resting on your laurels when there is Adepthood waiting in the wings. So you work some more, maybe for years until not only you, but your peers, realize that you have indeed become adept at your magick, your work. Pop the cork, get out the balloons and celebrate your accomplishments.
Picture from Public Domain records
When the Witch becomes the Adept
Once the party is over, guess what? The learning and re-learning begins. Yep, Adepthood comes with a “forever” stamp. You buy it at one price but the actual cost keeps going up over the years. The price of being an adept (or a Master on the way to Adepthood) is that the worth, the end point of your goal keeps changing. New discoveries, new mysteries appear that want to charge us more in time and knowledge. Your goalpost keeps moving, shifting with the times. The work never ends. But do we really want it to?
As I noted earlier, this wasn’t going to be easy. Nor is it a “one and done” operation. Adepthood is a life of purpose, of constant revelations, and a call to duty. Like the college student who has finally received their PhD, there are certain obligations that the Adept must fulfill. The Adept is often called to write, to teach, to share what they have learned with future generations of practitioners. Whether one-on-one or when leading a public ritual, the Adept shares their knowledge willingly, leads by example and helps pave the way for the next new Master or Adept.
The true Adept has wisdom, not just knowledge, for they know they will always have more to learn. They have learned that “truths” are fluid. They understand that what is unseen and unknowable teaches us more than any book can. An Adept wears their new mantle with confidence while striving to not be boastful or act like a “know-it-all.” But, we are all human so don’t expect perfection from them. Just because they’ve reached a level of knowledge that you do not currently possess does not mean they are infallible. Learn from them, grow with them, but always trust your inner light to guide you.
Becoming a Master or an Adept is not for everyone, but as a magickal practitioner it is a goal worth pursuing. With time, perseverance, practice and knowledge, you too can gain Mastery in your Craft, become the next generation of Adepts. May your quest towards Adepthood be fulfilling and brimming with purpose and joy!
I am in a constant love/hate relationship with change. On one hand, change is good. It gives us new challenges, new hopes and a much needed change of direction. On the other hand, change is bad. It’s scary, messy and never seems to do what you want. Yet change is inevitable. Without change your life becomes stagnant, boring and well, not much of a life. So what’s a witch to do? How can you cope with change? Can you embrace change without fighting it? Can you use change to your advantage in both your mundane and magickal lives? How do you go about making change your bitch?
We tame change by tackling it piece by piece, starting with its inevitability. Let’s start by taking a moment to think about the statement “The only constant in life is change.” This tells us that nothing stands still. Not time, not the Universe, not you. And because we are always in a state of movement (even when we relax, we move) we are constantly changing. Changing ourselves and the environment around us without consciously knowing we are doing so. A shift on the couch cushions changes the shape of the area. A new puppy changes the dynamic in your home. That new job you’ve worked so hard to get. It is changing entire portions of your life. When you look at change as natural, normal, the scariness goes away.
Making Change Work For You
Change is messy. It always seems to muck up your day or throw you a curve ball at the wrong time. So, how can we make change work for us, make it our bitch? I’ve talked about how change is a constant. However, the way a change occurs can be manipulated, made to work for us. As an example: There is a new manager at work. The change has been hard for everyone because the new manager is shaking things up, letting people go and causing disharmony. You need to keep your job and learn to get along with this individual but you don’t care for them at all. How can you make this change work for you?
Since this is a blog primarily about witchcraft, I would cast to “sweeten” the change. Send a bit of sugar to the new manager by baking a batch of magick filled cookies. Or better yet, cupcakes with sigils drawn in lemon juice on the paper wrappers, designed to sweeten and aid the manager to play well with others. Not a witch or magickal practitioner? The sweets will still work – just add extra love or prayers into the batter with the same intentions.
You get the idea. Work with the change, not against it. Stand up to change and show it who’s boss. Mold it, bend it into the change you desire – not just an arbitrary happening. Yes, change is inevitable but it doesn’t have to work against you. Change can be your friend, your ally. But when it is misbehaving – conquer it.
Embracing Your Bitch
We now come to the truly difficult part, embracing change in all her glory. We’ve learned that change is constant and doesn’t need to be scary. We’ve talked about how to manipulate and mold change. The next step, embracing change, is ultimately the most difficult. Why? Because we have been trained to fight change and not to really look at and understand it. As mentioned before, change is scary. We try running from it to only find that it is running with you. Stop running. Stand firm, breathe, and open your arms wide to change. Yes, it may knock you over a time or two, but you’ll bounce back up. Change is like that.
Making change your bitch isn’t easy. But it can and must be done in order to lessen our anxieties about the processes of change. By opening your arms wide and embracing change instead of fleeing from it, change loses its death grip on your psyche. The fear and anxious feelings have no place to fester and grow when you accept change and the possibilities it brings. Think about how much better you will feel by letting change happen or by knowing that you can make change work for you. Realize the freedom in change, the infinite potential change holds. Who’s your bitch now?
The next time change knocks on your door, open it and give that change a big hug. Or maybe give it a make-over so the change looks and fits better into your life. Change is constant, inevitable, and it will always be there. Why not learn to love that bitch and make her your best pal. Imagine the possibilities then.
I’ve been on a bit of a break lately, trying to regroup and reexamine quite a few things. One of these was to look at what I feel is my purpose, my life goal at this very moment in time. Hard as I tried I couldn’t distinguish a singular purpose. My interests are varied. I have a great deal of experience in many areas but with the exception of Reiki, I couldn’t say that I have the title of “master” of any of them. My mind bounced ideas back and forth, trying to make sense of it all. Then it struck me as I was cutting some flowers from the garden. My purpose wasn’t singular – and it didn’t need to be. Like the zinnia in my hand, it had layers, was multi-faceted and winding. I was holding the guide to my goals. I was finding my petals of purpose.
