Get Your House in Order: A Witch’s Guide to Messiness with Valor

Put the tea on, come sit with me. The Goddess is awaiting us at the table for deeply sacred conversations. The veil is lifting, and before you can meet me at the cauldron to greet the spirits of land and our ancestors, these conversations are necessary.

Too Much or Not Enough?

Perhaps the title is misleading, this is not a guide on cleaning your home or your physical surroundings. Not that cleaning your home or physical surroundings is a bad thing. However, there is a metaphor that applies regardless:

When we declutter, cleanse, and purge our places and spaces we usually find that it gets messier before it gets better.

Image Credit: Thirdman via Pexels

In the world of the Witch, it is time to create the space for greater focus and clarity. This is a crucible for our own growth, magic, and discernment of what has become too much and those things which are no longer enough. It is going to require true valor on an individual and collective level.

Valor

With the Full Moon arriving in Aries, it is illuminating the valor we carry individually and collectively. Do not be fooled, it is a fiery energy that can ignite our greater intuition, or it can burn it down.

Why is this important?

It is perhaps important to understand that real courage and bravery, real valor, comes with a cost. We are working hard, in this time of towers, to come together in such a way that we bring about effective change. If we are not successful here, the cost is more of the same powerful vs. powerless. If we are successful, then we must know that it is going to get messier before it gets better.

We must be brave enough to see our magic for what it is and what it is not, without making excuses for it.

Photo Credit: Mezuno K via Pexels

You will have to admit authentically what is no longer serving you and then do the work to remove that. You will have to admit authentically what is too much for you and then do the work to step back and find your lane. We will also have to admit exactly where we are on our path, where we are strong, and where we need more help. None of us know everything about magic or all paths, and that is okay. It would be boring if we all knew it and it would be boring if our magic was all the same. We find true valor in the unique abilities of our individual magic fostered through discipline and strategy – we need these in our collective magic too.

Photo via Pixabay – Maybe your magic is in herbs versus astrology, it is okay to admit that! Maybe other witches need that expertise from you!

Discipline

The great thing about this Full Moon is that it is great for discipline and strategy. We can look at the clutter in our lives and where things feel scattered. We can take an inventory and recognize what we have control over and what has control over us. We can get disciplined surrounding our practices, what works, what does not, and choose to keep things that are resonant. We can own what is resonant and we can cull or release the rest. This is a strategy in perseverance, but also the natural order of life: She too releases what is not needed anymore to get ready for what is coming the next season. Another strategy is clearing the space to be guided by our dead, our ancestors, and the spirits of place.

Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi via Pexels

The Dead, The Ancestors, & Spirits of Place

The act of taking an inventory and releasing what does not resonate for us any longer is a great strategy for deeper attunement to our magic. It is also a great way to clear the lenses through which we honor, acknowledge, and connect with our dead, ancestors, and spirits of place. If you cannot feel them all urging you forward on your path, now more than ever, it is time to make the space for them to come through. Getting our houses in order allows this to happen, even when it gets messier first.

Photo by Michael Kessel via Pexels

Finding Clarity on the Full Moon

This Full Moon, my gift is “Questions for Clarity”. I hope they serve you well:

  • What in your practice are you still doing that does not feel authentic or are you doing because someone else told you that it must be done that way?
  • What are the places and spaces you inhabit that no longer provide you with what you need and what keeps you there?
  • If you were to change your practices or if you were to release your inhabitance of places and spaces that no longer provide you with what you need, what do you think would happen?
  • What are specific things that I can release that allow me to be open and authentic?
  • How do I define success in magic?
  • How do I define success in total?
  • How do I define discipline?
  • In what ways do I own the discipline of my practice?
  • What has proven challenging?
  • What do I know that I could do to create space for what is to come but requires me to release a certain amount of control?
  • In what ways can I clear the space to be open to new experiences and learning from others?
  • Can I accept that I am not an expert, and I don’t have all the answers?
  • How am I going to create the space to meet others at the cauldron to foster change?

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

You can now connect with Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

You can also find additional offerings and lessons over at Darkgoddesscollective.com

Feature Image Credit: Belleza87 via Pexels

Autumn Equinox: A Bridge to the Wisdom of the Dark

Before you meet me at the cauldron (and before the ancestors greet us with open arms), we must prepare to cross the bridge that the Autumn Equinox puts into place. All equinoxes and solstices are powerful because they highlight a change, a turning of the wheel that is the natural, cyclical order. However, I find this one to hold a particular potency.

Photo by Francesco Sgura via Pexels ~ Are you brave enough to cross the bridge?
When courage requires we act in unison, are you able to align with the deep, dark feminine that calls you forward with rest of us?

As we move into Libra, we know it isn’t just about the air of change being swept in. Nor is it just about looking at the balance of our lives as we stand at the center.

No. There is more.

It isn’t just about what we need. It feels deeply rooted in relationship, in our way of being, and how we must find our places of impact together. This time, it is more than the scales and winds of change that is the Equinox. The Dark Moon, Mercury Cazimi, and an opposition to Jupiter make it the crossroads we’ve been waiting for. It is an alignment for unified action: initiating us into ownership of our journey, realigning with purpose and intent, and the courage to pivot in relationship to humanity – not just ourselves.

Photo via Pixabay

Are you brave enough to cross the bridge?

Are you brave enough to be the bridge?

