On Crocheting Infinite Blankets

Each stitch is a piece of woven intention, a slip of yarn looped around another to bind your healing, nourishing thoughts into the blankets you create.  They are tapestries of a happy life you conjure every time you pick up your needle and yarn. 

Your first was a monstrous purple affair crocheted with only a series of what you now know are half-stitches.  But you and your sisters were set on crocheting your own infinite blankets after watching the heroine in Like Water for Chocolate knit an endless blanket and ride off into the sunset with her creation blazing behind her.  Yes, you needed blankets like that, and so you rustled together old crochet hooks from your mother's stash and bought spools and spools of yarn and crocheted and crocheted for years and years.  Together you crocheted hopes for love and adventure and deep living into the folds of your blankets.  After two or three years of busily working on your infinite blankets while watching old movies or over long conversations, you decided your masterpiece was finished.  It sits folded at the foot of your bed now, twice the size of any normal blanket, and twice as full of history and love.

Your second infinite blanket came to you in graduate school.  This one was your one and only attempt at knitting a blanket.  It was a wish made of mustard and cranberry yarn, a series of stripes to keep you warm and of the living in the land of the cold and the gray.  Like your graduate school experience, knitting was less forgiving of your mistakes as you fumbled your way through these more sophisticated stitches.  There was no do-over, as with your trusty crochet hook, no re-knits to iron out the kinks.  Your only option was to start over completely if you lost a stitch or to keep blazing forward. 

You chose the latter.  Looking back had always seemed like a waste, perfection seriously overrated.  No, you preferred these flaws and holes in your blanket, the better to let bad spirits escape according to an old legend native to your beloved Southwest, learned from your mother.  Three years down the road, this one was three times the length any proper blanket should be; you could almost trail it along the perimeter of your apartment twice over if you wanted, although you'd much rather snuggle into the all encompassing folds of that deliciously imperfect but utterly complete blanket.

You are working on a new one now, this one moving slower than the others.  Almost four years in the making and still only a fraction of it complete.  But you want to take your time with this one.  A bright turquoise and crocheted (yes, you want the forgiving stitch) in a series of shells.  It is longer than the others, and it will be the strongest, the most infinite.  It is your New Mexico blanket, each stitch infused with your love of the desert, begun with the intention of weaving together a life you always imagined embodying: teaching, writing, living in the Land of Enchantment.  Yes, this one is still in progress and may always be.  You work on another infinite blanket too, though this one is not for you. It is the bold pink synonymous with your desert aesthetic, a plucky color bound together in a generous crocheted stitch, so that your niece may live and love and be in the world fearlessly, boldly, and know that she is surrounded by warmth and affection.  It is for the new generation of women in your family, a new generation that, like you and your sisters did together so long ago, will crochet and conjure.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Dreaming Under the Supermoon

You were in my house last night, ephemeral tendrils of light seeping through my window and curling around my body as I slept.  I didn't see you, but I could feel you sweeping away debris from my mind and old skins from my body one gentle caress at a time.

You bathed and cleansed old wounds and shed light on the darker corners of my mind, allowing me to release burdens I didn't know I was carrying.  You held me in your arms as I dreamed deeply of things long past and those to come, of the here and now, and of the realms that only exist when I close my eyes. 

After a week of letting go of old selves, of things, old ways of thinking, I return to my dream realms to finish the task of unburdening myself from people I will and never should be.  You, supermoon, help me with this, with your larger than life wisdom casting hope, rebirth, gentle understanding into the shadows of my home, myself.

You, dear moon, reinforce the necessity of gentleness in my life, of the feminine virtues so often undervalued in this world of loud and busy.  No, you say, that is not your road.  You tell me that I am a daughter of the moon, of the stars and midnight, of the quiet hours of reflection, the mistress of secrets revealed only in the hush of late hours and moonlight. 

Today is the day I feel this transformation most, as I shake off sleep and turn those quiet hours of healing into a gentle industry and forward movement.  The metamorphosis happens now when last night it was enough to dream my dreams and let your light wash over me.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Writing in a Cafe

You find yourself in a crowded cafe.  It is the lunch hour.  The tables are packed with people and food and conversation.  There is the clattering of silverware and the hiss of freshly brewing coffee.  There is even the clack-clack-clack of your fingers whizzing across your keyboard. 

