Currently Reading (February 2026)

I’ve recently finished reading The Heroine’s Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness by Maureen Murdock, which was really interesting and, in many ways, felt relatable.

One of the many themes I kept coming back to in my mind while reading it was questions around the patriarchy and misogyny. These are two topics that have been on my mind in periods since I was a teenager, but it’s been much more frequent since the #MeToo movement. And with recent events from the US, with certain files being released and how many leaders and people in high places have been revealed to have been involved (most of them men, but also women in high places), it has, once again, become crystal clear that a deep, widespread hatred for women exists everywhere and at all times.

Not to wallow in the bleakness of this reality, still, I have to say that it’s been really fucking painful and sickening to follow. And it’s even more enraging and frustrating that I’m not surprised.

After finishing reading Murdock’s book, another book caught my attention by chance. Or, perhaps it was supposed to happen. And, perhaps it was supposed to happen because I saw it as a sign of encouragement for some things I’ve been ruminating on for a while.

Lately, I’ve tried to figure out how I could incorporate more of my interests into my writing here on Golden Threads of Wisdom, in part to make it more fun for me and in part to create something that is, perhaps, a bit more unique.

The book that caught my attention was In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet. I’ve started reading it (only the Introduction, so far), and it has sparked my interest in the witch hunts from the 1400s to the late 1700s.

Now, the other interest I mentioned that I want to incorporate more into Golden Threads of Wisdom is astrology, especially mundane astrology. Mundane astrology analyzes global events and cycles of larger, generational cultural and societal trends by examining planetary positions and cycles, and I find it very fascinating.

Reading Chollet’s book (only the Introduction, so far)–as well as Murdock’s book, which started this whole thing for me–has not only given me a place to start but also where to go from there.

Part of mundane astrology for me isn’t only about looking at historical events, it’s also about bringing it into the present. The planets move in cycles, and, with them, certain themes show up over and over again. In other words, I’m interested to see what planetary placements from the witch hunts might correspond with the same themes popping up during the same kind of widespread misogyny today.

I haven’t yet specified what specific witch hunts to research, what questions I want to answer as I do this research, or how I’ll conduct the research. I’m sure that will come to me as I start this journey.

Anyway, this was a long-winded way of saying that I’m currently reading In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet, and that most of my focus at this point will be on the witch hunts from the 1400s to the end of the 1700s and the positions of the planets at the time.

I’m really excited to dive deeper into this and to see what I discover.