My Harvest

My Harvest

So this year I have my books. My pagan teaching book The Key: Opening the Doorway to Magickal Practice and my poetry Litanies of Grief and Inspiration.
The responce to both has been amazing. Our facebook support and network group is chocked full and the feed back and reviews are amazing. There is a g+ group but it is kindda quiet!
Nikki says

"Great Book! It is very slim in tome but do not let that put you off. She has a great teaching style. I really believe If you cant explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough. It is a practical book with no fluff. If you are an absolute beginner or who lost ground / confused due to too much reading and lack of practice this is the best book to start out with. This book will keep the serious student busy for a few months and give the confidence that needed to delve deeper into magickal studies. I hope she will write more books in the future."

Well Nikki I am writing more books. Some fiction as well as the next book along about working into Witchcraft. I talk about your tools and how to use them. How to build on the meditations and work that are the core of The Key and use them in magick and rituals.How to make and blend your working salts, oils and how to organize your Book of Shadows so it works for you as well as your notebook or journal.

David Mountford says
 
"There's a lot in this book from exercises to guided meditations. I think for a beginner it is absolutely amazing because it really helps you get into all of the different aspects of it's subject matter easily and concisely. It begins with simple meditations which I believe have really helped me feel peaceful and get my head in the right space for the day.I have tried to read other books on this kind of subject before and found that they do little in the way of actually teach you the basics. This really does start at the beginning with basic exercises and goes from there.It's easy reading, although the structure of the book is such that you wouldn't have to read it all at once; you can read a small section and work on the practices and exercises contained within and come back to it when you're done - that's how I have approached it and it's worked great. It's not boring to read and makes you think. A lot of the things in the book don't take much time at all, small five minute meditations or journal exercises. It's a really good motivational tool that you can use while working on your spiritual practice.The back of the book says that it's for a student of any level and I can see how that would be the case. It's always good to revisit the basics once in a while and look back on what you have achieved. The book suggests you keep a journal and I've used mine to look back at the steps I've taken along this journey. I thank the author for writing such an amazing book.I definitely recommend it if you're interested in learning more about the craft or just want a book that will help you grow spiritually."

Well David, thank you. Then next book again goes deeper to increase the depth and understanding of the core Mind, Body and Spirit work already begun. It again asks you to think. Asks you to delve deeper into magick and wonder that is being alive.

Gayla Drake says 

 "The Key is a wonderfully practical book, packed with useful and important mental, spiritual and physical ways of living a life in magic. Lucy stresses that this is not a path for those unwilling to invest themselves in the dedication and hard work required, which should be a clue right there that she's the real deal. She includes some wonderful guided meditations, and a few beautiful, simple rituals that can be incorporated in to daily life, to bring magical awareness to even the most mundane work. This path isn't for everyone, but if it's for you, then Lucy's book is a perfect way to start. If you are needing a little something to kickstart you back into practice, lucy's guided meditations and tender butt-kickings are very motivational! An excellent choice for beginners and life-long seekers!"

Well Gayla as a teacher I am kindda know for my butt-kickings! Daily practice can for some seem like a chore especially when they come from a Judo-Christain background where they maybe just did "spiritual" stuff on the weekends or just Sundays. It can be hard for people to grasp that this isn't something that you "do" once a week but something you are. I don't mean you wear your robes to work or sing spells on the subway, but that the magick in you is always there and all of you is magickal.

So that is one part of my "harvest" from the years. What else? Well there is the shop, as well as my students.

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LucyDrakeandCo?ref=l2-shopheader-name

We have done so much.Made so much this year and the seeds are sown for next year too.

Well you be with us? Lucy Drake&Co?

We hope you will be.

Bright Blessings

Lammas is coming

Lammas is coming

So whether you call it Lammas or Lughnasadh or Harvest for us in the Northern Hemisphere the fruits of what we have sown are now ripening. It is a delicate time. Storms are a plenty, but when the sun shines or the night is still and cool it feels like it could last forever.
I told you all about the big blackberry haul that N and mini witch and myself got in the cooling twilight of the weekend. We did indeed, need more bourbon. It was a messy job that TK and I did last night. The sorting and rinsing in rum before adding to jars with brown sugar, shaking and then adding the bourbon. I used up a whole roll of kitchen paper! The first batch we bottled and it looks good! I now have to figure out what to do with the pickled fruit from the first batch. TK said a pie (but he always does.) I thought maybe a jam or chutney.

