November's Glimmers and December's Enchantment
and a new offering for paid subscribers
Hi lovely soul,
If you’ve been here for any period of time, you’ll know I like to share my monthly list of glimmers (or little moments that spark joy). I also like to share ideas for how you can live a life of enchanted simplicity. This newsletter offers my thimble list (or list of glimmers) and a bunch of ideas for how to make December into a truly magical month.
I hope you enjoy. Please share your glimmers in the comments if you are reading this on Substack or hit reply and share your glimmers with me if you are reading this via your email inbox. I love to hear from my readers!
Ink-Stained Compass is the weekly newsletter of poet and witch, Caitilin Gemmell. It is for seekers of stories and magic. Your likes, comments, and shares go a long way, helping my newsletters find new readers. Thank you for taking a moment to show your appreciation.
A Little Thank You to my Paid Subscribers
I’m so grateful to you for your continuous support. You are amazing! As a thank you for being so wonderful, I have added a new thread to my chat just for you. For the entire month of December, I will post a tarot card reading each day. You can access it here. If you haven’t joined my chat yet, it is a space for the Ink-Stained Compass community to, well, chat. Most of my threads are for paid subscribers only, but occasionally I share thoughts with all subscribers. You can upgrade your subscription at any time to be granted full access to the community space.
November was an intensely difficult month for most of us, however I managed to find beautiful moments every day despite the cloud of gloom that settled across the US. Walking in nature is my main coping strategy, and the one that works best for my neurodivergent son too. Anytime he is like a volcano about to erupt, I say, “Put on your shoes. We’re going on a walk.” He doesn’t argue. He might stomp his feet and slam doors, but he knows how beneficial these walks are. They are the one thing that helps him blow off steam when his emotions get out of control. And as a highly sensitive individual who soaks up the energies all around like a sponge, my son needed lots of walks last month.
Honestly, I did too.
One of my favorite walks with him (not to blow off steam, but just because we walk every day, and this was on one of our regular walks and not one of our coping strategies walks) was when we walked the gorge trail near our house and discovered the first frost.
The first frost. That is the first entry on my list of glimmers.
Here are the rest…
November’s Glimmers
Discovering frost-covered leaves along the gorge path. The first frost. Icing sugar against maple gold leaves. A marrying of autumn and winter.
Sitting in the window seat to drink a cup of tea and having a fun encounter with a squirrel who came up to the window to talk to me.
Coffee and croissants on a lazy Sunday morning.
Sketching in my nature journal and finding a flow with it again.
Ritual baths involving lavender.
Meeting my neighbor’s new cat and bonding with her.
When a song from my youth appeared in my mind suddenly and made me smile. **shared below
Remembering the love notes my high school boyfriend used to pass to me in school. They were written in a secret code, and he made me decipher them.
Having dreams that are deeply healing.
A bouquet of pink and white carnations that make me smile every time I see them.
Leaving a bouquet of flowers bedecked with a ribbon at next doors, because she doesn’t get out anymore and we are all worried about her.
An encounter with three deer on a moonlit evening.
An invitation to review an ARC of “Murder at Gulls Nest” by Jess Kidd. I can already tell this will be one of my favorite books published in 2025! Jess Kidd became one of my auto-buy authors from the moment I read “Things in Jars.” Her latest book sounds like a cozy mystery (so a little different from her other books) but with her signature dash of magic woven into the narrative. It releases on April 8, 2025, and is available to preorder.
December’s Enchantment
I think most of us here in the northern hemisphere would agree that December is a magical month. Oftentimes, the first snow happens in December. And I don’t know about you, but the first snow is something I look forward to all year! Besides eagerly awaiting the first snow, here is a list of ways you can make December a magical month.
Add a peppermint stick to a mug of hot chocolate
Make edible ornaments for the birds and squirrels. You could coat pinecones in peanut butter and roll in seeds and then tie with string or use half a grapefruit or orange rind and fill with a mix of nut butter, seeds, and dried fruit and hang from a tree. Popcorn and cranberry garlands can be added too.
Make star ornaments out of twigs and string.
Listen to the Nutcracker on repeat.
Bake a delicious, festive treat.
Visit a winter market and buy something small (like an ornament, or a card for a friend).
Make mittens from an old, worn-out sweater.
Gather apples, oranges, cloves, and ribbons and make pomanders.
Hang paper snowflakes in a window.
Gather two plastic containers or tin cans, pine twigs, cranberries, orange slices, bay leaves, etc. and make ice lanterns. This is a simple tutorial you can follow, only it calls for faux greenery. If that’s your cup of tea, go for it, but real pine twigs and cranberries are much better (and less expensive if you can walk in nature and gather your own).
Treat yourself to a seasonal food. I love anything cranberry and enjoy making a stuffed baguette with homemade cranberry sauce and brie.
Place a simmer pot on your stove, such as with orange slices and cinnamon sticks.
Light lots of candles, or a fire in your fireplace if you are lucky enough to have one. Toast marshmallows in said fire.
Choose or make Christmas cards and send them to all your loved ones.
Be inspired by Betsy and Tacy and go Christmas “shopping” with a friend. This mostly involves window shopping, but you buy one Christmas ornament each.
Research different folktales from around the world that have something to do with winter, Christmas, or Yuletide.
Connect with your ancestral roots and do something from that culture to celebrate this season. For example, I am Swedish on my maternal grandmother’s side and have always enjoyed some of her traditions. I make risgrynsgrot (Swedish rice porridge) every year, and most years kardemummabullar (Swedish cardamom buns that are a bit like cinnamon rolls). We also always leave a bowl of rice porridge for the tomte.
Really embrace the season and wear a tacky Christmas sweater, jingle bell earrings, or cover your face in glitter.
Make a festive wreath for your door. If you have easy access to nature and can take home stray pine branches you find on your walk, that is a wonderful way of connecting with nature and expressing gratitude for what nature has to offer. Just remember to show your thanks by picking up rubbish or some other expression of gratitude and good stewardship.
Decorate your house with fairy lights!
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash Enjoy!
p.s. If you are interested in delving into other ways to find enchantment, my course Healing the Cinderella Wound, a personal mythology course centered around three Cinderella stories, is open for enrollment. Module one begins on December 21! You can register here. And, in light of the season of giving, I am gifting module one to anyone who leaves a comment on my last newsletter, The Season of Giving.
I’m also offering tarot readings again. These are unique in that I combine tarot with reiki healing. Many offerings in my shop (including reiki healing and tarot readings) are half off until the end of the year.
