Boundaries And Sweetness

Breakthrough energy is humming, and not the loud kind. A new moon solar eclipse in Aquarius is shaking loose stale patterns and shining a bright light on individuality, clarity, and the boundaries that protect a sweeter life. We start with a card pull—Sweetness from Arcana Folia—and follow the thread into how firm, loving limits make space for ease, presence, and genuine joy. Instead of forcing manifestations, we offer an eclipse‑safe approach: listen more than push, journal more than plan, and let what’s ready to leave, leave.

Aquarius brings invention and a nudge to do your own thing, while winter continues to surface shadow material that needs care. We share practical ways to meet that wave: simple journaling prompts that turn fog into language, deeper card spreads to name fears, and quiet rituals that keep your nervous system steady. Then we ride the shift into Pisces season with dreamwork, a focus on intuitive practice, and a reminder that rest is not laziness, it’s fuel. Along the way, we trade playlists for full albums, light a candle, take phone‑free walks, and romanticize the small moments that make ordinary days feel enchanted.

Think of this conversation as a warm room during a blustery forecast: you’ll leave with boundary scripts, reflective questions, and cozy practices to anchor you through eclipse season. Press play, breathe deeper, and tell us—where will you set one kind boundary this week? If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find their way here.

Chapters

• 0:23 Card Of The Week: Sweetness
• 1:08 Boundaries As The Path To Ease
• 1:37 New Moon Solar Eclipse In Aquarius
• 3:24 Eclipse Magic Versus Regular Rituals
• 5:09 Individuality Spotlight And Boundary Work
• 6:29 Shadow Work: Journals, Cards, Fears
• 9:07 Entering Pisces Season And Dreams
• 10:24 Coven Focus And Upcoming Events
• 13:03 Slow Winter As A Spiritual Buffer

