Within The Circle We Conspire

What an amazingly perfect Autumn day it was here, today. May it be so for you.

Once a month, my amazing circle of amazing women gets together for what we call Stitch-n-Bitch. Over time, the membership in our circle (we live in DC, a transient town) has changed and there are fewer "stitchers." Our motto is: Stitching Is Optional. But Come Prepared To Bitch. I cannot underestimate the importance for a circle of women who plan to engage in magic of spending lazy time together "just" chatting. I think that it's key to effective magic.

And, of course we always do bitch. One woman works for a financial reporting service (how do you think HER week went?), one works w non-profits, one edits technical documents and just found a new job in this shitty economy because she has mad skillz, one teaches math to middle schoolers, one is retired from the White House, one is a disabled historian, and one is a lawyer in a white-shoe DC firm. And, we are aunts, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives, daughters, granddaughters, neighbors, women in the DC Pagan community. We have a lot to bitch about.

Today, we had potluck brunch, tea, coffee, etc. and caught up with each other. We sat out on the screen porch and carved pumpkins. We carved a jack-o-lantern face, bats, a goddess, O B A M A, and a witch on a broomstick. It was a lot of fun. N and K came early and helped me set up,and stayed late and helped me clean up. We talked politics and magic and family and career and made lists of who we would invite to our fantasy dinner parties.

I've lived my whole life surrounded by, uplifted by, supported by Grace. I've always thought that Volume One of my autobiography would be entitled: Receiving Assistance from Witnesses, and that Volume Two would be entitled: No One on the Ground Was Hurt -- both phrases from evening news programs. But one of the very best things that Grace ever arranged for me is this circle of amazing women, a life that includes them, lazy Autumn sunlight on my porch with them, mugs of coffee, pumpkins, and laughter. The laughter of sisters in the slanting Autumn light, lifting me up, helping me cope, listening to me bitch, making it all ok. My sisters, cleaning the pumpkin seeds for roasting, setting my table w/ cinnamon rolls and pumpkin bread, garlic spread, and fruit, my sisters helping me to clean up afterwards, assuring me that it's ok to plant wisteria on the shed, listening to my stories about the stories I read to G/Son last night on iChat.

I live such a wonderful life, a life so full of Grace, a life blessed by my sisters.

May it be so for you.