They are already looking good and I imagine the cup for Lughnasadh rites will be amazing. I may even bake if the weather keeps cool. The wheat and barley harvest, or corn as it is still called in Britain, has already begun. Traveling back from the baby shower a few weeks ago the good hot weather had ripened most fields and some where half harvested or just fields of pale stubble. There is something magickal about it. Oh it is hot and dusty and makes you cough but when the corn pours like water into the barn, or moves like the ocean at sunset in the breeze there is something to it. Corn husks and dust hurt the eyes something fierce and the dust coats the skin that is usually red or tanned or a mix of both with a dull cream coating.
Some folks take a gentle approach to harvesting. Letting it come to them. This has never been my experience of harvest. It was something you had to get up and get. To work hard for. To sing and pray and hope the weather stayed right and laugh and drink and dance when it did.
Sure my runner beans won't be quite so difficult (SO looking forward to eating them). Or the lettuce growing so easily in the tub. Yet I remember. The work, the hard but good work that made you tired but also made you feel clean some how. It is like chopping wood or tending the garden.
When I celebrate my harvest I will hold this in my heart and mind. When I dust the table with flour I will remember that someone grew it. Someone cared and wished and hoped for the right weather. They may not have drunk tea with whiskey in it from chipped mugs when they were done. But I will remember them and honour them all.

The real world

The real world

 

So for someone who lives with fairies me talking about people living in the real world might seem rich, but sometimes I read the questions or posts on-line and I could weep. They take what ever TV or book franchise are spewing out about Wicca, or magick and not only swallow it wholesale but think that is what the Craft is. As though there was something wrong with THIS world. Guys (and gals) this world is so full of beauty and power and magick. Put down the YA book and go find it. The Universe is full of special and amazing things.

Look. It is okay. We have all gotten caught up in fictional characters and places. Real magick is not something that happens in far off places to gorgeous pouty people, it happens in you. You, right now have the power to change the world.

That sounds amazing. And terrifying. Yes you are responsible for you. What you do and think affects the world.

So when you ask "Am I going to have a demon baby?" I sigh very deeply. You see demons are not at all like you have lead to believe. I know that might not be what you want to hear because in truth there are weird and wonderful creatures of spirit out there. Demons are made BY PEOPLE.

Fey and faires are different. They are pan-dimensional (existing in many planes at once) not unlike the apple in flat land that Carl Sagan talks about. Dead people and spirit in general also seem to exist in different dimensional states. Being mystical doesn't mean ignoring the "real" world it means exploring it, studying it, being in it and enjoying it's wonder and beauty. I guess part of the problem is when you make magick "super"natural and not a natural obvious thing that happens every time you think and breathe it gives you a get out card for your own sucky behaviour. You are responcible for what you do, think and feel. You. You always have a choice. Step into the light of your own magickal existence and you will be amazed at not only the world but yourself. 

Bright blessings.xxx

Deep as Water's Tide shall Flow

Deep as Water's Tide Shall Flow.

This weekend has been one of wonder. Of connection and re-connection. Of flow and magick. Now I had a house full of people, which is usually rather stressful, especially when you care that they are happy and see you in the best light, yet I was calm and relaxed. 

Alright I and N (she stopped over to meet my honoured guests) may have been cleaning late Friday night before they arrived on Saturday morning but the whole rest of the time felt like a break.

Everything flowed. Firstly because my dear friend and old teacher CW and I can and have talked about everything and anything under the sun. There is no feeling to deep, no situation too grim, no joke too dirty, no gross story too gross. There is not need to edit. To be other than my authentic self and magickally his beautiful, funny and talented wife extended this beingness too. The instant we met all concerns melted. She just smiled and I felt like I had always known her. I was then gifted with a beautiful salt lamp oil burner. TK jumped into action cutting and making the most beautiful bind runes within what seemed like minutes but was probably an hour. 

First we all went out for possibly the largest lunch ever. Stuffed to the gills we had a wander into a charity shop. Though we picked stuff for ourselves (a long billowing cotton dress and some bits and bobs, CW beat me to paying. (I have seen him do this often.) We picked up some supplies (not least a 3 punnets of giant strawberries.) Then we headed home.We talked, and talked and laughed. M (CW's wife) gave me not one but 2 massage treatments on Saturday afternoon while the others played card games and laughed.  The energy in our home lifted, sang, and tingled. We threw some marinated steaks and corn onto the grill and dressed some of my homegrown lettuce leaves. Strawberry bourbon and lemonade as well as some of the boozy fruit did the rounds too. As the fire started I did a little blessing and we all circled around. That was the fullest extent of magick that day. Sunday was relaxed and calm. Again lots food. Then I got out my books of shadows, in the aim of trying to find handfastings, which they asked me to perform. I of course agreed. I agreed because I have never seen the old goat happier, and they are clearly crazy about each other After three years of marriage that is no mean feat. We read and looked through different ideas. As we did N painted and the whole house was just awash with good energy. This is not surprising what with everyone but TK and I being water signs!

