Queen Of Cups: Simple Ways To Refill Your Energy Before Yule

The fire’s crackling, the mug is warm, and we’re settling into December with a tender, practical look at how to refill our cup before the holidays pull on every thread. Guided by the Queen of Cups, we explore emotional care that’s doable: tiny rituals you can weave into a busy day, moments of quiet that reset your nervous system, and the courage to choose what nourishes you even when the calendar is loud.

I share what a rare stretch of true solitude taught me about rest and pleasure: taking myself out for tacos, wandering an art gallery, hiking at my own pace, and savoring a simple at-home facial. The surprise? Most of those comforts translate to everyday life even when family is home. We talk through easy, repeatable practices—tea you actually sit with, essential oils in the shower, a quick journaling page, a walk with the dog—that build a steady baseline so you can meet gatherings and deadlines with more grace and less grit.

With the full moon in Gemini on December 4, we step into communication magic. This is prime time for clarity: journaling about what to release, what to call in for the new year, and how to speak cleanly in conversations that matter. Pair Gemini’s curiosity with the Queen of Cups’ empathy to say true things kindly, set boundaries without blame, and bring more ease to family dynamics, work reviews, and heartfelt check-ins.

We also play with Yule energy and simple altar-making. Think red and green for balance, wreaths for cycles, pine cones and acorns for longevity and prosperity, and the joy of decorating early if it lifts your spirit. Wrap it all with three journal prompts to guide your week: one daily act to fill your cup, one place you need better communication, and what winter solstice means to you right now.

If this cozy, heart-forward approach resonates, tap follow, share with a friend who needs a gentler season, and leave a review to help others find our circle. Your stories and rituals keep this space warm—tell me what’s filling your cup today.

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https://www.udemy.com/course/attuning-to-the-earth/?couponCode=COZYCOVEN

Chapters

• 0:23 Settling Into Cozy December Energy
• 1:11 Queen Of Cups And Emotional Care
• 2:52 Home Alone And Learning To Refill
• 5:46 Small Daily Rituals That Actually Help
• 7:55 Offers: Etsy Shop And Course Details
• 10:27 Full Moon In Gemini: Communication Magic
• 12:22 Yule Altars, Early Decorating, And Meaning
• 15:04 Journal Prompts And Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

