Words to carry with you

July 2026

"A charm against sickness is an amulet worn round the neck, enclosing a piece of paper, on which is written the first three verses of St. John's Gospel." - Lady Wilde, Irish Cures, Mystic Charms and Superstitions

July is the long middle of things, the stretch where the first push is spent and the finish still isn't in view, and that's usually when the doubt creeps in rather than the tiredness. You're far enough in that the novelty has worn off, but not quite far enough that you can see the end, so the work stops feeling like progress and starts feeling like plain repetition. 

Endurance in Irish tradition was never the dramatic effort, it was and is just the quiet continuing on, when nothing about it feels remarkable.

In Irish folk practice the word wasn't only spoken, it was written down and kept close, carried on the body where you could come back to it. Lady Wilde recorded charms written on scraps of paper and worn round the neck, and the older manuscript charms were copied into the margins of the law books so they'd be there to hand when they were needed.

A written charm works differently from a spoken one, because it stays, it sits in your pocket or round your neck (or in your bra!) through the whole long day and reminds you of what you committed to when your resolve was fresh.

An that's exactly what a stretch of endurance asks for - something steady you can return to when the energy and feeling that started ya off has gone quiet.

Note: Free Tier Spells Sent 1st Sat Each Month, and Available in the Archive!