Plans for 2019

First of all, happy new year!

I didn't make any new years' resolutions/goals this year (a break from a long personal tradition of mine). I wanted to try something different. Deep down inside though, I still have that urge to change, to be better than I was last year. To learn more, study harder, do more. But also to relax more, worry less, have more fun. Sometimes it seems impossible to do all of these things at once!

On my other blog, I talked about how, instead of setting goals for the year, I'm trying a different system. Instead, I have a cycle runs for 6 months, from equinox to equinox. The idea came to me after experiencing the semester system at the Grey School. The seasons are important to me, and there are many activities I only do in Summer or Winter, so I thought, why not try setting up my plans and goals around the seasons?

I divided up all the activities of my life (both fun/voluntary and obligations) into seven categories. Spirituality is a whole category to itself. At first I was surprised at myself for this, but instinctively I must have realised that my spirituality is a very important part of my life, and it deserves its own category!

For this cycle (which is already more than half over!), my spiritual goals are:

★ finish 2 classes at Grey School of Wizardry (1/2)
★ continue Rune studies
★ work 3 magicks (2/3)
★ do divination 4 times (2/4)
★ meditate 10 times (1/10)
★ Spring/Summer altar refresh (done)

Most of these goals are underway: I've already refreshed my altar, which I posted about here. I've also pledged to blog more, both here and my other blog. I'd like to write more about what I'm learning. I'd also like to do write-ups of spells I've done, but I don't like to do that until after the effects have become known, which can take several months. Look out for them in future.

Until then, a teaser:

Spiritual Goals

Recently on my other blog, I wrote about having a list of 101 Things to do in 1,001 Days. (That's two-and-and-three-quarter years, to give it some perspective!) I've just finished my first 1,001 days and am starting my second one. I wrote about why I enjoyed it so much and how I felt about only having achieved one-third of the goals. (Honesty, always!) The post is here if you'd like to read about that. The list has all sorts of different things on it, from art and craft to fixing up the house. In this post however, I'm going to focus on the spiritual goals only.

In the last list, I kept most of my spiritual goals private, and for that reason I won't go over them. (Aside from that, I didn't finish most of them!) I want to be more open this time though, so I've decided to share all of them. The whole purpose of this blog is to share my spiritual experiences, and if doing that helps anyone else out there in the blogosphere, then I will have achieved one of my aims.

Without further ado, here is my list of spiritual goals for the next nearly-three-years:

✦ continue my Rune studies
✦ do Violet's Witchcraft 30-day challenge & blog it
✦ write a suburban wheel of the year
✦ celebrate my traditions properly
✦ learn more about crystals
✦ do 20 divinations
✦ experiment with working with the moon
✦ read the Tao Te Ching completely at least once a year
✦ create an oracle deck
✦ do Gordon White's sigils course

If some of the goals seem quite vague at the moment, don't worry! I am planning on mapping them out when the right time comes. I will endeavour to do my best to share my journey with you here!

New Year Divination: My First Rune Cast

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year and you are looking forward to what 2018 holds. I know I am!

Every year at this time, I sit down and plan out my goals for the coming year. For the last 3 years, I've planned my goals around what I call my Life Square. This helps me to think about all the areas of my life and how I want to change or improve them:

This year, I decided to use divination to help me decide on my goals for the year. It struck me that the grid layout of the Life Square would be perfect for casting onto, so I decided to do a Rune cast, even though I've never done one before. I didn't have time to make up a proper surface with a lined grid large enough to do the cast, so I laid out a blanket on my bed (it has a board underneath for stability). I had a vague idea of where the grid lines were in my head, and hoped it would be enough to figure out which part of the grid the Runes corresponded to when they fell. I had already removed any Runes that landed upside down before I took the below photo.

Well, as you can see, most of them landed in the middle! They just fell straight down and didn't bounce at all. That was something I wasn't expecting. I wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest. Some were obviously meant to be in certain sections, but most of the others were clumped together. I separated them out a little bit and the grid formation became clearer. I decided to read all runes upright no matter what orientation they were in when they landed. Here is the casting after I clarified it:

As you can see, some of the sections have no Runes in them, which again was something I didn't anticipate. However, it makes sense as they fall randomly. The rest of the sections have between one and three Runes in them. My initial interpretations are as follows (I did take the time to think about them more deeply later):

CREATIVITY -- No message. Do whatever you like.

MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING -- Things will be out of your control, but there will be an unexpected gain or win.

RECREATION -- Do new things.

RELATIONSHIP -- Things will change, but in a good way: your relationship will be stronger.

SPIRITUALITY -- Be patient, develop your intuition, you will travel steadily.

FRIENDS, FAMILY & COMMUNITY -- You will be protected in your time of need ... or you will be called on to protect others.

HOME -- No message. You are on the right track already.

HEALTH -- There will be delays at times but you will win in the end.

JOB, FINANCIAL & ART BUSINESS -- You will be amazing at everything you do.

The most relevant goals for this blog are, of course, the spiritual ones. These are the three goals I chose for 2018:
✧ earn the Grey School of Wizardry Torch Award, Level 1 (I'll write a separate post explaining what this is later!)
✧ learn Rune casting
✧ meditate 3 times a week

It's exciting that I've already started on my goals by doing this Rune casting reading! If you'd like to see the goals I chose for the rest of the sections, check out my other blog here.

Dias de Muertos 2017

In my last post I wrote about why I don't (can't?) celebrate Halloween. That doesn't mean I don't do anything this time of year, though. I observe a version of Días de Muertos, a tradition that originated in Mexico and is becoming more well-known around the world.

Each year, I set up an altar in my lounge room -- some years it has a specific theme and other times it's more general. This year's has a couple of themes. I suppose I could say that I'm very lucky in that I don't know many people who have died, so my altar doesn't have many photos of relatives. My Opa (grandfather) is always in the centre. In front, there is a space to add items such as a cup of coffee or fruit. The only fruit from my garden that's ripe this time of year is oranges, so they often feature.

I added a pair of cat figurines and an image of a ladybug to represent animals, and a small pewter dragon to represent the spirit world. I purchased a pair of skeletal musicians to decorate the altar. They don't represent anyone or anything specific, but I've become interested in learning to play music lately, so perhaps that influenced my purchase. Another new feature is the two skeleton candles which are just too cute to burn. Husband and I are both allergic to flowers, so I substituted with some yellow candy cane poles to decorate instead of the yellow marigolds that are common on Dias de Muertos altars. Then there are the standards like candles and a pinecone and a shell because I like to have things from nature.

In the Southern Hemisphere it's Spring at the moment. It's a time of expansion and joy, of energy moving faster as we anticipate Summer. It might seem like a strange time to commemorate the dead, but it feels natural to me. Días de Muertos in Mexico is a time of joy and celebration. The dead are invited back to spend time with the living, so it's a time of happiness and parties. Spring seems like the perfect time for that. According to the information I've read, the holiday was originally celebrated by the indigenous peoples of Mexico in August and was moved to the end of October by European missionaries to co-incide with All Soul's Day in the Catholic calendar. August is high Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, certainly a much warmer time of year than October, and so I wonder if my intuition fits in with the original intention behind the festival.

Last years' altar.

In Mexico as well as many other cultures, it's tradition to visit the graves of the deceased. I try to visit a cemetery if I can, but I haven't been able to in the last few years. Spring is always a busy time for me with lots of events happening, and I don't have any relatives buried in a cemetery. (My Opa was cremated.) I do enjoy going to feel the general energy, but I'm only visiting strangers, so I don't feel so bad about skipping it.
I also used to make Pan de Muertos (bread of the dead), but haven't attempted it since I became gluten-intolerant. Unfortunately I won't have time to do any baking this year.

The festival officially goes for 3 days (31st October to 2nd November) but I will probably leave my altar in place for at least a week. It's more convenient to set up and dismantle when I have time on the weekend. Also, I've been known to leave Christmas decorations up for the whole year before because I thought it was a shame not to be able to look at them. I tend to go with whatever takes my fancy at the time, even if it doesn't adhere strictly to what's in season.