What a unique and unforgettable past three months we have all collectively experienced.
In the roughly twelve weeks since the inaugural edition of the quarterly Magick, Craft Makes and Me debuted, we’ve witnessed the world endure the continued ravages, impacts of a pandemic that is still going strong, and some remarkable happenings pertaining race in America (and by extension, elsewhere across the globe).
Here at our house, and within our family on both sides of the Atlantic (all of my husband’s family lives in his homeland of Italy), I am very thankful to report that we’ve remained virus-free so far.
While certain public rules have been relaxed and various non-essential business and public locations have reopened in recent weeks in our area, we’ve opted to remain in strict self-isolation for the time being.
When the winter edition of this post appeared here, there was still an abundance of snow on the ground, icicles dangling from the roof, and daily subzero temperatures. What a difference a handful of weeks makes when it comes to the changing of the seasonal guard!
Spring began in earnest around these North Okanagan parts at the start of May and, in true Canadian fashion, by the end of that month, we were already experiencing temperatures in the low 30s Celsius.
When the next edition rolls around that the end of the summer, we’ll be witnessing the Wheel of The Year rotate into the gloriousness that is autumn.
As much as I adore fall with every last fibre of my being, I’m in no mad rush to put summertime to bed quite yet.
Though summer can be a challenging season in some respects, it’s also a beautiful, dreamy, even heady portion of the year and one that never fails to make me feel especially young at heart.
Right here and now, however, let’s take a gander at some of the witchy/Pagan/magick, crafting, and various other various links (the latter falling under the “Me” header of this post) that caught my eye during the turbulent months of spring that our world just endured.
Magick, Witchcraft, Paganism, and Spirituality
-Anytime two of my very favourite things – cooking and witchery – combine, chances are, I’m going to pounce on it like Annie on a tennis ball! 😃
This pairing is examined through the lens of edible delights that are especially well suited to the moon in Other Worldly Oracle’s fantastic Full Moon Food Guide, which is chock-a-block with tasty recipes, food suggestions, and creative ideas.
-Candles, incense, smudge sticks – if you can safely burn it in a magickal context, a good many witches and Pagans are likely doing so as we speak.
However, there are plenty of times and/or reasons why you may want to cleanse without the need for matches or a lighter.
Willow’swonderful look at this very topic is explored in-depth in her recent post, 13 Smoke Free Ways to Cleanse, which may be of particular interest to those who are highly sensitive or allergic to smoke, incense and the like.
-Scrying is an ancient and widely used form of divination that has been practiced by various cultures around the world for many thousands of years. It remains popular to this day, particularly with some of us in the witchcraft and Wiccan communities.
One of the most common – and I would argue, effective – forms of scrying is mirror scrying. If you’ve always wanted to give it a go, but didn’t have a suitable mirror to work with, you’ll definitely want to visit this informative post that takes you through all the steps needed to Make Your Own Scrying Mirror.
-I am a firm believer that one can come to witchery and/or Paganism at any point in their life. However, there there are some of us for whom an ingrained sense that we were witches has been with us throughout our entire lives.
This topic is explored in Astrea’s insightful post, Born This Way: Witchcraft Comes Naturally to Some, which – as a “born witch” – I found myself nodding in agreement with from top to bottom.
-Spring and summer are peak seasons in many parts of the Western Hemisphere for early morning dew. If you’re keen to gather and put this potent, wonderful natural magickal ingredient to work in your witchcraft, be sure to check out Annwyn’s lovely video and accompanying blog post on How to Collect Dew.
-We in the 21st century have a tendency to praise and elevate the act of being busy to near god-like status. Productivity is certainly important and has its rightful place, but so does the vital act of downtime and the ability to leave at least a few hours of our lives unencumbered with frenetic activity.
In The Magickal Art of Doing Nothing, Phoenix explores this topic and helps to remind us all of just how essential it is to simply be at peace with the present moment every now and then.
Card Making, Scrapbooking, Paper Crafting, and Other Crafts
-Going all the way back to my earliest collections – housed in the de rigour magnetic page photo albums of the day – back in the 1980s and early 90s, to the bevy of them that reside in my craft room today, I’ve loved and actively used stickers throughout my whole life.
