Episode 7: Mental Health

Welcome back dear listeners. In this weeks episode the witches are talking about mental health, how it impacts and intersects with their spiritual practices, and how they cope during The Dark Half. The colder seasons can be hard on us all for various reasons, but with cunning, compassion, and creativity you can find new ways to not just endure, but find beauty in the darkness. Hopefully by joining Skye, River, and Poppy in this episode you'll feel less alone if you find yourself struggling to juggle your mental health and magical practice, and maybe even think of some new ways to integrate coping skills in your own day to day life.

Grab a warm drink, a snack, and snuggle in for this much more candid and cozy episode with the witches. Remember to be kind to yourself, and be kind to each other always, especially in this upcoming season. 

General Trigger Warning for discussing less pleasant aspects of mental health, nothing severe or intense, but use your best judgement on deciding whether or not you're in a good place to hear it. If you decide to skip this weeks episode we understand and we'll see you next week xoxo

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review! Join our community of listeners as we explore the mysteries of the afterlife through the lens of witchcraft.
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Episode Transcript

Poppy (00:18):
Wait.
Southern.
No, it's the same.
It's the same.

River (00:25):
And that was your fun little game for this opening.
Was to lie to us aboutAustralia.

Poppy (00:30):
I'm sorry.
I don't know.
I, I don't, I really don't knowwhy in my brain I was like,
yeah, cause they're like upsidedown from us.
So that means that they're Westor that our West is their East,
but that's just not how itworks.

River (00:45):
No.

Skye (00:46):
It's still like from space, you know what I mean?
Like

Poppy (00:50):
it's all magnets, yeah, it's all magnetism, um, yeah,
anyway, hiiii!

River (00:57):
Welcome

Poppy (00:58):
I love, I love beautiful people!

River (01:00):
six.

Poppy (01:02):
Episode six

River (01:04):
said it couldn't be done.
They said it was impossible.
And here we

Poppy (01:09):
they?

River (01:09):
Me, I'm they,

Skye (01:11):
But guess what, it's November now!

River (01:13):
be done.
Stop killing these gnats!

Skye (01:16):
They're pissing me off, dude.

Poppy (01:18):
Skye is inundated with gnats.

River (01:21):
being attacked.
She's in the trenches.

Poppy (01:24):
Yeah.
It's cause she has her dogs out.
They're flocking to the stench.

River (01:28):
they need those toes.

Skye (01:30):
It's because of my sweet, tasty little beverage.

Poppy (01:34):
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, anyway, we're doing apodcast.
Hi, everybody.
welcome.
This is Death Coven, the podcastwhere a death coven talks about
what it's like to be in a deathcoven.
And today we're going to talkabout mental health.

Skye (01:49):
Yeah, let's lock in, team.

River (01:51):
Yeah, let's lock in.
I will say for transparency, weare recording this episode after
we recorded a different episodefor almost three hours.

Poppy (02:00):
Yeah.
It was a longy.
It was episode

River (02:02):
a little bit fried, uh,

Poppy (02:04):
which is perfect.
It's perfect for the episodeabout mental health, where our
brains are in

River (02:10):
They're not chugging along as they need to be.

Skye (02:13):
we're doing things up top, we also Need to put some trigger
warnings on this episode.

Poppy (02:19):
yeah.
So obviously today's episode,we're talking about mental
health, which naturally mightbring up some topics and some
feelings that might trigger somepeople.
So at this point in time.
since this is kind of aconversational topic, we don't
really have anything planned.
We don't know what we're goingto be bringing up.

(02:41):
So if you haven't yet, please golook at the show notes because
we'll put the trigger warningsthere for you.
But yeah, just, you know, ifyou're in a sensitive mind space
right now or, you know, you justdon't want to hear about certain
topics that might come up aroundmental health, then I advise,
you know, put this down, maybecome back to it when you're

(03:03):
feeling a little bit better.

Skye (03:04):
Yeah.
Or if want to skip it alltogether and don't come back
That's totally fine too.

Poppy (03:09):
We won't be hurt.

Skye (03:10):
No.

Poppy (03:12):
But before we get started, I have another fun
little hypothetical game.

Skye (03:17):
Are these all from Reddit do you come up with these?

Poppy (03:20):
Um, the first one, I think episode three, I Modified
from what I found on Reddit theother ones I came up with

Skye (03:29):
Okay.
What about this

Poppy (03:30):
including this one that I came up with this one Okay, so
this one kind of loosely tiesinto mental health and I think
you guys are gonna feel calledout by it so

Skye (03:42):
me out.
what this

Poppy (03:43):
up

River (03:43):
my own damn podcast?
Man, come

Skye (03:47):
we're, we need a little icebreaker into being
vulnerable.
I think so

Poppy (03:51):
Okay.
So hypothetically, in thissituation, a mysterious
benefactor will give you 1, 000every day if you answer every
single phone call that you get.
Every single time your phonerings, you have to answer it, no
matter what time of day it is.

Skye (04:11):
yes.

Poppy (04:12):
So you're going to quit your job and you're going to

Skye (04:15):
shoot.
I didn't think about theintricacies of, I, cannot have
my phone on me.

Poppy (04:22):
Exactly.
Exactly.
That's why, that's what makes itinteresting.
So

Skye (04:25):
I think I would quit yeah,

Poppy (04:28):
yeah,

Skye (04:29):
Because

River (04:29):
I

Skye (04:29):
would

River (04:30):
a guaranteed thousand dollars a day.

Poppy (04:33):
you can never fly in an airplane.

River (04:35):
I already don't.

Skye (04:36):
risk I'm willing to take.

River (04:38):
Yeah, what it what's the consequence if I do take on this

Skye (04:42):
Do I just get cut off?

River (04:44):
my phone?

Poppy (04:45):
yeah, you just get cut off, but that means, you know,
if you quit your job to do thisand you're going to have to, you
know, get another job,

Skye (04:52):
I'll take the risk.

Poppy (04:54):
you'll take it.

River (04:54):
that's

Poppy (04:54):
do thousand dollars.
Okay.
What if, what if I tell you, ifyou, if you miss a phone call,
they're going to take everythingback.
Yeah.
Exactly.

Skye (05:02):
Like I have to pay them back.

Poppy (05:03):
Yeah.

River (05:05):
Oh, I don't know about that.
I don't know, but I got

Poppy (05:07):
How confident are you in your ability, how confident are
you in your ability to answerthe phone every single time it

River (05:15):
Here's the thing.
I don't get a lot of phone

Skye (05:17):
yeah, me either.

River (05:19):
in general It's mostly like spam calls and I can like
hit answer and then decline it.
Yes.
I just have to answer it I don'thave to talk to the person.

Poppy (05:27):
Yeah, you just have to answer

Skye (05:28):
Do you think that they would send you extra phone calls
because it's technically likeyour job or whatever?

Poppy (05:33):
They might, if they want to get rid of you, they could, I
guess.

Skye (05:37):
I would, I would consult with my husband, I think, and
see what he has to say.

Poppy (05:41):
a good answer.
He would say do it, I think.

River (05:43):
Yeah

Skye (05:44):
He'd be like, shit, I'm quitting my job too.
A thousand dollars a day.
I'm

Poppy (05:48):
Yeah.
Okay.
I thought, I thought this wouldbe a harder question because I
thought you guys would be morephone averse.

River (05:55):
not particularly.

Skye (05:56):
No.

Poppy (05:57):
I don't think realistically for me, I think I
could do it.
If I didn't have to give themoney back, I think I could

River (06:05):
Oh, yeah.

Poppy (06:06):
If I had to give the money back, I think I would,
probably not do

River (06:11):
Yeah.
It wouldn't be fun for me if Ithere was the fear of I have to
get this money back.
I wouldn't do anything with it.
I would just have it in asavings account that I would
never touch.

Skye (06:20):
if there's any sort of like severe consequence like
that,

River (06:23):
Yeah.

Poppy (06:24):
Mm

Skye (06:24):
I'd be like, uh, if the, if the risk outweighs the
benefit that I'm like, no, ifthey would cut me off, like if
they're like, yeah, but if youdon't keep up with it, then
we're going to cut you off.
Then I'd be like, Yeah.
sure.
Fine.

Poppy (06:36):
Okay.

Skye (06:37):
But no, I am down to be like basically a little sugar
baby

River (06:41):
Mm

Poppy (06:43):
Come when you're called.

Skye (06:44):
or what's called?
I guess it would be a Splendababy.
Cause the Splenda babies are theones who like, don't really do
it.
work.
They just, they're the ones whoprovide companionship.
They don't, do favors, if youwill.
I believe so.

River (06:55):
heard of a Splenda baby before.
Good for them.

Poppy (06:59):
baby.
A honey baby.

Skye (07:01):
know, me like, I mean, I don't know anything about that.
Just kidding.
Ha

River (07:04):
Definitely didn't look into it.
Closes out my Google tabs.