But that is what you came here for, after all.  Home would be too cozy today, luring you to your patio with birdsong and dappled sunlight, or to your bedroom where a stack of books awaits your eager gaze--if you enter the kitchen, you are lost for there would be no little recipe that you wouldn't be tempted to try.  So you put on a dress and headed to a place far noisier, but with significantly fewer distractions.

With this hustle and bustle, this active living swirling around you like a heady perfume, you are finally able to sink into yourself, to hear what it is you want to say today.  The buzz of everyday life becomes a soothing beat that allows you to slip into your own meditative thoughts, to breathe and be and write.

Soon, when you've released all the words in you for the day, spinning them out of your fingertips to your blog, when you've allowed your mind to settle and come back to the present moment, you look around and tune into the cafe noise again.  It has, if anything, only grown in fervor.  It is the little details you notice first: you cup of tea cooled beside you, the lemon slice lying discarded next to your cup; the smell of freshly baked bread; the new people occupying the table next to yours.  Your words begin to fade as the buzz of activity around you intensifies--it is time to rejoin this bustle of everyday life.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Visiting the Used Bookstore

In many ways, they are your closest friends, your ever constant companions, made up of paper, ink, glue--sometimes even held together by needle and thread in much the same way your dress is.  Their spines are a familiar weight in your hands; the soft leaves stamped over with words are like parts of a continuously unfolding oracle. 

When you walk into your favorite used bookstore, it is as if you can feel these stories reaching out to you, as if you could wrap them around you like a blanket and disappear inside their covers.  You have long outgrown the notion that everyone feels this way about bookstores, about books; not everyone wants to nourish the imagination nor indulge in this portable feast for the senses.  But for you, that nourishment is life--it is your internal life, often a thousand times louder, more vibrant than your waking one.

The smell of the books--a heady scent reminiscent of lightly smoked tea leaves--is its own soothing perfume.  It doesn't matter what it is.  A worn sword and sorcery book, the bubbled letters on the cover almost completely worn off, though the epic scene below the title remains surprisingly intact.  Or the slim, nondescript volume by Colette almost lost in the crush of the bigger books around it.   Then there are the vintage pulp books whose titillating covers alone could keep you occupied for hours. They all promise to lead you where you need to go simply by making you turn one page after the other.

You find the advice you didn't know you were looking for in the folds of a Rilke book and another on women readers by an author whose name escapes you the moment you set the book back on its shelf--the name forgotten, but not the wisdom.  For once you cannot find a book that calls to you, ready to find a new home among your other books.  It is simply enough to be surrounded by these friends, to walk the narrow aisle and get lost in the piles of stories, so crammed together it is almost as if their contents bleed into one another, create new narratives to fill the shelves. It is enough to fill yourself up with the possibility of these stories even as you turn homeward, already looking forward to an afternoon reading the book you can still picture perched on your nightstand ready for your hands upon it, your eyes caressing the ink of its pages.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On the Summer Solstice

Gorgeous summer landscape of New Mexico. 

To you this day will always be about collecting flowers and dancing barefoot in the grass, attempting to make daisy chains from dandelion heads and spinning around like a dervish until the sun is the only fixed point of your gaze.

You embrace it, this sun, as it stretches from horizon to horizon, coating the earth in its nourishing energy; for the first time, it is able to linger the longest in the sky, so as better to reach each and every corner of your life, illuminating even the darkest shadows.  You feel your skin shedding the weight of winter, casting off unnecessary layers and exposing your now tender skin to the sky, where it cures in the fires of the sun. 

But you have not forgotten the moon, your ever constant companion, with you always even as she gives the sky over to the sun each day, even when she appears absent at night.  She calls to you, too, on this longest day of the year, when her powers wane in the heat of her other half.  She reminds you that the darkness has its virtues, forever calling you deeper into yourself, your thoughts like constellations illuminating your inner landscape.

You will honor this day by tending your herbs and letting them bask in this decadent light.  You will honor this day by breathing in new insights and exhaling old ways of being.  You will honor this day by walking barefoot in the sun-warmed grass and later gazing at the stars when the sun gifts the sky to the moon; and you will honor this day by filling your body with light and well being. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Antiquing

You hadn't planned on it, but before you know it the afternoon has become one long stroll through your favorite antique store.

