Your Altar Can Be Unworthy of Social Media And Powerful

You’re allowed to celebrate what you actually celebrate. We start with a real world, guilt free take on Easter and Ostara, including why so many spring symbols overlap, how folk magic has long lived alongside Catholic and Christian traditions, and how to make any holiday feel witchy without forcing yourself into someone else’s rules. If you want to dye eggs with sigils, bless your sweets, or just honor the season between Ostara and Beltane, do it!

From there, we move into spring as “go time,” Our Coven's theme of Bloom, and the idea that blooming is a rite of passage you can choose on purpose. I share what’s coming up for me, including teaching in person again and heading to Spirit Northwest in Portland, plus all the nerves and excitement that come with traveling alone and stepping into a new chapter. If you’ve got conference tips, I’m listening.

We pull the King of Wands from the Magical Hours Tarot and talk Aries season energy, vision, and how to actually get things done without tipping into burnout or ego. Then we dive into altars as the heart of the home, with practical altar ideas for small spaces, broom closeted witches, and anyone tired of “perfect” social media setups. We close with a quick but important reality check on divine feminine healing, how to spot red flags online, and why balanced inner energy matters for every gender. Check out my substack for an altar look book. 

https://substack.com/@jennycbell?

Subscribe for more Cozy Coven chats, share this with a friend who needs permission to do things their own way, and leave a review so more witches can find us. What are you blooming into this spring?

Transcript

Welcome And Holiday Blending

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello and welcome to another Cozy Coven chat. This is your host, Jenny C. Bell, and this is for the week of April 5th. Uh happy Easter to those that do uh double duty. There's some Christian witches out there, there's some people that blend holidays, um, no judgment ever, ever. Um, we do Easter here. My family's Catholic, my husband's family's Christian, and so it's just easier. And honestly, Ostara kind of comes from Easter. It's like one of those situations where it really wasn't like this ancient holiday. There might have been some holidays uh around that time that were similar, and I'm sure ancient people had spring celebrations and all of that. The spring equinox, I'm sure, was celebrated. But Ostara itself and a lot of the iconography and all of that is very much like Wiccans put it together, Daryl Gardner. So, like if you are a witch and you didn't celebrate Ostara, use Easter as your Ostara. Like, do all the witchy things. Like you dye your eggs and you can dye them, you know, with witchy symbols and think about fertility and all of the stuff. Put an Easter basket on your altar, put Easter candy on your altar. Why not? Right? I think I don't know, like something that COVID taught us as a family was like just celebrate all the things because we couldn't go anywhere. So we just started celebrating holidays that didn't even belong to us, like celebrating other people's holidays. And we still to this like day celebrate uh Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year because we started during COVID and the kids liked it and they like eating noodles, and they were like, Are you doing that again? Sure, why not? So have fun. Celebrate Easter guilt-free. Don't be like, I'm not a good witch if I celebrate Easter. Like, that's the internet trying to tell you that. Like, there's so many people on TikTok that are so hateful for no reason about Christian witches or witches doing Christian things, but the truth is a lot of witchcraft survived, folk magic survived with Catholicism. You know, there's a lot of like what we look at as, you know, hoodoo and voodoo. There's some like Catholic mixing, Italian witchcraft, praying to saints. You have, you know, all kinds of m intermixing. And I have a whole like series on TikTok about how witches do Catholic things and Catholics do witchy things, and they do. I mean, even Easter itself is all determined on the moon. So cycle. That's how we that's how they determine where Easter's placed. So have fun. If you want to eat a bunny, do it. Do it, have fun. It's like you don't, you know, make it witchy. Um, if you are a witch and you're like I kind of secretly still like Jesus, that's okay too. Or if you're a witch and like I've had so much religious wounding, I want nothing to do with that stuff, that's okay too. Like everyone's welcome here. So if you want to, we're in the energy of Ostara leading up to Beltane, we're in the energy of spring. And so for me, it's like this is a time of fertility, of seed planting, of being outside, of collecting rainwater for spells, collecting and doing seed work, manifesting time. Spring is our go time, I