Cozy Coven Chats: A Witch’s Journey Back to Simplicity
A weekly audio altar for witches, intuitives, and soul seekers.
Join author Jenny C. Bell as she shares her lived experience as a slow living modern witch offering seasonal wisdom, lunar guidance, astrological updates, cozy rituals, and journal prompts to help you stay aligned and empowered through the Wheel of the Year. Jenny will keep it real, simple and honest. It's time to return to a simple practice free of glitz and performance. Grab a cup a tea, your journal and get cozy. Get my monthly newsletters at Jennycbell.com
Cozy Coven Chats: A Witch’s Journey Back to Simplicity
The moon is going dark, but your path doesn't have to
Seasonal living invites us to sync with nature's rhythms rather than resisting them—and right now, Virgo season offers perfect energy for organization and renewal. As we cleanse our spaces, we're simultaneously preparing for both Libra's beauty and a powerful Pisces lunar eclipse that's just around the corner.
The upcoming lunar eclipse on September 7th brings transformative energy that asks us to confront our shadows. Unlike regular full moons, eclipses intensify emotional processing and bring hidden aspects to light. If you've been feeling unusual emotional currents already, you're likely tuning into this cosmic event before it even happens. By examining what was occurring back in March (during Pisces season), you might find clues about what's cycling back for deeper healing. Remember that healing moves in spirals rather than straight lines—we revisit themes at deeper levels each time they appear.
Our Eight of Pentacles tarot pull confirms this is an excellent time for skill-building, craftsmanship, and dedicated learning. Whether you're returning to formal education or simply picking up a non-fiction book on a topic that fascinates you, the cosmos supports your growth. This energy pairs beautifully with slow living practices like creating weekly meal plans from seasonal produce, establishing cleaning routines throughout the week rather than marathon sessions, and setting aside Sundays for kitchen witchery—whether that's making vegetable stock from saved scraps, fermenting foods, or baking bread. These rhythms create space for presence rather than perpetual busyness.
As gardens offer their final bounties, consider saving seeds for next spring and harvesting herbs to dry for winter use. These simple acts of preparation connect us to ancestral wisdom about living in harmony with nature's cycles. What shadows are rising for acknowledgment during this eclipse season? What needs transforming in your life? Through mindful attention to these questions, we create magic in the everyday—one season at a time.
Connect with me here: https://www.jennycbell.com/
Hey witches, welcome to another Cozy Coven chat. I am your host, Jenny C Bell, and in this chat we are going to continue to talk about living seasonally and what it means to live a slow life. And I finally have figured out too, how I want to format the show. So the first two episodes kind of figuring things out and I think how I'd like to format the show. So the first two episodes kind of figuring things out, and I think how I'd like to format things is first start talking about the week and any astrology that's popping up, and I also think I'd like to pull a card, and so if you like that, please let me know. So I'm going to pull a card just to kind of see the energy of the week for all of those that are listening, and then at the end I'm going to give journal questions and the in-between will be about slow living and living seasonally. So let's start with the astrology.
Speaker 1:So we are currently still in Virgo season and I really like to think of Virgo season as back to school energy, because it is back to school for some people, but it's just this energy of organization, decluttering, checking things off the to-do list, like I love the organization of the Virgo energy. And so, personally, what I have been doing, and what I'm going to continue to do, is opening drawers and pulling things out of them, vacuuming, cleaning them, organizing them. Opening closets, pulling things out of them, decluttering and donating. Opening pantries, decluttering, donating to the food pantry, opening refrigerators and freezers, looking for things that are expired. You know just kind of that basic. You know, once a year let's get things cleansed, clean and organized and feeling good, because I love um, I was just talking about this in our coven but I love that Virgo season sets us up for Libra season, because Libra is all about beauty and balance and I always want to decorate and I want to like have more pillows on my bed. It's that Venus energy, and so we clean and we organize in Virgo season and then we refresh and give our space like this cleanliness, and then we refresh it with beauty come Libra season. And all this can be done for free. Right, it's just cleaning and I mean one of the things I do that I think really helps the house look nice is I touch up paint, so I touch up marks and this and that, and it just helps like everything look clean and fresh. So, and it's a little thing to do and I reorganize. You know, this Libra season will be the time to decide like maybe this lamp would look better somewhere else so you don't have to go out and buy stuff. It's just more about bringing in the beauty. But we're not there yet. We're still in beautiful Virgo season, which I love it. I so organized, like I'm writing a book and I have it outlined and it's just, it's good energy. It's good energy On Sunday.
Speaker 1:So not this Sunday, but the following, which is the seventh, is a eclipse, and I will talk about this in the next episode, but I wanted to talk about it this week too, a preparation. So the eclipse is a lunar eclipse, a full moon near the North node, it's in the sign of Pisces, Um, and some themes uh, from this is from the Chani website. Key themes are escapism, boundless imagination, idealism and spiritual bypassing. It's interesting, and so a couple of things I like to think about during eclipse season One is that big changes probably coming in some way. So what would be helpful is if you know your chart, your astrology chart, and you can look up your astrology chart. There's lots of free places to get a free chart. You don't need to pay. So just so you know that and you can see where Pisces is in your chart, that would be very helpful because eclipses are bringing stuff the shadows are rising, they are coming up and they're meant to be dealt with. So this week things are going to pop up for us and also we have to think about when it was Pisces season, right?
