Cozy Coven Chats: A Witch’s Journey Back to Simplicity
A weekly audio altar for witches, intuitives, and soul seekers.
Join author Jenny C. Bell as she shares her lived experience as a slow living modern witch offering seasonal wisdom, lunar guidance, astrological updates, cozy rituals, and journal prompts to help you stay aligned and empowered through the Wheel of the Year. Jenny will keep it real, simple and honest. It's time to return to a simple practice free of glitz and performance. Grab a cup a tea, your journal and get cozy. Get my monthly newsletters at Jennycbell.com
Cozy Coven Chats: A Witch’s Journey Back to Simplicity
The Witch's Return to Simplicity
What does authentic witchcraft look like when nobody's watching? In this refreshing season premiere, I open up about returning to basics and finding meaningful connection in a world that often feels overwhelming.
The past few months have been transformative. After taking summer to reflect on my path forward, I've realized how desperately we all need to nourish ourselves before attempting to heal others. As I explain why I've rebranded the podcast to "A Witch's Journey Back to Simplicity," I share vulnerable insights about my daily practices, from morning intentions to tarot pulls that guide my day.
This episode explores what it means to be a non-performative witch in the age of social media, the power of healing yourself first, and how connecting with seasonal rhythms grounds your practice. I take you through my experiences with Community Supported Agriculture, kitchen witchery, and the emotional journey of publishing my first book on spirit crystals—which felt surprisingly similar to postpartum depression.
Whether you're a solitary practitioner seeking community or simply looking for ways to incorporate more mindfulness into your spiritual routine, this conversation offers practical wisdom for attuning to the New Moon in Virgo energy and preparing for the seasonal shift from summer to fall. Join me every Sunday as we explore simple, meaningful ways to embrace our authentic magical paths together.
What simple practices might transform your daily experience? How might returning to basics help you navigate these complex times? I'd love to hear your thoughts as we build this cozy community together.
Connect with me here: https://www.jennycbell.com/
Hey witches and welcome to another Cozy Coven Chat. My name is Jenny Seabell and I'm your host. You may have noticed I have a new logo and a new kind of subtitle. So the podcast is Cozy Coven Chats A Witch's Journey Back to Simplicity, and this is Season 2, episode 1. So, yeah, it's all in the same year.
Speaker 1:I have really been reflecting, so let me explain the changes and why. Um, bear with me, sit with me, grab a cup of tea, get cozy. I will be going over some interesting things this week and some journal prompt ideas and ritual ideas. So hang in there, um, but I want to explain just some things.
Speaker 1:So, first of all, I never really thought seriously about doing a podcast. I was under the impression that it was a lot harder to do, not saying that it's like super easy and it's definitely a privilege to do, but I just kind of assumed like I don't know, don't want to take on one more thing, like I'm on these different social medias, I'm writing books, I'm a mom, do I want to do this? But the more I sat with it, the more like aligned it felt right. And as a child, one of my favorite things to do is someone bought me a stereo with two cassette players and I would make my own radio shows, I would make the commercials, I would invent guests, I would make voices. One of my favorite things I ever did is I figured out that if I ran the water faucet in the bathroom loud enough and put the microphone, like the cassette and everything near it, it sounded like it was in front of a waterfall. So I have always had no problem talking to no one into a microphone, because that was just imaginary, it was just like purely fun and nobody listened to it.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, I guess it was meant to be to do a podcast, but the more I sat with it, you know, every summer I kind of take time off, um, because I'm a human, believe it or not, um, a magical human, but still human. I always take summers or time off in summer because my family's home, I have, you know, two kids, 10 and 15. I also was a teacher for so long classroom teacher that I'm just kind of that mindset of like summer we do a reset. So I was like, okay, this summer I'm going to pull back from social media somewhat. I did have a book come out, so couldn't be as much as I would have liked. I was like I'm going to end the podcast as is and just like, let that sit and decide.