CW asked or TK suggested a breaking of binds to CW's now deceased wife. TK and I worked together in the garden. It was a simple but powerful rite. TK made an unbinding rune and got CW to tear it and speak his heart. I used sword and athame to cut all the ties to A. It was more than time. It was simple but powerful and we all felt it release.

After such wonderful therapies the day before I offered M a massage.

After some struggle TK brought down my massage couch (M is a holistic therapist also) and I gave her a massage. I think she was impressed.She just kept saying wow. Then the lovely couple headed towards the train station and home. Yet N asked for a massage and then mini-witch, who is decidedly not as mini! N was mostly asleep by the time I finished and I felt I was back in the flow. After dinner N, mini witch and myself went off to pick blackberries and we got a decent haul. TK's response when he first saw it was the same as mine. "Going to need more bourbon!"

N and I talked about how special and peaceful and relaxed everything had been (she is usually rather shy) and I commented about how that it how it is supposed to feel. 

This morning N and I did some meditation and some emotion release work. Her flow is so much better. She is so strong and talented and beautiful. She has seen her path and light and her heart burns brightly with dreams and inspiration. Not only for her painting but in making her life a piece of art!

M bought my book and I gave them a copy of my book of poems (CW writes poetry). Everything is flowing in the right direction. 

Just a poem.

Just a poem

In a poets frame of mind today.

Be as the Moon

For the Moon is wise.

She dances

Gracefully.

Be as the moon

Pull what you want

Towards you

Quietly

Persistently.

Be as the Moon

Fear not your shadows

Or your shades.

Embrace all of you.

Be as the Moon

For she dances

Ageless and ancient.

Proudly wearing her scars.

Be as the Moon

Wear all your names 

Lightly.

Be as the Moon

Let others invent your myth

Just keep moving in your own way.

Be as the Moon

Rock your child 

Encourage them to sing

Smile often.

Be as the Moon.

Lets catch up!

Lets catch up!

So I have been doing lots and been all over the place and eaten a lot of cake. I also have a water infection. So lets start with Thursday.

Thursday I was trying to balance getting lots done and preparing for ritual that night. It was a good one. The day was stressful but at the end of it there was cake. I really wanted to charge my friends Goddess figure well because of many things. Mostly because she helped make our re-renewal of vows so special, because she is a kind and lovely lady and because she has waited a long time for this baby. She and her husband will be amazing parents.

