Pilgrim. Listen. The retrograde isn't doom — Sinderella will tell anyone who'll listen — but it *is* a piece of work, and you don't go into a piece of work unprepared. So the kit is half practical, half holy. A notebook for the apology letter you should *absolutely not* send. A battery pack because the phone is going to die at the worst possible moment. A backup drive. Saint Christopher for the parkway. Florida water for the apartment. Salt for the threshold. *Madonn'.* You'll be fine.
Every link below is an Amazon affiliate. You buy, Sinderella gets a few cents, the candle stays lit. *Madonn',* it's that simple.
For the actual longhand work
Tops · ~$15
The yellow legal pad is the actual tool, sinner. Sinderella wrote the first twelve horoscopes on a yellow legal pad in a Wawa parking lot in 2003 and she has never *once* upgraded. The Moleskine is a costume. The yellow legal pad is the *thing.* Buy a five-pack. They're under fifteen dollars. Use a Bic.
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For the longhand that doesn't need a fountain pen
BIC · ~$10
The Bic Cristal is the most-sold pen in human history, my creature, and Sinderella's primary writing instrument. Cheap, honest, ubiquitous. You will lose half of them and the other half will outlive your laptop. Bought in 24-packs at the kitchen table, distributed across the car, the Cadillac, the back room, the diner. *Madonn',* this is the pen.
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For the trip and the friend taking it
Various · ~$25
Saint Christopher carries you, my child. The medal goes on the dashboard or on the chain. Italian Catholic households put one in every car at the moment of purchase. Sinderella has one on the visor of the Cadillac and another on the chain she's been wearing since she was nineteen. Buy a real silver one. The dollar-store ones don't ride right.
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For the spiritual reset that needs a splash
Murray & Lanman · ~$8
Florida Water is the yellow citrus cologne every Latin American and Caribbean botanica sells, my child — Murray & Lanman, in print since 1808. Folk Catholic, Hoodoo, Espiritismo, Santería all use it. Splash it on the back of your neck after a hard reading. Wipe down a doorway. Add it to a mop bucket on a Saturday. *Madonn',* it works.
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For the threshold that needs a line of salt
Various · ~$12
Coarse sea salt is the cheapest spiritual technology after a candle, my creature. A small dish on the windowsill. A line across a doorway. A handful in the bath. Folk Catholic kitchen tradition since *forever.* Buy the cheap bulk bag — kosher salt works fine. Sinderella keeps a small wooden bowl of it on the kitchen counter at all times.
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For the room that needs to be cleansed without cultural appropriation
Various · ~$12
Rosemary is the Italian Catholic answer to white sage, my child — same cleansing, same smoke, but it's *yours* if you're Italian-American. Sicilian women have been hanging rosemary on the door and burning it in the fireplace for centuries. Smells like the Sunday gravy your grandmother made. Doesn't borrow from anybody else's tradition. Use this one.
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For the niece who asked what her rising sign means
Steven Forrest · ~$18
Steven Forrest's *The Inner Sky* is the astrology starter Sinderella hands to anybody who asked what their rising sign actually means and stayed for the answer. Forrest writes evolutionary astrology — soul-purpose-and-karma flavor, but written like an English professor, not a yoga teacher. *Madonn',* it's good.
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"The card's already on the table."
— Sinderella · the folding table