Poppy (07:10):
Okay.

River (07:11):
Some mental health.
Raise your hand if you'rementally ill.

Skye (07:16):
All of our

River (07:17):
We all raised our

Poppy (07:18):
we all raised our hands.

River (07:21):
Hey, at home, raise your hand if you're mentally ill.
Don't think I won't know.
Not if you're

Poppy (07:25):
if you're driving.

Skye (07:26):
both hands on the wheel, please.

River (07:28):
you know,

Poppy (07:29):
Okay.
So who wants to kick us offthen?

Skye (07:33):
Well, let's start.
How are we?
How are we doing mentallylately?
Crickets?

River (07:41):
crickets.
I would say I was in, I was inme personally river.
Hi, how are ya?
I was in the shits for a solid,I'll say three weeks.
I'll give myself that bigwindow.
Like I was in the shits for awhile and then I was doing
really good for the past fewdays and I was doing really good
this morning.

(08:01):
And now I'm, I'm slowly fallingback into the shits again, which
is just sort of the cycle of mymoods and my brain personally.
That's where I'm at.
I'm not bad, but if I'm notcareful and I don't take care of
myself and I don't Rest, I'mgonna get bad.

Poppy (08:20):
Mm hmm.
Relatable.

Skye (08:22):
How is your magical practice been for the past three
weeks up to now?

River (08:27):
Um, not great.
If I'm being real, I've beendoing things mostly out of a
sense of obligation because I'vehad things where it's like, Oh,
it's a new month.
I have to do my monthly tarotspread.
Oh, it's a, I didn't even do thenew moon spread.
Cause I just couldn't be

Skye (08:45):
It's those have to,

River (08:47):
yeah.
Yeah, but I did, I like had todo these things to at least,
like for me, I have to forcemyself to do things just to have
that consistency so it doesn'tcompletely go to shit.
So I am forcing myself to do itfor my betterment.

Skye (09:05):
it is nice have those things, those markers, like the
beginning of the month and themoon phases to have as a, um,
like a bookmark of, because ifyou had no frame of reference,
you wouldn't, if you fall intothe shits, you don't really have
that starting that jumping offto be like, Yeah.
you'd just be in the But ifyou're not doing so well, but
you look at the calendar andyou're like, Oh man, the full

(09:27):
moon's coming up in three days.
maybe I'll try to amp myself upa little bit.
And then hopefully by the timethe full moon comes around, I
can use that as a springboard toget back into the things that
I've fallen off.

Poppy (09:40):
And you're working with the moon phases too, especially
like as we're talking aboutmental health, working with the
new moon, you can think, youknow, what am, what am I missing
that I need to manifest?
Even if that's something assimple, it's not simple, but
something like self love or, youknow, You know, just generally
compassion for yourself.

(10:00):
and then on the full moon, ifyou have something you're trying
to get rid of, I know the threeof us have really been, kind of
on an anti self sabotage journeyfor the past.

Skye (10:13):
Lifetime.

Poppy (10:14):
know, our, our entire lives.
Yeah.
So, that can be a good just agood time to really check in
with yourself and think aboutwhat it is that you actually
need.

River (10:25):
Which is maybe the hardest thing of all to do.
Especially when you're so usedto just not giving your needs
the time of day and theattention.
You're like, I don't know whatthe fuck this bitch needs.

Poppy (10:37):
Mhm.
And when

River (10:38):
I don't know what you want.

Poppy (10:39):
really care sometimes, you know?
It's hard to care.

Skye (10:43):
And it's tough because like, When we're doing really
good, mentally and spirituallyboth, when we're, you, for me, I
do daily tarot, I also, on topof doing, these monthly full
moon, I do, tarot all the time,I would do, weekly check ins
with deity, and, Refillingoffering, like I'm keeping
things fresh.

(11:04):
I'm like Staying in touch.
I'm staying in contact and I'mconsistently regularly doing
spiritual things throughout myday.
And it's easy that if I were toslip a day or two of not doing
daily tarot, it feels like afailure and you have that
mentality of I'm already behind.
I already feel like I'm alreadytired.
I've already failed.

(11:25):
So why

River (11:26):
I might as well run this into the ground fully.

Skye (11:30):
Exactly.
And then, and you know what youget from that?
You get a dirty altar and moldywine offering.

River (11:37):
And you

Poppy (11:37):
Not the moldy wine.

River (11:41):
we've all been

Skye (11:41):
hey, if you've

Poppy (11:43):
And that shit has alcohol in it.
It's not supposed to moldeasily.

River (11:47):
I know, that's how bad it gets.
It

Skye (11:50):
talking like a couple months.
it's been up there for like, along time.

Poppy (11:58):
it happens.
And it's okay, becauseespecially when we're talking
about deity and ancestor andofferings, like these, these are
relationships.
And I mean, just like your reallife relationships.
Yes, you have to put in work,but also the people that love
you are going to understand whenyou need to take a step back and
when you need to, you know, takecare of yourself first.

River (12:21):
They don't love you because you are doing these
things for

Poppy (12:24):
Exactly.
They're not, unless they're like16 years old, they don't love
you because you're buying themwine, right?

Skye (12:31):
Yeah, for me, it's in a way a good thing to see the
moldy wine because Sometimeswhen you're in the shits, you
lose track of how long it's beenand how bad it really is.
And sometimes can kind gaslightyourself into being like, it's
not that bad.
I am still doing this, but I'mnot doing this, but it's okay.
And you talk yourself intoallowing yourself to rot and

(12:53):
allowing yourself to fall Butlike

River (12:55):
it could always be worse.

Skye (12:57):
Yeah, but recently when I was like, okay, for real, like
we got to redo this altar.
I got to take everything off andreset it up and everything.
And when I found the moldy winerecently, cause I also was
recently in the shits for alittle bit and I saw the moldy
wine, I saw how bad it was.
It was like that realizationthat really brought me back to
be like, Oh, you were bad.

(13:17):
It was bad.
This is the physicalrepresentation, the physical
embodiment of how bad you were,and it's sort of a validating to
to know that you were bad.
Do you know what I mean?

River (13:30):
And there's like evidence of that.
You weren't like being a littlebaby and like in your feefies
about it.

Skye (13:37):
Cause like, nobody moldy wine.
I wouldn't have allowed mold togrow on my altar had

River (13:42):
was in my right mind, that never would have happened.

Poppy (13:46):
and like, it's crazy how we're constantly comparing
ourselves to others, whetherthat is, we think that others
are better than us, or we thinkthat others have it harder than
us or doing worse than us.
So whatever we're experiencingisn't valid,

Skye (14:02):
Yep.

Poppy (14:03):
and you just need to take a step back.
Everybody's different.
Everybody is on their ownjourney.

River (14:09):
Especially the suffering competition.
I feel like so many people areeither trying to make their
suffering seem More thansomebody else's or they're like
trying to minimize it incomparison to other people's
suffering and I'm like babeThat's not helping anybody me
pointing a mirror at myself,babe.

(14:30):
That's not helping anybody

Poppy (14:32):
think that's a very Western, like American thing,
but also like a very Westernthing where we correlate work
with success and we correlate,you know, you're not working
hard unless you're suffering

River (14:46):
are burning yourself out for the bare minimum and then
even still you need to beworking harder

Poppy (14:52):
whether it's for productivity or even creativity,
you know, where it's like thewhole tortured.
Artist trope where it's likeyour art isn't going to be
beautiful or valid or meaningfulunless you're Suffering when you

Skye (15:06):
Yeah.
especially when you work with adeity and their sort of main
goal is for you to improve andgrow in yourself, in your own
personal path.
And so for you to constantly beset back and to not listen to,
guidance or whatever, likethey're usually willing to wait

(15:26):
for you to find your footing.
But if the reason why.
You are faltering or you are ona pause is because you're
comparing yourself to otherswhen they've been screaming at
you the whole time.
I need you look inward.
I need you to only focus on

River (15:42):
don't

Skye (15:43):
problems.

River (15:43):
that.
That's not for you

Skye (15:45):
That must be incredibly frustrating for them.
So they could honestly probablygive a shit if their wine
offering is They're probablymore mad about

River (15:51):
babe, this is a symptom.
This is not the cause.

Skye (15:55):
more mad about you not listening to what they're
actually trying to tell you, butit happens.
We fall off

River (16:02):
It happens

Poppy (16:02):
happens to everybody whether it's because of mental
health or just because you'renot feeling that connection

River (16:09):
Yeah.
Everything's got an ebb andflow.

Poppy (16:13):
always comes back though

Skye (16:14):
It happens in transitory periods if you've moved house,
and you haven't unpacked yourmagical stuff, or you you're
just in a new environment,you're on vacation, you're
staying in a hotel, you're on acruise, you're on a plane,
you're jet lagged, you're onvacation.
This year that like if you're ina different state where you're
not in your normal routine forany reason, or you're still in
the process of establishing anew routine, it's easy to fall

(16:37):
off for a long time and have ahard time restarting over
because restarting is thehardest part.
Starting is fun, but startingover is really, really
difficult.

