The past couple of months have been a bit stressful for us here at the cottage, although things are finally starting to look brighter. My husband took some antibiotics that really messed up his stomach, and he contracted a nasty bacterial infection. He was in constant pain and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. The doctors did tests and at first, they couldn’t find anything. They gave him steroids, which only made his blood sugar high and caused him to become extremely fatigued. He got a medical release to work from home until November. We were very worried it might be something quite serious. Only recently more tests were done, and the culprit was found to be C. Diff, a bacteria that attacks the stomach and intestines. He was given a different medication, and is now feeling almost 100% better. No more pain and no frequent bathroom visits. He even felt well enough to go out yesterday for lunch and do a bit of shopping. I hated seeing him in pain, and used every alternative healing therapy at my disposal to help him. Reiki, crystals, energy healing, spells, oils…believe me, I threw everything I had at him so he could get better. Holistic therapies are not intended to replace traditional medical care, but they can relieve symptoms, and sometimes do the job better. Thankfully, he is feeling almost back to normal now. I know a lot of people try to avoid doctors and hospitals, and look solely to holistic therapies when they’re ill, but we also should remember that many of our medicines are made with plants.

When using holistic therapies, I think it is important to keep visualizing complete healing, even when it doesn’t look like it, even when what you see is showing the opposite. Some may not think so, but holistic therapies are a form of magic. Holistic therapies work with unseen energies to bring about change, and this is essentially what magic is. Alternative healing practitioners are workers of magic, utilizing their skills in the movement of energy to bring healing to others.

The Autumn Equinox has now come and gone, and I did a private ceremony at home. The weather is getting slightly cooler here in the mountains, the acorns are dropping, and the leaves are falling from the trees. As much as I love this season, I am slightly apprehensive. At the beginning of every year, I do a tarot reading to get insight into my life for the next twelve months. The reading indicated that during the Autumn season, I would experience some kind of material loss. Right on cue, we were going to use my husband’s car the other day, and his parking brake was stuck. (He hadn’t driven it for a few weeks due to his illness). So, we are down one car at the moment. Hopefully this is the only ‘material loss’ I have to deal with. Autumn has only just begun, so I am sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I recently attended a wedding that was 1960’s hippie/flower child themed, and it was quite fun. The bride is a former student of mine, who has since become a High Priestess and powerful witch in her own right. I had a lovely time.

I will spend the rest of today preparing for the Festival of The Witch, an event next weekend where I am doing tarot readings and selling my hand-made magical items. It’s only for five hours (12pm-5pm), but I was extremely busy last year with back to back readings. It was a bit exhausting, but I did very well. I have some witch bottles to finish, and other items to label, and I’ve ordered some of my books to sell there as well.

Oddly enough, I am not reading anything at the moment, but I have been listening to lots of music. Thom Yorke of Radiohead has a new band called The Smile, and I am loving their music.

Make your day magical,

Rick