Going radio silent for a few weeks.

 Dear Reader,

You may not be aware but I have been struggling with some ongoing mental health problems since last August that has severely impacted my life in a number of ways. I am taking the next few weeks to do some intensive therapy work to try to get that problem under control again so that I'm functional and I can get back to writing again. In the meantime, I will not be posting here because I expect I won't have the time due to the  plans for how to approach this therapy process. I hope to be back to post again and interact with everyone via my social media platforms soon. I just don't know how soon that is going to be.

Wish me luck.

Practical Witchery: Depression Witchcraft pt. 2

 Dear Reader,

As I mentioned in my last post, depression is hard and it makes a lot of things challenging. The first step in handling your magical and spiritual life while depressed is to lower your standards for yourself. You would not expect a person with a broken leg or a badly sprained ankle to run a marathon. You should not expect yourself to perform as you would with out the illness of depression weighing on you.

I am currently in a depressive episode and I have had to drop my expectations for myself down a good bit. You'll find that I am posting less right now. This is not because I am giving up on the blog as much as I am posting what I have energy to do on a given day. Depression can make your energy levels fluctuate and cause problems with your ability to focus. As a result of these two things, I write less and try to do more concrete things that are fairly low effort (i.e. wash the dishes, crochet a washcloth, do some mindless task).

My magical practice takes a pretty big hit when I am depressed. I don't do nearly as many rituals and when I am engaged in a ritual, it's challenging because of that focus problem. This is where I pare down how many steps in a spell and just strive to get through the day. As of right now, I'm at lighting a candle and saying a prayer for something to happen. Super simple, really low impact on the effort scale, but effective magic.

Like I posted last week, you have to pace yourself. You have to take time to assess what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. Somedays will be better than others because of that fluctuation aspect of depression. Some times of day will be better than others. Don't pour all your effort into one big thing when you have several little things to do as well. That one big thing might use up your energy and leave you too exhausted to do the little things that you need to. Remember, the goal is progress not perfection. And anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, because at least you tried.

Divination: Rune Study - Wynn

This week you could say that we are looking at the polar opposite of last week's rune: Wynn. Wynn is found in the Anglo-Saxon alphabet. It is also known as Wunjo, when found in the Elder Futhork. This rune means joy or bliss. It translates to the letter 'W' in the modern English alphabet. 

In the direct orientation, it speaks of joy and happiness. In the reversed orientation, it speaks of delayed delights. Occasionally, a reversed Wynn speaks of miss opportunities for joy. It really depends on how it falls in conjunction with other runes and the method you use in laying them out.

The Anglo-Saxon rune poem is the only one for this rune. For reasons that I can not decipher, this rune dropped out of the other runic alphabets. In the Gothic alphabet there is a letter that has a similar name but a different appearance. One would suspect this was an evolution of the rune over time but this is merely the speculation of a lay-woman, not a scholar of linguistics. Wikipedia has an interesting article on this rune. 

Practical Witchery: Depression witchcraft (aka low impact exercises)

 Dear Reader,

If you follow my Instagram account, you see that I have a lot of pics of the different styles I'm trying to make work with my new hair style. This relates to the topic today, I promise. When you're dealing with depression, you have to know your triggers. One of my triggers is being cold. Since I shaved most of my head and gotten a faux hawk back last September, my head gets cold pretty fast. I have been pretty cold today because of the arctic weather we've been having. I finally figured out a way to make this blue and gold pashmina work for a nice warm wrap that kept my head warm. It didn't boost my mood but it made it easier to bear things for most of the day.

Depression is hard to cope with on a 'good' day. It's equally challenging when the ideal conditions are in place for a potential good day. When you feel like giving up on everything and/or just sleeping for forever, you can't recognize the cues for that 'good' day. A low energy, low mood day wrecks havoc on your plans, especially if you wanted to do something magically related.

It is important to remember that the High Ones meet us where we are at. If we're too depressed to sit down and do a big, formal ritual, they understand that. Sometimes, all we can do is light a candle and pray for the depression to pass and ask for them to help us endure our ordeal. On the days that lighting a candle is too much, simply asking for help is enough. You can also tell them what's going on with you. That may not sound like magic but it is. It's a very simple form of magic where you give them your troubles. It doesn't instantly make them vanish, but you are no longer carrying that burden on your own. It makes it more likely for you to recognize the synchronous events that will help you endure the depression until it lifts.

Among the low impact magical exercises that I do when I am depressed are:

1. A self blessing and cleansing as I bathe
   
   
2. Dedicating acts of self-care to the High Ones
   
   
3. Lighting a candle and asking the High Ones to keep me in their care
   
   
4. Making a point to meditate (or at least try to meditate) for a few minutes on the good things in my life (this attunes your spirit to these things and makes it easier for you to notice them)
   
   
5. Reciting prayers for health and wellness

Divination: Rune Study - Nyd

 Dear Reader,

This week we are looking at a rune that is particularly influential during this season and during our times right now. This rune is known as Nyd, Naudiz, Nuad, or Nuaðr. It's name translates to need or distress. The rune poems on Wikipedia all agree upon this translation and present in some variation that need/distress is baneful in some fashion. It is associated with the letter N.

Nyd is one of the easiest runes to interpret. It simply means that there is a need or some form of distress in the picture. In an upright orientation (as seen in the picture above), it indicates a less dire situation than would be implied by a reversed orientation of this rune. If you are asking a yes/no question of the runes and you pull this rune, the answer is a very firm 'no' and a warning not to continue upon that path which has lead you to ask the question.

Nyd is frequently used in modern magic as a short hand for binding someone because one of its meaning is constraint. I, personally, am reluctant to use it in this fashion because this is a rune of deep power and grief.