Examining the petals of the zinnia, I started comparing each one to the things I love to do, the things I want to do, and those things that I can teach others. Standing there with the flower in my grasp, I began to touch each petal. This single petal with the wavy edge became my love of research. The one partially eaten by insects was my kitchen witchery. I continued to touch the velvety petals, ticking off a list in my head of who I am, what I aspire to, and what I wish to do for others. The list kept growing and growing, winding around with the petals.
In finding my petals of purpose it became obvious that there was much that I am already doing that was both purposeful and fulfilling. I am an herbalist, healer, writer, blogger, and Reiki Master. I am a teacher of Witchcraft, tarot reader, psychic, grandma, gardener, kitchen witch, wife, priestess of Hekate, mother. These are all amazing things in their own right. Each one can hold a lifetime of purpose and joy. And if these things weren’t enough I began counting off those things I wish to learn, to do, and become.
In the next year I aspire to take the Master Gardener’s course, teach myself to knit socks, become an adept at herbal magicks and finish my book on the four elements. I am exploring shamanism, both the ancient beginnings and its modern meanings. I will be teaching new classes and creating and facilitating workshops. In 2020 I will be visiting new places – places I’ve always wanted to visit and places I’d never imagined I’d get to. My flower keeps blooming with new challenges, new ideas, and an endless thirst for knowledge.
Allowing our Purpose to Grow
And now, at the end of this examination, with each petal named and honored, I realize that purpose changes. We may think we came into this world with a set “thing” we have to do or accomplish but I now disagree. Our purpose, like our lives and the world we live in, are in a constant state of flux. Like our zinnia, it grows, buds, flowers and then fades. This is the nature of all things, to live, grow, evolve and to die. Ideas, purpose, knowledge, they come in subtly, then bloom vibrant. Over time, as we change, they fade and wither. Yet they leave seeds behind so we can replant and watch new ones grow again.
The next time you or I worry about our “true purpose” in life, meditate on the zinnia. See the possibilities and the many and varied purposes each of us can realize. Give yourself a break – know that purpose can be found in the smallest of flowers as well as the largest. Allow your life to freely flower, bloom and grow. Soon you will be recognizing your own petals of purpose.
We’ve all been there. Standing in the dark, in front of a door and fumbling to find our keys. If we are lucky we find them quickly. However, we still have to somehow place that key into the lock and open the door. Metaphysically, we often do the same, fumbling with the keys to the mysteries. We keep trying to find our key, then somehow the lock we need to open. Often, we become frustrated, disenchanted and give up looking for the keys at all. We step away from the door, unfulfilled, still yearning for more.
In order to stop fumbling with our keys, we must first know what the mysteries are. The mysteries, in a magickal, spiritual, or religious sense, are defined as “the secret rites of Greek and Roman pagan religion, or of any ancient or tribal religion, to which only initiates are admitted.” Additionally, it can be defined from the Middle Englishmysterie “hidden religious truth, rite or event with religious significance, and a hidden meaning”.
Of course, like the notches on the bit of a skeleton key, each of our mysteries is unique, one of a kind. Each coven, tradition or religion has their own group of mysteries. Finding some mysteries may be easy and another may take a lifetime to unlock. Additionally, what may still be unrevealed to you may have been unlocked by another. So what are our personal mysteries? How do we find our keys?
Locating the Keys to the Mysteries
Locating the Keys to the Mysteries
I can’t speak for you, but I can share one of the mysteries I am in the midst of unlocking. Having been practicing my Craft for over 20 years I am still finding new mysteries to explore. Currently, I am looking back in time, working on unlocking the mysteries of the Ancients. I am exploring the work of the first magicians, the shamans and wise women. I search for answers to the mysteries of the primal, the visceral, the primitive magicks that began it all. This is my mystery, the door requiring me to find the key to its wisdom. What is yours?
Once we’ve defined our own mysteries we still have the job of locating its keys. We can’t keep fumbling with the keys to the mysteries forever so we must shed some light on the hunt for our particular key. Some may find their keys with a candle or a flashlight. It took a torch for me to find mine. Knowledge is the torch, the light in the foyer of the mysteries, illuminating our fumbling hands. It is what allows us to find our keys and then the lock which opens the door to the answers we seek.
Knowledge can be found in books, grimoires and even searches on the internet. However, so much of the knowledge we seek is in the experience, the search itself. Witchcraft and magick is experiential, active, physical. We can’t sit in one place and expect the key to miraculously open the door. No, we must get our butts out of the library chair and do something to move towards the door. Meditate, walk in nature, perform ritual and spells. Use whatever arsenal you currently have to shed some light, illuminate the lock, and then move towards that door.
Opening the door with the keys.
Opening the Door with the Keys
Armed with the knowledge you need, you can stop fumbling the keys to the mysteries and open that door. That’s it. Place the key into the lock and turn. Slowly push the door open, take a deep breath, and step through.
Surprise! Once you step through that door you find that there is not just one room, one corridor, to lead you to the answers you seek. Instead there are many tunnels, many passages and even more doors to unlock. One hallway may shift, move from one doorway to another, midway down its shadowy depths. Losing your key half way down the hall may force you to begin again, only to find new questions need to be explored.
The mysteries are forever changing, shifting and growing. Revelations may be reveal themselves today that make no sense six months from now. The very essence of your mystery may change and your may be back to fumbling with your keys. Please, don’t let yourself be discouraged. Half the fun is in the journey.
Stop fumbling with the keys to the mysteries and get moving on your quest. Find that light, illuminate the lock and open the door. It is through hard work, knowledge and dedication that you will be able to find the answers you seek. Blessings upon your quest.
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