A Year and a Day

January 1, 2008

In seven days, I will have been in this desert for one full year. January 8 will be the poignantly significant "year and a day".

For one full year I have refrained from magick and all things "witchy". Until last night, New Year's Eve, I have not even thrown a tarot spread. No rituals, no spelling, no mixing, no candles. A true hiatus from religion and magick.

As the anniversary comes near, and the hiatus wanes, I am slowly recognizing the return of magick into my life.

On Yule (December 21 for the Muggles or Mundanes), driving home from a Vegas Show with my Heathen Friend, we encountered Coyote at the Crossroads at exactly midnight. The significance is really quite shocking, for a number of reasons. Those who know me understand what I am talking about here. Those who don't, well….. <shrug>

On December 27, 2006, Coyote ran with me across the desert as I drove back to Long Beach to pack my belongings and prepare for the move to Las Vegas. It was an optical illusion of distance and movement, but the effect was that Coyote appeared to be walking by my side as I drove along the highway. A year later, Coyote is standing at the crossroads just outside my gated community – another message.

When I first got here to the desert, I felt lost and abandoned by my Gods. As if in leaving my beachfront I had left my Deities behind, tied to the tides, as it were. For months there was no sign of life from the other side. The Christian YVHV made several attempts at contact, but His dutiful followers made sure I never entered his Temple. Which is just fine by me…. Really. I guess, in retrospect, even my Deities were intent on enforcing the strict "year and a day" policy.

just tell your
Gods for me
all debts are off this year
they're free to leave
yes they're free
to leave

On January 8, I will have to decide where I want to go. I left Long Beach and Wicca behind. I traveled as far as I could down that path. Going forward, I need to decide how I will practice my Craft, and how I will worship my Deity. Hekate has made her presence felt this past month. It is with both shock and awe that this year, the eve of the new moon falls on January 7 and the New Moon on my one year and one day anniversary, January 8. Clearly, it has been the Queen of the Witches, Hekate, who has been closely watching over me this past year. And in true Hekate fashion, she has done so quietly and at an extreme distance.