Welcome to Ink-Stained Compass, the weekly newsletter for seekers of stories and magic by poet and witch, Caitlin Gemmell. I’m so glad you are here. This week’s newsletter is about making February a magical month. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider clicking the❤️, leaving a comment, or sharing this with others on the Substack app. Thank you.
Art is The Coming of Bride (1917) by John Duncan, depicting the goddess also known as Brigid.
Hello dear reader,
Happy Imbolc! I usually celebrate on the 1st, but this year I’m mostly celebrating today in a quiet and calm way. My two biggest hopes for the day are to discover snowdrops blooming, or winter aconite at least, and to write poetry. As a poet and a pagan(ish) witch, Imbolc has always been important to me as I relate to Brigid who is a goddess of many things including poetry. We’ll see how the day goes. I’m just flowing with it. How about you?
In other news, this year I’m finally writing a book about my slow and magical lifestyle, which for many years, I’ve called enchanted simplicity. The book is going to be titled Enchanted Simplicity: A Year of Poetic Living. Last month, I shared a bit from the chapter for January and will share that newsletter at the end of this one, in case you missed it. This month, I have to decide on a theme for February and then start writing the chapter. Any ideas?
There are several themes that are vying for my attention. Do I listen to the messages that have arrived in dreams? Do I choose a theme centered around recent, significant animal encounters? Time will tell. Just as stained glass kept cropping up for me last month, I’m certain a particular theme will be unveiled this month too. In any case, you can expect snippets of chapter two to arrive in the last newsletter of this month.
But for now, I’ve come up with a list of ideas for making February into a magical month, including one for my mother’s birthday.
How to Create an Enchanting February
Throw an Alice in Wonderland themed party. * This is my second time throwing a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party for my mother.
Celebrate Imbolc, the pagan holiday in honor of the goddess Brigid and the return of sunlight as we travel closer to spring. Celebrate by making Brigid’s crosses and corn dollies, baking bread and having a feast with bread/honey/milk/cheese, light a candle in every room of the house to welcome the return of the sun, leave a scarf on your altar for Brigid to bless, visit a stream or sacred well and leave offerings, write poems and intentions, tap into your creative self and allow that energy to flow.
Celebrate National Nutella Day on February 5th by eating Nutella (a chocolate hazelnut spread in case you don’t know) on fruit.
Make valentines and send them to friends.
Make valentines and tuck them into library books for strangers.
Embrace the love energy of Valentine’s Day and celebrate love all month long.
Make rose milk bath and have a ritual bath. Here’s a wonderful tutorial.
Write a love letter to yourself.
Make a list of all the things you love about all of your friends. Write these lists on pretty paper and mail the love lists to each of them.
Make a delectable treat. This one right here is what I have my eye on.
Make mendiants. Melt dark chocolate and pour into small round discs on parchment paper. Top with dried fruit, rose petals, seeds, sea salt, or anything else that you fancy. Set aside until chocolate sets. (Tip for wild foragers: Return to this recipe in summer and harvest plantain from your lawn. Plantain seeds are delicious as a topping for mendiants, offering a nutty flavor).
Enjoy the longer days by channeling feline energy and seeking all the sunny spots in your home. Make a daily ritual of reading or meditating in the sunshine, whenever the weather is fine.
On a rainy day that nonetheless feels like spring, wrap in a blanket or your favorite sweater and stand in your open doorway to breathe in the fresh, clean air.
Enjoy the duality of February, a month that can be both winter and spring, by lighting candles and appreciating the coziness of winter while adding touches of spring to your home, perhaps in the form of a bouquet of daffodils or hyacinths.
Shop for in season fruits and vegetables and plan a meal around some of these.
Read your favorite rom-com books, watch romantic films, read romantic poetry.
Create a love playlist. Send it to someone you love.
Get a plant identification guide and see if you can identify any of the plants that are beginning to emerge as winter turns sleepy.
Get your body moving in a fun way! Instead of thinking of exercise as a chore, learn to romanticize it. Find a series of videos on YouTube, try different forms of exercise, name your exercise outfits in a frivolous and fun way (such as: Snow Queen Pilates Outfit, Sugar Plum Fairy Tai Chi Outfit, Cecile Brunner Rose Ballet Outfit, Rainbow Brite Tap Dancing Outfit, Little Grumpy Gnome Hiking Outfit… you get the idea).
Nourish your body by challenging yourself to eat at least 30 different types of plants each week. This seems to be a new trend, and I for one love it. My mother has been doing this and proudly told me that she managed 52 different types of plants her first week. This isn’t as hard as you’d think. Spices count. Olive oil counts. Grains. Nuts. Seeds. Fruits. Vegetables. Coffee and tea (green, black, white all count separately). The point is to eat variety without eating highly processed foods. Enjoy preparing the foods. Try to incorporate different colors and textures into each meal. Think of food as art. Your meal is the final work of art. You are the artist. Have fun with it.
Learn everything you can about Brigid in both her goddess form and as Saint Brigid. Set up an altar in honor of her, if this is a path you are called to. (check out my Wild Rose Witchery Newsletter for divine feminine/goddess/reiki/tarot things).
Unearth or purchase a set of crayons and create a spring landscape. Pretend you are a child and just create for the joy of it.
Make a vision board. Place all the things you want to conjure into being this spring season. (Here’s a digital one I created. See if you can figure out my word of the year.)
Write beautiful affirmations on sticky notes and put them on your mirror, by your front door, in your kitchen.
Start a journal in which you record all your favorite quotes, beautiful things you notice, overheard snippets of conversation that gives you faith that there are good and decent people out there still.
Repurpose your tea bags by drying them and then using them as paper to record a tiny poem each day.
Choose a song to represent February.
Shop for seeds. Plant them in soil-filled egg cartons and wait for them to sprout. By the time they are big enough to transplant outside, spring will have arrived.
What would you add to this list? Please share your ideas in the comments.
And a poem for you, from my poetry chapbook, True North, which is still on sale for $5.99.
BRIGID'S MAGIC
The juxtaposition of light and shadows like intricate, antique
lace expiration of breath suspended in spider silk. Inch closer
to the mellow warmth, glean every glimmer of light. Have a
sprinkle. I've some to spare. Hold out your hands, palms
skyward, cupped. Shut your eyes, untie the cords around your
heart. Let me pour from my bottle of sparkles harvested from the
ripe sun
Drop
by drop. 
Last month’s Enchanted Simplicity: A Year of Poetic Living chapter excerpt can be found here
Enchanted Simplicity: A Year of Poetic Living
Much Love,
That’s a lovely idea too! There’s an ice cream shop in my town with a wall full of affirmations on sticky notes. Anyone is welcome to write one and stick it on the wall.
Beautiful ideas! I also think writing affirmations on sticky notes and secretly posting them around public places for strangers to find