A Grimoire for My Daughters: My Book Journey Begins

Under the Moon Gate with Erin Bagwell

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A Grimoire for My Daughters: My Book Journey Begins

An excerpt from Chapter 1

Erin Bagwell

May 08, 2025

Transcript

Below is an excerpt from the book I’m working on called ‘A Grimoire for My Daughters: Stories on How to Unlock Your Intuitive Gifts & Find the Magick Within.’

A Note from the Author

A grimoire is a witch’s diary full of stories, spells, and rituals to be passed onto future generations. This one was written for my daughters.

Virginia & Poppy,
May you know magick inside of you,
May you learn it to enrich your human experience,
May you always remember you are divine.
So mote it be,

Mom

Chapter 1

You were born in the Great Pyramid of Giza. It’s a story I’ve told you since you were little, Virginia, and retell it to you anytime you need to hear it.

After trying unsuccessfully for months to get pregnant, I happened to find myself on a solo pilgrimage to Egypt. I was a part of a government program that highlighted the work of documentary filmmakers, like myself around the world.

I traveled with them to Tajikistan and Morocco with my first documentary, Dream, Girl a film about inspiring and ambitious female entrepreneurs. It was through this relationship that I was given the privilege of being in Cairo, Egypt for seven days doing filmmaking workshops, movie screenings, and panels with local filmmakers.

It was a foggy afternoon in November when I was invited to visit the pyramids. Most people imagine this historic landmark to be surrounded by desert, and the pilgrimage to get there to be long and winding, but the city was at the doorstep of the monument. You could see a Pizza Hut from the Sphinx.

Nevertheless, the structures were astounding in their scale and scope. It felt like you were dropped right into the pages of a history book. My tour guide told me I was going to get an exclusive tour inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. But first, I had to climb up huge, three-foot tall blocks to reach the entrance.

The opening, which looked like a giant mouse hole, sent chills up my spine. It felt like I was trespassing and going somewhere I wasn’t allowed to be. I followed the tour guide terrified into the entrance and up steep ladder-like steps through a dark tunnel that led one-way, right into the heart of the tomb.

Once inside, I found myself in a cold, dark chamber. The final resting place of Pharaoh Khufu. Although his body no longer held residency there, his large coffin-like stone structure could be found at the end of the room.

As my eyes adjusted to the dark space, every hair on my arms stood up. The room felt alive, and I knew how rare it was to find myself inside the belly of one of history's most mysterious structures. I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

So inside the tomb I sat with my legs crossed, I closed my eyes, and made a wish.

I wished to get pregnant, and that the Universe would give me a girl. I’m not sure at that moment I believed the pyramids would grant me my heart’s desire, but it happened, I got pregnant with you not long after.

So whenever you have a problem or you feel lost, Virginia, I remind you where you came from. I tell you that you were born in a pyramid. It’s become part of your story, and a part of mine.

Becoming a mother changed me in ways that are more transcendent than a pilgrimage to Egypt. And because of my love for you, I felt emboldened to ask for another wish. This time on a rose quartz your grandma Fairy gave to me. I whispered my heart’s desire into the stone while sitting in an empty bedroom of our new home.

And our lives changed again. Poppy, you were born exactly three years later on the same day as your sister, on New Year’s Eve.

I can say with confidence I’m not either of your favorite parent. I’m not the one who tells hour-long ‘imagination stories’ before bed or who makes delicious handmade pizza in the shape of a cat’s head. Unfortunately, I am not the fun one. Your Dad, Sal, is an exceptional parent to you, and we are lucky to have him.

However, I am the one, Ginny, who taught you how to ride a bike, who potty trained you, and who got up with you every two hours to breastfeed you those first few weeks you were born. I was the one who took you, Poppy, to the Emergency Room when you couldn’t breathe with COVID and who stayed with you for six long days and nights in the hospital to make sure you had a full recovery.

I’m the one you call when you need your mom.

I’m also the one you call when you want to meet an imaginary unicorn, would like to bring a rock ‘friend’ to school, or dance under the hot summer sun near the garden’s Moon Gate. I’m the weird one. The lady in the garden, the tarot reader, the witch.

Over the past year I’ve been on a soul-opening journey learning how to step into my abilities as a psychic medium. I’ve been getting a mystical education about how to do readings, get signs from my guides, and connect with our ancestors beyond the veil.

I believe, and have found through my experience, that life goes on after death. That those we loved who have passed on are just veiled from us in the physical realm, and live on in the Spirit realm.

You girls are three and six, too little to know all the details of what I’m discovering right now, but I sprinkle our days with stories about how to trust your intuition every day.

There are no rules in magick.

Everyone gets to explore her own unique way of working with Spirit, and I hope this provides you with the support and inspiration you need on your journey however it unfolds.

Whether you are inside the Great Pyramid of Giza or barefoot in our backyard in Buffalo picking dandelions, the world is full of magick if that’s what you seek.