Man plans and the gods laugh. I had intended on updating my progress weekly, but life intervened regularly. I’m glad that I kept my work for the Domagick cleansing challenge relatively low-key, confining it to daily magickal baths and adopting a vegetarian diet. I was able to keep up both even when my schedule changed with little notice.

I had two goals over the thirty days: to cleanse myself of negative psychic energy with the baths, and to cleanse my system physically with the vegetarian diet. I tracked my mood, my blood pressure, and my weight over 30 days to gauge my progress. With the time completed, I can say my mood undeniably brightened. While my ability to become anxious at the drop of a hat remains the same, my overall stress level is lower. However, I must take into account the lengthening of the days where I live and the growing amount of sunlight we now have. I am outside a good deal because of my job this summer, and that may have also improved my mood as well. Still, I feel the baths have had an effect. The effect of the vegetarian diet is much easier to see. My blood pressure is now in the normal range whenever I test it, and I have lost nearly 11 pounds. I need to wear a belt with my jeans again.

All of these changes encourage me to keep going. There are others to consider too. According to the ProVeg Veggie Challenge, which I used to give me daily pep talks along the thirty days, I have also saved approximately 6 animals, 44.4 kg CO₂, and 39,000 liters of water, and 64.8 m² of land by consuming a vegetarian diet instead of meat. I’ll have to research the absolute veracity of those numbers, but they are certainly something to keep in mind while my country and the world struggles with climate change. It isn’t the definitive answer, but it is something I can do, and it made me feel better. At this juncture, I have nothing to lose – except more weight.

I see no reason not to continue with the magical baths and the vegetarian diet in the foreseeable future.

I’m cleansing myself in two different ways in June: with daily ritual baths and by eating a vegetarian diet. I’ve eaten that way for two weeks now, but I only started tracking of the results of both the baths and the diet since June 7, so this was the first “official” week of my June Domagick Cleanse.

Usually, I tune out while bathing. Over the last week, I’ve made sure to be especially mindful of my body instead, noting where it hurts and stores physical tension. Then I visualize this pain leaving my body, along with any other negativity that might currently reside there. I finish up with daily prayers to the Daemonic Divine and exit the bath. So far I can say I start the day more relaxed and centered, if nothing else.

The vegetarian diet has gone well with only a couple of hiccups. First, I didn’t read a label before preparing a soup mix purchased at a local farmer’s market. I took the vendor at his word when he said it would be vegetarian, but it wasn’t. Second, I haven’t enjoyed the Beyond Beef products I’ve tried when they were prepared outside the home, which dashed my hopes of indulging in vegetarian versions of junk-food treats I used to love. Either the texture or the taste made me feel queasy with my first bite, so better not to indulge at all right now.

Despite this, I feel as if my taste buds are waking up. Both fruits and vegetables taste much sweeter than before. This is a wonderfully unexpected benefit of my vegetarian diet, as are all the new recipes my family is coming across. We’ve always been adventurous cooks, and this has only expanded our palates further.

I’ve taken a significant amount of time off from posting here or on social media. This was partly due to some changes in my schedule which occurred without much notice – all good things, but they still arrived with little warning nonetheless. In the midst of these changes, I came to the end of several projects as well, and needed time to myself to ponder what I wanted to do next.

The goal of the May / June Domagick challenge is to ascend our limitations, alchemize our blocks and cleanse ourselves so we can have a fresh start. I plan to focus on what may seem like practical, perhaps even non-magickal techniques to cleanse myself this month: baths and vegetarian diet. My personal goal is to increase my overall stamina and lower my weight.

I’ve used magickal baths for years as way to cleanse myself physically and mentally of grime and negativity. I have researched a vegetarian diet off and on for some time, but first looked into my city’s restaurant and grocery store options in May when vegan family members came to visit. It was at the tail end of their visit that I began to eat a vegetarian diet. I have maintained it for nine days as of June 7, although I will consider this Day 1 of the challenge. So far I can say that I am feeling lighter, but I have only lost a few ounces of weight.

I am doing this challenge completely for myself, with no worries about “winning.” Therefore, I will only post updates on Fridays, once a week, rather than every day as typically required by the rules. Baths and meals are a little private, anyway! Other than my struggles with making both of these things happen, there won’t be much I can share.

Wish me luck!