Hello, Cozy Coven. Welcome to Cozy Coven Chats. I'm your host, Jenny C Bell, and this podcast is for the week of November 30th, but really we're kind of in December energy here. I hope that you're cozy. It's actually really cold here today that I'm the day I'm recording. Woke up with frost on the ground and fog. I'm actually cuddled under a blanket by the fire, so you might hear like a fan blowing in the background. That would be the fire. I have a kitty next to me. I'm cozy. Hence the name of the podcast. Cozy is very important to me as a Taurus sun and cancer rising. So yeah. I pulled our cards ahead of time, so you won't hear me shuffling today. Um I wanted to have some time to reflect on the card. Sometimes I feel when I pull live on the podcast, I don't have as much time to think about it. So our card for this week is actually the Queen of Cups, which I started laughing because my message for this podcast was going to be that we need to fill our cups this week. And she showed up. So I take that as a sign that that's true. So the Queen of Cups is beautiful. She's always almost kind of mermaid-like and a throne with her cup and her full cup, and she has this serenity about her because she is one with her emotions. I always imagine if she was a person, she'd be like that friend that cries easily, not in a bad way, who's just like an emotional safe place, gives good hugs. Um, you can feel like you can tell her anything, she won't judge you, feels her emotions freely, and feels good about that, like doesn't feel embarrassed about feeling her emotions or judged. Um in her feminine flow of feeling the feelings. And so when she popped up, I thought, yeah, this is what we need right now. Um the holidays are here, whether we want them to be or not, whether we're ready or not. And I think it's really important to work on filling our own cups before they come. And I want to share with you kind of a unique experience I had. So I have never lived alone in my life. I went from living with my mom and my sister to living with my husband, and that was it. Like I never, I never went away to college. I've never lived on my own by myself. And I'm not hardly ever home alone because of my I have kids, I have a husband. And so my family recently, before Thanksgiving, went on a trip to visit my husband's family. It was very needed for everybody, which meant I was home alone, just like the movie, um, for the first time in before I've had my daughter. So she's 15. So the first time in like 15 or 16 years for multiple days. And uh as a cancer rising, I could have spent the time all like worried and woe is me and where's my family. I, you know, or I could use it to fill my cup, which is what I chose to do. So I'm gonna give you some things that I did. By no means you need to do them all, but I just want to give you an idea of how to fill your cup, whether you're home alone or not. So I took myself out for a meal. I actually went out to my favorite taco place and had tacos and yucca fries and a hibiscus drink. I took myself antique shopping and window shopping and Christmas shopping. I took myself out to a little art gallery and got to see art. I took myself on a hike. I took myself to just walk around, and I took my dog for a walk too, but that's I always do that for him. I had girl dinners, you know, like Amy's Frozen's and salad mixes where I didn't have to do any dishes. I meditated. I learned breath work for the first time. I did yoga. I journaled. I listened to music I really like. I listened to podcasts I like. I sat in silence sometimes. I watched movies I wanted to watch. I didn't wear makeup. I did a little facial kind of spa day for myself. And by the end of that time, felt like my cup was full, and then family came home and we had Thanksgiving, and I didn't go into Thanksgiving stress. I remember when I used to work, we wouldn't get the week off or anything, and I would just feel like such such a stressful. That's my cat, by the way. She's um scratching right now, but I just it would feel like stressful uh trying to get into the holidays. Now I realize this is like a really nice situation. Not everyone has the luxury of time off or time to themselves or anything. And but what we do have are little moments in the day. So when you have these little moments of solitude or in between tasks, what can you do to fill your cup? It could be pouring yourself your favorite tea. I realized so what I realized when everybody was gone was that a lot of things I were do I was doing I could do when they're here, but I just didn't think about doing them for myself. Like I started having tea more than one cup of tea throughout the day. Like I always start the morning with tea, have tea in the evening, but I ended up having more tea. I made a nettle infusion, I had kava kava drink one day. But these are things I could do, I just wasn't doing. I was like going for walks in the afternoon, which I could do, but I wasn't doing. I was taking like still the same amount of length of showers, but putting I found this essential oil blend called Christmas morning, putting a few drops in my shower. I was doing these little at-home facials from Bert's Bees. I could totally do that when people are here. It was just like when everybody was gone, I could think, what do I want to do? For maybe the first time since having kids. I don't know. And not to be dramatic, but it might have been really. Um, I went to a used bookstore. I spent a lot of time reading, watching movies I wanted to watch, you know, um, like Mary Xmas on Netflix, very cute to love, actually, you know, just like movies everyone else is like, oh, why are we watching this? Um, but yeah, so how can you fill your cup? And it can be free, you know, like going out and collecting some dried leaves because we all love Frankenstein, and now I just want to give people leaves for every holiday as a token of my love and innocence and kindness. Um, but yeah, I mean, think today. So that'll be a journal question later, but how can you fill your own cup? And then, oh, I want to have a few little offers for you. Right now I have a special promo code just for you who listen for my Etsy shop. It takes 30% off any of my Etsy listings. So the code is CozyCoven with a Z. So C O Z Y C O V E N, all one word. And my Etsy shop is heal with jenny.etsy.com. You can also find it on my website, jennycbell.com. So it's H-E-A-L W-I-T-H-Jenny.etsy.com. And I have another sale for you too. I have a course called The Tuning to the Earth, which goes over all eight of the Sabbaths, plus extras. There's goddess festivals, there's meditations, there's rituals. The class is over three hours long. Every Sabbath comes with a printable PDF and a playlist to help you tune in. And it starts with Yule. So if you're new to celebrating winter solstice or Yule, this is a very secular um for the most part class. I talk a little bit about Bridget for in bulk, but other than that, it's very open. So it was designed for witches and non-witches. So it's anybody who's interested in the witches' wheel of the year. You don't have to be a witch or a pagan. You just be spiritual and it's like I'm new to the path or I've been practicing a long time. I want something