Speaker 1:So in March, what are some things, some feelings, some key themes, some energy that you were dealing with or processing or healing from that could come back to be healed again. Because what I've talked about before is that healing is cyclical and so it's a spiral, and so these eclipses, I feel, are much more intense than a regular moon. And when, personally, eclipses were in Taurus, that was when I went through probably the most dramatic change as a Taurus sun. So if you have Pisces in any of your big three, definitely give yourself some extra love and care this week, and really all of us right, you may even already be feeling the effects the previous week. So it's okay to rest, it's okay to nourish, as far as rituals go like, an eclipse is a little different than a regular full moon.
Speaker 1:Some people caution to not do moon water or charge things under eclipses. However, it's always up to you, and you may want to charge the moon water, but make sure you label it as eclipse water, because you might use it differently than you would a regular full moon. So what does that mean? So we think about eclipses, right, we think about the moon going dark. We think about the moon and the sun coming together. We think about shifting and changing and transmutation, transformation, think about shadow work, and the themes, according to the chani website, are escapism, boundless imagination, idealism, spiritual bypassing, and so some of the more shadow aspects of pisces. So Think about that. I wouldn't just like collect the moon water and use it like any other moon water. I would definitely use it for certain things like shadow work, um, for releasing. So it's going to be a different vibration. So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, the rest of the energy of the week. Like I said, we're in Virgo season and if you don't know how these moons work, is the moon is in Pisces, because that's the opposite of Virgo, right? So it's like the opposite sign. So, like I'm a Taurus, my opposite sign is Scorpio, and so if you're a Virgo, pisces and Pisces energy is very important to you too, and by you being a Virgo I mean, like one of your big three moon, sun or rising, or rising right. So lots to consider. I definitely suggest tuning into how you feel. Full moons bring a lot of emotions to the surface, but eclipses bring more and, like I said, they bring shadows up, and shadows are things that perhaps we haven't been dealing with. So you want to pay attention to your dreams. It's a really good time to be journaling and I'll be giving some journal prompts at the end. Next is I wanted to pull a tarot for just forever, whoever's listening, for the energy of the week and if we like this. This is something I can do every episode.
Speaker 1:So, if you don't know, I like to read cards. I read them for our coven pretty much every month, and this month I did it live. I also have an Etsy shop. I do like to read them in person, but that doesn't always happen. Still trying to find a spot for that.
Speaker 1:So we ended up getting the eight of pentacles or the eight of coins or the eight of discs, depending on the card deck you have, and that's always the craftsmanship, mastery, dedication purpose card. So, very Virgo, it's like we are dedicated to learning to mastering something. This is a good card if you're going to go back to school. So, back to school energy. You want to learn something new. There's free classes for everything you might want to dive into a non-fiction book, this is really good learning energy. And if we're talking about eclipses coming up too, it could be also about like self-learning and learning about yourself. But yeah, if you've been thinking about you know kind of interested in getting a book on the subject, or I saw this class I want to take, this is the sign right, like go for it for sure.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of like our little start and I'd like to talk a little bit, just kind of about the slow living and energy right now that I'm personally taking part in. So one of the things I talked about was I am cleaning and decluttering, but something that I was talking to my my I have a yoga community and I was asking about people that also practice slow living, because slow living is really mindfulness and conscious living and spiritual living. It's very goes, goes well with witchcraft, buddhism, yoga, I mean mindfulness goes well with a lot of different spiritual paths, but yeah, so I was asking about that and someone brought up something that I have also found very helpful. So something that helps with slow living is creating a to-do list and creating a menu for the week, because part of the goal of slow living is to have more restful time, more time downtime, more time to journal, to meditate, to nourish, to contemplate, right to slow down and not be so busy. And lists and menus really help with that. And I've been creating a menu for like our dinners for a long time, ever since I became a mom and I was a teacher at the same time. It's like I don't have mental capacity to come home and think what am I making for dinner? So right now how it works is I get my farm box on a Tuesday, I look at everything and then I create a menu inspired on the box and then from there I make a shopping list and I go shopping and I stick to the menu and sometimes the days will get mixed up like I'll decide actually I don't have time to make tortillas today, I'll be doing that another day or whatever. But that is something that really just takes a lot of the mental guesswork away.
