“Nature loves courage. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed.”

~Terrance McKenna

Stress, fear, doubt and shame were always big things for my Secret Witch, who didn't know her own power. I'd feel frequently overwhelmed, live in fear, and often not see my needs, let alone meet them, leaving me burning out. I often felt trapped in a mundane life, always hoping that one day I'd fix myself.

"The Alchemy available in gathering women to begin to heal wounds and own their power and magic is huge."

~Nicole Barton

There's a deep alchemy in the work we do in circle here at Team Secret Witch - especially in the unique space we are creating, which has a particularly rare flavour of all being welcome, along with an initiation into owning your power and magic. I know this because I am held myself in these sorts of rare spaces, and I feel the potency of this way of being, in comparison to other circles I've...

"It's time, now, to fully honour my devotion, consciously. I don't know what Medicine for my Liberation this will bring, but there's really no other way for me to be."

~Nicole Barton

Last week I was in a Sovereign circle and I was feeling frustrated with myself for not feeling like I was magical (in a very Secret Witch way). As each woman shared, I began to alchemise what was coming up for me in each of their shares, and I began to open to more being revealed.

"Love yourself. Even the most wild and crazy parts."

~Lisa Lister

Incense is such a delight to my body. It actually has none of the healing, therapeutic chemical properties of essential oils, but it definitely stimulates my limbic system and triggers happy, relaxed memories of being in Bali.

As part of my morning ritual, I often have a long bath surrounded by incense and essential oils. That and a mix of yoga, meditation, visualisation, spell casting, energy healing and journalling, depending what my Soul/body needs each day. I'm learning more and more to listen into the call of my body.

“Once you set that spark of hope, possibility and desire alight, there's no stopping the magic it will begin to create.”

~ Nicole Barton

This morning I went to my tree and asked "what do my women need, right now?" And I heard "for you to be with them in hopefulness".

I've been thinking about how the gateway to my work is often "hope." Often when my women first begin to walk the path they will have experienced some depths of darkness that have had them feel deep in hopelessness - ill health…

“That's what this path is all about- learning to love yourself enough to be able to tend these fears and choose your Soul, choose your magic and choose to create life in ways that are in deep alignment for you. And all of it is a choice.”

~ Nicole Barton

Paradoxically, all the fears that have the Secret Witch (who doesn't know her own power and magic) lean away from deepening into the path are #alltheways that it will benefit her in the long run. The first hurdle is usually that my magical women think they're just not even good enough to participate…

"Because I'd not claimed my Feminine power during the various precious initiations I'd been invited into along my path, I'd entered unconsciously - without really considering what it meant to be a woman"

~ Nicole Barton

Mothers' Day a few days ago had me reflecting on how when I became a Mama to my beautiful Lily, I had absolutely no idea that it was going to be the transformational portal it was into the death to old parts of me and an initiation into me reclaiming my power.

"Every word we speak is a spell."

~ Lisa Lister

I've quoted this before and heard it many times - and, at a certain point in life, I came to see and understood this more deeply - especially in my 3P journey as I began to see how powerful thought was in creating our lives. It is so true: we are speaking our lives to life - that makes sense.

"Being soft and open, courageous, vulnerable and allowing our hearts to lead is the exact medicine we need to create magical lives."

~ Nicole Barton

The Secret Witch (aka a woman who doesn't know her power and magic) really beats herself up; she often feels a great shame about her dull-feeling life, and has a really big sense that she is not enough for the life that she dreams about. She doubts herself - and often doesn’t trust others, either, leaving her in protection mode - like an armadillo - more often than not.

“Wild Creatrix's first initiation is into the reminder of woman's power to create. This is the very power we were born with - after all, we have wombs which quite literally birth magic."

~ Nicole Barton

Most Secret Witches arrive here to this path not knowing that they are already creating. "But why would I create this?" they might ask, referring to the way they've been innocently and unconsciously creating everything they *don't* want.

“The benefit of devotion is the full aliveness found in the fullest expression of our Soul. The cost is our discomfort, the benefit is we find ourselves.”

~ Nicole Barton

This morning I went for an early morning walk in my devotion to Soul, Magic and the Feminine. It was raining as I got out of bed. I haven't got a rain mac for this rainy weather that is waterproof. I hadn't thought about what would happen in my devotion to early morning walks if it was raining. And so, I found myself feeling the resistance in my body to going out in the rain. Tension, heaviness, and excuses galore.

“Pleasure is our Birthright.”

- Michaela Boehm

This quote by Michaela Boehm really stands out to me this month as we move into the energetic of February’s New Moon in Aquarius, which is inviting us into realignment with our heart’s purpose - and our passion, pleasure and desires…

“It may be the first day of your life, the prime of youth or several decades in, when Medicine Woman calls you. She crept in… when you… pushed too hard just one time too many.”

- Lucy Pearce

Back when I had Chronic Fatigue, when I was age 10, I had no idea I was being initiated into magic. I had little idea of any of what was going on, really - I was too young, though I do remember the various holistic healing techniques we explored, and the haunting call of the Doctors "there nothing you can do to heal from this yuppy flu."

The more courage and vulnerability we have on this journey, the deeper we can embody the Witchy fullness of our Souls ~ Nicole Barton

I’ve been sitting in a women’s circle myself for the last few months, with some magical, powerful women - all coaches need their own space for expansion, and so my own deepening was into the Feminine, which I had experienced some resistance to (much like I explored the resistance many of my own women have to the word ‘Witch’ in my last blog). Where there’s resistance, there’s also usually gold - which is really what we are here exploring this this blog post today, as it’s all about embracing the darkness.

“I'm deeply called to your work, but I'm just not sure if I'm a Witch, I feel so much resistance to the Witch!" ~ Secret Witches

Mmm, this *exact* resistance is one that comes up frequently for women who are beginning to take the tender first steps into the path I share;

“For me, magick is love. Whenever you bring in Divine light to manifest one thing or the other in the world, what you’re actually doing is pulling in love. ~ Damien Echols

I adore this because it points to the critical interweaving of spirit and soul that I share along the journey to liberating your Wild Witch - when we co-create magic, we are ultimately calling in Divine love through our human Soul. Ultimately, that’s what magic really is; a manifestation of *love* itself. Wow……..

“A true ‘wild witch’ is an almighty powerful creatrix, capable of manifesting a magical life and serving greater good.”

~ Nicole Barton

I wrote this feature for Soul & Spirit magazine’s October issue, to call Secret Witches into awareness of their own almighty power.

“Witch wound: a deep-seated fear of being your fullest expression of self in case you are burned at the stake.” ~ Nicole Barton

Mmm, we are releasing this blog on the run up to Full Moon so, given September’s Secret Witch Circle Facebook Group theme of ‘Rewilding’, it feels like a great time to offer some support around how getting out in the wild can offer you deep healing for your witch wound…….

“Your power only feels absent because it has been felt so deeply in every fibre of your being - and it’s still there.” ~ Nicole Barton

This month, in August, our theme in the Secret Witch Circle Facebook group is all about opening to your power - and it has occurred to me that usually, it is often a surprise to many of the women I work with how almightily powerful they really are…