Self-Care As Resistance In Anxious Times

We name the collective unease, then build a gentle plan to hold steady: practice self-care as resistance, clear intuition, and small rituals that restore joy without ignoring the world’s weight.

We start with the week’s oracle pull—a tiny mouse that signals subtle warning and asks us to trust first impressions. From there, we navigate how to protect our attention, set humane boundaries, and stay grounded in kindness. We share what hope looks like on ordinary days: seeds on the altar waiting for rain, snacks and laughter during the game, and a simple Friday the 13th ritual that honors Freya’s many facets and Venus’s call to self-love. Along the way, we explore February’s tricky astrology and why naming one real reason to believe each day strengthens the “hope muscle.”

Community threads run through everything. I invite you to my Substack for poetry and personal essays, extend a warm door to the coven’s dream-focused month, and celebrate live conversation on Witch’s Movie Coven. For those craving hands-on learning, I chat about Spirit Northwest in Portland, where I’ll teach building effective, ethical spells from correspondences to ritual structure. I also talk honestly about influencing, how creators balance integrity and income, and simple tactics for mindful consumption—like the 24-hour cart rule and the magic of Little Free Libraries.

If you’re craving steadiness, symbolism, and sustainable magic, this one is for you. Listen, breathe, and gather a few tools you can use tonight. If it resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a quick review—what small ritual will you try this week?

