My sincere apologies to you all for not attending Witchfest Feltham. I was due to give a talk but unfortunately my health had other ideas.
Several weeks ago I was hit with a cold/cough type virus which has taken ages to shift. On top of that I have had a lot going on and have done perhaps a little too much (actually there is no 'perhaps' about it).
Friday morning I gave my usual online chat and my voice was struggling, by lunchtime it was non existent and I began to feel really rough. It forced me to make the decision to pull out of Witchfest Feltham, apart from it being at least a 3 1/2 hour round trip (traffic permitting) whilst feeling rough, my voice would not have stood up to giving a talk. Making the decision earlier rather than later allowed COA to find a replacement speaker (my huge thanks to Raegan Shanti for stepping in).
I don't like to let people down and it is not something I do very often, but in this case it was the right decision.
It was a bit of a nudge, or perhaps more of a kick up the butt, that I had been doing too much and need to have a little look at how I run my schedule going forward. How often do I advise people that you cannot help others if you are burnt out yourself? Yeah...I know...
This past year or so has involved a lot of events both online and in person. Most of the 'in person' ones have involved travelling a great distance - the record so far being an 8 hour drive to get to the Artemis Gathering - a journey which should have taken just under 4 hours. The travelling takes a toll. For the future we will need to assess in person events and the distance they are from us. Not only the time and effect it has on us physically but also the costs involved in travelling and staying over if we need to. Although we are booked for several events next year already, those dates are firmly in the diary!
We are also looking to attend some of the more local events, if you know of any in the Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex area, even spreading out to Dorset/Kent/London etc just give us a shout.
Going forward I have a lot of new projects and ventures including several more signed book contracts and some oracle decks too. I need to make sure I have the time and energy to focus on those. Oh, and that 'real job' thing I have, the one that pays the bills!
We also have the Kitchen Witch School which is in its tenth year and full of amazing students. And we have plans to run more student only events online next year. Time and attention for the students is a high priority for us.
The Friday morning chats have become a very important part of my week and those will continue for the forseeable future.
Kitchen Witch Rituals - our online rituals will continue, we have so much fun creating and running them and of course the crafting! To be fair, the Kitchen Witch team write and organise them, I just rock up, for which I am very grateful.
The College of Psychic Studies - I have had the pleasure of running several workshops online with the College this year and there are plans to run some more next year.
Online talks - I am booked for several online events next year already and am always happy to do so (please do keep the invites coming in!).
We also have plans for some new Kitchen Witch online workshop events too, keep an eye out. And plans for some local in person ones as well (check out the fabulous Queenie's Vintage tea rooms, our workshop there in December has already sold out, but the cafe is well worth a visit).
It is, as always busy here at Kitchen Witch HQ and I am eternally grateful that it is, but I need to make sure I also don't take on too much (again). I don't want to be in the situation of burning out and letting people down.
Thank you all for your continued support, I will never be too busy to connect with you. And of course my huge thanks to the Kitchen Witch team; Ness, Heather and Sue for all the work they do, Kitchen Witch could not run without them.
So, I am trying to schedule more effectively, I shall do my best!
In the meantime, I am very pleased to be joined by some new Tomtes...
