World Book Day Blog 3 - The Witch's Journal by Selene Silverwind

And now for the final of my book blogs (see my previous selections The Occult Book and Wiccapedia) I'm going to tell you all about a book that's very special to me called The Witch's Journal by Selene Silverwind.

The reason it's so special to me is because this was the book I picked up in the Magic Alley shop in Stratford-Upon-Avon that I described in my Introduction blog where I had my 'calling' *insert gagging noise here*. I left the shop clutching this and it's had pride of place on my witchy bookshelf ever since.

It covers all the basics for a newbie witch -

I also like that it looks like the pages have been pulled straight out of a Harry Potter-esque spell book, I've still to grow out of my belief that my Hogwarts acceptance letter will pop up over the summer!

The ethics of Witchcraft are also right at the beginning which always makes sense to me, some books only introduce them halfway through when potential damage can already be done, even if it's purely accidental. 

What I really love about this book is that it goes really in-depth with different colour correspondences, planetary magic and also points out when to avoid using magick such as the various retrogrades. 

My favourite section of the book is the descriptions of the different Pantheons you may choose to work with; Celtic deities, Teutonic deities, Egyptian deities, Greek and Roman deities, Chinese deities, African deities and Hindu deities. Whilst at this moment I don't feel aligned to any Pantheons (I feel I may end up practising as an eclectic witch) I found learning about everyone's deities absolutely fascinating. There's also a section of the tools of the witchy trade and how to consecrate them as well basic spells and potions. 

This one will always be my favourite book because it was the first I bought and came to me at such a happy moment but I genuinely think it's a great starting point for anyone who's wondering if a witchcraft/Wicca path (the differences are explained in the book) is for them. 

I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings about my favourite books, I'd love to hear of any you've read and loved. Contact me @muddlingwitch on Twitter or @JenRaeFrances on Instagram. 

Blessed Be

Jen

XxxX

World Book Day Blog 2 - Wiccapedia - A Modern Day White Witches' Guide by Shawn Robbins & Leanna Greenaway

Hello again I hope you enjoyed my previous blog about John Michael Greer's - Occult Book.

For this blog we're going right up to date with Wiccapedia - A Modern Day White Witches' Guide by Shawn Robbins and Leanna Greenaway.

When I picked this up and read the cover I knew immediately I would enjoy it - any book that talks about texting spells or microwaving potions certainly needs a read! 

Hi-tech witchcraft anyone?

Don't be fooled by the light-hearted blurb though, this book is an absloute gem, packed full of useful information. The authors should have an award for finally helping me to understand the magick of Numerology (no small feat given my abject fear of anything involving numbers!). I found the chapter on sharpening my psychic skills very knowledgeable (I'm just looking for a glamorous assistant to practice brain telegrams with!). 

Magick by mobile phone anyone?

The section that I was most intrigued to read was the Cell Phone Sorcery & Microwave Magick section. I've never considered the idea that the satellite signals that surround us to power our devices are also an energy that can be utilized to supercharge spells! Admittedly you may want to warn any friends before you text them saying ".... will meet the man of their dreams" to avoid any accusations of drunk texting! As an self-admittedly lazy person any concoctions that I can ping in the mircowave are the dream so thank you ladies for the tips!

I'd recommend this book as a 'next step' after a basic 'beginners guide' type book as it delves into spell casting and also covers spirit boards etc which might be a wee bit intimidating for a newbie. It's really easy to follow and of course very ascetically pleasing, my 2007 Emo self was weeping tears of joy at the design and fonts. 

Essentially it reads like a chat with two super cool witches who are eager to pass on their knowledge over a cocktail or two, it's lighthearted without straying into fluffy territory and by the same token is serious where it needs to be e.g with warnings about casting love spells and also the Dos and Don'ts of Witchcraft.

I loved this book and am really looking foward to working my way through Shawn & Leanna's other titles. 

Blessed Be

Jen

XxxX

World Book Day Blog 1 - The Occult Book by John Michael Greer

Happy World Book Day! Books have played such a massive part in my witchcraft journey so far and I wanted to share three recent favorites.

Rather than lump them all together on one blog I though I'd take inspiration from the 'rule of three' and devote a blog to each.

On this blog I'm going to tell you all about John Michael Greer's Occult Book.