You get lost on the embroidered handkerchiefs and bits of lace loving washed, ironed and displayed.  The tea cups and tin flour sifters seduce you with images of afternoon tea and freshly made scones.  The old books beg you to touch their spines, allowing your fingers to caress the ridges on the tooled leather of their binding.  As if that weren't enough, you marvel at the old bottles and jars--clear and green and blue mason jars, old apothecary bottles, even crystal perfume bottles.  Each one holds its contents like a distilled piece of history; here the jar of buttons in every shape and size, there bits of dust from another lifetime ago, in another German glass glitter so shiny it makes your eyes hurt. 

It is the writing desks and vanity tables that then call to you, throwbacks to elegance and the slow mediation on simple tasks like writing a letter or readying yourself for the day.  You luxuriate in the spools of ribbons on display, too and the piles of ancient typesetting and the retro paintings of fruits and vegetables growing in your garden at this very moment.  Each object makes up a piece of this extravagant tableau, this impression of life as art, of life as beauty, of life as enjoyment. 

When it is time to go--after you have wandered from room to room and around again--you leave the shop feeling refreshed, vibrant, as if the world suddenly has just a little more magic in it. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Synchronicity

It is the moment between thinking of moving in one direction and being stopped by a red light at the crosswalk. Don't go down that road.  It is the ladybug that lands on your porch as you turn your thoughts to that new blog. Yes, it says. Yes. Go that way.  It is the clock ticking in the middle of the night as you start awake from a nightmare (what is worth your time?), the clap of thunder that punctuates your revelations, the song that blares from your car radio when you key the ignition--there's no going back the lyrics roll out--just as you marvel at how your life is in the here and now. 

It is everywhere and nowhere, an ephemeral thread, a wisp of silk that guides you if you know how to read the signs.  The simple magic of listening to yourself and the world around you, without the condemning filters of over-thinking, feeling-numbing, self-critiquing.  It is pure insight.

It is the roadrunner that greets you one morning as you head to your office before class.  You pause to enjoy the beautiful morning, the way the mint green trees highlight the rich purple of the mountains, the turquoise sky a perfect backdrop to another day in the Land of Enchantment.  A thought flits through your brain--an old, worn thought that has outlived its welcome.  It has muscled its way in nonetheless, no doubt from the backdoor you left open from over-work the day before.  It is a thought from a past self, a small shadow of doubt on an otherwise gorgeous day.  A tiny dour question to your latest pop of inspiration.

And then the roadrunner crosses your path.  It darts past you from bush to rock to dry brush as you make your way to your office, confusing evil spirits by its X-shaped feet--leaving them unable to tell in which direction you are moving, casting away darkness and welcoming light.  All is well, it says. Follow the inspiration and all is well.   

So you turn from that shadowy thought--it is irrelevant--and wrap your inspiration around you like a leather coat.  You thank the roadrunner for his synchronous visit.  You thank the world for sending this message.  You thank yourself for listening.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Dreaming Deeply

You are craving it: that deep sleep that makes you forget where and who you are, and yet brings you closer to yourself.

You welcome it with the arms of a lover as you crawl into bed, already claiming it as yours before the lamp light is out. You wait for it to take you, however impatiently, knowing full well that it will take the time it wants to take--at first courting you slowly and then upon you all at once, pulling you deeper into a realm beyond your own. 

It is not the sleeping you love, so much as the dreaming. You long for the stories that unfold behind your eyelids and the parts of yourself to awaken that are too often submerged in a hazy half-sleep throughout the day.

Deeper still you go, to places with no names and languages beyond your scope in the here and now, but that are yours nonetheless--yours always, when you sneak beneath your covers and let sleep take you.

Yes, it is the dreaming you look forward to, so much so that it is a wonder your waking life is not its own dream meant to pass the hours, the minutes until you can once again be claimed by that other place, that other embrace.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Getting Sh** Done

You feel like a boss.