Review, Reset, & Rebalance

There was an image that kept popping into my dreams for a few weeks, it was our Goddess of Justice, but in pillar form as the Goddess looking three ways. Wielding the scales, a sword, and in one hand the blindfold that has been removed from her eyes is wrapped around a torch. This image revealed to me that rituals and rhythms are important, so is our ability to change them based on intuition. Below, you will find a practice and prompts that will allow us to look three ways during our liminal time of reviewing, resetting, and rebalancing in preparation for the season of the witch.

Conjuring Our Images

Review

As a part of reviewing, we look to where we have been this year. Pull out your journal and review the last year. For each month, write down one word themes that seem to be present and speak to you. Create an image for each month that captures these one word themes perfectly to you, it could be a sigil, or you could create a small board for each month with images you find.

Photo via Pixabay

Reset

Once you have your review complete, we can reset. Like my own image of the triple Goddess, we are going to look both ways while standing at center and owning it. Here are some questions or prompts that may be helpful:

  • If I had to combine all of the images and themes for each month, what would the major theme be for this year for myself?
  • Are there any patterns that I did not notice that are now clear?
  • How many themes were present that involved others and justice?
  • Are there any themes that feel like side journeys or loose ends?
  • Is there anything that feels like clutter or themes that are present but do not fit (what stole my focus from important things?)?
  • Were there any themes that moved me to action, especially those that were not just about me?
  • At what points did I feel the most abundant and what were the major themes present during those times?
  • What feels unfinished?
  • What feels imbalanced?
  • What feels like loss and is it personal or does it involve humanity at a larger level too?
  • What ways have I contributed to or been responsible for some of these things that feel like losses?
  • After taking this inventory and reviewing the last year, in what ways am I prepared to navigate the bridge into the dark?
  • What am I willing to sacrifice as a bridge to personal growth?
  • What am I willing to sacrifice as a bridge to the growth of humanity?
  • In what ways have I been the bridge?
Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA via Pexels ~ Could the name of the photo taker be coincidence?

Rebalance

Rebalancing during this time is the pivot to the present and the future.

  • What can I harvest or cull that will clear up the clutter and allow greater focus on both personal growth and my own collaboration/connection with others?
  • Where am I needing to revision or repurpose my journey?
  • What is not in alignment for an initiation into the wisdom waiting in the darkness?
  • What am I wanting to learn?
  • What is my intention for the next year?
  • In what ways am I seeking more clarity and about what specifically?
  • What actions can I take to reset, repurpose, or revision my current path to one that I feel fully aligned with?
  • In what ways am I prepared to meet moments that require action for the good of all even when that may be challenging?
  • In what ways do I see the world pivoting and how am I pivoting to meet it?
  • Do I feel the need to pivot hard and if so, where?

This Autumn Equinox of the northern hemisphere is going to be an initiation, the beautiful Dark Moon as a torchbearer leading us to the bridge that we will need cross ourselves but with each other in lock step. The wisdom that we find there is sure to call us together more than it ever has, and we can plant the seeds of the next season in unison.

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

You can now connect with Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

You can also find additional offerings and lessons over at Darkgoddesscollective.com

Retrogrades and the Turning of the Wheel

Astrology has intrigued me for many years and there is a fundamental knowing that the planets impact the Earth. To think that they would not also impact humans seems like a fallacy. Currently, we have many planets in retrograde (when it appears to be moving backward). What is a witch to do when that happens as the wheel of the year is turning?

Reflect, discern, and pivot where necessary!

Scorpio
Photo via Unsplash

Reflect

The turning of the wheel towards Autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere) or Spring (Southern Hemisphere) reminds me that it is a great time to reflect over the last season as we prepare to enter a new one. With retrogrades, it is a great time to reflect upon when that planet was last in the zodiac sign it is currently in (or the last time it was in retrograde). It is entirely possible that those same things personally experienced may be making an appearance again. It comes at a perfect time, because we are turning the wheel already where we may need to discern a deeper truth and pivot where necessary.

As a side note, it is in these moments where journaling and keeping our own personal records become important.

A common understanding of planets in retrograde is Mercury (because it happens often). Here are a few questions to ask ourselves:

  • When was Mercury last retrograde?
  • What was going on our practice and in our life at that time?
Photo by Airam Dato-on via Pexels

Discern

Discernment is an important tool of the witch. It means to have “the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure” or hidden (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Etymology from dictionary.com reveals “Its base word, the verb discern, derives from the Latin term discernere, meaning “to separate” or “to divide,” from dis-, meaning “apart,” and cernere, “toseparate”.” From etymonline.com, “krei” is the “Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to sieve,” thus “discriminate, distinguish”.”

In searching for deeper wisdom and truth, we must know that it’s made up of logic and intuition. The embodiment of both, paired with lived experiences, guide us in our ability to translate the world around us and impact our decisions. Our discernment and intuitive foresight may have driven us to act in ways we may not have completely understood (certain decisions or purchases made or even sacred conversations had), but now, in retrograde season, make perfect sense. We also may look back on our journals and recognize a theme that we are in fact revisiting now.

It may come up that we need to pivot just like the planets that are in retrograde.

While it may feel like we’re going backwards, it is with an understanding that it is the only way forward too.

Photo by Polina Chistyakova via Pexels

The Pivot

We see it in the world: the death of the Queen, Ukraine retaking land in their battle torn country and Russia forced to retreat, the great return of unionization in the US (believe it is Chipotle unionizing), and even in the personal lives of many of my closest friends and witches.