Speaker 1:And if you listen to recent interviews with me and people have asked me what about the podcast, it's just like, oh yeah, it's an experiment. Like I didn't have a full answer as to whether or not I wanted to continue and you know I tried a bunch of stuff. So if you listen, if you hung on to season one, it was like you got my story, you got some interviews with some really awesome authors, you got some crystal information. You, you got a meditation. I mean, I was just like really truly experimenting.
Speaker 1:But as the more I sat with the idea and the more I reflected about my life and everything in general the world, the way the news is I really thought about how, personally, I am really getting back to basics and trying to live a more present and more meaningful life again. You know it's something I circle back to over and over again, but when the news in the world gets so hard, it's important for our own personal day-to-day practice to be nourishing, to be healing, and it's a privilege to be able to do those things and I don't feel selfish about it or any like. I used to have mixed feelings, like why I shouldn't be, like I should be doing something else, but you can't pour from an empty cup. And also of says, um, when you heal, you don't heal alone. It's like not a direct quote, but something like that and that's always stuck with me, that you know I've seen studies about where, where large groups of people meditate, the crime rate goes down. You know it's like energy is energy and, as witch, I believe in the invisible world, I believe in energy, I believe in changing energy and so if you ever get kind of, you know, weighed down by, okay, all the suffering in the world and people are losing their rights and all of these things, and you're like I don't have, like, who am I to? Like go and meditate, like that's frivolous, but you matter too and your suffering is no one wants that, that's just being a martyr. So, as you see the world suffering, you need to fill your cup and do what you can to give yourself the good energy and the nourishment you need so that you can help later. Right, if you're an activist or whatever, we also need nourishment. You can't just like sit and look at the news cycle and just be down all the time. That doesn't help anybody, you know.
Speaker 1:I remember reading I think it was in you Are a Badass something about like you don't want to send people worry, like that energy is ugly and like sad and heavy. You know you don't want to be like oh I'm so worried for you. Instead it's like I send you love and courage, right, I think in that book she calls it smearing fear, like you don't want to surround yourself with people that smear fear on you. If they're always like you know, oh I'm so worried for you, or be careful those you know it's from a place that they probably mean well. But that's why, like, when I'm in an incubation stage and I'm starting a new project, I only tell people who I know are going to be like, yeah, get it girl. And like sending you energy and sending you love, not like, are you crazy? You can't do that. You know what I mean, and so I don't think it's selfish or self-centered to nourish yourself, heal yourself, fill your cup because, remember, you also heal all the generations around you. So you heal, you heal your ancestors, you heal, heal future lineage. Even if you yourself don't have children, you know you are going to be someone's ancestor someday, and so I think I wanted to that like really like got off track really fast.
Speaker 1:I wanted to create a podcast that was about my actual day-to-day experience things I do and I'm not a performative witch. Yes, I have you know. And I'm not a performative witch. Yes, I have you know a small amount, a good amount of people on witch talk, but it's not performative Like I. I'm not there making up rituals and doing these elaborate spells and making things like really beautiful, unless that's actually what I'm doing, does that make sense? So I'm not here to perform. I'm here, like, really living my journey.
Speaker 1:I, you know, often in our coven I participate like I'll ask a question, what you're struggling with, I'll participate and answer Like I'm. I'm not perfect. I don't have it all figured out. If I did, I think I'd just be done. Like you know what I mean. Like I kind of always think, like when you have it all figured out, what's the point after? Like there's always something to learn, there's something to heal, there's something to do or something to create. Like there's always more. And if you stop doing all those things, you stagnate and then you create more problems, I think, and then you have to go all over again, like it's a cyclical journey, right, it's a spiral, like we heal and then we heal again, and then we heal again, right, shadow works lifelong, all those things.
Speaker 1:So I really wanted to create a podcast where, weekly, I just share with you some of my things that I'm doing, some of the things I'm thinking about, how I'm tuning in seasonally, how I'm tuning in with the moon, a little of this and that in astrology, a little bit about journals. You know my own practice. I wanted to share what that looks like, um, in this first episode and it's it's quiet. My own practice is quiet. My solitary witch.
