My First Spell Jar

In recent years, I have become more interested in witchy stuff. I really identify with my Finnish side (a quarter of my family is Finnish) so I think that’s where this interest stems from. The Finns have a great connection to nature and it makes total sense when you find out that Finnish Paganism existed before other religions were introduced to Finland. I have looked through plenty of witchy books and am constantly figuring out what practices I connect to the most. A lot of witchcraft is going with your intuition and what feels right for you.

 

I have seen lots of spell jars and wanted to try making my own but was always nervous to do it for the first time. What if I messed up? I had to remind myself about witchcraft being about what feels right to ourselves. A witchy friend from work had her birthday in October and I wanted to give her a witchy themed gift. What better time to try making a spell jar for the first time? I specifically made a protection spell jar for her and it felt even more special making my first spell jar for a witchy friend.

 

I sat at my altar (unfinished because I’m still working on it) and cast a circle by visualizing a ball of light coming my heart and growing into a sphere around me. I then lit a white tea light and cleansed a small jar by placing it over top of the flame to put it out and let the smoke swirl inside. I then poured in some sea salt, added herbs and plants (I chose ones that are for protection so I used a bit of cedar bough, a piece of oak leaf, rosemary, and thyme all of which came from my family’s land), added a piece of quartz (also for protection and came from my family’s land), and wrote PROTECTION on a piece of paper which I rolled up and placed inside. I then put the cork on the jar and lit a long white candle which I used to pour melted wax on top to seal the jar. Then I closed the circle by visualizing the ball of light growing smaller and coming back to my heart.

 

Of course, this was only my first spell jar and I’m still learning but I definitely figured out some things that worked for me and some that didn’t work. I really learned to trust my intuition with this first spell jar.

Cheers,

Kaylie

Summer Freedom 2019 Playlist

Summer Solstice was on Friday. The warm weather is here. My family has opened up our pool for the season (although I still haven't gone swimming yet). Yes, Summer has finally come to Northern Ontario. That means that it is time to turn up the music and have fun while soaking in the beautiful sun before it disappears again for half the year. For me, Summer brings the feeling of freedom so I decided to base my Summer playlist this year on that wonderful feeling that anything is possible! Also, I like making my Summer playlists a bit longer so this one has 20 songs.

Check out the playlist on Spotify here: Summer Freedom 2019 Playlist

Cheers,

Kaylie

Sudbury Gutsy Walk 2019

On Sunday, I participated in the Gutsy Walk for Crohn's and Colitis. It's an annual fundraising walk that raises money for Crohn's and Colitis Canada, an organization here in Canada that funds Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis research, provides various programs for people living with the diseases, and raises awareness and educates people about the diseases. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Canada has one of the highest rates of IBD in the world and it is estimated that 1 in 140 Canadians has IBD. 

I am actually one of those Canadians living with IBD. I have ulcerative colitis for which I am on a biologic drug called Remicade that I receive through an IV infusion every eight weeks and it keeps my colitis under control. I had to go on this drug when my colitis flared up badly in 2016. We found out that the inflammation had spread throughout my colon and my body was not responding well enough to the usual IBD medications so I needed something stronger. It was really scary and, afterwards, I really wanted to get more involved in spreading awareness about IBD and help other people living with the diseases so I decided to start volunteering with my local chapter of Crohn's and Colitis Canada.

I started volunteering with the Sudbury chapter of Crohn's and Colitis Canada in September 2017 and this year's Gutsy Walk was my second time volunteering at the walk although it was my fourth time attending the walk. Last year I was in charge of the kids/activity area on walk day so I took on the same role this year. Last year I had a lot of anxiety since it was my first time volunteering at the walk but this year was so much better. I still had a bit of anxiety before the walk but once we got started setting up I was much better since I knew what to do from last year.

The kids/activity area had three tables underneath two canopy tents. There was a hired face painter who also made balloon animals, bags of candies with sticks in order to make a candy kabob resembling the gutsy guy logo of Crohn's and Colitis Canada, temporary tattoos of that same gutsy guy logo, "I want _____ to stop" stickers where you could fill in something IBD-related that you want stopped and could stick on a board that we had available, a binder full of educational brochures, as well as an area that required donations which included a plinko game. The face painting, tattoos, and candy were obviously very popular with the kids at the walk. 

Since I was in charge of the area, I helped set it up and decided where everything went and then helped out wherever I was needed in the area. I did, however, make it a goal of mine to get lots of people to fill out the stickers for the board since people were not as attracted to that activity last year. This year, I wanted the board to be filled with lots of stickers so I would ask anyone who came to the table if they wanted to fill out a sticker and the board, as you can see in the photo at the beginning of this post, was filled quite nicely.

By the end of the walk, I was just really happy. I had so much fun and I feel so much more confident volunteering at the walk now. It was so amazing to participate in something so important to me and get to talk to some people about IBD and show that they are not alone in having IBD or supporting someone who has IBD. I just wish that the brochures would have been more popular. I think encouraging people to look through the brochures will be my big goal next year and I look forward to it. I'm so excited for next year!

Cheers,

Kaylie

My Second Library Placement

If you do not already know, since September 2017, I have been a college student in a library and information technician program online through distance education. The end of the program involves two library placements. I previously blogged about my first library placement that I did at an academic library. I just finished my second library placement on Tuesday, which I did at a public library, and I am now finished my entire library and information technician program! I am so excited to be done my program and have realized that I definitely made the right decision of choosing this program. Library work is well suited to me. I have seen this through my enthusiasm in both my courses and my placements. I love it so much!