The book came recommended on an Instagram Thread I was reading through where people were asking for suggestions of books about the history of magick, witchcraft or the occult in general. I'm not ashamed to say that when I clicked on the link I let out an "oooooo" at the gorgeous cover of it.
Whilst I know we're always cautioned not to judge a book by it's cover in this case I think I'm justified in my admiration for it's cover.

See what I mean?

It's not just the front cover that's so eye-catching, the design continues across to the back -

Obviously it's the contents that count and I'm pleased to say that they more than live up to the promise of their cover. Greer covers topics from as early as the 6th Century BCE (Pythagoras comes to Crotona) right up to the present day (The end of the Thirteenth Baktun in 2012 when the world did in fact not end!).

One topic is covered on each page and are all gorgeously illustrated. 

Chapter 1

A particularly colourful page about New Orlean's Hoodoo shops

The chapters are each in-depth without being heavy and have helped me identify particular areas of history that I'd like to explore more e.g the history of tarot cards and a lot of the philosophical histories.

Another important thing that I took from the book was that although occultism/magick/witchcraft/Wicca whatever you want to call it has been persecuted over the centuries there is also a great deal more in common between all of our beliefs and spiritual paths and in fact how they inform each other. An example of this is on page 51 'Origins of the Cabala' which describes Rabbi Issac and his student's belief that number mysticism revealed the key to the innermost teachings of Judaism. The Cabala in turn became a core element of occult traditions in the Western World. Or of course the chapter (page 97) recounting the story of Pope Urban VIII's request that Tommaso Campanella perform rituals that would extend his life!

In short I would really recommend this book for anyone like me who wants to learn more about our ancestor's traditions and beliefs or for anyone wanting a book that's a little off the beaten path and easy to dip in and out of.

In my next blog I'm going to be reviewing Wiccapedia by Shawn Robbins & Leanna Greenaway

Blessed Be
Jen
XxxX

Ostata Alter, Blossoming Spread and New Moon Manifestations

Blessed Be everyone.

In my last blog I talked about a new moon manifestation ritual that I was trying to see if the moon and universe would help me to manifest my intentions for the month ahead. I asked for help with my mental health, finding the right job for me and for the continued energy to keep up my walking regime and I do seem to be moving in the right direction (mostly). When you ask the universe for help the expectation is that obviously that you put work in yourself too and job-wise I have been e-mailing every department in the building offering my services (I just realised how bad that sounds 👀) and I think I am finally getting somewhere - cheers universe!).

In other news I was finally able to build my first Sabbath alter for Ostara this week.

Luckily for me one of the suggested themes for the alter are rabbits to correspond to the fertility theme of the celebrations and as a bunny mum/slave bunny trinkets are not something I lack! Another suggestion that I read for Ostata alters are painted eggs and rather than starting a messy art project in my limited space I decided to put my cross-stitch skills into action and sew one instead.

Of course it was also an excuse for more bunny-related crafts!

Thank you to everyone who gave me such lovely feedback on my Twitter page I'm really excited to start planning my Beltane alter.

Last night as part of my Ostara ritual I used the Blossoming Tarot spread from Urban Witchery's Plannoire, you may remember I raved about it in my Making Magic Happen blog last month. 

Absolutely gorgeous just like the rest of the book

The spread asks us to review how the seeds of our manifestations that we planted at the beginning of the year are developing and what we can do to further nurture them.

I got some pretty interesting feed back from the cards including pulling the Five Of Wands and The Tower

Cheers Tarot Deck

The spread was essentially telling me that whilst I am on the right path with nurturing my seeds and am ready to develop my craft more and perhaps start casting my first spells! (I also pulled The Knight Of Swords, Two Of Wands, King Of Pentacles, The Chariot, The World, The Eight Of Pentacles, The Four Of Wands and The Sun) I obviously have a battle and a big change coming my way, which I'm not looking foward to since The Tower reflects a dramatic, potentially shattering change. Hopefully I'll at least gain wisdom from it as my Tarot Guide suggests. 

Let's see how this pans out.......

Blessed be and have a good weekend. 

Love Jen

XxxX

New Moon Manifestations

Hiya guys I hope you're all well?