You can just imagine then how much my eyes lit up and my creative juices started flowing when I recently spotted this handy-dandy post on how to make your own DIY Vintage Spring Flower Stickers. (The method for which you could easily apply – adhesive related pun intended – to a wide range of other sticker images as well.)
-Few fruits say spring and early summer better – or more iconically – than strawberries! If you’re in the mood to dish up a lovely serving of the paper variety of this fabulous produce offering, then you’ll definitely want to check out this DIY Paper Strawberry Tutorial over on Maggie Holmes’ inspiring blog.
-It likely comes as little surprise that the century which saw the invention and meteoric rise in popularity of photography would in turn produce a wide range of picture frames to help house some of the millions of photos that were taken at the time.
While real examples of Victorian photo frames often command steep prices these days, thanks to this lovely Victorian Folding Photo Frame Tutorial, with a few basic craft supplies and access to a digital die cutting machine, you can now whip up all the 19th century picture frames that your heart desires!
-Love working with alcohol markers but aren’t sure which ones to invest in or which might work most effectively for a given project? Let Ivana’s excellent and very informative comparison of The Best Alcohol Markers help ensure you find and work with the right markers for your crafting needs.
-When you think of summertime foods, what jumps out at you first? Ice cream? Watermelon? Lemonade? What about that beloved classic, a freshly made cheeseburger?
If you’ve been looking for a fun new pincushion to create, why not have a go at making this darling DIY Cheeseburger Pincushion?
It has all the look, but none of the grilling work involved with the real deal.
And of course, vegans, vegetarians, and plant-based eaters can just as easily imagine that it’s their favourite meat-free (and potentially dairy-free) burger instead. 🍔
-Valentine’s Day was a few months ago, but there’s no reason why you can’t whip up this fabulously charming Gothic Valoween Garland anytime and proudly use it as year-round décor. (An easy DIY craft project that involves both hearts and coffins it is a serious winner in my books!)
What’s shaking in my life and on my radar
Wow, I remember thinking back in March that I had scarce little of note to report in terms of what had been transpiring in our lives then.
After three more months of being in strict self-isolation, I have even less of note to share – which sounds dreadfully dull, I know! 😂
Our days are full of the usual happenings of life, however, and goodness knows I could use about a thousand more hours in every day to get a mere fraction of what I’d like/need to accomplish done.
As we’ve been at home around the clock lately though, I don’t have too many adventurous tales to regale you with this time around.
Looking ahead to the summer months, both Tony and I will celebrate our birthdays before the season draws to a close. Our beautiful country of Canada also turns another year older soon too, hitting the venerable age of 153 come July 1st.
Historically, Tony and I have usually taken at least one get-away (usually a road trip somewhere within Western Canada) between mid-spring and late autumn.
However, with the very real safety concerns surrounding the pandemic so far this year (to say nothing of possible subsequent waves of it), we’ve not planned a trip for 2020.
For two souls who adore and derive a great deal of positive benefits from travelling, including the sheer joy of having an upcoming trip to look forward to, this has been a bit strange indeed!
Of course, many others are in similar boats and tons of folks have had to cancel or postpone travel plans (including one of my aunts and her daughter who were set to visit France this summer), and we’ll just make the best of things here at home for the time being.
The safer we are now and the more precautions we currently take to help stop the spread of Covid-19, the faster we might be able to return to a world where it’s safe to once again travel, visit with others, and do more activities in public point-blank.
-At the very end of April, on the six-month mark to Halloween (a date that many Halloween fans affectionately refer to as Halfoween), I shared a fun post highlighting 31 Ways to Celebrate Halloween All Year Long.
After I wrote that entry, I found myself thinking (not for the first time) about various ways to help ensure that I have an environmentally friendly Halloween/Samhain celebration.
This led me to find a very handy Guide to Greening Halloween, which abounds with tons of useful, practical and enjoyable ways to help keep your October 31st all the more planet-friendly.
