I’ve had a few emails and conversations lately that lead me to believe I might be accidentally giving off the wrong vibe lately.
Regular readers know I haven’t been around quite as much, and regular customers know that I’m not currently offering "always in stock" stuff on ebay (so oils, powders, bath salts, and mojo bags are only available on the website for now – ebay only has the unusual or more limited stuff, or stuff that isn’t on the website yet). Regular clients know I am not taking on much new work now, certainly nothing with tight deadlines, and new clients are getting referred to other workers.
I have not gotten mortally ill or injured – I have had some ongoing back and hip problems for a long time, and they have been flaring up the past few months, but I have been in physical therapy for a bit over a month now and that is finally really making a difference. So that contributed to my "stepping back" a bit, but that’s not something that’s a huge worsening problem (but thanks for your concern, y’all are sweet), thanks to my genius of a physical therapist.
In fact, I have had quite a few projects going on, despite my scaling back lately:
… and some others that don’t really make for riveting pictures — whooo! look at Karma Zain typing! Or organizing her receipts for tax season! Exciting!
What’s up, then? I am working on a PhD (a full time, residential one) and I’m in my third year. This is the year I have to take and pass a giant, intense, stress-inducing exam, with both an oral and a written component, on almost 1,000 years of history, philosophy, and literature, spanning many languages (four of which I have to read in the original rather than in translation). That exam is coming up this semester.
I took the ebay store down a notch and stopped taking on new clients because my success or failure on this exam is one of the single most important determinants of – well, the rest of my life. This test is a big hurdle to clear. I had originally thought I would be taking it at the end of this month, but there are some scheduling issues with my committee members, so the date is still up in the air – but it will be within the next couple of months, definitely. So I have been telling people that I will be back to "regular business" sometime in February, but right now I’m not positive that that will be the case.
But I have not gotten "burned out" on rootworking, I am not mad at anybody, I’m not "closing up shop." I’m not going to stop doing rootwork (that would be kinda like not breathing), and there is no Great Worrisome Event, Conflict, or Secret behind my stepping back a bit lately. I just have a Huge Event on my horizon towards which I have been working for a very, very long time and towards which I am finally approaching at sort of frightening speed.
So what does this mean for you?
It means that I am not taking new clients for rootwork right now for anything more than mojo bags and light settings. I am more than happy to refer you to a colleague of mine, though, if you want a recommendation. I can recommend quite a few wonderful workers and conjure doctors.
It means that I still strongly discourage clients, new or old, from booking full readings with me. I am currently booked out for about 8 weeks, as I can only do about one full reading a week, and there are so many other good readers out there that it’s a shame for anybody to wait on me that long. I can recommend some to you, if you want.
It means that most oils are still available only on the website (though my web designer is working on making the site easier to use and glitch-free).
It means that I am not online every day, and it is not humanly possible for me to return all the emails I get within 24 hours. Lately, it’s not even possible for me to return them all within 48 hours. I have been trying to play "catch up" on Friday nights, but I’m only human. So if you have an emergency, please, please let me refer you to someone else. I can personally recommend quite a few colleagues who can take good care of you.
I don’t know when things will be "back to normal," but you can be sure I will post when I pass that exam!
The ebay store will be closed for a couple of weeks while I get caught up on a huge run of mojo bag and doll orders that are very time-consuming, and the handling time on most items will be longer than usual. Feel free to inquire before placing a website order if you have a deadline. If I can’t meet it, I’ll tell you so and recommend someone who might be able to.
***
Finally, I updated my blog a week or two ago with some new links to some blogs and sites; you may not have seen them if you read this via a reader or on your friends’ page. So click on over and pay some of these folks a visit – there are some great conjure blogs out there!
Big Lucky Hoodoo 