Today I started a New Moon manifestation for the first time. I'm really excited to see how it turns out.

These were the instructions I found on Pinterest (basically one of my main Wicca teachers at the moment!).

1. Write your hopes, dreams and desires down on a piece of paper. Include as much detail as possible.

2. Read these outside to the New Moon.

3. Thank the universe and moon for listening.

4. Keep the paper in a safe place and repeat this nightly until the full moon.

5. On the night of the full moon read these aloud one more time before burning the paper.

Admittedly I mumbled my list to the moon and universe as I still find talking out loud to the universe and God and Goddess a little uncomfortable as I don't like the sound of my own voice. A lot of my communication is done in my head. My talking did however manifest Esme, my rabbit, who started doing laps of her run to hurry me up with her dinner!

I've placed my piece of paper in the centre of my alter to give it more 'charge'.

I'll let you know at the full moon how my manifestations are coming along. Have a good Wednesday.

Blessed be

Jen
XxxX

Urban Witchery - Making Magic Happen

As a newbie witch I'm always on the lookout for anything that will make my learning path easier or more straightforward so when I discovered Urban Witchery and their Plannoire (the website is currently being updated at the moment - exciting things are afoot!). You can also find them on Twitter and Instagram (so so many pretty pictures!)

The Plannoire is a fantastic tool for planning what you want to achieve over the year and tracking the progress of your intentions. There are northern and southern hemisphere editions so witches all over the world are covered!.

To start with it's just so damn pretty, shallow I know but it's absolutely gorgeous!

Making my alter even prettier!

The pages inside have a lovely, glossy texture to them -

The blurring is my phone not the text btw!

I'd describe it as a cross between an organiser, a journal, a book of shadows and a textbook. There's useful dates of the different sabbats, moon phases, tarot spreads to try and explainations of the celebrations throughout the year. 

Wheel of the year for 2019

All the Imbolc info you need!

Astrology for the year ahead.

Right at the beginning we are asked to think about what our intentions for the year ahead are, what do we want to achieve? What are our dreams?

Doodling space

At the beginning of each month we're asked to jot down what intentions we have for the month and also intentions for the lunar cycle - whichever feels more relevant to you (or of course both!). Not only do we note down our intentions but we're also asked how we'll make the intentions happen, what work do we need to put in? It almost works as a project planner as much as a diary.

This week's questions and moon phases

There is a week to a page starting with the week's moon cast and what it means for us; for example this week we have a new moon in Pieces which is focused on our dreams and intuition. There are questions for us to think about and answer over the week such as "What ways can you develop your intuitions and connection to the craft?". 

I'll admit that some week's the questions are easier for me to answer than others, a couple of weeks ago there were questions about how I saw my ideal future and I actually found this really hard to answer because I'm going through a very bad episode at the moment. But on the plus side it was one of the pushes I had to finally go back to counselling and address my problems. There was also a question about how your craft contributes to your community which as a solo witch wasn't really applicable to me but then lead me to create this blog and my @MuddlingWitch Twitter to try and connect with other witches. 

I also find that when I feel stuck or that I'm not moving foward with any of my manifestations I flick back over the past few weeks and look at my answers to previous questions and notice that yes there are little shoots of progress peeking up above the ground that need to be nurtured and encouraged. 

I'm looking foward to getting further through the year and looking back and seeing what progress I've made. 

I also really recommend checking out the Urban Witchery Coven on Facebook, it's full of lovely people who are really supportive and helpful with any questions I've ever had. 

I really hope that a 2020 Plannoire is in the works as mine has already proven invaluable to me and helped this Muddling Witch to see the path ahead. 

Blessed Be

Jen

XxxX

Introduction To My Muddling

Hello lovely people and welcome to my blog all about muddling through the world of witchcraft as a newbie witch.

I wanted to start this ‘sister blog’ to my normal Stitches, Beads & Rock N Roll blog  with it’s various ramblings and document my journey learning about the art of witchcraft and hopefully make some friends along the way ☺ 

In witch (sorry) case I’d better be polite and introduce myself! My name is Jen and I’m a 31 year old Newbie witch living in Sunny (allegedly) Sussex on the south coast of the UK. I’m firmly under the paw of a 10 year old grumpy rabbit called Esme, I’m a massive plane and music geek and a (very) amateur photographer. I also suffer from a lovely cocktail of Borderline Personality Disorder with a dash of OCD. 

