“Mother of the darkness, Mother of the light, I hold my pain and I hold my healing both in my heart tonight.” —Celeste Larsen, “Mage By Moonlight”
Is it too dramatic to say my life has been forever changed?
Last week I returned from a trip to the sacred heart of Ireland where I spent 5 days in a castle from the 13th century… with 28 witches.
It all started about six months ago when I began following Mage By Moonlight on Instagram. She was not the cover girl for what I was taught in Catholic school of the doomed and damned pagan.
Quite the contrary.
Her work centers around animism, earth spirituality, and connecting to her ancestors. There is a softness and also an inner strength to her energy and one I felt drawn to.
Growing up attending Catholic school, I was taught pagans were evil and their babies needed saving from the fire filled hell they were destined to meet.
Fortunately, my parents evened things out 🙏
Case in point…
It’s 1977 and I’m in the bathtub. My Mom notices I’m wearing my scapular which had been scotch taped back together due to wearing it every day. As a result, my back was a hot mess. “Meg, you have a rash from this thing! Let’s take it off.”
“NO!” I yelled. “Father **** told me even if I murdered someone as long as I had this around my neck when I die I will go to heaven.”
“Absolutely NOT true!” she says.
Now to be fair, I doubt that is what he exactly said… but I’m pretty sure it was fairly close. Perhaps this was the initial spark for my love of crystals and spells? Just a thought 🤔
My Dad embodied the essence of paganism. He talked about the moon phases, equinoxes, honoring nature and so on. He was deeply connected to his horses, dogs, and loved pheasant hunting not so much for “kill” but the walks in nature with his friends and canine friends.
As time went on, neither of them batted an eye when I would call upon intuition or magic for every day concerns.
For example…
Dad calls me several years ago stressed out because his dog Vanna had been gone for over an hour.
“Dad, give me five minutes. I will reach out to my friends.”
“Great!” he responds obviously knowing I’m referring to my inner circle of intuitives, psychic mediums, healers etc.
I proceed to text them and quickly receive a response from Laura Ordile saying “Vanna is near the house and staring at a dead tree.”
Sharing this with my Dad, he proceeds to look once again on the river bank… and there she is. Behind some brush staring at was most likely a chipmunk nest… in the hollow of a tree.
This past Spring I was scrolling away and was thrilled to see Celeste was hosting a witchcraft retreat in Ireland for Samhain! My excitement evaporated as I discovered it was sold out, which I’ve discovered happens quite quickly with her events.
A few month later, I awoke at 2am and much to the dismay of my higher self… opened Instagram. Her promo video for the Ireland trip was once again in my feed.
“Hmmmm…” I thought. 🧙♀️
Quickly, I hopped on her website and discovered a spot had opened up due to a cancellation. I literally flew down the hallway in my nightgown 🧹, grabbed my Visa, and without giving it a second thought, signed up.
It was a divine moment of being out of my head and in my heart and as we know, our intuition never steers us wrong.
So, how did it go?
That is the question family and friends are asking and frankly, I hesitate even trying to encapsulate the feelings and experience for fear of diminishing its effect on me. I mean, how can you even put into words something like this?
Going into this journey I was quite nervous and not sure of what or who to expect.
What I discovered was a group of 28 resilient and vulnerable women… and one brave man ❤️.
Scientists, therapists, students, military, and mothers.
For me, magic is real and I believe in angels, fairies, and the powers we possess. But wowza these women live and breathe all of it. It’s part of them and how they operate with people, trees, animals, and their purpose in the world. They don’t just talk about magic… they ARE magic. As I said to them the last night, “okay ladies so you are like the real deal and I’m more like the Hallmark Movie kind of witch” 😂
Here were the highlights for me:
- Communing with nature and bonding with trees in the forest on the estate.
- Connecting with horses
- Learning about Eriu the Goddess of Ireland
- Letting go of guilt, regret, and grudges
- Summoning things like love, success, and connection
- Connecting with ancestors
- Spells for protection and peace (spells=manifestation)
- Learning from the messages of dreams
If the word “witch” brings to mind things like evil and scary and old then I encourage you to research the origin of this stereotype and how it stems from misogyny during the witch trials. The demonization of targeted women was born from a place of control. Control of women who were widows or healers or rocked the boat with their own voices.
To learn more about this topic, Celeste has an insightful and very popular book called Heal The Witch Wound.
I left Ireland with a lighter heart, full of clarity, and part of a coven of like-minded beautiful souls for which I am forever grateful.
If you’re more of a visual person, you can click here to see picture and videos of this memorable trip 💚
XO,
Meg