think of seasonally, right? It's like winter is dreaming, it's shadow work, it's slumber, it's going within, it's quiet. And then spring is like, let's manifest this stuff, let's let's do it. And then in summer, it's like, okay, let's actually put it into action. And then fall is like, let's let some shit go. So that's it in a nutshell. Um, so yeah, that's how I feel. So enjoy Easter if you want to, and if you don't want to, do something else, right? You don't have to do Easter stuff, you know, nobody's watching you. If nobody's watching you, you don't have family obligations, do whatever you want, really. Um, yeah, so I wanted to talk about that. Uh in our coven right now, our theme is bloom and conveniently came after emerge. And we are just kind of focusing on what it means to bloom. And I talked about I asked a question in there too. I'm gonna ask you, this is a fun question. Um, you know, when we think of bloom, we think of like rite of passage, right? Like blooming, becoming a per like an adult. And so, what are some of your favorite rite of passage movies? And, you know, transition movies. And I think of my it's probably top is ten things I hate about you. Um, I love that movie so much. I loved Heath Ledger. I'll never forget, it was the first time a celebrity passing away deeply affected me. I had to pull over because I was like listening to MPR. They announced his death, and I remember I'm having to pull over, and I was crying, and I was like, what's wrong with me? But it's because you know he wasn't that much older than me and he had a child, all the things. Um, and so such a great movie. I love Julia Styles. Like, what an icon from the 90s. So, bloom, what does it mean to bloom? What are you seeing blooming? You know, all of those things. And for me, it's like really fitting because I am gonna get out there in the world in Portland and teach in person, which I haven't done since like COVID times. I was really fortunate. I moved to Oregon during COVID. Well, this part's not fortunate. So I moved to Oregon during COVID from California, knew nobody, and then had a COVID kindergartner, which was terrible. Like they use that term right now for the current kindergartners, but like my kid's an actual COVID kindergartner because he started school online, which was not great for him or anybody else, but we got through it. So we had that, and then we were only here a couple of months, and this huge fire went through our valley. And we had evacuated before in California, so it's not like you know, if you live on the West Coast, unfortunately, fires aren't really new. Um, but this was crazy and it was terrifying, and we knew that if we evacuated, we knew nobody, and it was COVID, so a lot of places didn't want you. People I know that evacuated, um, they ended up camping, but it's like super smoky, it's just it was horrible transition. And so I was already kind of on this path of wanting to teach about spirituality and crystals and doing card readings, and it's like COVID, which is why so much of my body of work is online, you know, because it all began then. And but there was this really a cool place that's no longer uh in our city. Uh she's moved on, but we had this apothecary called Elder Apothecary, and she let me teach classes during COVID, and it was such a wonderful thing to like have a physical space to go to, to have a place to teach, to connect with people, you know, six feet apart or whatever, but still connecting and teaching in person. It really gave me a lot of confidence to do what I do. So um I'll be blooming again. I did some events last year locally for Spirit Crystals, but I've secretly wanted to be at a witchy conference for so long. And Spirit Northwest is in Portland. I'm in Southern Oregon, so I don't have to fly. And so it makes it a little less expensive for me. And it just seems like exciting. There's like a like a really cool group of people that'll be there. Um, I'm gonna meet some people in person that I've never met be in person. Heather Green, who I get to sometimes be on the movie coven, her movie coven show, um, she'll be there, and so I'll get to meet her in person. I'll get to meet Ashley Bodell. I talk about her podcast on here a lot, um, and so I'll get to meet her in person. And then someone from our coven is going to be there, so I'll get to meet her in person. So, and maybe more people like listen to the podcast or read the book or whatever. I'm so down to clown. No, I'm so excited to just like put faces to, you know, like seeing people online is one thing, but like seeing them in person, you know, it's like just get the energy and all that. There's gonna be like a game night, there's a movie night. Um, I'm bringing, I did some research and I'm bringing some um book plate stickers so that I can get authors to sign them. Because I didn't want to bring like all of my books, it seems a little unhinged, even for