The Contemporary Mystic

  Magical in the Mundane, Building Faith This New Moon Cycle, I decided to focus on opening the roads and inviting blessings and prosperity into my life. On Monday, during the hour of Saturn, I performed a ritual, seeking the Angels' assistance to remove obstacles. I crumbled bay leaf, rue, and money-drawing powder (which I bought in college, hoping I wouldn’t need it by now) and ground them in my mortar and pestle while whispering incantations, asking the herbs for their help. Fun fact: I got my mortar and pestle from a museum that was giving away art supplies to teachers in need (yup, that’s me). Over the years, I've built up my collection of magical items. I try not to purchase too many new things, instead hoping (or asking) my spirits to bring them to me. Recently, I wanted a bike because—I realized—running is absolutely terrible. BoJack Horseman was spot-on in that assessment. A couple of days later, my partner surprised me with a good-quality used bike he got for free! It...

October 2025, I was struggling mentally and emotionally with the state of the world. Oftentimes, I turn inward because I have to regulate my internal self before I come up with a solution; focusing on what I can manage in the immediate moment. I quote Olaf from Frozen II in these situations, "This is called focusing on what we can control when we feel out of control."  My resolutions to issues vary, however, most of them have a component of witchcraft. I try to back my magical workings with real life action or vice versa. Need to set limitations at work? Invoke Saturn while writing an email stating I need a step back. Taking a walk to become grounded again? Maybe take a stroll to the cemetery while chanting IO HEKA IO HO. Lacing magic with everything I do—especially with the seemingly small mundane aspects of life—makes it extraordinary. It reconnects me to the World, the Divine. Mantras or enns are especially helpful with this. I often do them while I am creating art. Each b...

  (Image made through Canva without AI) Dear Readers of The Contemporary Mystic,  In past blog posts, I have used AI (Artificial Intelligence) from Canva or ChatGPT to create images to convey the topics. However, after further research and understanding of the dangers and concerns of AI, I will no longer be using AI moving forward . Outside of managing my digital journal, I am a professional artist and often use my spiritual experiences to enchant or inspire certain pieces. For me, art is an integral part of my devotional practice as well, to honor the Divine.  I now fully understand that the AI models steal from any content online to generate images, books, and more. “ The language models and image generators need samples before they can generate anything – they can’t create text or images from nothing. The companies call this “training” – the AI is being provided huge datasets that are run through several algorithms. Where does that data come from? From us. Human creati...

(Artwork by Delaney Marie Designs ) Alchemizing Ancestor Lineage: You Are Still You I’m getting closer to my thirties now, and it’s been a wild journey. Emerging from my turbulent adolescence into the process of becoming who I truly am—my own sovereign individual—has been a diamond-in-the-rough passage. When I look in the mirror, I see a strong, fierce, vibrant woman, and I am so incredibly proud of her. However, when certain Parts of myself become activated and I need to un-blend them from my Self, I sometimes see my maternal caregiver staring back at me—or, more recently, my eldest sibling. This can be unnerving, as for many years my goal was to never be anything like them. I spent much of my early twenties, especially around alcohol, trying to avoid any resemblance to “them.” Seeing traces of them in my physical appearance was jarring. My saving grace was that I had my father’s eyes and scars on my body that were not from some of my abusers. I spoke about this with a friend and show...