I have been feeling the effects of the coming Lunar eclipse for the last couple of days. As Chani Nicholas says: "Eclipses signal times when our shadow or unconscious habits and patterns are exposed. These are times when we are well served to make our burdens, self-doubts, and self-sabotage conscious so that we can be more fully integrated as humans. Eclipses also signal times of important shifts, changes, and movements in our lives. What happens during eclipse season sets the tone for a long time to come."

Great. So what now? How do we navigate these changes?  Below is a two parter. Part one begins in the morning, to center us and empower us to ride the waves of transformation and part two is in the evening, a soothing and cathartic magick. 

 You will need:

•  A candle.
• Mala beads/prayer beads if you use them. 
• A red pen, pencil or marker
• Some paper, preferably quite thick such as sketch paper.
• A stick of palo santo, smudge or incense stick.

Part one: Morning

• Light your incense, smudge etc.
• Light a candle.
• Breathe deeply.
• Close you eyes and repeat this mantra: "I welcome change as a gift. I discard my patterns of harm." If you have prayer beads, repeat this for each bead. Otherwise repeat as many times as you feel is necessary.
• On your paper draw a circle in red, use as much space as you can.
• Inside the circle doodle feel the harm, the negativity and the lack of confidence and fear leave you and manifest in the red circle. 

Sit with it when you are done. 

Part Two: Evening

• If possible sit with a view of the moon.
• Have with you your red circle.
• Light your incense/smudge or palo santo.
• Cleanse your self with the smoke. 
• Take your incense/smudge or palo santo and burn holes in the circle.
• With each hole you burn, repeat your mantra from the morning:  "I welcome change as a gift. I discard my patterns of harm."
• Do this repeatedly thinking about the habits you have that are harming you, preventing your growth. 
  

When ready you can stop. With the paper that is left you can leave it on your altar to remind you, collage into your book of shadows, burn it and scatter the ashes under the moon. Choose whatever actions feels right for you.
Don't forget to rest! Take a bath, drink some herbal tea. 

Have you ever watched a three or four year old play or make art? I do this a lot since my daughter is three. I love to see her get really absorbed, see the way her face changes, her body language. I admire it. I also like to see how she will use anything she can get her hands on and play with it - glue, paint, buttons, sticks. When do we lose this sense of play? This boundless creativity? 

It's not so easy to just commit to play, we are conditioned so thoroughly to be a certain way as grown ups that 'adult' has even become a verb! How about using some household items, like children do, and incorporate them into our art journaling.

This art ritual, taken from my online course: Introduction to Magickal Art Journaling, is the first of many freebies on my hidden free stuff page. To get access subscribe to my newsletter and be sure and bookmark the link because I plan to add more freebies such as videos, printable templates etc. 
Also, I am working on some more online courses so you'll want to know when those go live!

We like to tell ourselves all sorts of tails to avoid creating, don't we? I don't have the right space or materials, I need more time, I need to finish something. Trust me I could write a book of these excuses! 

My time and space and materials are all limited but that doesn't mean I can't create. Using what we have is what witches are best at.  The above piece was done with children's marker pens on sketch paper. I taped off an area to work in to give the end result a more intentional look.

For this technique all you need is washable markers, some water and a brush. 
1. Make scribbles on the page
2. Wet the page so the colors run
3. Wait to dry
​4. Sketch on top

You can also use markers to draw something then give it a painterly effect with some water. 

For the last few months, every time I run a workshop someone mentions how they would like to do a class outdoors. I think this is a wonderful idea and have developed a series of workshops that will take place in the Burton Street Peace Gardens. 

In the series we'll explore our relationship with earth, air, fire and water. Through meditation, creative play and spell work we will make art that is influenced by each element. In august we begin with fire since this is the time of the fire sign Leo. Then progress through each element as demonstrated by the signs. Being in nature will intensify our connections with spirit/divine/goddess and the seasons and will strengthen our magickal work. The outdoors will be our canvas and our guide.

Gift yourself this opportunity to play and create and in so doing access the hidden aspects of yourself waiting to be discovered. 
DETAILS:
Cost: $115 for all four workshops or $30 for each workshop
Dates and Times
Fire Workshop: Sunday August 5th, 2 - 5pm
Earth Workshop: Sunday September 2nd, 2 - 5pm
Air Workshop: Sunday October 7th, 2 - 5pm
Water Workshop: Sunday November 11th, 2 - 5pm

This three hour workshop is an opportunity to enjoy ways of tapping into our creativity for magick and ritual. We will do projects that demonstrate the three tenets of art magick - exploration, invocation and devotion.

No experience of art is required and all materials are provided, as well as a complimentary zine. 
Cost is $25 for Misty Mountain CUUPS members and $30 for non-members.

Given how successful our Litha/Solstice event was, we have decided to do it all again for Lammas/Lughnasadh!
Again it will be in the Burton Street Peace Gardens and it will be free and open to all. I have a personal affection for Lammas as it was the first sabbat I honored when I became pagan all those years ago. 

I'll be collaborating with Lisa Wagoner as we come together to build community and connection. We will break bread, make charms to take us through the dark months of Autumn and Winter and spend time honoring the season. 

DETAILS:
The Burton Street Peace Gardens are at 47 Bryant Street.
There is street parking and some spaces at the rec center nearby.
The gardens are an incredible ecosystem which does mean bugs. Mosquitoes are pretty common there so we advise you come prepared with bug spray.

This is a child friendly event and is open to all!