Magickal Month- November

So this is a thing I want to start doing from now on. For each month, I’m going to talk a little about the tides of the month, the lunar and astrological dates, stones and herbs I’m especially drawn to, and do a 3 card reading for the month. At the bottom, I’ll talk about a few of my own personal feelings about the month and also set some goals for the month. I encourage you to take this information and use it to make your month a little more magickal! 🙂

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November was named from the Latin word novem, meaning 9. That may seem strange until you find that it used to be the ninth month on Ancient Roma calender. Later, January and February were added to make the days in the year come closer to an actual agricultural year, and so we have the 9th month becoming the 11th month.

Here in Georgia, the weather can still be iffy. We had some cold nights in October, but it can still get into the 60s or even low 70s for a few days in November. I’m writing this on November 10th, and the high today was 66. It’s supposed to be a high of 48 in a few days. Go figure. Honestly, it used to be much colder by now, but global warming is taking away our winters. And speaking of that, we’re at about peak leaf color right now. I remember when peak was like the 3rd week of October, but whatever. I’ll leave off on my personal environmental terror for now.

Lunations:
Full Beaver moon in Taurus, November 11, 1:22am (EDT)
New moon in Scorpio, November 18, 6:42am (EST)

Astronomy:
Leonids meteor shower November 16th. (It will be close to a new moon, so the viewing conditions will be great!)
Neptune goes direct November 22nd.

Celtic Tree Month:
Reed- Introverting, withdrawing, connecting with the past and with spirit, ancestors, messages from the spirit world, culling that which doesn’t serve us, dreaming- but not planning, reed used to make arrows for hunting/culling, mournfulness of wind instruments- like flute, which is made from reeds.

Holidays (mundane):
All Saints/All Souls day, Day of the Dead- November 1st.
Election Day- November 7th.
Veteran’s Day- November 11th.
Thanksgiving- November 23rd.

Holidays (Pagan):
World Community Day- November 3rd.
Apaturia (Greek welcoming of children and newcomers)- November 7th-10th.
Teutonic festival of Hod killing Baldur- November 11th-17th.
Tolerance Day- November 16th.
Fast for an Abundant World Harvest- November 16th.
Khalkeia (honoring Athena and Hephaistos)- November 16th-17th.
Maimakterion Noumenia (Festival honoring all the old Greek gods)- November 18th-19th.
Feast of Aphrodite and Eros- November 21st-22nd.

Themes for the month: Working with ancestors around Samhain/All Saint’s Day, preparing for the holidays, gratitude and giving thanks, crafting presents, writing (if you’re a fan of NaNoWriMo), clearing/cleaning/redecorating the home for visits from holiday guests, hunkering down for the long winter ahead. Also a good time for shadow work as the nights get longer and the forced celebratory atmosphere of December holidays are still far enough away.

General activities for the month: Knitting, writing (for me at least), getting serious about coffee and tea, making soups, spending time with family around Thanksgiving, raking leaves, planning for the holidays, bringing out the sweaters and heavier blankets, turning on the heat, fires (indoors and out), reading something good, generally being cozy.

Herbs I’m using: Lavender (soothes me when I’m in pain from the cooling weather), white willow bark (for the pain), cocoa (warming on cold nights)

Stones I’m using: Lapis lazuli (good for thought, communication, expression, and also releases stress!), sodalite (clears mental confusion, brings focus, expression, good for gentle shadow work), petrified wood (a link to the past, to ancestors and ancient wisdom)

Goddess of the Month: I will be focusing on Nyx, and will be writing an article about her over at a new blog soon. I’ll post a link when it happens!

3 card reading:

So it looks like we’re going to start the month with a lot of energy and passion. But as the month wears on, some of that steam is going to be taken from us, possibly by the weather, possibly by sickness, or we’ll maybe see just a dwindling of energy as the nights get longer. In the end, we’re going to have trouble connecting to that energy that we had in the beginning of the month, because we’re going to just feel old and tired.

It looks like there may be someone trying to suck away our joie de vivre as well, through deceit or abuse, or it can just mean that nasty habits will finally take their toll.

But as I say to anyone who is nervous about rough cards showing up in a reading, at least we’re lucky enough to be forewarned, and we can take steps to mitigate the damage here. So it might be a good idea to take some vitamin C, plan some cheery things to keep your energy up, and look at the people you’re surrounding yourself with. Are they takers, who constantly wear you down? It’s the season of culling and cutting away- get rid of that shit. That’s just good self care.

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That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold (Sonnet 73)

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

My personal tides: I’m primarily focused on writing and creative pursuits, as a lot of people have recently left my life. So I’m refocusing on what it means to be Amie alone instead of trying to Amie for other people. It’s simultaneously freeing and lonely. I’m OK with that. I’m also having a lot of trouble with pain as the cold weather kicks in. There’s always a serious adjustment when the temperature really starts to drop, and the pain can really get to me. So there’s a lot of coziness and self-care happening. And tea. 🙂

My personal goals: I want to win NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words by the end of December. I’d also like to get all of my holiday shopping done before December even starts so that I can relax and enjoy the holidays. I also have several ideas for new readings that I want to test and list in the shop.

I hope this was interesting! If there’s anything else you’d like to see in these posts, please let me know. At some point, I’ll be talking about animal and plant sightings, adding more of a naturalist’s perspective.