~ the second spell ~

21 October 2025 ~ New Moon Motivation

20 October 2025 ~ The Aussie Bird Count

15 October 2025 ~ Trinket Season

13 October 2025 ~ Yesteryear's Ballast

In November 2023, I picked up this ballast from my local railway crossing as a memento.

The train line was shut down for the demolition of the old station and busport, the raising of the ground track to an elevated track, and the construction of the new station and busport. It took eighteen months.

In the beginning, I couldn't imagine the train line I used almost every day being shut down for a year and a half. But I came to enjoy the slower replacement bus journeys. I found familiarity in watching the seasons slide by with sometimes subtle, sometimes rapid changes.

09 October 2025 ~ Personal Oracle Journal

I've started keeping a journal of my personal oracle and tarot readings.

It's not the first time I've kept journals. I journalled regularly during my darkest mental period. A notebook, a fineliner, and a packet of cigarettes was all I had. I still have those journals. I've never re-read them. I'm not ready to go back there.

But it is the first time I've kept a card readings journal. I'm trying to get back into the morning habit of having my shower, sitting down with my tea or coffee, and casting the cards.

In the past, those messages - no matter how profound - always faded away into the aether within a few hours. But now I can record them physically, and revisit them at the end of the day.

07 October 2025 ~ Kambarang Moon

Only a week of Kambarang, and already a Full Moon. The days are a weird mix of lingering coolness and threatening warmness. The local wild birds are enjoying it.

Magpie (Koolbardi) season is upon us. A couple of Willy Wagtail (Djididjidi) dance together in the Lacebark Elm trees. The energetic New Holland Honeyeater (Bandiny) still greets us from the Jacaranda, and the vocal Western Silvereye (Julewedelung) family is ever present. Sometimes a Kookaburra (KaaKaa) or Boobook (Gogoo) visits. And the Raven (Waardong) tribes have been exploring the new bus terminal.

01 October 2025 ~ First Day of Kambarang

After the Spring Equinox, my next point of seasonal reference is the first day of Kambarang.

The #PopcornTree is rapidly growing new shoots. The #Oleander is also sending out new wiggly growths. The #Loquat have already turned from dark green to light green to pale yellow. The #GooseDaisy, #Sourgrass, and #Capeweed are still blooming. And we've discovered #BluePimpernel and #PlumPudding on our adventures.

27 September 2025 ~ National Ghost Hunting Day

It’s National Ghost Hunting Day!

24 September 2025 ~ A Moment Before

Sometimes, I just sit and gaze at the backs of my tarot/oracle cards for a moment before the message is revealed.

For me, it is a moment filled with both silence and echoes.

It draws me back to my volatile teenage years, sitting on my bedroom floor with my first ever tarot deck, desperate for guidance, clarity, strength, and freedom.

22 September 2025 ~ Spring Equinox New Moon

I'm gently trying to fold my Moonology cards by Yasmin Boland back into my morning oracle ritual.

This deck contains Northern Hemisphere symbolism - which isn't a bad thing. Our practices should evolve to suit our environments. But sometimes, living in the Southern Hemisphere, I feel disconnected.

Our seasons are reversed. Our moon is upside-down. Even our sun signs are technically out of sync with the history and literature I grew up reading - most of it from Europe and the US.

I also want to remain solitary. I desire no coven.

It can be disorienting and isolating, but it also affords me the opportunity to anchor my practices and observations and correspondences in my very immediate environment. Eucalyptus for sage. Basalt for tourmaline. Lillipilli, bottlebrush, jarrah. Limestone, sandstone, granite.

19 September 2025 ~ Dedicated Trinket Post

12 September 2025 ~ A Rebinding Ritual

Right! That's all my threads carded. Time to make this girl some clothes.

I did have them wrapped around pegs and kept them in a pencil case, but as my collection grew through gifting and thrifting, the more space it took up.

The exercise was mostly quite relaxing. Like a repeated ritual. I feel organised now - visually and mentally.

10 September 2025 ~ The Storykeeper Returns

Molinta returns for the temporary management of The Second Spell, and she's accompanied by her new understudy, Anouk.

08 September 2025 ~ Spring Moon Eclipse

An eclipse for the Spring Full Moon. Sadly, and typically, the clouds are covering it.

Moon loves me. She sends me energy to tackle the tasks that clutter my worrying mind. But it's two in the morning, Moon, and I have to get up early.

Instead, I'm reading about roses. The other day I read about rose hips. I thought, I've never seen a real life rose hip. Literally the next day, our roses have fat red hips.

05 September 2025 ~ The Unqualified

With Selene on a fashion-makeover holiday, the boys have been arguing over who should take over temporary management of The Second Spell.

01 September 2025 ~ First Day of Spring

Spring has already gifted pleasantly sunny and tolerably cool days, as well as some gorgeous rain. Maybe it's trying to make up for Autumn's disappearance and Winter's attempted over-performance. Spring can stay around as long as it wants, because I know Summer will.

29 August 2025 ~ Selene, Skyclad

Recently, I attempted a body-swap customisation of Selene. During the experiment, I ended up accidentally breaking her inner head peg, so now the transformation is permanent. She looks great. But the original Polly Pocket sized clothes no longer fit her new body.

On public IG, she can't be a nudist, so I've been panic-sewing simple ponchos and shawls. I hope they'll do, temporarily, while I work on my sewing skills.