Tea Thoughts While On A Mountain
By considering alternatives, my “truths” can be suspended—even for a moment—so that new portals can open. The Universe does not want to work with a know-it-all. Spells, though are approached with some degree of knowledge, mostly work because there’s sufficient space for air and negative space to exist to fan the flames of magick.
I delight in knowing that if I told my younger self who I am now, what I’m doing now, she likely wouldn’t believe me.
WHAT ARE SIGILS?
Traditionally speaking, sigils are a form of magick that holds the energy that is accessed through a specific intent and ritual. Sigils are often created by combining letters, symbols, shapes into an abstract design that is charged with energy of the desire. Common purposes include protection, peace in a home, recovery and healing, success on a project, and so forth.
DOES THE I CHING MENTION TEA?
The I Ching (The Book of Changes), the oldest Chinese oracle, divination text and philosophical system is said to be birthed and used from ~1150 BCE, around the same time Tea was discovered as a plant medicine. The I Ching uses a system of hexagrams, or six-line figures, to represent and directly speak to different patterns of change within the Seen and Unseen Worlds.
WORKING WITH YOUR PAST AND YOUR FUTURE IN MAGICK
The power of recalling the past or envisioning the future in magick are such that for most humans our memories, desires, anxieties and expectations are not AS real, but are actually MORE real than reality.
THE SPIRITS OF THE SEASON
The scents have returned, bringing with them the same dreams and symbols. We do not wish to be understood as a form of conquest, they tell me. The magick is that you smell us at all; the awareness that you sense our presence is what we seek.
Fast Magick and Slow Magick
There’s fast magick, and there’s slow magick. Both have their functions - much like our two thinking faculties. I love the intuitive and emotional aspects of fast magick, and I also love the more deliberative, patient, and thorough power of slow magick. The slower build ups, deeper roots, sturdier with its layers as it grows above ground, more anchored in, immovable by pointless urgency — these remind me of the overlooked capacity of slow, and how slowness is a gift. Another comparison— magick and love — there’s loving fast, and there’s loving slow— and of course, love is a current that magick accesses. Relishing in slowness now.
An Online Retreat on Ancient Chinese Divination and Chinese Astrology
If you've been studying with me in the Mystery Mentorship, particularly in the Wood + Metal Module, you'll know that a critique I have about the "new age" communities that most practices done in the West are still coming from that extractive theme of objectifying rather subjectifying. Whether it's the studying of Tarot, tea leaf reading, dream work or even astrology, the main objective is "what's in it for me / tell me what I need to know / how I do manifest the life that I want". Put it another way, learning esoteric practices, accessing ancient wisdom is not meant to function as your genie. It is not meant to be, nor can it ever truly be, colonized. The Unseen, the Great Mystery were around far before any of us arrived on the scene.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME...
My name is Mimi Young, and I am the owner of Ceremonie and a spirit medicine practitioner. I smell things. People's auras, spirits, messages, warnings, omens, and things I am still not totally clear on. The term to describe this is called clairolfaction. (If you hang around with me long enough, you may find that I sometimes ask those in the room with me if they smell something in particular. I ask this because sometimes it’s unclear to me whether the scent I pick up is actually a physical aroma that belongs to the environment - say smelling coffee at a coffeeshop, or not, say smelling a distinct tree that is tied to specific spirit or ancestor that no one else in the room will perceive). My experiences in shamanic journeying didn’t start until I was well into adulthood while on bedrest while pregnant with my second child. (More on that HERE).
UNDER THE NEW MOON: DECOLONIZING, GROWTH, MANIFESTING
Sometimes, my own fears and irrational habits surprise myself. I have internalized oppression of general Chinese/Taiwanese culture (not to mention cultural purging that modern China has experienced) and Christian patriarchy; being a female in a white-centric worldview also adds nuanced complexity. So many painful and limiting layers. So much living small and self-oppression. But I'm hopeful. I think the first step is awareness, then release, and lots and lots of patience and self-love. I find using shamanic and ritual-based practices effective in identifying the limitations as well as work through them. (For those who know me and my work, I’m all about integrating the spiritual with practical, everyday life. Spirituality without real-life application is lip service).