Transcript

Self-Care As Radical Practice

Substack And Coven Invitations

Weekly Card: Trust Your Intuition

Community And Witch’s Movie Coven

Conferences And Teaching Spells

Coven Focus: Dreams And Challenges

Friday The 13th And Freya

February Astrology And Hope

Joy Rituals: Food, Lunar New Year, Seeds

Influencing, Ethics, And Consumption

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to another Cozy Kevin Chat. I am your host, Jenny C. Bell, and this is for the week of February 8th. And we just had in bulk, and we're still kind of in that energy. And we're in that in-between kind of space of, you know, between winter and spring. Here it's been where I live in southern Oregon, unseasonably warm. And it feels, I don't know, it's inducing anxiety, like in a lot of people, just because we have a really intense fire season here, and we everything's so dry right now. So looks like some kind of snow or rain is possibly coming. Um, I hope it's true because the other day it was 70 degrees. Like it's just I mean, it's I've been going outside and sitting in the sun and soaking it up, but it's unnatural. It doesn't feel right, you know. So I don't know. It's pretty wild. Um there are a lot of really intense things going on in the world, uh, especially where I live in the United States. There's a lot of crazy weather patterns, there's really intense news that is disturbing and disheartening, and uh I want you to know I'm not unaware of that stuff. Um but the intention of this podcast is to be uplifting, to be a light, to help people hold on to hope and to help people uh uh tune in to the earth and the seasons and live a slower, simpler life, no matter what's going around on around them. And I've talked about this before, but you know, just because there's really intense things going on doesn't mean you can't fill your cup. In fact, it's all the more a reason for you to practice self-care, whatever that looks like for you, for you to nourish yourself, to fill your cup, to get together with friends, to celebrate your birthday, you know, all of those things. Because when we lose hope and we let ourselves get overwhelmed and give in to the heaviness, we sometimes fall silent. And then when we fall silent, sometimes we feel like giving up and we feel apathetic, and then the other narrative wins. And we really I think it's I think it's radical and I think it's a form of resistance to take care of yourself during these times. And I think it's part of the practice, the spiritual practice is part of you know, being a witch has always been political, being a witch has always been subversive, and we cannot, I say this all the time, but we cannot pour from empty cups. Like we cannot just let ourselves be on the news cycle 24 hours a day and just be worried, because again, worry doesn't help anybody. Like you being in a constant state of worry and anxiety doesn't help fix anything. In fact, it's bad for you, it's bad for everybody else. So if you can take time out of that to rebalance and find harmony in yourself and take time out for self-care and take time out to focus on some positive things, it'll really help you survive what you're going through. Um, I just put out a Substack about this. By the way, if you're not following me in Substack, look me up. Um, I'm the podcast is on there, but I've decided I'm gonna write more from my heart. Um, put poetry on there, I'm gonna talk about witchcraft, of course. Um, but I'm gonna talk more about personal stories as well, things that I don't have another place to share. I'm treating it sort of like a blog. Um, and so if you're interested in like me outside of the podcast, that's a great place to do that. Also, joining our coven, I'm keeping the sale going. So if you go on my website, jennycabel.com, it's the first thing. It's like a pop-up window and it tells you the code to try it for a month uh for half price. And decided to keep it going because I just want people to have a safe place to land and feel like they can afford that safe place to land. We've uh have some new members from the podcast, which is lovely, and it's just a it's a positive place. So um let's first talk about the card. Uh, we're still using Arcana Folia, which is a very beautiful Oracle deck. I did post a video on all of my socials uh sharing it, and I've been using it consistently. Like every day I pull two tarot cards. I've been using my motherpiece tarot. Um, I just really love that one. It's very personal. I don't really use it for other people, and it's just it belonged to somebody else, and I can feel good energy, so good energy on it, and it's an original from like 1983, so it's almost as old as me. So I've been pulling two cards a day from there. I pull what's an energy that's leaving, and then I pull what's an energy that's coming in, and then I pull one or two from the arcana folia just for like what else do I need to know for the day. So our card for the week is it's like a little, it's a really cute little mouse or rat. Um, and it's in a wreath of flowers, and it says sneaky person, a person with a questionable morable moral compass. And I can't help but think about our country and the leadership here when I see that. And if you disagree with me, that's fine. You know, I usually don't get political here, but I can't help but like look at that card and think that. Um, but there could be someone else in your personal life that is a little questionable. And if you start to see that, if you're like, you know, at work or in a friend group and you're like, this person's like a little off, or they're asking me like these really leading questions and why, or why are they sharing this on their social media, whatever. Treat it as what it is, like your intuition's telling you something's off. Um, I don't know how many times I had to learn the lesson to listen to my intuition with people because I would, especially it was especially with coworkers, I would get to a new school because as a teacher, and I'd meet people, and you always have a first impression. And a lot of times I would just override that first impression, just thinking like that wasn't fair of me to think this person's like that, and then just be proven right later on, and being like, Why didn't I listen to my intuition? Um, so if you're having a situation like that, this could be that. Um, but it could also just be like, you know, it's around Valentine's Day. It could be a positive, could be someone's hiding a gift from you. Um, we