Enchanted Simplicity: A Year of Poetic Living

January: A Stained-Glass January

Welcome to Ink-Stained Compass, the weekly newsletter of poet & witch Caitlin Gemmell. Today’s letter is the first installment of a new series in which I share snippets of chapters of my book-in-progress. This book is about my romantic, magical, intentional lifestyle — Enchanted Simplicity. There will be 12 chapters in this book, one for each month of the year, and each month will be centered around a particular theme. ❤

But first, my following poem was just published by Kind Over Matter and can be found on their “poetry corner.” It’s the first of my poems to be accepted for publication this year. You can find some of my other published poems here.

Also, my poetry chapbook, True North is on sale for $5.99 (paperback) and FREE as an ebook! The free ebook version will only be free until 1/28, so get it for your e-reader now even if you don’t have time to read it right now. It’ll only be available for free for a few more days. If you don’t have an e-reader, it can be read through the Kindle app on your phone.

Dark-eyed Juncos in January 

I call them snow birds
for their tails flash white
as they linger in the snow
foraging for fallen seeds
not because they are cold
hearted snow queens

they are friendly birds
with hearts of phoenix fire
the soft warmth of them 
melts the ice away

though their cloaks 
are lackluster grey
they give the illusion 
of painting the canvas 
of winter with their artist's 
palette personality

I think they bring the gift 
of sunshine to transform
the bare snow into a field
of rainbow sparkles
unearthing the magic of January

Photos to represent January’s theme, and a colorful playlist for January.

A Stained-Glass January

1/20/2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Hundreds of birds visited me today. Migrating robins, their chests candle-flame bright, landed in the pines and privet; starlings, swirling galaxies of them, found their places peacefully within the crowd; two crows cawed merrily to me as I ventured outdoors in the bitter cold to scatter seeds and leave offerings of edible treats in orange rind bowls.

Watching hundreds of robins and starlings coexist, their movement a symphony, their song a prayerful composition, elicited feelings of hope and acceptance from the depths of my bones. Joy bubbled to the surface and overflowed. Threads of connection circled around me and them, weaving into a pattern of rainbow bright optimism.

If I had to choose a title to describe how January has unfolded for me this year, it would be Stained Glass. I’m having a Stained-Glass January. Repeating these words to myself is an incantation, a spell to ensure that the month that is often the bleakest and most depressing for many is full of color for me.

A Stained-Glass January is a month in which we change our perception by choosing to look through a colorful filter, seeing the magic and beauty, and focusing on joy.

Stained glass has hundreds of years of history behind it, each pattern and color symbolizing something specific. Blue for heavenly light, the Virgin Mary, spirituality; red for divine love and courage; green for vitality, hope, growth; white for purity, peace, faith, and innocence.

Stained glass windows are found in churches, places that offer sanctuary and promote spiritual awareness. Stained glass windows are also found in homes, particularly those built during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

One of my favorite books from childhood is the Betsy-Tacy series, a semi-autobiographical account of Maud Hart Lovelace’s childhood in Minnesota. In one of the books, Betsy and Tacy are enamored with a chocolate covered house with stained glass windows. The house has an air of mystery and magic, in part because the owners are away, leaving it empty, expectant, as if it’s a vehicle for the magic that is about to unfold. The empty house eventually comes to life with the arrival of a family including Tib, who completes the Besty-Tacy-Tib trio.

Though I’m rereading Betsy-Tacy series and read about Tib’s chocolate colored house with mysterious stained-glass windows, the first hint of January’s theme arrived when my son and I were admiring the ornaments on our Yule tree. I asked my son which was his favorite. After a moment of thought, he pointed to a stained-glass butterfly, red and white, that belonged to my grandmother. Red and white. The colors of my grandmother’s spirit. Divine love and purity.

Not long after, my tween son worked his first job, cat-sitting for a neighbor. When I accompanied him to our neighbor’s house, Sasha (the cat) was dozing in her nest on the window seat, drawing our attention to the two stained-glass panels hanging from the window. I think it was in that moment that the theme for January clicked into place.

January could be an intensely difficult month. Many of us are grieving the direction our country is headed. We could sink into the frozen sludge of January, or surround ourselves in stained-glass colors, brightening the world around us through sharing light and vibrancy. I choose the latter. My choice was reaffirmed by my dream last night.