me. So I'll be doing that and seeing if they'll sign them, and then I'll come home and put them in my books, and I'll be doing book signings too. I think I'm going as much of a fan than more than anything else. So um, if you have tips and tricks for conferences and traveling alone, let me know. I haven't done this in a really long time. Never done a witchy conference, and so I'm hoping this is one of many. I'm hoping to do more in the future. And hoping to always do Spirit Northwest, like it's just it's local, so like it seems exciting. Um, but yeah, like give me your tips and tricks, give me your ideas. I'll tell you that I used to go to a conference every year as a teacher. I was a teacher that I was avid-trained, which stands for advancement via individual determination. And it was a program started in San Diego by this teacher who saw her students who didn't have parents who went to college and really just needed some bridging of skills. Like they had all the academics and they had the want and the drive to go to college, but because no one in their family had gone to college, they didn't know how to do it. Because a lot of counselors don't help you. I was not helped. I could have really, I was like truly an avid kid. Like I had good grades and I ended up at community college. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I probably could have ended up straight out of four-year, four-year with some scholarships and whatever if I had the support. But my mom didn't go to college and neither did anybody else near or around me. So it was like nobody knew what they were doing. It just seems hard, and it is, it's actually really hard to apply and do financial aid and do all the things. It's like such a huge learning curve. And so I was an avid teacher, loved it, and I was avid trained, but that meant every year I had to go to San Diego. I had to. I know, sounds like such a chore. Um, which San Diego is so nice if you've never been. I'm that was like a bit melodramatic, even for me. So I had to go to San Diego every year for at least four days, and I had to stay in a really nice hotel, and I had to take classes, and I had to go out to dinner with the rest of my team and have it all paid for by the district. It was really pretty sweet. Um, and so I haven't done a non-teacher conference. Teacher conferences are very focused on like learning, there's not a lot of like free stuff, there's no parties. I mean, maybe there are, I just didn't get invited, which that's fine. Um, I do have some really fun memories because a lot of times I would have to share a room with they'd be like basically the district would be like, we don't want to pay for more rooms, so you have to share a room with someone of the same gender. And sometimes I would know the person and sometimes I wouldn't. I'm like, hey, roommate. So weird. But I got to one time a room with a friend that was already a friend, Melissa, and she's so fun. And we have this, she loves this, she would love to tell the story, but we had like bought a bottle of wine because where we were in our hotel, we could sit on the balcony and see the fireworks from SeaWorld every night. And so she's like, let's get a bottle of wine and let's split it and watch the fireworks and just like chit-chat. And I'm like, Yeah, she's really fun person, um, an amazing teacher. So anyway, I was like, sure. And so we get the bottle of wine and we cannot get it open. And so she's like, let's bring it downstairs and have like someone at the hotel do that for us. And she was like a little older, a little more well-traveled, and like, you can do that. She's like, Yeah, they can get you anything. And I'm like, okay, yeah. So we go, and she's much taller than I am. I'm not really, I'm five, two and a half, so I'm really not that tall. And we were both in our pajamas, and she's like going to ask the person about winning the wine, and she like looks around, and I'm like, in her, she's like, You completely disappeared. I stood behind her so that I wouldn't be seen in my pajamas. And she just thought that was so ridiculous because the uh elevator was glass. She's like, Everyone saw you anyway. I was like, Yeah, but I just don't know. Um, so it was like fun. I would get to try different foods and whatever. And if you've never been to San Diego and you've been thinking about going, you should go. Like, unless you really hate animals, good Mexican food, um, pretty architecture, warm beaches. Um, if you hate any of those things, then don't go. But if you like those things, you should go. We had San Diego Zoo passes um till we moved. We took our kids so many times. We would go to the night zoo and the Christmas zoo, and you know, we had the special cheetah experience where we got to like be with the cheetahs, see the cheetahs race, we got to see a baby rhino. Um, I don't even know. It's like my happy place. The kids like still talk about