A witch's twisting seasonal path

How my witchcraft practice changes throughout the year

Good morning, beautiful people.

Well then, that was one heck of a full moon on Monday, right? After a few days of zzzzzzz and “insert crying emojis here,” that wobbly feeling is finally subsiding. I don’t know about you but the full moon always gets me good and proper.

During the full-moon hangover that has been the past week, autumn has been trying to roll in.

“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”

Sylvia Plath

There’s a chill in the air! Witches across the Northern Hemisphere - rejoice! We do love a seasonal shift.

If only we honoured the changes in our witchcraft practice in the same way.

An autumnal August

I often receive DMs from people saying:

“I’ve lost my witchcraft practice! At the start of the year, I was doing something every day but now the festivals come up and pass me by. I’m a terrible witch…”

I’ve definitely been there too. In spring, I am a flurry of activity, seeing sparks of magick in all the fresh new bursts of life. But by the end of summer, I’m just trying to manage my social/work/cat-feeding calendar as best I can, without having lit a candle in weeks. It seems like an undulating witchcraft practice is a canon event in all our lives.

I hope it is helpful to hear that I don’t know a single witch who celebrates every sabbat, every full moon or who is foraging for yarrow and honeysuckle by the pre-dawn light. It may be even more helpful to know that I slept through Monday’s supermoon! Yes, I had a whole ritual planned but who am I to fight the moon’s intense energies? I’m just a 34-year-old woman with a hot water bottle.

Right now in late August, my practice looks something like this:

• manifesting by the moon (when I’m not asleep at 8.30 pm)

• protecting my home with magick

• spending time meditating in nature and nurturing my garden

And to be honest, that’s it.

Secret countryside spot unlocked

And that is all that is required of me as a witch.

I’ve noticed over the years that summer - despite being one of the most productive times in terms of the harvest - is actually the time when we are least engaged with our witchcraft practice. Distractable, sociable and sun-tanned as we humans are wont to be from June-September…

There is a reason that Lughnasadh is the most overlooked Pagan festival of the year.

And that is absolutely, 100% OK.

Much of witchcraft is slow, meditative and reflective. Summer is not necessarily a time that nurtures these traits. Perhaps that is why so many witches crave the quiet reflective, even sombre, time of autumn when we can turn inwards and allow our consciousness to sink down into the earth to meet the roots that connect us with the world.

That is the beauty of the witchcraft path. The cycles. The deep contemplation and self-knowing. The mindful noticing of change. There is joy in secreting oneself away in the year’s dwindling days and emerging transformed in the spring, our new, crisp wings crinkling under our clothes.

What I mean by this is:

Your witchcraft practice can come in waves. This does not make you any less of a magickal being.

I want to share with you the fluctuations in my own witchy year and give you seasonal practices that might inspire you. I also want to, hopefully, reassure you that you are doing enough. Those meditative days will come back soon, ready for you to light a candle in the dark.

May you take from the lists below what feels most comfortable to you and incorporate these seasonal practices into your life.

Your path is always waiting for you.