The Winter Solstice is just nine days away. Which means I’ve been working with the energy of Ehwaz ( ᛖ ) the whole of 2022. This is my third year working with one Rune in particular, in order to deepen my connection and further my understanding of the Runes, since I work with them daily. This practice is part of my MidGardening Witchery – the moniker I’ve given my spiritual practice. Regardless, part of being a Witch is that you are always learning. That’s exactly what Ehwaz taught me this year: keep learning.
And I did learn. I deepened my knowledge of astrology, my Craft, and permaculture.I took chances, I wouldn’t likely have without Ehwaz at my side. I learned that a shot-in-the-dark book pitch could absolutely turn into a deal. I invested in my writing in new ways, securing a mentor that feels like the big sister I never had. I started a Patreon, that now is filled with so much community, I could cry. It helped me through some challenging times with family illness and allowed me new insights into the skills I’ve developed to keep my composure even in the hardest of times. Ehwaz reminded me of the goodness that self-compassion can bring, not just self-care.
I connected with new and different people, places, and activities. Joined in new projects. Was invited as guests on podcasts I respect. I found new worth in my life experience. I embraced the healing towards my inner child and have now moved on to heal the wounded inner teenager. I strengthened the harmony in my marriage. I repaired worthy relationships and let go of those that had passed their season. I even developed deeper bonds with the animals here at the covenstead. I also connected with my ancestors in new ways, which helped me understand my Fetch, allowing me to weave that Wyrd, that much more expertly.
Because Ehwaz is in Tyr’s aett, it made me examine the things I am doing to provide myself the nurturing of my intellect, my spiritual practices, and the understanding of my place in the world. I recognize where cleverness, like Tyr, is good, and where I need to invest in the strength of my body. Justice and what that looks like in my life has been a huge theme over this year and I’m curious to see if that continues as not all “victories” have come through…yet.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ehwaz. I mean, it means horse and I have a long tradition of not really digging horses and vice versa (although I have a plan to change that). But like all Runes, Ehwaz was more than its mundane meaning. It was a big, fat spiritual teacher, for which I’m grateful.
For 2023 I’ll once again be choosing a Rune of the year; but I plan to do that as part of my calendar new year’s rituals and observations. Another blog post to follow to give you all the details on that. For now the Blog will be kind of silent until after the Yuletide. This is a time for planning, rest, and celebration. Besides, there’s a book deadline I’m working towards. Until then, I hope you have the brightest and merriest of holidaze.
Did you do a Rune for the year? If so, what did you learn?
Three Easy Rituals To Incorporate for the Beginning of 2022
We are still within the 12 days of Yule, even if you now find yourself ‘back to business.’
Blessed Calendar New Year, All You Magical Beings! The Winter Solstice is just past and we’re three-quarters through the 12 days of Yule.
If you want to add more Magic to your life in 2022, these three simple spells/rituals may just get your started!
In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share with you some easy Magic you can incorporate as you freshen up your Muggle calendars from 2021 to 2022. These are traditions that have been a part of my life for years and decades and they bring lots of good energy and abundance for me, I’m sure they could do the same for you. It is my privilege to share this magic with you and if you find some use for it or begin to incorporate it in your own traditions, please take a moment and comment below to let me know. Do note that although this says new years, there’s still time, especially with today’s (recent) Capricorn New Moon, to apply any or all of these to your energy and magical practice for January 2022.
Our ‘Good Things’ Jar.
