Holding Hope When The World Is Heavy

When the headlines feel relentless and the heart feels heavy, where do we put our attention, our voice, and our care? We open with the Judgment card as a guiding image truth sounding like a trumpet, endings composting into beginnings and trace how to answer a calling without turning every sacred thing into content. I share why calling and career are not synonyms, how to keep parts of your practice private, and what it looks like to live your purpose through presence, listening, and steady care.

From there, we move into the real-world weight of the news cycle and why “observe, don’t absorb” can be a lifesaver for sensitive, thoughtful people. We talk about building a communal container for hard conversations, creating a resistance circle that allows grief and anger to move, and choosing media intentionally so you’re informed without drowning. Along the way, we name the systems that shape our days—patriarchy, beauty myths, the dismissal of intuition—and offer shadow work that’s honest and humane. You’ll hear practical steps to rebalance reason with inner knowing, question narrow standards of worth, and notice where bias hides in plain sight.

Hope needs practice, so we also lean into spring. Think plant allies, eggs in a nest, daffodils on the table, long walks on warm days, books and films that feed the soul, and music that softens the nervous system. I close with journal prompts from Judgment to help you speak your truth, release harshness toward yourself and others, and name the renewal you want this season. If you’re looking for grounded spirituality, media hygiene, and gentle activism you can live with, this one will feel like a deep breath.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs steadiness, and leave a quick review so more seekers can find us.