Your week started with more than you knew how to handle, carry-overs from last week: tasks put off in order to deal with unexpected bumps in the road, piles of essays to grade taller than yourself--even in heels.  Procrastination was not in your vocabulary.  It was, in truth, the stuff of anxiety dreams.  You knew there would be no relaxation until that mountain of work was reduced to a small speck of dust.  No evening glass of wine enjoyed, no yoga fully given over to. 

There was only one thing to do: get shit done.

The hours before you unrolled like one long 80s montage dubbed to a Spanish pop soundtrack: clipping through papers and answering emails and cranking out those lesson plans.  Onward!  Watch as the pile of ungraded essays is reduced to one final late paper.  Bob your head to the beat of Belanova as you see the last of that online training. 

Between one day and the next, you found yourself with a to-do list whose entries had been crossed through one after another, until you were left with nothing but horizontal black lines, proof of your progress. 

This, this is getting shit done.  And the post-yoga glass of wine?  That's enjoying your boss status.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On the First Bird to My Bird Feeder

I would like to thank you, brave soul, the first to venture into my homemade bird feeder. 

Built from a small blue colander, fishing wire, and more gumption than crafting know-how, it was my ode to spring, my gesture of goodwill to you lovely birds that fill my mornings with sweet songs and my nights with quiet lullabies. 

How long I have been courting you, dear birds!  How long have I been scattering seeds around the perimeter of my little patio--advertising the new restaurant in town.  Yet still my feeder sat, filled with too much birdseed, forlorn and untouched by anything but this brash March wind. 

I know the perils you face dear birds--the cats living above me make no secret of their desire to have you visit their patio.  I spied them one night, sipping wine after a long day at work.  I looked up to find their little heads peeking over their patio awning to peer into mine. 

Aha!  I told myself.  It is the cats that have scared you birds away.  I will give you a safer place to feed.  So I put my bird feeder safely inside my patio, away from the prying eyes of cats.  I scattered more seed.  I waited.  I hoped.  Eventually, I began to reconcile myself to the fact that none of you would visit. 

It was in that frame of mind that I once again went out to my patio to enjoy a glass of wine.  And there you were--my brave little friend!  My one lone adventurer who risked the cats and dove into my bird feeder and gobbled up seeds.  I thank you.  What's more, I'll put out more bird seed for you.  For you and your friends.  Please come again--soon!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On the Doves Outside My Window

Every morning they greet you with their cooing and cuddling.

They perch on the thick branches of the naked tree just outside your window, warbling and fluffing their feathers and flitting around each other in an ancient mating dance.  Those two are your writing companions, punctuating each of your sentences with their full-bellied song.  This time of year, the leaves of the tree do not hide their presence--and so you see them, in all their glory, as they go about their day, flirting, singing, flying.

You need no other music but their song and the flap of their wings as they wind around each other, circle the tree and dart around other birds--their neighbors the finches and sparrows.  They remind you that spring is almost here, that the earth is already preparing for the new season, that seeds are sprouting in the ground, getting ready to push their little heads skyward. 

These doves are proof that life is more than just one keystroke after another, but a continuous dance, a never ending song, a bright burst of flight over the tree, out of range of your windowsill, and towards the mountains.  They are your evidence that life is in the quiet moment where you pause and simply listen to the doves' song and watch as they playfully chase each other from branch to branch and then take flight.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Because I Love Sunflowers...and Polka Dots

Flowers on my kitchen table...

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On the View Outside My Office Today

So it snowed last night in Albuquerque and I woke up to a desert city powdered with snowflakes. Then this glorious winter-scape greeted me when I got to work. Seriously have no words for this kind of beauty, so I will let the picture speak for itself.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Birthdays

You are a kid again.  The day is about cake and polka dots and fun.

Each part of your routine sparkles with the pure enjoyment of the day: the promise of celebrations, the excitement of opening a present carefully chosen for you by someone you love.  Even the sun seems to hold you close. 

It is a day begging to be dressed up in a fancy frock and ribbons in your hair; a day that calls for a lighter work load if not downright hooky.  It is a day lived in the present even as it acts like a camera reel sliding over scenes from the past year--accomplishments, heartaches, adventures, and curve balls.  But the reel stretches beyond the year, reminding you that today of all days is where you can feel not just your age but also 25 or 12 or 7.  These years, these ages, these other yous all weaving together to make the you that is you right now.

