I’m a total sucker for year-end retrospectives, and this month my inbox has been cheerfully full of them from fellow authors and entrepreneurs. I love hearing about lessons learned, epic wins (and epic flops), and sparkly plans for the future.
So, here’s my Big Lesson of 2023…
Little steps, consistently taken, can create surprisingly big change.
Throughout the year, three smaller lessons helped drive this Big One home. Let’s take a look…
Little Lesson #1: Reality is way more amazing than…

Enchantment Lab: December #3
What does your astrology say?
The zodiac in a round dance around the world (1847) by JJ Grandville
This month, we’ve been talking about boundaries in a more esoteric sense, as the edges of a “liminal realm” where things are flexible and more malleable to our magical interventions.
Before we look at your astrological chart, I want to connect what we’ve learned so far with a practical, here-and-now experience of boundaries.
Many of us carry patterns from childhood…

First things first, a little music to set the mood, Reader…
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker,…
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Si…
PREVIEW
Christmas Eve, 1983
Someone gently shakes my arm, rousing three-year-old me from sugarplum dreams. My mom, wide-eyed awake, crouches over the bed.
Moo…wake up,” she whispers. “Can you hear the bells?”
I squint at the window, foggy with frost, and a twinkling jingle, so faint–am I dreaming still?–floats in from the snowy yard.
Santa?
Come on, let’s go see.”…

First things first, a little music to set the mood. Christmas Eve, 1983 Someone gently shakes my arm,…

Enchantment Lab: December #2
The Magician’s invitation
The Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley
This week, we’re going to use the Magician Tarot Reading to explore your relationship with the four hallows.
Quick recap: the four hallows, depicted in the Magician card, make the process of strengthening the ego less mystifying. Each hallow relates to a different egoic function (intuition, thinking, feeling, or sensation), so when we develop these hallows, we cultivate a stronger, more well-rounded…

Enchantment Lab: December #1
The liminal is calling
Beyond the Familiar by Andy Kehoe​
Boundaries and how they relate to magic is a big, honkin’ topic, so this month, I’ve chosen two super-juicy aspects for us to dig into.
We’re first going to look at the liminal space that boundaries create, a space that’s highly charged with magic, so we can put this liminality to good use.
Hermes, the god of magic and travel betwixt realms, is all about the liminal, so we can–and will–ask for his help in…

On today’s Full Moon in Gemini, I have two things to share–one related to shopping, the other to…

Having recently read (and loved) 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals, I’ve really been paying attention to…

Enchantment Lab: November #3
Let’s travel on the astral
Midnight on the Okefenokee Swamp (1866) by George Loring Brown
This week, I’ve created an Archetypal Attunement for you. This guided meditation will take you to your Inner Sanctuary, your home base on the astral plane, where you’ll seek guidance in helping you create your ideal magical ecosystem. This is all about unlocking the habits and environment that will best support your desired outcomes.
When you’re done with the meditation,…

Enchantment Lab: November #2
Seeding Your Magical Ecosystem
Mountains in the Sea by Elly MacKay​
In today’s lesson, we’re going to enhance your spellcasting with a mash-up of the infamous Aleister Crowley and James Clear of Atomic Habits fame, crafting what I call your “magical ecosystem.” (Can you imagine these two forced to co-teach a workshop? Now that I’d like to see.)
It’s a little unsettling to realize how many of our behaviors are influenced, if not outright dictated, by our…