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

Hi, and welcome to another Cozy Coven Chat. I am your host, Jenny C. Bell, and this is for the week of February 15th. Our card of the week is from Arcana Folia, and it is sweetness, and it's a picture of two ripe strawberries and strawberry flowers. And it's interesting. So the card is sweetness, but then it says, set clear boundaries. And last week we had a person of questionable moral compass come through. And so it makes me think that somehow these are connected, right? That maybe you have a realization of who that person is or an idea of who they might be. And this week is the good week for you to set clear boundaries with them and really with other people. And I like that it's with the word sweetness. Like you have a sweeter life with clear boundaries. And I like the strawberry there, because the strawberry is very sweet. Um, especially a wild strawberry. I've only come across a few patches here where I live, and they're tiny and heavenly, like nothing like a wild strawberry. So yeah, so let's think about boundaries this week, which kind of leads us into we have a new moon this week in Aquarius, but it's also a solar eclipse, and it's the first of many in Aquarius. And the energy for this solar eclipse, if I was gonna give it one word, it would be breakthrough. It's very much like we're breaking through to something new or different, um, just feeling with eclipses in general, uh, some astrologers or people really into astrology don't do any works of magic. And some people go as far as they don't want to be under the light of the eclipse, like it's seen as a bad omen. So eclipse magic is different than regular ritual, so you can't treat a new moon eclipse as a regular new moon. So normally a lot of people use the new moon as a manifesting time, but it doesn't really feel like that this time. And Aquarius, you know, being I always think Aquarius are so fun. Like all the Aquarius I've ever had in my life. I love them because they always make me see things differently and think differently. They're very inventive, they're very like do their own thing. And so having an eclipse there just feels like there's like this spotlight on you, on your individuality. And then that goes back, I think, to setting clear boundaries. So for this new moon eclipse, perhaps that's what you're doing. You're setting boundaries. Um, maybe you're doing journaling, you know, when we think breakthrough energy, journaling is good. Definitely doing some in-depth card readings. By this point in the year, we probably have a good idea of what we're wanting to manifest, but maybe we need to get more clear on that, and then we have to decide what's kind of standing in the way because we still are in the winter energy, which is shadow work energy, right? The winter is shadows rising, fears rising. I know I've had a lot of like personal anxieties, fears surrounding my career pop up, and it's like I deal with them now, or I'm gonna have to deal with them like when I'm speaking at Spirit Northwest or when my book comes out. And so I'd rather deal with them now. And so I've been doing a lot of shadow work. And for me, that looks like journaling. For me, that looks like meditating. For me, that looks like asking the cards what fears are rising. And so, yeah, you know, think about this new moon eclipse energy is not your regular new moon. It's just not. Eclipse energy is a lot of times release energy, it's just shifting energy. Uh, eclipse season affects people, sleep, their mood, especially people that have like strong cancer placements where you're like very moon, you're very moon connected. I'm in cancer rising, so I always feel these eclipses no matter where they are. So, yeah, think about that. On February 18th, we move into Pisces season. Oh, love it. So dreamy, so like let's write poetry and interpret our dreams and practice being psychic, you know, all of those things. So that's a really nice energy. And then um, and in our coven, our focus is on dreams. So that's our our keyword this month, and we have a class on dream interpretation. People, some people are keeping a dream journal. And speaking of that, if you want to join our coven, there's still a sale, which you can see at jennycabell.com. And I also want to remind you that I will be at spirit northwest, and you go to spiritnorthwest.com to learn more. It'll be in Portland at the end of April. If you would like to meet me and take a class with me, I'm really going for connection. Like I want to meet people, I want to connect with people, I want to collaborate, I want to just have a good time. I haven't gone away, traveled solo since before my daughter was born. She's 15, so it's a long overdue. It's long overdue. And I'm excited. Um, my friend Ashley is gonna be there. Uh she's from, she has her own podcast, which I don't, I think I've talked about on here before. Um, and I've been a guest on her podcast. It's called Big Crystal Energy Podcast. And but this season I really have loved so far. She's really focusing on liminal space and what liminality is. And she had a really good episode on Imbolk. She's gonna be doing episodes on all the Sabbaths. Um she has guests on. It's just like it's a different vibe, but it's really beautifully done. So I highly suggest her podcast if you haven't already started listening to it. Um, and hoping to be a guest on there again when my other book comes out. But she's gonna be at Spirit Northwest, so we're gonna get to meet in person, which is like so exciting. Um I had pen pals when I was young, so it's like the same vibe, like having like an internet friend, just like a pen pal. So yeah, I'm really excited for that. And it's just something I look forward to. So, right now, in the this kind of energy that we're in, I suggest if you're not already doing so, of really allowing the coziness and the restfulness and the slowness of winter, like stay. Like ring out those last drops, like you would a sponge or like when you hand wash clothes, right? Like really ring out the last drops of the restfulness because eclipse season can be really intense, the news is really intense, we're gonna be moving into Mercury retrograde soon. It's like all this kind of intense astrological energy, intense worldly energy. Okay, so how do we balance that out? We balance that out by slowing down, by lighting a candle, by you know, resting, by getting outside, dreaming. Some things that I've been enjoying is I um we re-we always