it. The San Diego Zoo is like our happy place, and we learned all the restaurants around there. We loved Pizzeria Luigi, um, which was actually on Diners Drive Inns and Dives. You can get pizza by the slice. And being from New Jersey, I was I'm a pizza snob. I'm just gonna be clear. I'm a pizza snob. I liked Ray's pizza in New York City, and I liked Pizza 46 in New Jersey, and then we go to this Pizzeria Luigi, and it met my standards, and it's delicious. So a really good Mexican food all throughout San Diego. Love the little like downtown area, and you can see people make tortillas in the windows, like ugh, it's amazing. We one time like stayed in La Jolla as a family and then went and saw the seals on the beach, and that's when I learned seals throw up a lot, and they're kind of gross, even though they're cute. So highly recommend it. It's a fun, fun place to visit. Um, and so anyway, I really got as usual, I got sidetracked, talking about conferences. So I would go to these teacher conferences, which you get up at like seven. Usually, like your class session would be you have to sign up for so many sessions, and you have to um sit there and usually have to do like little like get to know you activities and this and that. There's always a new book to learn, and you always have homework. Um, but it was fun because it's like a beautiful place. And I one time had uh this, you know, don't worry, be happy, Bobby McFerrin. One time his brother was my teacher. Um, he was a really good teacher, actually. So it would meet people from around California, sometimes like around the country, because they'd get to fly in, their their district had a bigger budget, I guess, and they'd fly in and take the conferences. So never done a witchy conference. So I'm excited to just be in my witchiness. My daughter helped me pick out my outfits. We did a lot of thrifting, and she's like, you should wear this for this day and this for that day. So um I'm gonna be hanging out, not just going on the day that I'm presenting. I want to like actually immerse myself in the experience and like take other classes and just have fun. Just have fun. I am nervous, I don't usually travel alone. I am definitely a passenger princess. Um, so it'll be an adventure. And when I return, I will tell you all about a conference. Just like when I returned, I told you all about uh silent retreats and what that's like, just because you know, it's a lot of money for people to travel and say, Yes, I want to do this conference. And it's an investment in yourself and just an investment in general, and so I want to go and I'm really gonna try to be a reporter when I come back and let you know, like as a real journalist, you know, if you should go, like who they're for and what the vibe is and kind of thing. Um so we have that. Our card, wow, like I didn't even get to our card yet. So our card for the week, I am using the magical hours tarot or tarot, if you want to be fancy. And it's really beautiful. It's one of my favorites, I think he got it last year. It's from US Games. Um, and I got the King of Wands, and I love him because he looks kind of like uh like a pan type. It's a man with these beautiful branches f on his head that are flowering with a bird, and he's holding like this gorgeous wand, and he's kind of like cuddling a lizard, and there's flowers everywhere, so it's just so beautiful. Um, I am gonna read from the book because that's kind of been the fun thing about um using the different decks. This what's cool about the magical arrows, hours, tarot, is they are all connected to plants. So, like, especially the major arcana. So the wands are connected to dawn plants, so like plants that bloom at dawn. So the king of wands is the absolute leader. He has a clear and lucid vision, and he heads towards the goal, completely immersed in the process. This is what I'm saying about this month, April, Aries season. This is the time to like get all your ducks in a row, manifest, goal set, like this is the energy of spring. Like, definitely. This means that he's very charismatic, charming, intelligent. At the same time, he can be so caught up in pride, thinking everything he believes is right. We all know people like that, that he forgets who he is leading, becoming arrogant and haughty. This king is looking ahead, this is what I'm saying. He knows how to close the circle and has the ability to he knows how to close a circle and has the ability to do so. He puts himself out there, fights for his ideals, and for what he knows can be accomplished if we follow the path he has laid out. He is unafraid, brave and fearless, also moved by fire, he's so Aries. He clarifies vision and sees where others cannot yet look. He is to be trusted when we decide to let his energy into our lives. So, Aries energy. Really strong right now. That's what that tells me. So, this week, this is your get stuff done week. Like tap