If we stand in the space of reflection and discernment as the wheel turns, we recognize that our toes are in that liminal space ready to pivot. For those working with Spider, it is her time of pause before she tears down her web, unweaves one portion, or reweaves in a different direction. Sometimes spider will disappear altogether. She looks for a new place and space to call her own where she will weave differently. I’ve been watching her, noticing the shift in her patterns as well. They match our own.

Photo by Victor Miyata via Pexels

Bring it Together

The moments of reflection, discernment, and pivot points give way to clarity. This is information that we can use to determine our future path of growth, and a deep sense of gratitude for where we’ve been. As eclipse season and the equinox approaches, it’s the time of harvesting what we can – of being abundant, and the space between this season and the next. What will we need to release and what will we continue to cultivate? Do we need to pivot hard? Is there a balance to be found? Whatever keys are to be yours, I hope they make their way to you now.

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Dark Goddess Collective, A Revelations of a Witch Circle, will be launching soon. This is a community focused on those who are interested in doing the deeper, life-changing, intuitive work of reclaiming their power with Dark Goddesses and a tribe committed to fostering change in their communities. Make sure you have subscribed to get updates!

The Importance of Sacred Conversations

Revelations of a Witch has long been my personal creative venture surrounding my craft. It’s about what I have learned, what I observe, how I experiment, and document my pursuit of purpose, magic, and passion. It can be especially helpful for other people who are deepening their practice, just curious, or looking for new perspectives.

I don’t do it for money or fame.

It’s a time capsule of the sacred that I am. My words are powerful and so are yours. Written or spoken, our words have the ability to transform each other, uplift, or tear down. In our words lives a sacredness that manifests as connection. However, far too few of us are connecting through that lens.

Photo via cottonbro via Pexels

Sacred Spaces

In the Witch world, there is so much wisdom and also a lot of comparison: Who is better at being a Witch, who is actually reclaiming the word and living it, who is a Professional Witch (and then the looking down upon them because they make their living that way and live a comfortable life). These are all human tendencies, and for Witches it helps us and it harms us. When looking for where we fit, who can we connect to with like-mindedness, and who has magic similar to ours, it may feel a lot like acceptance and belonging. It feels safe.

To be honest, I don’t blame, shame, or want to guilt anyone for searching for safe.

Look around, look at the last 3 years, we all need our safe spaces. However, it can harm us when we are unable to be curious, unable to have a differing opinion or perspective, and unable to speak up because what makes that space safe sometimes becomes a place lacking growth. In those spaces, it lacks a certain sovereignty and personal accountability in a time when the divine feminine is no longer asking that we reclaim it – she is requiring it. It’s going to require sacred spaces and sacred conversations.

Photo by Max Ravier

Sacred Conversations

Aside from the sacredness of connecting deeply with others (which should be enough), there are other important considerations for sacred conversations: differing perspectives, learning experiences, new ideas, and growth with grace and gratitude.

Differing Perspectives

People are diverse. We go through life perceiving the world as it is for us:

  • the interactions we’ve had with others
  • the spaces and places we live, work, and play
  • our education, our parents, and our ability to survive/thrive

If we take into consideration that another person may see the exact same scenario and process or perceive it differently than we do (and let’s be real, we’ve all had those moments!), then communicating from a place of truth is sacred. Even if the perspective is different than our own, neither are invalid. When we take time in sacred conversation to listen, instead of trying to prove we are correct or our way of thought/perception is the only way, we create a connection of wisdom and belongingness that is powerful. Sacred conversations aren’t about winning. It’s about learning.

Photo via Pixabay

Learning Experiences

Another important feature of sacred conversations is the ample opportunity to learn and grow, even if that means letting go! So often I see or have been impacted this inability to let go of a person, place, idea, or vision because we don’t want to get real. Not getting real, not having that conversation, not being uncomfortable for a moment, not pivoting, or waiting for the “right time” is the biggest roadblock to our own growth and our purpose. Maybe the learning experience is that not everyone is meant to go with you on your path. Maybe our passion and purpose that we envisioned has changed. The learning experiences are vast, and if we keep allowing things, people, and places not meant for us to take up that space then there isn’t space for what is meant for us.

Photo via Pixabay ~ Sometimes we will have to traverse the path alone.

New Ideas

When we pivot towards the sacred and sacred conversations, the muse will sometimes appear with new ideas, new ways of processing our world, and really big magic. I’ve watched as someone listened to another person speak about her flavor of magic and instead of the space for criticism (or the dreaded “you do magic wrong”), the sacred space provided an openness for curiosity to take up residence instead. I watched the excitement build during the exchange, the connections taking place, and it was absolutely glorious to watch both people learning from each other.

Photo by RF._.studio via Pexels ~ Sometimes those sacred conversations don’t go as planned.

Grace & Gratitude

Not every Sacred Conversation is going to go well.

SURPRISE!

Even those of us with a great deal of clarity or tact are not immune to miscommunication or misperceptions. This is especially true with the written word because it lacks tone, facial expressions, and other non-written/verbal cues. It can lead to defensiveness. When we become defensive, we need to understand what triggers it and why it feels like a personal attack because it hinders our ability to continue with a sacred conversation.

If it feels like a personal attack, we need to meet that moment with a mutual understanding that it is a reflection of everyone involved.