have had records, but we have reconnected our CD player so we could switch from CDs to records, and I'm much more likely to play a CD because I hate flipping the record. I know it's kind of silly, but it's true. And so we have like our CD binder out, and I've been playing whole albums instead of playlists, and that has just been really cool. I also um found our iPod. Um, not a nano, it's like an old school iPod, and we had engraved on it Ben and Jen's jukebox. And I had to buy a charger, I had to order one because originally I was giving it to gonna give it to my daughter because here in Oregon there's a law that was passed that um bans cell phones on campus, like the use of cell phones. So we got her a Kindle for Christmas because she's always been reading on her phone. Like she's a whole family's readers. She reads on her phone all the time because she always never likes to have not have a book with her, which I am the same way. I literally carry um this, it's a tote. I had an Alsa Wonderland tote bag, but I recently switched to Astro Twins, put out like this really cute tote bag that has the La Luna card from Lotoria on it, and it's beautiful, like the way it's designed is beautiful, it's like perfect size. But I always carry those size bags so I can put a book in there or my Kindle because I also don't like to be without a book. So we bought our Kindle for Christmas, even though she didn't ask for one, but we knew that she wasn't gonna be able to read on her phone anymore. And then I was like finding I found my old digital camera, she wanted to use that, and then I found the iPod, and then she's like, Well, it turns out we can't bring the iPod either because like nothing like that, like nothing digital. So you know I'm gonna be thrifting like a disc man or something. Like, I'm looking. I'm like, we gotta get her something because you know, I it's hard, it's slightly hard for them. She's not plugged in on social media, she's listening to music. I mean, and she did something because we um I love Jack Black and I listened to a podcast interview on Good Hang with him, and he talked about how something he likes to do is pick an artist and then just listen to all their albums, like in order. And so she did that with Pearl Jam, which my little heart was so happy. Um my husband and I don't have a song, we have a band, like that's our band, and we've seen them a few times together, and she wanted to hear them all. So she literally listened, not all the live stuff, because I think it would never end, but just like all the albums in chronological order, and just made my heart so happy. Like the joy, you know. She loves them, she loves Soundgarden, she actually has my old Chris Cornell poster on her wall, and my son has my Metallica poster. And I just feel like I'm doing something right as a parent. We all have Rage Against the Machine shirts, they're not matching, but they are, you know, it's like all the same band but different artwork. Um she's my MM fan. She got that from me. And yeah, so my son's really taken on to metal. His favorites are Black Sabbath, System of a Down, and uh Rage Against the Machine. And then she really loves Soundgarden. Um, I love seeing right now there's a resurgence of Jeff Buckley, which yes, yes, please. That's amazing. Um, but yeah, so I've been listening to whole albums. So think about it. When was the last time you did that? It might have been when you were a teenager and got this album you really wanted on CD or tape and horror record, depending on your age, and just like put it on and like laid down and listen to it. Like my favorite thing would be to put like it in my my stereo, light a candle. Yes, my mom always let me light candles when I was a teenager, light an incense, shovel the lights off, and just lay on my bed and listen to it. And then the next time, if there was like lyrics, like read through the lyrics and just like that savoring of listening to an album through is amazing. And so something we've actually been doing with my son is like laying in bed and playing songs and like on the lyric mode on like Apple Music so that he can read the lyrics, and he's becoming like such a Johnny Cash fan because of this. Um, played the ballad of Ira Hayes, and I talked about how I used to teach ballads as part of poetry and what a ballad is, and I don't know, just made him really appreciate Johnny Cash all the more. And I said to him, you know, if anybody is like the metal country singer, it's definitely Johnny Cash. So, you know, just doing something like that where you're you're savoring, dare I say romanticizing, a little bit in your day, you know, cooking a meal and just cooking the meal, like not having TV on or having anybody in there, quote, helping you, but like getting in there and just like being in the present moment. Cooking the meal can be very meditative, can be very grounding. Uh taking a walk without your phone or headphones, uh it's so freeing. Like, I'll leave my phone here. My husband knows my walking route, and I just take the dog, and it's just like it feels so weird and free. You know, going somewhere without your phone is just so like weirdly freeing. I try it. Definitely try it. Um going through like and just kind of going through your book collection. It's a good time of year to do that. Like, take all your books out, reorganize them, donate some, rediscover ones you know. Same with like your if you have a card collection, you know. This is this still this kind of the slowness of winter. Like it gets busier and busier as the sun gets stronger and stronger for most of us. Our calendars get tighter, there's more to do. If you have kids, you know, summer you're trying to figure out how you're in and entertain them, um, what camps you're putting them in, or whatever. And so, you know, this is still slowing down. It's still slowing down. So definitely savor that. Um, for our journal questions. So, first question is where is the sweetness in your life? Or where can you find the sweetness? Second question is where do you need to set boundaries? Third is who do you need to set boundaries with and why? And then I would love to know, and I'd love for you to think about what is the connection between boundaries and sweetness? Like, is your life sweeter with boundaries, and if so, how? Because I really loved that this card had those two together because I wouldn't have put them together myself. So I really like that. And yeah, savor. Savor the last bits of winter. Less to be.