Speaker 1:Yes, I run our coven and we do lives, but we don't do live ritual and things like that. I think that's pretty personally, I think that's pretty hard to do via Zoom. Like a meditation is one thing, but doing a live ritual, I don't know, maybe it can be done, maybe it can be done in the future, but that's just not. I don't know. I don't feel like, yeah, that's something I feel like we can do. Instead, our lives are more like meditation. They're classes, they're Q&As, they're chatting together. You know, it's more about connection and being able to talk to each other and for them to be able to ask me questions face to face, and you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:And so I've been a solitary witch most of my journey of you know, I've been a witch now for over 30 years, so most of that journey has been solitary. I do things sometimes with my family, I've done things sometimes with like a friend or two. I've got to do like special things like singing bowl retreat and women's retreat and things like that, but overall it's solitary and I think that most of us are like that and I think, now more than ever, we need to connect with one another and we need to uplift one another and we need to hear each other's stories and I think, as I've said before, we learn best through stories. That's why I was a literature major. That's why I love teaching English.
Speaker 1:I think you can teach so much with a book or with a story more than if you just were to stand there and lecture at someone right Like you can. If you, someone tells you a story with a moral, you're more likely to remember that than if they were to just be like don't do that. And so all of these things swirled around me in the summer thinking about my own practice, thinking about how I need to nourish my own self, how I need to you know, kind of like how, where am I taking our coven in the future? And how story so important and how people need connection, especially those of you who I know are isolated, maybe that you can't or don't feel safe. You know, being on a spiritual path that's different than the people around you. This is for you, this is for us. This is a time for you to come with your journal, your tea, a cozy blanket when it gets cool, or, finally, your cat right. And you know, consider me your, your aunt, your sister, your friend. That's also a witch and I'm just sharing about my own experience. So that's where we're going this season and I feel locked in. I feel like this sounds really fun.
Speaker 1:I hope to post every hope to do one every week. I am a human. I do get sick, I do have children, um, and you know we'll just see. Uh, but that's the plan for now. So I'm hoping to do these. Put these out every Sunday so you can kind of start your week with me. So I'm hoping to do these. Put these out every Sunday so you can kind of start your week with me, and so we're looking at the week of August 18th and I'm not going to go deeply into astrology because that's not my strength but Friday, the 22nd, the sun does go into Virgo and we also have a new moon in Virgo, right, and so let's talk about that real quick.
Speaker 1:New moon energy and full moon energy. I always think three days before the actual moon and three days after You're good enough in there. So if you don't, if you're not off Friday, you have weekends off. Do your new moon stuff on the weekend, okay and same, like, let's say, wednesday or Thursday off. So you just make it work for you. You know it's like again, it's not performative, there's no one. You know, if you're not posting, no one's gonna be like, oh my god, I can't believe you did your new moon ritual on the 20th, like, just not, it's not like that, right.
Speaker 1:So, new moon, I like to think of it as the. It's like in between, so you can celebrate it as a fresh start. You can celebrate it as a fresh start. You can sell it, celebrate it as a closing right. Every ending there's a beginning, and so you can celebrate it as both, or you can celebrate it either, or so some things I like to do personally is I like to cleanse.
Speaker 1:I like to do a cleanse of myself, of my home, of my ritual jewelry, my ritual things, my altars. New moon is often when I'll take everything off my altar, I'll dust it, I'll clean it. I will put everything back in a new, in a new way. Right? If I'm going to make a crystal grid, I usually make them on a new moon and kind of let go and visit them every day until the full moon, and then I really like add extra energy on the full moon and then I take them down on the waning moon. That's just kind of my own approach.
Speaker 1:Other new moon things that are great to do are to just like let go of the past cycle, and that's through journaling. So something I like to always ask myself is you know, around a new moon? So this week I will be asking myself what is closing for me? And like what's an energy that's closing for me? What is something no longer serving me? What is something I learned this last cycle? And then I'll look forward to you know where? Where am I putting my energy? Where do I want to put my energy, what is an energy I want to attract right now, you know.