At my second library placement, I had both similar and different experiences than my first library placement but even the experiences that were similar were still a bit different. Here is what I did:

Health and Safety: I went through health and safety training that employees and volunteers must complete. This involved a tour of the library, a staff member explaining health and safety procedures, and online courses (videos, text, and quizzes) with certificates.

Cataloguing and Physical Processing: I catalogued CDs, DVDs, fiction books, puzzles, and board games. I did physical processing for books, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, puzzles, and board games. I also had to check the catalogue for DVDs that were donated to see if any of the library branches had them, which ones had them, and how many had them.

Archive Digital Folders: I organized newspapers that were digitized from microfilm into folders by week since they had already been organized by month.

Interlibrary Loan: I learned about how the interlibrary loan system usually works since, at the time of my placement, interlibrary loans were suspended, and I got to experience how it was working at the time. I still got to work with returns, reserves, check ins, shipping, shelf checks, patron requests, processing, and stats despite the suspension which is a lot more than I thought I would get to do.

Children's Collection: I learned about ordering/purchasing books and DVDs for the children's collection through various companies and even got to actually order some, with help from the staff member in charge of the children's collection, of course.

Weeding: I weeded the teen fiction section and the adult graphic novel section using lists that were given to me by staff. The books were either on the list because they had been checked out a lot and may not be in great condition or they had not been checked out in a while. I removed the books from the shelves and then went through them with staff members to see if any were worth keeping and withdrew the rest that the library wanted to get rid of and learned the different fates of withdrawn books. They may be just thrown away or they could be donated to a school that wants them or sold through library book sales or a specific organization that helps libraries sell books.

Technology: I helped update children's apps on iPads by restoring the purchases for all of them.

Makerspace: I learned about the different tools and aspects of the makerspace and how the makerspace functions when it comes to using tools and setting up workshops.

This library placement was so much fun and the staff were amazing. I got to have experiences in so many different departments and see just how much work goes into running a public library. There are so many details and it is fascinating how the work is distributed among staff in a large library. I am so glad that I had this experience and now feel even more confident with library work.

Cheers,

Kaylie

Feeling Overwhelmed

I have spoken about my anxiety in previous blog posts so it should be no surprise when I say that I get overwhelmed quite easily sometimes. Obviously it is related to my anxiety. New situations make me anxious. Meeting new people or socializing with groups of people make me anxious. Changes make me anxious. And when I am anxious, I get overwhelmed. There is so much going on and then, on top of that, I have to deal with everything that my anxiety brings to the table. I get overwhelmed by too much happening at once or feeling like I am being rushed. There are ways to deal with it though and here are some things that I have learned for dealing with anxiety and being overwhelmed.

Stop for a moment and take a breath: You have probably already heard about how much breathing can help calm you down but it is definitely something that I myself forget to do in situations where I am overwhelmed and my anxiety is acting up. I used to get a lot of anxiety when getting needles (I still get some anxiety but having to get IV infusions every 8 weeks has gotten me more used to needles) and had to ask the nurses to remind me to breathe because my breathing would act up and I would start sweating or even shaking in some instances. When I get anxiety, my breathing often goes funny and I will sometimes hyperventilate. Taking a moment to just stop, leave everything to the side, and take a few deep breaths can really help clear your head and set you up to tackle whatever situation you are in. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it feels like things just keep piling up so pausing and taking a breath can stop that feeling of things piling up.

Let people know what you are going through: In certain situations when you are with people and you are becoming overwhelmed or you think that your anxiety is going to act up or it is acting up, telling the people you're with about it can really help. When I started volunteering with my local chapter of Crohn's and Colitis Canada, I told the president of the chapter about my anxiety. When I joined a local community band, I ended up letting the conductor know about my anxiety after the first few band rehearsals since my anxiety had gotten quite bad during them. In both cases, it really helped me, even if it did not necessarily help calm my anxiety. It just helped to know that they knew what I was going through instead of thinking that they must be judging me for acting strange or think that something else is wrong with me. When I told them, they were also very understanding so I knew that if my anxiety acted up again they would be understanding then too. 

Ask questions to clear things up or ensure that you are on the right track: I know that, for me, not knowing can cause a lot of anxiety and make me feel overwhelmed because I start worrying about what is to come, whether I am doing something right, etc. I therefore ask lots of questions and like knowing what to expect. It helps lessen the anxiety and makes me feel less overwhelmed because there is a plan laid out. Even if there are a lot of steps to the plan or it is only a very basic plan, I at least have something to work with and I can use it to figure things out one step at a time.

Take breaks to recharge: Taking a break and getting away from people or a situation for a little while can really help clear your head and help you recharge so that you will be ready when you return. As an anxious introvert, I need my alone time. Even if it is just a few moments alone in a washroom. People and certain situations can feel suffocating and I just need to go somewhere where I can finally breathe.

Take things one day at a time or even one moment at a time: Life can be so overwhelming and we just have to remember to take things one step at a time. Even if we feel like we need to get everything done now and feel like we are in a rush, we need to remember that that is not how things work. Everything takes time so we need to slow down and take the time needed. Sometimes we might feel like we just want to get something over with and can't wait for it to be done because it is causing us a lot of anxiety but we need to take things one moment at a time and we might actually end up enjoying whatever it was that was causing us so much anxiety in the first place. When it came to my library placements, I had a lot of anxiety. Before even starting the placements, I was already telling myself that it was only 15 days per placement and that I just had to get through it then it would all be over and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. In the end, I actually ended up really enjoying my placements and learning a lot despite my anxiety and was actually sad for my first placement to be over and am sad that tomorrow is the last day of my second placement.

I hope maybe these things help you as much as they help me.

Cheers,
Kaylie