Celebrating the Fall or Spring Equinox with a Balance Check-In

Want to celebrate the Equinox with me? 

I have a free event on Insight Timer: https://insig.ht/1C2on1M5l6b

Balance doesn’t magically arrive when life calms down. We have to build it, revisit it, and sometimes schedule it in and the equinox is one of the best seasonal moments to do that work with clarity. I’m sharing what I look at when I feel off center, how I tell the difference between balance and harmony, and why the smallest neglected area of life is often the one that changes everything once you feed it again. 

We start with a card using the Happy Halloween Tarot, pulling the Nine of Pentacles as a sweet reminder to celebrate your wins, define success on your own terms, and enjoy what you’ve already created. I also pull a card from the Morbid Mirror Oracle. From there, we move into equinox journaling prompts and a simple “life audit” across career, relationships, home life, health, and spirit. If you’re overwhelmed or working nonstop, I offer realistic ways to create small pockets of space, plus ritual ideas like nature observation, crystal grids, and seasonal mindfulness. 

Looking for community? Join Our Coven: https://our-coven.mn.co/landing

Then we step into Libra season with Venus-led themes of beauty, pleasure, and restoring flow, before closing with the Full Moon in Aries. Aries brings raw power and fresh-start energy, making it a great time to reflect back to Aries season, take stock of what you planted, and choose a gratitude or release ritual that matches your season whether you’re honoring Mabon or Ostara. 

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Come listen to my chat on the Missing Witches: https://www.missingwitches.com/mabon-2026-lying-on-the-floor-doing-witchcraft-with-ivy-zeller-jenny-bell-and-jasmin-stoffer/

Transcript

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Welcome And Week Ahead Preview

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello and welcome to another Cozy Coven Chat. This is for the week of September 20th. I am your host, Jenny C. Bell, and we have a lot to talk about. So this week is a big week. We have the autumn or the spring equinox, depending on where you live in the world. And honestly, you can treat them very similar, and I'll go over that in a moment. We also have a full moon on Saturday, September 26th. Um and it's in Aries, so that's fun. We also enter Libra season on September 22nd. So much going on.