Speaker 1:So you're kind of like looking at both sides and, being in a Virgo moon, virgo season, I'm really affected by the moon, I'm a Cancer rising, and so I'll probably have a really clean and organized house by the end of Virgo season, which is great, because Leo season always makes me end up at estate sales and thrift stores and I'm buying like this and that and decorating there's always fresh flowers and then Virgo season comes and I'm like no, we need to clean everything, dust it like, make it look really good. And so if you find that energy, go with it, ride it right, ride the energy, let yourself get a clean house and other things. With Virgo, you know we like to that Virgo energy is very organized. So this moon in particular, because we're at the end, we're getting to the end of summer, getting towards fall, it's a really good time to like take stock of everything right, like all your, all the intentions you set, all the manifestations you put into into you know energy and you put focus on. It's a good time to like look at all of that and reassess, because come autumn equinox it's a good time to like let some stuff go. So, you know, you may like, for me, I always have all these like goals setting. I make vision boards, I will, I like to do this thing and we'll talk more about it in January, but I usually will like fold my journal into four quarters and I'll do, like winter, spring, summer, fall, and I'll put goals according to the seasons, based on, like you know, seasonally how I feel or energy, and this is a time I'm going to revisit and probably be like, why would I want to do that in fall, like that happens every year, like who was she that came up with this idea? She's different now. Um, so, yeah, it's a good time to start taking stocks as we go into Virgo season. I'm always a little sad to see Leo season end, though, because, I don't know, everyone just shines brighter and my daughter's a Leo. She's like so beautiful, so I feel like everybody's at their most beautiful and their most flamboyant during that time. So so, yeah, that's what's going on in the moon. We are still in the Lunasa or Lamas energy.
Speaker 1:So, first, harvest energy. You're probably seeing more, you know, like corn and, if you live in North America, more of that kind of harvest energy, if you, you know, may even see leaves starting to change, depending on where you live. So we're in between summer and fall energy, and so things are winding down. This is a really good time of year to get into thinking about winter and cold and and flu season. So I definitely am an amateur herbalist. I'll probably be studying herbs forever and always call myself that um.
Speaker 1:But this is a good time to make fire cider, which I have um in our coven and, I think, on TikTok for thieves vinegar. It's a good time to do that. It's a good time to make tinctures. It's a good time to put honey into natural, like organic honey and let sit a couple weeks in a jar. Those are so good for when you're sick. You can do the same thing with sage. It's a good time to stock up on warming spices. Clove really good for sore throats. Sage is really good for sore throats, you know. Know, really, taking stock of those kinds of things, we always go and pick elderberries and make elderberry syrup or elderberry ice that's actually our favorite where you kind of freeze the syrup into ice cubes Very soothing.
Speaker 1:It's a good time to take stock of your health too. Like, do you have vitamin C? You know I'm not a health professional Okay, don't come at me for that Like, do everything at your own risk that I talk about. But you know, I feel like it's a good time to just take stock of all that stuff. Vitamin D it's very dark where I live in the PNW Still not used to it, being in Southern California for so long. Do you need, like, a solar light? Do you need a red light, like you know? Think about last winter. Were you sad? What are you going to do to change that? It's all that kind of time. Summer is winding down. You might want to get out there and play a little more before fall actually comes, depending on where you live. And, yeah, just kind of those kind of ideas. That's the energy. I think of the moon and the seasons right now.
Speaker 1:What I'm doing every day, personally right now, is I am setting an intention in the morning, which I don't usually do. I'm very task oriented, so I have a to-do list, multiple to-do lists. I usually wake up and I do whatever my family needs me to do. I'm at my grocery, shopping, I'm taking kids for haircuts, I'm cleaning, I'm watering, I'm gardening. You know, taking care of tasks and then working, writing all those things, and so I am trying instead.
Speaker 1:Something new for me is, instead of being so task oriented, I'm trying to set an intention every day, and so I sit after, I say prayers. I always play singing bowl music and I I should look up. I'm going to look up who I, by the way, I don't know. I'm not filming this and I won't be so if you're watching this on YouTube, it's just going to be the ambient video. I just feel much more comfortable not talking into a camera for so long. So I hope you understand that and I hope you can respect that. Oh yeah, so on Insight Timer, which is a free app, by the way, there is this person healing vibrations, and it's always this person with their cat and their singing bowls. They're beautiful and my cats really do love them, and they're all like an hour, so I was listening at least an hour, so I listened to healing vibrations.
