May 9, 2025 • 26 mins
Witchcraft and mindfulness might seem like separate paths, but they intertwine in powerful ways that can transform your magical practice. Drawing from her three decades as a practicing witch, Jenny C Bell shares her profound experience at a women's silent meditation retreat and the unexpected ways it deepened her craft.
The journey begins with vulnerability as Jenny acknowledges her initial resistance to silence. As a self-described Gemini moon who "loves to chat," the prospect of a day without speaking triggered anxiety. Yet this discomfort revealed exactly why the practice proved so transformative. Through guided meditations, silent meals, mindful walking, and periods of complete stillness, something magical happened – a collective shift from resistance to release.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is how Jenny bridges esoteric concepts with practical application. She explains that witchcraft fundamentally depends on presence – "you can only make magic in the present moment" – making mindfulness not just complementary but essential to effective spellwork. The resistance we feel toward silence mirrors our resistance to shadow work, that crucial process of confronting what lies beneath our conscious awareness.
The most compelling insight comes through Jenny's explanation of "tending your own garden" – the understanding that personal spiritual work creates ripples that extend far beyond ourselves. When we create space for silence, we process emotions that would otherwise keep us awake at night. When we engage in meditation and mindfulness, our spells gain clarity and power. The ego loosens its grip, allowing our authentic magic to flow.
Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or simply curious about incorporating more mindfulness into your life, this episode offers accessible entry points. Try a silent meal, a five-minute meditation, or a walk without distractions. Your magic – and your life – might transform in ways you never expected. Ready to discover what happens when you embrace the power of sacred silence?
For more: https://www.jennycbell.com/
To order the Spirit Crystals book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/spirit-crystals-discover-your-crystal-guide-for-healing-and-empowerment/64b34cd1f68aa55f?ean=9780738779058&next=t&
Connect with me here: https://www.jennycbell.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey witches, welcome to another Cozy Coven chat.
I'm your host, jenny C Bell.
I've been a witch I can say nowfor three decades, because my
birthday just rolled around andthat's kind of exciting.
In this chat, I will be talkingabout the connection of
mindfulness and meditationpractice with witchcraft and why
(00:22):
I think that's been soimportant to my own journey as a
witch.
I will say that I haveneighbors doing work and they've
been doing work for days and Ireally wanted to record this.
So please let the noise go asbest you can.
I'll do my best to edit it out.
So recently I had the privilegeto go to a silent meditation
(00:45):
retreat and before you turn offthe podcast, I want you to know
that I know that's a privilege,okay, and I know not everybody
can do that, and what I want toshare in this journey, in this
chat, is takeaways thateverybody can do, okay.
So I don't want you to be like,oh, here's another privileged
(01:07):
person sharing their trip toIndia, because that's not what
happened.
Okay, I have been going to awonderful acupuncturist for a
couple of years.
She specializes in helpingwomen and she works with
traditional Chinese medicine,which is herbal work.
She really helped me a lot withmenstruation but perimenopause,
(01:31):
but really so, so much more,and she has this really amazing
place.
It was a very interesting story.
She shared with me that she waslooking for a home to buy and
on Craigslist she said thereused to be like a spiritual
(01:51):
section in the local section andthe ad was something like
paradise awaits you.
And it's this beautiful houseon a hill out in the middle of
kind of like nothing.
There's lots of like naturearound, and on the property is
this octagonal shaped templethat has crystals built into the
foundation and was blessed by agoddess, a priestess of
(02:11):
goddesses, so it's dedicated inthe goddess and mother earth
into goddesses, and she couldn'tpass this up and then
eventually she was able to buythe.
After the people decided thather and her husband had the
right energy, she was able tobuy the property and has been a
keeper of it and that space hasonly been used for meditation
(02:34):
and goddess work for, I thinkshe said, 20 years, which is
amazing, and she had beenthinking about working with
women in like a women's circleor doing a retreat or something.
And I was like, heck, yes, signme up if you do that.
And so this was the year shedecided to do it.
I went to her second one.
(02:54):
They were all one day and youcould do all three or four of
them as a series or you couldjust pick one.
And I picked the one in Aprilbecause it was focused on joy
and my birthday is in April andI thought you know what?
Yeah, let's, let's focus on joy, because that's something that
is often elusive and in the waythe world is right now, with
(03:17):
everything going on, I live inthe United States, but what's
going on in the United Statesaffects everybody, right,
because we're all connected.
Yes, I was like, yes, I'm gladI signed up for Joy and I do
realize it's a privilege, butit's not it's.
It was like you know it's aprivilege, but it was also
(03:38):
really hard for me to mentallyallow the privilege.
So I guess I I had the money,um, I was talked to my husband,
I was able to get the Saturday,I was made a miss a soccer game,
but there was.
It was like I was able topencil that in.
But then I also had to overcomea lot of like my own, like
(03:59):
guilts about spending time andmoney on myself, right, and I
think that a lot of peoplestruggle with that, but I think
especially women or people whoare more in their divine
feminine.
We really, the divine feminine,is all about receiving, but yet
(04:19):
a lot of times we have a hardstruggle with receiving because
society kind of tells us not toright.
Society is like a wheel andwe're supposed to just always be
on the wheel and never be tiredand never want anything for
ourselves or need anything forourselves and just continue to
spin and spin and spin andmultitask and not complain,
right?
So yeah, so that there was likesome things to overcome for
(04:42):
myself.