Nine Of Pentacles And Gratitude

SPEAKER_00 0:50

So before we dive into all the astrology, um let's do our cards. So I'm still pulling from the Happy Halloween tarot by Sunny Graves. And today's card this week is the Nine of Pentacles. This is such a cute card. So it's a really happy jack-o'-lantern with five little mice all around the jack-o'-lantern. Oh, actually, six little white mice. And they have all this candy that they're getting into, and there's all these pentacles. And so it says this, I want to read the um booklet because I like the way she described it. Little Mouse has been collecting dropped candy for many a Halloween night. And the reason why I just want to stop there, when my kids were little, and we have it somewhere in the rafters, there was this book, and so if you have little kids or grandkids, or you're an auntie or something, recommend it. It's called Mouse's First Halloween. And it's so cute. It's about this little mouse who is experiencing Halloween for the first time and how it can be a little scary. So it's perfect for like kids who might be a little scared of Halloween. Um, and I just loved reading it because I always do voices and stuff, and I loved um, because every time the mouse would be scared, he'd go, eek. So I loved reading that to the kids. Um, it's such a cute book. Mouse's First Halloween. So anyway, Little Mouse has been collecting dropped candy for many a Halloween night, but this is an extra special Halloween night because Mouse's vision is finally reality. Their jack-o'-lantern is filled to the brim with sweet treats. Little Mouse thinks back to all those years of hard work and they realize their amazing ability to persevere. Tonight it's time to feast. So, yeah, Nine of Pentacles is about that. It's about like all of the hard work you put in and reaping the harvest and celebrating your wins and being in gratitude. And I love that message for us going into the equinox. Whether you're living down under and going into the spring equinox and you know, planting seeds and figuring out, you know, where you're going next in your life, or if you're here and you're doing the autumn equinox and you're going into like what am I harvesting? What am I grateful for? It's such a good message. So I really, really love that. How can I enjoy the pleasures of the life I created? So that's the first question. So if you're going into spring equinox, using that granite that gratitude to manifest. If you're going into autumn equinox, stepping into gratitude fully, starting to harvest the gratitude, starting to look back on the year and go, okay, this is what I did. How do I define success for myself and what makes me feel independent? Right? I love that. So how do you define success? Because my success and my definition of it is going to be different than yours. And it's not a universal thing. Don't let the internet fool you, don't let social media fool you, right? Success is an individual journey. So how do you define it? When do you feel successful? And then I like the idea of being independent. I was born independent. My first sentence was, I can do it. Um, my husband used to call me, uh, my maiden name is Riggie, I'm Italian, and he used to say, Um, I miss independent Riggie, and I don't need anybody. Because, you know, first date, I tried to pay, I opened the door for him. He was like, No, no, no, no, no. Um, not that he's traditional or anything, but he was like, I I'm here to love you and help take care of you. Tell me you're the eldest daughter of a single, a single mom, right? Like, come on. I couldn't get any more independent. So he's taught me to trust and lean on people sometimes. It's okay. So, what makes you feel independent? What doesn't make me feel independent, let me say. I can fix a toilet, I can install a stereo system and a TV, I can do lots of men things. Traditional men things, right? You can't see my air quotes. Um, which is pretty radical in the 90s. Now it's like a given that any gender can do anything. But in the 90s, I'm over here fixing plumbing issues and stuff. That was unheard of. My friends were just like being kids, living their life. Uh, and I was being a dad, right? It's like a joke about like eldest daughter is you know, the fill and dad, or sometimes the dad, depending, right? I was had a single mom. My daughter, when uh my husband's not around, she's the eldest daughter. I ask her to open things like can you open the jar? Can you help me lift something heavy? Like, and she always laughs that she's like the dad when he's away. So, you know, independence. What makes you feel independence? It might be um seeing a movie by yourself, like practical magic do. It might be um storing away something, right? Putting money away for yourself. I know some people who will tuck money, even like low bills, into pockets or into, you know, shoes or whatever, just so they have like a little money. They know there's money around if they need it. Um, have money in your money bowl, have money in your bank account. Whatever makes you feel independent. And then our morbid mirror card is creeping ivy, which I have in my yard. Um, I wish I didn't. It's a bit of a fire hazard where I live, but it was planted here and it's not worth fighting. It is very beautiful. Um, it's just not native, right? So creeping ivy, it's a crescent moon with a cracked headstone, and the ivy's creeping up. It's number 58. And it says, like Ivy, we thrive where there's room for us to grow. So the mouse filled up his jack-o'-lantern, right? He's feeling secure and independent and like he's winning. And then the other card is like Ivy, we thrive where there's room for us to grow. So giving gratitude, right, for what you do have makes space for receiving more. It's very um almost counterintuitive, right, when you're seeking change or seeking and manifesting something different that you should be grateful for what you already have. You may be like, yeah, but I want more or I want something different. But it's just it's a good mindset. It really is. So creeping ivy and nine of pentacles, and I don't want anybody to think that I believe in traditional gender roles or norms, but I'm just saying growing up in the 90s, um, I was definitely not the norm. And then our relationship has continued to evolve. My husband is also a feminist, like it's a very uh fun and balanced relationship. So fun to clarify before you come after me, don't come after me. Um I swear. Uh no, anyway, I digress. But this week we have a lot of energy coming in, a lot of balancing energy. So let's let's talk about each of them.

Giveaways Meditations And October Plans

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Let me do announcements first. Sorry, I'm a little scatterbrained. So announcements first. On 921 tomorrow on September 21st, follow me on Instagram. I'm at our Coven Community. I'm giving away um an audiobook of Divergent Witchcraft. So if you read it or you bought it and you're like, I haven't read it yet, or whatever, and you just want the audiobook or you want to give the audiobook to a friend of yours, you can enter that contest. On September 22nd, which is the actual equinox, I am doing a, and this is for anybody, so if you're celebrating spring or autumn, it's for all of us. I am doing an equinox meditation, guided meditation with a tarot spread and journaling. And it's about 45 minutes, it's going to be free, and it's on the free app Insight Timer, which is a great app. I use it all the time to meditate. You can also find on there. Um, I have a talk on the equinox and another meditation. Actually, I think I have two on the equinox. I also have them on my YouTube channel at Healing with Jenny. I have um a meditation for balance and another one for the equinox. So, and then I have them for spring too. So if you're in, you know, a different part of the world and you want looking for something on Ostara or spring, I have that stuff as well. So, you know, lots of backlog on there. But I'll be doing that as a um as just a free gathering. Just wanted people to have a place to gather on the equinox and kind of step into balance and harmony, especially, you know, it's kind of like double balance and harmony when it's the equinox, which is equal light and day, and then also Libra season, and their symbol is the scales. I mean, there's like lots of balance coming through. So I have those things going on. Um, granddaughter Crow and I, on every Wednesday, we're putting out chats um on belief being and beyond, but I'm collaborating on them. So if you go to at um if you go to my YouTube channel uh at Healing with Jenny, or you just type in Chats with Jenny on YouTube, it'll come up and you'll see them. So every Wednesday we have them and we have one on the equinox. So it's about how we personally both celebrate the equinox as a shaman and a witch. And then I will be on the Missing Witches uh podcast episode for Maybon, which is the traditional kind of pagan or wicked name for the holiday, um, or equinox, however you want to say it, I'll be on their equinox episode, so I'll have that linked for you as well. And so those are all the announcements.