Speaker 1:On Insight Timer, I say prayers, I do call on the elements every day. That's just personal. And then I've been sending an intention, and it can be really simple. Yesterday's was to get outside more, and because the weather was nice, I'm like I need to make an effort, and so I sat outside and read twice, which like hey, if you're busy, like that's a luxury. And then today was to create. Look at me, I am creating, so perfect. And so I do that.
Speaker 1:And then my other thing that I've been doing for a long time now. I got it in originally is from Cindy Brannan's I can't remember the exact name, but Hecate's Cave and then there's like more to it. She's like Hecate's Garden, hecate's Cauldron, hecate's Cave, and that one she has like a simple two card tarot spread and I've been using it for over a year so it's, and I've changed it a little. So you, the first card, you ask what is an energy that's leaving? So you shuffle and you think about an energy that's leaving for the day. And then you pull a card and I have all my and I only use decks that are not reversed, that's just personal, for day-to-day readings. I don't want to deal with a reversed card. I do that for only bigger, more involved readings.
Speaker 1:And then the second question I ask is what is an energy that is coming in? And so today the energy that was coming, the energy I was leaving, was Wheel of Fortune and I was like, okay, good, because I kind of have been spinning a little bit, not knowing where to spend my energy because there's lots of things I could be doing creatively. And then the energy coming in was the Ace of Pentacles and I was like, okay, yeah, and in this deck in particular, it's like there's like a little being that has passed away and all of these sprouts have come off of this being and it's like a fresh start. It's like something has ended and you're starting over. And here I am. I wanted to start the podcast over today. It's like perfect energy.
Speaker 1:And then I usually, after I pull the two tarot cards, I pick one of my many oracle decks and I just ask what else I need to know that day? And I just like close my eyes and I see the decks in my head and like one pops up and I just go with that um tarot card. I used a different deck today, but for a while now, I have to say almost daily, I've been using the mother piece tarot, which is from the 80s. I got it. I found it used, um, and it's round. And I got it. I found it used and it's round and I love it. It's just so like divine, feminine it's. It's kind of weird in a good way and this readings are like spot on and there's even blank cards in there and a couple times for the energy leaving it's been a blank card and I just kind of laughs like they're like we don't know what's leaving, girl, like I don't know.
Speaker 1:And so that's kind of my daily practice on that, and then I always meditate and then lately I've been setting an intention. I also like to take a walk or do yoga. I like to move my body in some way weight lift, and then in the evening I haven't been journaling but I intend to start up again. So part of doing this, I'm like okay, if I'm giving you the questions and I should also journal, and I really do like journaling. I started really consistently journaling when I read the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, which, if you're trying to lead a simple life and really focus on the simple abundance and what you, the gratitude you have, and be present, it's such a great thing, even if you don't consider yourself an artist. The only thing is is I really recommend that you have to go all in with this book. So it's like you have to do what she says and follow the weeks, because otherwise it's pointless. But one of the things she has you do every day is write for 10 minutes, and I had two books born after that, so I feel like it really worked, so that's a really good one.
Speaker 1:And then also there's a book called Simple Abundance. I can't remember the author, let me look it up, but it's a pink book from the 90s and like I feel like I've seen it in lots of women's kitchens over the years as someone who grew up in the 90s and it was a bestseller. Yeah, it's called Simple Abundance, a Day Book of Comfort and Joy, by Sarah Van Brethnock, I think is how you say it. You can definitely find it used. It's free all the time. You're always seeing like free little libraries, but it's just about each day.
Speaker 1:It's like a daily and not a Christian way, because a lot of these devotional or daily books are Christian. It's just a book that each day she's like helping you tune into the seasons and the holidays and helping you take better care of yourself. It was like intended, I think, for she worked from home, but I think it was really intended for like women that like were housewives and needed to fill their own cups, and so it's a little like, in a few places a little outdated, but for the most part it holds true. And in both of those books they talk about taking yourself out on a date in the artist way. It's like called taking like your little artist out on a date, and consistently.
