Practical Magic: Glamoury and Tealight Hearths

Charms, Hexes, Weeknight Dinner Recipes, Glamoury and Unsolicited Opinions on Morals and Magic

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Fix Your Situation: Get It Back Together

People die, things break.  At one point you had your life together but somehow, through a confluence of chemical fiesta related issues (depression, anxiety, whatever is misfiring up in there), your body that keeps insisting on getting sick and/or will not let go of your permanent medically diagnosed conditions, overwork at the office, creative projects and your Muse that never shuts up, heartbreak, children whose self-governing skills are suspect, the thoughts that are peaceful until you lie down and then it's a riot and that one time you had a free night?  Did you do anything productive?  No, you did not.  You sat up drinking margaritas in the ruins of your house with your besties while watching Jennifer's Body for the eighty billionth time, laughing and throwing popcorn at each other.

More and more of your to-do list becomes unchecked until you stop bothering to make one.  The dishes tower to the heavens, you eat food out of a box like a garbage animal, you binge on Netflix, you don't go for walks or to the gym or to yoga, you haven't seen anyone (your besties, your spouse, your lover, your family, your kids) much at all due to these modern life crossed conditions leaving you shipwrecked and alone.  You haven't been engaging in any activities that please you - going to the farmer's market, making plans to go bowling at midnight, finishing knitting that shawl that you keep picking and putting down, the book you always are too tired to read and your refusal to do anything that doesn't feel safe and familiar has painted you into such a corner that you don't remember what it was like to enjoy your daily life anymore.

Maybe you have a moment now.  A project ended, work slowed down, your kids are vaguely self entertaining.  What do you do?

1. Cook something.  Directly connecting to the food you will be eating grounds you.  Selecting the food to make, preparing it and eating it makes you feel like a whole person again.  If you don't cook, chose food that is going to nourish your body.  If you do cook and you don't know what to do, roast a chicken.

2. Force yourself to be present as much as possible.  It's painful, you will be resistant.  It is not the familiar smelly damp blanket of distraction you have cocooned yourself into.  Stop checking your damn phone because that is some toxic junkie behavior so knock it off.  Now. 

3. Do something unfamiliar asap.  It will break the habit of only doing what's safe and familiar.  A new restaurant, a new city to explore, a food you've never eaten, a party you've never gone to, a class you've never taken.  Get some new experiences so you don't shrivel up and die inside.  Go meet your fellow occultists so you can figure out whose face you actually hate in person.

4. Keep your outer glamour in order.  Remember, we are all silently judging each other based on our appearances.  The mantra is: You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.  Do a few small things daily.  Read Entres-Nous.  Get a minimalist wardrobe together.  Whatever is your thing. 

5. Have you treated your glamour magic like a house plant you are intentionally trying to kill?  If so, that's not good.  Get it back in order.  If you want to really kick your own ass, start the New Year, New You Experiment that you swore you would take up but never got past the first three weeks on (I see you). 

6. For Lordess sake, do something.  Make magic happen.  Make the odds be ever in your favor.  Remember when you were first learning magic how you were constantly trying to change traffic lights from red to green, trying to get boys to buy you drinks at the bar, trying to magic your way into adventure, trying to manifest the perfect outfit on sale at your favorite store for a twenty or less?  Well?  What happened?  Get back to it.

In Omnia Paratus, Charmers.

Last modified on
Deborah Castellano's book, Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want (Llewellyn, 2017) is available: https://www.amazon.com/Glamour-Magic-Witchcraft-Revolution-What/dp/0738750387 . She is a frequent contributor to Occult/Pagan sources such as the Llewellyn almanacs, Witchvox, PaganSquare and Witches & Pagans magazine. She writes about Charms, Hexes, Weeknight Dinner Recipes, Glamoury and Unsolicited Opinions on Morals and Magic at Charmed, I'm Sure. Her craft shop, The Mermaid and The Crow (www.mermaidandcrow.com) specializes in goddess & god vigil candles, hand blended ritual oils, airy hand dyed scarves, handspun yarn and other goodies. She resides in New Jersey with her husband, Jow and their two cats. She has a terrible reality television habit she can't shake and likes St. Germain liquor, record players and typewriters.

Comments

  • Tony Lima
    Tony Lima Friday, 27 May 2016

    I do not believe there is such thing a magic due to what I see in the spirit side of life - HIGH TECH BEYOND HUMAN COMPREHENSION.
    It is my belief that all so called magical things happened in the old world were arranged by the high-tech sources not known to earth, all mechanically arranged.

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