Nature’s great until it’s stringing the crap out of you.  This is my quick and easy Insect shield, but only for the mean ones!  Little things like this are why we keep grimoires and witches cabinets.  So when we have a problem, we don’t have to think about it, we just flip to the page and whip up a potion. 
Today’s problem-solving potion – bug be gone!  The spell is the same, the receipt changes depending on what I have in the cabinet.  Today, Two droppers of citronella and two droppers of Tea tree oil, filled up the rest of the little roller ball bottle with jojoba.  I used Jojoba instead of something finer because it works better with the roller ball.

I draw a line down each arm, each leg and around my neck and in my minds eye I’m putting on a suit/bubble/shield against everything stingy.
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Oils and lotions I do create to make a shield and keep the bugs at bay.
Biting and stinging, I understand is part of the bug's natural plan,
but in this bubble this witch does hide, from angry insects and biting flies.
This potion does create the shield, and keep nuisance nature far afield

This witch she does spend her energy this day, on cleaning supplies that need to be made
 Powder of soap and citrus she melds, to scrub away dirt and get rid of smells
 Liquids of blue and tangy delight, concentrates blessed with cleaning delight
 These Brews she does make with her full heart and Faith, to lighten her world and clean her place
 

​We all want to connect to nature in our way, but sometimes, it's way tougher than others.  I used to have over 50 indoor plants, but with my life the way it is now, with traveling half the year; it's impossible to keep indoor plants without moving them around every two weeks.  One of the solutions that might work for you, is a terrarium.  
There are 100's of videos on the basics of how to make a self-sustaining terrarium, it's cheap and easy and it's a great outlet for creativity.   This one cost me about $15 and I made it in under 2 hours.  It's about 3 weeks old here.   I found the jar at a thrift store for $5, stones and plants from the backyard, $10 in active charcoal, soil and some things I had around the house.  You can decorate any way you want, You just fill the water up to the dirt level and put on the top.  This one is fancy, as I have added springtails to it.  These are tiny little bugs that just LOVE algie and keep the jars clean and tidy.  As the plants die off the springtails eat the rotting vegetation.  You can purchase spring tails off the internet for less than $20 and feed them active dry yeast till you need them.  The perfect pet, you can forget about them for a month and they will be just fine.  

We often see posts that say things like, I have been away from my practice for many years, and I want to come back to it or I feel stuck like I can't progress what do I do? The answer to this question is pretty easy, you don't do things by thinking about them, you do things by actually doing them. 
So let's make that a practical thing, how exactly do I start the doing? You ask yourself the first question which is what is it you miss or what is it that you want to change? If the answer is I just feel stuck, or i just want to be more in touch or get back to my practice, very easy solution. On the new moon do something different for 28 days; new moon to new moon.  Doesn’t have to be exactly new moon, but in the time frame it really the best time to start.  Energy is low, and it’s a good time to start new things so they can build up slowly.   It doesn't matter what it is it you choose to do, doesn't matter how long it takes you to do it or where it's located or when you do it, just change one thing that you do for yourself every day for 28 days. I have listed just a couple of thoughts of things you can change in an instant for 28 days.
 
Change something you wear every day. For example, if you wear the same set of earrings every day, for the next 28 days change them out daily. This is something you must look at yourself, think about and do.  It’s how the world sees you. Can easily go with shoes if you have enough, or belts, anything you Adorn yourself with.
 
Instead of drinking your cup of coffee while watching the news drink your cup of coffee sitting looking out a window, or if you're able to outside. Take the five, Enjoy the moment.
 
If food is just something you shove in your mouth or pick up through a window, maybe going to the grocery store and planning out a small treat for yourself each night would be the perfect thing. It stops you from just grabbing and makes you think about and appreciate each day not only the forethought but the yumminess and the ability to sit and enjoy a treat.
 
Feel disconnected from your practice? Practice! If you are a nature person, take a walk in the park, if you are a water person find a place to stick your feet in water and go there, religious? Visit a religious place even if it's not your religion, it's still a mind moment in a religious location. Want to reconnect with your own power, get a candle,  light the candle, sit for 5 minutes every day. After 28 days I promise you, you will reconnect with something inside of yourself and probably be doing it 10 or 15 minutes maybe even have added a paper and pad to jot notes down.
 