When we can understand that, we are also open to giving a bit of grace to ourselves and to others. Many times what feels like a personal attack is one person wants to be seen or heard, or they’re telling us what they need from us. And here’s the deal: sometimes it’s something we’re are unable to provide. If it requires that we step away, that’s ok. If it requires a change that is difficult, that’s an opportunity to show up and take personal responsibility (that’s growth!). Learning to have a little grace with each other goes a long way and allows gratitude for the learning experience or different perspectives to make an appearance.

Photo via Pixabay ~ This is an initiation into alignment to change the landscape of the societies in which we live.

Not a Request

The divine feminine has made it clear (in so many ways) that she’s no longer asking for us to align in sacred spaces and have sacred conversations. Building alignment through discourse and connecting with others (even when there is no agreement to be had) is a requirement of the change we want to see in ourselves, each other, and in society. We are more powerful together and we become more sovereign and strategic too. So clear the space, have the conversations, connect with each other authentically, and watch the landscape of lives change.

A candle & a key,

Kaycee

Dark Goddess Collective, A Revelations of a Witch Circle, will be launching soon. This is a community focused on those who are interested in doing the deeper, life-changing, intuitive work of reclaiming their power with Dark Goddesses and a tribe committed to fostering change in their communities. Make sure you have subscribed to get updates!

You can now connect with Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Feature Image Credit: Anna Tarazevich via Pexels

Being ‘In’ the Journey

I recently attended Mystic South with some other amazing pagans and witches. It was eye opening, how many people are ‘on’ their journeys instead of ‘in’ it. While there may not seem to be a clear delineation between ‘in’ and ‘on’ in this instance, grab some tea ~ the universe was definitely there to highlight it for us all.

When I finally arrived at Mystic South ~ Kaycee

Exhilaration of Fear, Failure, and Fallibility

While I was there, I also presented a workshop, the Spider and the Spiral. Spider has been my ally this year, looking deeply at how our webs are woven and utilizing certain concepts. Being my first workshop in person, I was wholly unprepared despite my best guesses and the hours of working with clients to showcase and explain the impact of spider. For she is all around us and I have no doubt that she led me to this point in my journey to learn.

From the Webb Telescope ~ Is it ironic that the name is Webb or that there is an image like a spider?

The Presentation

Knowing what people really want and whether I can provide them with forward movement (even if it requires the magic of walking through time first) is important. Once the presentation was over, even with a kinesthetic prop and some explanation, I recognized that it was not enough. It forced me to recognize that my own way of weaving for myself (and others), and what I do in the audience when others weave for me, is not how everyone looks at the journey.

Yes, yes I did bring an original and used fishing line to recreate the webs we weave.

Some of them are ‘in’ their journey, accepting full responsibility for the way they are weaving now and are doing so consciously. There are just as many that are ‘on’ their journey, they are searching and going through the journey, but they are still somewhere between owning it and full on denial that the magic of being in the journey requires a deconstruction and awareness of the web woven thus far. It was exhilarating because I felt failure in a different way, fallibility in a different way, and I was fearful in a different way.

The Sacred Conversations

This exhilaration popped up when I was able to have some very sacred conversations during the workshop. Many people react to direct challenges as something to be angry about (I believe there are times that I have in the past and probably will in the future, because it is a part of being human). I felt failure because some of the questions I thought I had directly answered through verbiage in my workshop were not answered in a way that was digestible to my audience, were not answered at all (brought up later by my best witches who always give fair, sound, and constructive feedback), or they did not like the answer I gave.

It showed me that I am fallible and fear began to creep in during these Sacred Conversations.

I recognized immediately that being a witch in the journey is far different from a witch on the journey, because the value of safe over sacred is strong for those on a journey. It also forced me to look at the framework of the private network I am building and the course structure of Spider & The Spiral. I want to help people to own their magic, to be in their journeys, and I have no doubt I can get them there. What I cannot do is the work that is required for them to be ready for it or make them accept that they are not always going to like the answers they find while they are still ‘on’ it versus ‘in’ it.

Photo via Pixabay

Spider Teachings

There is nothing wrong with being ‘on’ a journey and there is nothing wrong with valuing safe over sacred, in fact I believe that is where all of the 101 containers start with witchcraft. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to rise to appreciate sacred over safe.

It also means that this exhilaration, in part at least, comes from the understanding that Spider also doesn’t care if I like her answers either – I can be in or on my journey too.

The Spider brought me to Mystic South to learn and to teach, to weave and to unweave, and to come back with her medicine in a form that is palatable for those ‘on’ and ‘in’ their journeys. This impact is required to weave change forward, especially in a time when we are going to be forced to align in weaving destruction to create something better for all of us.

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Kaycee is also the creator of Dark Goddess Collective, with an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work of impacting change across the globe one witch at a time.

Sovereign & Strategic

We are entering the unknown after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. You might be angry. Furious. Exasperated. Frightened. Ready to set fire to the whole thing. I am too. I see you. We are going to show them the strength of our Goddesses, Ancestors, and power with each other. Over the last few days, we’ve gone zero to 100 and it’s important to keep that momentum going. However, it’s also important, powerful, sovereign, and strategic to add a few things to your list today.

Petition to Impeach Alito, Jr., already underway, go sign and share here.

Stay Sovereign Within

I am passionate about my fury and outrage. I am intensely aware of the current pain in my body because I’ve allowed myself to feel it. The heaviness and tightness in my shoulders and my neck. This is how it goes in my body when I’m unable to release or channel the energy efficiently and it’s the warning that I need to get grounded.