into that Aries fire, call it into you, like call in the energy, call in the planet, call in the sign, call in just like I'm calling in Aries energy, I'm embodying Aries, Aries energy. Ask my your angels and guides to give you that fire, to light that fire, and just get stuff done, even if that just means creating the to-do lists for future you to get stuff done. That's this week. And honestly, I'm in the process of writing a book, and so that is actually good. That's good for me. I'm also uh working on my presentation for the conference, so I need this energy. This is perfect, actually. So after Easter, it's get stuff done. Um, and then I wanted to talk about uh some news. So Insight Timer, I'm a teacher on there, is going to be having video. They emailed all the teachers, so I don't it's not private news. So we've been uploading video and things like that. So I wanted to put out there is there something you want to learn through video on Insight Timer? Like you're like, oh, I'd like you to show us this, or would you put a video out on this? There's video, there's gonna be video series, and there's going to be um free video, and then there's going to be um what are they they don't call it like prime plus. There's gonna be plus videos for those that pay. So let me know. Let me know what's like, yeah, just do a video on a samurai pot, whatever. I'm open. Um I think it could potentially be really fun. I really just do that for the fun because like I've told you before, I don't make much money on there. And so yeah, that'll be fun. Um, and then I also um will be on so I've talked about Granddaughter Crow on here before. I've interviewed her on here before. And as you know, I don't really interview people on this podcast anymore. And that's because I didn't really enjoy interviewing people by myself. And so I'm going to be a sometimes co-host on Granddaughter Crow's show, Belief Being and Beyond. And I'm kind of taking on a role of like, we we decided, you know, if you're gonna, if I'm gonna be a co-host sometimes, I need a role. Like I can't just be on there. She's like, someone's gotta drive the bus, someone's got a passenger. I'm like, I'm a permanent passenger princess, so don't worry. Um, but I'm gonna be on there as kind of like a lit witch, which is actually the role that I've kind of stepped into on the movie Coven to that I'm sometimes a substitute teacher for. Um, so what that what does that mean? That means that I actually have a degree in literature, and so when we have guests that have books, I'm going to be really looking at their books, not critically, but like really getting to know their book, and that'll be kind of my role on the podcast. I'm super excited because we get along really well. She's a wonderful person. I love her show. Um, I think that was the first podcast I ever got put on for my book, for Spirit Crystals. Yeah. And I've been on there a few times since. I like chatting with her, I like bouncing ideas off of her. Um, she's been really helpful. Uh so yeah, so look for me on there. Well, I'll be on there. She's a YouTube channel, she's on all the places you listen to. Um and it's gonna be a new adventure. So I'll I'm gonna keep this show, and then I'm gonna be on that show too, and hopefully still the movie coming sometimes. So I'm spreading the love around. Okay, so we're continuing our series on talking about the different chapters of divergent witchcraft. And so today we're talking about altars, and I am a Taurus sun and a cancer rising, so I'm a homebody, and my living space is very important to me. It's very Venus inspired. I have a friend who's a fellow thrifter and a Sagittarius who says like whatever's on her mind, and she's like Your house is just so cool. And I'm like, that's from a place of truth, because they're, you know, if you know a Sagittarius, they're not gonna say that to you ever, just to say it to you. Um, so she just like really appreciates my sense of style, which made me feel really good. So altars, um, in the chap the book, that's part of the first kind of section of building a foundation for yourself as a witch, and that is meditation, journaling, and altar building. And I call the chapter um that the altar is the heart of your home. And so I just want to first address that I know that some people are broom-closeted, and some people don't have supportive partners or family, or even like like a big living space, right? You know, there's all kinds of people living in different ways and listening to the show, and so it is definitely a privilege to have a space to live in, to have a supportive partner, and I know that. And I know not everybody has that, and so I don't want you to think that when I talk about altars, that I'm unaware of that. I want you to know that an altar can be really tiny, like it can be in a matchbox, and your deities and your guides are not gonna be offended, they're not gonna