In defense of magical case notes ✨✍🏼
on revisiting past journals + grimoires + The Friday Five
Last night, I grabbed the notebook I’ve been using during magical workings (to cast written spells like: MY ART IS IMPORTANT. MY WORK IS IMPORTANT, and other phrases that scream I’m a professional!) to note a massive personal cycle coming to a close. The journal was a present from a longtime family friend, gifted at my hometown release event for The Witch’s Book of Numbers in the fall of 2022. The front says Smart, Strong, Fearless, Resiliant, and it came with a really nice set of ballpoint pens with a map pattern on the barrel. It’s exactly the kind of inspirational cheese that works on me. When I first took it out of the bag, my body buzzed, like I was holding a sacred scroll, but better. It was one that I would fill with my words of wisdom.
Lately I’ve been feeling like I’ve taken the title of eclectic witch a little too far. My creativity and my magic might need more structure in this new chapter of my life. I need to commit myself to routines that last longer than a few weeks, and relish in methods of organizing my thoughts that more closely resemble a carefully kept catalogue than a stack of sticky notes on an already haphazard desk.
Some of this experience has to do with my upcoming birthday and the shift of yearly cycles it will usher in. I’ve been playing around with when our numbers of the year truly roll over—is it in January, when the Gregorian calendar starts anew? Or can we track the years of our lives based on when we breathed our first breath and came onto the earthly scene? What about other common new year markings, like the spring equinox, the start of Aries season and the spinning of the zodiacal wheel, or Samhain as October becomes November and the witches rejoice?
I don’t know that I have a definitive answer about any of it yet, and maybe I never will. But this year, I’m feeling all of the complex layering of timelines, thresholds, and “new” years. The collective numerological shift into this eight year felt potent and powerful, and has continued to be impactful. (Brush up on this energy be revisiting Welcome to 2024, an Eight Collective Year, which I wrote in January. I’m going to write more on this soon, now that we’re halfway through the year.) A massive ending ripped through my life on the final day of Pisces season.
Message received?
And as I crawl closer and closer to my next trip around the Sun—moving from a personal three year of magic, birth in all of its gory forms, and tossing spaghetti at the wall, to a four year of diligence, getting my literal and figurative house in order, and exploring enoughness—I see new and desired endings already overlapping long-awaited beginnings.
After I finished writing my personal case notes, I flipped back to the beginning of the Fearless journal and found a few pages of notes I took on a reading I received in late 2022 from a practitioner I follow on Instagram. It took place over the phone, and I was honestly so nervous! But he was so encouraging and the reading was jam-packed and potent.
Per my notes, he mentioned that hummingbirds would be a strong universal sign for me. He had no way of knowing they already were, that my mother and I think of my great-grandmother when we see them, who was warm and loving and drank Fuzzy Navels until she passed at the ripe old age of ninety-four. But he was right! Hummingbirds have continued to show up for me—they’re in abundance in our backyard in LA and I even wrote about a book on hummingbirds that I was led to at an estate sale earlier this year.
Some signs and messages are for a moment. Some are for a season or a cycle. Some for a lifetime, or depending on your philosophical framework, an infinite number of lifetimes. But if you don’t take the notes, future you will never be able to look back and put new puzzle pieces together. It was also quite affirming to see those notes and reminder myself that even the messiest of organizational systems can still be magical! Spells are stories, and stories take time to be told.
How do you take notes on readings and other magical workings? Do you keep a physical or digital grimoire? Are you a Post-It Notes Queen? Tell me all about it!
May the systems we build be supportive and fruitful. May the containers we craft hold space for our memories, our dreams and our most fervent longings. May the schedules we set be a cherished commitment and a source of flexible freedom.
THE ROAD TRIP STARTS NEXT WEEK 🚘 🔢 ✨🗺️
Saturday, June 22nd - What Are the Rules of the Road?
In this 2-hour virtual workshop, we’ll calculate and dive into the Life Path number — the world map at the beginning of your very own fantasy novel — to get a bird’s eye view of the overall experience in this lifetime. Then, we’ll use the Public Persona number to reveal what’s in your travel bag: the tips, tricks, gifts, and skills you brought with you to navigate the trip. We may not always be able to see what’s ahead, but we can look to these numbers to help us chart the course forward.
Use code ANGELS444 to snag 20% until June 20th!
THE FRIDAY FIVE
Currently Watching: “Love Island USA” on Peacock (still rooting for Kaylor and Aaron!) and “Perfect Match” on Netflix. Trash TV Summer has begun!
Currently Reading: The Divine Rivals x Ruthless Vows duology by Rebecca Ross. These books are technically YA? But they’re beautifully written books that are giving Dramione (Fuck JKR) meets Hadestown.
Currently Listening to: I’ve been living for the “Handsome” podcast, hosted by comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin. Every episode has made me laugh out loud and are based on a celebrity’s question.
Currently Learning About: Time is a very wibbly-wobbly concept to begin with, but have you heard of queer temporalities or heterochronology? They both describe differences in time and timelines between straight people and queer people. For example, since queer folks tend to come out and into themselves later on, our timelines are expanded and our experience of time varies from the dominant culture’s. Still researching, but so fascinating!
Currently Hyping Up: If you’re looking for an opportunity to learn about yourself through the lens of multiple spiritual modalities, my love Christine of Zen Wellness Space is hosting a three-week Cosmic Wisdom Summer School that digs into astrology, numerology, and Human Design!