Yes, I had the money, yes, I hadthe time, but then my brain was
, and then I have anxiety, likeeverybody, right, and I was like
, oh, am I going to find it?
Because she's like your GPSdoesn't work and I can get lost
in a mall.
So that was kind of worrisomefor me.
And then it's like the idea ofbeing silent.
I'm a Gemini moon guys, I loveto chat, that's why I have the
(05:03):
cozy coven chat.
So there's just a lot of things, but in the end, um, it was an
amazing experience.
And so, no, I didn't have to goall the way to India, uh, no, I
didn't even have to reallytravel far.
It was about 30 minutes from myhome, which made it feel very
attainable for me.
Um, there was eight other womenthere and it was kind of by
(05:24):
invitation only.
So our person who led theretreat was most of us, I think,
knew her through acupuncture orshe's also a meditation
mindfulness instructor at thelocal Tibetan Buddhist temple,
so people might've known herthrough there.
But she kind of hand selectedus and most of us were
(05:44):
middle-aged.
There was one younger woman inthere and I don't want to age
anybody, so if they're listening, don't be, please, don't be
offended, right?
But it was a really specialexperience and I wanted to share
it here on the chat Because Ijust I have really been
processing it and I've neverexperienced anything like it.
(06:08):
I've had some really greatspiritual experiences, including
going to a wolf sanctuary andpetting wolves.
I've gone to different soundbowl healings.
I've I've just done really somereally cool things.
Not to brag right, these wereall things that were local or
inexpensive.
Not to brag right, these wereall things that were local or
inexpensive, but this wassomething different.
(06:28):
And so I want to talk a littlebit about the retreat experience
and then I would like to sharewhy, or some takeaways that you
could bring into your own life.
But the first thing I want toshare is why I think mindfulness
, the practice of mindfulness,which is one of the why I think
mindfulness, the practice ofmindfulness, which is one of the
, I believe, eight aspects ofBuddhism.
(06:48):
So if I'm maybe I'm wrong, butI know it's an aspect.
And mindfulness is reallypresence, right, it's, it's
expansion, it's presence I justhad a sip of my jasmine tea it's
understanding that everythinghappens in the present moment.
Right, it's being here now anddoing things mindfully means
(07:14):
being not disassociating, notmultitasking, not reflecting or
brooding or worrying orprojecting.
Right, really easy, it's reallyeasy to be mindful.
I'm just kidding, that wascomplete sarcasm.
So mindfulness is something Ihave probably returned to more
times than I can count.
My favorite author onmindfulness or on books is Thich
(07:38):
Nhat Hanh.
Please read one of his books.
I think it can definitely beapplied to witchcraft, because
witchcraft is all about magicand you can only make magic in
the present moment, right, and Ithink that a lot of witches are
drawn to the craft as a way ofevolving, of becoming their best
version of themselves, ofempowering themselves, of
(08:00):
spiritually becoming connected,and mindfulness goes hand in
hand with that.
So some things that are mindful, some practices, are meditation
, journaling and being present,taking deep breaths.
So that's why I reallyrecommend, if you're looking to
join or get on the mindfulnesspath, look at Plum Village.
That's a free app from all ofthe monks who are associated
(08:22):
with Thich Nhat Hanh or readsome things by him.
He was a beautiful human beingwho, I think, just probably
exuded love and joy and has somebeautiful Dharma talks and
meditations, wrote the mostbeautiful things like how to
love, and he wrote about anger.
And he wrote about you know howto relax, which I read the book
(08:46):
on how to relax more times thanI should probably share.
Um, because it's just sometimesI struggle with relaxing,
especially in our society whereit's like go, go, go, do, do, do
, multitask.
Um, I only feel good and I likeI have value if I accomplish
something Right, and I think alot of us can, can, can.
I relate with that.
So mindfulness practice reallygets you off the hamster wheel
(09:08):
of that and helps you becomemore aware of your thoughts.
It's where we get the idea thatyou are not your thoughts.
We start to become more in tunewith that and that's shadow
work, and shadow work is part ofwitchcraft.
So I really you know, I'm notsaying you all need to be
Buddhist witches at all at all,but I think we can learn from
(09:30):
everywhere, right?
That's kind of the beauty ofwitchcraft.
It's like I've said before,it's like a cut and paste
religion.
Make it your own, it's yourreligion, right?
Like at the end of I forgetwhat Madonna's song it is, but
she's like this is my religion.
That's how it is.
It's like every witch is whatevery witch's practice is
different, from which to whichthey could be in the same coven,
(09:50):
they could read all the samebooks, they could even be twins,
but their practices are goingto be different, and mindfulness
has played a huge role in myown practice.
So, just putting it out there,if you've ever thought about
maybe getting into that ortrying that, this is your sign,
right?
So onto the retreat.
So, as I said, I was anxious, Iwas nervous.
(10:11):
The night before I actuallywent to a women's in business
meetup, which was a whole like Iwas just doing new things.
That week I went to DMV, whichwe all know what that's like.
I had my first guest on mypodcast.
I then went to this women'smeetup where we're supposed to.
We had, like an inspirationalspeaker and we're supposed to
(10:33):
connect with other women, whichwas, you know, very ego, very
opposite of the retreat.
It was actually reallyinteresting.
And then then I was going tothis retreat that was my chair,
by the way and so the morning ofI packed everything.
