YEAR OF THE WATER RABBIT FORECASTS (2023)
Sooner or later, as we grow older, we eventually come to appreciate that no news is good news. As we near the end of the Water Tiger year, and prepare to welcome (with relief) the Water Rabbit, we can finally find a quiet spot in the corner, experience reprieve, and reimagine what life can be like.
JANUARY 2023: AN EXIT OF THE TIGER AND THE ENTRANCE OF THE RABBIT
The beauty of the new year is defiant against the harsh realities, and for now, may the beauty swallows us whole.
WINTER: BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
Winter - a season where just about everything is reduced and barren, bitten down to the bone. Belonging to the Crone, the season’s energy speaks with ruthless honesty; the once flattering light of Summer no longer seduces, the excuses we make due to being too comfortable no longer hold up. Much like Jupiter is Spring/Summer because we say “yes” freely, indiscriminately, Fall/Winter is Saturn embodied, as we learn the fruits of unchecked expenditures.
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.
WHY FRAGRANCE IS AN UNBREAKABLE SPELL
Scent is given priority in our bodies. The science and spiritual significance of fragrance
ANIMISM IS NOT POETRY
Language was not invented by humans. Humans' capacity to communicate and speak comes directly from the Land herself.
HOW I DEFINE SPIRITUALITY
How I define spirituality:Inner transformation AND outer change.
WAYS TO INVITE HARMONY WITH THE FORCES OF CHANGE
While I'll be sharing loads of wisdom on befriending Change, including hands-on practices with Tea on September 17 - Befriending Change (Part of the Magick of Tea series), here are a few doable practices to help get you started.
AN ANIMIST’S FORECAST: 2 KEY THEMES FOR THE REST OF 2022
August was a midpoint for the lunar new year, igniting a major portal for the remaining months chaperoned by the Water Tiger. In many ways, the first 6 months of this lunar year was like a washing machine, where energies, circumstances, intentions, and reference points are jumbled, chaotic, and unclear.
SPIRIT IS THE BODY
There are some spiritual beliefs that are focused on freeing spirit from matter, from the body.
There is also another way, an ancient way— the animist tradition that sees the Spirit in Matter, in the Body.
ABOUT SPIRIT COMMUNICATION
We start off with one question / area of exploration, though that doesn’t mean you only receive one message from the spirit guides. The one question is simply to get the ball rolling, and as with the spokes of a wheel, this first spoke connects to the greater wheel, and integrates many other concerns as well. Oftentimes the wheel of your life is too grand, overwhelming, or even distracting to take in at once, and hence the first question functions as the catalyst to facilitate the movement of energy from serving the spirit to fulfilling the spirit.
DANCING WITH FEAR
In my heaviest, gloomiest days, these are the choruses I am confronted with:
“I have no friends; I do not belong”.
“What I do has no meaning.”
“I create more problems.”
I know these thoughts are not true, but it doesn’t mean the thoughts don’t have a momentary hold on me.
RECOMMENDED READS (2022)
Reading, for leisure, is about as delicious as it gets. With a pot of Tea, some dappled sun, and the barely-noticed sound of birds or rustling leaves, make it even sweeter.
SPIRITS IN THE HOME
We live with and in parallel with many other beings, some visible to us, others not so much. As an animist, my work is to explore the conversations around decentering humans, and the practice we can engage in to be in relationship with the energies and consciousness that are in us and greater than us.
SOCIAL DYSMORPHIA
In the culture we live in, levelling up is often just amassing more obligations. Methinks levelling down may be the better way to go.
GROWTH DOESN’T NECESSARILY REQUIRE STRUGGLE
Growth doesn’t necessarily require struggle. I think more than anything, growth requires me to know my nature, and to honour it.
THINGS ABOUT ME YOU MAYBE DIDN’T KNOW, AND OTHER RANDOM WITCH THINGS
In my early twenties, I lived in an all-pink apartment. Everything was one shade of pink or another, including the kitchen counters, back splash, bathroom vanity, bathtub, and tiles. Pink was not my first choice or honestly, any choice. But the rent was cheap(ish), and it was close to art school and work.
WORKING WITH CORRESPONDENCES AS AN ANIMIST WITCH
Correspondences in witchcraft have been misinterpreted as something to memorize, like multiplication tables in math. 3 x 3 = 9; 6 x 7 = 42; mugwort is good for dreams; cinnamon for accelerating; memorize it for god’s sake. But this approach not only favours practitioners of magick with a brilliant memory, it also isn’t a true indicator of how skilled the witch actually is.
COMMON QUESTIONS THIS ANIMIST-WITCH GETS
In my mystery school series, The Mystery Mentorship, the current Prayers + Devotions in Animism series, as well as my topical courses, I hold space for Q&As and relevant tangents. Many of the folks enrolled in the courses and series have shared how much these discussions have nourished and supported them in their spiritual journey and return-to-self.When I was asking the spirits what they would like to convey through me for June’s newsletter, they led me again and again to the Q&As. A few of the most commonly asked questions (and a few personal faves) are below.