Dear Diary: Transitions, cronehood, big news and more big news

I know, I know, it has been an absolute age since I posted a Dear Diary update. In fact, it was in June. How did that happen? Where did the year go?

I have no idea where I am, what day it is, what my name is or exactly what I am supposed to be doing.  But life would be boring if I weren’t busy, right?

This year has been one of transitions of all kinds.  Starting a new job with Moon Books as Publicist in January, for starters (which has been amazing).  Becoming a grandma (also amazing) shifted my acceptance into the role of Crone; accepting the Crone role has been enlightening, scary, but enlightening. And of course, our granddaughter is an absolute blessing.  Also coming out the other side of the menopause, well, nearly. There are still a few complications, which I don’t tend to broadcast, but we are dealing with those ongoing.

Life is very much filled with our little granddaughter, who was born at the end of May.  We had forgotten how exhausting a baby is, but we love it and are very honoured to be involved in her life.

Kitchen Witch continues to rock along, coming up on fourteen years now.  Ness and Heather are at the helm now, with me interfering on the odd occasion so that I feel useful. 

Big news is that Ness, Heather and I have signed a contract with Moon Books Publishing to write a book.  We are extremely excited to be working on this together.  The working title is Practical Witchcraft, and it will contain our shared knowledge and experience about working witchcraft, highs, lows, successes and failures.  A really practical, hands-on, no-nonsense tome of the Craft.

More big news.  In August last year, we were wandering along a footpath out in the countryside, as you do, and wondering about all the plants that were growing in the hedgerows.  Plants we were familiar with and used in magic, but we wanted to delve deeper.  So we did.  Roll on to now, and we (the Royal we, as in, Ness & Heather did most of the work) put together The Herbarium.  A catalogue of wild flowers and plants, their histories and myths, medicinal and magical properties and photographs to identify them.  From that, we created our new Herbarium oracle deck.  Created using our photographs, our knowledge, our experience and the graphic skills of Pete Patterson.  They have been printed in England by a small independent company.  We wanted the feel to be vintage, well-thumbed and as if you had the deck kicking about in your apron pocket for years.    We are chuffed to bits with the finished product, and the first delivery of stock sold out within a week. 

Looking at next year, we have made the decision to cut back on the events that we attend.  For me, being so busy is part of it.  But it is also a lot of work.  When I attend an event, usually I do at least one talk; if it is a weekend shindig, then I usually do two or three.  Whilst it may look like I just get up there and wing it (and I am not saying I have never done that…ahem), there is a lot of preparation that goes into it.  Add in the travel, as most events are at least a two-hour drive from me, usually three or four.  Then, accommodation and food costs all start to mount up.  However, we are hoping to pop by one or two events, and we will definitely be at the Wild Witchcraft Conference in March. 

Which leads me onto our Kitchen Witch plans for 2026, which involve a lot more online events.  Keep an eye on our social media and our website for details, but we are starting out with our first-ever online retreat and following up with an online lithomancy workshop.  We have put a lot of time and effort into the planning and are really looking forward to it.  This will be followed by several online workshops…watch this space.

The Kitchen Witch School website had an update recently.  The website host decided to remove forums and replace them with groups, so we have been getting to grips with that.  It prompted us to move with the times!   Huge thank you to our students who were incredibly patient whilst we made the transition.

I had two books released this year, The Witch’s Altar Book, co-written with Lindsay Squire and Nicole Weiss, published by Leaping Hare Press.  Then Prosperity Magic, which was published by Moon Books.    I have one book set to release next year in November, Witchcraft: Daily Practice, published by Moon Books.  And of course, I have several others on the go that I am currently still writing!

More big news.  On 1^st January 2026, I will take on an additional role for Moon Books Publishing as I will become Editor as well as Publicist.  Exciting and terrifying at the same time.  I hope I will do the job justice, but I am excited to be able to continue to support my fellow Moon Books authors.

Somewhere around seven years ago, I began adding the odd video or two to my YouTube channel.  Five years ago, I began regular weekly Friday morning live-stream chats, and I have no plans to stop.  I am very pleased to be joined once a month by Ness and Heather as well.   A very lovely community has built up around these, and I look forward to it every week.

Huge thanks to everyone who has continued to support Kitchen Witch and me.  I am always overwhelmed by the response from you all. I feel truly blessed.   Of course, it goes without saying that my thanks, as always, go to Ness and Heather; Kitchen Witch would not function without them.   Thanks to my incredibly patient husband, Pete, who does a lot of the graphics and puts up with me being terribly high-maintenance, too.    And to Trevor and Matty, who form the Moon Books team, it has been an absolute pleasure working with them this year, and I look forward to our ongoing teamwork. 

This year has been immense, and I look forward to more shenanigans (of the positive kind) going forward.