new. It's called A Tuning to the Earth. It's on Udemy. You can also find it at jennycbell.com. And right now, if you use the same code, CozyCoven, the class is$12.99. That's the lowest I can I can give it to you for on there. But sometimes, hint hint, if you sign up with Udemy for the first time, you can get your first class for free, depending on what kind of deals they have going on. So look for that as well. So yeah, Cozy Coven will bring you sales. And on Etsy, I have all kinds of fun things. Um I have a Who is your Spirit Guides, I have Distance Reiki, I have, if you read my book and you're struggling with who your spirit crystal is, I can tell you. I do a personal month ahead reading, shadow work reading, I have divine feminine and past life tarot reading, inner child reading, and then I have some fun printables. I have your magical year, which tells you about each one of the eight Sabbaths. There's room for manifestation and coloring, and then there's journal pages. I have a moon spell planner, I have a moon magic journal, and a birthday kit, which is really fun. It's a whole spell for your birthday. So if your birthday is coming up or you want to treat someone else, it's really fun. So back to what we were talking about. Um we have a full moon in Gemini on the 4th. So December 4th is full moon in Gemini. And I like to always think of moons and Gemini as like spill the tea time. Like Gemini likes to talk, they like to communicate, Mercury rules them. And so this is a time for you to do that. So this could be it's a really good night for journaling, it's a good night for just sitting and talking with your guides. It's also a good time to share ideas and with others in your life and ancestors. So I don't know about you, but this time of year, I'm already thinking, I'm already reflecting on the year and thinking about next year. Like, what do I want to change? What do I want to manifest? What do I want to do? This moon is a good moon for clarity on that. So asking for clarity, releasing anything that doesn't serve you, and really getting clarity on where you're going, like what you're doing, what you're doing next, right? Um, and then yeah, I like to also think about the kind of Gemini full moon really with anything to do with communication. So if you, you know, are going somewhere for the holidays and sometimes get into arguments or see people get into arguments, it's a good moon to manifest for some harmony or some clear relationships or clarity when talking to others. If you have an important conversation coming up, like a review at work, it's a good time to pray for that and manifest for that. So, yeah, really anything to do with communication. And we have that Queen of Cups too, so we have like this kind of full cup energy. You might want to do a gratitude journal and just be thankful, just help figure out what is you know filling your cup. And then we're in the Yule energy. So we actually had this conversation recently in our coven about when do we create your seasonal altar? So not everybody does a seasonal altar, it's not necessary, but a lot of us like to. My fireplace mantle is like a low-key altar. Um, I'm always changing it out for the seasons and it's kind of like a family altar. But I do like to do my Yule altar early. It's probably the only one I do early because I have a solstice countdown. It's a spiral wooden advent calendar I got on Etsy. It's in the style of um uh not Montessori, Waldorf. It's like a Waldorf style advent calendar. It's this really cool. I make it a spiral, I get these cute little beeswax candles, and I start it on December 1st, and as I get into the into the spiral, once I get to the center, it's Yule. And so that to me, I like to have my altar done before then for that reason. But yeah, a lot of people like to do their seasonal altars much more close to the Sabbath, I will say, except for Sawin and Yule, and I think that's because so many of us see everything all the decorations out early for Halloween and Christmas, that we kind of go, yeah, why not? Like, let's just make it Yule. And so that kind of leads me to my next thing I wanted to just share is that um you can do it early, right? If it makes us feel good when the it's getting darker, the nights are longer, they get longer until the solstice, the sun's not out, it's cold. If it brings you joy to put up all your Yule altar stuff and your Yule decorations super early before Thanksgiving, who cares? If you take down your Halloween, you know, sound decorations and you put up your Yule winter solstice decorations, good for you. I've actually read, I don't know if it's true, but it pops up every year on social media that people that decorate early for Christmas are happier. I mean, I've already been watching Christmas movies. I like had my Thanksgiving and my um Christmas die cuts up at the same time. Like I had a wreath on my door before Thanksgiving. It's it's fine. It's totally fine. So I'm giving you permission if you needed it. And I wanted to say some ideas for the Yule altar. The red in the green is traditionally pagan. So red is representative of God or masculine energy, and green is a representative of goddess or feminine energy. You have like the green of the land of the earth of Mother Earth, and the red of the blood of animals and humans, right? It's like so balanced. And so red and green, we're gonna talk more next episode about Christmas and Yule being almost identical in decoration. But just so you know, if you're doing your altar, that's really great to do. I like to put acorns, especially for manifesting, because acorns are seeds and they're also signs of prosperity. I like to put pine cones because they're signs of symbols of longevity, and they are also seeds, right? It's a good time to put uh a wreath. You know, a wreath is a cycle, it's never ending, it's similar to an auroboros. So wreaths are really nice to put on the altar at this time. It's just whatever you want it to be. You know, you don't have to overthink it, and it can be just your Christmas decorations because it's one and the same. Okay, let's go on to our journal questions. So, first question I'm gonna ask you obviously is what is something you can do to fill your cup every day? Every day. So this could be, like I said, putting essential oils in your shower, it could be buying yourself a nice smelling lotion, it could be buying the better coffee, you know, it could be going to bed early, right? So, what is something you can do each day to fill your cup? Two, we're looking at Gemini moon. So where do you need better communication? Like, where in your life do you need better communication? And with whom? And then lastly, what are your feelings about winter solstice? Like, what key words do you associate with it? How are you feeling about it? How are you going into the season? Well, I hope you have a great week. I hope it's a really good full moon for all of us. I feel like I don't know, the last few moons I've been very tired and not really vibing. So I'm hoping this one I'm gonna have a little more energy for giving that Gemini. I'm a Gemini moon, so I should be thriving, right? Um, but yeah, let me know how it goes. And as always, have a great week. Blessed be.