I need to confess something.
Because I don’t want you to have to wrong impression about me.
It’s this: I don’t orchestrate as many personal rituals as one might think.
And my altars are often accidental.
As an example, here’s how Monday’s full moon went here at Darkwood.
I woke up Monday morning out on my sleeping porch under the filling-moon; cardinals, wrens, and wood thrushes singing it into fullness like a parent walking their kid down a wedding isle.
I start the day by making ghee, tending the pot with the ease of a multi-tasking woman who’s kitchen is her primary temple.
I end the day by hosting a soul-sister friend for a walk and a porch dinner.
We stroll up the road, admiring bear prints, hummingbird moths; stopping by the creek to splash our faces with the cold, clear water.
Then we feast, a simple supper held in our laps. We sip a gorgeous rose’, Fleur de Mer.
We chat excitedly about the future — travel, relationships, house projects.
When we’re done eating we both naturally preen, running our fingers through our hair, untangling knots.
And then we look east to see a glimmer peeking through the tree trunks, the Scorpio moon rising over the ridge. We pause and admire her.
Though I tidied up after she left, the next morning I discovered my glass of water left on the porch, infused with Scorpio moonlight and cold from the night air.
Unintentional, but an elixir nonetheless. I drank it.
It was after drinking this accidental elixir that I unpacked the symbolism of the night, the same way I would find allegory and metaphor in a story.
Without planning to, I’d had a perfectly magical day.
I made ghee, or “clarified butter”– the full moon is about clarity. I will benefit from this moon’s magic until this batch of alchemical ghee runs out.
My soul sister friend and I tended to our sensory natures by dining, walking, and preening — very Scorpio. We drank “Pink wine” called “Flower of the Sea”. This moon was the “pink moon”, and Scorpio is associated with The Mermaid archetype.
We untangled the knots in our hair, a little everyday ritual for removing obstacles so that the flow of abundance reaches us.
We let the moon whisper our futures to us, and channeled this information via conversation — witnessing each other’s messages simply by being present listeners.
And then I made myself a moon elixir by forgetting my water glass out on the porch railing.
Upon reflecting on the way I spent my day, I don’t think I could have squeezed any more magic in if I’d tried.
Like all mystics, my life is layered.
Like, I am aware of the moon most times, but I also have to mail packages, grocery shop, get finances straight, get content to the printer’s, etc.
Sometimes that “mystical layer” isn’t what I’m thinking about.
But it is what happens.
So this is what I spend a lot of time doing for other people, too.
I look at your life to see “what happens”.
I notice your rhythms and patterns, and I can see the rituals.
I can find your altars.
And from that I can tell you what your magic is, how you Work.
Mostly, our systems align with magical timing naturally.
When we stop and notice, become conscious, admire the synchronicities and happy accidents, the magic amplifies.
So, what were you doing on Monday?
Can you see a ritual there?
Can you find an altar? Some medicine? Some magic?
This is what it means to live a magical life.
Sometimes we work the magic, sometimes it works us.
Same-same.
Thanks for reading!
love & ghee,
kv
PS: you know you can study any archetype at any time, right? Click HERE to find your favorite gal, and HERE for this season’s calendar to see when to celebrate ‘er.