The night before we had a sharedaltar, so we were, we picked
things out to bring for ouraltar.
(10:53):
We picked things out to bringfor our altar.
I decided to bring the tarotdeck when women had wings as a
giveaway, because I am very richin tarot decks and I thought,
you know, it's all women and Ididn't.
I like that deck, but it's notlike one of my top ones and I
was like I'm going to give thisto somebody.
Later we learned about theimportance of generosity.
This was kind of perfect.
I brought my own deck, theCosmic Creator Oracle, which is.
(11:34):
It represents alchemy andtransmutation, and I thought we
all want to transmute whateverjunk comes up during this time.
And other women brought thingsthat meant something to them as
well, meant something thatbrought them either joy or just
had something special in theirown heart.
(11:55):
And we get there and we get togo in this amazing little temple
meditation center and, oh, and,we also brought journals, we
brought a water bottle and Ibrought some yoga props just to
make myself comfortable.
And we get there and there's acandle lit.
It's very witchy, right.
(12:15):
Like opening it, we were insacred circle and the silence
began, and we started with acouple.
We had a couple of meditationsthroughout the day, some of them
longer than others, all of themsitting, except for one of them
was a walking meditation.
We had two Dharma talks, one inthe beginning, one at the end.
We practiced I'm going to do mybest here qigong or qigong, as
(12:41):
before we sat, and that was allin silence.
We also ended with like alittle mini dance party where we
danced with our eyes closed,silently, which to music though,
which was super fun.
Our host made us lunch and wehad a silent lunch.
So I know witches are familiarwith silent suppers, so it was
like that, basically like eatinglunch in silence.
(13:03):
You could be with one another,you could be on your own, and
she really wanted us to.
What she said was a uni task,right, like just eat lunch,
which is very mindful, mindfuleating, and then you have an
hour and I ended up swinging onswings and laying in the
sunshine and journaling.
It was really quite beautiful.
So at the beginning of theretreat I came in a little
(13:26):
anxious because it was like Ididn't know where she lived.
We had to go on a dirt road.
I'd forgotten my water bottleand my coat and I was kind of
like, okay, and I'm always, I'malways late.
Let me just be honest, I'm onmy own time and I'm often I'm
never early, I'm usually late,and I wasn't this time.
So it was good, and so we getthere.
(13:49):
And for the first half I wouldsay we all had a collective
resistance.
And what's really interestingabout this retreat is that I
know everybody's first names andI know some soul struggles
because we did have shares, somesoul struggles they have, but I
don't know their last names andI don't know what they do for a
living.
(14:09):
And I want to say that's really, that was really cool, because
it's like we were just holdingother in silence and in like a
soul, spiritual way and not in aego way.
And that's what we've done inour coven too is we know each
other really as just our highestselves there, and so that's
that was really cool.
So, yeah, so I would saycollectively we all struggled.
(14:33):
There was lots of tears in thebeginning.
There was a lot of, you know,negativity, especially
self-directed, I know, formyself and for others about you
know, like what's keeping usfrom joy, and there was a lot of
like turning inward, which isnot easy, which is not
(14:54):
comfortable.
It's's that shadow work rightwhen we go inward, that's our
ego resists.
Our ego is like no, we want youto just continue to live lives
and not be your true self.
Like the ego really resists it.
And we were a lot of us were inresistance.
I can hear people strugglingduring the meditations, like
fidgeting and moving, and I wasalso struggling just towards the
(15:18):
end of like our 25 minute one.
My body I went in with like hipinjury and my body was like not
into it.
And then we broke for lunch,and I don't know about the rest
of the women, but I never takean hour long lunch.
I don't think I've ever beengiven one at a job place.
I don't take one here, workingfrom home, and I never unitask.
(15:39):
I usually eat lunch and I'm onthe computer or whatever and to
have a silent lunch, which wasvery yummy and nourishing, and
be outside.
It was like perfect weather, itwas something shifted.
And then we went on a walkingmeditation, which is my favorite
kind of meditation, where wejust walked super slowly through
(16:01):
all of these spring blossomsand trees and her yard is very
pretty, her gardens verybeautiful and not like manicured
.
It was like my kind of garden,a little chaotic, like
dandelions, you know, just justreally witchy.
Well, I had some technicaldifficulties so the video just
kind of stopped and I went backand saw that I was about to talk
(16:22):
about the walking meditationand kind of the realizations
after that.
So we all returned after thelong lunch and the walking
meditation and the energy wasdefinitely altered.
I know I suddenly felt so muchlighter in all the ways and also
(16:43):
like for the first time in along time, like my body relaxed.
I'm a multitasker, I amneurodivergent, I have a lot of
energy.
I do have anxiety sometimes anda lot of times my mind is very
busy, my body's very busy and Idon't rest and relax as much as
(17:05):
I probably should, and I justfelt this sense of deep calm and
restfulness and that lasteddays.
The next day was Easter.
I actually took a nap afterlunch which I never do unless I
am sick and it wasn't because Iwas exhausted, it's because my
body had finally downshifted.
(17:26):
That was the key is, spendingthis day in quiet, silence and
restfulness and reallyreflecting caused, I think, my
parasympathetic nervous systemto finally kick on and for my
body to downshift and to go intorelaxation, and I've held on to
that through meditation andbreathing and practicing more
(17:49):
mindfulness and going back tosetting intentions every day.