Poppy (16:47):
picking up too, for me at least, when I think about
starting over, starting over forme is the same as starting.
I get that excitement, thatwind, that temporary honeymoon
period.
And then as soon as it getsregular and routine again, I'm
like, Oh, this isn't funanymore.
And then I stop,

Skye (17:06):
novelty wears off

River (17:08):
It becomes more of a

Skye (17:10):
a chore.

River (17:12):
Which is not bad.
You gotta do chores to maintainthat homeostasis.
Even sometimes there are somethings about my practice that I
do find kind of boring.
And I'm

Poppy (17:24):
Mm hmm.

River (17:25):
joy.
It'll be like, refreshing andoffering or like saying a prayer
or just like small stuff thatadds up where I'm like, it's not
a big ritual.
I'm not lighting anything onfire.
I'm not like harnessing this bigenergy.
It's like such a small littlething that I could so easily
just not do.

Skye (17:45):
or so easily do

River (17:47):
or so easily do.
Yeah.
Either way.

Poppy (17:50):
And that's the thing.
It's like, if you just do thething, it's so much

River (17:55):
Yeah.
You keep that momentum going.

Poppy (17:59):
well, it's like you put more effort into dreading doing
this simple thing than it wouldtake to just do it.
And that translates to everyaspect of life, right?

Skye (18:07):
do you guys ever fall off your practice?
And you're feeling in yourfeelings, you're feeling bad.
And then all of a sudden you getlike this gust of Inspiration
and motivation and you're like,that's it.
I've enough of this bullshit.
Like I'm, I'm I'm, a, I'm afucking witch.
God damn it.
And then all of a sudden you'redoing the biggest ritual of your
life and you're like laying outa pentagram on

River (18:29):
Yeah.
You're doing more than you haveany right to be doing.

Skye (18:33):
like, bitch, who do you think you are?
You literally can't even Refillyour water

River (18:38):
Baby got

Poppy (18:38):
Yeah.
And you're asking for so muchenergy, and you haven't been

River (18:44):
yeah, yeah,

Skye (18:46):
protection from what

River (18:47):
yeah,

Poppy (18:48):
That's a whole thing though.
Hexing yourself is so real.

Skye (18:52):
Hey, raise your hand if you've done it recently.
Yeah.

Poppy (18:56):
our hands.

Skye (18:57):
Yeah

Poppy (18:58):
But breaking that hex can be so cathartic, even just
acknowledging like, Oh, I amdoing this to myself.
What can I do so that I stopdoing this to myself and I get
rid of that ick?

Skye (19:16):
Yeah, I literally wrote in one of my tarot readings,
regarding, my mental health afew weeks ago, something along
the lines of, and it was withthe morgue, and it was with her
deck, and she said, you are boththe problem and the solution.
And I said, huh, huh, yes,ma'am, I'll try.

Poppy (19:33):
Yeah.
Have you guys ever, broken aself hex before?

Skye (19:37):
Yes, but not, it's not always intentionally, I'm not
doing, a cord cutting withmyself, or, it's usually, like

Poppy (19:44):
I

Skye (19:44):
like a, true, that's true.

River (19:47):
yeah,

Skye (19:48):
It's usually like a cleansing bath or usually like
how were talking about in thedream episode, the whole
epiphany thing, like I'llusually an epiphany will come to
me either through, not usually adream, but I'm clear audience.
So sometimes I'll just beconversing with the divine just
throughout my day and I'll hearsomething or I'll have a thought

(20:09):
come up of my own subconscious.
And I'm like, Oh, that's theissue.
That's what I need to do.
That's what I need to remember.
And then I latch onto that andthen let that give me motivation
to propel me into a bettermindset.
So it's not usually like a.
A ritual per se, but it's sortof like, uh, I need to remember
my foundations of who I am andlatch onto that to then instead

(20:33):
of getting rid of the bad shit,just like putting in more good
shit moving forward.

River (20:40):
while not being hypercritical and beating
yourself up about.
Everything else you feel likeyou've fallen off of.

Skye (20:48):
It's okay, maybe we haven't been good about keep our
altar space or doing dailytarot, but guess what?
you can clean the altar and wecan do a tarot reading today and
then you can do a tarot readingtomorrow and then we can just,
we can we can pick it up.
It's okay.

Poppy (21:03):
Sometimes even that's too much energy.
And if that's the case, like,literally the simplest, smallest
thing that you can do.
I, when I'm like really, reallyin a bad place.
I'll just make a mantra formyself and just, throughout the
day, give it a little bit ofattention, give it a little bit

(21:23):
of energy, whatever it is,whatever I need, and then
eventually that'll add up

River (21:28):
Yeah.

Poppy (21:29):
ready

River (21:30):
Yeah.
It's like

Poppy (21:32):
have

River (21:32):
up that

Poppy (21:33):
yeah, mm hmm.
Because sometimes even cleaningthe altars too much, you know,

River (21:39):
Brother, as somebody that is chronically fatigued and with
chronic pain, some days I can'tdo jack shit.
for spiritual or my generalhealth.
So some days I'm like, I have tolay down and t pose for eight
hours, and that's all I gottoday.

Poppy (21:56):
you're just planking.

River (21:57):
Yeah, I'm just planking and I feel like shit all day,
and I'm like, all right, greatjob.

Skye (22:03):
My biggest crutch is like when I'm at work, I have oils,
like magical oils that I'vebought and I'll just put some
drops

River (22:09):
easy.
If nothing else, just get an oiland just slather it on you.

Poppy (22:15):
And scent is so powerful, too.
Like, if you have thatassociation with the oil and you
put a little bit on your wristand you're smelling it
throughout the day, like, justdoes something to your brain
that can put you in a completelydifferent mind space.

Skye (22:27):
If I can't bathe, like I can at least put on that magic
oil.

Poppy (22:30):
Mm

Skye (22:30):
You know how it is when you're rotting and you haven't
showered in three days.

Poppy (22:34):
Yeah.

River (22:34):
yeah.

Skye (22:35):
Oh, I do want to talk about.
Going back to basics, becausethat's part of mental health.
Sometimes you do need to, maybeyou were at your peak and you
were.
Scrying and doing all kinds ofcool stuff.
You're receiving lots ofmessages.
You're getting lots ofsynchronicities.
You're feeling power.
Your hands are tingling.

(22:56):
you're on top of the world.
And then all of a sudden, youbeat that cliff.
You fall all the way down.
And you're like, I actuallydon't know if I've ever
performed magic in my entirelife.
And you're gaslighting yourself.
And you're in your head.

Poppy (23:09):
it?

Skye (23:09):
Am I imagining it?

River (23:11):
Is it psychosis?

Skye (23:14):
and whatever other mental health issues that you have, you
know,

River (23:18):
Just speaking from my own personal, sometimes I'm like, is
this real or is, am I having anepisode?

Skye (23:25):
Yeah.
I just it can be, if you're at apoint to where you're like,
okay, I feel like.
Doing and practicing magic makesme feel very empowered.
It makes me feel good aboutmyself.
And right now I'm not feelingvery good about myself.
A good place to start can bethat sort of quote unquote,
baby, which sort of step onerevisit, like color.

(23:47):
meanings revisit, like theelements, reread, books that
you've already read or partsthat you skip like, I already
know it light a candle.

River (23:56):
Grab that smoky quartz for dear life and do not let it
go.

Poppy (24:01):
Put it in your pocket.
That's

River (24:02):
Yeah.

Skye (24:03):
Yeah.
Just put an amethyst next toyou, like on your desk while
you're working or

River (24:07):
I have an amethyst under my pillow every single day.
That thing stays in my bed.

Skye (24:12):
yeah, just like those basic things that you take for
granted when you level up, so tospeak as a witch, like just
revisit that and go outside,dude.

River (24:24):
That's the most important.
Please, please, if you takenothing else from this, please
just go outside and sit in thesun.

Poppy (24:32):
Yeah.
I do want to say real quick,just as a disclaimer, we're not
doctors, we're not mental healthprofessionals, we're not
therapists or counselors, etcetera, et cetera.
will say, as somebody that dealswith, uh, in R.
I.
V.
I.
R., you can probably, Relate tothis, but as someone that deals
with paranoia as a symptom of mymental illness, Sometimes you

(24:53):
need to take a step away fromyour practice because for me I
start thinking that I'm seeingsigns Everywhere positive
negative and if that's the caseif it's if it's negatively
affecting

River (25:07):
If it's becoming such an obsession that you can't
function without thinking of it,take a step back.

