Quotes from Arin Murphy-Hiscock

Humankind seems to instinctively eschew responsibility. But taking responsibility for your spiritual practice, working from the heart of your home outward, is a step toward a more rewarding relationship with the world around you.

Part of self-care is allowing yourself the permission to have those moments and to enjoy them. You are encouraged to pause and acknowledge the moment, whether it is good or bad. That moment of acknowledgment reinforces the idea that you are worth the time. It also validates your feelings, which can reduce overall stress.

Earth: grounding, abundance; receptive and passive • Air: communication, intellect; projective and active • Fire: passion, creativity; projective and active • Water: emotion, sensitivity; receptive and passive

If you love and respect the world around you, you will not abuse it. The more empathy and sympathy you have for your surroundings, the better you will treat them. This is tied in to the basic Golden Rule found in several religions. It's ethical reciprocity: if you treat those around you with courtesy, they will extend the same to you. What you put out into the world returns to you, and that goes for thoughts, acts, and energy.

Most green witches find the use of the word "magic" to be irrelevant. Magic implies something out of the ordinary. But to a green witch the mundane is magical. When she senses, responds to, and gently nudges the flows of natural energy around her, nothing could be more natural. She's performing natural magic.

1. Spring equinox to summer solstice: the growing tide 2. Summer solstice to autumn equinox: the reaping tide 2. Autumn equinox to winter solstice: the resting tide 3. Winter solstice to spring equinox: the cleansing tide

Spellcraft is seen as a perfectly natural occurrence along the green path. Is brewing a cup of rosemary tea for a headache a spell? Or is it natural medicine? To the green witch, it doesn't really matter.

Finding this true self can be a remarkably difficult goal. We lie to ourselves on a regular basis, often so well that we are completely deaf to certain aspects of our personalities until the day we die. Working with that shadowed side of ourselves can be rewarding, however, and maintaining a harmony between our darker aspects and our positive aspects brings our personal energy into balance.

cats are my best friend

Your true self is not necessarily the self you wish you could be; it is the self you actually are.

to retrain your inner voice to be nurturing. Sometimes thinking of yourself as a child can help. "Did that hurt?" you can ask yourself. "It looks like it did. It's okay. It hurts, but it will be over soon. Hey, look at that pretty butterfly. I wonder where it's going right now?" Just as you'd affirm a child's emotion and then help redirect their attention from the subject that's upsetting them, you can redirect your own focus too.

Todo es mágico porque todo es maravilloso y único: cada respiración, cada paso, cada vuelta a la sopa. Cada acto es un acto de magia. La magia es la vida misma.

Most hearth-based house witches gravitate to the path because they feel the need to care for and nurture those who are close to them.

spirituality does not necessarily equate to religion.

You absorb a lot of tradition in and around the kitchen simply by being exposed to how someone else performs tasks, and by replicating those techniques you are in essence maintaining a tradition of sorts.