So what I think are sometakeaways that people can do
today is having some time ofsilence, right.
So I was even mindful that Ididn't wear a graphic tee when I
went to the retreat, because ithas words on it and if you've
(18:11):
ever read the Artist's Way,there's a whole week that you
spend without like watching TVor reading books, because you're
supposed to deprive yourself ofmedia.
You're not supposed to listento music either, and so
something that you can do on aday off is give yourself silence
, like put the phone away orshut it off, go outside or go
(18:33):
somewhere in the house wherethere's no music, there's no
social media, there's no TV, nobooks, and have a journal there,
maybe a crystal, and read.
Just let yourself be in silence, because you will be shocked by
everything that comes up.
Once you give yourself thespace your heart chakra, your
(18:55):
mind, everything you giveyourself the space to be silent
Suddenly so many things arise.
And it's not as scary as itsounds.
It's definitely an aspect ofshadow work.
When we really look at shadowwork and really releasing
ourselves from the ego's grip,we are tuning in and paying
(19:17):
attention to our inner world,our inner dialogue, and that's
what silence does.
And I'm talking like I saidcomplete silence, like it's okay
, birds are singing.
But you will probably sit thereor lay there, agitated or
irritated.
At first.
You may fall asleep, you mayfeel annoyed, you're going to
feel uncomfortable, most likely,and then, at some point, with
(19:41):
mindful breathing or journalingor mindful walking however you
decide to do it you will have ashift, because that is what it's
about.
It's about giving yourself thesilence, gives yourself the
space to actually figure outwhat's going on inside.
I had a lot of things going onin my mind.
(20:02):
I was seeing things differently.
It really allowed me a lot ofclarity.
At first it felt uncomfortableand almost embarrassing, like
some of the things that came up,and then I was able to process
them and go through them,release them that's important
and then go through that.
So, giving yourself silenceonce a week, if an hour seems
(20:24):
really scary, right, if you'reone of those people that's
always plugged in five minutes,10 minutes, and you don't have
to be meditating at that time,you could be walking, you could
be journaling, you could be justlaying and staring at the
ceiling, but the whole point isthat you're allowing yourself
space.
I feel in today's world we don'tdo that.
(20:45):
We are constantly plugged inand there's sounds and sights
everywhere.
You know you go in a store andmusic's playing and there's
people talking and most peoplehave the television on or social
media going or music on, andthat's great, do that.
But sometimes you need to getrid of all of that and make
space for silence, which makesspace for all the things the
(21:07):
shadow, the ego, the higher self, all of the things to come up,
which makes space for expansionand release, which makes space
for joy and that was the wholepoint of our retreat was to be
able to allow ourselves joy,because it really is that.
It's an allowance, right?
I'm not talking about happiness, which is often external and
(21:27):
fleeting.
I'm talking about, like, realjoy in the heart, where you feel
content, I feel.
For me, joy feels likecontentedness, calm, right, and
it may feel selfish orself-indulgent in today's world
when so much craziness is goingon to do that.
But one of the best things Ilearned in the retreat was Tara
(21:50):
Brock, who's a very famousmeditation teacher.
I guess she was recently askedabout world events and how do
you stay mindful, how do youstay grounded, those kinds of
things?
And her answer was to tend toyour own garden.
And what that means is, yeah,stay connected, understand the
news, stay worldly, do thosethings.
But then you need to also tendto yourself and your community
(22:14):
and your family.
And you know, when you healyourself there's a quote in the
A Course in Miracles when youheal, you do not heal alone.
So when you may sit in silenceand make space for yourself and
do shadow work and do all thethings we do as evolutionary
witches, right, as witches on aspiritual journey, as witches
who are empowering ourselves andalways striving to do best and
(22:35):
uncover who we are and be onthis journey of life, when you
do that it ripples out to yourfriends, your family, even if
you're not telling them whatyou're doing, your calmness,
your openness, your lovingness,your openness, your lovingness,
your you know magic, it ripplesout, and it ripples out into the
community.
There's been studies shown thatwhere, in cities and communities
(22:59):
, where monks meditate or peoplemeditate in large groups, the
overall effect is felt.
It's felt by strangers whodon't even know what's happening
.
Right, it's a ripple effect.
And so when we tend to our owngarden, it's our inner garden,
our heart chakra.
We tend to ourselves and ourown happiness, our own joy.
(23:20):
We can take on the world in abetter way, right?
If you are an activist oryou're doing these things,
that's self-care.
You can't just go full forceand not give back and not fill
your own cup.
And so I think that was reallygood advice.
It's like now more than ever dowe each need to tend to our own
garden, and imagine if everyonein the world did that, if
(23:43):
everyone was able to givethemselves the space to evolve
and ask the deeper spiritualquestions and to expand and find
joy.
It'd be a beautiful place,right?
And so I think witchcraft canbe mindful.
I think we could make it amindful practice because, in the
end, our spells work because ofintention.
Right, if you have a reallystrong intention.
(24:05):
You're really clear on thatintention.
You're present.
You've done a lot of the shadowwork and a lot of the blocks
and you really have thatintention.
You're really clear on thatintention.
You're present, you've done alot of the shadow work and a lot
of the blocks and you reallyhave that intention.
Your spell is going to bestronger because you're mindful.
You're present, right?
So how do we become presentWith mindfulness practices?
So I share this and you know notto say like, oh, you should go
on a silent retreat, becauseit's honestly not for everybody.
