My July Love List and Journal Prompts for You

Photo by ShengGeng Lin on Unsplash

Hello friends,

This was originally published in July of 2024. I’m resharing it in case you are looking for some journal prompts for this time of year. Enjoy!

July Love List and Journal Prompts for You

Each month I like to share a list of things I have been loving or give you journal prompts and ideas for noticing the magic and beauty all around you according to the season. Sometimes these lists and prompts are for paid subscribers only, and sometimes I share them with everyone. Last month’s on ways to celebrate Midsummer was available to everyone and you can read it here if you missed it and want some ideas for making this time of year really special and magical.

This month, I am doing something a bit different. First, I wanted to share some journal prompts for you to work on this month. Second, I will share my answers to these questions. And finally, at the end of this letter I will answer the third question submitted to me via Instagram story.

Feel free to share some of your answers by replying to this email or sharing a comment with the Ink-Stained Compass community.

From my journal

1. I love the softer, hazy colors present in the summer landscape. The trees are no longer the fresh, yellow green of spring. Instead, they are cooler, almost like the colors one can find in the sea. I love walking at twilight with my son and noticing nature all around us. Sometimes the sky is soft shades of grey and blue. Other times the sunset is so bright as to be unreal. My favorite colors from nature lately are the jade greens of the trees’ foliage, the emerald green of the grass, the frothy white of the Queen Anne’s Lace, the silver of the tree trunks, and the greys and blues of the cloudy sky at twilight.

2. Every day there is something new and wondrous to see. The male hummingbird who visited our garden earlier in the summer has stopped coming by now, but today I saw a female hummingbird instead. She loves the red salvia and the fuchsia. The other day, my son and I had a magical encounter with a deer. It was during our evening walk and the fireflies had just appeared, making the land around us seem like some enchanted fairy world.

3. When the weather is sweltering, I lose my appetite. I keep going through eating more salads and lots and lots of fruit. Crisp, juicy watermelon is one of my favorite things to eat. I turn it into a meal by adding goat cheese and mint or pineapple sage from the garden. I’m also drinking water with cucumber, lemon, and fresh herbs from the garden. Strawberries or peaches with cream is another favorite snack. And I like adding a splash of cranberry or cherry juice to fizzy water. I garnish with a lime wedge and mint or lemon verbena from the garden.

4. I like to notice sounds at night that you wouldn’t expect to hear. For example, I have gotten used to hearing the catbird (who must nest near the house) throughout the day, but lately I have been hearing him after dark too. I also love hearing owls, foxes, coyotes, and bats at night. Sometimes I hear a terrible cry which might be a rabbit falling victim to a coyote or fox. It’s an awful sound, but quite thrilling at the same time.

5. The seaside. Always. Always. But until I make it there, I can sit in the front garden, venture down to the meadow and pond, or visit the tea house in the woods.

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Ask me anything #3

Photo by Camille Paralisan on Unsplash

Earlier this year, I decided to share my answers to some of the questions I received on Instagram. So far, I answered this one about characters I am like and this one about my favorite scents. Today, I am answering the question “Do you have a signature perfume?”

The answer is sort of. When I was a teenager, I became obsessed with the idea of having a signature scent when I read the book Romancing the Ordinary for the first time. My lovely dad decided to help me on my quest by allowing me to sample different perfumes at Saks Fifth Avenue before buying me my first ever perfume. It was En Joy by Jean Patou. I loved that perfume so much that when the bottle was almost depleted, I bought another bottle while on a trip to Paris.

Unfortunately, I developed a sensitivity to most conventional perfume. For years, I tried to come up with my own blend using essential oils. At one point, I loved the combination of grapefruit with rose geranium.

Eventually, I discovered Skylar perfumes, which don’t contain harmful chemicals found in other perfumes. The two scents that I wear are Honeysuckle Dreams and Meadow. Both are light, fresh florals. Overall, I wear Honeysuckle Dreams the most, but maybe because we are in the middle of summer Meadow has been calling to me more lately.

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Thank you for reading! And I hope you enjoy these journal prompts to help you on your journey to living a life of enchanted simplicity.

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Gentle loving greetings to anyone new here! Thank you for reading my newsletter, Ink-Stained Compass. I’m so glad you are here.

Bio: Caitlin Gemmell is a writer, published poet, and witch. You can read her poetry in several publications, including The Winter 2022 issue of Capsule Stories, the Autumn 2022 anthology by Querencia Press, The Wistful Wild, Issue 37 of Bella Grace magazine, and Issue 40 of Bella Grace magazine. Use coupon code SUMMER624 for 15% off your Bella Grace purchase.