be like, oh, that's all you gave me. It doesn't have to be like what you see on social media. In fact, I think a lot of those are fake. Let's just start calling them out and be like, is this like for real? Um, but also like to put all that effort in, that can't be real. I don't know. So uh with this episode, there's also a Substack article. So if you don't follow me on Substack, find my Substack. Um Jenny Seabell on all the social medias. And I put some um, there's it's basically a lookbook of different photographs of my own altar stuff and like where I get them and how to create an altar visually. So if you're listening to this and you want some visual, visual inspiration that's like doable. You know what I mean? Like sometimes like these people, especially just do yourself a favor, just look up like Aphrodite or Venus altars. Someone in our coven actually has like one that's real and it's gorgeous. But people really go all out for those because it's associated with beauty. And just do that and then then don't feel bad though. Like, do it, do it knowing like I'm not gonna actually do that. I'm just gonna be inspired. That's the real key with the social media altars, is like they're supposed to be inspiring, just like um travel influencers. Like, I'm not traveling right now, like like I what? Like, who can even afford that? I don't even know. Um, and then plus all the other stuff going on at the US airports, like mm, I don't know. But so like a travel influencer, it's never supposed to be attainable, it's just supposed to be inspiring, right? And I think people forget that with influencers, especially. They're like, oh yeah, I want to like live their life. No, like they're getting paid to sell a life that doesn't exist. Like that's the whole, that's their whole shtick, is they're like, I'm gonna sell you a dream that's not real. Um, so sometimes with the altars, like I really digressed on that one, but it's how I truthfully feel. Um sometimes with the altars, it's just like people put these pictures. I want to like laugh, be like, this is ridiculous. Like, what? Like, how do you even have the money in this space? And I don't know. So it can be tiny, it can be a matchbox, it can be a shoebox, a hat box, and then you put it away or under your bed and no one knows about it, and you pull it out just for ceremony. Like, it can be small, it can be outside, it can be on a train. I'm just and that was from green eggs in hand. Um no, it can be in your car, it can be in your pocket. Like it really doesn't have to be what you see online. Okay. I just really, really want you to know that. So there's different things you could use do a wall altar, um, like with a like a bookshelf that's on the wall, that you can do on closet shelf, side table, dresser, desk. Um, outside, I built, I took two cinder blocks and I put a slab of slate, and that's my outside altar. Um, you could do all kinds of things. Like, you know, those, you know those booknooks? Have you seen those? Like, look those up. It's like it's like a little booknook that's a miniature that sits on a bookshelf. I've been thinking like that could be such a fun altar for somebody. Like it looks, it'll look just like a booknook and people won't know. Windowsills make really great spots, kitchen counter. Um, it really the limitation is just in your mind. Like it's wherever you want to build it, wherever it feels comfortable to you, and it can be like totally hidden. Like people won't have to walk in and be like, oh, that's an altar. Like they might just look and be like, that's a really pretty collection of stones. And that's fine. Like you can be as incognito as you need to. Um, so in the chapter, I really talk about that. I talk about altar design and building. But the main point of that chapter that I really want to drive home is that witchcraft is supposed to be fun and playful and creative. And I think that gets lost with what I was talking about with these grandiose, unattainable altars. And you go, well, I can't do that, so like what's the point? And the point is that yours is supposed to reflect you and your path and your likes and who you are working with and what you're working on and what you're manifesting, and what spell work you're doing, and what deity you worship if you do that. And that's all it's supposed to reflect, not anything else. And so it's really should be fun and playful. Like, I enjoy putting my altar together, and you know, part of that is like I just like to decorate, you know, and I like to change it up seasonally. You don't have to, but I like to do that. Um, and there's rules, like if you work in within a certain system, right? Like you practice a certain type of folk magic or magic, there's gonna be rules about like how your altar should be set up. And some people really like that, they like really want to be told. Um, and then other people don't. And so in the book, I