The Good Things Jar/Attitude of Gratitude: I don’t know exactly how long ago we began working this intentional magic of recognizing our embarrassment of abundance and allowing it to energize us to be our truest selves and (thereby) live our best lives. We set the jar up early in our now 16-year marriage (I reckon 2007, but not sure) and put it in a prominent place in our home, one where everyone could access it. Each time we recognized something we were grateful for, you know, the good things in your life, we’d note it on a small piece of paper, fold it, and store it in the jar. Each person was responsible for tending the jar with their gratitude throughout the year. This little ritual of gratitude that happens spontaneously (see photo of examples), typically happened when any of us were alone. I rarely would see The Viking or say, Dragon Son, anyone, honestly, put something in the jar. I often feel like tending Magic is a very personal thing. This ritual that we do seems to follow. But it is “gathered” together to make it stronger. Setting up the jar can be a group activity, or like in my household, the Head Witch In Charge (me!) decorated or created the jar to store the nuggets of thankfulness. It can be as simple or ornate as you like. You don’t need a special jar, ours is just a left-over pickle jar. However, others who I have taught this practice to have made theirs very fancy-like. You do you, Witch. When the kids were younger it was a great New Year’s Day activity that could be done indoors and feed their creativity. During the New Year celebrations – some years we did this New Year’s Eve, some years, New Year’s Day, this year it was NYD – we gather around the fire, typically with cakes and ale (this year it was sparkling wine and Yule cookies), and read out loud each note of gratitude stored in the jar.
This is just a sampling of what we took note of in 2021…yes, even finding toilet paper.
We take each note as they are read and place them in a paper sack. Reading the notes often spurs on conversation about the event (e.g. We got the vaccine! Appeared three times in the jar this year). The result of this energy is strengthening bonds within the household/family. After the reading of these strips of written blessings, they are burned in the fire. We hold and pause for an organic amount of silent time imagining the smoke as the energy of our annual recognition & focus on gratitude is set off into the universe to spread that positivity.
My Viking takes the small package of gratitude slips to the fire.
We may pray silently, individually for how we want things to improve and grow for the coming year, or just hold space to welcome any and all abundance. We hold one another and thank one another for all we do for one another throughout the year, describing often, in detail, what we appreciate about one another. Then it’s time for eating and drinking and talking about our hopes for happy memories (this year’s conversation was all about creating more gatherings for family and friends here at Villa Westwyk). In short this is about acknowledging the good of the previous year and carrying those good feelings from one calendar year to the next. Each year I have done this gratitude work has helped me get deeper and deeper into the life I’d prefer with the people I love. I am hard pressed to see us stop this well-loved ritual and magical work.
More on this year’s Good Things Jar in a future post. Farewell 2021.
Hoppin’ John and Johnny Cake: Food is definitely a focus of my life. I love creating meals for family and friends. Kitchen Witchery is where I could practice a magical life hidden from the well-meaning view of Muggle and Christian friends and family. I’m way more open about my lifestyle and beliefs now, although there are only a select few who know all about the Magical AND Muggle me. This is a decision in my practice that was long passed down, you know, the whole I am the daughter of the Witch you didn’t burn. Will ever shall the two meet? I have no idea. But for now, Kitchen Witchery is so pronounced in my everyday life, literally, I have meal times each day to create magic through Kitchen Witchcraft.
Hoppin John is part of our New Years Tradtition.