can think positively. I actually have these, I think they're called jumping or flying mice. They're native to Southern Oregon, and they have been going in our bird feeder, and they're really cute. They're like, there's a family. My kids are like, it's mom, dad, and a baby, because it's like a bigger one, a medium-sized one, and a small one. And they are in love with them, and they'll come in after the birds eat and they'll take what's left, and then they jump into the bushes and they like fly. It's really cool. So I immediately saw the card and I'm like, oh, our little mouse family. Like, I didn't think of it as a negative, and then I was like, Well, what does it mean collectively? And kind of shared what I thought there. Um, a couple of things, we'll talk about the energy of the week and stuff, but I wanted to share that I am an occasional guest on a really fun um YouTube show called Witch's Movie Coven. And if you go on YouTube and either search Witch's Movie Coven and go to that channel, or you go to Patty Negri's YouTube, you'll find it. And it's live every Wednesday at 6 p.m. uh Pacific time. And it's just a really good time. It's like they're really a thoughtful group of people, um, and they're really kind and they're really entertaining. And then sometimes somebody is absent for some reason and they will say, Hey, do you want to come on and chit-chat? I was just on um Wicked for Good, that panel of discussion, and it ended up turning to be kind of a heavy, serious conversation, but I think it was really needed. So I totally suggest watching that one. I was also on the Stranger Things episode, uh, partly because two of the people didn't get through like the whole season, all the seasons. And so it's fun. I kind of um when I'm on there, everyone kind of has a role on the show. So I put on my literature teacher, my literature major English teacher cap, and I always want to talk about the deeper meaning or the symbolism of a color. I take it a little like serious um and ask a question or something, but uh it's it's really entertaining, it's really fun. Like I said, they're a really good group of people that are on there. Um, I've been on there with other like substitutes or guests, and I've been on there with the regular, the regulars, and all of them are just really sweet. The people that produce it and put it together are really kind. Um, it's just been a really good experience. And they have a website's mystery control, and they have like a little merch to go with it. It's been really nice because you know, this podcast is solo, and most of what I do is alone and at home. Like I write books, that's a solo activity, I do a solo podcast, I um write solo substacks, I make solo social media posts, like everything is by myself, and I work from home, and it can get a little tedious, a little boring. And so it's really good to like get on at 550 and chat with people and you know never know where the conversation is gonna go because it's live, nothing's scripted, and it's just it's really a good time. So highly recommend it if you are a movie fan, um, or you're just like looking for live shows. Like, we don't really have that on television anymore, like live TV. Everyone is comes from a different perspective, and yeah, it's really it's been really fun. Um I just it's it's good to be a part of something sometimes, you know what I mean, to collaborate and be a part of something. Speaking of that, I am really excited. I'm going to my first uh Witchy conference. This is something that has been on my goal list, and there's one near me. So there's something called Spirit Northwest. And if you go to spiritnorthwest.com, you can learn more. And it's in Portland, which isn't too far of a drive for me. And it's at the end of April, it's actually the last days on my birthday, and I will get to teach. I'm a presenter. I'm presenting about how to basically I'm gonna, in the hour and a half, teach people how to create their own spells and rituals. We're gonna look at correspondences, and it's gonna be very hands-on. There'll be like worksheets for you. There is going to be like a horror movie screening, there is like a mixer, um, lots of cool presenters and classes to choose from. The schedule's out. So, anyway, I highly recommend if you are in the area or you're looking for an excuse to travel. Portland's really fun. Um, I know it's been getting some bad press, but my husband was just there when all of that was first in the news and he didn't see anything. Like it was fine. Um, people in Portland are very resilient, but you know, this is the home of Powell's books, which is amazing. Um, I want to visit Sea Grape Apothecary, and there's lots of good thrift stores, so yeah, just a really fun place to visit. Really fun food, big in the food trucks there, um, lots of vegan vegetarian options if you're into that. So I'll be there. I also wanted to talk about in our coven, we are focusing on dreams, and so I will be having a class on dream interpretation. Uh, the coven voted between dream interpretation or lucid dreaming, like what kind of class they wanted, and the majority was dream interpretation. So we're gonna have a little class on that. We also have a self-love challenge. We've been doing these week-long challenges that are usually photo challenges. This one's a little different this time, where um we just go with a theme, and it all started with like a Halloween, basically like a whole month of October, Witchtober challenge, and then we've been doing them since. And it's just a really good way to connect. There's a live chat in there, and so it's a way to get to know other members and connect with them and show up, and you know, I think it's hard right now to make connection, and I think it's hard to, it's very draining to be on regular social media, so it's like we're trying to do things that are positive and give you a s a way to share about yourself in a a neutral place, a place where no one's really judging you. So I have that going on. Um, we have Friday the 13th, which is so fun. Um, it's a sacred day to Freya. So Freya is a Norse goddess. Um, my favorite thing about Freya is that she it has a chariot that's pulled by cats, which goals, um, amazing. And she is just a really she's in my card deck, um, my cosmic creator card deck, and the thing I really loved about her and I talked about is that she is multifaceted. Like so many times women get pigeon-holed as like, you know, the virgin or the whore, but she is