The Crone and I at Samhain

I heard her say ‘Get on a horse’ and without hesitation I got into my car and drove to the woods that called me. She was all around and Samhain felt near. I felt calm and ready to commune with her.

The woods kept changing atmosphere from grey and wet to light and shimmering. Autumnal light streamed through the golden tops of blackened tree bodies. I felt a sense of intention and joy within. She was near and I was reassured. I realised her confidence-building purpose and quality as I developed my own inner hearing. She is and always has been on the side of the feminine and healing of the wounded maiden was just one intention she carried. Today I truly felt that having been through the maiden and mother stages.

Cronehood is a stage I truly look forward to and even more so with her by my side. I am excited and curious about things to come. Today she was full of lessons and the more I engaged with her the more I felt I could truly understand the symbology and meaning behind her one-sentenced phrases. She doesn’t say much and very intentional with what she discloses.
She spoke of the importance of our bodies, physicality and how our disconnection from the animal-selves caused discord and imbalance in many areas as a result. She spoke of nature and landscape as essential parts to any life as they hold the animal-self within offering us to connect back to the earth, the self and spirit of things. Only through deeply feeling into the physical and matter-like within us we can encounter the spirit. It is all interconnected.

She spoke of how we disempower ourselves via covering up by dying our hair, messing about with nails and shaving off what’s intended to be there. And not only that we create a world of shame, unacceptable, conforming and pleasing to the external as a result. We cut off from the natural self by avoiding our own beauty, the natural kind. Our crown becomes dimmed with chemicals and that magic that can be felt in the fingers is dimmed. I can relate to the fingers holding the paper well and am guilty of not looking after myself in that area. I connected instantly to the message of disempowering myself by not being kind and nurturing to myself. It saddened me.

With the crone hood stage we are invited to delve into another stage of coming back to ourselves. I feel excited by it.

Last year she spoke her word to me, which I turned into a book. It comes out in December and I look forward to sharing the message with more women around the world.

Pre-order HERE

Latest review:

“You have given the world a delightful and deep examination of Baba Yaga from your insightful and learned perspective. Thank you.

 In a world where uncertainty and fear are the currency of the day, we can become enchanted by a sort of artificial lightness that ultimately only makes us more anxious. We become terrified of the dark. Yet it is in the dimness of our own souls that we find refuge from the harshness of life.

If we are able to peer into this darkness we may see a peculiar little house governed by a curious figure. Baba Yaga, crone of legend, greets us with a glint in her eye, and a question on her lips. “Who are you?” she inquires with a cackle. Natalia Clarke answers this question, while exploring the stories and characteristics of Baba Yaga through traditional lore and personal insights. Merging together her Slavic origins, training in depth psychology, and natural spiritual practices, she is our companion as we venture into the mysteries of this face of the crone. Beautifully written with journal entries, dream explorations, and ways to connect with Baba Yaga, I highly recommend this delightful book for anyone who wants to go deeper into her mysteries.”

By Cyndi Brannen, the author of Keeping Her Keys

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The book that can change everything

Since the release of Intuitive Magic Practice I have received feedback from many women telling me their stories and how the book turned things around for them. Severe of them read it a couple of times and what has come out of it is an effect that was coded in, but needed the engagement of a reader to unlock the deeper message within. 

You don’t even have to be a magical practitioner although material can change the way of looking at doing magic in a different unique way. You just need to be seeking a reconnection to knowledge that had been dormant within. 

Women have decided to do things differently and began a journey of following intuition, which transformed things for them and brought changes that were needed for a long time in a way the book describes it could. 

Among many things doing your magic and life your way/intuitive way can be a way of healing the internalised ‘shoulds’. Following emotions and your body alone and doing it in private, hidden ways; using an internal natural and healthy space within you can bring contentment and fulfilment to the work and life in general. 

If you are a creature of the ‘dark’ in a good sense, prefer to be invisible and value your privacy and boundaries highly this way of doing magic can be just for you. If externalising your persona, participating in social gatherings and events, ‘dressing’ up, as others do, trigger you, then this is for you. 

Have you always known that what the collective/external does is not something that feels good, then this is for you. 

You can do what you what and how you want using only your inner voice, your body and your emotions. 

There are certain aspects of magic that are important to observe and understand for yourself and I talk about that in the book, e.g. ethics, boundaries, conducting some rituals, etc. and working with others (if you choose to do that).

The way the book is structured is easy to use and incorporate/trial things out. There is information on a topic to start with, e.g. Intuition and Dreams or Intuition and Self-care. That follows up with a real-life example, exercises, a spell or two (listed below) where relevant, and sometimes a tip to make a note of. 

Earth/Fire/Water/Air spells

Prosperity spell

Peace spell

Love spell 

Rhyming spell

Success/business spell

Releasing spell

Healing/health spell

Simple, intuitively weaved spells are powerful, as they manifest from within and your body and emotions always know what is best for where you are at a certain point. Thai work can be taken further into life and create mantras and affirmations, life hacks and psychological healing tools that will never let you down, as they are meant specifically by you for yourself. 

There is potential in this book to change all. Please read and leave me a review or let me know how and what helped you on your way. I am fascinated by women’s stories of self-rediscovery. 

ORDER HERE

Women rise up in wisdom

Another review of the book that echoes all the feedback I have received from women. Makes my work truly meaningful and life-changing

http://facingnorth.net/books/witchcraft/intuitive

Book details in Publications

The time for insights

Autumnal air is potent with insights. They hang heavy in the morning mist ready to emerge and burn bright in pronounced and sharp autumn sunsets. Can you feel it?

