Rituals of Returning

Our May podcast episode is from the archives--all the way back to May of 2017! However, I think it still speaks of something of which I continue to write: may we savor normal days and blue skies. This is where the magic is.

"When life feels too big to handle, go outside. Everything looks smaller when you’re standing under the sky." 

--L.R.KNOST

In the recording, I share a story about Mark and I setting off through the woods to the bigger spring, even though we technically didn't "have time" and "should" have been doing something else. We didn't have anything with us (except for some goddess figures...of course!) and we weren't really prepared for a hike through the woods, but we did it anyway. I am in love with discovery. I love observing the world, feeling it, breathing it, being it. As we walked, the air was literally scented like roses and I was so alive as we explored. THIS is it to me. This is goddess. Life in the palm of her hand.

“Don’t just read about the Goddess, LOVE HER, listen to Her, reflect
Her as the Earth and Moon reflect the Sun.  Don’t just study Nature,
put your hands in the dirt, your feet on the forest trail, turn your
face to the wind and breathe Nature in and out of your lungs.  Feel the
connection.  No books required.” 
--Esra Free, Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from
you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of
some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not
always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in
the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more
than all the world, your return."
--Mary Jean Iron, in Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much

Affirmation for the week: I am as free as I allow myself to be.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

If you believe the world
is made of magic,
you will find it
everywhere.  

This audio originally created for our Patreon community (in 2020) focuses on the symbolic and practical use of the wild edible plant Chickweed. The audio includes some musings about what chickweed has to teach us on a spiritual and symbolic level and then discusses awareness and engagement with the "small magic" of the world beneath our feet. 

Our good friends Mike and Cara have a botanical education and supplies business: WildWise Botanicals and provided us with this Chickweed Pesto recipe to share with the rest of the community. At our own house, we have been making this almost every night to go with dinner, which is an amazing way to enjoy some fresh greens from the very dirt beneath your feet that otherwise be viewed as "just weeds." Do make sure chickweed grows in your area and that you can identify it before eating any! It is has small starburst like white flowers and often grows near violets and dandelions in front yards as well as beneath trees and in creek-type areas. Chickweed is a sprawling plant with little white flowers that have 5  double-lobed white petals. The stem has one line of hair,  when you pluck a piece of the stem from the plant, there is no milky substance.

Chickweed Pesto Recipe

1/2 cup nuts of your choice
(Mike and Cara's note: we like walnuts. Molly and Mark's note: we like pecans!)
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups of chickweed loosely packed
1 TB of lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Make sure to follow WildWise on instagram where they share recipes, videos, and informative posts on foraging and wildcrafting your own remedies.

Additional note from Molly: we have been eating our chickweed pesto on tacos, with  pizza (dipped crusts), and even on top of bratwursts! 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

"...Listen

Hear what they say to you

We struggled

We held out our hands and touched each other

We remembered to laugh

We went to endless meetings

We said no

We put our bodies on the line

We said yes

We invented, we created

We walked straight through our fears

We formed the circle

We danced

We spoke the truth

And dared to live it."

—Starhawk (Truth or Dare)

Reminder: join us in community: Goddess Magic

and in daily practice: #30DaysofGoddess

Please take a few moments to breathe and pause and call yourself in. 

This month's episode was recording several years ago and draws upon The Box from Womanrunes, rune of boundaries. Where might you need to set firmer boundaries in your life? There are a lot of social messages to think “outside of the box,” but sometimes the Box is exactly what we need! It can also show up for me almost a type of “chastisement”--as in, "girl! you've got to work on those boundaries!"--but more often is a helpful reminder or reinforcement of what I already know needs to happen. This rune may indicate that you need to say "no," but it is also often about discernment: checking in with your center, with your place of power and then wholeheartedly expressing either your Sacred Yes or your Holy No.

May you experience time as dancing, flowing, and sparkling for you this week. May you make time to draw lines when needed. May you be flexible when needed. And, may you check within--into your place of power--for that Sacred Yes and Holy No, and listen to your heart.

Right now, gift yourself with a pause for three breaths.

There really is no place else to be but here.

And now, the rattle passes to you...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

Perhaps if I wait,
hands empty,
mind stilled,
the tides will bring it
back to me
as they often do,
steadily returning
the parts of me
I thought were lost.

This month's podcast episode is a musing about taking breaks, particularly in conjunction with self-employment, but I hope applicable in other lifestyle circumstances as well.  One of the things I want to emphasize in this idea/message is that sometimes  we might feel like we’re having a “breakdown” when we are really on the  verge of a breakthrough. Sometimes we might feel it when we really just need to take a break.  Taking a break, a temporary unclenching of your  life, is not the same as “giving up” nor is it a permanent surrender.

Referenced in the audio is this past audio about Stopping (http://www.brigidsgrove.com/stopping/) 

Resource for ongoing support, audios, printables, and practices: Goddess Magic community (http://patreon.com/goddessmagic)

Resource for daily practice (free!): http://30daysofgoddess.com

I also had two additional things I want to note about the audio:

1. I spoke in it of my own almost compulsive level of self-motivation and self-direction. I should have acknowledged or spoken to the fact that other people do not feel that way and need ideas, resources, and support for getting motivated rather than "shutting off" motivation for a time. I do have some ideas for how to become more motivated if you struggle with self-motivation and self-direction and I don't mean for this audio to make you feel left out or unheard if my own motivation "overload" is completely different than your own experience (this audio is available for the Goddess Magic community on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/audio-motivation-38272682).

