Late Autumn Cauldron Magick
Have you every felt like you and your life were resting in a cauldron, awaiting your next incarnation? The cauldron is the symbol of the womb, the birthplace of all creation. Building universal energy is the lesson right now on the Wheel of the Year, Nature’s Mandala. Now we rest in the stillness as the days grow shorter, night are long, and our birth, the sun’s rebirth, grows closer. When we reside in the cauldron, we are incubating thoughts, emotions, desires, ideas, feelings. Or we may sit in the silence of nothingness, resting. Or await inspiration, the breath of Spirit. Or we may meditate and find ways to align our light with the Divine Source. Now is a potent time of possibility.
Every year I return to a metaphorical womb, encased in the unknown mystery, from mid November through Winter Solstice. I think we all do, as the hush of darkness rests upon us like a velvet blanket. We move toward the stillness of Solstice Night, the longest night of the year.
My maternal grandmother crossed the threshold from living to Spirit on November 14th, and I believe I incarnated into my at the same time. I believe our souls reside in the One Light, God/dess, Great Spirit, (by whatever name you call it) and visit our bodies occasionally while we live in our mother’s wombs, with increasing frequency as our birth nears. Cats can sense the unseen spirit of unborn. Wise grandmothers, mothers, midwives and doulas will notice when the child’s spirit has entered the body, whether by kicks or dreams, or after birth with a sudden and steady stare or shifts in the energy field.
In the womb, I experienced the shock of grief and death and simultaneously the joy at my own birth on the solstice. This is Phoenix rising Magick. In their own way, everyone experiences the broad spectrum of emotions on the birth, death, rebirth cycle in late autumn. This year, I am choosing to get truly cozy and comfortable in my cauldron, my womb space, because I know the value of the rest before birth.
I thrilled to announce that I am awaiting the contract of my next book, Box of Magick, from my new publisher, Sounds True.
This new book was inspired by Connie deMasters, my Wiccan mentor, who crossed over in 2005. At the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, Connie’s daughter Alexa sent me all Connie’s Magickal notes gathered over decades: twenty-three pounds of rituals, hymns to deities, teacher’s curricula for Wicca and Witchcraft classes, spells, plays, charts, astrology, numerology, and chants. Help can always reach you, even from the Spirit World. Connie is in the framed picture and I also honor Julie Castiglia, my first literary agent whose life we just celebrated.
Sounds True recently sent me a selection of books they have published to inspire my writing (the book is due September 2022 and will be released in fall 2023. One of the books, High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practice that Saved my Life on Death Row, re-introduced me to the Fourfold Breath and the power of adding a meditation. I have created a visualization that I hope helps you tap into the Magick and possibility of this moment. Although you can do this meditation anytime, an eclipse before the full moon while in the cauldron of the year is most auspicious.
Settle into a seated or reclined position. Imagine that you are inside a large and cozy cauldron, much like a womb. Feel the vastness of the multi-universe.
1. Inhale to the count of four and draw the galaxy of stars and possibilities into your body.
2. Hold your breathe four seconds and watch as the dark glorious unborn energy fills your body.
3. Exhale to the count of four and send the power of stillness to fill up your aura.
4. Hold your breath four seconds and feel the protection of an energy field pulsating as the universe enfolds around you.
Repeat the fourfold breath a few times or until you feel complete.
In this moment, these weeks preceding the Winter Solstice, we are in the cauldron of immense possibilities for one moon cycle. Practice this cauldron meditation imaging the phase of the moon beginning with the full moon on Friday, November 19 as it wanes and waxes to fullness on December 18, a few days prior from the sun’s rebirth on December 21. Everyone in the Western Hemisphere is in this womb. Also known as Yule, this holy day (holiday) is named for the Wheel and honors the sacred cycles of our seasons on earth. What will we birth in the new year depends on what we are incubating right now, both individually and collectively. Hope and faith are cultivated with the returning light and longer days. Will you choose the path of light? There have been many moments in my life when I have chosen the dark and frightening path to prove my resourcefulness, cleverness and creativity - to be the light in someone else’s storm. Today, I am choosing positive, light-filled path and keeping my thoughts on visions of possible cauldron Magick that brings me greatest joy.
