Everyday Witchcraft: Simple Steps for Magical Living

Fun, simple, and easy ways to integrate your spiritual beliefs as a Pagan with your everyday life.

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form
Deborah Blake

Deborah Blake

Deborah Blake is the author of Everyday Witch Book of Rituals (Llewellyn 2012), Witchcraft on a Shoestring (Llewellyn, 2010) as well as The Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook (2010) and several other books. She lives in a 100-year-old farmhouse in upstate New York with five cats who supervise all her activities, both magickal and mundane.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Spiritual Fall Cleaning

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    Ooh, I love the idea of baking bread at the time you're cleaning! And then eating it afterward, of course :-) Samhain is a great
  • Emily Mills
    Emily Mills says #
    My hubby and I had the urge to do a major fall cleaning the evening before Mabon/ Alban Elfed. We cleaned while I had a loaf of gl
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    Exactly, Molly!
  • Molly
    Molly says #
    I have been feeling this urge profoundly this year! My husband and I were just talking about it last night--this crisp fall air fe

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Celebrating Summer

...
Last modified on
5 Minute Rituals for the Summer Solstice

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Mary Newell
    Mary Newell says #
    Thank you it does really help
  • Emily Mills
    Emily Mills says #
    I love this! I just charged a peach in the sunlight and shared it with my husband.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Unity

We live in a world that is filled with people disagreeing with each other. Intolerance abounds.

I had two young women come to me recently (completely separate from each other) asking if they could join my coven. They were seeking solace and new families, because their own families had kicked them out because of their Pagan beliefs.

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Naya Aerodiode
    Naya Aerodiode says #
    Anymore, I have resigned to just accepting "Pagan" to mean "anyone and everyone who says they're Pagan." But I like the chaos the
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    THIS: For me, it's more important that we support one another in our individual quests than it is that someone else believes the e
  • gary c. e.
    gary c. e. says #
    re: "For me, it's more important that we support one another in our individual quests than it is that someone else believes the ex
  • Stifyn Emrys
    Stifyn Emrys says #
    Bravo. Can I give you six stars?
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    You bet!

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Magick for Personal Gain?

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    That's exactly how I look at it. I often say, "For the good of all, and according to the free will of all," just to be on the safe
  • D. R. Bartlette
    D. R. Bartlette says #
    Great post on a great topic. I've been practicing and studying for some 27 years now, and I was originally taught not to take mone
In Times of Horror, Joy and Love Must Triumph

I turned on the TV yesterday to watch Doctor Who with my early dinner, and got the Boston Marathon bombing instead. Like most other folks, my first reactions were horror and sorrow, and a feeling of frustration that there was nothing I could do. And fear, of course.

I asked myself the same questions many other people were asking, in Boston and across America: Is no place safe? What kind of world do we live in now? Who could do such a thing? How do we live our daily lives in the face of what seems like one catastrophe after another?

I don't have any brilliant answers to those questions. I'm not sure anyone does. But here are a few of my thoughts, in no particular order:

Find out the facts, and then turn off the TV/computer/iPad -- we help no one by letting ourselves feel overwhelmed and traumatized by the constant bombardment of horrific pictures by the news.

As much as possible, don't let a disaster elsewhere sidetrack your own life. Yes--sometimes we need a day to regroup (I didn't get much done last night). But after that, don't focus on the tragedy unless you have some personal involvement in it. We "win" against terrorists and all others who create mayhem by getting on with our lives with as much grace and dignity as possible. Every moment of joy is a gift we give to ourselves and to others.

When disasters are caused by people (as opposed to hurricanes and other acts of nature), it can be easy to feel as though All People are Bad. The truth is, most people are pretty wonderful. More people ran towards the explosion, to try to help, than ran away. There were heroes everywhere. We cannot let a few evil people change how we view the world.