like sexual and sensual, and also like a death deity, and then also has this whimsical chariot of cats, and you know, there's like really fun stories with her, and so if you've ever been interested, you know, look her up and just like put down like a little something for her on that Friday. But Friday is also Venus Day, so if you work with Venus or Aphrodite, then like this is a it's a love day, it's a self-care day. Um, so it's a perfect day to do that. 13 for Witches is lucky, so it's lucky 13, but definitely do something witchy that day. I always like, always loved it, I always felt excited when it was Friday 13th. Um, partly because I love the cheesy horror movies as well. So we have that coming. So that's you know, we don't have any major moon stuff this week, but we have that. So if you wanted to do, I would take it as like a self-love, self-care, nourishing, I would do something like that that day. I haven't decided what I'm doing yet, but that's what I would suggest as far as a ritual goes. And then let's talk about the energy. If you listen to astrologers or you read anything about astrology, they have been talking about February being like really weird and intense because of all these planetary shifts that we have, and you know, it's like planetary terrorist shifts that we haven't seen since like the Civil War. You know, it's like all this intense kind of Aries god of war kind of energy. And so, and we also will have um uh Mercury retrograde at the end of um, let me make sure I'm yeah, Mercury retrograde on February 25th. So we have just kind of like a weird, it's like a weird energy this month. And I feel like I'm already feeling it. Everyone I talk to is feeling like a heaviness, um, an anxiety or a depression. It's like different than the normal winter blues. There's like a little more to it, and of course, there's a lot going on in the news. So I think for the energy of this month or this week too, but should I would really focus and am focusing on hope and self-care. Like each day I'm trying to find one thing that makes me feel hopeful because I feel like hope is a former protest and hope is a muscle, and we have to practice and we have to strengthen it, just like gratitude. And so I'm focusing on hope. I also um when I had my psychic greeting for the year ahead, my friend Laura was like the angels of hope are coming in really strong for everybody right now, and that was just also gave me hope. That was really beautiful. So I think, you know, and even if you don't, if you don't or angels, just saying something like, May the spirit of hope find me. You know, that could be part of your daily prayer or affirmation, I am hopeful, or I have hope. Because it really, when we lose hope, say we lose everything, really, you know. So I would say I'm focusing on hope this week. I would also say focusing on dreams, you know, in our coven, we some of us are keeping a dream journal, um, but we're also focusing, you know, winter time in some Native American stories is like the time of the lizard, and the lizard is dreaming. And so the lizard is the dreamer and he's dreaming like parts of his life. And so we look at February as a dreaming time, you know, we're dreaming the rest of the year for ourselves. And then the other energy I would say is, you know, this Friday the 13th energy, which is magical and kind of whimsical, kind of silly. I think it's really important right now to invite in hope and to invite in joy um and to invite in nourishment. You know, we have Super Bowl uh today, and so like for us, we always uh watch it, even though my daughter and I have no idea what's happening in the games. We always are there for the halftime show and the snacks. So I'm making um seven layer dip, which is like a fan favorite, and then um usually my husband makes vanilla ice cream and then do ripper floats, but this year he's like, I want to bake a cake, so it's like I'm not gonna stop you. Like, let's do that. So, you know, having reasons to celebrate, having reasons to have fun. Um, we have Lunar New Year's coming up next uh week, so you know, looking into that, there's this whole trend on TikTok that everybody's Chinese now, and so really, you know, I grew up with a really close friend who's Chinese, and there was never this sense of like you can't celebrate Lunar New Year's because you're not, you know, you're white. It was never a sense of like offense about that. It was always like, yeah, you can celebrate Lunar New Year's, and she would share stuff with me and explain things. So look into it, it can be a really fun experience. We started celebrating it as a family during COVID because we just started looking for reasons to do fun things during COVID because it's like was really boring, and so um we researched it and talked about it, and then we're we eat noodles for longevity as a whole thing. Um, so yeah, it's just something fun to look into. I think you know, really focusing on what is fun for you at this time. Uh, right now I have all of my seeds that I'll be planting on my altar, and I will be asking like under the new moon for them to be blessed and for them to grow into beautiful, healthy plants. So if you have your seeds, you might want to do that. If you don't have your seeds, you might want to start looking at what you are going to plant this year. Um, I ended up getting a bunch of free seeds, so I'm gonna use what I have. And speaking of that, um, I talked about this in our coven, but technically I'm an influencer. I don't really like that word. Um, and I do get free things to make content on TikTok. And I want you to understand that that is hard for me to do. Like it brings in my family a small supplemental income, which is why I do it, because I don't, you know, authors don't make that much money, let me just be honest with you. And so anything I can do to bring money into the family and the household and to add to, you know, our our living and be able to, you know, do something fun because I made a little extra money means a lot. And so I there is a part of me that like struggles with that because I'm not very materialistic. And in my own life, like we do a lot of secondhand shopping and we do a lot of like buying used books and going to the library, like, and then online I'm like, I got this brand new book, and but I definitely um try to only pick products that I would like actually use for the most part, and then if and I also try not to be like you need this thing when I make these videos, I