The Unbroken Circle: Revitalizing my Craft

May the Circle be open, but unbroken
May the peace of the Goddess be ever in your heart
Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet Again.

It seems that whenever life gets hectic and I find my Wiccan practice being pushed farther down my priority list, I come full Circle back to the Lord & Lady when I need to the most.

Funny enough, I think one of the main causes of my lack of energy for ritual & spellcraft was not only due to the busy world of everyday life, but also because my altar in my room wasn’t working with me – I had a hard time doing spellwork in the small area of room where my altar was and I couldn’t be comfortable in ritual, so I found myself less inspired to connect in ways I had before. So based on what we know about the cycles of life, what happens when things no longer serve us? We release them to make room for new growth.

Here are some of the steps I’ve taken to revitalize my Wiccan practice:

Witchy Supply Basket – I went through all of my supplies (candles, candleholders, cords, oils etc) and threw away old things and sadly, broken things. I gathered all my supplies together in one place (they were scattered previously) and moved everything into a new cute wicker box with little leather clasps. Every time I lift the lid, I feel like I’m opening a treasure chest of magic! Going through my stuff helped me re-evaluate what I have, what I don’t need and what I need to replace.

Altar gets big & moves to the North – Due to the poor Feng Shui of my room, I had my altar facing West next to my bed, but since it was so close to the bed I couldn’t really move around. Also, my boyfriend would unknowingly put his glasses/cell phone on the altar since it was on the top shelf of what we’re using for an nightstand so I couldn’t blame him too much. This Westward placement just wasn’t working. I tried moving it to the South but again the lack of space I could dedicate was too stifling. I re-assessed what I wanted out of my altar – I knew it had to move, it had to have lots of space and give me room to move around. I cleared out a large stretch of space on the Northside of my room, clearing out stuff that had been accumulating and moved an old wooden coffee table against the wall, which conveniently also includes a large window. I placed all of my candles & altar tools on the table towards the wall, which left me plenty of table space to work. I also use the windowsill as a shelf with extra tools lining the window. This move has made a huge difference in my practice – I’m inspired again & I feel as if the Lord & Lady are truly present in an altar of their liking because I like it now too! Pictures to come!

Curl up with a Good Book – Reading has always been a favorite activity of mine, and voraciously reading books on Witchcraft, Paganism, magick, etc is one thing that has never worn off for me in my years of practice (it’ll be 4 years on August!) I’ll be posting more about what I’m reading soon.

Permission to Do your Own Thing – One beginner trap I fall into over and over is trying to do things based on how others do them. This has been a hard habit to break but I’ve finally given myself permission to do things differently & try them my way. For example, my new method of casting circle & calling the quarters right now is to light candles that correspond to the 4 elements that I have placed strategically around my bedroom in the correct cardinal directions. I walk around my room clockwise starting with Air and walk around the room lighting each one (often chanting the “Air I Am” song by the Reclaiming tradition), ending at the North candle which sits on my altar. Then I get to work! I love this method & don’t tell me it’s wrong because whatever builds the magick in me is definitely right!

Start Your own Traditions – Just like my above example with circle casting/quarter calling, I feel like I almost want to throw out my old BoS (no I won’t really) or at least starting all over because I realize my BoS is a compendium of Everybody Else’s Ideas. One thing I’ve started doing is trying to add my own little things to ritual & spellwork, then repeat them often. For example, ending your spells the same way every time creates a small tradition all your own that only you do. Some small traditions I’ve started are: coming up with my own ways of wording spells, repeating a blessing every night before bed, saying special blessings before a I blow out a candle (YES I blow out candles – that’s another Garnet Tradition, thanks) – the list could go on. As a matter of fact, I think starting a new BoS on the Garnet Tradition is going to be my new project….

Do what feels right! Do your own thing! If you need to release it, let it go & start fresh! Move things around! Buy pretty supplies! However you revitalize your Craft is up to you, and if you too were in a funk I hope this post has at least inspired you to think about your practice in a  new way. Blessed be.

PS – If you haven’t noticed, this blog is back! Woo!