Speaker 1:Another thing is, especially if you work outside of the home, is having set days that you do certain chores, so you're not. I remember when we were both new teachers, my husband and I, we would spend like all day a Saturday cleaning. It's like doing laundry and cleaning and catching up, and it was like this is my day off, this is how I'm spending it. So then started doing things where it was like doing laundry almost every day, especially when I have kids. Um, running the dishwasher every day, uh, you can do like half load or whatever to save on water and like be better to the environment. But then it became like okay, I'm going to do this cleaning on Friday, I'll do this one on Monday, do that. And so it just became so that I wasn't cleaning all day. On one day I broke it up into like 15 minute activities. Right, it only takes me about maybe half an hour at the most to mop my floor. Um, I can fit that in. So that's another thing that helps.
Speaker 1:Having a to-do list, or several to-do lists like on the phone as the reminders, is really helpful. Um, not with notifications and things like that that would stress you out, but just to have it. So it's like you don't have to keep it in your head. Something that keeps us from being mindful and present is like oh, I gotta, I gotta go get this thing at the store I really need, I need to go get my oil changed and you just keep thinking about that thing all the time. But if you write it down and you make a habit of checking your lists a couple times a day, you're good, right, and that frees up space for you to have some downtime, because that's really, in the end, slow living is about downtime.
Speaker 1:Another habit that I have is Sundays. For the most part, we're home. We usually do like a family hike or something like that. I like to just be in my kitchen on Sundays, so that's the day I'll make veg stock. So I don't know if I've talked about this on here, I don't think I have. But I keep a freezer bag in the in the freezer and as I cook throughout the weeks I throw veggie scraps into it, so like tops of onions and peppers, carrot tops um carrot shreds. If I peel a potato, potato peels, if I'm only using the top of an herb, then the stem of the herb, just all kinds of stuff, go in there. Once the bag is full, I put it in my crock pot and I make vegetable stock. I drain it, I usually add a little bit of liquid aminos, which is like a soy sauce, nutritional and salt, and I make the stock and then I freeze it, and so I never buy vegetable stock. You can also do this with like bone broth and chicken and stuff like that. Um, we don't eat meat in our house, so, but I know that's totally possible and so on Sundays I'll usually do something like that.
Speaker 1:Sundays are usually my day. If I'm going to make a tincture, I'll start the tincture. If I'm going to ferment food I'm into fermenting pickles I'll. You know that's the day to do that. I usually bake something, like I'll bake bread or I'll bake cookies, um, but just kind of give myself the time and space to be in the kitchen because I like to be in the kitchen. So this is not for everybody. I'm definitely a kitchen witch. I love being in witch, I love being in my kitchen, I love being in my garden and then taking that garden stuff into the kitchen, like that's my happy place, and Sundays I make space for that, like I'm happy to be in the kitchen for hours and I always wear Crocs. It really helps my feet, um, that's just like you know, really helps my back and my feet, but yeah, so that's something I really enjoy right now.
Speaker 1:Speaking of a garden, if you're not already doing so, this is good seed saving time. So as I get things from the farm box or as I pull things from the garden like, for instance, we're growing lemon cucumber I recently pulled probably the biggest, healthiest looking lemon cucumber we had, and then I scooped out all the seeds and I let them air dry on the kitchen counter on a plate and then I put them in a bag and labeled them for next year. So this is a time to save seeds. It's just really important that you dry them out, because they can mold, so you want them to be completely dry before you put them in a bag. I also use old spice jars or herb jars, glass ones and the other thing I do is I grow a lot of wildflowers, so I go out in the yard and I pull off the dead heads and then I sprinkle the seeds. I just keep a jar and it's just all the wildflower seeds. I don't differentiate, it's just like it's got a mix of things in there and then comes like spring, I'll just put them all back out into the dirt. So this is a good seed saving time, for sure.
Speaker 1:If you're growing herbs, this is a really good time to collect a good amount and dry them. I was able to really not have to go and buy a lot of herbs recently, this winter, because I have them all saved. And so, like one of like, for instance, I will go and collect my lemon balm. What I'm going to do is I'm going to wash it, remove all the bugs, I'm going to towel, dry it and then I'm going to let it air dry for maybe 12 to 24 hours. Then from there I bind it in a string and I hang it upside down and let it air dry until it's dry. It usually takes about a week or two. Then from there it gets put into a jar or a bag and labeled with the herb and the year. I think the year is really important. And then the last thing I want to do before we go today is give you a couple of journal prompts. If you hear a little banging on my door, that's my cat, but I'm not going to get up right now. So a couple of journal prompts to think about.
Speaker 1:So we're going into eclipse season, like I talked about. So what is it that you want to transform? What is it that you want to transmute? What needs nourishing at this time? And it can be in your time and it can be in your life, it could be in your body, it could be in a relationship, your home. What are you feeling called to clean or cleanse or declutter? And, lastly, what, if any, shadows are rising and, like I said, you really want to pay attention to dreams and cards Before eclipse seasons. A lot of messages will come through with clues as to what you're processing in this season. So, like I said, the first one is on the 7th and the next one is on the 21st, which we'll talk about when we get there a little closer to that time. But, as always, thank you for listening and being cozy with me and please let me know what you think of the card reading and, if you haven't already, please subscribe.
