April: a traveling mercury retrograde
retrograding lessons + traveling tales
For the entire duration of Mercury retrograde in Aries I was traveling. Riding on the back of a foolhardy dream to take my nearly one year-old on an adventure to his father’s homeland, we purchased tickets that aligned exactly with Mercury’s retrograde cycle. A trip of returning home, of introducing someone so fresh to their lineage, and initiating new tidal shifts for all of us.
Our trip included some time in London where I was able to teach at She’s Lost Control, and have a book party for Wyrd Sisters at Atlantis Bookshop. Being in a new country and connecting with different magical communities was enlivening and intimidating. I was reminded, during the evening spent at Atlantis Books, about the importance of history – both personal and collective history. I remember making my own pilgrimage to Atlantis bookshop 15 years prior, a young and wide-eyed witch, and feeling the power of that place that once hosted clandestine coven meetings and intellectual discussions on witchcraft between some of the pioneers of the craft; Gerald Gardener, Dion Fortune, Ithell Colquhoun, to name just a few. It was surreal to sit in the very room where those secret coven meetings were held, sipping wine and speaking with so many generous and kind souls about magic, spellwork, and divination. My heart will always feel more at home in an occult bookstore than anywhere else on the planet. My heart still feels full from that evening spent at Atlantis.
After some time in Cornwall and Lyme Regis, varying degrees of British weather and many pints and cups of tea later, we found ourselves weather worn and riding on fumes due to many 5am wake up calls curated by my sweet son. Our travels had proven that we could navigate new places and shifting routines while caring for a soon-to-be-walking wee one. Time away from our home, his crib, and our quiet rural home stirred questions of belonging and family priorities, and how we tend to our own hearts while nurturing the fragile becoming of someone else’s.
On our final day of travel, we wound our way through the New Forest on our way back to the airport hotel. Stunned by the shocking yellow gorse fields, I almost missed the pack of wild horses ambling through the countryside. After a stop at a roadside café we drove through the small town of Burley, where we passed by three different “witch” shops. I had forgotten that the New Forest Coven was famous for their ritual to attempt to protect Britain from Nazi invasion during the second World War. Gerald Gardiner claimed to have been initiated into the New Forest Coven, but most of its origins and operations are still up for debate. With wild ponies and donkeys roaming through the forest, the magic of the landscape alone makes it a perfect place for witches to gather.
More and more these days I am propelled into the future; my business hinges around dates booked in advance, I curate my family’s calendar, I cast spells for a future that is sustainable and pleasurable for all people, including myself and my son. As a future ancestor I value my choices and consider who I am becoming and what legacy I will leave behind. But this trip to England, during Mercury retrograde, was a crash course in considering how the past has led us all to this very moment. The histories of the people we admire, the lineage of our crafts, our communities, our movements, all matter in that they pave our way forward. The past also has wyrd ways of pointing us in the right direction, particularly as we face great uncertainties and mysteries ahead of us.
What about your Mercury retrograde illuminated the ways history has constructed your perspectives, paths, and proclivities? How have your ancestors (of blood, lineage, or inspiration) created avenues for you to live out your dreams?
SOME BRAMBLES FROM THE PATH:
“Sex Magic” by Amy Hale is at the top of my reading list. Witches, it’s time that we all dig into the riches of Ithell Colquhoun’s occult legacy. Stay tuned for their retrospective at the Tate.
New Forest ponies! How did I not know about this?
Cornish fae folk are known as the piskies/pixies. Joan the Wad is known as the Queen of the piskies, and is associated with fire or a torch, perhaps to guide lost or wandering spirits…
Beltane is happening! Floralia is here! Time to get intimate with how the Earth is showing off their sacred sexuality and spend time worshiping her blossoms.
For my dear paid subscribers! I will be dropping Beltane newsletters in the coming days. May the missives be a delight in your inbox.