Poppy (25:18):
If you're starting to think that, you know, everything
is a sign, especially if it'scausing negative emotions, talk
to your doctor, Please

River (25:26):
Yeah.
Witchcraft is not a substitutefor comprehensive, accurate
medical care.
I was medicated for a very longtime and I was also a witch.
You can be both of thosetogether.
You can have it all.

Skye (25:41):
can

Poppy (25:41):
you can't just slap a crystal on it.

Skye (25:43):
it can be confusing because oftentimes when we're
doing, obviously we talk aboutshadow work, all the time, but
if you're doing shadow workprompts, if you're doing
something as Seemingly simple asjournaling, maybe you have some
shadow work prompts, you'reworking through oftentimes
shadow work feels like therapy.
It feels like addressingchildhood wounds and working

(26:06):
through those to assess whetheryou need to integrate that into
your life or whether you need tolet that go in order for you to
grow as a person that is part ofshadow work.
And that's the, meat and bonesof it, which kind of feels like
therapy, but just don't get tooin the weeds.
and feel like the shadow work isfixing your mental health when

(26:28):
it they're both closely relatedand shadow work can go hand in
hand if you are in therapy likei'm sure that your therapist may
or may not recommend somethingsimilar akin to what shadow work
is it's just called somethingdifferent just journaling they
might call it but don't justrely on that Listen to your
doctor's recommendations, andthen have, know sort of be in

(26:52):
addition to.

River (26:54):
Yeah, I do want to say,

Poppy (26:56):
I'll go ahead.

River (26:58):
Who's gonna go?
Okay.

Poppy (27:00):
just going to say this quick.
I was just going to say from myviewpoint, I feel like shadow
work is good for Changing andchallenging your perspective,
not necessarily for healing allof your wounds, you know, like,
can it help get the ballrolling?
Yes, sure.

(27:21):
But for the most part, it's not.
Reframing things for you so thatyou, instead of looking at those
things that you consider big andscary and awful, you see them
more objectively, which is not asubstitute for therapy or
medication

River (27:39):
Yeah.

Poppy (27:40):
any of, that.
So

River (27:42):
Yeah.
Know you're good.
I was gonna say this might be ahot take and a controversial
opinion, but it is my fullybelieved opinion that I think
that shadow work can bedangerous if

Skye (27:56):
percent.

River (27:57):
if you've never had any sort of experience with therapy
and with A professional holdingyour hand and walking you
through this, like, difficult,impactful, deep work.
I don't think you should justjump into it if you've never had
any experience

Skye (28:15):
be intentionally triggering, just because you
hear people say, oh, it's goodto face your fears head

River (28:20):
Yeah.
But if you don't know how to dothat, and you don't have anyone
that can pull you out of that, Idon't think

Skye (28:27):
no.
No, to me, shadow work isintentionally carving out time.
When you feel you are mentallyable to address a certain issue.
And I would say to startlightly, start with little
things.
if you're having a recurringthought or a feeling something
light, obviously don't go toyour deepest, darkest childhood
traumas right away.

(28:47):
But if you're like, Gosh, everytime this person says something,
like it really irritates somereason.
really sit with that for aminute and be like, how, what
are they saying?
How does that make me feel?
Why do I think that I feel thatway?
Those are the little things likeyour little, little, nagging
things in your mind that keepcoming up for you.
That's where I would start.

(29:07):
Not with the big, Oh, what's thething that I'd really don't want
to look at thing.
Like work your

River (29:13):
what's the worst thing that's ever happened to me and
how is it affecting me right nowin this moment?

Skye (29:17):
Yeah.

Poppy (29:19):
You don't even have to address the big whys.
You can just address the whats,like the identification of the
feeling.
Like, am I actually feelingannoyed or am I feeling jealous?
Am I feeling confronted?
you don't have to go all the wayback to when you were six years
old and whatever happenedhappened and hurt your inner

(29:40):
child.
Like it doesn't need to be.
It can be a, you know, quickbefore bed exercise that's not
going to give you horriblenightmares and keep you up at
night.

Skye (29:51):
No, the realization could just be like, Oh, I'm feeling
frustrated because I'm actuallyjust insecure.
Like you realize that you'refeeling jealous about somebody
and you're like, Oh, it'sactually because I'm feeling
insecure about X, Y, Z, which isstill a big thing.
that's still.
to uncover, but it,

River (30:06):
Yeah.

Skye (30:07):
but at least then you can be like, maybe I should work on
my feelings about insecurity.
And then that's a startingpoint.
Yeah.
Don't sit down with your journalor sit down however you're doing
your shadow work and expect tohave like a result or an answer
at the end.

River (30:21):
Yeah.

Poppy (30:22):
enlightenment in 30 minutes.

River (30:24):
And can I say that's my problem?
I'm always like, wow, I'm goingto do this one next thing and
everything's going to be fixedand I'm going to escape Samsara
with this one this time.
And it's

Skye (30:36):
River's I'm going to uncover the answer, capital A

River (30:39):
Yeah, the capital A answer and then it doesn't work
and I'm like, son of a

Skye (30:45):
and then you beat yourself up more and then the cycle

River (30:47):
then I beat myself up and the cycle continues.

Poppy (30:50):
But it's that whole thing about us feeling like we are a,
a problem that needs to befixed, or like there's a
solution, rather than the actualpoint of shadow work, which is
more

Skye (31:03):
understanding

Poppy (31:04):
understanding and acceptance and realizing the
things that you actually havecontrol over, the things that
you have agency to change, andthe things that you don't, and,
you know, deciding.
How to live with that and howyou're gonna reframe your and
perspective and, deal with it.

Skye (31:24):
Yeah.
I feel like a lot of people,cause it's like shadow work.
It's the shadow me, the ugly

Poppy (31:30):
Devil

River (31:31):
Yeah.
The worst version of me that Ihave to kill to become

Skye (31:36):
the, unwanted, the things I don't want to at.

River (31:39):
Babe, that's you.
That's just you.
That's just part of you.

Skye (31:43):
There are two wolves that live inside me.
Like this is

Poppy (31:47):
There are literally 10, 000 wolves

Skye (31:49):
Yeah.
The thing that you have toreally realize is that all of it
it's all you and you.
Yeah.
And you just have to be like,the end of the day it's damn,
that's me.
Like it or

Poppy (32:03):
And you get to choose

Skye (32:04):
Yeah.

Poppy (32:06):
That's the thing.

Skye (32:07):
and you have the goal, I guess.
For all of us is to loveourselves and to accept all of
ourselves and to not Rejectparts of us because of XYZ and
ideally we're not repressingemotions But let's be real we
all are and sometimes it's forour betterment and safety for
right now Sometimes we have to

River (32:27):
Sometimes you're not ready.

Skye (32:29):
No

River (32:29):
you can't handle it.

Skye (32:31):
No, it is for our brain does it for a reason.
I'm not encouraging repressingyour emotions, but I'm just
saying like your brain repressesthings for a reason to keep you
safe because it doesn't thinkyou're ready for it and it might
be right.

Poppy (32:43):
But, I mean, there's a difference between that and
willful

Skye (32:48):
Yes.

River (32:49):
yeah.

Skye (32:50):
Being like I don't want to look, I don't want to look, I
don't want to look.
I don't want hear, I don't wantto think about it.
And then running away.
Yeah.

Poppy (32:56):
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
But there's a differencebetween, yeah, there's a
difference between being safeand being comfortable, right?
it's okay to be uncomfortable.

Skye (33:06):
Yeah, sometimes you get to a point to where it's okay, you,
you, it's time

River (33:10):
Okay, you're a little too comfortable right now.
You need to, you need to put adifferent pair of shoes on.

Skye (33:17):
yeah, it's a really weird fine line that, only you can
really define, when it's timefor you to look at stuff, and
only you can ultimately make thechoice to look at it, even if
everyone around you is beggingyou to introspective and to do
work on yourself, and that goesfor other people, too.
If you're someone who's done alot of work, Introspection at
work and you see someone in yourlife who you're like, Oh my God,

(33:38):
if they would just sit down andjournal and pay attention to
their actions and realize thattheir actions are, also involved
with how their lifecircumstances are, then they
would realize and they wouldrealize, but you can't make that
decision for them,

Poppy (33:54):
All you can do is be a safe place for them to come to
and when they're ready, you canbe there for them.
But they have to do the work forthemselves and part of that work
is coming to the realizationthat they have work to do,
right?

River (34:07):
And some of that is realizing that you are holding
your mirror up to them andrealizing, Oh, I'm not doing
this work that I'm like beggingthis person to be doing.
I'm just talking to me.

Poppy (34:20):
Yeah.

River (34:20):
It's complicated.

Poppy (34:22):
It's hard.
It's scary.

River (34:24):
It's scary, and it sucks sometimes, and it's not fun
sometimes.

Skye (34:29):
Bro, and can we talk about how we have to relearn the same
lessons over and over again?
I've already done this

River (34:35):
can this bitch, me, get it together and remember
anything that they've alreadylearned?