In circle we had D and N which for the most part was cool and everyone conducted themselves well. I cleansed the circle with water from the natural spring, with rock salt dissolved in it and used a bundle of fresh herbs from the garden to sprinkle and disperse the water around the space. Then came the incense. I cast the circle and called the corners. I knew I wanted drumming and chanting and had written what I wanted in my trusty notebook during the day. We were calling on The Great Mother's, Magna Mater. In the end we did three different chants. At the end of each chant I anointed red candles with oil and fake blood, then anointed me and N with it.  The last chant we called on the power of blood, chord and womb. I used all of this, focused it through the coven sword into the body of the Goddess.
TK and I blessed the cake and the cup. 
This seemed to inspire N and TK as they both started talking about creative projects. I released and thanked all The Goddesses and elemental quarters. Then I released the circle.
D then left as N was staying over to dog sit ( a job she did so well Lady wanted to leave with her when she came back!)
Friday morning was a bit crazy as the coach was at a little after 9am. Most everything was already packed and so on but I was not awake enough for making sandwiches (here begins the unhealthy food of the weekend!). So at the little Spar at the bus station the fine dining of macarons and apple juice, as well as chocolate eclairs (the sweets not the cakes) and a big bag of Monster Munch and a bottle of lemonade!
I chose to sit near the back, near the loo. This was a great idea, and a bad idea. I do not know who, or what made the bad smell in there but every time someone went into the loo a waft of stench came out! The journey wasn't so bad and we stopped and I bought the world most expensive apple (£8 for 3 apples). The air-con was mostly working but it was very sticky and uncomfortable. London was hot. I mean like, "I think my brain is cooking" kind of hot.
The next coach had no loo, and no air-con (you don't know what ya got 'til it's gone) and by this point I feel sort of drunk?
I can't for the life of me remember what we ate or did that night, though I think Game of Thrones happened...
Baby Shower!
I have never been to one before, and neither had anyone there. We were late/ S told some folks a set time and they helped set up and had to go not long after we got there. There was a lot of tea and cake. Which would have been awesome but I was backing into the shade at every opportunity like a vampire! I was surprised at the lack of practical gifts. There were some but mostly clothes.
If I ever organize a baby shower I am going to make a list like a wedding list with things like baby bath and stand, changing mat,  push-chair, bottle sterilizer, nappy bin, baby sling and so on.
It was a lovely day. The people a just met were nice. I was a hot mess as my darling Shai says. After all that sweet and there was a lot, we all need real food. Instead we went to get fried chicken and it was blissful.
Sunday I wake up with the UTI burn and pressure and bright green pee. I don't really have time to worry about it as I know I need to get it together for traveling home.
Different route this time with a wait in Birmingham in the middle. It wasn't so bad I just put my headphones on and tried to zone out from my discomfort and everything.
We get home and th house is cleaner than when we left. N and us order in Chinese and then I take a look at my under carriage with a mirror. It is not good, like REALLY not good and very gross.
I call my kidney doctor the next day and wait for her to call me back. I write a lot. I sleep a lot. Drink pint after pint of water with lemon in it. 
My doctor call me into hospital yesterday morning for anti-biotics and to run some tests. I had planned to keep writing and maybe make some felt charms but I just zoned out all day. I think that is all caught up?

Bright Blessings and drink lots of water, it is damn hot!

 

Poise

Poise

I have had the pleasure of teaching this weekend. It has been intense and uplifting. We held circle on Saturday for the full moon and while we had to set up twice (damn you rain!) we did manage to fire roast a lovely piece of beef!

After casting the circle and calling the quarters we spent quite some time drumming and chanting and evoking the lovely luna energy into the herbs, charms, incense and objects we wanted blessing.
Then we did a gratitude chant, which was very fun and had a great energy. Then we blessed the delicious cake (lemon drizzle) and wine (this was actually strawberry infused bourbon). Then we wrapped up.

Yesterday I got round to helping N find her poise. The presence in circle, especially when you cast. We worked on how to draw up the energy from the earth, how to connect to that celestial light and focus it into casting a circle. I got her to do it three times. Each time was different, and emotional and powerful. Then I got her to release it back to where it came. Helping someone find that place of action, not reaction, that center of the storm in stillness was especially pleasing.
It is that place where you accept your power, but use it compassionately and do not abuse it. That space where anything is possible and you use your will to make it happen. Having that support to encourage the natural flow makes a big difference. The repetition helps build confidence and grows that connection to the inner and out powers. That moment when the connection is so great tears flow because of the soulful awakening taking place is a beauty to behold.
As a teacher I am always striving for those moments.
I struggle when my students "go through the motions" or tell me what they think I want to hear. I can see that humbling moment or surrender, or contact with "something bigger" hasn't happened. Yet I know all I can do is try and create moments, opportunities where that moment can happen.
I am only responsible for my choices, not theirs. I am only responsible for my path and not where others choose to walk. Sometimes I have to trust and surrender to She who knows far better than me, and knows that what will be, what could be, and what I hope for someone else, are not the same. I must not react out of fear, shame or horror because to do so is to lose that poise. Even when lies, or hidden truths of less than "highest self" conduct come to light. That center of calm and light is the core of poise. If the gentle rain cleanses them, so be it. If it is the raging storm, or the lightening strikes, it is, what will be. She is the heart, mind and soul of all nature and all magick. Those who ignore, disrespect, or misuse Her power have my heartfelt pity. She will give you the lessons you need, not only the ones you want.

Bright Blessings xx

Harvesting on Super-moon

Harvesting on Super-moon

TK took this awesome shot last night with his new camera. It is a bit sticky and uncomfortable here, especially for the ginger (aka me).
It has been a while as I am in (as are nearly everyone else at LucyDrake&Co ) are in some kind of creative frenzy. Mini witch has been sculpting some beautiful things with clay as well as helping with research in herbs for the spell charms we are working on. N is just being amazing! She is designing the prayer posters from my book The Key. When not taken pictures of the moon TK is making his amazing bindrunes.
Today we are preparing, harvesting from the garden herbs and organizing for that moon power to bless all our new projects and our new products!

