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October is here
with her cooling breezes
and breaths of pause,
her yellowing leaves
and orange moon,
her whispers and her wandering,
her migrating dreams
and her changing stories.
She invites us to stop and listen.
She invites us to open our hands
and our hearts
and to release our burdens,
our sorrows
and our shames.
She invites us to step
into a season of enchantment,
a time when magic
is close to the skin,
when ancestors speak and hearts listen.
She invites us to steep
in our own wondering.
She invites us to deepen and renew,
to remember and to soften.
She invites us
to settle into mystery,
into not knowing,
undone,
unfinished,
and home.

Happy October! Welcome to this month of Mystery and Enchantment. How are you walking with mystery this month? What is enchanting you?

I have a free #30DaysofGoddess practice update for October available for you here: #30DaysofGoddess.

With so few opportunities to meet new people amidst the pandemic, it often feels like love is constantly slipping through our fingertips, just out of reach. And while this has certainly complicated our love lives, it also has made the interactions we do have so much more treasured. Perhaps you’ve experienced something like this; a stranger caught your eye at a Zoom poetry reading, you had a brief but meaningful moment in line for coffee, or perhaps you exchanged looks of longing across the aisle on your last grocery run. Whatever it was, you can’t seem to shake that person from your mind.

Now, your only hope is that chance will bring you together, right? Wrong! To reconnect with this mystery person, try this surefire reunion spell. Take a man-shaped mandrake root (commonly available from magickal herbalists and metaphysical shops), or any statue, photograph, or figure of a man. Place it on your altar, surrounding the figure’s base with red and pink rose petals, then add red and pink candles. Place two goblets of red wine beside this arrangement, and burn the candles every night for a week starting on Friday, Venus’s Day. Sip from one of the goblets and recite:

If you are fortunate enough to have a soul mate, here is a special bit of sorcery to seal your fate together.

Take a white candle for purity, a red candle for deep affection, and two long-stemmed roses complete with thorns. Light the candles and hand each other a rose. Anoint the candles with honey to seal your bond with sweetness and rose essential oil for the sweet connection of friendship. Witchcraft was originally nurtured by groups of friends passing on herbal remedies and working spells together in covens.

When I perceive the gods' presence in nature, sometimes I feel that it is a sign as in an omen and sometimes it's just a sign of their presence as in a way that one detects them. When we talk about whether something is a sign, I think a lot of us talk past each other because someone will call something a sign and mean it as in the signs and symptoms of the presence of x thing, and other people will think they are talking about being the chosen one of a novel.

I've heard people say not every thunderstorm is Thor, but to me, every thunderstorm is definitely Thor. Sometimes he's showing up for me and sometimes he's just doing his thing. And either way, thunder is a sign-- of his presence. It's how we detect him. It doesn't necessarily mean anything else, unless there is some context in which his presence would be the answer to a question, but that would be highly unusual to the point of nearly unheard-of. Which is why I think people misunderstand when I say he's in every thunder roll. They misunderstand when I say he will sometimes show up for me. And sometimes he would show up for my mom, even though she was an atheist. 

If you are looking for love, perform this rite and you will soon find a lover to satisfy your needs. On the night of the next new moon, take two pieces of a pink or red crystal—rose quartz will do nicely—and place them on the floor in the center of your bedroom. If you are lucky enough to have two garnets, rough rubies, or pink tourmalines, by all means use two of those heart stones.

Light one pink and one red candle and speak this love and life-affirming chant:

Love magic is one of the most popular and most potent forms of magic there is. The heart is a beautiful and powerful thing which can conquer any obstacle. And yet, love is also one of the aspects of life we get the most strung up on. Just listen to today’s trending pop songs! Music is obsessed with love, with stories of blossoming feelings and decimating heartbreaks in every lyric. We are all caught up in a maze of emotion, trying to find a lasting connection in the midst of an uncertain world. Maybe that’s what makes love magic so desired and so valuable!

Candle magic is a great way to ignite your inner lover and set your passion ablaze. This chapter is your introduction to a breadth of fantastic love spells and charms involving these waxy wonders. 

I take a deep breath
and open my hands.
I am open to clarity.
I am open to ease.
I am open to change.
I take a few steps back
to look carefully at what I've made,
what I'm holding
and where I'm going.
This is my sacred path.
I choose with care,
with intention
and with love.

I find that fall carries twin invitations--one to finish things up, wrap things up, push towards the finish line, and vision for what is to come AND the second, which is to say: "this is good. this is enough" and to look with gratitude upon what you've made, experienced, offered as you accept the opportunity to take a break, a rest, a pause.

How are you feeling this season? What invitations are you sitting with or between?