I have added a selection of my photos to a gallery you can find here. Over the past couple of seasons I have developed a deep love for fashion style photography with a dark and witchy vibe. I am exploring this skill and slowly gaining the right equipment in hopes to one day offer this as a service and to do something with the art that is created.
New Moon Humblings of a Boss Witch
I read this Article recently ” The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death” by Jia Tolentino for The New Yorker ( you can read it here) and I have to say it humbled my #bosswitch obsessed self. The idea of the article is that so many of us, millennials in particular, have started celebrating this do or die entrepreneur attitude that can actually feel really misaligned with who we are at the core of living life simply… Magically.
This do or die attitude about success is unfortunately what it often takes to get even an inch ahead in this day and age but ultimately it’s us, the doers and the entrepreneurs who need to stop this notion, slow down and change the temperature of that world out there by finding a balance. Even just beginning to think about this really brought me to an uncomfortable place as I realized I value my bottom line and making sales way too much way too often. If you were to sit me down and ask me why I do what I am doing I would tell you it’s for the connection I make to my community, not to make my next $100 so I personally feel the need to take a look at what keeps me up at night. Is it plans to make my next few sales or is it plans to be more the vision of the High Priestess I see myself as in my dreams? What are my real #goals?
And reading all this, having these thoughts happened about 24 hours before I received news I had not landed a spot in the community market as I was really hoping for, sort of derailing the plans I had tentatively made for my summer. Like a good Yankee I had hoped for the best but mentally prepared for the worst so its not too shocking that the did not have a spot for me as all their previous bath and body vendors were returning. And here we sit under an Aries new moon with an air of new beginnings, new projects and new growth. Any new moon is a good time to start new projects or to set your intentions for your future but with Aries in particular we have all the passion of spring, of fire and warming earth, of seeds awakening and of shoots thrusting phallic and proud up out of the dark earth.
I felt like a blank slate for a few moment. Deeply humbled about my intentions for a few moments. It did not take long before the falling spring rains began filling that space with new ideas and plans. After all, I am a doer, I am a boss witch. I feel like these events that have made me question my intentions really gave me some consciousness about my direction and allowed for true, deeper, more meaningful ideas to come forward, messages from my spirit about what she wants to accomplish. I drew a couple of cards to give myself a gauge on my feelings and my Disciples Tarot combined with a goddess message made it loud and clear “be humbled, but not derailed – Don’t fall off your throne because your circumstances have changed, don’t spite the reflection just because a mirror has been held up. The mirror is a blessing for now you get to look within and offer a true version of yourself” says the Queen of Pentacles while the Knight of pentacles surveys the night for the best path to take to our next conquest. The High Priestess from the Goddess Knowledge Deck is meaningful to me as advice for my next steps.
I have allot of details to work out but, big things are to come. I as of late, have allot of open time in my summer calander and I have plans to fill it up with a way to better connect and share with some of you ! You can get your copies of The Disciples Tarot in my shop, The will be shipping out in the next two weeks! 🙂
A North Witch’s Manifesto
“Witch” has certainly become one of those words that is pretty hard to define especially for someone who is immersed in the community. Claiming the title “witch” means very different things to those of us who choose to adopt it. I am of the opinion that the only “correct” way to be a witch is exactly the way that feels right to you! In an effort to share who I am as a witch, to mark my spot in the community, I would like to explain my practice and beliefs deeper then a “20 facts about me” style instagram post. This is the lifestyle and spiritual practice that works for me personally, nothing about this is meant to be definitive or any sort of guide for “how to be a witch” . I hope this post hopes you think about what kind of witch you are, what kind of magic you bring to the circle.
New England and Maine are a huge defining part of who I am as a person and a witch. I grew up in rural Maine, surrounded by remnants of colonial history and a community of people who genuinely live by the practice “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ( a beautiful sentiment and such a hindrance for growth but that is a whole other essay). I was raised in the woods. I was raised simply with parents who were artists, naturalist and hell bent on teaching my sister an I independence. I remember my father explaining how to walk rough trail in the woods “look up, always be looking ahead on the trail, don’t watch your feet or you will stumble. For every obstacle you see ahead, there is a way around, you decide before you even get there whether you are going to climb over it, walk around it, or step on it”. He taught us to drive in an old gravel pit with basically the same advice. Being comfortable and familiar in the formidable wild Maine environment is so very important to me. I tried to move out west, spend a short season in panic in Nevada and then on the Puget Sound in Washington State feeling so lost and sicker then I have ever been. I know allot of it had to do with the chaos I had chosen to throw my 25 year old life into, but I also know allot of it was how I have learned to gather my power and magic from my particular boggy, mountain environment.