just really try to see the each item I get as like what's the best part of this and who would probably benefit from having it. That's how I look at it. And then I just create the video from there, and so definitely don't get influenced by me, is what I'm trying to say. Um I think if you watch the videos, you can tell by the inflection in my voice whether or not I really love the product and would actually buy it myself, or I just love sharing about it because I got it for free. I think you can tell. Um So I'm not a liar, definitely. I never lie, I never will be like this is the best thing ever if I don't feel that way, or I love it so much if I don't feel that way, or it's my favorite tarot right now if I don't feel that way. Um I will present it as honestly as possible. So read between the lines is what I'm trying to say. And please do that with all influencers. You know, a lot of social media content is created because someone is getting paid to create it, or because they received something free to create it, they're making money somehow to create it. So just be smart about it. You know, really um sometimes we want to get influenced. Like sometimes we're like, I'm looking for a new blank and I'm gonna go online and I'm gonna see all the different versions of this item and let people tell me their opinions. I'm gonna read reviews, I'm gonna see pictures, I'm gonna see how other people use it. You know, we wanna be influenced because it's like there's an overwhelming amount of choices now that it's like, okay, I don't even know which whatever thing to get. So, you know, sometimes we're looking for that. But when you're not looking for that, definitely don't let yourself fall into the trap, you know, and something that helps me is with online shopping, is I put the items in the cart and then I leave them there for 24 hours. And then most of the time I go back and I'm like, I don't want this thing. It's like you just got cut I got caught up in the moment. Um, I do try to shop in person as much as possible, but I live in a pretty small town and we don't even have like a our local, like we don't have a Target or a Walmart or anything. We have something called a Bimart, which is so ugly inside. It's like old Kmart, but because of that, I hardly spend any extra money because I go in there and I'm like, ugh, the aesthetic is not pleasing. Um, my little Venus self is like, oh, that's so ugly in here, and I just can't wait to get out. So it's really good, actually, really good on the wallet. Um, but yeah, I do try to buy things in person, small local. We have a lot of cool local shops or secondhand, especially gifts. I try to buy like from artisans and things like that. Um, but yeah, with online shopping, TikTok shopping, leave it in your cart for a full 24 hours and then go back. And chances are you'll be like, I don't want that. I don't want this thing. Um, the only thing that never happens with is books. A lot of times I'll go back and like, nope, I still want this book. Um, but the whole family's like that. Everybody's a reader in my household, and everybody loves to collect books. Like, we love it, and we give our way a lot of our books. We're like big in the like donating to Little Free Libraries and then getting books from Little Free Libraries. We're also my husband and daughter both have accounts of the used bookstore exchange, and they love to go and like drop off all the books they read but don't want to read again, and then get money and then buy more books. So, yeah, that's something my kids also have figured out over the years that's the one thing I won't say no to. If like we're out shopping and they're like, Oh, can I get this book? I'll be like, Yeah. Like, I've never, like, we have like all the Nick Broll bad kitties, because I'm like, these bad kitty books are amazing, and he's a really good person. And I'm like, I yeah, yeah, let's buy it, let's buy it, why not? Um, so yeah, so I just wanted to kind of share that because I shared that in our coven, and a lot of people were like, Thank you for saying that, thank you for saying like this is a part of your income because it is, it's a part of my income. I'm being upfront about that, and you know, a lot of people who are content creators, they're getting paid to say what they're saying or do what they're doing, and some of them aren't fully honest because if you're not fully honest, sometimes you can make more money. Like if I say this is the best thing ever, I could totally sell more products, but I refuse to do that. I do have my limits, and sometimes I'll get a product and be like, Oh my gosh, like I can't, what was I thinking? But then I'm like, I'll give it, I know who to give it to. So they get given away. I never sell anything that I receive. Um, if it doesn't click for me, I give it to somebody or I donate it to a lot of like my card decks that I don't resonate with go to little free libraries, and I think about like I always imagine like some teenager being like jackpot, you know. Um yeah. Okay, so let's go on to journal questions. First one is what kind of self-care are you going to do this week? I'd like you to just commit to something going outside for a walk, um, baking brownies, uh, doing a face mask, listening to a favorite album, right? Um, what are you dreaming about? And that could be really or not, or like daydreaming. And then what, and this is just kind of a fun one. Um what is what are your feelings on the symbolism of mouse or rat? Because, you know, in this card deck, just like in the T deck, it's also like a rat is a sneaky person. So, um, and I always think of that white stripe song. I think I smell a rat. So if you don't know that song, look it up. But what is your feeling, like your own personal association with mouse or rat? Um, and that's kind of I think will help understand the card for the week. And then last one, um, is there someone in your life who you feel is questionable, either moral compass or questionable motives? And if so, who? And hopefully it's not you. No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, I hope you have a great week. And if you haven't done so, catch me on the movie coven, because it's really fun. It's called Witches Movie, Coven. Um, it's just an hour, and definitely like look up a favorite movie, and then I don't know, I think you'll have fun because we all vote at the end on whether or not we like it, and sometimes you'll be surprised. So, anyway, have a great week. Bless be.