There is a reason I call this season the most magical. During this time palpable transformations happen. Things that had laid dormant for some time come forward. They now ask to be resolved, the soil is ready. It is time for the sharpest clarity to come into our awareness. It is an exciting season, and I am yet to meet another woman, who does not adore autumn.

Nature, writing, giving, family, love, gratitude – insights have been very clear and vital to my moving forward with my own personal evolution and various projects. It feels like I have waited for this time for the whole year and finally I can exhale, throw the weight of uncertainty off my shoulders, and relax into myself fully. I am truly reaping the rewards for what has been patience, vulnerability, allowing the hard times to be a learning experience and embracing all.

It is the Earth element time, which is dominant in me. There is no surprise I feel at home in this season.

Imagine Autumn as a human, a lady; be it an imaginary vision or a real person that comes to mind. Her charm and maturity are attractive. Her wisdom is deeply grounding, comforting, and reassuring to whoever seeks it. I see a mature lady, but not too old. She comes to my awareness as autumn begins to transform the landscape slowly into wetness here and bareness there. As it sprinkles hues of pale yellow and deeper brown amidst the trees, I see a lady that rejoices in the season of understanding what had been, what is and what is yet to come. She is aware of all seasons and interconnectedness of all living matter and spirit. She is not afraid of anything, as fearing darkness is like moving further away from the roots of the mother, from the warmth of the womb – the exact place of nurturing and transformation we need to be in. It is non-sensical, unwise to fear or reject what is the catalyst for all life. Autumn invites to welcome darkness into every aspect of our lives and let it cradle us into a state of sleep and inner reflection. If allowed and befriended the darkness can be incredibly soothing to go deeper into our own season of winter. What a gift and an opportunity this season brings.

This time of year, I relish shrouded silence in the woods. Energy is more potent. Sounds are pronounced one minute and muted the next. Signs and glimpses of all things ‘last’. The last burst of a bird song, the last splash of colour, the last ray of sunshine and warmth on the skin. My intuition rises like an internal fire that’s been resting and preparing. Freshness in the air is scented with remade matter, moist and moving with organisms, rotten with nutrients for the earth, in preparation for winter.

Ways of intuition

Intuition is sometimes loud like banging on the door, if you can imagine that. And other times it is quiet or rather subtle like a flash of an emotion or a sense of something fleeting. It can be both forceful or subtle, called upon or coming forward by itself. Sensory, auditory or visual. Here I invite you to reflect on how intuition might exist within you and how it transmits its messages? It is important to know and, as you become curious about your intuitive signals, you become curious about yourself. That is a gift and the first step towards reclaiming your right to live a life meant for you. The journey is fascinating that will let you discover a lot about your own nature.

I hardly ever ask for messages, ask questions or call upon my intuition. Many others do ask for it and that is just another way of doing the same thing. One of the most popular is to ask for an answer to a question before you go to sleep at night. Intuition and dreams are closely connected, which I discuss in my BOOK.

I, however, have now developed a deep trust that when something matters my intuition will speak to me and show me the way. It usually speaks in single words or an image would find its way to my awareness. It is usually clear, sharp and precise. So I am sensory, auditory or visual – feeling, hearing and seeing.

In my magic practice it is no different. When I am out in nature and I have an idea of what’s happening within me that day or have done for sometime I might get an indication that something needs doing. Spell work for me is rare and always based on intuitive messages only. I have to feel it strongly in my body, almost in a ‘no choice’, compulsive way before I perform anything. I don’t do things any other way these days. I like that ‘flash of inspiration’ shape and form it often takes. When the invitation comes or rather ‘this needs doing’ it is unquestionable and I get to work.

Often it is either a clear ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ before I even ask a question, which I rarely have to do. I suppose you can hold a question in awareness as opposed to seek the answer.

When a spell is brewing via intuition I might be called to a particular place at a certain time. When I am there I am usually showed the tools, which I need specifically for that spell. All I have to do is go and be open to what unfolds around me. It can be as simple as coming upon a stone or a branch or an image in the sky or a face on a tree. It can be a feeling, which to me is important. I need to have the feeling. It is hard to describe, but generally it must feel so right that it fills me with immense content and fulfilment. It is like when you really enjoy your work, for example, whatever that is, it is a feeling of doing something that feels important and right. It is full of meaning and powerful intention and there’s always a bit of love mixed into it. We all know what that feels like. In fact many spells come out of ‘love’ vibration or something linked to that. It is a sure sign to check if what you are doing is, indeed, the right thing.

I am often told these days to wait, to stay put, to be silent and invisible. This is vital during these times. There is a strong invitation in the collective benevolent not to do, but to be. I follow. It just feels right. We are called to pause in doing and speaking in general now more than ever and, however alien this might feel to you, this anomaly in collective behaviour is the exact magic that needs to build up more in order to manifest a bigger change for us, others and the world at large.

• Listen to what your body tells you.

• Pay attention to your thoughts and spend more time feeling.

These are just some practice steps that will bring you closer to your inner knowing, your intuitive wisdom. Reclaim that gift that’s always been yours and see if your life takes a different turn towards what you always wanted.

More on Intuition and magic in my book PAGAN PORTALS INTUITIVE MAGIC PRACTICE