Speaker 1:When my kids are in school I like to do that. I like to go like look around a bookstore, walk around a park park, look at a gallery, go to the library Like it's just an idea that you go somewhere alone that you would enjoy. It doesn't have to cost any money, and so that's something I try to do weekly. I haven't really done it much this summer. I did get together with friends which, like if you're in your 30s or 40s, it's that's hard to do. Like if you're not retired, I feel like that's hard to do. If we can ever retire, who knows? Um, don't mean to be a downer on that one, and so, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.
Speaker 1:I did sign up for a CSA I talked about it, I think which is you know where you get. You help pay ahead of time to a farm and then you get produce consistently from that farm. There's also like CSAs for all kinds of things. We have an herbal CSA here. We have one for seafood. Like you know, there's different ways to do it, so this was through Red Buttes Farm and it was. It's been amazing, like it's honestly, we're going to do it every year, like the I get so excited. I it's been amazing, like, honestly, we're going to do it every year, like I get so excited.
Speaker 1:I pick up my farm box every Tuesday at the farmer's market and I have eaten new things. We had yellow watermelon a couple times, so it looks like a red watermelon on the outside but it's like this pretty yellow color inside and it's so good. We've had snow leopard melons, which are like honeydew but white inside. I had a canary melon. I had kohlrabi and shishito peppers. Those are all things I've never had before and it's been really fun. I've been fermenting and pickling. I've been baking. I just made zucchini brownies today which are in our coven like kitchen area and yeah, it's just been a way to tune in. I was telling my family, um, so it's kind of a specific reference, but if you read to your children or for yourself, there was even a tv show.
Speaker 1:Richard Scarry wrote these busy town books and it's like there's Roger Rhino driving down the street. You know, and I feel like getting this farm box. It feels like like that, like there's writer Jenny going to see the farmer at the farmer's market getting her box. It just feels so quaint and cute and like to know that the food grew near me. Like I said, it's. It's a privilege and if you have the opportunity to ever sign up for one, I highly recommend it. It's just a way to tune into your community. It's a way to tune into the seasons, to what, where you live, what can grow there and when they grow. You know, that's really cool, like getting corn. I got corn right in time for Lunasa Lamas. I was like this is so cool. This is first harvest. I have fresh corn, just like all the books talk about. Right, and so it's. It's just been beautiful. It's been such a beautiful experience.
Speaker 1:There are times where I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do with all this kale? But freezers are great. I did make pickles for the first time, fermented pickles, and so you don't pickle them. I had to go get oak leaves for the tannins so they stay crisp. I mean, it was just like such a fun little thing. But I do really like to cook, so I've also been collecting lots of herbs from my own garden and drying them and turning them into tinctures and salves and oils. Like definitely been busy in the kitchen, in the kitchen witch side of things, and it's been one of my favorite things to do this summer is to be collecting from my own yard and then getting my farm box. We have successfully grown tomatoes and lemon, cucumbers and some squash first time ever having garden beds and we're're doing pretty well, I think, definitely learning a lot, and that's what's great about just getting outside and doing those things. Yeah, so that's kind of where I'm at.
Speaker 1:Kids are going back to school and I'm starting to think about what am I putting into motion? I will be starting another book. I already have it outlined. I'll be writing. I have a lot to be grateful for, and that's something I return to often is. You know, when I see the news and or I feel overwhelmed by what's happening in the world, I think about my own self, my immediate family, and then I think about my town, my immediate family, and then I think about my town, my community, and I feel I try to find gratitude for all of those things. And that was what's nice too about these daily intentions is I set an intention for myself, for my family and the world, and it feels good to put good energy out and I don't want to send that worry. So, yeah, I really um, really um. I hope you've enjoyed this.