-If you think that things like cosplaying and sci-fi related conventions are a relatively new invention, Vintage Everyday is here with a slew of photos from the 1966 Science Fiction & Fantasy Costume Contestants Posing at the 24th World Science Fiction Convention that will quickly prove these much-loved passions have been going strong for many decades now.
-It’s safe to say that one of the most important aspects to the continuation of life on this planet – the world’s oceans – is in a dire state and in need of immediate help.
An extraordinary ‘Landmark’ Study Lays Road Map for Exactly How We Can Restore Oceans to Former Glory in Just One Generation, and I know that I won’t be alone in hoping to the stars above (and the starfish below) that the approaches it proposes are able to be put into action.
-Should you happen to be a fellow lover of edible flowers, want a gorgeous dessert to serve at your next tea party or bridal shower, or an ideal sunny weather sabbat feast treat, may I present you with Lindsay and Jonas’s gorgeous Violet Shortbread Cookie Recipe.
-While the amount of TV that I’ve watched during this time of self-isolation has changed little from my usual levels, I have been making a point to view shows, movies and documentaries that really speak to me on a deep level.
One of the most stand-out titles in that respect that I’ve viewed recently is a documentary on Netflix called Crip Camp, which was just released this year.
It is a stirring, poignant and much needed look at how a mid-twentieth century American camp for special needs individuals helped to plant some of the seeds for the immensely long overdue social and political revolution that took place within the disabled community during the past century.
If you’re not already doing so, why not pop on over to Instagram and follow my account there? I post a wide range of content pertaining to witchery and Paganism, crafts, nature, history and vintage, travel, our daily life (including snaps of Annie), and more!
Summer lovin’
While fall time will forever reign supreme for me personally, I’m the first to admit that summer holds a special place in my heart as well.
Between the fact that it’s the season into which I born, the one in which Tony and I became engaged (back in 2004), and that it’s the prelude to my favourite chapter of the year, it’s hard not to adore summertime.
There’s dreamily perfect warm nights, ice cold drinks, the magick and marvelousness of both Litha and Lammas, sunsets so stunning they evoke tears, vibrant gardens, sundresses, feeling the sun-baked earth beneath your bare feet, and so much more to enjoy + appreciate about this season.
At this point, all any of us can do is guess and prepare in regards to what the summer may hold in store pandemic wise.
It would be amazing, nay, extraordinary, if the world was in a vastly safer, healthier place come the fall equinox, but the realist in me isn’t going to place any bets on that being the case.
What I will confidently do, however, is strive to have a beautiful, enjoyable and very meaningful season, whether we remain in self-isolation the whole time or not.
And you can count on plenty of fun, informative new content here, as well as on my Instagram account.
In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll cover a wide array of topics, from Canada Day to book reviews, summer sabbat posts to ones that will lead us straight into the magickal months of fall.
It is my unwavering hope that each of you will have a safe, healthy, peaceful and positive summer (or winter, if you’re south of the equator), and we can all met back here in three months for the next installment of Magick, Crafty Makes, and Me.
What are you most excited about this summer? Any standout plans in the works? 🌞
What a great post!! Love all the fun ideas you posted!!
We are hanging out here for most of the summer, I think. We might have to go down to Washington DC as Charlotte’s college just informed us that there will be no on campus housing for upper class men due to Covid. Now we have to find her an apartment, not something we thought we would have to do. With this comes buying her furniture, a new bed and countless other stuff that we were not figuring on. Trying to not stress out about it and then stress her out.
I have been social distancing as much as possible BUT broke down and went on a hike with friends the other day. I could stay in my house forever working BUT I do miss my friends. Otherwise I could be here forever.
Happy Birthday to you and your husband!! Enjoy yourselves!!
Hello lovely Nora, thank you very much for your comment. It’s a joy to chat with you here and to read about some of what’s been happening in your life as of late.
I completely understand, believe me. It’s taking a substantial amount of will-power to refrain from visiting with our loved ones. I think that so long as all parties are virus-free meeting in an open area and going for a hike should be quite safe, and it something I could easily see us doing, too, with some of my relatives as time goes on. I hope that you and your friends had a splendid hike. It’s the perfect time of year for one – especially before the dog days of the season kick into high gear.
