I’ve written before about how November is wrapped in both joy and melancholy for me. It’s my birthday month (as well as two of my many siblings’) and it has a lot of death anniversaries. I always stand on the edge of this month with delight and sorrow nudging each other for who wins, but I get better every year at reminding myself that part of the wonder of being human is our capacity to hold two or more thoughts, feelings, or emotions at the same time. Public discourse may have forgotten about nuance but our private lives are filled with joy wrapped in sadness and vice versa.
This November I’m heading home for a wedding and will get to see family I haven’t seen in person since before the pandemic and out move to California. I’m still a little nervous about being around a lot of people and flying — whatever the public discourse is on covid, we’re stilling dealing with the long term effects of it at home. I’ve tamped down my anxiety with the knowledge that my mental health is also important and I need to see the people I love (I also have masks, a Novovax booster, nasal spray, and hand sanitizer at the ready because I am that person). Happily, I’m adding another wedding anniversary to the birthdays and death days that populate this month. Another marker on the joy side of the scales.
One of the delights of being a spiritual, witchy person is that this season is built for contemplation of our ancestors, the end of life, and the afterlife, if you believe in that (I do — though I don’t have a solid idea on what it really looks like and kind of prefer the mystery). Witches talk to their dead in the Hallowstide season. We also decorate our houses in what would be considered the macabre in the height of spring (not by me — you really can’t take the slightly morbid tendencies out of a 1980s goth girl). California autumn is not New England or even East Tennessee autumn, but it has its own charm in that the rain starts as the temperatures dip which perks up all the plants that made it through the dry season. In our neighborhood in San Jose, ofrendas covered in orange marigolds appear along with all the decorations in the local Catholic cemetery for the Day of the Dead celebrations. Joy and sorrow wrapped again.
I’ve thought a lot lately—partly because of the book I am working on—about how we mark time and divide the year. For many European cultures there were two seasons, the summer and the winter. Samhain, summer’s end, marks the beginning of winter in Celtic lands where it was celebrated. That winter lasted until Beltane, May Day, which begins the summer half of the year. That bifurcation doesn’t match up with California either — see the June gloom that requires at least a sweater and the hottest days that fall in August, September, and October. I am drawn to this idea of marking our years by our own local seasons, anniversaries, and celebrations. It’s something I’m incorporation more and more into my own spiritual practice and I find comfort in it.
I hope this season, whatever season it is for you, brings you joy along with whatever other emotions follow the change in light.
That Marketing Bit at the End
Did you read this far? If you did, I can tell you that the release of Verona Green: a story of art & magic will be out on November 14 to add to the happy anniversaries of November for me. You may notice that’s pushed back from the last date announced, but we needed to account for travel and the vagaries of independent print-on-demand publishing. Preorders are available for the digital version, with print to follow in the next day or two (same link). Look for a special episode of the WitchLit podcast that day to celebrate. And please check out the 1000Volt Press shop for wonderful books by Yvonne Aburrow and Laine Fuller & Cory Thomas Hutcheson.
I just finished Veracity Green.... and now I have to wait for the next book....
Sometimes I feel like I spend my life waiting for the next book....
But this book was well worth waiting for, Victoria.
Thanks. 🥰🤓
Thank you! It is always wonderful to hear from readers and I’m so glad you enjoyed the book. 🖤