Skye (34:43):
How many times do I have to go through suffering and
hardship to remember this onelesson?

River (34:48):
Constantly?

Poppy (34:49):
a human being.
You're just a human.

Skye (34:52):
Yeah,

Poppy (34:53):
It's okay.

River (34:54):
This is my first time being alive.
I'm still getting the hang ofit.
I'm still figuring it out.

Poppy (34:59):
I was just going to, kind of piggyback off of that whole
like looking at other people andwanting them to wake up kind of
thing.
So this is a, kind of a separateavenue, but you know that
saying, you can't love otherpeople unless you love yourself
first and that's just not truefor a lot of people, right?

(35:22):
Like For most people, it's notfor most people.
It's easier to project loveoutward before you direct it
inward.
Um, and I think I talked alittle bit about this during
the, an iromancy episode, butsomething that can be so
powerful when you are in theshits is something called meta
meditation.

(35:42):
And you should look into it ifyou haven't yet.
It's basically, a compassionatemeditation.
And generally speaking, it's ameditation in which you are
trying to project out love andcompassion to every other living
soul on the planet.
River's cat Hermes is just goingto town licking himself in the

(36:07):
background.
Um, Yeah, but so that it's justthis meditation technique that
can be really powerful becausewhen you send love out to the
world, you open yourself up moreto receive that love because you
recognize that Every otherliving being on this earth is
deserving of my love andcompassion.

(36:27):
I'm also deserving of love andcompassion.
And so typically when youpractice this type of you start
out with I statements.
So you start with yourself,showing your love self and the
mantra I shared on the lastepisode.
I am safe.
I'm healthy.
I am happy.
I'm peaceful and at ease.

(36:47):
And then you direct that towardsyour loved ones, in your
immediate circle.
We are safe.
We are happy.
We are healthy.
We are peaceful and at ease.
And then eventually you can sendthat out to the entire universe.
But if you're really struggling,sometimes it can be really,
really hard to use those Istatements, right?

(37:08):
Because you don't feel safe, youdon't feel happy or healthy, you
don't feel peaceful.
And so it can be really, reallyhelpful to work, from the
outside in instead.
And if you can't start out, youknow, projecting your love and
compassion to the entireuniverse, every being out there,
that's fine.
Start with your inner circle,the people that you love, and

(37:31):
just, you know, send them out aprayer, a wish, a blessing.
Do that enough times until youare satisfied.
realize that you yourself arealso worthy of that love and
that care and compassion.
disclaimer though, I will say ifyou're already the type of
person that is burning yourselfout, caring for others before

(37:52):
yourself, do the inverse andreally focus on yourself first.
You know, cause that's also anissue.
I'm sure you both haveexperienced that, putting others
before yourself to the pointwhere you're just empty and
spent and there's nothing leftover for you.

Skye (38:06):
this reminds me of whenever I'm in the shits, I
look at my cats and I'm like,because it's like, when you're
in the shits, you're like, Idon't want to go to work.
I don't want to even do thingsthat I enjoy when I come home.
I don't feel like talking toanyone, but the one thing in the
world for me is looking intothose little eyes and knowing

(38:28):
that they are fed and they havea house, like a roof over their
head.
And I'm like, And you know what?
I do this all for you.
So even if you have to do thatmeditation mantra just for your
cats, or your dogs, or yourhamsters, or your whoever,

Poppy (38:43):
your partner, or your fifth grade teacher, whoever it
is, that's special to

Skye (38:49):
like, I know you got that one someone

River (38:52):
You got one thing that if it's not yourself, it's that one
thing.

Skye (38:58):
that you, that you always have room for in your heart.
even if you gotta

River (39:03):
Don't matter if it's a fictional character.
Don't matter if it's an object.
Don't matter if it's a tree youlike a lot.

Skye (39:12):
a food even.

Poppy (39:15):
you can look at that thing and.
Say like, hey, if that thing wasreally suffering and really
stinky and hadn't been takingcare of itself, would I want it
to take care of itself and takea shower and maybe have a good
meal?
Of course.
And I deserve the sametreatment, right?
Because I'm also a living,breathing part of the universe.

(39:35):
I am a reflection of that thingthat I care so much about.
I am within that, that is withinme, so I also deserve to take a
shower and have a good fuckingmeal and take care of myself.
Which is easier said than done,of course, but it's, I feel like
people need to hear thissometimes to help them find that

(39:57):
perspective.
Because it can be so hard whenyou're in that space, because
everything seems like the worstthing in the world.
Nothing seems like it matters,right?
So, you just gotta.
Reframe.

Skye (40:12):
Yeah, circling back to like deity work in general, I
feel like it can be equallyreally daunting and also really
rewarding to think like well,Poppy and I, our gods both
reached out to us, and it can belike a Not a chosen one, but
like it's like, they chose me.

(40:32):
What is it about me?
They saw something in me.
And even if, you know likeRiver, you do reach out, they do
eventually say yes.
It's still being chosen, beinglike,

Poppy (40:42):
He saw something in you.
He's like, yeah.

River (40:44):
If anything, it makes me feel worse because I'm like, I
wanted this so bad.
I pursued this

Skye (40:49):
it's

River (40:50):
I'm flopping.
Well, I just feel like sometimeshe's like, you asked for this.
why aren't you doing anythingI'm asking you to

Skye (40:58):
when they reach out, it's you accepted this.
It's the same thing either way.
It's hey, we told you what youwere going to get yourself into.
but yeah, I feel like that can,on both ends, on one hand, if
you're feeling down, you can belike, Why me?
What about me?
But on the other hand, you canbe like, what a blessing that
something or someone so powerfulsaw something in little old me

(41:21):
saw my potential to grow.
And even in that moment, ifyou've been working with a
deity, you can look back at whenyou started versus now and
think, wow, I really have grownactually.

Poppy (41:33):
hmm.
Mm

River (41:34):
sometimes even when you're in the shits and you're,
in my experience, beefing ithard, Dionysus has still been so
gentle and compassionate with mewhere I'm beating myself up.
I'm self flagellating.
I'm crawling across a brokenglass and he's like, babe, get,
what are you doing?
I'm not asking you to do that.
I want you to take care ofyourself.

(41:56):
Please go eat and have a nap.
Stop this.
This is not helping you.

Skye (42:03):
Most of the time, they're like, I'm not asking you to do
all that.
I

River (42:05):
It's the Catholicism in.
me.

Poppy (42:08):
Yes.
Oh my god.
Relatable.
I'm always so worried to checkin when I haven't been doing
well and I'm like, oh no,they're gonna break up with me.
They're gonna be

River (42:17):
top of not feeling well, I don't want to get yelled at.

Poppy (42:21):
Yeah.
And then I do check in andthey're like.
I mean, Hades specifically, he'salways like, okay, you have room
for improvement, but remember,look back at everything that
you've done.
Let's think, let's talk aboutthe good things about you real
quick.
Let's reframe.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.

Skye (42:41):
like, I wish you would have checked in.

River (42:43):
Yeah.

Skye (42:44):
you

River (42:45):
the bit.
They're like, I've been waiting.

Poppy (42:48):
And I guess that's another thing too, because Sky,
you were talking about thoseregular intervals, like the
monthly moon cycle, dailyreadings.
That's all great.
Like you can, you can start onthe first of the month.
You can start on the full moon,but you can also remember that.
Every single day is a new day.
Every minute is a new minute,right?

(43:10):
You can start whenever, andsomething that the coven does
that we've mentioned before arethe mind body spirit readings,
which I think are super helpful,for checking in with your
mental, physical, and spiritualhealth.
And you can do that whenever.
You can do it whenever you want.
I think we all do it kind ofdifferently.
I personally do a six cardspread where I'll do three cards

(43:34):
for like the status, my currentstatus of my mind, body, spirit,
and then I'll do three cards foradvice about what I need to look
into, what I need to work on foreach of those three categories.
how do you guys do yours?

River (43:46):
I do mine in a similar way.

Poppy (43:49):
Yeah,

River (43:49):
Yeah, I'll do like where it's at and what I need.

Poppy (43:54):
Mm

Skye (43:55):
I do just a basic three card, but I also I'm pretty good
with automatic writing.
So usually if I get like amessage come through, if I'm
doing it with the Morrigan'sdeck, her words will start
coming out, um, unless I'mdrawing a blank and I don't
understand what the card means,then I might pull a clarifying
card if I, don't fullyunderstand.

(44:16):
And if I'm using both theguidebook that the deck came
with and then also that'llusually I'll read like a phrase
or a sentence in that book andthat'll kick off she'll start
speaking and I'll start writingand I'm like, I understand.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
I get it.
I get it.
I get it.
So that's.
So I need a clarifier, it's justone card for mind body spirit.