That sounds very stressful regarding your daughter’s need to find summer living accommodations. I’m so sorry that both she and you are in that situation now. The ripple-like impacts of this pandemic are far-reaching and continue to surface in our lives in countless ways, big and small alike. I sincerely hope that you’re able to find a lovely place for Charlotte to live and that sourcing furniture and other household necessities doesn’t prove to be too challenging.
If you ever need/want to talk more about anything that you’re going through, please don’t hesitate to email me. I’m here for you and am sending positive energy your way.
♥ Autumn
Such an interesting and informative article, thanks for all the information and the links!
You’re wonderfully kind, Donna. Thank you very much for your lovely comment. I sincerely appreciate it and am happy to know that you enjoyed this season’s link roundup.
Wishing you a beautiful, sunny and very happy spring-into-summer!
♥ Autumn
Great post. I agree with all you say, especially about the pandemic. Normally I travel like a crazy person this time of year but I halted all my trips due to the virus. Hard to do but couldn’t justify exposing myself and others to unnecessary risk.
One of the things I like most about paganism/witchery is the connection to nature, reflected in your attuned attention to the seasons. The characteristics of each season are interesting and worth exploring.
The timing of your new blog with the soon-to-emerge pandemic was unfortunate but also ripe with opportunity. No matter what life throws at us — and you’ve faced a great deal — the test is how we respond. You’re passing that test!
You are such a supportive, wonderful person, Ally. Thank you very much across the board.
It’s beautiful to know that the inherent emphasis on, and connection to, nature is one of the aspects of Paganism that resonates most powerfully with you. The same is true for me as well, and I have a genuinely difficult time functioning to the best of my abilities if I’m not able to routinely spend time outdoors in the loving embrace of Mother Nature.
Your vote of confidence means that world! The timing really is uncanny, but as someone who believes that few things happen without some intentional reason/meaning behind them, I try to look upon my blog’s birth corresponding with the pandemic as a new learning experience, challenge and road that I will continue to traverse to the best of my abilities.
I love (!) having a blog of my own again and hope that this one will be able to weather every last storm that 2020 (and beyond) throws at us.
Really, thank you again for everything, my kind friend. May this summer bring you an abundance of sunshine, wellness, and inspiration.
♥ Autumn
Autumn, how I wish that I could grow to love Summer as much as you. However, now that our temps, here in the South, are reaching the 90’s I would prefer to hibernate until my favorite season of Autumn.
Meanwhile, I search for things to embrace about this season so that I may learn to love it as much as you and others do.
Debi
Summer can be a tough chapter of the year to love at times, sweet Debi, I fully hear + get you there. We live in one of the warmest regions in Canada, where sunny season temps sometimes climb above 100F, and as we don’t have central air in our current house, getting through the season without looking/feeling like wilted lettuce from June to early September can be quite the challenge.
Still, I really do love summer in a lot of ways and can scarcely fathom the year without it. I do hope though that it will be economically possible for us to have central air installed one day. That would sure make the season more bearable and pleasant. In the meantime, it’s icy drinks, cold meal, and the occasional chilly shower – along with our fans – to help keep us from completely melting. 😂
Fall is my absolute favourite season as well (if one has the seasonal equivalent of a soul mate, autumn time is unquestionably mine), and like yourself, I will be eagerly crossing of the days until it returns again. May that happen swiftly on both of our ends!
Tons of hugs & wishes for the loveliest summer possible coming your way,
♥ Autumn
I just want to wish you well! I enjoyed reading your post and how you are handling this season. I am so sorry that you have not been able to go on a trip. We ended up taking 3 day trips this week. We hiked about 5 miles each day in different state parks within 45 min from our house. It was wonderful to see all the green, to hear the birds happily singing etc. Good for the soul. We don’t have any plans the rest of the summer. My husband will take a forced week off due to company cut-backs but it will be in July and the July heat is overwhelming so I don’t see any day hikes in our future. Hugs. I am now going to get on a ZOOM call with crafty friends! It certainly helps feel less isolated!