(24:27):
But I invite you this week toinvite silence into your life,
right?
Even Marie Kondo talks abouttaking your food and turning
them around in pantries.
So when you're opening thepantry, it's like not a whole
bunch of words shouting at you,right?
So how can you make silence inyour day?
And it could be like taking asilent lunch instead of working
(24:50):
or being on your listening to apodcast or book or multitasking
like so many of us do.
What if you just take your 15,20 minute lunch because that's
more realistic than an hour andyou just are silent and you're
just eating and you're allowingthoughts to arise and you're
allowing things to happen.
Because, you know, sometimes weget to the end of the day and
we can't sleep because we wereso busy.
(25:12):
All of our thoughts and all thethings we couldn't, our
emotions, nothing can beprocessed.
And so we lay in bed thinkingand processing because we never
made space for silence.
So I invite you to make spacefor silence and I thank you for
listening.
Blessed be witches.
Hey witches, welcome to another Cozy Coven chat.
I'm your host, jenny C Bell.
I've been a witch I can say nowfor three decades, because my
birthday just rolled around andthat's kind of exciting.
In this chat, I will be talkingabout the connection of
mindfulness and meditationpractice with witchcraft and why
(00:22):
I think that's been soimportant to my own journey as a
witch.
I will say that I haveneighbors doing work and they've
been doing work for days and Ireally wanted to record this.
So please let the noise go asbest you can.
I'll do my best to edit it out.
So recently I had the privilegeto go to a silent meditation
(00:45):
retreat and before you turn offthe podcast, I want you to know
that I know that's a privilege,okay, and I know not everybody
can do that, and what I want toshare in this journey, in this
chat, is takeaways thateverybody can do, okay.
So I don't want you to be like,oh, here's another privileged
(01:07):
person sharing their trip toIndia, because that's not what
happened.
Okay, I have been going to awonderful acupuncturist for a
couple of years.
She specializes in helpingwomen and she works with
traditional Chinese medicine,which is herbal work.
She really helped me a lot withmenstruation but perimenopause,
(01:31):
but really so, so much more,and she has this really amazing
place.
It was a very interesting story.
She shared with me that she waslooking for a home to buy and
on Craigslist she said thereused to be like a spiritual
(01:51):
section in the local section andthe ad was something like
paradise awaits you.
And it's this beautiful houseon a hill out in the middle of
kind of like nothing.
There's lots of like naturearound, and on the property is
this octagonal shaped templethat has crystals built into the
foundation and was blessed by agoddess, a priestess of
(02:11):
goddesses, so it's dedicated inthe goddess and mother earth
into goddesses, and she couldn'tpass this up and then
eventually she was able to buythe.
After the people decided thather and her husband had the
right energy, she was able tobuy the property and has been a
keeper of it and that space hasonly been used for meditation
(02:34):
and goddess work for, I thinkshe said, 20 years, which is
amazing, and she had beenthinking about working with
women in like a women's circleor doing a retreat or something.
And I was like, heck, yes, signme up if you do that.
And so this was the year shedecided to do it.
I went to her second one.
(02:54):
They were all one day and youcould do all three or four of
them as a series or you couldjust pick one.
And I picked the one in Aprilbecause it was focused on joy
and my birthday is in April andI thought you know what?
Yeah, let's, let's focus on joy, because that's something that
is often elusive and in the waythe world is right now, with
(03:17):
everything going on, I live inthe United States, but what's
going on in the United Statesaffects everybody, right,
because we're all connected.
Yes, I was like, yes, I'm gladI signed up for Joy and I do
realize it's a privilege, butit's not it's.
It was like you know it's aprivilege, but it was also
(03:38):
really hard for me to mentallyallow the privilege.
So I guess I I had the money,um, I was talked to my husband,
I was able to get the Saturday,I was made a miss a soccer game,
but there was.
It was like I was able topencil that in.
But then I also had to overcomea lot of like my own, like
(03:59):
guilts about spending time andmoney on myself, right, and I
think that a lot of peoplestruggle with that, but I think
especially women or people whoare more in their divine
feminine.
We really, the divine feminine,is all about receiving, but yet
(04:19):
a lot of times we have a hardstruggle with receiving because
society kind of tells us not toright.
Society is like a wheel andwe're supposed to just always be
on the wheel and never be tiredand never want anything for
ourselves or need anything forourselves and just continue to
spin and spin and spin andmultitask and not complain,
right?
So yeah, so that there was likesome things to overcome for
(04:42):
myself.
Yes, I had the money, yes, I hadthe time, but then my brain was
, and then I have anxiety, likeeverybody, right, and I was like
, oh, am I going to find it?
Because she's like your GPSdoesn't work and I can get lost
in a mall.
So that was kind of worrisomefor me.
And then it's like the idea ofbeing silent.
I'm a Gemini moon guys, I loveto chat, that's why I have the
(05:03):
cozy coven chat.
So there's just a lot of things, but in the end, um, it was an
amazing experience.
And so, no, I didn't have to goall the way to India, uh, no, I
didn't even have to reallytravel far.
It was about 30 minutes from myhome, which made it feel very
attainable for me.
Um, there was eight other womenthere and it was kind of by
(05:24):
invitation only.
So our person who led theretreat was most of us, I think,
knew her through acupuncture orshe's also a meditation
mindfulness instructor at thelocal Tibetan Buddhist temple,
so people might've known herthrough there.