talk about the kind of goddess and god energy of the Wiccan movement, and how that was basically my introduction to an altar. So it was like, you know, originally at my altar had two sides, it had the god side and the goddess side, and put different things on different sides to represent like the different things so that it was like a balance. And then at some point I'm like, I don't really like this because I want to like change it seasonally, and I don't like the structure, and then I just was like, I'm not doing it anymore. And now I guess I should confess this. I have so many altars. So I have like two wall altars. One is from this, um, is in this little arch thing I bought at IKEA years ago. Another is like this cool triangle, um, interlocking triangle uh shelf I got on Etsy, and that's gonna that's in the lookbook on Substack. Then I have a seasonal altar, then I have um a crystal skull altar, then I have uh altars dedicated to two specific deities, and then I have a windowsill off like altar in the kitchen, a kitchen altar, and I have an outside altar, and then I often decorate our mantle as the family altar. My husband has an altar and both children have an altar. So I think our house has probably more altars than not, and that's because why not? Like honestly, why not? You know, so let's talk about what we put on the altar where we get the stuff. So the stuff a lot of times you already have in your house. Like you probably already have cool things to put on the altar, and I'll explain like what those cool things could be. Um, and otherwise, I buy a lot of my altar stuff on like thrifting at estate sales, antique shops, uh, Dollar Tree, or I gather them from outside. So things, things you can put on altars. I think you can really think outside the box when you think about like what the altar, like the base of the altar. It could be an altar cloth that you buy, or it can be a scarf, or a piece of fabric, or a placemat, or a really cool plate, or a little bowl. Like it doesn't have to be the altar cloth that you bought for that purpose. It can be many things. Um, I like to use doilies sometimes, which you can find thrifting. And then there's always, you know, like what goes on the altar? Whatever you want. You know, what are you into? What do you already collect? What do you work with? Do you work with a deity? Do you want to put your cards on there? Do you want a card altar? Do you want to have a crystal altar? Do you want to put candles on there? Are you gonna follow like a format where you have a deity, so you always have flowers, you always have water, you always have an offering? Or are you not gonna do that? Are you gonna have an are you gonna represent, have all the elements represented on your altar or not? Are you going to do seasonal and what does seasonal look like for you where you live, not what it looks like in Europe, where a lot of the kind of stuff was based on for Wicca. You know, just kind of like free flowing it. So definitely look in the lookbook. If you don't have an altar, definitely look on there because it should help. And then just know that a lot of what you see online is ridiculous, in my opinion, as a witch. And part of you know, like live living the cozy life and having a slow living journey is like slowly collecting the altar stuff. Like it doesn't all have to be bought today. Like make a little list. Like, I would really like a cool goblet for my altar. I'd really like this. That's what I did when I was a kid, and I would do uh my friend and I called it garage sailing. We'd go garage sailing and looking for stuff, and it just kept a list. I still, as an adult, I have a thrift list. Like I have a list of things that keep me humble. Because sometimes I sometimes I go to like a thrift store and antique store. I'm like, I want this. But I'm like, I don't actually need it, you know, Taurus. I like shiny things, I'm a hoarder. No, I'm really not. Um, my husband is never, because he's a minimalist, married to a maximalist, so we meet in the middle. Um, but yeah, so you just you know put together a list. Like these are things I'd like, I'd like to collect this on nature, and it'll really help you cultivate. I think of like having an altar almost like being a museum curator, like really kind of having like this thing that you want to collect and you want to put there. So things I like to collect for my altar um for the longest time, and this is in the lookbook. I really wanted the Avon hands soap dish. It was like on my list for years, and then I found one. I was like, oh my gosh. And I love using that for things because I just love that it's hands holding whatever it is I put in the altar. It feels very symbolic. Um it was the same with an abalone shell, because there you can't really buy get them, you can't be collected anymore. So I knew it had to be used, and uh it was on my list forever, and I found one at an estate