Transcript

Card Pull And Holding Hope

Event Invite: Spirit Northwest

Spring Theme And Plant Allies

Coven Readings And New Year Cycles

Retrogrades, Eclipses, And Emotional Weather

Card Of The Week: Judgment

Runes, Truth, And Protection

Calling Versus Career

Multiple Callings And Roles

News, Identity, And Creating Resistance Circle

Hope, Matriarchy, And Power Systems

Valuing Feminine And Intuition

Beauty Standards And Shadow Work

Race, Listening, And Media Diet

Boundaries With News And Self-Care

Spring Practices That Restore Hope

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hi, and welcome to another Cozy Coven chat. I'm your host, Jenny C. Bell, and this is for the week of March 8th. March. Wow. Time. Time is an illusion and a construct, but it moves really quickly. In this chat, we're going to pull a card of the day. And I wanted to focus on how to hold on to hope and what to do when the world and the news is scary and heavy. And so we're going to start first with a couple of things. I will be at Spirit Northwest at the end of April. So if you are in the PW area or have always wanted to travel to Portland during spring, which is very beautiful, I highly recommend going. Go to Spirit Northwest. Just Google that and you'll find it. It's going to be a really good time. Lots of fun authors are going to be there. I'm going to do book signings. I'm going to do I'm going to speak. There's going to be a movie night. Going to be really, really fun. So highly recommend that. In our coven right now, our theme for spring is a merge. And we have a really nice class on. We have an apothecary circle. And so I have a class on choosing a plant ally. And I've talked about that a little bit here on the podcast, but it is the process of having a plant choose you, you choosing a plant to understand, work with, get to know in all the ways, magically, med medicinally, artistically, um, with one plant. And, you know, in this day and age where we want to learn things very quickly and we don't have a lot of patience and not many people read books, and you know, there's like a real resistance to slowing down. I really appreciate you being here. And I also really appreciate people wanting to do things like that, like have a plant ally. Because, you know, you have one plant you focus on this year, and then you do that for the next 10 years, you're gonna know 10 plants really well. Like memorize them and know them, not just like can go find them on the internet, but like you, you become the internet, you become the expert. So we're doing that. Um, we had a really fun card reading. I used this new spirit guide deck and had people choose based off of like the face of the spirit guide, and then um just kind of looked at spring in general and looking at the spring equinox and looking at like what is a theme for the the new astrological new year, which we'll talk about more in next week's episode. But as I've said before, you get four chances as a witch at New Year's. You get Sawin, you get the Gregorian or calendar new year, you get the lunar new year if you choose, and then you get the astrological new year, which is the B of Aries season, which is the Spring Equinox. So four chances to start fresh and start over. And I feel like a lot of us need that. Uh, we are still in the mists of Mercury in retrograde, and it's in Pisces, and it's been like weird. We just finished eclipse season, thankfully. That was so heavy. Everyone in our coven was tired and feeling heavy and feeling down. You know, Pisces is a very emotional sign. So um having Mercury in that is like rehashing some things, and then having that during eclipse season has been extra heavy, and then the world news is heavy. But before we get into that, I want to talk about our card. So we're still using the elemental north tarot, and I pulled for you judgment. So judgment is our card of the week, and it says the judgment card is about your time of reckoning and becoming aligned with your calling. Viewed in the context of the fool's journey, you have gone through all the stages of the major arcana, arriving here at the point of realization. What have you been called to do? It's time to accept your position and stand firmly and proudly in it. The horn on the card serves as a call to destiny. The wilted flowers are a sign of things past, and the fresh flowers represent the new life rising up and promises ahead. So the original card is the Archangel Gabriel coming and blowing their trumpet to awaken and resurrect and like call forth Armageddon, basically. And so this card, instead of doing that, has this kind of decorative horn. There's mountains, there's white, yellow, and red flowers that are alive, and then two red flowers that are dead. The runes are and Suze, which represents communication. The judgment card is concerned with receiving the call. This card is very like aligned with the throat chakra, too, because Archangel Gabriel is aligned with the throat chakra. So there's this whole like speak your truth, the trumpet announcing the truth. There's a lot of elements of truth to judgment. Because in the end, we judge or should judge based off of truth, not off of someone's ideas or someone's cover-up or whatever. It's supposed to be based off of truth. Um, Thurizaz is a protective rune. Your life journey has been protected, and your calling will continue to protect you. Um, Peridoro is a rune of mystery connected to the occult. It's linked to judgment because finding your life calling can only be attained through great soul searching. And Iwas is also a protective rune. The protection comes from the allies you have in your daily life. So to me, when we talk about calling, calling is separate than career. And I know, easy for me to say, I'm making a career off of my calling, right? I feel like my calling is being a witch and bringing other people to the path for healing and empowerment, truly. And that's what I'm doing. It has taken me a long time to get here, however. I remember the first time I felt like I figured out my calling was to just be a healer, just to help others