The Bruja's Guide to Everyday Magic
With the publication of Practically Pagan ~ An Alternative Guide to Magical Living, many readers have asked me what I mean when I say I write about and practice ‘everyday magic.’ In fact, a number of people have picked up my new book expecting complex spells and occult practices, only to be disappointed by pages filled with anecdotal stories and tips about energy, intention, and conjuring so subtle it’s part of our daily lives. The irony, of course, is that these simple acts of energetic awareness—what some people call mindfulness or intentional living—are actual magical practices! These daily conjurings might lack some of the sparkle and flash of more elaborate mystic practices, but they are some of the most powerful forms of spell casting and an important foundation for any kind of magical practice. I’m all about keeping it simple. Our thoughts are spells. Our energy tells us everything we need to know about a specific situation or person, as does their vibe. Our daily habits shape the kind of life we want to live—so we need to be intentional about it. We can also sometimes get a little carried away with the theater of the occult world, so much so that the real magic gets lost under the hocus-pocus. I think of it as burning incense to cleanse your home when the space is dirty and what you really should be doing is giving it a good scrub down. Light those incense, sure, but don’t ignore the important task of tending your sanctuary. It’s not just dust and crumbs on the floor, but stagnant energy that needs to be cleared out through the literal act of cleaning. That’s the thing with magic: the best kind is simple, but also hard work.
Hard work—but worth it.
So if you’re just beginning your journey into the mystic world or are a long-time pagan or witchy soul wanting to get a refresher on foundational practices, check out my Bruja’s Guide to Everday Magic.
This post originally appeared on Enchantment Learning and Living
Hungry Business: A Gothic Story about the Horrors of Dating Maria DeBlassie
Genre: horror, comedy
Publisher: Kitchen Witch Press
Date of Publication: October 12, 2020
ASIN: B08L48MVHD
Number of pages: 20
Word Count: 4400
Tagline: Dating. It’s hungry business.
Book Description:
Looking for love can be deadly...
A short story on the horrors of dating during a zombie apocalypse by bruja and award-winning writer and educator, Maria DeBlassie.
"Simple yet detailed, unique, and innovative. A brilliantly written little gem that is equal part creepy with the plague of walking dead and equal parts cozy with the hot chocolate and watching the neighbor's cat."
"Drawing parallels between the pitfalls of dating and dating in the zombie apocalypse, this short story packs a big world into a few pages."
"Just the right size to occupy your time while waiting. I hope you find the humor I found."
You know how it goes.
You go out, hoping to meet someone.
You wade through your fair share of brainless automatons, lifeless bodies, and ravenous undead, good at passing as human.
The more you go out, the less hope you feel and the colder your body gets.
But you keep at it.
All you need is one beating heart to match your own before yours stops pumping altogether.
How hard can it be to find one living, breathing human in a city full of bodies?
Dating.
It's hungry business.
CW: Assault
He said he’d
love to have you for dinner—but you are careful.
A woman has to
be careful. Never give them your address. Don’t drink too much.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Carry grave dirt to
throw at them if they get too forward. Be ready to run to the nearest
safe space if needed. The good news is that the Hungries, while
persistent, are dumb as fuck (brain rot, you know) and slower than the sickness
overtaking their bodies. Unless, of course, they are well fed, which is
rarely the case.
This one looks a
little better, you think optimistically.
You sit across
from each other at the dinner table. The white tablecloth is as smooth
and unblemished as his collared shirt. He has dressed for the occasion,
taking care to hide the evidence of his affliction as best he can (though truly
there is only so much he can do with a missing ear and half a brain).
Still, the tuxedo and carefully applied makeup are enough to create the
illusion of pumping blood beneath his pallid, blush-stained cheeks—in the right
light. Which is another reason why you chose this place. Candlelight can
hide a multitude of sins.
His manners are
studied and smooth, as if he has spent a lot of time practicing more human-like
movements and behavior. You admire a man who makes that kind of effort.
He watches you as much as you do him, as if he is trying to remember what
it was like to be alive. When you reach for your wine glass, so does he—only
his thick decaying fingers almost crush the stem, whereas your nimble live ones
carefully bring the dark red liquid to your mouth. You try not to notice how he
stares at your lips—stained now from the wine—wondering, perhaps, how you
taste. As it turns out, he does get a taste of you. You’ve been surreptitiously
picking at a hangnail on your pinky finger—that’s how scintillating the
conversation is—when you looked down and realize it is your whole fingernail
that has come off. You stare at it in horror, letting the truth of your
situation sink in.
At least he has
the decency to wait until you’ve left the table before grabbing your napkin and
stuffing your bloodied nail in his mouth. A little color comes back into
his face. He groans in ecstasy.
Nice to know you
could still have that effect on a man.
Maria DeBlassie, Ph.D. is a native New Mexican mestiza blogger, award-winning writer, and award-winning educator living in the Land of Enchantment. Her first book, Everyday Enchantments: Musings on Ordinary Magic and Daily Conjurings (Moon Books 2018), and her ongoing blog, Enchantment Learning and Living are about everyday magic, ordinary gothic, and the life of a kitchen witch. When she is not practicing her own brand of brujeria, she's reading, teaching, and writing about bodice rippers and things that go bump in the night. She is forever looking for magic in her life and somehow always finding more than she thought was there.
Find out more about Maria and conjuring everyday magic at www.mariaddeblassie.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/enchantmentll
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/enchantmentll
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdeblassie.writer
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7rY-gLkSH-w8uuVyrhVALA
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Thank you for featuring my story on your blog. Here's to a magical Halloween!
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