Dark Moon, Bright Heart | Energy & Astrology Update | Magical Michelle Orwick

The year is winding down, the nights stretch long, and the air carries a quiet challenge: what are you finally ready to release so something braver can begin? We stand at the still point between the dark moon and the winter solstice and share grounded ways to soften, listen, and relight your inner fire without pushing or performing.

We explore the Sagittarius new moon at the threshold—a phoenix moment that asks for endings with integrity and beginnings with intention. You’ll learn simple yet potent rituals: candle work to invite clarity, a “twelve wishes” practice to focus your energy, and fire-based releasing that turns struggle into signal. We talk candidly about the emotional weather of the holidays—grief, loneliness, family stress—and how to build compassionate structures that actually help: co-regulation with trusted people, guided meditations, nature time, and small daily choices that reset your nervous system.

Choosing yourself can be the most radical tradition of all. We invite you to replace over-buying with experiences, write new rituals that honor your values, and commit to one clear intention that represents the energy of everything you want to grow. Along the way, we share community updates—local circles, online gatherings, and a New Year intention setting—to support you as daylight begins its slow return. The theme throughout is gentle power: less forcing, more alignment; less noise, more light.

If this conversation helps, share it with someone who needs a softer path through the season. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which ending are you blessing, and which spark are you ready to tend?

Chapters

• 0:00 A Late Start And Realignment
• 0:52 Stop Pushing, Start Releasing
• 1:45 Dark Moon Meets Solstice
• 2:57 Sagittarius New Moon Phoenix Fire
• 4:17 Traditions, Yule, And Longer Days
• 5:22 Choosing Yourself And New Rituals
• 7:17 The Twelve Wishes Practice
• 8:47 Grief, Compassion, And Support
• 11:12 Nervous System, Joy, And Boundaries
• 12:55 Gatherings, Events, And Community
• 15:12 Gratitude And How To Support
• 16:11 Blessing For Peace And Renewal