Thank you deeply, dear Angie. You are such a kind, wonderful person.
It’s awesome that you and your husband have been able to take recent some day trips – and ones involving hiking to boot. They sound like a total blast!
My DH and I are wild (pun intended) about the great outdoors as well and just love spending time outside whether we’re at home, around town or out on the open road. Hopefully it will be substantially safer to do so again come this time next year.
Your crafty meetup Zoom call sounds like a lot of fun as well, which I hope that it was for all involved.
Thank you again, sweet lady. May you and your family have a super safe, sunny, enjoyable summer that leads to many new positive memories being made even the face of all the world is currently going through.
♥ Autumn
A super post Autum, lots of great information – thank you for all the fabulous craft links, I will definitely be having a go at the Victorian Frames.
Pauline – Crafting with Cotnob
x
You’re terrifically sweet, Pauline. Thank you very much for your lovely comment. I sincerely appreciate your visits and am delighted to know that the DIY Victorian frame tutorial leapt out at you. It really did for me as well – especially since I’m a passionate history buff and a collector of antique images (many of which I share on my Instagram account).
I hope that the first week of summer is smiling abundantly on you and that you have a fantastic, safe, happy season – complete with ample time to craft – from start to finish.
♥ Autumn
Hi Autumn, I enjoyed reading your post and thank you for all the interesting links you provided. I look forward to cheking them out. 🙂
Summer is my favourite season. I like the increased light (although we’ve had the longest day now but the days will still be quite long), and I naturally feel better in the summertime. I enjoyed reading your Litha post too. Lammas is one of my favourite sabbats and I’m looking forward to that.
Hope you had a geat Litha and wishing you a wonderful, safe and peaceful summer season ahead! <3
Zania
Hi lovely Zania, thank you very much for your kind comment and beautiful Litha wishes.
Very true about the way that summer can help us to feel better/healthier/more active/just generally positive. That’s an element of this season that I sincerely appreciate as well.
It’s awesome to meet a fellow Lammas fan. That sabbat really does launch the fall harvest season in my books – even if we usually have a few more weeks of summer weather on our hands here before the world slips into its autumnal finery again – and is a time of the year that I find I develop an even deeper connection with each time a fresh August rolls around.
Thank you again. May the light, vitality, loveliness, and abundant blessings of Litha be yours straight on until Lammas.
♥ Autumn
So much info!! I feel called to respond to coming to Witchcraft and to share a bit more of myself and family background. My mother was born in Scotland, with the name of Fay – in itself if interest I think having known her!! She considered herself to be very spiritual of the Christian faith but truly, from what I have learned over the years she was most definitely a natural witch. From sweeping to almost each and every one of her belief systems, she was a woman with this natural bent for the craft. Her grandmother was the village medicine woman and midwife back in Scotland and became that when they emigrated to Australia in the 1920’s .., so many fascinating stories and experiences!!
I feel I have inherited some of this ..
Thank you for providing so much food for thought, Autumn!!
Donna W
https://donnadoesdresses.com
Hello lovely Donna, thank you very much for your wonderful comment. I’m honoured to learn more about your family’s captivating history, including the fact that being a healer and midwife runs in your lineage.
It is both beautiful and highly meaningful that you have this important information today. So often facts like this have, unfortunately, been lost in the ethers of time or perhaps exist today only as vague murmurings or family lore.
What an enchanting surname to run in that branch of your family tree. I lived in Ireland (ROI) for a couple of years and met a few folks there with that last name – naturally, it immediately piqued my attention each time I heard it. If I’m not mistaken, it’s Norman in origin – or perhaps, as some of us may like to think, it stems not from our mortal realm but from that of the faerie folk themselves.
You touched on a point that I think about on an ongoing basis: that the ways of the old and those of the more modern Christ-centered faiths continued to intertwine far more in many areas (and more people) than they may today. This is a subject that could be explored endlessly and I won’t go into great depth about it here, but it is one that I really do find fascinating, especially since I suspect it was part and parcel to the daily existence of many of our ancestors.