Equinox Balance Audit And Journaling

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Okay, so let's talk about the equinox and then we'll talk about the full moon. I think that's the plan for today. Oh, that wasn't all the announcements. I lied. Um, because October is my time to shine as a witch and yours as well. I have a lot going on on all my different social medias, so I suggest following me somewhere if you don't already. I'm on Substack. Just if you go to jennycbell.com and you go to the bottom, all of my socials are there. So whatever you're on, follow me. So what I'll be doing is every Wednesday uh starting the let's see, the full week of October. So that's not next week. I have it all, I'm actually planning, everybody. So every Wednesday on starting October 7th, I will be having a Wednesday Adams themed card pull for you. So it'll be on both Substack and Instagram and probably TikTok. I will also be focusing starting next week for the next you know couple weeks during the season of October or the month of October, we will be focusing on Salwin here. So each one of the episodes, you know, still do card pulls and talk about the season, but we'll really be focusing on different aspects of Salwin and how to celebrate Sowin and everything you need to know. So it's gonna be very um very fun, very exciting. So I have that going on as well. Um so yeah, October is gonna be witchy, witchy, witchy, right? I think if it's I mean, we're already in the season of the witch in September, but really gonna be season of the witch time. So do you don't follow me places? Please do, because there'll be a lot of fun things to see. Okay, those are all the announcements, hopefully. Okay, on Tuesday, September 22nd, we have the Sun Anders Libra and we have Maybon, also known as the Autumn Equinox and the Spring Equinox, or Sara. I'm gonna take a drink. Okay, so at the very essence of an equinox, what you are tuning into is balance or harmony. Balance and harmony. I like to think of them as different things. Like they're sisters, but they're not the same. Balance for me is like all my ducks are in a row. Like I've had a if I had a a chart, like all the charts like completely even, whereas harmony is everything is congruent congruent. It's like flowing, right? So this is the time of year we have two equinoxes. This is the time of year for you to pause and go, what's out of balance? And so I usually look at several areas of my life. So I'm gonna give you what I look at. I look at career if you have one, I look at relationships, and if you want to like break those relationships down, like you could look at roles as well, but I'll talk about that in a second. So I look at career, I look at relationships, I look at um home life, right? I look at uh health, and I usually look at um I'm drawing a blank. Oh, spirit. Spirit, right? The other thing you could do is look at all your different roles, like all the hats you wear. Like I'm a mom, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm an author, I'm a wife, I'm a friend, I'm a co-host, I'm a podcast. Right, you can just however you want to do it. You're gonna look at the different areas of your life, and you're going to just kind of you can use cards, you can journal, but you're gonna sit with these areas of your life and get a feel for what is dominating your time, energy, and thoughts. So think about what you're thinking about at night. Like when you go to bed at night, what are the thoughts that are coming to you? A lot of times that's a clue as to like where a lot of your energy is, what's really dominating your time and your energy. And then you want to decide, is that working for you? Probably not. I'm gonna tell you it's probably not not working for you because this is what happens. We just get out of balance, it's normal. And then you're gonna want to go back and go, okay, so how do I slow my role on this thing that is dominating my time and energy? And how do I put more time and energy or make space for more in these other areas of my life, right? So let me just say, my one that's always the smallest is play or joy or fun. Like it's the last thing I think about doing. Um, I'm a cancer rising, I'm an eldest daughter, I'm a millennial, you know, there's a lot going on that really just makes me want to just work and work and work and have no play, right? So that's something I often revisit more than even just the twice a year. But I often will be like, okay, am I scheduling date nights with my husband? Am I scheduling uh girl days with my friends? Am I scheduling um Jenny days where I just go and do something for myself? And if I'm not, I need to start penciling myself into my own calendar. And so that's what you're gonna do. I suggest you don't have to, but you're here and