sale. And then the like a week later, I found another one at an estate sale. So now my husband has one. So it's like how funny. Um, but yeah, you know, like it's limited to your imagination, and don't rush it and have fun and play. I think those are my best advice for alters. And I want to really quickly touch on something I've been seeing on social media. So I might talk about it again next week, but I've been seeing this real pushback uh against divine feminine healing. And it's because I think partly because Deepak Chopra was a big proponent of it, and we all know he's a creep. Um, but also because there's this weird, almost like strange thing about in order to be healed in your divine feminine, you need a divine masculine inner life, which is such BS. Um and in my book, Div uh Divergent Witchcraft, I talk about divine feminine healing, and I want to explain why, because I don't want people to be turned off by it or think I'm a creep. Okay, so um everyone in our society, because we live in a patriarchy, is often in their masculine energy too often. And that means, what does that mean, Jenny? That means that we're in our solar or godlike energy when we talk about goddess and god, right? Going back to like Wicca and Wicca and roots. So many people spend so much time in this solar or masculine energy of just doing, you know, like even like when we greet each other, like what do you do for a living? And a lot of people feel like they have to be productive and they have to earn rest and they have to like at the end of the day like cross everything off the list and be like, I earned this, and it's that's all masculine and that's all patriarchy, it's doing. And so in my book, I talk about how everybody needs divine feminine healing, regardless of gender, and that I think, in my opinion, that many neurodivergent people are naturally in their divine feminine energy more than masculine, again, regardless of gender, and that's part of why they have a hard time fitting into the patriarchy. Again, this is what I see, right? I'm not a sociologist or whatever, but from what I've seen in my experience and my personal experience with other people. And so when I'm talking about divine feminine healing, I need you to know I am talking about not finding it through another person. Like I would never be talking about that. It's about balancing the energy within yourself because we all have both energies, right? We have the moon and the sun energy or the god and the goddess energy, however you want to phrase it, but we have the different aspects, and it's regardless of gender, gender's construct, it's none of that, it's more like the attributes of ourselves at the basic level. And so if you see someone online talking about divine feminine healing and they're saying the way you need to heal that is through a divine masculine person, I think that's a red flag. If you see someone talking about divine feminine healing, about healing the collective feminine, about adding aspects of matriarchy, about, you know, you know, talking about the truth about Mary Magdalene, how she's not a whore, I think that's a green flag. So I think it's like, don't write it off. Don't be like, okay, anybody that says anything about divine feminine is probably like secretly Christian or whatever people are saying. There's all kinds of interesting things people are saying online. Instead, listen to how they're talking about it and definitely normalize asking. Like, where'd you get this information? Like, ask, you know, and they're like, oh, I got it from this book, and then you're like, oh, I don't like that author. Then you know. But I do talk about it in my book because I do feel it's helped me personally in my life, um, especially as someone who's growing up in a patriarchy, especially as someone who's raised in a Catholic environment that's just very male-heavy, father, son, holy spirit, like everybody's masculine and women are an afterthought. I needed to heal the feminine parts of myself. I know I've talked about it on here before. I'm talking about it again because I keep seeing it online, and I'm like, oh, why are you saying it that way? So anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there as my last little thought. Um back to our journal questions. So like for I want to talk a little bit about altars for journal questions. So do you currently have an altar? And if so, are you happy with it? Second, do you have like a thrifting or witchy or altar list? And if not, why don't you start one? Um, to go with our card. You know, what like how could you use some fiery Aries energy this week? And where do you need to add that energy in your life in general? And happy Easter. Definitely check out the lookbook on Substack. And if you're interested in our coven, we'll gladly take you. Um, you can go to jennycbell.com for more on that. And as always, thanks for listening. Bless it be.