A Very Normal, Not-at-All special Visit with Maggie.
Channel Notes from a Meditative Conversation
Sometimes, when I drop into meditation, I type as I go. I call it taking the minutes. Something about the rhythm of my fingers moving across the keys helps bring through the voices, sensations, and messages more clearly. It becomes easier to listen when my hands are moving. Easier to trust.
This is one of those sessions — a conversation with Maggie, my ever-opinionated, deadpan, herbal maximalist spirit guide — recorded in real time. She had a few things to say about confidence, spell ingredients, and biblical references. And I, as usual, was just trying to keep up.
___
A few nights ago:
Me: Hi there Maggie.
Maggie: You second guess yourself quote often.
Cutting straight to the point
Me: I do, yes. It's less about being right and more about doing the best I can given the knowledge I possess.
Maggie: And you're constantly looking for more knowledge.
Me: Sometimes, yes. It depends on the topic at hand. My sister called me a Renaissance human.
Maggie: She's right. Welp. Okay let's see here. First things first, I like the bracelet.
I’m suddenly preening
Me: I haven't charged it yet and I haven't soldered it yet... But me too 🥰
Maggie: See that you do in time for the full moon. We're going to release the expectations you have for yourself and call in self assurity and confidence. You're always allowed to be wrong, but worrying you'll be wrong before you even say anything isn't worth the trouble. Let's do something about that.
Me: Absolutely. Tomorrow is a soldering day anyway.
Maggie: I like the charm shapes too.
It’s now impossible to hold back me smiles and my pride
Me: I really like the shapes. I'm not sure what they'll turn into or if they even need to be anything more than just a preference or a choice, but I really like how they look and feel. It adds another layer to my spell work.
Maggie: Are we calling it spell work now?
Me: Yes
Maggie: Good.
A word popped into my head but it was like half a word and my brain was filling in the blanks
Me: Strangle thorn?
Maggie: Close enough. You should find it with that.
Me:Sounds like something out of harry potter.
Maggie: It might've been.
The next word was much more clear
Me: Cabbage root?
Maggie: Well done.
Well, this can’t be right…
Me: And a "gentle alligator" 🐊
Maggie: Ha! That's a new one.
Me: (shrug) Let's try again for that third one again... Or is it just the two?
I’m dozing off… wow I’m tired.
Me: Is the first it a strangler fig?
Maggie: Yes.
Me: Okay. A strangler fig tree and a cabbage root. Both fiberous and branching.
Maggie: We'll work on what they mean tomorrow. Go. Rest.
Me: I'm keeping you in my thoughts, Maggie.
Maggie: Oh, I know honey.
---
The following evening:
Me: Maggie, would it be okay if we met now?
I was taking a shower and wanted to make sure that wasn’t see as disrespectful or anything
Maggie: Of course, dearie!
Me: Okay thank you!
Maggie starts to collect some supplies from her overflowing cupboard and I was apparently uncomfortable in the silence
Me: Um, how are you?
Maggie: Said with a scoff - Pleasantries are for the weak.
Hahahahaha I can't help it. I'm laughing my proverbial pants off. I don't know why I find deadpan delivery near-insults so amusing but WOW I do.
Maggie: You back and ready now? Sounding amused despite herself.
Me: Feeling lighter and a little charged - I am, yes.
Maggie: Okay, here we go. First up we have stinging nettle.
She holds out a glass jar with a scribbled label and contents that look like a mass of thorns.
Maggie: Stinging, sticky and downright mean if you use it right.
That... Made me a bit uncomfortable (I don't do baneful magic) but I'm here to learn and I'm not about to balk now.
Maggie: Good.
She says the one word with a curt nod and a sly smile.
Maggie: Next up we have this beauty.
She pulls something out of a canvas bag that's strung together with kitchen twine. It looks like a bunch of bare sticks and it's got me raising and eyebrow. This is rough. My brain keeps trying to fill in the blank instead of allowing the blank to be filled. They were thorny twigs but the torns have been removed. Myrrh? No... That's just a guess. Let it come.
I reach out to touch but she waves my hand away
Maggie: Always ask a witch about touching her spell ingredients, ESPECIALLY the baneful ones. Knowing what you want is just as important as knowing what you don’t want.
I can visualize the plant so clearly, but nothing. No name or word or feeling.
Maggie: Okay let's move on for the moment and see if we can come back to it later when you're not concentrating so hard.
Finally she pulls out a small brown box and opens the lid to reveal the kind of leaves that itch just looking at them.
Me: Is this a desert plant?
Maggie: It is, yes. Most of the deadly botanicals we know of grow in the harshest climates.
Me: A desert rose?
Maggie: Close but no. This is sometimes mistaken for a desert rose.
Me: Well, at least that gives me something to work with when I start researching. Is tonight about baneful or poisonous ingredients?
Maggie: 😑 What ever gave you that impression?
HA
Me: Right. I'll rephrase. Is tonight about learning only and not about creating a charm set?
Maggie: Tonight is about building your library.
Me: Got it. 🫡 love it. Can we revisit the thorny sticks?
Maggie: Sure thing, honey.
She unsheathed one from the canvas bag it was in and laid it in front of me. The exterior was slightly wrinkled with drying but you could still see the little oval divots where the thorns were and the stick itself looked almost hollow, like a dried cactus.
Maggie: She'll help you out of tricky situations but she'll bite when she does it. This would also be wonderful for protection or baneful wards which don't harm anyone unless someone has tried to harm you first."
I not-so-secretly love it when Maggie refers to plants as "she" or "he".
Maggie: Never "he" honey. Plants come from mother earth. They all have femenine energy."
Huh. I hadnt thought about that. But now that I think of it, all beings start female and grow male parts... Nothing starts male.
Maggie: Right you are, cutie pie.
She responding to me like she’s reading my mind… and kinda she is and she’s makin' me blush doing so. (She chuckles)
Maggie: Okay, let's see if you can hear my word….
Me: Thorny Cornstock?
Me: Crown of thorns plant????
Maggie: That's the third one, honey.
Me: Well at least I've got two of the three!
I looked it up and WOW... it kinda does look like a very angry desert rose.
Me: Okay. Cornstock. Thornstock?
Me: Thorny Burdock?
Maggie: Yes! She's a treat but she's vicious too. You'd call her a sour patch kid.
Me: I certainly would! Sweet and sour. Beautiful and vicious.
Okay , to recap I start writing things down.
Stinging nettle
Thorny burdock
Crown of thorns plant - big biblical reference here
Maggie: Everything has some kind of biblical reference, honey. It's nauseating."
I wholeheartedly agree.
Maggie: Okay. Well, see ya next time.
Me: See you next time, Maggie.
And she closed a door in my face. I didn't even know I was standing outside her cottage and the door just.... Closed. In my face. 🤣🤣🤣 Why do I find things like this so funny?!? Maybe it's a...
...Yeah, you're right. Who cares. I simply do.