But she kind of hand selectedus and most of us were
(05:44):
middle-aged.
There was one younger woman inthere and I don't want to age
anybody, so if they're listening, don't be, please, don't be
offended, right?
But it was a really specialexperience and I wanted to share
it here on the chat Because Ijust I have really been
processing it and I've neverexperienced anything like it.
(06:08):
I've had some really greatspiritual experiences, including
going to a wolf sanctuary andpetting wolves.
I've gone to different soundbowl healings.
I've I've just done really somereally cool things.
Not to brag right, these wereall things that were local or
inexpensive.
Not to brag right, these wereall things that were local or
inexpensive, but this wassomething different.
(06:28):
And so I want to talk a littlebit about the retreat experience
and then I would like to sharewhy, or some takeaways that you
could bring into your own life.
But the first thing I want toshare is why I think mindfulness
, the practice of mindfulness,which is one of the why I think
mindfulness, the practice ofmindfulness, which is one of the
, I believe, eight aspects ofBuddhism.
(06:48):
So if I'm maybe I'm wrong, butI know it's an aspect.
And mindfulness is reallypresence, right, it's, it's
expansion, it's presence I justhad a sip of my jasmine tea it's
understanding that everythinghappens in the present moment.
Right, it's being here now anddoing things mindfully means
(07:14):
being not disassociating, notmultitasking, not reflecting or
brooding or worrying orprojecting.
Right, really easy, it's reallyeasy to be mindful.
I'm just kidding, that wascomplete sarcasm.
So mindfulness is something Ihave probably returned to more
times than I can count.
My favorite author onmindfulness or on books is Thich
(07:38):
Nhat Hanh.
Please read one of his books.
I think it can definitely beapplied to witchcraft, because
witchcraft is all about magicand you can only make magic in
the present moment, right, and Ithink that a lot of witches are
drawn to the craft as a way ofevolving, of becoming their best
version of themselves, ofempowering themselves, of
(08:00):
spiritually becoming connected,and mindfulness goes hand in
hand with that.
So some things that are mindful, some practices, are meditation
, journaling and being present,taking deep breaths.
So that's why I reallyrecommend, if you're looking to
join or get on the mindfulnesspath, look at Plum Village.
That's a free app from all ofthe monks who are associated
(08:22):
with Thich Nhat Hanh or readsome things by him.
He was a beautiful human beingwho, I think, just probably
exuded love and joy and has somebeautiful Dharma talks and
meditations, wrote the mostbeautiful things like how to
love, and he wrote about anger.
And he wrote about you know howto relax, which I read the book
(08:46):
on how to relax more times thanI should probably share.
Um, because it's just sometimesI struggle with relaxing,
especially in our society whereit's like go, go, go, do, do, do
, multitask.
Um, I only feel good and I likeI have value if I accomplish
something Right, and I think alot of us can, can, can.
I relate with that.
So mindfulness practice reallygets you off the hamster wheel
(09:08):
of that and helps you becomemore aware of your thoughts.
It's where we get the idea thatyou are not your thoughts.
We start to become more in tunewith that and that's shadow
work, and shadow work is part ofwitchcraft.
So I really you know, I'm notsaying you all need to be
Buddhist witches at all at all,but I think we can learn from
(09:30):
everywhere, right?
That's kind of the beauty ofwitchcraft.
It's like I've said before,it's like a cut and paste
religion.
Make it your own, it's yourreligion, right?
Like at the end of I forgetwhat Madonna's song it is, but
she's like this is my religion.
That's how it is.
It's like every witch is whatevery witch's practice is
different, from which to whichthey could be in the same coven,
(09:50):
they could read all the samebooks, they could even be twins,
but their practices are goingto be different, and mindfulness
has played a huge role in myown practice.
So, just putting it out there,if you've ever thought about
maybe getting into that ortrying that, this is your sign,
right?
So onto the retreat.
So, as I said, I was anxious, Iwas nervous.
(10:11):
The night before I actuallywent to a women's in business
meetup, which was a whole like Iwas just doing new things.
That week I went to DMV, whichwe all know what that's like.
I had my first guest on mypodcast.
I then went to this women'smeetup where we're supposed to.
We had, like an inspirationalspeaker and we're supposed to
(10:33):
connect with other women, whichwas, you know, very ego, very
opposite of the retreat.
It was actually reallyinteresting.
And then then I was going tothis retreat that was my chair,
by the way and so the morning ofI packed everything.
The night before we had a sharedaltar, so we were, we picked
things out to bring for ouraltar.
(10:53):
We picked things out to bringfor our altar.
I decided to bring the tarotdeck when women had wings as a
giveaway, because I am very richin tarot decks and I thought,
you know, it's all women and Ididn't.
I like that deck, but it's notlike one of my top ones and I
was like I'm going to give thisto somebody.
Later we learned about theimportance of generosity.
This was kind of perfect.
I brought my own deck, theCosmic Creator Oracle, which is.
(11:34):
It represents alchemy andtransmutation, and I thought we
all want to transmute whateverjunk comes up during this time.
And other women brought thingsthat meant something to them as
well, meant something thatbrought them either joy or just
had something special in theirown heart.
(11:55):
And we get there and we get togo in this amazing little temple
meditation center and, oh, and,we also brought journals, we
brought a water bottle and Ibrought some yoga props just to
make myself comfortable.