Thank you again for sharing all that you did here and for being the beautiful, enchanting soul that you are. 💗
Immense hugs & the loveliest of wishes for these final days of June,
♥ Autumn
Hi Autumn and thank you so much for featuring my Victorian Folding Photo Frame. I’m so glad you like it. I’m delighted to have discovered you and to follow with interest some of your wonderful links, especially the resource for smokeless cleansing – how useful that is for a witch with a recently diagnosed allergy! Brightest Blessings to you. I look forward to following your journey on Instagram. Sue J ~ @WitchatOneandSeventy | @ATouchOfMagicUK
Hi lovely Sue, thank you very much for your comment. I’ve been a long-time reader and fan of your fantastic blog, and am so touched that you found my site through this post and left such sweet words here.
You’re very welcome! It’s a gorgeous project and one that resonates with me for a multitude of different reasons, including the fact I collect antique and vintage photos.
I hope that your summer is off to a fantastic start and that you have a sunny, safe, and abundantly blessed season every step of the way.
Big hugs from the woodsy wilds of Western Canada,
♥ Autumn
Aww! Thank you for sharing my smoke-free ways to cleanse! I really appreciate it. I am reading through the other articles that you shared too. It’s pretty crazy how much things have changed in a few short months! I was supposed to be coming home from a week-long trip to Ireland today. Makes me sad that the trip had to be postponed until next year. Miles wants to travel later this month and I’m sitting here like, naaaaah.
Keep being awesome my friend! <3
You’re wholeheartedly welcome, my dear friend. It’s an absolutely wonderful and highly beneficial post for so many people (both, I’d say, inside and out of the Pagan/witchy sphere – as the use of smudging, incense, etc is certainly not exclusive to our realm alone). I shared it directly with multiple people I know who are smoke/scent sensitive and imagine I’ll continue to do so as I connect with others who share that this is a concern in their lives.
I’m deeply sorry that your travel plans were shelved. Having lived in Ireland (for two years, eons ago now) I can attest firsthand to its almost otherworldly draw and soulful beauty. It pains me – as I know it does you and Miles – that this trip had to be postponed. It’s safest and wisest, of course, but that knowledge only does so much to counterbalance the harshness of needing to cancel (for now). I hope dearly that you’ll be able to visit Ireland one day, when doing so is safer again. We’ve not been back yet ourselves and very much want to visit again one day – especially since we didn’t actually get to see all that much of the country during our time there.
Aww! Thank you so much. Likewise all the way, my immensely awesome friend.
Wishing you a fantastic weekend,
♥ Autumn
Love these blogposts so much!
I really should be much better at doing nothing. I’m always busy and always doing something, even when I’m relaxing, then I’m always knitting or crocheting.
The burger pincushion is fantastic, I have to make one.
Halfoween – what a great term, really love that.
On Saturday we’re going on two weeks summer holiday at my little summer cottage, so we cross our fingers for nice weather. A week ago we had the hottest heatwave, now it is so cold I wake up at night because my feet are freezingly cold.
Wishing you a lovely day, dear. 🙂
That is really beneficial to hear and know, dear Sanne. The first one wasn’t, how shall we say, the best performing post here to date and even this one was a bit slow in gaining momentum but has faired better, ultimately that the first in this quarterly series. As such, I was already debating their fate for 2021 (and beyond). I’d be happy to keep penning them if they are of interest to my readers, and you for letting me know directly that they are has helped me a lot on that front. Thank you!!!
Goodness, do I hear you! While I have, thankfully, grown a bit better at simply being and intentionally doing little to nothing, it is not a state that comes naturally me to either. I am a born workaholic and have a recovering perfectionist who loves to be busy + productive, so simply chilling for long swaths of time is not my default setting by any means. 😄
That’s wonderful regarding your very well deserved getaway (especially given all that your DH has been through health-wise as of late). I hope that the weather is sunny and beautiful, and that you have a really lovely time.
Many hugs & thanks again!
♥ Autumn