Poppy (44:37):
Yeah, but that can just be so helpful for not only
coming back to it, but likereorienting and really getting
your bearings again.
because you can just get lost,right?
You're like, what was I doingbefore I, uh, Checked out
mentally.

River (44:55):
spinning.

Poppy (44:56):
And it's also related like, you know, mind body
spirit.
You think oh, well, why whywe're talking about mental
health?
Why wouldn't I just do like amind like an emotional reading
but they're all so connectedyour emotional body feeds into
the physical body feeds into theastral body and it's all just

River (45:14):
It's all you.
It's all you that needs to betaken

Skye (45:18):
Yeah, and we all know like when you're in the shits, when
you're in a bad spot, it's notjust you being in your head and
taking care of everything elsein your life.
The dishes are piling up in thesink.
You're not taking a shower.
You're in.
You're snoozing your alarm.
You're probably not drinkingenough water.
You're probably overdoing it onthe caffeine because you're not
sleeping well.
the physical body, the mentalbody, the spiritual body,

(45:40):
they're all impacted by yourmental health when you're not
doing well.

Poppy (45:44):
hmm here here

River (45:46):
Here, here.
I do have questions for both ofyou.

Poppy (45:50):
Ooh, crack it.

River (45:53):
are you feeling about this impending dark half, and
what are your plans to helpmitigate your ills and your
woes?

Poppy (46:04):
So my perspective is kind of two pronged because on the
one hand, I am looking forwardto it because Hades is coming
back and I feel like it's a newopportunity to work with him.
Um, yeah, I miss him, but also Iacknowledge that.

(46:26):
At this point in the year, I'mtypically looking forward to the
dark half, because we're rightbefore Samhain.
We're right before Halloween,and Thanksgiving, and Christmas,
and that's not the hard part.
The hard part is

River (46:40):
fun part.

Poppy (46:41):
That's the fun part.
The hard yeah, last half ofJanuary and February, Jesus
Christ.

River (46:48):
Honestly, first half of March, if I'm being real, slog.
Yeah.

Poppy (46:53):
honest here.

Skye (46:54):
April.

River (46:54):
First three months of the year, rough.

Poppy (46:58):
Because you're, by that point, you haven't, you know,
seen the sun in months andyou're, you're wearing thin,
your resolve is thin, you forgetabout the things that you have
to look forward to becauseyou've gotten all of those
holidays, all of that,

Skye (47:16):
of excitement.
to back it's

Poppy (47:19):
Yeah.
and then it's done.
you feel like you're alone andit's dark outside and it just
feels bad, right?
So, on the one hand, I'm excitedto work more because I do feel,
it's not that I feel morespiritually connected during the
dark half, but it's a verydifferent kind of connection for

(47:41):
me, at least.

Skye (47:42):
a personal one.
I feel like in like the lighthalf, we're being sociable and
we're going outside and we'replanning more social functions.
And it's a very active sort ofmagical experience with other
people.
But in the dark half, it's likebrooding and the, you

River (47:57):
of have no other choice but to turn inward.
Yeah.

Poppy (48:00):
it's introspection and it's also ancestor work too.
So like you're looking inwardand you're also looking
backward.
So, so that's my answer.

Skye (48:12):
plans forward.

River (48:14):
what

Poppy (48:14):
am I going to do?

River (48:15):
on doing

Poppy (48:16):
I am picking up dream work again.
I kind of let that fall offafter Ostara as we entered the
light half last year.
Um, and then I had, you know, astressful Spring and summer,
which just kind of took me outof things and I'm finally really
getting back in the groove of mypractice again after Anahatas
this past year and entering thedark half.

(48:39):
So I think I'm going to putmyself into that.
I think too much introspectioncan not be a great thing if
you're alone too much, so I'mplanning on leaning on others,
on my loved ones, like you guys.
yeah, we, I mean, we have thatsupport system.

(48:59):
Last year during the dark half,we really leaned on each other,
I think, and it, for me, ithelped

Skye (49:04):
Last year was the best dark half I'd ever had.

Poppy (49:07):
yeah.

Skye (49:08):
Here's hoping it gets even better.

Poppy (49:10):
see.

Skye (49:12):
Well

Poppy (49:12):
Sky?

Skye (49:13):
Well, I, like you said, I I was feeling a bit, the hermit
card derogatory recently, youknow, being very, withdrawn,
secluded, to the point to whereit was less positively
introspective and more.
Secretive and withholding myselfand feeling like I, I was really

(49:36):
in that shell of that hermit.
Like I'm, really tucked up inthere and like I can't come out
for both my own safety and foreveryone else's safety for
whatever reason.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Hey, I'm still working throughthat.
But come out of that a littlebit and I I'm now going to tell
the story about that little giftI got the other day,

River (49:58):
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Skye (50:01):
this ties, this ties, in with mental health because I was
feeling particularly depressedone day.
It was day off.
And so I took a little middaynap as you do when you're
depressed and you're like, Isimply can't be conscious
anymore.
I have to just lights out.
I haven't done anything.
I've been feeling unmotivatedand yet I'm so exhausted.

(50:22):
I take a nap, I don't know, twoor three hour nap.
I wake up feeling refreshed.
I haven't left the house allday, by the way.
I just like maybe threw in aload of laundry, did the dishes,
took a nap, wake up, I'm in likebaggy, cuppy clothes.
I come downstairs and I'm takingmy medicine in the kitchen.
My husband comes home.
It's probably like 6, 6 30 atnight.

(50:42):
And he comes in.
And the first thing he says tome was, why is there a jawbone
on the front porch?
I said, beg pardon?
What did you just say to me?
I haven't been outside all day.

Poppy (50:54):
he knows you're a witch, and he's like, you must have put
it there,

Skye (50:57):
Yeah, I've got like this moss birdhouse outside that I
sometimes will put offerings inbecause I do also work with the
Horned God, who I'll alsomention in a moment as well.
But anyway, I go out there andwe have a little, and to be
clear, I don't live in thewoods.
I live in like a suburban busyish area.

(51:18):
I live just like in aneighborhood.
There is a tree outside my houseand at the base of this tree,
there's a deer jaw bone.
And at first I didn't know whatit was.
I sent a picture to the covenand Poppy being a scientist knew
exactly what it was as soon asshe saw it.

Poppy (51:36):
I'm like, that's a deer jaw.

Skye (51:37):
That's a deer jaw.
And was like,

Poppy (51:39):
tailed deer.

Skye (51:40):
I was like, Oh, herd.
Okay.
maybe I'll, after this episodegoes live, I'll post a picture
of it on so I was like, Oh, wedo have a little neighborhood
cat who has left to dead thingson our porch before.
So I suspect that physicallythat's how the deer bone got
there.
But.
The bone was like, It clean whenI found it.

(52:02):
There was no

River (52:03):
no

Skye (52:04):
no meat,

Poppy (52:06):
no fur,

Skye (52:07):
fur, no nothing.
It was clean.
it looked very intentionallyplaced at the base of our tree,
underneath where like my little,what's it called?
The bird tree house altar thingis.
So I go grab gloves and I grabit and I'm cleaning it and I
bleach it or whatever.
So now I have a deer jaw bone.
Which I took to mean that theuniverse was like, Hey, Little,

(52:30):
little neighborhood cat.
If you could throw our friend abone, that'd great.
And then he took it literallyand he just saw a deer jawbone
out in the wilderness and waslike, who would love this sky
I'm going to go.

River (52:42):
exactly what I needed right now.

Skye (52:44):
Yeah.
And he's,

Poppy (52:46):
I've pet him before.

Skye (52:47):
so good.
He's so

Poppy (52:49):
such a good cat.

Skye (52:50):
We have another new little neighborhood cat named mango.

Poppy (52:53):
Ugh,

Skye (52:53):
Who's an equally sweet orange boy.
He's very, very cute.

Poppy (52:58):
Mm

Skye (52:59):
We, we pet him yesterday,

Poppy (53:00):
hmm.

Skye (53:01):
but yeah.
yeah.
it's a deer.
And because it's the jaw, I tookthis, and because I work with
Horned God, I took this as a, uhspiritual voicemail Hey, give me
a call back, babe.
And so because of that, and Iwas after that, I started
getting out of my funk a littlebit.
I did have an epiphany one dayat work and I was like, yeah,

(53:23):
Okay.
I'm getting back into my group.
I bought a box of these blackbath bombs for the dark half.
Cause I do love to take a blackbath to symbolically submerge
into darkness.
In way, so I used one of my newblack bath bombs last night as a
devotional bath to the HornedGod to say, you rang, how can I

(53:46):
help you?
there something that you wanted?

Poppy (53:49):
He's like, how can I help you?

Skye (53:51):
So I, Horned God isn't really a patron deity of mine.
He's just sort of, you know,Always there and every now and
again, it'll pop in to be like,Hey, just letting you know that
if you ever need anything, I'mhere and I'm like, appreciate
you first met him in a guided,meet your spirit guides
meditation and he'll justrandomly pop up river, saw him

(54:13):
at Anahata's

Poppy (54:14):
yeah.
I forgot about that.