If you are feeling the need to do something positive to counter the bad stuff, by all means, do SOMETHING. You can donate blood or money. You can pray or light a candle, if those are things you are comfortable with. What you do doesn't have to be in any way connected to the disaster. I fully believe that every good thing counts in some way. So do something nice for your family, your friends, your neighbors. Volunteer at a shelter. Feed the poor. Hell, feed the birds. Whatever makes you feel like you are making a difference, no matter how small.

What's important is to meet negativity with positivity. Every time someone acts out of hatred, I do my best to be even more loving. For it is in our coming together that we triumph, and in our love that we overcome hate.

Lots of love to you all on this difficult day.
Deborah 

Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Let's Be Foolish
Happy foolishness! Today is April Fool’s Day, well known for pranks and trickery and general silliness.
 
No one really knows how the day originated, although the most popular theory claims that it came about when the Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian calendar in 1582.  According to this theory, some people didn’t get the message about the change, and tried to celebrate New Year’s (previously observed on April 1st instead of January 1st) on the wrong date. These poor folks were teased for being “April Fools.”
 
Other theories suggest that April Fool’s Day was derived from the Roman holiday of Veneralia, which celebrated the goddess Venus. According to Barbara Ardinger, “to the Romans, it was All Fools Day. They spent the day doing foolish things and playing pranks.” 
 
It is also possible that there is an association with the Spring Equinox, when Mother Nature is known for playing her own tricks.
 
Still, whatever its origins, whether you call it All Fools Day or April Fool’s Day, it gives us the opportunity to indulge our playful side. But I look at it as a time to be more serious as well. (Reverence and mirth, after all, are at the core of all we do.)
 
Let’s take a look at my favorite Fool, The Fool card from the tarot. This card is number 0; either the beginning or the end of the Major Arcana cards, depending on the book you are looking in. Since all things are circular, maybe he’s both!
 
The most common representation of The Fool is as a young man with his possessions hanging in a bag on the end of his staff, cheerfully preparing to step off the side of a cliff. His little dog dances gaily at his feet.
 
Popular tarot expert Mary K. Greer, in her book Tarot for Yourself: A workbook for personal transformation, gives the following as some possible interpretations of The Fool: “Leaping off into some new phase of life. Free-spirited. Carefree. Being open to experience. Acting on impulse without thought or plan. Spontaneity. Childlike enthusiasm. Innocence. Lack of inhibitions. Footloose and fancy free. Being silly. Frivolity. Trusting in the universe. Experiencing life in the here and now—from moment to moment. Optimism.”
 
Doesn’t that all sound wonderful? Who among us wouldn’t like to have a little more of those qualities in our mundane lives?
 
So today, on All Fool’s day, let’s resolve to let ourselves be foolish. Let us live a little more freely, be open to what the universe has to offer and put aside our fear of change, even if just for a day.
 
What do you dream of doing? What would you change about your life if you could gather up your courage and take that leap of faith? Is there something you’ve been longing to do, but have held back from out of a fear of looking foolish?
Well, today’s the day! Make a wish list for yourself of all those dreams you keep in that dusty, “I just don’t dare,” corner of your mind and heart.
 
Do you want a new job or a new career? Have you been pining for the guy next door, but lacking the courage to ask him out? Is there a writer or an artist, a singer, actor or comedian inside you, longing to be brought out into the shining light of day?
 
Today, on All Fool’s Day, why not pick one of the aspects of The Fool and make it your own? Choose to be more spontaneous or optimistic. Take a leap of faith. Trust in the universe to help you make your dreams come true.
 
And if things don’t work out the way you’d hoped, and you make a fool of yourself, so what? At least on April Fool’s Day, you’ll have plenty of company.
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • D. R. Bartlette
    D. R. Bartlette says #
    Great post on April Fool's Day! I'm glad you brought up The Fool...most people just see it as the meanings you posted, a good omen
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    I'm glad you liked it! The Fool is one of my favorite cards :-)

Additional information