The you that is seven still thinks of this day as the one where you get to eat a big piece of vanilla cake smothered in brightly colored frosting.  The you that is now--the one that has almost grown out of the frosted cake eating--looks to the day as one in need of champagne or bubble baths or both.  Both yous--the seven and the now--will forever agree that it is a day for a fancy dress, a cheeky A-line skirt that shouts girly fun and frivolity.

And all of the yous know that the cake, the dress, the champagne, the pure giddy enjoyment of being one year older, pale in comparison to spending a day with those you love, celebrating the you that is now with people who have known all the yous, sometimes better than you have.  They are the hugs and love and proverbial warm fuzzy blanket that make the day worthwhile.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Long Walks

You wake up with an expansive feeling in your chest, a longing to roam to the farthest reaches of your territory.  You want the sun on your skin and fresh air to tickle your nose.  There is simply nothing to do but wander wherever your feet will take you--perhaps here to the neighborhood bookstore, or there to the park, full of families playing games and couples walking their dogs.  All you know is that you must walk until the bright energy in your chest reaches your toes and your whole body sings with the fullness of life. 

The birds support this plan, luring out of your home with their playful chatter and accompanying you as you drift through the city, one step at a time. The naked tree branches remind you that it's still winter, although it feels more like the first kiss of spring in the air. 

You pause at each turn to consider your next direction; your decisions move you toward an unplanned adventure, the promise of an unexpected delight.  Even as you move forward, a part of you is waiting expectantly, longing for a joyful surprise hidden behind each fork in the road, a mystery to be discovered, a hidden gem of something or another to be revealed.  Because today your city is more than just a map of routes that get you from A to B, but a nest of haunts and jewels to be savored, lingered over, like a cup of tea on a cold day. 

Eventually, when your legs tire and your appetite for an adventure is sated, you wander home, happy with roaming, but happier still to return to your sanctuary, the promise of a hot bath awaiting you.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Snowshoeing

There is no sound lovelier than the kiss of snowshoes on fresh snow as you glide through the sun-filled forest, marveling at the delicate tree branches coated in ice crystals.

Each step takes you further and further away from your cares until you are left with nothing but the methodical rhythm of your snowshoes flowing along the path and the sound of winter birds flirting in the trees above.

Snowshoeing is not the frantic, fast-paced drama of downhill skiing, as snowboarders whiz past you on the slopes and a helmet is advisable; nor is the plodding of cross-country skiing, with too-long feet and laborious trekking across an open field. 

It is a moving meditation of heart, breath, feet--each step at once grounding you to the earth and lifting your spirits above the tree line.  For several hours you are only nature's grateful visitor, sun and snow your welcome companions.  You pause to admire the canyon below, feeling the world open up to you.

It is no longer small cubicles and meticulously scheduled days, but an expansive never ending abundance calling to you, beckoning you to remember a fuller, bigger life.

So you turn from the view and continue your journey deeper into nature, grateful for this reminder to always live expansively. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Everyday Conjurings

Typically, when we think of conjuring magic, we imagine a wart-spattered witch hovering over her boiling cauldron whispering spells on the night of the full moon, attempting to turn the wheel of fortune to her desires.

But real conjuring is at once simpler and more magical than that.  It is the basic act of focusing our energies, setting our intent to achieve desired results.  This time of year, with Halloween at our doorstep, it may be easier to accept magic as a natural part of life. The stirring of red leaves across the street, the rich scent of earth going to sleep for the winter, the little creaks and whispers in the house that lull us to sleep--or sometimes wake us for no apparent reason...all are reminders of the subtle forces that stir around us.  Conjuring is a way for us to become more in tune with these forces, more in tune with our deepest selves.

Think about it: we conjure every time we daydream about our futures, resolve to change something in our lives, or continue with other life patterns. We conjure when we meditate or do yoga.  We conjure when we cook, our intent to nourish and love settling over the food like any spell a witch casts over her cauldron.  In essence, conjuring is being conscious about the energies we choose to allow into our lives.

I've been mulling over this concept as I prepare to move into my new home--okay an apartment--now that I am ready to set down roots in New Mexico.  This is a chance to let go of old ways of being, which for me means letting go of my graduate school days and all the baggage that came with that: long hours, overwork, unhappiness, stress.  It is also a chance to consider the type of energy I want to bring into my new space, the type of life I want to conjure up for myself. 