heal. And I I've done that my whole life. Like I was a teacher, and I wasn't just an English teacher, like I was, you know, the teacher that listened and the teacher that tried to help kids learn through literature and heal and become whole and process how traumatic it is to be a teenager through poetry, and you know, it was this very healing element to what I was doing, and then um started off, you know, blogging and talking about healing, and I actually was physically healing my body at the time. There was a lot of aspects of healing. And then as it's progressed, I'm like, my calling is, you know, to be a healer, and I think I would be doing that regardless of where I work. Because even when I go to like the store, the grocery store, people tell me their life story, and that's that's a a healing space. Like I'm just holding space and this person is sharing and and healing, and that's fine. And that's a calling. Now, your calling does not have to be the same as your job, though. And I think that happens a lot when people like spiritually awake or wake up. There's this like, okay, I'm awake. I gotta, I don't wanna be in this job, I don't wanna be in this corporate situation, I don't want to do this, I want to do something better, I want to do something more aligned with my morals and values. And the truth is, is that's not necessary, it's understandable, but honestly, taking your spiritual practice and commodifying it is not for everybody. It's like for me personally, I have to decide what I keep for myself and what I share with the rest of the world. I have to decide, you know, what aspects of my spiritual practice I share, what's private, what's not. Um, all those things. Like, there's a it's it's not for everybody. Doing card readings for other people for money is not for everybody. A lot of people struggle with accepting the money, a lot of people don't like that exchange, a lot of people don't like reading for other people. Like, just because you like reading cards yourself doesn't mean you should make it your job. It may not be maybe it your calling is to just read for yourself and your family and friends. And that's a plenty. That is a plenty. So when we talk about calling, it could be, I feel like um, if you've ever read The Alchemist, which is a beautiful story, um, the whole book is about finding your personal legendary calling. And it's very simplified. But I think the truth is is that we have multiple callings. Like if you're a parent, that's a calling. Like that's a that's a purpose. If you have a job, that's a purpose. And then if you are in a spiritual path, that's a purpose. Like there if you're in a a partnership, that's a purpose. If you're a daughter, that's a purpose. Like there's all the roles we wear are a purpose and a calling and part of who we are. And you can't just be like, my one true calling is this, and then leave everything behind and do that. Like, I'm people do that, but it's it's not realistic. You're gonna burn a lot of bridges, I think, doing that. So when we talk about calling, you may be in field to call to activism right now. Um, and I'm not gonna get too political on here, but I can't we cannot ignore what is going on in the world. Um, I do read the news and watch the news. I like not on TV. Um, I follow Aaron on TikTok. I'm sure a lot of people do. And I read a lot of news things on Substack. I just discuss it with my husband. My husband is a history major who studied political science, so he's wonderful to chat with about like, well, what's going on? Like, you know, explain the government, you know, explain history. He's actually a wealth of knowledge, which is really nice. But and because the news has been so deeply entwined in day-to-day life, um, it's been entwined in what it means to be a woman and what it means to be other, um, what it means to be queer, you know, what it means to be of color, what it means to be an immigrant. It's just you it affects like everybody. And so I created a circle in our coven that's optional and it's called resistance. And in there, it's for people that need to talk about the news. We have a heart-to-heart chat where you can just come in and talk vulnerably. Um, someone recently explained their contribution as a teela tequila um induced rant. But it was, you know, how she was feeling, it was raw, it was vulnerable. And it's necessary because the truth is, is we're not meant to listen and watch news in isolation. Like we are social beings and we need to talk about what we're seeing, what we're hearing, what we're learning. That's just like normal. And so I created that space for that. There's a really good um anti-ICE spell that someone shared, and you know, it's just really um it's necessary. So I wanted to talk a little bit about uh the news and things. On my Substack, I've been a little more political. I recently put out um a Substack about hope and how I am able how I maintain hopefulness in these times. And then I also put out another one about witchcraft being a gateway into the matriarchy. Because in the end, a lot of things like patriarchy goes hand in hand with pretty much all the things we're hearing about in the news. You know, the misogyny and the racism and all of it, capitalism, all of it's tied to patriarchy. And if you don't know, let's talk about that. Let's what is patriarchy? Like, it's not just a feminist term, okay. And this podcast is for all genders. So don't tune me out because you're identify as a man. Be like, okay, she's not talking to me. No, I'm talking to everybody. So patriarchy is the idea that men are inherently more powerful or more able or more eligible or more intelligent or whatever to rule, to make the decisions, to be the ruling authority. And when we look at lots of things, like if we look at the animal world, if we look at like whales, for instance, who go through menopause, and they're all they're the only animals that go through menopause besides us, and they're all matriarchal. If we look at our ancestors, if we just look at things, you know, there have been both in history. We've had patriarchy, like ancient