Perhaps you’re feeling this same pain, same tightness, and same overwhelming urge to just scream into the abyss as a way to channel it.

A part of staying sovereign and strategic is recognizing when it is time to put our feet in the grass, walk through our garden, and breathe deeply. Have a cup of tea, journal for ten minutes, or take a bath. Recharge and reset those batteries because we can’t change our world if we’re all burned out.

Photo by elena mozhvilo

Get Connected

I cannot state this enough. Getting connected allows us to align and act quickly. It ensures that we can take a multi-pronged approach that moves us all in the same direction. This is a powerful strategy just by sheer numbers! Here’s an example of how this might look:

Sign up to be notified of events or how to help with one, some, or all of these organizations:

Do an internet search of local organizations and sign up for their notifications as well.

Amazing posters from fellow activists (consent for photos given) in Greenville, SC, on 06/25/2022- Photo by Kaycee Reeves

Go ahead and have a Poster Go kit ready if not multiple.

I made myself a quick kit: poster already made and some extra markers (for other folks just in case!). I have a car, but if you don’t, keep it nearby so you can grab and go if this is your preferred methodology of action. If you’re not keeping it in your car, consider adding water and snacks to your kit.

Sign up to send postcards to voters and send postcards to Government Officials – federal and local:

Postcards to Voters

Supreme Court:

Supreme Court of the United States

1 First Street, NE

Washington, D.C. 20543

Do an internet search for your local officials!

Sign up to vote or check your registration to vote!

Then go VOTE on Election Day!

Get involved with volunteering for other political campaigns that are not local!

Getting enough people in the right positions in Congress is a strategic way to align common goals!

Photo by Kaycee Reeves ~ And yes, it is my vehicle and no I don’t know how I am getting it off and no I don’t care. 🙂

MONEY

It’s a tough time for everyone, but if you’ve got it, even $5 spread out across Planned Parenthood, Beto O’Rourke’s Campaign in Texas, National Network of Abortion Funds, Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Joe Cunningham in SC, and all your local legislative campaigns makes a difference. Especially if many of us are DOING IT!

Take a Personal Inventory

There are personal things we can do that impact resources of those in power or realign our use of resources with our values and our agenda. Here are some other small changes to think about from an article I wrote in 2020, Sparked: The Energy of Outrage:

  1. Where are you spending your money? Do some research.
    • The companies you spend with, where do they spend their money?
    • Are they lobbying for things you believe in?
    • Who are they financing? This is public information: Who donates, how much, and who those funds are sent to.
    • Who are their suppliers and where are they located?
    • This includes your 501c donations, it is public record where the money goes.

2)  Can you make a personal change in where you spend your money? Buying local or buying from historically marginalized small businesses trickles down and ripples out this way:

  • You spend an additional $10 a week at a local black-owned store that will use that money to pay for her daughter’s piano lessons.
  • 15 years later this daughter is a highly known musical artist that has inspired millions.
  • 30 years later, we find out that one of those people she touched became a professor of music and psychology, a leading world expert on the use of music as a modality of healing.
  • 45 years later, humankind is learning healing has a holistic methodology and is not a pseudoscience.

You literally changed the entire world. THE WHOLE WORLD. You sparked the change. The energy of outrage turned into love. Do I have your attention?

  • Can you make a change in the home or the types of products that you use for more eco-friendly options? This can be so fulfilling, and it does not have to be big changes – baby steps lead to long journeys!
  •  Cast your spells, do your rituals, set your new moon intentions, and then make the plans to help your spells manifest into results surrounding activism. Need help with the plans once your spell is cast? Reach out!
Very powerful working with a whole network of Witches. There is another one coming up, and you can use A Sovereign Chant I created.

Above All Else

I want to make sure you know that this is not a lost cause or a fight we won’t win: We will. It’s up to us to get into action mode, even if it’s small in your opinion (it isn’t, we appreciate you!).

Stay Sovereign and Strategic!

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Kaycee is also over at Dark Goddess Collective, an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work.

RAW’s Modern Guide to Summer Solstice

Today, in the Northern Hemisphere we are celebrating Summer Solstice and no matter how we refer to the day that our Earth has her Northern Pole tilted toward the sun, it is a special day for many!

Meeting & Melding

There are so many references to historical practices for Summer Solstice and what it meant to our ancestors. This is important because that is a tether that connects us all and it is why many of us feel our witchcraft is home. While not all historical practices still fit for us today, there has been a great deal of joy brought forward by the meeting and melding of historical practices with my own flavor of witchcraft. At this crossroads, I can honor my connection to the past and remain true to my practice by incorporating rituals that are meaningful to me now.

Photo via Pixabay

Meeting ‘Now’

On this longest day of the year, I am choosing to meet the moment of ‘now’. As I type, I am aware of the smell of coffee in my cup. The two laptops in front of me. The dogs cuddled up on the couch. The sunshine coming in through the window in my kitchen. I can feel my toes. I have everything I need. Right now.

For me it’s about honoring the abundance that is already here. Now. In a society that continues to push the narrative of scarcity and lack being a character problem – I honor the day by using what I have already. This looks different for everyone, but there is a theme of gratitude and deep connection to the fire that gives life.

