A bouquet of newly sharpened pencils...
Channeling a burgeoning Virgo energy to support us as the seasons change.
I can always tell when what I want to write is important to me because I write it in pencil. I wrote the draft for this in pencil. Very sharp pencil, nice paper.
I don’t really know why I do this but a dodgy biro will not do. Whether it is an important list, a piece of writing, or an offering to be transmuted by fire - it must be pencil. Perhaps it is nostalgia? Oddly, it is not through fear of making a mistake. I have written previously about my fabulous brain and how sometimes combined with a world that it doesn’t fit into, I have shied away from writing in the past for fear of mockery or being trite. Not in pencil though. In pencil I mean business.
These musings bring to mind the quote alluded to in the title of this piece. A quote from ‘You’ve Got Mail’ which is one of the films that my husband and I watch together once a year. A perennial favourite despite it not being from one of our favourite genres (him - spies, me - action).
About half way through, Tom Hanks writes to Meg Ryan:
“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”
Let us entirely gloss over the fact that they are having an online affair at this point. The idea of a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils remains, since 1998 to this day, to be the most romantic concept to me.
It speaks to me on many levels - the student, the teacher, the out-of-the-ordinary, the romantic. And whilst I now resolve to go back to writing about nature and magic, I honour the fact that the potential Virgo energy waiting in a bunch of pencils really amused me as I ponder the season to come.
This year, I have made another tiny step forward in practising what I preach by not buying any new pens for school. I will buy things for the students through the year, but for me, this year, none. I personally don’t need any at the moment and whereas in every year past I have indulged in my passion for stationery, this year I really don’t need to. I am working on my relationship between want and need, and working towards bigger goals through tiny steps like these.
Under the Leo New Moon, I manifested (or as I like to think of it, pointed myself in the direction of) some of these big goals. Eventually, I want to work less and write more. In time, transitioning from teaching to facilitating and writing, exploring doula work, the travel I have always longed for (Japan, New York, India). Writing these down and sharing them here makes them real, but also reminds me how grateful I am for my family, my garden and our health. Small steps towards big adventures.
Looking towards the last few weeks of summer and on towards Mabon (the autumn equinox on September 23rd) my focus words are nourishment and wonder. I will guide my intentions for autumn around these words to keep me and my family, our neurodivergence, our budget, our mental and spiritual health in as good an order as we can manage in a busy term. I plan to take the month Aug 23-Sep 23 and put things in place to organise and support us, to bring us joy and to heal us and offer repose when required. I hope it works and I hope to keep up with it, and I’ll let you know if I do.
On Saturday I had the honour of holding space for a group of women together in circle to create together and to share our stories and experiences. We crafted and drank tea together, ate nourishing snacks and I was grateful to receive the wisdom of other women, to hold them in their sharing and to feel so held and heard in my own. I was positively floating afterwards. I will hold another circle towards Samhain in the half term holiday - if you are interested and are in the Shire, do reach out :)
I am also offering Reiki sessions at my home in Oxfordshire an would be honoured to be a guide in your healing journey:
In these last few days of summer I have enjoyed some dips in the sea, treasure and fossil hunting with the children, crafting, swan spotting and gardening. I am off to the North East tomorrow to visit my sister and I can’t wait to see her and to reconnect to with the land and the (north!) sea which may be a bit chilly for my now-southern bones.
Join me on chat tomorrow from 9am - keep me company on my journey to the motherland. I will be discussing living simply for my next post and would love to hear your thoughts.
I also write in pencil when I’m writing something important! I love that you had that women’s circle. I’m part of one that meets every new moon! I love it, I crave it, and I feel so alive and renewed afterward!