Greece, like Zeus, the all-ruling, all-father. Uh, we all the Abrahamic religions are patriarchal. They all start with Adam and his rib or whatever nonsense. And then we have examples of matriarchy, of goddesses, of um, even within patriarchies of goddess worshipers um hidden away, or even within Christianity of people, early Christians, acknowledging Mary Magdalene as a disciple and her reading her gospel and like having more of a balanced view of divinity that's both masculine and feminine. But as these years have gone on, there's been a lot of social constructs and institutions put in place that just reinforce the patriarchy and the values that men hold more value than women, and therefore should have more rights, and therefore should be in power, and therefore should make more money, and therefore should lead us, and etc. And I'm not anti-male, I'm married to man, I have a son. And I think that's like a common misconception. Someone's a feminist or someone would like to have more divine femininity or would like to invite in matriarchal values, immediately it's like, oh, you hate men. No. No. I love the earth and I love humanity and I love nature. And right now what we're doing is not working for any of those things. And so, you know, we talk about moving towards a matriarchy, we talk about healing those wounds within ourselves. Like each one of us has to look at ourselves in the mirror, at our feminine parts, at what we identify as feminine. And I'm not talking physically, I'm talking emotionally, spiritually, right? Traits we see as feminine. And this is actually a really helpful exercise. So, like you make a list of traits that you have that you consider to be feminine, regardless of gender, and traits you consider to be masculine. Just look at them and decide, you know, where do you hold value? Like, do you value your feminine parts, your feminine aspects, or do you more value your masculine? You know, like our society really values logic and fact-based and really says, like, if you're using your intuition or if you have a gut feeling, that's not important. And that's not true, right? I mean, every person has a story about having a moment of intuition, like they talk about in the practical magic movie, right? There's a little witch in all of us, and they all give it examples of having these witchy intuitive moments, like just knowing when their kids need them, or you know, and everybody has this, every every gender, right? Knowing someone's gonna call before they call you. And I think at this point, like science is just like catching up with spirituality and like a lot of things that spiritual people have just known to be true. Science is just now catching on. And so there's this, you know, disconnect. Like a lot of us will be like, well, you know, in school, if it's not logical, if it's not, can't use a scientific method to prove it, if it's not mathematical, if it's, you know, emotional, it's seen as irrational and illogical. And then we kind of bury those things inside of us. That's why so many people don't trust their gut feeling, don't trust intuition, get themselves in situations and later we're like, I knew that this person wasn't good for me, or I knew this was gonna happen. They didn't listen because society says that's feminine and silly and not worth your time. And so we gotta look at those parts. We've got to look at our part of our we've got to look too at like how do we view women and aging? You know, uh, how do we view that? What is what is your idea of a beautiful s beauty standard? Like, are you indoctrinated and you only see like young, flat stomach, hairless, perky, wrinkle-free, lighter skin, perfect teeth, and you're like, that's beautiful. And anybody that doesn't match that isn't beautiful. And it's not bad. Like, don't beat yourself up if you have fallen for the that, you know, line, because you're we're inundated with it, and all the media that we consume just inundated with like that beauty standard, which is unrealistic and definitely based on what we've learned uh looking at the files that came out. And so, you know, we have to question that like how what is your idea of beauty? Like, what's a beautiful person? And this is not, you know, this is the work. This is not easy. It's not easy to confront that part of ourself that actually truly I do feel fat phobia. Like I think fat people are gross or lazy or whatever. You know, you have to confront that. That's the shadow work. That's why it's called the shadow work, because it's ugly. And the more we deny it, the more it gets it festers. And so you just have to start doing that. So we're looking at feminine and masculine traits. We're looking at what is the what do I think is beautiful and why? Or what have I been told is beautiful, but what do I really think? Or how do I accept myself as beautiful in a world that tells me I'm not, right? So those are some things. Just some light, just some light reading for everybody, just some light homework, right? I mean, my goodness. And then um, you know, other things I think we need to look at is obviously race and racism related. Um, you know, looking at how you feel about people of different skin colors, and that's the work, you know, that's the work, and it's you know, it's not easy. I remember how eye-opening it was in college to take this African-American folklore class and being one of two white people in the class, and for the first time in my life, kind of being like a fly in the wall and getting to hear mainly women, there were mainly women of color, talk about white people and talk about how they felt and how they made them feel, and all of it, it was so eye-opening. I asked a lot of questions, I was quiet, and I listened because this was like important work for me. It's formative. It helped me become a better educator and a better human being because it's like, okay, now I'm really learning about something I don't know anything about because it's not my lived experience. And so, you know, it's just asking those questions. It's asking yourself about the media you consume. Like, who are you