you're listening. So I really suggest looking at the areas of your life. And you may at first be like, but I work 60 hours and like I don't have time for anything else. I get that, but there might be a some little space somewhere. So do your best to kind of try to figure it out. Could be as simple as when you get home instead of vegging out on social media or disconnecting or whatever, you take a walk or you lay in a meditation, and if you fall asleep, that's okay. Or you just sit with your crystals, or you pull a card. Like there just might be a way to shift it in a sh like a small amount, right? So I'm not saying you're gonna balance it all out. For most people in this country, in the Western worlds, work dominates our time and energy. That's just how it works at this time in late-stage capitalists, capitalism in the patriarchy. That's just how it is. We, you know, unless you're retired, and even then, some people retire and still have to work, right? So, for a lot of us, a lot of our energy and time goes to employment, making money, our job. Okay, so that can't be changed because you need to live, right? You need to pay to live. That's how it works in this society. So, in the time that you do have off, how can you balance that? And that's just something to think about. And it's a constant thing, right? I think that we're constantly going off balance and refining balance. But the equinox is a really good time to visit that. Other things I think about is you know, it's a balance of light and dark. So for us here on this side of the earth, we are going into darkness. And those of you who are celebrating spring, you're going into light. Okay, so what does that mean? You know, what does it mean to go into darkness? It means, like to me, I just immediately think of the hermit card. It means I'm going within, it means I'm doing shadow work, and it means I'm journaling more, it means I'm slowing down, it means I'm, you know, saying no to some things or whatever. And if you're going into the light, right, that makes me think more of like the sun card or the magician, right? Even, even the fool. You know, it's like I'm starting a journey, going into more, seeing what's available, what I'm doing. And so really it's like, what is your relationship with light and dark? It's another great question to ask yourself at this time. And, you know, how do you invite that in? And so, like when I do my my usually my equinox altar, long time ago, I don't even know if 99 cent only stores exist anymore. Because I don't have we don't have them here in Oregon. Um, but I found these uh skulls, one's black and one's white. Perfect representation of the equinox. And so I usually put them on my altar, and then right now I have tiny pumpkins that I bought, and I have apples that we harvested um on the altar, and then I just usually do like a grid of some kind for balancing. So I'll take my crystals and I just intuitively design something for balance, but like really simple one you can do is an equal cross. So like the plus sign for math, right? Like a that's a really good balancing um crystal grid to do. A circle is balanced, triangles balanced, like anything very symmetrical to me is a balancing shape. So you could make a crystal grid like that. I think if you can get outside, you know, I feel very strongly about that. I talk about that a lot in here. If you can get outside and observe the changes, like what are you seeing? Are leaves changing? Are they falling to the ground? Like, what is happening outside? What are the animals doing? What do the trees look like? What's the temperature? What's the sun like? You know, the sunlight changes depending on the time of the year, right? Here we're getting into that more golden light, which I just adore. Um but taking note, that's how you live a slow and present life is by noticing the things that most people are just too busy or too occupied or too distracted. It's noticing those things, stopping and looking at the clouds, stopping and looking at the ground. That's that's how we do that. So that's the equinox, and then we start Libra season, which I love. I love Venus, just love beauty.

Libra Season Beauty And Harmony

SPEAKER_00 20:48

So, really, like leading up to Libra season, it's a lot of Virgo cleaning and auditing and organizing. And then we get into Libra season. It's like, okay, time to beautify, time to buy the scented candles or make them. Um, it's time to, you know, wear nice clothes and feel pretty. It's time to make everything as pretty and as beautiful and as nice as you can. Time to give in to your senses and you know, wear a good perfume or cologne, you know. I just really love the beautifying of Libra season. And then Saturday we have the full moon in Aries. I'm gonna take a drink.