Used to be very creative and now it's just blah? Get a pad and paper and draw the same thing for 28 days. Doesn't matter what it is make it something easy at first like a head or a flower or anything it doesn't matter. And draw it every single day. You can draw doing different things in different positions or you can draw literally the same exact thing every single day. Again, once you start carving that Groove in your brain for creativity you will get very bored with that single thing, but you'll be amazed at what you've added to it.
 
After 28 days at the next new moon reassesses.  Do something else, try something else do something different but you've got to do something to change, its human nature or physiology depending on which way you look at it.

Moon phases can actually be used/celebrated in a 3-day spread one and a half days before the event and one and a half days after. The small variations in the planetary placements in a 3-day period won't affect the outcome at all. Most witches seem to enjoy being on the exact night or the exact time during their ceremony. Half the time, the exact moment of alignment in your specific part of the world is during the day.  For me, I generally do things in the early evening or even during the day.  I am very comfortable with not needing visual representation of my work so I do my thing when I feel good when I'm awake, after my second cup of coffee or around tea time, before I'm drained from the day. This new moon I got lucky, on my place on the planet it occurred at 11:53 in the morning. Almost like the universe was setting me up for the perfect meditation ceremony.

For me new moons are a time to stop, reflect and make a new 28-day plan. Last moon phase for me was pretty brutal; New businesses and health issues really came together in the crap storm of misery.  This new moon I am refocused. Instead of making goals and striving for them as I have done my entire life I'm going to stop with the goals and start with the processes. If daily life is a routine that gives us joy I need to find out exactly what routine works for me that will give me the most daily Joy. So for the next 28 days I am working on processes and lifestyle and leaving goals on the bottom of the list.  When the goal comes and goes, I should be left with a feeling of "what now" because the processes will be in place for daily routine.  Life should form around the joy of every day.  At least that's the new goal (HA! Joke people).  

On to the magic! I use the same meditation for new moon every month. Witchcraft is a matter of practice and the reason we practice with the same spell especially if the spell is effective or the same meditation is to build a Groove in our minds. A little fold in our brain that the power and the chemistry and the energy runs down. The deeper that Groove the better the energy flow to that purpose; so if we repeat the same spell every single month our brain automatically goes to the groove flows the energy down it and voila your magic gets stronger. This new moon, I made a cup of tea and I rewrote the spell with my new ink pen and then I wrote another piece of paper with my next 28-day statement of my intent for routine building.. I burned the spell in my fireplace when I was done with the plan.

​I wrote this ritual about a week before Ostara.  I'm still getting used to re-doing things so they look nice and posting them on the web in time for people to actually use them.  Hopefully next year I will be ahead of the game.  The actual ritual was written on the back of my water bill, just in case you all think I get all fancy when I write stuff.  I don't. 
I often take note of the wheel of the year as it's based on just that, the natural laws of the world we live in.  I'm not so concerned with the exact dates, as our ancestors were not concerned with it.  It's about the time of the year, the feeling, the things we should be doing to be in the groove with the natural order.
I often reference back to my Yule Blessing, and as I move through the year I continue to do this.  We don't write rituals and keep grimoires for likes or ego or other people, we do it so we can reference back.  My yule blessing this year is around growth and neutering.  Growth of a new business, neutering of my physical and mental health.  I garden and this year, my outdoor space needs to be a reflection of shoring up, gathering and putting in roots.  Basically getting ready for whatever the next five years bring.  Just like my ancestors did, this is a moment to move and groove and get it done.

​The Earth rolls through the black of space, and brings us around again to this place
We plant the seeds and face the Sun, feeling the warmth and the life to come
Hope for the future I do request, comfort, and joy, and plenty of rest
To slow a little and worry less, enjoy nature more and feel her chest
All things in good time will grow big and strong, if you nurture and cradle them in your arms
The rise and fall of the Sun, the Rhythm of Life Starts to hum
Out from the cold I do crawl, and into the light I do behold; a future that grows steady and strong, nurtured within my loving arms