Skye (54:17):
the form.

Poppy (54:18):
in the trees.

River (54:19):
Yelp.
yeah.
It was nighttime.

Skye (54:23):
Shown a flashlight up into the leaves, just in the form of
the green man saw green manface.

River (54:28):
Just right there, right in my flashlight.
And I went, ah,

Poppy (54:30):
Mm

Skye (54:31):
Yeah, some people think they're different.
I feel like they're aspects ofthe same guy.
So I'm probably going to bedoing a bit more work with
Horned God, leaning more intosort of that masculinity trope,
if you will.
I don't know what that's goingto look like specifically,
though.
I think that there are justaspects of inner masculinity

(54:55):
that I need to address, maybe.
via Shadow Work, via just moreworkings with him.
maybe trying to be more innature, trying to go on more
walks, even though it sucks whenit's cold and dark outside, just
forcing myself out of my caveand out of my shell a bit.
Um, while continuing workingwith the Morrigan, obviously she

(55:16):
is my patron.
She is my number one.
And as far as I know, Horn Godhas respect for her.
He's Hey, I understand thatshe's, your number one.
I'm not trying to step onanyone's toes.
I'm just saying that I'm alsohere and he's got such a a dad
energy to me.
Of course, he's like the hunt inthe wild and he has the anger
masculinity, but to me, he isvery gentle and patient, which I

(55:40):
need.
sometimes, because the Morriganis very, she's lighting a fire
under my ass.
She's go, warrior mode.
Not that she doesn't have theother aspects, obviously, but I
feel like the Horned God adds anice balance to the mix.
maybe slowing down a bit, maybedoing some more work with him.
Obviously, I want to journalmore.

(56:00):
I want to be, I'm trying to getreally into, More types of
divination.
I feel like Dark Half's a goodtime to do that.
You guys know that I bought thatscrying mirror.
I've used it a couple of times.
So maybe I'll, play around withthat.
I bought that rug, that circularrug, to cast circles with.
To make my scrying easier.

(56:20):
So kind of want to whip that badboy out, play with that a little
bit.
yeah, that's pretty much it.
Just kind of, I want to have funagain.
I want to try new things.
I want to take things that Ialready

River (56:32):
drink to that.
I want to

Poppy (56:34):
Yeah.

River (56:34):
again.

Skye (56:35):
fun again.

Poppy (56:36):
It's so easy to just fall into that rut.
You know, you're just doing thesame things

River (56:40):
Yeah.

Poppy (56:41):
because you feel like you have to.

Skye (56:43):
Yeah.
I want to work up to it.
obviously I want to be in a goodgroove to be like, okay, maybe
I'm doing my daily divinationthrough tarot, but then being
like, you know what?
Maybe on the new moon, I'll whipout the scrying mirror.
Who knows?

Poppy (56:58):
And how about you, River?

Skye (56:59):
Yeah.

Poppy (57:00):
gonna do?

River (57:00):
Who me?
I didn't think this was circle.
I thought I was just theinterviewer.
I thought I would never have toanswer.
Fuck.

Skye (57:07):
You, thought we'd

River (57:08):
it's I was hoping.

Skye (57:10):
No.

River (57:11):
Nah, I have to have sort of both a literal practical
approach as well as a spiritualapproach because of my own
mental health issues.
I have to be, I have my sadlet.
I already pulled it out of thecloset.
I'm going to be using that thingevery day.
I've got countless of vitaminsand supplements that I'm just

(57:34):
going to be slamming down.
I'm gonna be really trying to bemore intentional with living
seasonally.
I feel like that's always mygoal, but I'm not ever actually
really doing it.
I'm buying like frozen pizzasand shit like that, so I'm

(57:55):
trying to buy produce that's inseason, so tonight I'm making
roasted sweet potatoes with

Poppy (58:03):
Ooh.

Skye (58:04):
mm

River (58:05):
ginger

Poppy (58:07):
Damn.

Skye (58:08):
Damn.
I'm

Poppy (58:08):
I will say though, good to have both Pizzas and that
frozen shit for when you needit.

Skye (58:14):
Yeah.

River (58:15):
the shits, absolutely.
Yeah, it's important to havethings when you can't do too
much,

Poppy (58:23):
Mm hmm.
Ha ha ha ha ha.

River (58:26):
early.
I fallen off.
big on ancestor work this pastyear.
I really haven't been doing toomuch.
So I do want to get back intothat.
I also really want to get intothis protection and reversal
magic book that I got at ourlocal metaphysical shop
recently.
I have not really cracked intothat and I, I need to keep my

(58:50):
brain constantly.

Poppy (58:53):
Mm hmm.
Elasticity.

River (58:54):
Yeah, I need to be like learning things and throwing in
new elements while alsoremembering basics of what I'm
doing and

Skye (59:03):
Hey, good news.
podcast can probably inspirethat.

River (59:06):
Yeah,

Skye (59:07):
Cause

River (59:07):
probably.

Skye (59:08):
be looking for topics and being like,

River (59:10):
Yeah,

Skye (59:10):
something?
Like I need to,

River (59:12):
Oh, I have, I have a podcast I have to record.
Yeah.
And honestly, this podcastitself is going to be a huge
thing for me to look forward toin the dark half, just having
some creative project.
And I also get to hang out withmy friends, which is huge
community togetherness.

Poppy (59:31):
I mean, we usually do something for The Sabbats
usually, but I have since leftthe area and so we're pretty far
away now.
So it's nice to weekly be ableto get on and

River (59:46):
yeah,

Poppy (59:47):
on the coven call with each other.
And of course we have the groupchat that we're constantly
talking in.

Skye (59:52):
Yeah.
And just every day we're in theCoven group chat, just.
Talking about our

Poppy (59:56):
Post and feat

Skye (59:57):
or talking

Poppy (59:57):
pics.

River (59:58):
yeah, yeah,

Poppy (01:00:00):
Yeah.

Skye (01:00:01):
shit.

Poppy (01:00:03):
Speaking of the dark half, can I go ahead and talk
about a book real quick?
A little book recommendation?
Okay.
So, speaking about the dark andlike preparing for winter and
squirreling things away andresting, I wanted to recommend
the book Wintering, the Power ofRest and Retreat in Difficult

(01:00:24):
Times by Catherine May.
It is a fantastic book,especially to read during the
dark half.
basically Catherine May is anEnglish, I'll call her a
scholar.
Like she's a professor.
She's written a couple bookstoo.
And she wrote this book, whenshe was going through a really
difficult time.
I think her, she was goingthrough a really hard illness.

(01:00:48):
her Child was having someissues.
Her husband was having someissues, like just basically it
was not a good time for her.
And so she started looking intowhat people and animals and the
world and environment did.
What they all do when wintercomes, how they prepare for
winter, how they weather throughthe storm and come out the other

(01:01:10):
side still alive.
And a lot of it is about slowingdown and accepting where you are
and resting.
each chapter goes over adifferent season.
So she starts in.
September, and then October,November, December, January,
February, and ends in March.
So it goes all the way through,like

River (01:01:31):
Everything I need, yeah.

Poppy (01:01:33):
March is hard too.
Um,

River (01:01:36):
as February, but God, it's not easy.

Poppy (01:01:39):
for me, it doesn't start getting bad until like late,
after Thanksgiving, I would say.

Skye (01:01:45):
So when the light is actually

River (01:01:47):
get, I get a little weepy and I start feeling it mid
December.

Poppy (01:01:52):
Because what, the solstice is the 21st of
December, right?
Is that Yule?
That's like officially Yule?

River (01:02:01):
Something like that, either the 21st I can't remember
off the top of my head.

Poppy (01:02:05):
Yeah.
It's just, because at thatpoint, the sun rises at like
almost 8 a.
m.
and it sets at like 4.
Yeah.
So it's, there's just not enoughdaylight, but yeah, so this,
this book, I read this book whenI was personally going through a
really hard time and it's notjust about the actual dark half.

(01:02:25):
It's about, those periods ofyour life when, you know,
something big and traumatic hashappened or any kind of
situation where you need toretreat and rest and recuperate
before you get back out

Skye (01:02:41):
Is it like that scene in Twilight where Bella's just
sitting in that chair formonths?

Poppy (01:02:45):
No, Bella was not being good to herself there.

River (01:02:49):
She was rotting.

Poppy (01:02:50):
wintering.
Yeah.
No, she was ho a ho a ho a hoing.
Um, but yeah, highly recommend.
She also has a book, CatherineMay called Enchantment, which is
about, rediscovering the magicof life, and like how

River (01:03:07):
I need to smoke a blunt with her.

Poppy (01:03:09):
god.

River (01:03:09):
Oh, I need to smoke a blunt with her.
She gets it.

Skye (01:03:13):
blunts.