Speaker 1:I don't think they're all going to be this long unless there's something really exciting to talk about. I mean, I guess when we get near Halloween I'll have a lot to talk about. Um, but yeah, I just I really want to share my journey, my experience, my thoughts. I, like I said I'm a solitary witch. It's part of why I created our coven. I also want community and I've actually tried to make some community here in my town. Um, I haven't been 100% successful. I have good friends, but I'm talking about like which community? But I'm open. I'm gonna keep trying and see, see what happens. I think the right people, the right community will come along when I'm ready, definitely trying to put more of that out there, and you know, the energy sometimes takes a while to return.
Speaker 1:It was a really interesting summer having a book come out. I talked about this. If you get my newsletter, you saw this. But this last thing I'm going to chat about a little bit and then we'll wrap it up. But I really went through something similar to postpartum depression, like from a lot of summer Prior to the book coming out. Once the book was released and all the promotion to go with the book, I really kind of struggled with it and I did have postpartum anxiety with both children, but this was definitely more of a postpartum depression. And yeah, I mean it's a child in a way. You know, and I can say that because I've had children.
Speaker 1:A book you know I really was very vulnerable in Spirit Crystals. I really the practices in that book are my own practices that I've actually done in my 30 years of being a witch. They come from my like personal books. The meditations are things I've done, the prayers are things I've said. Like it's so vulnerable and it felt kind of raw and scary to know that anybody could just go get it and read it. You know what I mean. Like the idea. It's like I've wanted to be a writer since I was small. I was really I'm proud of the book.
Speaker 1:I was so excited to get it published, but then there was a part of me that was like, oh my God, like really, this is really out there, like this is my personal practice, thoughts, ideas and anybody can read it, even people that don't like me. You know what I mean. That's kind of you know I'm a recovering people pleaser, so that's that was definitely intense. And there was also a part of you know, my ego just was like who do you think you are? It's not going to sell. Like why would you even do this? You should have never left teaching. You know there's like this. The ego came back with a vengeance. I had like nightmares and night terrors. I had anxiety, I had like fits of crying, like it was like I was exercising demons and I really hope that not the next book comes out in spring. I really hope it's not like this. I don't think it will be.
Speaker 1:I think it had something to do with this being the first and it really solidified that. I made it in my mind Like you may look at me and be like what are you talking about? But I chose a career early on, like I was a teaching at. I was, I was a nanny, I was a babysitter, I was a camp counselor, I was a tutor, I was a substitute teacher and then I was an actual teacher at like 22. And then I got my credential everything like 23. And I was so focused and so driven. I was a very young teacher and I decided to walk away from that, even though I poured money and time into it and, you know, went to all these conferences and you know, and I walked away for a lot of reasons and then I really needed this book to come out to show that you did it Like you did switch careers. You are an author now and so there was a lot wrapped up in that.
Speaker 1:You know, some of the a lot of the crying was cries of like relief and joy, because I know a lot of us like, no, we don't, we shouldn't need external validation. But it feels good sometimes and I'm being very vulnerable and raw with you right now. I didn't expect to take this turn, but here you are, dear listener, but yeah, I really struggled and I it's out in the world and what was so interesting is Uranus went into Taurus in 2018, which is when my life broke apart and I switched and all these things, and it left my sign on July 7th and my book came out July 8th and that's when that felt like that chapter of struggle, because for so long, I felt like I was in a snow globe that someone mixed up and the snow wouldn't fall. I had felt like you know, the wheel of fortune just spinning and I'm like, am I doing this right? Like, am I on the right path? I had so many questions and like, so many struggles and so many failures and then the book came out and it was like you, you're doing it, this is right, this is the right move, like it was the validation I needed from my guides more than I think, the outside world.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's been a long summer for me. I feel like I've gone through a lot emotionally, a lot lot of shadow work, a lot spiritually, and I'm coming back to myself in a different way. I do feel wiser, I do feel stronger. Share how I really try to lead a simple, witchy practice, simple in the fact that it's solo and it's all about just tuning into myself, my guides, the earth, the moon and you know whatever kind of makes me feel good. So, thank you for listening. I hope you tune in next time. Please like, share and subscribe, and give me a review too, if you enjoyed this.