Photo via Pixabay

Connecting to Fire

Abundance and fertility have historically been our ritual themes of connecting with the pattern of life on Earth during this time of year. Many locations celebrate with bonfires, gatherings, food and cheer. While pandemic restrictions have eased in many places, I still hold a little caution for gatherings and have chosen for the third year to celebrate with my little people and partner at home. Here are the ways we are meeting abundance, fire, and gratitude this Summer Solstice:

Fire and Fruit

Today we are celebrating the fire of plants, represented by flowers in bloom. We celebrate the abundance and gratitude of local fruits and veggies by eating fresh foods – ones we harvest ourselves is really meaningful, but even getting something from someone local is still a meaningful connection to this energy. Going out with the kids to harvest strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries is an amazing way to connect with this fecundity and abundance.

Photo via Pixabay

Open the Door

Open the front door to be exact! Today is the day that I open my front door and do a little extra to draw in the full feeling of right now, of peace, and of calm. I will sit with it for a moment. Then grab a small bowl with rosemary and mint water to wash off the door. It allows me to have a balance with the water while cleansing away anything preventing abundance from entering my home. The kids love to do this with the doors to their rooms too.

Balance

Lastly, in my practice, finding balance is important. It is not just about the outward celebration of abundance and gratitude or drawing more of it into my home. What about my inner fire? How is my inner flame? What do I need?

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I choose this day to take a ritual bath, balancing fire with water. I wrap rosemary and mint bundles from the backyard and hang over the shower bar, I crush a little to use as incense that I light as I get into the water to wrap up my Summer Solstice celebration. It is a time for personal gratitude and creating this space of balance for myself is directly tied to my ability to navigate with my own inner flame forward for the rest of the summer season.

Blessings to All

It is my hope that however you choose to celebrate the Fire of Summer Solstice, that it is blessed with abundance, gratitude, connection, and meaning. May the energy of the day serve you and others well!

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Kaycee is also a Co-Collaborator over at Dark Goddess Collective, an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work. 

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay

“Bad” Emotions: Top 5 Things I Learned

Logically we understand that humans have emotions, and those emotions impact our thoughts and behaviors. Or is it that we have a thought and then an emotion and behavior? What I know is that there is a connection between the three that interact almost simultaneously. Although many of us have done a lot of inner work to slow down enough to recognize our personal pattern of how these interact, there is still this egregore out there about “bad” emotions.

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Why “Bad”?

While I would love to get into the semantics of the importance of balance and the philosophy of polarities of emotions, there is simply not enough space or time to do justice to the thousands of scientists who have made it their life’s work to understand the ever-changing landscape of emotions. Instead, I will focus on my experience and the hundreds of experiences that have been shared from other witches and friends: it is the historical emphasis on compliance and that the earning of love, resources, respect, and acceptance were conditional upon our ability to navigate emotions in a way that only showed “good” or resulted in “good” behaviors deemed appropriate by those with power over others. This has sometimes been the difference between life and death for many people, and I wish I could say that is no longer the case. It isn’t.

What we learn about love and acceptance being conditional based on compliance (especially at a young age) is that we comply for love and acceptance not realizing that someone else’s love and acceptance has cost us our own ability to love and accept ourselves.

There are emotions that we can’t even name because we don’t want to feel them or understand what they are when we do feel them.

If your love, acceptance, respect demand my compliance to an image of me that only you hold, then this is for you ~ Photo by Nicolas Postiglioni via Pexels

Top 5 Things I Learned

Emotions Just Are

Emotions are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’, they just are. This is not to say that there is no impact of emotions because emotions are literally energy in motion: they cause us to think and behave in certain ways dependent upon many factors. The impact of the subsequent thoughts and behaviors could be labeled as positive or negative, but the emotion itself – it just is. It is our ability to recognize, name, understand, and cope with the emotion that is important.

Ignoring an Emotion is a Nope

Can we really ignore an emotion? Yes.

Can we really not think about or act on an emotion? Yes.

Does ignoring an emotion still have an impact? YES.

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As a human, I can attest to the ability to ignore an emotion or compartmentalize emotions. There is a time and place to feel them. The issue is that I am also great about not feeling them until much later and when they have grown a lot bigger:

  • My fear of failure preventing me from moving in any direction.
  • My anger at any injustice, not just my own, that causes me to rage clean until I feel nothing.
  • My resentment of rewarded incompetence that has caused me to step out of my own character on more than one occasion, especially in the corporate realm.

However, what happens when that energy in motion doesn’t manifest itself as a behavior like rage cleaning or just being stuck? It doesn’t just disappear. When the feeling and dealing with emotions do not happen at all, it manifests in the body instead as illness. As a witch, ignoring my emotions is more like flying an aircraft without a pilot. Or even a co-pilot for that matter.

The whole ‘she’pit of the aircraft is empty.

We aren’t even taking off.

Our magic is stuck somewhere, like a plane without a pilot in the middle of a forest. We can do all the spell work as the pilot of our lives, but the truth is this: If we can’t feel the energy in motion within us, we damn sure can’t work with it outside of us. We are disconnected from it, which means our intuition and our ability to sense energy, symbols, and signs are also deeply disconnected. How many of us suffer from an inability to reconnect to our intuition? How many have trouble connecting deeply to our bodies? We can no longer ignore them once we know better, we must experience them.

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Experience Emotions Fully

I am required to feel all my emotions fully. If I do not experience them, perceive them, name them, and sit with them then I know for sure I have shortchanged myself on the ability to feel and channel the energy that is life. I am courageous and so are you.

