I owe the world an apology... if you missed me at all, it's because I've been busy growing my hair:
Not sure how all that grey stuff got in there but it's OK - I believe this to be the first year of the 'wizard era'... although I have no intention of growing a full-on beard to go with it. There's no point in being a wizard if people point at you and say things like 'hey, look at that wizard'.
That's like joining MI6 and wearing a badge that says 'spy'.
Talking of majick - which is a great link if I do say so myself - I read a killer story today about crows, but let me start at the beginning. A couple weeks ago, the BBC ran a story about a little girl who fed crows in her garden and found herself rewarded with valuable trinkets for her trouble. The story is totally worth a read and you can find it right here.
Cut to today and the BBC ran a follow up story in which a whole bunch of other people have mailed in their own crow stories - that links to here - but before you run off to read it, read all of it and then go back and re-read because after the picture of the cat collar, there's a submission from a hippy-witch called Amethyst. I'm sure she's a lovely person. I actually know somebody called Amethyst and she truly is a loving, genuine person.
I don't really. I made that up to ease my conscience about the following:
I imagine she wears purple a lot. She will own a cat, own at least one tarot card deck and spends much of her time telling people that there's no such thing as black or white magic - simply "magic that is used for good or ill". All of which is wonderful food for your soul if you live at home, are 13 and watch Twilight once a week. By dropping her story into the article however, the real majick of crows, ravens, magpies and rooks is totally diminished.
You don't have to pretend you bought some jewellery - which you immediately and carelessly lost - so you can tell a story of how you were re-united by the birds. That's not how magic works.
"Three weeks later... three magpies... three minutes..." Come on? I have three magical words that may help: 'Pull yourself together'. The real magic is in all of the other stories and if you can't see that, then quite honestly you deserve to spend your evenings flirting with Mr Grey.
On your kindle.
Gerald Gardner will be rolling in his grave.
* Footnote: My scowling face should probably be aimed at the compiler of the story for letting it in and not Amethyst herself. Sadly, said compiler remains anonymous, so I will let it stand.