The weather really isn’t breaking that much here in Atlanta. The temps are still in the upper 60s, and I’m waiting for the sweater weather I was promised. The leaves are starting to change, though, and we’re sorely in need of blowing the lawn.
The geese have settled in for the next few weeks, and I get to hear them honking in the early morning. We gathered in the last of the cherry tomatoes before Samhain, and whatever else grows is for the faeries. Now to settle in for a month of writing and thinking about holiday gifts for my friends and family!
Birthstones: Topaz and citrine
Lunations:
November 15, 12:08am EST New Moon (Scorpio)
November 30, 4:32am EST Full Moon (Gemini) (Lunar Eclipse)
Astronomy:
November 3: Mercury goes direct
November 14: Mars goes direct
November 17-18: Leonids Meteor Shower
November 29: Neptune goes direct
Celtic Tree Month:
Reed (October 28- November 24): Introverting, withdrawing, connecting with the past and with spirit, ancestors, messages from the spirit world, culling that which doesn’t serve us, dreaming- but not planning. Seeking basic truth, finding direction, giving meaning and purpose to your journey, skill and direction, secret strength and secret motivations, seeing beneath the surface.
Elder (November 25- December 23): Endings and new beginnings, completion of the cycle, focusing on greater happiness and your heart’s desire, evaluating what you’ve learned over the last year, cutting loose ends, thinking about your dreams for the new year, judgment, transformation, death and regeneration, fate, the inevitable, exorcism, banishment, prosperity and healing, leaves and berries can be used for protection and breaking spells cast against you.
Holidays (mundane):
November 3: Election Day
November 11: Veterans Day
November 26: Thanksgiving Day
Holidays (Pagan):
November 1: All Souls’ Day
Themes and general activities for the month: Going within, working with ancestors, shadow work, preparing for the holidays, writing, knitting, making the house cozy for the long Winter ahead, giving thanks, connecting with our loved ones (even if we’re doing it from afar this year).
Herbs I’m using: The coffee bean (helps with writing, I swear!), ayahuasca (not using it, but researching it and writing about it), chamomile (to turn my brain off before bed)
Stones I’m using: Fluorite (for creativity), rutilated quartz for connecting A to B (helpful in keeping a tight storyline), citrine (for energy)
Goddess of the Month: Mama Killa (The Moon). This is a completely new goddess to me. She’s an Incan goddess that presides over the seasons and cycles. The message here is to look at the timing of things and decide if they’re in their right cycle or not. That will determine your next steps. If you move in harmony with the cycles of life, you’ll struggle less.
3 card reading:
First, we start with the 5 of Cups reversed. So this is a month of gratitude. We’re rebuilding our lives from a loss and beginning to get back to the way things were. I’m hoping this doesn’t mean that everyone is going to forget that Covid still exists, but it looks like we’re going to find ways to celebrate anyways.
Next, we have the Page of Cups reversed. So we’re also feeling a little over-sensitive, or a bit moody. This can mean that our emotions are getting away with us, so this is a clear message to practice good self care and self love.
Finally, we have the Four of Pentacles. So we’re being really tight with our money this month. That makes sense, since a lot of people have unemployment that’s running out right now. It can also be the big save before the holidays, and that is also a good idea. Maybe it’s a good year to hand make some gifts?
Our special guidance card is The Cauldron. This represents fertility, magickal combinations, and experimentation. So this really may be a good year to try something different for the holidays. It’s a great way to use your creativity instead of just spending money!
The Joy of Writing
By Wislawa Szymborska
Why does this written doe bound through these written woods?
For a drink of written water from a spring
whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle?
Why does she lift her head; does she hear something?
Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth,
she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips.
Silence – this word also rustles across the page
and parts the boughs
that have sprouted from the word ‘woods.’
Lying in wait, set to pounce on the blank page,
are letters up to no good,
clutches of clauses so subordinate
they’ll never let her get away.
Each drop of ink contains a fair supply
of hunters, equipped with squinting eyes behind their sights,
prepared to swarm the sloping pen at any moment,
surround the doe, and slowly aim their guns.
They forget that what’s here isn’t life.
Other laws, black on white, obtain.
The twinkling of an eye will take as long as I say,
and will, if I wish, divide into tiny eternities,
full of bullets stopped in mid-flight.
Not a thing will ever happen unless I say so.
Without my blessing, not a leaf will fall,
not a blade of grass will bend beneath that little hoof’s full stop.
Is there then a world
where I rule absolutely on fate?
A time I bind with chains of signs?
An existence become endless at my bidding?
The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.
My personal tides and goals: NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo. I’m really going to give it a shot this year even though I don’t think I’ll win. I have a story all plotted out and ready to go, and if I can write 20 or 30K words, I’ll be really happy with myself. This is part of my ongoing drive to claw some of my life back from this job that sucks up all of my brainpower. I have a huge jar of Smarties on my desk to reward myself for writing (a.k.a. being a ‘Smarty’).