Here is me wearing my new bindrune with my "new" boline, and my vervain from the garden at mid-day!

Rolf Harris jail time

Rolf Harris's jail time

5 years 9 months. When I first heard the jail time for Rolf Harris, I imagined it was for each victim, but no.
Of course the actual amount of time he spends in jail might be as little as half of this. It is a cruel sick joke. In 2 or 3 years he gets to be out of his prison, while his victims will be lucky if they ever leave. Their sentence will most likely be a lifetime. What was the point? 12 counts, not one or 3 (which would have been enough for me to think of at least 10 to 15 years) but 12. That isn't even a year a victim! You can get more time for carry magic mushrooms that assaulting women and children! (seven years imprisonment for a class A drug).
It makes me angry, sad and confused. I don't understand how this behaviour is taken so lightly!

For many years my husband wanted me to come forward about the abuse I suffered as a child to the police and every time I told him no.

I told him no because I did not want to be put on trail.

I told him no because be treated as a liar and whore at 7 years was enough.

I told him no because even if they were convicted, even if I won, the sentences they would get would be a joke.

What message does this sentence show other victims of abuse? What does it say to abusers.

It doesn't matter what you do, the system is on your side.
Everything is forgivable if you are white and male.


How do we make it better? How do we heal?
For me it is this.
We look to what is sacred and holy and pure within us and we cherish it in ourselves and others. We keep going and we let it go a little at a time. We listen and watch other carefully. Allow space to talk about our experiences and listen to each other. We learn to trust ourselves. Allow what needs to bleed, to bleed. What needs to heal, heal and don't pick it too often.


Surrender Prayer
Goddess I surrender my pain to you.
I let it go.
Show me it's wisdom.
Teach me it's lessons.
Goddess I surrender my sorrow to you.
I let it go.
Show me it's wisdom
Teach me it's lessons.
Goddess I surrender my fear to you.
Show me it's wisdom.
I let it go.
As all the pain, sorrow and fear
Leave my mind, body, and spirit
Fill me with your love.

Rolf Harris and lantern fish

Rolf Harris and lantern fish

As a survivor of sexual abuse this weeks news has left me feeling sick and uncomfortable. The reactions of others have also made me want to write this blog.

They ask "how could someone so charming, talented and funny do something like this?"

They still expect that to behave monstrously the villain must look the part. Yet abusers and victims know something, something simple and frightening and true. 

Abusers have to be funny, and charming, and great with kids. It is their lure, their light that draws in the victims and stuns those around them. This respectability, this camouflage is the tool of the abuser.  It makes their victims doubt themselves, it makes the victims look spiteful, difficult and unreliable because everyone KNOWS that an abuser looks like *add stereo type here* and that is NOT what Mr X is like. The idea that you know who would be dangerous around your children is inverted and wrong. Abusers HAVE to be trustworthy, have to be master manipulators and liars. They will fool everyone, except of course the victims. 

It is this erroneous image with the mind that is the mask, the deceit the abuser hides behind. We want so desperately to believe we know who will hurt our children or us and the truth is we won't.  

In "looking for the monster" we fail to learn and especially fail to teach that they could be your teacher, your boyfriend, husband, friend, parent or sibling. Abusers look to gain power and trust and respect, and it is a role they use to devastating affect. All other aspects of an abusers life are there to lure, conceal and allow access to what they really crave.

This respect, admiration and love they inspire in others is the best protection they could ever have. If they can charm enough people the behavior can become wilder, and erratic but these "defenders" will be blind, will help cover up and make excuses for the abusers. The idea that this glorious person "who adore and protects" them is a monster is too horrible to believe and nothing will remove the glamour from their eyes. 

This the how abusers like Harris ran rampant even though his behavior warranted the industry nickname Octopus. This why Lords and politicians, doctors and the like can and do get away with abusing.

Culturally while children are accessories, women are things and men have the right to demand what they like when they like (and get away with it) no amount of posters, campaigns or memes will help. 

I applaud the victims and survivors who spoke out and say a quiet prayer for those that have not been heard or believed.

You see my abusers was a respectable man and as a 7 year old girl my statements were not considered reliable enough for court. My mother did all she could to protect him and even now protects his memory. 

It is this need to protect the abuser, not the victims we must look at. That we must undo. The monster we fear is human, charming and deceptive.