It has taken a lot of energy these past weeks letting go of old furniture (goodbye futon and IKEA mattress!) and investing in new, more permanent furniture (hello antique tables and shelves, iron-frame bed, and cranberry colored couches!).  With each piece of old furniture or dead kitchen appliance I recycle, I say goodbye to the old stagnant energy of my past life.  With each thoughtful purchase that replaces those things, I welcome in happiness and vitality.  This is my conjuring of a healthier, happier, more connected life.

My family has been conjuring with me too--adding input to every decoration decision I ponder and getting ready to help move my boxes at the end of this week.  These caring acts imbue my new space with a cozy warmth only family love can give.  I am even happy that I am moving on Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a holiday perhaps more important to us in New Mexico than Halloween.  It is a holiday that celebrates those who have come before us--relatives, loved ones, and, I would add, past selves.  They come to visit, eating sugar skulls and other sweet offerings, bearing messages from beyond.  When I move on this day, I will be able to say goodbye to some ghosts--my past selves that no longer serve me.  This is my conjuring that lets me shed my old skin.

When I dust off my cookbooks and knitted blankets--they've been in storage for quite some time--I will imbue my life with the domestic calm I've always thrived on.  I will cook meals for my family.  I will continue to knit my new blanket, each stitch a link in a woven spell of security and tranquility.  I will write at my big turquoise desk, a pot of tea by my side, feeling the words slip around me and spill out into my new space, coating it in well-being. I will blend my tea.  I will tend my new home. 

I will conjure. No cauldron necessary.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Nourishing Tea

Tea blending is daily magic in its most basic form: creating a healing concoction of herbs to create well-being. 

The curanderas, or medicine women of New Mexico, have been doing it for years to promote health and prevent, or in some cases cure, illness.  Tea blending draws from the power of the earth to nourish ourselves with the gifts of nature.  I'm not saying that I'm above using Tylenol for headaches or a good antibiotic when I get sick,  but a strong ginger and echinacea tea does wonders to prevent a cold, and Valerian and hops chill me out better than any shot of whiskey.  Plus, taking the time to blend my own teas allows me to consciously imbue my tea drinking habit with self-care.  

I feel like an alchemist when I'm in my kitchen adding a pinch of this herb and a handful of those flowers, thinking about what tastes, colors, and healing properties best work together to create a nourishing brew.

All if which is my way of saying that I've been tinkering with a new tea recipe.  I've been marinating on this idea of nourishment--how do we feed ourselves, our souls, or minds, our bodies?  What we ingest both physically and psychically determines our sense of personal well-being.  So with this in mind, I went to work in my kitchen, playing with herbs that would both soothe and nourish for my latest blend.

This new tea has got chamomile in it, the ultimate all around comforting flower.  It is known for soothing restless minds and minor aches and pains in the body.  To boost the soothing properties of my tea, I also added the happy flower calendula aka marigold.  This flower brings a burst of golden color to my blend, along with skin soothing and heart healing properties. The key nourishing ingredient in my blend is alfalfa, which is chock-full of vitamins A, E, K, B, and D, and minerals like iron, magnesium, and potassium to name a few.  The final touch to this blend is fennel seed.  It helps balance the grassiness of the alfalfa with its subtle sweetness--and let's not forget that these little seeds aid digestion.

I made a cup of this tea for my mom when she was frazzled after a sleepless night.  What a change it caused! Twenty minutes after a cup of this nourishing blend, she was back to her tranquil self, restored and ready to tackle the day's adventures. 

I'm including the recipe here and hope that you will try it.  You can find these herbs at your local herb store (mine is actually called "The Herb Store") or online at Rose Mountain Herbs. I look forward to hearing about the results! 

Ingredients:

1 cup chamomile flowers

1/2 cup alfalfa leaves

1/2 cup calendula (marigold flowers)

1/4 cup fennel seeds

Blend all ingredients in a bowl and transfer to an airtight container.    Keep away from direct sunlight and heat.  To brew, use a heaping tablespoon per cup of hot water.  Makes 2 1/4 cups. Enjoy!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!