And we get there and there's acandle lit.
It's very witchy, right.
(12:15):
Like opening it, we were insacred circle and the silence
began, and we started with acouple.
We had a couple of meditationsthroughout the day, some of them
longer than others, all of themsitting, except for one of them
was a walking meditation.
We had two Dharma talks, one inthe beginning, one at the end.
We practiced I'm going to do mybest here qigong or qigong, as
(12:41):
before we sat, and that was allin silence.
We also ended with like alittle mini dance party where we
danced with our eyes closed,silently, which to music though,
which was super fun.
Our host made us lunch and wehad a silent lunch.
So I know witches are familiarwith silent suppers, so it was
like that, basically like eatinglunch in silence.
(13:03):
You could be with one another,you could be on your own, and
she really wanted us to.
What she said was a uni task,right, like just eat lunch,
which is very mindful, mindfuleating, and then you have an
hour and I ended up swinging onswings and laying in the
sunshine and journaling.
It was really quite beautiful.
So at the beginning of theretreat I came in a little
(13:26):
anxious because it was like Ididn't know where she lived.
We had to go on a dirt road.
I'd forgotten my water bottleand my coat and I was kind of
like, okay, and I'm always, I'malways late.
Let me just be honest, I'm onmy own time and I'm often I'm
never early, I'm usually late,and I wasn't this time.
So it was good, and so we getthere.
(13:49):
And for the first half I wouldsay we all had a collective
resistance.
And what's really interestingabout this retreat is that I
know everybody's first names andI know some soul struggles
because we did have shares, somesoul struggles they have, but I
don't know their last names andI don't know what they do for a
living.
(14:09):
And I want to say that's really, that was really cool, because
it's like we were just holdingother in silence and in like a
soul, spiritual way and not in aego way.
And that's what we've done inour coven too is we know each
other really as just our highestselves there, and so that's
that was really cool.
So, yeah, so I would saycollectively we all struggled.
(14:33):
There was lots of tears in thebeginning.
There was a lot of, you know,negativity, especially
self-directed, I know, formyself and for others about you
know, like what's keeping usfrom joy, and there was a lot of
like turning inward, which isnot easy, which is not
(14:54):
comfortable.
It's's that shadow work rightwhen we go inward, that's our
ego resists.
Our ego is like no, we want youto just continue to live lives
and not be your true self.
Like the ego really resists it.
And we were a lot of us were inresistance.
I can hear people strugglingduring the meditations, like
fidgeting and moving, and I wasalso struggling just towards the
(15:18):
end of like our 25 minute one.
My body I went in with like hipinjury and my body was like not
into it.
And then we broke for lunch,and I don't know about the rest
of the women, but I never takean hour long lunch.
I don't think I've ever beengiven one at a job place.
I don't take one here, workingfrom home, and I never unitask.
(15:39):
I usually eat lunch and I'm onthe computer or whatever and to
have a silent lunch, which wasvery yummy and nourishing, and
be outside.
It was like perfect weather, itwas something shifted.
And then we went on a walkingmeditation, which is my favorite
kind of meditation, where wejust walked super slowly through
(16:01):
all of these spring blossomsand trees and her yard is very
pretty, her gardens verybeautiful and not like manicured
.
It was like my kind of garden,a little chaotic, like
dandelions, you know, just justreally witchy.
Well, I had some technicaldifficulties so the video just
kind of stopped and I went backand saw that I was about to talk
(16:22):
about the walking meditationand kind of the realizations
after that.
So we all returned after thelong lunch and the walking
meditation and the energy wasdefinitely altered.
I know I suddenly felt so muchlighter in all the ways and also
(16:43):
like for the first time in along time, like my body relaxed.
I'm a multitasker, I amneurodivergent, I have a lot of
energy.
I do have anxiety sometimes anda lot of times my mind is very
busy, my body's very busy and Idon't rest and relax as much as
(17:05):
I probably should, and I justfelt this sense of deep calm and
restfulness and that lasteddays.
The next day was Easter.
I actually took a nap afterlunch which I never do unless I
am sick and it wasn't because Iwas exhausted, it's because my
body had finally downshifted.
(17:26):
That was the key is, spendingthis day in quiet, silence and
restfulness and reallyreflecting caused, I think, my
parasympathetic nervous systemto finally kick on and for my
body to downshift and to go intorelaxation, and I've held on to
that through meditation andbreathing and practicing more
(17:49):
mindfulness and going back tosetting intentions every day.
So what I think are sometakeaways that people can do
today is having some time ofsilence, right.
So I was even mindful that Ididn't wear a graphic tee when I
went to the retreat, because ithas words on it and if you've
(18:11):
ever read the Artist's Way,there's a whole week that you
spend without like watching TVor reading books, because you're
supposed to deprive yourself ofmedia.
You're not supposed to listento music either, and so
something that you can do on aday off is give yourself silence
, like put the phone away orshut it off, go outside or go
(18:33):
somewhere in the house wherethere's no music, there's no
social media, there's no TV, nobooks, and have a journal there,
maybe a crystal, and read.
Just let yourself be in silence, because you will be shocked by
everything that comes up.
Once you give yourself thespace your heart chakra, your
(18:55):
mind, everything you giveyourself the space to be silent
Suddenly so many things arise.
And it's not as scary as itsounds.
It's definitely an aspect ofshadow work.
