The Everyday Witch

There is a space between everyday thoughts where we can glimpse everyday magic. Since childhood, we've been trained to turn away from the magic and choose logic and practicality. We have done it so much that we forget the magic is even there, but it is always there and waiting for you to notice. Stop now and take a deep breath. Feel the air around you as it crosses into your awareness. Does an image come to mind or a memory? Do you think about someone or a place you'd like to visit? Do you feel a longing to see the sky or sit in the grass? However the magic presents itself, the first step to finding it is to take each thread and follow it. Magic, as it calls to you, connects you to a place beyond time. There are days where the magic is strong all around us and we experience synchronicities, perfect timing, uncanny and unusual encounters. The perfect thing for the problem you are facing. Running into the right person at the right time. It may leave you slack-jawed and awed when you get the sense that time itself has seemed to shift or stretch. Turn the corner and you see a bird singing in a tree or you are caught by the vibrancy of a rainbow. For a moment you are with them and in it. Then there are days when you feel adrift, cut off, and disconnected. The colors feel dim and life feels denser, heavier. We long for magic these days. Everyone possesses it. Whether you studied or not, whether you’re pagan or not, whether you consider yourself a witch or not – Magic is available to you. Most of us found it easy to know magic as kids, feeling the brush of the invisible worlds or perhaps even traveling to places we could not describe upon our return. Perhaps your magic calls to you from the garden, or through dreams, or in ecstatic moments of pleasure, when you are cooking, or on the resonance of music. Magic is the currency of life and death. It is real, vital and always flowing in, around and through us. Within each of us is that self for whom magic is as natural as breathing. We are Everyday Witches. We are those who practice magic as a state of mind and allow intuition to become instinctual, as well as nodding our head in the direction of things that are unexplainable in life. Regardless of what you have read about tradition, training, background or initiation, there are many ways to practice magic whether or not you call yourself a witch. The Everyday Witch finds her way by discovering what works for her, what enlivens her, sparks her interest and helps her develop her talents. There comes a point in our lives when we decide to deny and ignore – or acknowledge and explore the mostly invisible but yet tangible forces that exist at the edges of our perception. That is when we begin to hear the whispered instructions passing between everyday thoughts. Magic is most definitely practical. The power of being an Everyday Witch includes a world view that infuses you with wonder, hope, connection, and personal authority. You build a relationship with the vital energy that resides in everything. Observes. Feel. Flow with. Magic guides us to change course rather than repeat the same old patterns given to us at birth by our culture. The Everyday Witch sees what others overlook and reads signs others ignore. Practicing magic is in a sense learning the secret language of nature and the Universe. The Everyday Witch can change the course of the streams of energy that create and dissolve experiences. It is possible to live in a way in which healing, resolving issues, and navigating conflicts become second nature. Practicing magic isn’t primarily about spells or rituals to be performed at certain times of the year or certain phases of the moon, it is a practice of awareness that decodes the hidden wisdom of the moon, gives conscious access to the flowing energy of the seasons, and grants self-knowledge, self-trust, and the power to be the person you have always known you could be. The most important thing to know is this: Magic is not separate from life in any way. You do not have to choose between ordinary life and magic. No. The essence of magic is always available. Here are five suggestions to help you get into the flow of the magic: 1. Spend time every day observing nature. You don’t have to go anywhere specifically. Just quiet your mind, breathe, and connect with whatever is around you. See the ants, the bee buzzing in the flower nearby, watch the leaves ripple in the trees, hear the birds singing on the wire, watch the neighborhood cats pacing, feel the weather as it approaches. Be open to whatever you may experience. Don’t analyze...just connect. 2. Give yourself permission to deeply enter your ‘ordinary’ experiences. Bring your attention fully into the sensations you are experiencing... try this while showering, cooking, washing dishes, mowing the lawn...expand your awareness by entering the experience fully and completely. You may be surprised by how much magic is just under the surface... 3. Surrender to your creative urges – sing, dance, draw, color, write, run, garden...let that magic rise and express itself through you. You don’t have to be an ‘artist’ or ‘musician’ or ‘athlete’ to do this. Allow your creative flow to lift you, carry you, and move through you. This practice is invigorating and mystical. 4. Use your imagination consciously. Redirect your thoughts when you find yourself in ruminating or in the future worrying. Imagination is a powerful force. Every thought you have changes the chemistry of your body. Imagination colors your expectations and guides your decisions. It can deliver any state of mind from confidence to fear. Most of us as kids let our imaginations take us to faraway places, fulfill our desires, imagine delightful things. Bring yourself back to that state of pleasure and wonder by using your imagination creatively, rather than getting stuck fearing and fretting. Imagination is one of the most potent languages of magic. It helps us bring back the messages from dreams, and interpret experiences that have no reference point in the visible world. 5. Play. Just Play. Make time for it. Do simple things. Bounce a ball. Shoot hoops. Color. Play tag. Have a water balloon fight. The more playful and present you are, the less static your mind makes and the more magic can be found between breaths, in the arc of a ball that swooshes the net, in the sound of laughter, in the pattern of water on hot cement. Listen and the invisible world will speak to you.