following? What are you being shown? What TV shows are you watching? What news, where are you, where is your news coming from? I'm trusting more news from England, the UK right now. That's just personal. Like having the news outside of our country for lots of reasons. And, you know, and how do you feel about it when you see a tragedy? It's like it's hard, you know, it's it's very heavy, it's very exhausting. It's exhausting to care. It's exhausting to care. And you're not alone if you feel that way. If you're like, I need to turn off the news, like every Sunday I don't go on social media. I abstain. And that's where I get my news from. So then on Sundays I don't really consume any news. And I usually do a lot more reading and outside time and things like that. And I need to do that in order to fill my cup in order to be able to take more information in later. Um, but yeah, I think we have to be we have to do things in moderation. Someone in our coven said, observe, don't absorb the news. And that is so profound. You know, if you find yourself doing a deep dive and you're just like video after video, that's a lot of trauma that you're taking in and be aware of that. Like it's traumatic to see the news, to see video of things. It is. And so, you know, we don't become desensitized. Like it's it's in there. And so it's important for you to remember that. Like to take time out to go out and ground, to journal, to talk about how you feel with somebody else, like how it makes you feel. And all of your opinions and feelings are valid, you know. I hear that a lot too. It's like, well, I'm not. I'm not this, so I don't know if I'm allowed to feel upset. Yes, you are. You can be upset on someone else's behalf, or you can feel feelings, it can trigger things in you. You gotta be honest about those things. And I think that's part of the work too, is just being honest. Like, I'm tired of hearing this. This is exhausting. I need a break. I don't want to talk about this. I want to go play a game. Then do that. You know. We don't need nobody needs to be in the news cycle constantly. That would be exhausting and disorienting. Because you have to have time to process and you have to have time to think and you have to have time to talk to other people, and you have to have time to do other things. Fill your cup to find things that give you hope, right? The weather's turning warmer, and so personally, like some things that are giving me hope or that I'm doing is spring here, like in most places, like we get cold days, rainy days, and then warm days. So I'm trying to, on the warm days, plan longer walks for myself, um, plan trips to the park, plan time to work in my yard, um, just even reading outside or even bringing my computer outside, trying to get outside in the sunshine and in the warmth consciously, like really trying to do that. Um, and that's giving me hope because spring is a hopeful, it's a hopeful time. Um I'm decorating a lot of people in our coven are decorating for Ostara early. I think they want the renewal, I think they need the hope, and I think that's smart. So, you know, some Ostara equinox decorations, they're Easter decorations. They're eggs, they're bunnies, they're snakes, they're new life lambs, um, flowers. I just I grow daffodils, I just brought one inside today. Um, it was one that was like kind of laying down, and I was like, this is perfect because I wanted just one just to enjoy inside. You know, it's anything that says refresh or renewal to you. I like to use wreaths as like a nest and then put like eggs in there, like um wooden eggs. I really like wooden eggs. I think those are really beautiful. Partly because my grandma had some and I just always admired them as a child. And, you know, things like that give me hope. Um listening to good music gives me hope. There's been some YouTube put out a really good EP. Bruce Springsteen's been cool. Tomorrow joined Bruce Springsteen's uh tour, which is amazing. Um, but there's been like good music, good books, you know, reading. I liked I'm reading um, oh, what's the name of it? It's right here. It's Patty Smith's memoir. Sorry, it's Bread of Angels. Patty Smith is a legend. And it's a memoir I read uh Just Kids from her, and this came out, and I was like, I need this. I asked for it on my birthday, but my husband gave it to me early. So you don't need to wait, let's just grab it now. And so she's a poet first. So when she writes, it's like when Joy Harjo writes a memoir. It's just from the soul, it's so beautiful. Every line is got so much meaning to it. It's got some imagery, like I can feel like I'm with her. Um, and she's inspiring too. So that's been a really good, uplifting book to read, um, especially because she went through so many childhood illnesses. And it's just nice to read about someone going through something and coming back up the other side. Um, I've been watching movies that make me feel something or invoke something. Um I noticed the horror genre is the most interesting thing right now, like in movies. Like Sinners, I think was the best movie I've seen in a really, really long time for lots of reasons. But that genre is they take more risks, they make more political, take more political risks, have more messages, um, it's more artsy. Um looking for I saw the trailer for Is God Is that looks amazing. Also can't wait to see Bride. Um, yeah, so you know, doing that, um making good meals, those are things doing getting grounded, talking. That's why I started the resistance circle because people just need to talk right now. You need to talk things over with other people. Um, that's the best way to understand what's going on in the world is through dialogue with others. And yeah, so some journal questions are let's focus on the judgment card. So, what truth are you being called to share? Where can you release some judgment of yourself? Where can you release some judgment of others? And for spring, what kind of renewal are you seeking? Next week we're gonna talk about Ostara and the spring equinox and how to celebrate. So I will talk to you then. Bless it be.