Aries Full Moon Power And Moon Water

SPEAKER_00 21:31

There is a moon festival going on here in our Japanese gardens that I'm hoping to attend with my son. So I think that would be really fun. But uh full moon culmination of power and energy, right? Aries is the beginning of the zodiac, the baby of the zodiac, right? What I like to think about at this time, and this is with every full moon, is okay, let's think back to Aries. So Aries season is the beginning of spring for us here, right? If you're on the other side, it's the beginning of fall. Where were you at that time? Like mentally, emotionally, where were you balanced at the time or not balanced? So it's a good time to kind of reflect on that as well. So thinking back to spring or you know, at the beginning of Aries season, the energetic new year, the zodiac, the astrological new year as it's known. Thinking back to that, where were you? mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually versus where are you now? And then to me, Aries is like an Aries and new moon is seed planting energy. An Aries full moon is like taking stock of those seeds. So for those of you in spring, this is an a like a good seed planting time. For those of you in fall, this is a time to maybe thank the harvest, right? Look at what you harvested. Be grateful for what you harvested. Sometimes on full moons I just give gratitude. Like instead of doing something, a spell or something, it's often a ritual of just like thank you for what happened or releasing what I didn't enjoy happened. But yeah, so it can be those things. Full moon in Aries is like a little bit of fire. It's a little bit of um fresh start energy. It's a little bit of like igniting something, sparking something. And so for those of you who are not winding down right and you're like looking at where you're balanced and you're like I'm gonna do this other thing or any little energy spark it's a good time to ask for that for some energy somewhere or a little help somewhere right and then um collecting moon water on oh I just see a ladybug. Ladybug just landed on the window. I think that's a good sign. Collecting moonwater under an Aries full moon I think of you know that's such just kind of raw power. Like an Aries is going to tank their little ram's horns and dig in and just go forth right so if you're feeling stuck somewhere you're feeling like you don't have the energy Aries full moon is going to give that to you. So that moon water you know you can preserve with um like a highproof alcohol or vinegar and keep or you can freeze it too but keep for when you need it. And so if you're feeling like a a dullness or a tiredness or a lagging you can kind of spritz that on whatever you're doing on a candle or on yourself even right into your aura into your crystals. And so yeah it's an energizing fresh start it's giving thanks it's kind of like what you want it to be depending um and then I don't have the Wii moons calendar but I believe that's I think that full moon would be the um lunar Maybon. So if you didn't if you're unable to celebrate Maybon the way you want to or the equinox on the 22nd then you can celebrate it on that full moon I think you know that's my personal view on that. Yeah so I hope you have a wonderful equinox. I hope you feel and can search and look at where you're balanced and not and then once you're looking at that then you're asking yourself like where how can I invite harmony and flow into my life right that's the Libra like the other part of that how can I invite in harmony like where in my life am I really pushing where I shouldn't be pushing and resisting where I shouldn't be resisting and how can I flow more right think about a river how can I flow more how can I balance those scales so yeah I hope you have a wonderful equinox and a beautiful full moon I'll be back next week to talk start our talks on Sowin which I think will be really fun. Hoping to see people in Insight Timer please join our coven um we're gonna have a lot of fun in there

Wrap Up Plus Subscribe And Reviews

SPEAKER_00 26:07

and we're currently they're currently voting on the live ritual we're gonna do for Sowen. So you might want to come in and do that too. And uh yeah look for Belief being and beyond we'll be talking about the equinox as well and then I'll be on Missing Witches talking about divergent witchcraft and doing a giveaway for that too. So lots lots and lots that could go on um I as always please like please subscribe it actually really helps me if you subscribe it shows that these things my podcast gets downloaded and that's what you know think people look at to see whether or not successful and then I really would appreciate a review. Even if it's just like you do the stars or you just do a sentence those reviews help people find my podcast and I would be in deep gratitude for that. That would make me feel really loved and supported if I could get some reviews positive reviews for the podcast wherever you listen to that would be great. And yeah I hope you have a wonderful time refer back to I gave quite a few journal questions for the equinox so I'm not gonna do any more but in general what we're doing is we're looking at where are you balanced and where can you you know how can you invite in more harmony those are really that's the essential of this week I think and then yeah please give reviews review my book too that really helps you know small creators like myself the things that really help us besides like buying our books is reviewing the things we do reviewing our books reviewing the podcast subscribing to my YouTube channel subscribing to my Instagram all those little things that you're like you don't think really matters because it's not in your you know it's like it's just like well it probably doesn't matter. It does it really does every little bit helps. So thank you and I hope you have a wonderful week. Bus to be