River (01:03:14):
I don't care.
I will for her.

Poppy (01:03:17):
She's, Super analytical and she writes a lot about how
sometimes that alienates herfrom other people, and how in
that case especially it'simportant for her to find these
aspects of life and living aneveryday life that have that
little sparkle of magic.

Skye (01:03:37):
Let's have fun again.

Poppy (01:03:38):
Yeah, as children, you know, everything is in
technicolor, everything ismagical.
And then as we age and we growup and we have to work jobs and

River (01:03:47):
We've been through these cycles over and

Poppy (01:03:50):
is sepia, sepia,

River (01:03:52):
Christmas doesn't hit the same as it used to.

Poppy (01:03:56):
just re discovering those things, because they're still
there.
They're always there.
We just, Are living in a waywhere we don't see them very
much Yeah, they're less obvious.
And when you really think aboutit, and you really connect again
to the Earth, and to otherpeople, and to life itself, you
realize it's, it's so special,and it's so fleeting, and it's

(01:04:20):
unique.
And important.

River (01:04:22):
yeah.

Poppy (01:04:23):
So

River (01:04:23):
things aren't little.

Poppy (01:04:24):
yeah, so if, you are the type of person that has a
difficult time adjusting to thedark half, I really recommend
wintering by Catherine May.
or, you know, you don't evenhave to read it during the dark
half.
Like I said, if you're justgoing through a hard time, I
really, really recommend thisbook.
It's easy to read.
It's beautifully written.
So yeah.

(01:04:45):
So check it out.

River (01:04:46):
I

Poppy (01:04:47):
Yeah.

Skye (01:04:48):
I low key want to read that book now.

Poppy (01:04:50):
Do

River (01:04:51):
want to read that book so bad.
Yeah,

Poppy (01:04:53):
share

Skye (01:04:54):
We'll fight over it.

Poppy (01:04:56):
Yeah.

Skye (01:04:56):
Aw,

River (01:04:57):
side.
You're holding the other

Skye (01:04:59):
I'll hold the flashlight.

Poppy (01:05:00):
foreheads.

Skye (01:05:01):
We're under a blanket.

River (01:05:03):
Yeah, please

Poppy (01:05:05):
on Samhain?

River (01:05:06):
Please please.
Yeah.

Poppy (01:05:09):
We'll record in our little blanket

River (01:05:12):
I will say one more thing I do have for my own dark half.
I have Recently purchased a st.
Dimfna candle And she is thepatron saint of the mentally ill
and those that suffer nervousdisorders.
You better believe I'm gonna beburning that thing every single
day, and when it runs out, I'mgonna be buying another

Poppy (01:05:33):
another one.

Skye (01:05:34):
get a babe.
Get a

River (01:05:35):
I'm gonna have them, stocked up,

Poppy (01:05:38):
I mean, like, what, metaphysically, like, what, can
we do, like, grounding wise, wehave dark stones,

River (01:05:44):
yeah, just trying to get into the cycles of

Poppy (01:05:49):
vegetables.

Skye (01:05:50):
Guess what I got now?

River (01:05:52):
out of place.
Delicious.

Skye (01:05:54):
some pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies right now.

River (01:05:58):
Ah,

Skye (01:06:00):
molasses, brown sugar.
Ooh,

River (01:06:03):
I want chili so bad, dude.

Poppy (01:06:06):
I think we all always want chili.
I think that's, that's just howit is.

Skye (01:06:11):
You just want a hearty,

River (01:06:12):
It's just the best food.
It's just the best kind of food.

Poppy (01:06:15):
There's, it's

Skye (01:06:16):
Soup

Poppy (01:06:17):
a, medley.
Yeah.
Make a grounding soup.

River (01:06:19):
Yeah,

Skye (01:06:20):
little

Poppy (01:06:20):
Light some incense, some

River (01:06:21):
yeah.

Poppy (01:06:22):
in February, are you

River (01:06:24):
A nice bath or shower.
Put some warming ginger.
There's um, there's a Dr.
Teal's bath.
I think it's a bubble bath.
That it's like a clay and gingerand it just feels so warm and
like comforting

Poppy (01:06:40):
hmm.

River (01:06:41):
you that winter is not forever.

Poppy (01:06:44):
Yeah, you can do those little things like putting a
couple drops of oil in yourlotion or whatever, you know,
just those, those tiny littlethings that bring a little bit
of light, a little bit of joy, alittle bit of magic into your
everyday life.

Skye (01:06:58):
If you're old enough and you drink, maybe do a little
warming, like a bourboncocktail.
Do look forward to the seasonalthings that you don't typically
enjoy because it's a part of thewhole thing.
you can't expect to be in yourson mentality and your son
productivity.
In the dark half, because I feellike that's just realistic.

(01:07:21):
you gotta wax and wane with theseasons, with the in order to,
you know, not feel like you'rediscombobulated for no reason.
Cause it's not for no reason.
Like we're animals too.
We're a part of the earth.

River (01:07:34):
We're not supposed to be getting in our cars at 7.
45am and driving to work whenthere's no sun.
We're supposed to be in a cave,sleeping in a cuddle puddle,

Poppy (01:07:43):
Mm hmm.

River (01:07:44):
eating

Poppy (01:07:44):
most importantly, prepare now.
before you're

River (01:07:49):
Yeah.

Poppy (01:07:50):
of it.
You know, buy those frozenpizzas, put that oil in your

River (01:07:55):
your tea, get your fuzzy socks, have a contingency plan
now, before, yeah.

Poppy (01:08:03):
movies, whatever you need, know, think ahead.

Skye (01:08:06):
this, episode will be coming out first week of
November, if I'm correct.

Poppy (01:08:10):
Mm hmm.

Skye (01:08:11):
mean it's kind of like, this is like your last sort of
like

River (01:08:16):
is,

Skye (01:08:16):
Okay.

Poppy (01:08:17):
Collect those acorns.

River (01:08:19):
Yeah.

Poppy (01:08:19):
a little hole, put them in there.

River (01:08:22):
Start watching Interview with the Vampire on AMC because
it's really good and you'llhyper fixate on it and it'll be
your reason for living if you'reanything like me.

Skye (01:08:31):
It's time to get a cup of hot cocoa and watch over the
garden wall.
If you haven't

River (01:08:35):
I was just thinking that the other day, dude.
I was thinking the other day Ineeded to be tucked in on Skye's
couch under a blanket watchingover the garden

Poppy (01:08:46):
that.

Skye (01:08:47):
come

River (01:08:47):
come through baby girl!

Poppy (01:08:50):
I'll be there in like three weeks, like two weeks.

River (01:08:53):
Come through faster.
Pencil it into your schedule.
We're having over the gardenwall

Skye (01:08:58):
that's it.
I'm grabbing you through thewebcam.

River (01:09:02):
like a wet napkin.
I

Poppy (01:09:04):
Okay.
Well, do we have any, any lastlittle nuggets?

Skye (01:09:09):
I just hope that everyone out there is okay.
Like I, we're talking aboutmental health.
It's rough.
And I think that we just wantyou to know that we are with
you.
We support you.
We understand how difficult itis.
And, we want you to get the helpthat you need to get when you
need to get it.

(01:09:29):
But, otherwise, your best is allyou can do.
And we support you to make thecorrect decisions for yourself.

River (01:09:36):
Period.

Skye (01:09:37):
That's all I got.

Poppy (01:09:39):
And, uh, Well, I guess we'll, uh, Do some socials then,
if you want to email us, if youwant to, you know, let us

River (01:09:47):
Sentence your contingency plans

Poppy (01:09:50):
send us your plans, send us what movies you like to
watch.

Skye (01:09:54):
Yeah, how do you winter?

Poppy (01:09:56):
I wanna know what you do.
What movies do you watch inFebruary when you are trying to
comfort yourself on the couch?
What do you do?
and you can do that.
You can send your emails todeath Coven [e-mail].
That's death as in death, covenas in coven, pod as in
[e-mail].

(01:10:17):
Um, we also have an Instagramyou can go to at death coven
pod.

Skye (01:10:22):
Yeah, go look at my weird deer jawbone.
Tee

Poppy (01:10:26):
Sky

Skye (01:10:27):
hee.
Hey,

River (01:10:28):
maybe her feet if you're lucky.

Poppy (01:10:30):
Ooh, those

Skye (01:10:31):
that.
It's just because I've had myfeet out this

River (01:10:34):
You're holding it with your toes.

Poppy (01:10:37):
Ugh.

Skye (01:10:38):
I'm not that disrespectful.

Poppy (01:10:41):
with that, by the power of three,

River (01:10:44):
And so it is.

Skye (01:10:45):
And so it is.

Poppy (01:10:47):
so it is.
Bye

River (01:10:50):
Bye guys.
Go eat some

Poppy (01:10:54):
Go eat some sweet potatoes.
Ow.