Transcript

Magical Michelle Orwick: 0:19

Hello, my loves, and happy magical Tuesday. I am officially a day late, but better a little bit late than never because there's so much going on this week. And if for some reason you are planning on coming to our oils temple this evening, um, we have uh postponed it to another day. So it's it's canceled. There's been a lot going on, and a lot of people having things. Um, and so if you're one of those people that everything is kind of shaking out in a different way than originally planned, just remember that everything's realigning, everything is working out for you, and if something isn't going the way you really truly want it to, really, really desire it to, then the invitation is to check and see if you're pushing when you should be releasing, especially right now. Don't try and push something that feels like it just no matter what you're doing, isn't working. It's showing you right now that it's time to release, time to let go. It is the end of the year, it's the end of a nine year and an end of a nine cycle. But it's the still point, it's the darkest nights up until um until Saturday. We have the dark moon before the new moon, which is actually Friday, and so from now until really Monday, we have the darkest nights of the entire year, with that darkest night being Friday, as far as the moon sliver, and the darkest, longest night for it's the longest nights of the year, the longest night being Saturday night. So we have a dark moon and we have the solstice. So the still point is the place before the becoming, the opportunity to see what needs to be released, this opportunity to see what is being created, the opportunity to pause, release, let go. So this new moon that happens is in Sagittarius, which is the last degree of Sagittarius. So it's the it's really saying, what's the end here? What are we letting go of? And then what are we igniting, Sagittarius, as a fire sign? So what are we igniting? And even I'm calling it sort of a phoenix energy because what is it we're letting go of so that we can become something else? What are we igniting for the final bonfire? And in fact, if you're going to be doing some new moon wishes, hitting it with a candle or writing it down and putting it into the fire is one of the most powerful ways to do that. And we're in for those people who celebrate um celebrate Hanukkah, we're in the eight days of Hanukkah, and it's interesting because it ends right as we have that new moon, it ends as we have that um new beginning with Yule as the sun starts coming back into the sky. Every day gets a little bit longer starting on Monday, each day becomes a longer day. The importance here is to remember what is it that you're becoming and what is it that no longer serves you, and really deeply let that go. Really deeply surrender to the healing, but also remember that if you're inviting a new version of you in to invite the light, to invite the change, to invite the to invite the the opportunity. And if it's not working, stop trying to put it on your own back and on your own shoulders, and stop trying to make it work no matter what. So if you really connect to this holiday, I love this holiday, it's a it's a beautiful opportunity to celebrate the darkness as well as celebrate the light. It is an incredible time to connect with nature. Um, and if you're local to Orlando, we have a nature retreat, an outdoors retreat, um, very Celtic, um, very return of the light. We'll have um Celtic tree bathing and mindfulness and some intention setting, and that's Saturday. And and I do have a little bit of space for that on Saturday. We also will be starting to do that time where we are celebrating with our friends and our family, so we will be taking stock and review. Most people are taking review. What is who who are we connecting with and how do we choose ourselves? I'm gonna tell you this new energy that we're in is about choosing yourself over choosing the way it's always been. So if you want to make new traditions this holiday season, it's it's a rare opportunity to finalize some things. It's the rare opportunity to start something new, it's a rare opportunity to choose for yourself and choose rest, choose restoration, choose letting go. It could be the the holiday where you don't overbuy. Maybe as we're all shedding, you can use this to uh create experiences as in your gifting instead of um as much consumerism. Um one of the things that um it can be very special is to um is to also look at the 12 days, whether you start that at Yule or whether you start that at Christmas and write out um 12 different things that you want. And take those pieces of paper and burn, put them in a bowl or or whatever you want, and take one without looking at them, fold them all up, different pieces, and let one go every single day. Burn it or or destroy it or or release it in some way. And on the last day of the 12 wishes, of the 12 desires, the 12 manifestations, look at which one is left randomly, and it's your job, your responsibility, your invitation is to focus on that one with the idea that it represents the energy of all of the wishes. And if you focus on one and really put forward and focus on that one thing, then all of them start manifesting because it's the energy of moving forward, and there's going to be a lot of forward-moving energy, there's also healing, there's there's trauma healing going on. People don't talk about it, but this season isn't always easy for people. A lot of you know I lost my mother at this season two years ago. A lot of people are missing people, it could be 50 years and you could still miss somebody. You could be feeling something um because you're alone, or you could be feeling someone something because it's just hard to be with the people around you. You could be feeling something because your kids are home and they're making you um stressed out. So I would invite you to be more compassionate to yourself, and this isn't just self-care, this is creating your rituals to support yourself. So, one of the things that I'm doing is I realized that Sunday was the first day of Hanukkah, the 19th is the new moon, the uh Saturday night is the longest night, and Sunday is the is the renewal of the light of the solstice, and that starts the 12 days of the solstice to the end of the year in the Celtic land, as well as then you have the 12 days of Christmas that go to to the 6th of January, if you go with the more um Catholic tradition. And I'm completely surrounded by all of them, and you know me, I love it all, but for all of them, they're all about hope. So for me, with the year of the snake coming, I was like, I'm gonna do a candle every one of those days. So each day, starting last Sunday and all the way to the 6th, which is 24 days, is I am connecting to the light, the ignition. I am lighting a candle and inviting in light, opportunity, health, vibrancy, radiant health, whatever it is that you're wanting to call in, maybe it's just mindfulness in the middle of all of what's going on in the world right now. It's intense. We've got solar flares, we've got electromagnetic storms, we have um, we have the Schumann resonance going crazy this year. We have one of the deepest astrology years coming to completion right now. So as we do this, the practices are find the things that bring you joy, find the things that do not require you to be there. Practice your your no's and practice feeling what brings me joy, what brings me peace, what is going to help reset my nervous system. Because you can either be in a powerful state or you can be in a state of lack. You can either be in gratitude and expression of hope, relaxation, peace, or you can be in um anxiety and stress response and fight or flight. And this season brings it in for all of us. I have had my own um times where I've been, I'm taking care of a lot of things. I'm I have somebody that I I help on a regular basis, and um there's a lot of different things on my plate more than any other year in my memory. And as that happens, it I'm not going to be perfect, but the clear way of looking at it is how can I reset and be back at peace? How can I come back into a regulated nervous system? How can I come back into coherence? That might be meditation, that might be listening to a meditation, um, it might be going to an event, which is what I do. I like to gather with people and co-regulate. Um, and so we've created some online experiences. We have one on 111 to celebrate that ignition of the new year. So 7 p.m. on January 1st to celebrate the beginning of the new year and set some intentions. This is this is um this is how we roll is that we gather online in our portal. So if you want to join us on that, uh please do. Um we're going to be completing our annual witch school. Um it is at its final stages. And so instead of trying to create recreate the wheel, what we've what we've been, what we're going to be introducing is a monthly, um, monthly opportunity to play with us online. And so just look for that coming out as we hit this new season. And it is with all of my heart that I have gratitude for the many, many people who watch our videos, who come play with us on online temples, travel with us to foreign and beautiful places, and for those of you who are local in the Orlando area that come and um come and play with us in person. We have soul circles on Monday nights and and all the different events that we do. So I just really wanted to say I'm grateful for you this season and always I'm grateful for for you showing up and and I'm always humbled by um your your interest and love for me and for what we do. And I'm grateful for you, Marissa, um, the wind beneath my wings, and um my my behind-the-scenes business partner that um does so much to make these videos um and podcasts and things possible. So if you want to support us this season, please like, um, please comment, please share, please invite people um to watch us. This is how we will grow and how we will be able to continue to be here and support you. You're you're completely welcome. I'm getting a message that thank you for what we're doing, but it is really truly my joy to create these videos and and these energy updates, and and it's our intention to keep doing this. And actually, we have some ideas for more things, more interviews and more teachings in the coming year. So please, please share so that we can grow and thank you for all that you are and all that you do. And as you move into this new season, whatever you celebrate, whatever you celebrate, whatever that is, whichever version of the new year, the new um light, the the holiday that um helps you connect to your own soul, may you find peace, may you find joy, may you find healing this season. And be kind to yourself. And I love you. Live magically.