Sitting with the grief of loss (in ANY respect) and feeling it fully has led to a deeper appreciation and a deeper knowing of joy. Sitting with rage and doing absolutely nothing to stop it or make myself feel better has led to an understanding of how it feels within my body.

The point is this: feeling all of the emotions, even “negative” ones, ensures that we are not emotionally stunted toward only one end of the emotional scale. When we are emotionally whole we can then do the work of giving ourselves permission to be curious.

Give Yourself Permission

In a world that values compliance it is rebellious to give ourselves permission to do the hard things we are capable of. This includes feeling our emotions and discovering ways to experience, cope, and channel them effectively.

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  • Why yes, that does mean that I have screamed “fuck off” into a pillow.
  • Yes, yes I have thrown salt as hard as I can at a mirror. And was also salty (pun intended) about having to clean it up afterwards.
  • I have written pages worth of funeral rites to relationships and set them on fire.
  • I have cried in a bathtub of Mugwort.
  • I have danced naked around a fire in absolute ecstasy of the summer solstice.

Give yourself permission to be curious about what you feel and why. You might be surprised at the outlets you find.

Channel it with Magic

A part of finding an outlet is also learning to channel the energy in ways that we can use for our own magic. Our grief work may be an outlet to connect with the ancestors for guidance. Using the energy of emotion, the ability to gather it within, and then channel it into a spell, a talisman, or poppet is a great way to utilize it. Turning something that has been used against us for so long into something with the ability to promote great change and personal sovereignty is a superpower.

Go be powerful!

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Kaycee is also a Co-Collaborator over at Dark Goddess Collective, an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work. 

Feature Image Credit: Nicolas Postiglioni via Pexels

Ghosted by The Goddess

The past few weeks or so has been a steady onslaught of energy that seems wildly uncontrollable and unsettling. It started after the full moon and although I can’t define it as purely restless, restlessness was a side effect. I was disconnected. I was hearing from others that they felt the same.

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Ghosted

While my magic assisted in reducing the restlessness, there was something else:

It felt like I was being ghosted by the universe and my Goddesses.

Not that this feeling has never happened before, but it was never so blatant. This complete disconnect. The inability to connect with my muse and the complete silence that came with it. It was almost too much – even for me. The experience led me on a small journey toward grace, gratitude, and growth.

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Grace

In this space of “too much” silence for a witch that practices daily, I found a surprising space of grace.

Silence is an answer.

Silence is a time for reflection.

It is the way of the universe to allow us the time to check our inner landscape and see what has changed that needs attention. If we know that their connection to us can be subtle (higher vibrations are like that) then what and where are we currently vibrating lower? If we are vibrating lower, is there a cause? Can you pinpoint it?

Photo via Pixabay

Gratitude

During the most trying of times, it can be especially difficult to have an attitude of gratitude.

No, really. It’s more like an attitude of ‘WTF?!’, right? I see you.

During this time, I find it helpful to review my own Book of Reflections. This is a journal that I keep every single day. It is a part of my daily practice as a methodology to understand myself, my magic, and my own patterns.

I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the fact that I have a daily practice with a Book of Reflections because it allows me a moment to review the past few weeks or days and distinctly pull out any patterns that I see. As I am skimming over it I see:

  • Anger that I have not channeled
  • Fear that I have not sat with
  • Challenges to my own boundaries
  • Noticed the astrology information associated with each

I am grateful that I have access to this type of data. I am grateful for the silence that led me here. This is knowledge that leads to growth.

Photo via Pixabay

Growth

Being ghosted by the Goddess is not actually being ghosted by the Goddess. We are disconnecting ourselves from the ability to vibrate higher to maintain the connection to Goddess and the universe. This understanding and journey through the space of silence, grace, and gratitude allows for growth and reconnection.

Book of Reflections

If you don’t have a Book of Reflections (some call it a Book of Mirrors) yet, creating one is not difficult. In fact any journal or paper will do. The difficulty is maintaining the daily practice of its use. After you have cleansed, blessed, and protected it – it is time for its use.

But what goes in it?

When do I use it?

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I keep mine next to my bed and use it twice a day (when I wake and when I settle in to sleep), but whatever works for you is what is best. Follow your intuition here and give yourself permission to play.

Here are some things that I put in my own Book of Reflections:

Upon waking:

  • Astro forecast (sun, moon, and anything that may stand out to me)
  • Dreams that I remember and my own intuitive translation of their meanings
  • 3 things I am grateful for
  • Goals for the day
  • An affirmation
  • Divination of the Day

Upon settling in for sleep:

  • Brief review of the day and my goals
  • Things that stuck out to me or that I noticed (especially peculiar things!)
  • How my divination of the day may have manifested or if there was nothing that I noticed at all.
  • My nightly ritual and how I feel in my body

A Candle & A Key,

Kaycee

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Kaycee is also a Co-Collaborator over at Dark Goddess Collective, an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work. 

Want to see me in person? I am honored, inspired, and full of gratitude in announcing the acceptance of my workshop at Mystic South this year!

The Heaviness of Awakening

Waking the inner witch or even initiating into witchcraft as a practice (spiritual or otherwise) has been the best decision I have ever made. I say “decision” because it seems to be one of either embracing our own unique power or rejecting it entirely. What is hard to grasp here is the weight of such a decision. In fact, the heaviness of our choice and its impact is rarely discussed.