On New Year’s Day, without fail, you will find me blessing those in my household with foods that bring abundance. Eating this on New Years is a ritual to bring a prosperous and healthy new year. Yule Ham is stretched to make the Hoppin’ John broth and meat the stew. Greens from the garden – we had kale this year – reminds us that the Earth still gives us fresh foods that are so nutritional. Stores from the larder are also used (canned carrots, if there are none in the garden), and of course the dried peas. Although this is traditional for many folx in the Southern United States, born out of the African diaspora, you will find pockets of families in the Midwest (especially Detroit & Chicago) and throughout the Rockies that cook a version of this meal for New Year’s. I continued this tradition when we moved to the Pacific Northwest. Here’s the key ingredients: Black-eyed peas: these legumes symbolize the coins we have in our piggy banks. If you host a Hoppin’ John meal on New Year’s Day, the host leaves a lucky coin under their guests soup bowls. These coins have been blessed and should be carried by the receiver throughout the year to increase their abundance. Leafy Greens (collards, mustard, turnip, kale, chard, etc.): These are the color of money (at least here in the United States). As I mentioned above, for a good portion of North America, you can still be growing these veggies in your kitchen gardens or in mini hoop houses and such. These greens are not only good for you, but keep you healthy so you have more earning potential. Visualize money coming to you. Ham Hocks: As winter approached, smoked meats were a pantry staple for many. Throughout the winter months, bacon, beans and rice are often served throughout the southeastern United States. Hoppin’ John is a celebratory version of this. Note: you can make this vegetarian, or even vegan, but unfortunately, I don’t have a tried-and-true recipe for such. Perhaps I’ll explore that this year. Tell me if you want me to figure one out. Rice: If you have rice, you have a meal, is a school of thought for many cultures. So to eat rice on New Year’s was done to insure your cupboards were full throughout the year. Onions & Garlic: Again, we’ve hit the time of year when long-storing foods would be more plentiful than fresh. Onions & Garlic in Kitchen Witchery are long thought to help repel negativity. Nutritionally they are great antioxidants, decrease inflammation and boost immunity. All good things during winter.
Johnny Cake – corn bread – helps focus goals towards wealth.
Johnny Cake (aka Cornbread): It’s the color and shape of gold coins. Again, eating abundance to attract abundance. Besides tasting delicious and pairing nicely with Hoppin’ John, Johnny Cake is a great way to get phosphorus for bone health. Other ingredients within the cake/bread are also natural antioxidants as well as boosting sodium in the body, which in winter can be an issue. Eating this to start off the new year is all about not only setting abundance intentions for the new year, but also about stretching the abundance to share with others. If you have enough , and I’ve always known the pot of Hoppin’ John to feed us for a few meals, and you eat it the next day (Jan. 2), it’s called Skipping Jenny and is said to reinforce the magic of eating it on New Year’s Day. Whether you feed a whole tribe or just your love and you, focusing intent into something going inside of you is powerful Magic. Adding the extra fun of the lucky coin (one year I charged the coins under the Solstice Full Moon in the mint bed) for Hoppin John Diners to carry for luck through the year just amps up the ritual. To your health and abundance, include this practice in your New Years! Break that corn bread together in love!
Reinforcing the Magic of Kitchen Witchery with Skipping Jenny.
Fire scrying: Every new year, just sitting by the fire with a warm beverage and just meditating, if not getting into full-on trance mode and divining through fire scrying is a traditional part of my magical work and targeted reset for the calendar year. As a Witch, I often do “new year’s” work on Samhain. So the calendar year offers a great check-in time on how I’m progressing on my goals and to redress any tangents that are not serving me. Don’t have a way to sit by a fire? A candle dedicated just for your New Year’s magic works, too. This year we upped our connection to the fire, and did a short yoga practice next to the fire place. If you live where it’s warm and have fire-ring access, this could be such a beautiful ritual. Connecting with your breath before you gaze into the flames is such a great grounding action before letting your higher self take over. Some years, when my psychic energy was lower on the calendar new year, I just did a visualization exercise instead of scrying. I would stare into the fire and see myself accomplishing what I want to do for the coming year. This is a great way to hone your intentions for the new year – being lost and not knowing what direction to go in, often blocks our path. You are not alone, and I offer these alternatives for those times. It happens to every Witch at one point in time in their lives. Sharing my rituals and experience is again why I’m doing this blog.
Warming Our Magical Lives with Fire Scrying.
Bonus- Journal Practice: Each new year I give myself a new journal and again, dedicate time to write down all I’m experiencing in my life and organize my thoughts, feelings, ideas, goals, etc. This year, my journaling practice is going to include more focus on my magical practice, specifically Runes, their meanings and using that medium even more definitely in my life. Your mileage may vary. You may want to focus on something else within your journaling. For years, I’ve added to our family’s collective Good Things practice by starting each day in my journal noting three things I’m grateful for. I’ve also kept track of things like sleep data, other personal health issues (e.g. I didn’t get help for my migraines until I kept detailed records of them and had ‘data’ to show my medical teams and holistic healers), to simply new music I like. It’s amazing how much comes into clear understanding just by writing things down. Synchronicity breeds off of energy put in black and white. Trust.
