Authenticity

It's 8:30 on a Tuesday night. I've been sitting on my couch with my son who is currently doing something on his own laptop, and with an English bulldog we've been taking care of for a friend. The dog is giving me side eye whilst also managing to snore despite being (mostly) awake. Apparently it's an English bulldog thing. The side eye is because both napping laps are currently occupied with things that are not her.

We have "Chopped" on in the background, and I keep stealing glances to my spidery philodendron who is finally learning to climb his new moss pole (all but one of my plants are boys. Don't ask. I don't make the rules.), thanks to The Salem Plant Witch.

I spent entirely too long going through my camera roll to find a picture for this post that I thought might work. It's one I took of a full moonbow through the branches of one of the trees in my "yard." I've put that in quotes because "my patch of weeds, moss, crabgrass, and sort of grass," would have taken too long to type. Yet I've typed it anyway. But I digress.

This, my friends, is magic. I know you're checking to see if you have the right blog, wondering why this bizarre stream-of-consciousness has anything to do with authenticity, magic, sea witchcraft, or anything at all, but bear with me. Let me explain.

One of the things I hear over and over in witchy groups is, "How do you incorporate magic into your every day?" And one of the things I hear a lot of in the shop is, "This is one of the most authentic shops we've been in so far!" The reason that people feel that way when they come in is because the shop is an extension of me, of this, of this and every moment in time like it. I don't have room in the shop for a snoring English bully or a spindly but enormous plant who's just learning to climb, but what I set out to cultivate was a place where I would feel as at home and comfortable as I do right this moment on my couch. My hope is that in doing so, everyone coming through my door would feel at home too. No airs, no smoke and mirrors. Just a place I love to be and hope you do too.

As for incorporating magic into your every day, my response to that particular question is, simply, you wake up and do it. I know a glamour witch who works her magic into the way she styles her hair and puts on her makeup. I know hearth witches who brew magic into their morning coffee or tea, who cook and bake magic into everything they do. I know green witches who impart magic into the act and art of weeding, of tending, and others who weave it into their writing, their household chores, their knitting, crocheting, and weaving.

In short, everything you do is magical if you open your eyes, and then open them again. When you wake up fully to the world around you, you see the magic in what you once thought mundane. You know that cleaning your house isn't just a chore, it's an opportunity for cleansing. When you weed your garden, it's not just a task. It's a way of rooting yourself to the earth, and a banishing ritual. When you create a work of art, even if only for your own eyes, it's not just marks on a page or canvas. It's sigils and your own spell incorporated into the finished piece. When you spend a day at the beach, it's not just some time under the sun. It's a place where all four elements convene and you draw in the best of them all at once.

There will always be those for whom magic is only found in high ritual, coven work, and so on. And that is perfectly ok too. That's their authenticity. For me, magic was captured in that photo above - a perfect juxtaposition during a full moon. And magic is all around me tonight, on this couch, in my stayin' home leggings and hoodie. It's as magical in here as it is in my shop, as it is when I don my heavy boots, jeans, flannel, and fleece to walk the tides in my coastal woods - a place where, trust me, cloaks and witchy booties will not serve you well - as it is when I dig into the earth in my garden to pull weeds, as it is when I wash the floors and turn that into ritual too.

Authenticity is letting everyone know that when the camera is off, there's a real human being going on with their day, tending their shop, taking their spur-of-the-moment photos (see above), walking a dog, sprawled on a couch in scrubby clothing. That human being cries, gets angry, gets sick, wakes up looking like, well, yeah. You know because it's you too. None of this is less than magical or divine, and I learned it when I stopped trying and started doing.

With social media so prevalent and skewing our vision of reality - and often times making us feel like we're doing it all wrong - it's important to know that you're doing just fine. You're a normal human, with emotions, successes, failures, happy moments and sad. And believe it or not, there's magic in all you do if you'd look at your routines with a new mindset.

What do you think? Do you struggle embracing the magic hidden in the mundane? And what does authenticity mean to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!