I guess Wicca and witchcraft first came onto my radar way back when I was at school, a classmate was complaining in an RE lesson that Wicca wasn’t covered and curious I asked her about it. I naturally ended up with a copy Teen Witch by Silver Ravenwolf. It dropped back off my radar once I’d left college but there was always a ‘something’ there at the back of my mind waiting to be heard.

It was the summer just gone that I felt the urge to explore crystals and learn about tarot cards. I started analyzing how each card made me feel and it’s connotations and compared it to the guide book I had and the impressions I gained from the cards mostly matched up to their ‘correct’ meaning. I particularly connected with the three of cups as it felt like such a joyful card. In fact the first time I attempted a tarot reading for myself last month it was the first card I drew!

I love this card

With the crystals I wanted to find stones that would help with specific problems I had like anxiety, mood imbalance and PMT so ended up buying Quartz, Amethyst and Malachite. I now have quite the collection, I tend to look over crystals in shops and see which stone/s I feel drawn to. I seem to pick up a lot of creativity and psychic energy related stones at the moment – Tiger Eye, Carnelian and Azurite to name a few. I imagine these relate to the learning I’m doing with the cards, runes and my Book Of Shadows.

Malachite

Carnelian

I finally accepted my ‘calling’, sorry for the clunky cliché but I really can’t think of any other way to describe it, after a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon last Autumn and visiting Magic Alley There was such a great vibe in there and I ended up with books, crystals and a dowsing pendulum (Tiger Eye again!) that I seem to be able to encourage to swing quite dramatically! I came out of the shop feeling such great vibes, obviously something clicked then and I’ve been studying ever since.

It's that Tiger Eye again!

Since beginning my journey I've started noticing far more about the world around me. Usually I hate winter and spend the dark months depressed and longing for summer but now I'm trying to follow the advice of Wicca and use the dark months to sow the seeds for my intentions for the year ahead. When I walk to work in the morning I've been noticing the dawn appearing earlier and earlier each day.

Not a bad way to start the day!

I've also set up a small alter in my room, I love that alters can be personalised and changed whenever we like. I'm looking forward to decorating it to correspond to the celebrations through the year, naturally it'll be completely OTT for Samhain (Halloween) my favorite day of the year! 

At the moment my alter has cross-stitched God & Goddess symbols, a cross-stitched pentagram, the candle holder at the back reminds me of sunrays, there are also some stones and crystals, my Book Of Shadows (BOS) and centre stage are my gratitudes for the last lunar cycle. 

I think my favourite thing so far has been that, much like my alter, Wicca is a religion where within reason you can follow your own path and truly make it your own. For example at the last full moon rather than doing a formal ritual I lit candles at my alter and talked to the god and goddess and thanked them for the blessings they had brought over the last lunar cycle, a previous full moon saw me burning a piece of paper with a list of things I wanted to leave behind and blowing the ashes out into the wind. It's a life-long learning process and needs patience and hard work. 

I’ve pretty much been trying to read as many books, watch as many YouTube videos and read as many articles as witchily possible. I'd really love to hear your recommendations for books, channels, social media accounts that you guys like.  

These are a few of my favourite witchy accounts and some books I've found really helpful, interesting and informative. 

Books -

This is a great starter book,
It's detailed without being OTT
and is written with humour.
@TheaSabin

I have these books from Lisa Chamberlain
her books are great for a simple introduction
to magical subjects.

As a witch with pretty severe mental health problems
I brought this book by Lisa Marie Basile.
It's the book equivalent of a cuppa and a hug. 

YouTube -

Jessi Huntenburg her Instagram is here.
Tess Whitehurst

Instagram/Twitter -

Wiccan Tips

My Witchy Diary

Fat Feminist Witch

I also absolutely love MoonChild spiritual emporium for witchy supplies. I've recently ordered some Ostara candles and a beautiful candle holder from them. 

This candle holder is going to look adorable on my alter

Hopefully you've made it to the end of my blog without being bored silly. I'd really love to hear any of your recommendations or advice on witchy matters, you can chat to me on my Instagam or Twitter

Blessed be

Jen

XxxX