I tend for more functional and high-quality journals for my practice; you can get as plain or fancy as you like. You do you, Witch.
I hope these little New Year’s rituals are things you can easily use to be the Magic of the World, to be your truest self and live your best life.
Editor’s Note: This post and many more to come will be labeled under what I’ve discovered is my personal type of eclectic intuitive witchcraft: MidGardening Witchery. Yes, that’s a riff on Midgard, the Norse Mythos realm that is Earth. This particular leaning of paganism is where I find myself called as far as working with deities, magical tools (Runes). Combine this with Gardening as a nod to my Permie Witch* efforts as an Earth Healer, and of course all that I find myself doing in Witchery as a Crone Hedge Witch. All this cooks in the cauldron and becomes the spiritual stew that is MidGardening Witchery, my personal craft practice. It’s founded in being the Hedge Witch I am, but combines all the passions in my life as well. My introversion has allowed me to pursue living a life that is more suited for me to be my true self and living my best life. Working with the Earth, divine, magic, food, dream interpretation, rune casting, and of course writing, have all brought me here.
*Permie Witch is a term I’ve been using to mean a magical viewpoint on the Permaculture Principles and applying them as a path towards my desire to directly care for and live with the earth and its creatures. Look for future blog posts detailing this deeper.
Pick A Rune is a weekly feature for a quick divination to set you right for your week.
Thanks for visiting! Sorry for the delay for those who look forward to this each week. I’ve been in slow-motion since the Lunar Eclipse. You may be feeling like you’re running in quick-sand, too. No worries, energy levels should pick up for both of us beginning now. So let’s get to it:
Today we are featuring Tiger’s Eye Runes. The set that started me on the path of Runic Magic and Divination.
If you’re new here, welcome! Look at the above photo and chose either left, center, or right. That’s Citrine, Bloodstone, or Sodalite. What calls to you? Which one whispers your name? You will find these messages when you need them. May this be correct and true. See below for the reveal and your reading.
Your message revealed.
Given the Cosmic Weather the fact that we have Raidho; Sowilo, and Jera show up, is not surprising. Lots of Air energy here.
Citrine combined with this Rune is a sure message to cleanse and re-set.
If you chose left (Citrine) the Runic message comes from Raidho. If you have been feeling like things are not in the right order, you may need to arrange your life, energy, and actions towards getting in line with the cosmic order for your specific purpose. Don’t know what that is? Take a day trip — nothing fancy, and be out in nature for a few hours. Sit next to running water and listen. What you need to do will come to you and it will set you on your path. The trees, water, rocks, they all speak. You need to be still enough to listen.
Bloodstone is used to heal the ancestral line and cleanse the lower chakras.
If you chose center (Bloodstone), the sun is calling you. Sowilo, S, for the Elder Futhark is the archetypal sun and wants you to pay attention to the solar wheel of the year. You are being called to connect to a your psychic center. When was the last time you allowed your intuition to guide you? Set aside a day and just listen to that voice. Let everything else slide away and let Spirit and your Ancestors guide you. Where are you in the solar year? Your solar year? Focus there. Give it a whole day to just shine down on you and lift you up.
Sodalite helps cleanse the throat chakra. Gratitude practices are helped by this stone, too.
If you chose right (Sodalite), Jera’s message is that you have a reward coming to you, because you moved forward on your path in a natural manner, despite your critics. You honored the work of your ancestors that allowed you to have a better life. Freyr wants you to also remember that this harvest (reward) is best received in gratitude. Be alert for signs of when it’s coming by an Eagle crossing your path.
Thank you for allowing me to read for you. Hope your Eclipse Season brings you the clarity and peace you sees. Don’t forget to cleanse and align.
