branches up, roots down

It’s been an action packed solstice season. After spending that evening contentedly feasting and conversing with some of my magical family, I crossed the Bay Bridge to go back home. Right after Treasure Island , the traffic slowed down and soon after my car became engulfed in noxious fumes. Several motorists started yelling “Lady, your car is on fire!” The moon was bright and full above the bridge, and the night was unusually warm. Everything was beautiful, except of course that my car was smoking to high heavens in the middle of a traffic jam. We all survived, the car included, but it was hard on both the nerves and the bank account. What I remember most vividly that night, besides the smell of my burning car, is just how exquisitely breathtaking the moon was above the city and how the bay was sparkling with light. I was going to write so much more, but I think I’ll stop with what happened that night, because, really, what more needs to be said? Pretty much everything that ha...

SUMMER SOLSTICE, BATTICALOA , SRI LANKA The war had turned inward until it resembled suicide. The only soothing thing was water. I passed the sentries, followed the surf out of sight. I would sink into the elements, become simple. Surf sounds like erasure, over and over. I lay down and let go, the way you trust an animal. When I opened my eyes, all down the strand small crabs, the bright yellow of a crayon, had come out onto the sand. Their numbers, scattered, resembled the galactic spill and volume of the stars. I, who had lain down alone, emptied, waked at the center of ten thousand prayers. Who would refuse such attention. I let it sweeten me back into the universe. I was alive, in the midst of great loving, which is all I've ever wanted. The soldiers of both sides probably wanted just this. - Marilyn Krysl

The sun is going down and the clouds are pouring over Twin Peaks , the sun glowing thru with a silver luminescence particular to this magical city. Tomorrow morning the sun will rise and reign over the sky. It will be summer solstice, the longest day of the year. If we are lucky, the sun will triumph and the day will be bright. In San Francisco , summer is unpredictable. I’m rooting for the sun, but with every moment, the fog thickens. At the beach rituals I participated in for so many years, often planning and priestessing as well, we would build a wicker man and burn him. To the odd assortment of baskets and branches rigged up to create an effigy of a man, we would attach old spells, charms, letters, and other things we were ready to let go of. As the days have gotten longer I’ve been thinking about what has been illuminated in the last turn of the wheel. This of course, has led me to looking at what I am ready to let go of. For many years, my practice as a witch f...