Perhaps it was the arrival of chin hair that made me think I’d like to see a witch...

And other 'glorious broads'

Hello all,

Hope you are well and enjoying the back to school vibe. Though in the UK there is a teeny tiny issue of the fact that hundreds of school buildings have been declared unsafe which means a lot of children aren’t going back to school. The world continues to crumble - literally and metaphorically. We also have a late in the day heatwave which means I’m working in underwear by two fans - my flat heats up like a greenhouse in the sun. Maybe I should grow tomatoes?

In other news, my neighbour Gary released a single this week and it’s beautiful. Please listen here if you like peaceful, dreamy soundscapes. Soundscapes was a word I learned from Gary, along with ‘sonic journeys’. So many words for music and sound, it turns out. I am biased of course but his stuff is gorgeous.

What else? Um. Oh yes, I went to see a witch.

Here are the edited highlights of an article I wrote about it for the i newspaper (read full article here).

‘Perhaps it was the arrival of chin hair that made me think I’d like to see a witch.

I’m not sure what changed or when but lately I’ve become open to things I would’ve sneered at before: full moon circles, the odd bit of sage… last week I bought a spell candle that promised to bring money my way. I paid £10 for it and just as I got to the till I figured I should buy two more for my neighbours. We would either become millionaires over night or set the building on fire.

As the real world becomes increasingly dire, it seems that many of us want to believe in magic, turning to tarot cards, spells, astrology and crystals. In the latest census the number of people identifying as Wiccan — believing in a form of witchcraft — increased by 10.5 per cent to 13,000; making it among the top 15 most common religions in the UK – with the highest density of witches being in… Croydon. Croydon! For those not in the UK, Croydon is a suburb of London.

I went to see on of the UK’s most famous witches (she has celeb/model fans), Tree Carr at her home in Margate. My first thought was that the house is lovely and there must be good money in being a witch.

Tree herself looked pleasingly witchy - long hair, huge eyes and a massive smoky quartz necklace, which she said helped to ground her.

She showed me up to her ‘witch cave’ - a home office with a wall of electric guitars on one side (Carr used to be a musician) and shelves stuffed with jars of dried herbs and twigs, giant volumes on witchcraft, tarot and astrology, and an altar of black candles. It was very cool. She was very cool.

We sit on sheepskin rugs around a miniature black cauldron in which she burns rosemary “for protection”.

She starts by summoning the “guardians of the north, east, south and west”. She asks me to close my eyes and shakes a shamanic rattle around me to “clear the energy”. When I open my eyes she tells me that she felt the presence of my mother and her mother and that there was strong magic there that had been suppressed. She also told me that she sensed that I had a heavy heart weighed down by grief. The observations surprise me.

Then we start pulling tarot cards, which I’ve never done before. She tells me that the right card will pick me. Inwardly I roll my eyes at that idea but every card I pick seems to be speaking to specific things I have been struggling with over the last couple of years. They prompt Carr to give me insights that ring so true that at several points my eyes fill with tears.

She kept repeating the phrase ‘you are doing important work’. She talked about how the women in our family had great powers that had to be suppressed and it was my job to feel the pain of that suppression and use my voice. She didn’t know this but I am writing about sex and my body and have had 3am attacks of fear around writing about things that women are not supposed to talk about. As it turned out a lot of our session was on the theme of the suppression of women.

Carr explains the history of witches: “The word witch causes a lot of fear but actually the word witch comes from Wicca which means wise ones. Witches were the wise women of the community who offered support and healing, bringing life into the world midwives, they were ancient therapists and doctors and healers,” she says.

Between 1400 and 1782, 60,000 women were burnt at the stake for witchcraft, during which time pamphlets with cartoons of old women with facial hair and pointy noses – images we still see in Disney cartoons – were in circulation. Carr believes that the patriarchy was threatened by the power these older women had. The misogyny that wise elder women faced then is, of course, still present. I’d never thought of that before - how those images of witches affect how older women are seen today.

After we’ve pulled five cards I tell her that I’ve been writing a book and have found it difficult for various reasons. “Shall we pull a card around the book?” she asks. The card we pull is the Ace of Swords. “This is a breakthrough book for you as an author and a breakthrough for people who read it. It’s going to be massive.” Well. If there was anything I wanted to hear it was this.

I decided at that moment that Tree was obviously incredibly gifted and that every word she utters is gospel!

I ask her about the grief in my heart and she says that it’s connected with relationships and might also be connected to me being punishingly hard on myself. “Self-compassion is needed,” she says. She talks about how I have been in an inner battle and it was time to move onto a new chapter. I tear up again.

I ask her why she thinks so many people are being drawn to witchiness at the moment.

“People are very disconnected from themselves – we live in a material world where we are told to work from nine to five and then we die. There is a bleakness. People want to feel there is something more but society is telling us there isn’t anything more and that you are silly if you think there is,” she says. “We’ve lost sight of the magic in us.”

I loved listening to Carr talk about the power women have as they age. So much of the mainstream narrative is about everything we lose as we get older, but what if there were things to be gained? I came home and ordered a book on witchcraft and lit my money candle. I also plucked out my chin hair.

xxx

If anyone wants to book an online tarot reading with Tree check out her website. She also has an online course in dream analysis coming up. Her website is luciddreamtree.com

xxx

Cutting edge fashion news from a middle-aged woman who sometimes reads magazines

In other news, the coin belt is back according to Grazia. No! I had one of these in the 200s when Sienna Miller and Kate Moss were doing boho chic in Primrose Hill. I won’t be revisiting that trend.

Sienna Miler is also doing a range for M&S and it looks lovely - though, of course, she could make a bin bag look lovely.

What does your baseball cap say about you? This in depth analysis of the different baseball caps people are wearing and what they signify made me feel very old. Apparently baseball caps are the new slogan t-shirt.

Word I learned this week

‘Femifestation’ is a word for the female power to manifest, born from the fact that we can literally manifest babies/life.

Stuff I’m enjoying on Instagram

Glorious Broads on Instagram is a TOTAL JOY. Life advice from fabulous older women in New York. I love them all.

What I’m reading

I have reviewed two books for the Times lately: Sarah Wilson’s This One Wild and Precious Life and Stacey Duguid’s The Pursuit of Happiness. Both had lots to recommend them and structures that I got a bit frustrated by.

What I’m watching

The thirst for grim police dramas continues… this week I enjoyed Clean Sweep where the hot policeman’s wife is involved in the crime but will he find out????

Also, Only Murders in the Building is gorgeous - a comedy caper about a grand old New York apartment building where people get murdered and local residents (including Steve Martin and Selena Gomez) try to solve the crime. Meryl Streep is the latest series and nice guy actor Paul Rudd plays a baddie - and he does it so well! A real joy to watch. I love the mixture of ages in it.

WORKSHOPS

We have a workshop this Monday and next Monday evening 7.30-9pm UK time for those who are free. I hope you don’t mind but I cancelled this Saturday on account of the heat. Sitting in my flat midday isn’t fun and I imagine most of you will want to be out and about. Thanks to all who came on Monday and made it so lovely.

Ok, bye for now.

Thanks for reading.

mx