In nature I find so much magic and order. The season, the weather and current events are the universal symbols I use to guide me more then any far off planetary movements. Of course I understand the seasons,weather and current events are influenced by far off planetary movements, I suppose this would be one example of my constant reference to being “down to earth”. I prefer the magic I can see and taste on my skin. I prefer the symbols and omens of the country folk. Marking the seasons as they pertain to planting and harvest has been a way for me to become deeply connected to the energy that connects all living things. I find no need for ceremonial ritual, the magic is in taking the storm windows off when the season finally turns. The magic is orange leaves in the wind, the magic is the feel of the first snow flakes melting on your eyelashes, and hot pink bathing suits in dark rusty river water.
I went to church and Sunday School often as a child. Honestly the weekend visits were to hang out with my grandparents and to get a break from sharing a room with my sister but I credit that congregational church for influencing my young being to understand faith, to understand mythology and the power of the written word, it gave me a fundamental understanding about the moral responsibility of being a child of the gods which has universal principals we follow. Christianity can be such a hot button issue for some witches and I understand that. I am at peace with all of those who are devoted to good, no matter which gods you funnel your devotions through. Witches- to me is describes a group of people who know things, who understand whats up. Its not a religion, a particular practice, or a fashion statement. Witches are the people who help themselves, witches are the ones who seek knowledge, witches are the ones who still have peripheral vision and see the signs and symbols that are all around us. The rules of nature prevail on my moral pyramid and nature is about growth and survival, its not always “good” or ” bad” , or just “black”or “white”.
My personal practice is herbal, influenced by literature and as fluid as the seasons. It has taken me many years to develop a personal practice of making magic that works for me and it all has to do with confidence, intentions and personal power through gratitude. I was really blessed to have an older woman best friend come into my life in my early 20’s who probably saved my life and taught me allot of what I know about magic. Magic, Witchcraft. Not Wicca, not chapter two from Lady Fancy Naturename’s Grimiore but the real things we can manifest, the real changes, energies and miracles that happen in our lives. It has to be a personal journey but the biggest thing this fairy god mother taught me was to open my hands and ask for what I need. Ask the universe, ask god, ask for help, ask for more! Our own expectations are out only limitations. Work hard to become the type of person you believe deserves your dreams, understand YOU DO deserve for your dreams to come true, start planning on it, and IT WILL HAPPEN. Obsession is certainly a key element of my magic. Rituals, elements of nature, symbols and spells that solidify my visions are keys to making it all work. I don’t believe the moon phase hanging over my head has to be “correct” if I am feeling my own energies. I do believe casting my spell or intentions under the right moon, using textbook ritual elements and universal symbols can be very powerful as they only augment my beliefs and attachments to the magic I’m doing.
My biggest platform is this : There is no right way to be a witch. Keep it down to earth, keep it inclusive and honor your own path no matter how much unwanted advice you receive. I invite you to think about your manifesto. To define your craft…if you can 😉
The Disciples Tarot
I embarked on an art journey with the traditional Rider Waite style Tarot Deck knowing only a couple of things about my direction at first : I wanted to use the digital art style I had been refining over the past year and I wanted to present a deck that was both familiar with traditional meanings and symbolism but that also told my story, that was uniquely my vision.
Lacking any real “ah-ha” moment I decided the best thing to do was to start pulling cards from my deck and just start experimenting. I began to see glimpses and parts of the feel I wanted for this deck , but still card to card I struggled to create a real connection. A few weeks before Halloween on some of our feverish decoration hunting I brought home a very realistic looking longhorn cow skull. I was instantly inspired to start photographing it! It reminded me of the skulls that adorn the side of my mothers house. It reminded me of the antlers my father would hang on our shed growing up. It reminded me of a trip out west with my husband. It felt bohemian, it felt on trend. It made me think about the cycle of life, what we start with and what we leave behind. Using the image of the skull like a mask on the characters in my cards gave them an androgynous and very esoteric look. Deciding the characters in my tarot deck would be a tribe that wore the mask of horn and bone was very much the “ah-ha” moment I had been waiting for, the skull with horns was my muse.
The Disciples are the wise ones to travel with in the cards. The mask worn by the characters throughout the deck represent their teachings, their position on their journey. The are the receivers and givers of the knowledge, they are the keepers of magic and the guardians of life’s mysteries and they have been my guides as I become a disciple of tarots teachings.
Click here for more Disciples Tarot
A Witch of the North 