Have you ever wondered why?

  • Why is it hard to grasp?
  • Why aren’t we talking about it?
  • Why is it considered heavy?
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The Crossroads

Having lived through making my own choice and guiding many others to the crossroads of their own choice, I can say for certain that each of us arrive at it differently. We stand looking back at where we have been, with a choice before us. We can choose to awaken ourselves to what we are really made of or to continue with the status quo and see where those bootstraps take us. The heaviness starts here, it is this choice that comes with a cost. It is a cost, no matter what we decide, that will be paid in full either now or later. It comes for us all.

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The Why

This concept can be hard to grasp because each person has their own lived experience of this choice. We sometimes don’t even recognize that we have made that choice until years after we made it because it is like a sea, no, a TIDAL WAVE of absolute chaos, wherein we find a place of pure power that sits with us when we are in the deepest depths.

We feel like we are drowning, but we are learning.

We feel like we are going nowhere quickly and yet the waves are pushing us so fast that we cannot tell the miles of landscape we cover each time we close our eyes and hear the Goddess whispering her lullabies.

Why aren’t we talking about it?

We are. Right now. However, it can be uncomfortable to be vulnerable about something that is unbelievably personal. If we know that each of us arrives at this crossroads and our lived experiences will dictate the costs associated with making a choice (no matter which one we make), then it means when we speak about it we are also speaking the truth of our lived experiences that brought us here. That can be scary to share, and this fear is relatable because vulnerability has been passed off as weakness and those who display weakness are frowned upon.

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Why is it so heavy?

If you have made the choice, you know why. If you are at the crossroads staring out in both directions and feel stuck about making a choice, know this: if you choose to awaken the witch, to awaken within, there is no going back to sleep. You can’t unsee what you have seen, unfeel, or unknow what you know now. You may be able to ignore it for a bit, but the choice is made. You will find that the power you have awakened within is a force unlike any other and even when you close your eyes it is going to rise to the surface and change your life. Even when you try to sit still. Even when you try to keep things exactly as they are. You will feel it upon your shoulders, and you will know that change is imminent. It is the cost we all pay. Sometimes it is all at once (I have lived this):

  • Loss of friendships
  • End of marriage
  • Loss of home or living arrangement
  • Loss of job or inability to work
  • Health concerns

It feels like the entire world is burning down and it is so heavy, so full of “this absolutely sucks” but what no one speaks about here is that after all the great fires, there is this rebuilding and growth that happens. This is what we own. It is our power to grow and create the life we are passionate about. If you feel like the flames are licking your feet right now, blow them a kiss. You fucking got this!

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Sometimes, we burn it down ourselves. Slowly. Methodically. We make the choice and begin the work and things start to change. We awaken and we begin to understand the vastness of the spiral that we walk upon. We see where we are bound, and we begin to unhook ourselves from the web we have built. One day, we look around and see the pieces of our lives that no longer fit who we are and who we are becoming. We slowly distance ourselves from lovers, friends, and anything that cannot remain with us because the new web we are weaving no longer contains the spot they used to fill.

This can be heavy too.

If you are making this type of journey, it can feel much heavier than just burning it to the ground because sometimes our minds need longer to understand that which the heart already knows. I see you. One foot in front of the other, you fucking got this!

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The Heaviness of Status Quo

There is always the choice to not make the choice or to make the choices that have been fed to us as the “right” things to do for ourselves:

  • Go to college
  • Get a great paying job at a fortune 500 company
  • Get married (or marry ‘well’)
  • Buy a house
  • Have kids/adopt kids
  • Get a dog
  • Get a cat
  • Have a hobby

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those things – that is my disclaimer. There isn’t. Those are wonderful things. However, what do you want? What sets your soul on fire? Is it working to make someone else richer, or do you have bigger dreams like starting your own animal rescue? Do you want to get married, or do you want you and your besties to find a 4 bedroom house to share? That soul crushing 8-5 job is awesome to pay the bills, but is that enough for you? If it is, fantastic! Let me ask you this instead:

  • If money were no issue, what would you be doing instead right now?
  • Would you be looking for ways to help others?
  • Would you be a force for chaotic good?
  • Would you be raising your voice for the values you have that are in direct opposition to some of the societal forces at play because you can?

The heaviness of this choice usually comes later, but it will be paid in full as well. The looking back over of ones’ life and the realization of dreams that maybe passed us by, opportunities we didn’t take, the fears we held onto, and the things or times we missed with our loved ones trying to keep that status quo alive and making sure we lived up to the expectations placed upon us. It is heavy. BIG HEAVY.

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The Truth

The truth is that this heaviness weighs on all of us differently. We want to have the deep, spirit-led conversations with others about it. Starting the conversations can be difficult and helping each other can be tricky because we aren’t meant to hold the pieces or answers for everyone – but we can be open to speaking and listening to the truths that are brought to the table. Sometimes just creating the table or showing up to the table is all it takes to understanding the heaviness. Maybe it is at this table we find the courage to have the vulnerable conversations and can inspire others. No matter the choices made or the choice you make while standing at the crossroads, I know it is heavy, and I know you got this!

A candle and a key,

Kaycee

Follow Kaycee and Revelations of a Witch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Kaycee is also over at Dark Goddess Collective, an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work. 

Want to see me in person? I am honored, inspired, and full of gratitude in announcing the acceptance of my workshop at Mystic South this year!

Feature Image Credit: Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

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