2. I also wanted to add on that when I mention "where might you need to 'take down some chairs'?" you might also want to ask yourself where to want to put up some chairs. Maybe you need to add chairs instead of taking some away.

There are days when the sky
holds its breath
and dreams seep up
from the skin of the world
and into my feet.
Much love,
Molly

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

Happy New Year! This podcast episode includes a companion set of nourishment cards: https://brigidsgrove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/nourishment-cards.pdf

Resist the fracturing.

Defy the fragmentation.

Reclaim wholeness.

Reclaim holiness.

Rename yourself

sacred

and embody your joy.

Originally recorded two years ago for the Goddess Magic community, this theme emerged as I was sitting on the back deck thinking about recipes for my kids' homeschool cooking club and about how you have the power to change your own recipes to meet your needs. I then thought about it as a metaphor for life—for being your own authority, for making your own magic—and I ended up spontaneously recording an audio about it. When I re-listened to the audio, I was struck by my own closing words: trust that you know the kind of nourishment you need and from there I spontaneously made a small set of nourishment related affirmation cards as a gift for all of your. Print these on card stock, multiple cards to a page, for best use. :)

Essay referenced: To Bless One Another.

Re-collect yourself,

re-source yourself,

restore yourself.

And, remember, you have the power to create your own recipes for living!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

What is a word of the year? How do you find one? How do you know what it is? Many people opt to choose a "Word of the Year" as they enter a new year. This sacred word becomes a touchstone, an affirmation, a statement of values, and a source of strength, encouragement, focus, and direction for the year as a whole. It is a powerful talisman--a vow and a spell all in one single word.

I've created a 30 card sacred word deck for you as a companion to this audio to give you inspiration/ideas and it may be accessed via our newsletter: https://us3.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=4f7233481d8eb86675b7978b6&id=032c8be601

Daily practice home page for everyday enchantment: http://30daysofgoddess.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

Be wise to your ways.
“Know thyself,”
is engraved into the chamber
at Delphi,
and beyond that lies the temple
smoky,
dark,
and powerful,
filled with ancient whispers
and the stony, determined steps
that lead into the heart of things.
This past Patreon community audio is based on some content from the book Untamed by Glennon Doyle. It is about unlocked doors in our lives, how we might be keep ourselves in knots/trapped/restricted/bound by old habits and patterns.
Here is a quote from Glennon in an interview with Marie Forleo:

"To remember how tricky my ego can be by keeping my brain busy trying to  solve the unsolvable puzzle about why I don’t feel worthy and enough and  how to feel worthy and enough.  My truest and most beautiful story is  being in touch with the real me behind the ego, the authentic, real,  wild, fierce me.  Unlocking the cage and letting myself think the  thoughts I am worthy and enough and feel the feelings I am worthy and  enough.  The cages are real, they are our own making now in our thoughts  and remembering that the door is unlocked is powerful!  Maybe it comes  from survival instinct not to become prey and to belong for safety back  in the day.  Or maybe it comes from current societal conditioning to be  accepted so we go along with conventions to avoid fear and shame and  being excluded from the group...."
May you remember that the doors aren't even locked.
Much love,
Molly
Resources:

ongoing #30DaysofGoddess daily practice: 30daysofgoddess.com
ongoing Goddess Magic community: patreon.com/goddessmagic

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

Restoration is the antidote to depletion. 

This new audio retreat/reflection encourages you to take a pause to consider where you’ve become depleted—this has been a hard year—and where you might need restoration, as well as how you replenish and renew yourself. 

Resources: 

• #30DaysofGoddess is a perfect practice for daily restoration and renewal


• Goddess Magic community for companionship, support, sharing, and weekly lives  


• The essay this episode is based on can be found here

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

This is a short episode about autumnal resolutions. Note: disregard the information about Living the Questions, which was a previously offered course at the original time of recording. In Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes about September as an ideal time to consider "turning over a new leaf" and making heartfelt resolutions based on authentic wants.

A new set of journal cards for the next three weeks is available for you here.

Questions from the audio:

What new leaf do you want to turn over?
Are you wasting the autumn?
What are your authentic wants?
What do you want more or less of in your life, so that you can love the life you're leading?
Are you open to change?
Do you love the life you're leading?

Ongoing daily practice resources: #30DaysofGoddess.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe

“What  say you to a ramble among the fairy rock pools, weed-covered ledges,  and gem-decked parterres bordering the gardens of the sea?”
—Crab, Shrimp, and Lobster Lore, W. B. Lord 1867

This episode is from the archives and was originally recorded in 2018 (note that not all referenced resources/experiences may be current). This episode is long and covers a lot of ground, from croning ceremonies to finding your magic to working from home. If you are not interested in the section on our personal employment history (totally fine to not be interested!), you can skip ahead after I start talking about it and into the last five minutes or so of the audio, where you will hear  the card reading and the closing poem.
For powerful daily practices and everyday magic see: http://30daysofgoddess.com and http://patreon.com/brigidsgrove

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goddessmagic.substack.com/subscribe