The Year That Was 2015

2015 was a jam-packed, roller coaster ride full of unexpected twists and turns. There were unfathomably deep troughs and overwhelmingly amazing highs.

Here is a month by month list is our year:

January:

• The Witches Next Door Blog gets it’s own spot at Patheos Pagan.
• Gwion travels to new Zealand on one day’s notice to sit vigil with his dying father. Gets to see a brother he’s never met before along with being introduced or re-introduced to a whole side of the family.
• We teach a Fabulous Elements of Magic Class in our home (which was a first for us)

February:

• PantheaCon. Phoenix puts together a fantastic panel discussion featuring some terrific speakers and thinkers from a variety of traditions.
• We attend two separate Imbolc/Brigid rituals in San Francisco and Sebastopol.

  

March:

• Phoenix heads out to CloudCatcher WitchCamp in Australia to teach with Jane Meredith and an amazing crew of Australian Witches.
• Phoenix sees kangaroos and get to hold a Koala Bear

April:

• A mercifully slow month of needing to do anything but filled with simple, quiet want to do things

May:

• Beltane goodness and lovely rutuals
• We attended Pagan Pride in Oakland and got to hang out with some of our favourite pagan-type folk

  

• Phoenix gets published and presents her new book, “Hoodoo Shrines and Altars: Sacred Spaces in Conjure and Rootwork“ at the Hoodoo Heritage Festival

June:

• We both attended California WitchCamp. The theme this year was Baba Yaga and sweet goddess, did we ever have to sort through a lot of seeds this year!
• Oh yes! Our World Completely changed because we became the owners and curators of “Milk & Honey”, an amazing esoteric shop in Sebastopol, California.

July:

• Milk & Honey takes over our lives
• Gwion drums and sings for six straight hours at an incredible ritual retreat and then takes the rest of the month off.

  

August:

• Gwion travels to Olympia, Washington for the Many Gods West conference and gets to present a piece on Ceridwen: a goddess for change. A goddess for today. Also gets to hang out with some of the most amazing folks in the pagan/polytheist community.
• Phoenix throws an amazing change of ownership party/ritual at Milk & Honey. More than 200 friends, family, customers and well-wishers come for an evening of music, ritual and fun.
• Gwion gets kidney stones, is hospitalized and is seriously grumpy.

September:

• Gwion heads of to Alberta, Canada to teach/facilitate at the new Aurora Borealis WitchCamp. What a beautiful community. What an incredible journey.
• Phoenix begins teaching classes at Milk & Honey and the shop begins to really take on a new feel as she continues to re-imagine and enliven it.
• Gwion and Phoenix are honored to officiate the most amazing handfasting of two dear friends and half a circus parade. Truly a highlight of the year.

October:

• Gwion heads off to the redwood forests of Mendocino to teach at the second Mysteries of Samhain camp. The theme was the old Scottish tale of Tam Lin
• We both attend many Samhain rituals, both public and provate, culminating with  Reclaiming’s 36 annual Spiral Dance in San Francisco. We were honored to be part of the ritual team and specifically invoked the Mighty Dead of the Craft

November:

• Phoenix goes to Texas to teach at Tejas WitchCamp and works with the of “Alice: Through The Looking Glass”.
• Gwion celebrates his birthday by kayaking and ziplining, which is much needed and appreciated because the Samhain season has been difficult and filled with much grief

December:

• Gwion and Phoenix celebrate their wedding anniversary
• Milk & Honey has a fantastic holiday season
• Gwion finds out that his vocal chords are strained, but thank the gods there’s no cancer or other major problems with his throat
• Gwion and Phoenix agree to be last minute ritual drummers at an ecstatic trance dance, blacklight, exceptionally cool spiral dance gathering in Oakland. We get to drum with some of our favorite friends and musicians.

So, all in all, it was a busy year. We said goodbye to some loved ones and made new friends and cultivated community and worked magic and did some hard work on our relationship and supported political actions as much as we could. It was a year to be alive and to be to grateful for our lives.

To you and yours, a happy and joy-filled 2016. May the world be filled with peace and justice.