When we really look at shadowwork and really releasing
ourselves from the ego's grip,we are tuning in and paying
(19:17):
attention to our inner world,our inner dialogue, and that's
what silence does.
And I'm talking like I saidcomplete silence, like it's okay
, birds are singing.
But you will probably sit thereor lay there, agitated or
irritated.
At first.
You may fall asleep, you mayfeel annoyed, you're going to
feel uncomfortable, most likely,and then, at some point, with
(19:41):
mindful breathing or journalingor mindful walking however you
decide to do it you will have ashift, because that is what it's
about.
It's about giving yourself thesilence, gives yourself the
space to actually figure outwhat's going on inside.
I had a lot of things going onin my mind.
(20:02):
I was seeing things differently.
It really allowed me a lot ofclarity.
At first it felt uncomfortableand almost embarrassing, like
some of the things that came up,and then I was able to process
them and go through them,release them that's important
and then go through that.
So, giving yourself silenceonce a week, if an hour seems
(20:24):
really scary, right, if you'reone of those people that's
always plugged in five minutes,10 minutes, and you don't have
to be meditating at that time,you could be walking, you could
be journaling, you could be justlaying and staring at the
ceiling, but the whole point isthat you're allowing yourself
space.
I feel in today's world we don'tdo that.
(20:45):
We are constantly plugged inand there's sounds and sights
everywhere.
You know you go in a store andmusic's playing and there's
people talking and most peoplehave the television on or social
media going or music on, andthat's great, do that.
But sometimes you need to getrid of all of that and make
space for silence, which makesspace for all the things the
(21:07):
shadow, the ego, the higher self, all of the things to come up,
which makes space for expansionand release, which makes space
for joy and that was the wholepoint of our retreat was to be
able to allow ourselves joy,because it really is that.
It's an allowance, right?
I'm not talking about happiness, which is often external and
(21:27):
fleeting.
I'm talking about, like, realjoy in the heart, where you feel
content, I feel.
For me, joy feels likecontentedness, calm, right, and
it may feel selfish orself-indulgent in today's world
when so much craziness is goingon to do that.
But one of the best things Ilearned in the retreat was Tara
(21:50):
Brock, who's a very famousmeditation teacher.
I guess she was recently askedabout world events and how do
you stay mindful, how do youstay grounded, those kinds of
things?
And her answer was to tend toyour own garden.
And what that means is, yeah,stay connected, understand the
news, stay worldly, do thosethings.
But then you need to also tendto yourself and your community
(22:14):
and your family.
And you know, when you healyourself there's a quote in the
A Course in Miracles when youheal, you do not heal alone.
So when you may sit in silenceand make space for yourself and
do shadow work and do all thethings we do as evolutionary
witches, right, as witches on aspiritual journey, as witches
who are empowering ourselves andalways striving to do best and
(22:35):
uncover who we are and be onthis journey of life, when you
do that it ripples out to yourfriends, your family, even if
you're not telling them whatyou're doing, your calmness,
your openness, your lovingness,your openness, your lovingness,
your you know magic, it ripplesout, and it ripples out into the
community.
There's been studies shown thatwhere, in cities and communities
(22:59):
, where monks meditate or peoplemeditate in large groups, the
overall effect is felt.
It's felt by strangers whodon't even know what's happening
.
Right, it's a ripple effect.
And so when we tend to our owngarden, it's our inner garden,
our heart chakra.
We tend to ourselves and ourown happiness, our own joy.
(23:20):
We can take on the world in abetter way, right?
If you are an activist oryou're doing these things,
that's self-care.
You can't just go full forceand not give back and not fill
your own cup.
And so I think that was reallygood advice.
It's like now more than ever dowe each need to tend to our own
garden, and imagine if everyonein the world did that, if
(23:43):
everyone was able to givethemselves the space to evolve
and ask the deeper spiritualquestions and to expand and find
joy.
It'd be a beautiful place,right?
And so I think witchcraft canbe mindful.
I think we could make it amindful practice because, in the
end, our spells work because ofintention.
Right, if you have a reallystrong intention.
(24:05):
You're really clear on thatintention.
You're present.
You've done a lot of the shadowwork and a lot of the blocks
and you really have thatintention.
You're really clear on thatintention.
You're present, you've done alot of the shadow work and a lot
of the blocks and you reallyhave that intention.
Your spell is going to bestronger because you're mindful.
You're present, right?
So how do we become presentWith mindfulness practices?
So I share this and you know notto say like, oh, you should go
on a silent retreat, becauseit's honestly not for everybody.
(24:27):
But I invite you this week toinvite silence into your life,
right?
Even Marie Kondo talks abouttaking your food and turning
them around in pantries.
So when you're opening thepantry, it's like not a whole
bunch of words shouting at you,right?
So how can you make silence inyour day?
And it could be like taking asilent lunch instead of working
(24:50):
or being on your listening to apodcast or book or multitasking
like so many of us do.
What if you just take your 15,20 minute lunch because that's
more realistic than an hour andyou just are silent and you're
just eating and you're allowingthoughts to arise and you're
allowing things to happen.
Because, you know, sometimes weget to the end of the day and
we can't sleep because we wereso busy.
(25:12):
All of our thoughts and all thethings we couldn't, our
emotions, nothing can beprocessed.
And so we lay in bed thinkingand processing because we never
made space for silence.
So I invite you to make spacefor silence and I thank you for
listening.
Blessed be witches.
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