It’s the witching hour.
There’s something powerful in the air this week. Last week’s lunar eclipse shook us all up, asking us to question the path we’re on and to realign with our sense of purpose, to let go of anything that isn’t serving that purpose or serving us. And now, as we shake ourselves free of unnecessary baggage or restraints, a portal to another world is opening. It’s Samhain - the death of the old year, the birth of the new. The time when the boundaries of our reality are at their thinnest, when we can get a glimpse of other realities, other possibilities; where the past, present and future merge, and linear time collapses, and where “now” can mean something entirely different. It’s a time of magic, of possibility. It’s time for letting go. It’s time for clearing space for growth. It’s time to take stock of what you really want to grow, and to be intentional about what you nurture for your future. For your now. Whatever your soul has been yearning for, whatever your heart desires, let go of those stories you’ve been telling about why you can’t have it.
This is it, my friend. It’s time. The door is open - walk through it.
This week’s sparks
In this week’s post I am offering you:
An exercise to help you identify the path you want to take
Three creative prompts to give you ideas and inspiration for your creative practice this week
A recipe for pumpkin cookies
As a new month is beginning, paid subscribers will also be getting their new seasonal planner for November on Tuesday.
But first, an invitation…
Before we get started, I want to remind you that my Cosy Creative Retreat starts on 6th November. On Monday 6th, Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th, you’ll receive a reflective exercise to help you listen to your soul, and a creative prompt to inspire your creative practice, and you can engage with these entirely on your own schedule. On Thursday 9th, we’ll gather for a live creative hour on Zoom to give us some focused time for our creative activities whilst connected to the energy of a supportive community.
It’s all completely FREE, and you can sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/4e3f1a1fc389/cosy-creative-retreat
Ok, let’s get started with this week’s first exercise.
What path should you take?
Sometimes it can be hard to see the road ahead. There is so much noise and light and confusion in the world that the path can be obscured, we’re not sure where we’re putting our feet. We don’t know where different routes might lead us, and we can’t always be sure where we want to end up anyway.
At these times, the best thing we can do is tune into our soul and listen to what our intuition is telling us. Our souls and our bodies often know more than our rational minds, because they’re not distracted by messages from other people or society about what we should do or should want - they just respond to a deep inner knowing about what lights you up, what you need, what works for you.
It’s hard to listen to this small, quiet voice under so many competing demands for our attention, so here we’re going to carve out a space to be still so we can hear what it has to say.
The following audio contains a short meditation - find somewhere you can be still and quiet and listen to it without any distractions.
Creative sparks
Mars goes into retrograde this week, which can stir some difficult feelings. Mars is the ruler of our energy and drive, so this period of retrograde can make us a little lethargic, finding it harder to get things done, which can leave us feeling irritable and frustrated. The gap between what we want and what we’re actually doing can put us a bit on edge.
Combine this with the revelations of last week’s lunar eclipse and the thinning of the veil at Samhain, and we might be in for a bumpy ride this week. All the more reason to explore and express your feelings through your creative practice so they don’t get stuck and fester.
On the plus side, towards the end of the week the Saturn retrograde is coming to an end, releasing restrictions on your intuition and imagination. This coincides with the moon entering Leo - a good time for creative energies - so you can really lean into your creative practice and allow yourself to daydream.
Journal prompt: frustration
Where in your life do you find frustration bubbling up? Which moments and situations cause your jaw to clench? Where are you feeling tension in your body?
All of this can give you some clues on where you’re not in alignment with your needs and your sense of purpose, and where you’re experiencing energy blocks.
Exploration: dreams and imagination
If you have a work in progress on the go, think about how you convey - or how you could convey - elements of dream or imagination in your work. Do the characters / subjects dream? Have imaginary worlds? Even if they’re not depicted in the work itself, consider what they might look like.
If you don’t have a current work in progress, use the idea of dreams and imagination as a jumping off point.
Creative spark: ghosts
Literal ghouls, metaphorical hauntings or whatever else thoughts of the spirit realm conjure for you, use this prompt to create in whatever medium calls to you this week.
Pumpkin cookies
When it’s cold and rainy outside, I love to be in a warm, cosy kitchen, baking comforting foods. It’s also a good activity to keep the kids occupied when they’re bouncing off the walls from not enough time outside. As it’s Samhain, this is the perfect rainy day treat, and a good use of the pumpkin flesh leftover from your carving.
Ingredients
360g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
240g unsalted butter, softened
200g granulated sugar
200g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g pumpkin purée
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Set this aside until step 6.
In another bowl, beat the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar.
Then beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin purée. (Don’t worry if it looks a bit curdled at this point.)
Now stir in the flour mixture.
Scoop heaped tablespoon-sized balls of mixture onto baking trays lined with baking paper. Space out the balls as they will spread a little in the oven.
Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.
Let the cookies rest for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Top tip
The cookie mixture is freezable. Follow steps 2 - 7, then put the baking trays into the freezer. Once the cookie balls are set, you can transfer them to freezer bags and keep them frozen for up to three months. They can be baked straight from the freezer, but they’ll need a minute or two longer in the oven.
Enjoy!
Oh, I loved your meditation! Just wonderful ❤️ The prompt is rather interesting timing, as I've been sick last week and going into this, though starting to feel better. That was a big frustration.
"Which moments and situations cause your jaw to clench? Where are you feeling tension in your body?" My fatigued and injured vocal cords. The tension is in my throat, my jaw, neck and shoulders, and vocal cords themselves. I recently made the decision to sing again, and then last Tuesday, pretty much lost my voice.
The next day I woke up sick, so I know that had something to do with it, but it freaked me out, as I'm not sure what shape my cords are in as a result of my years long chronic fatigue, and wondered if I had damaged them with the gentle vocal exercises I was doing, but only intermittently. Taking steps to heal, and really support my voice.
And this: "This is it, my friend. It’s time. The door is open - walk through it." What a gift. Thank you ❤️