That Witch Life – A Podcast on Living as a Witch in Today ...



Bonus Episode: Protection And Grounding During The Pandemic With Najah Lightfoot (March 31, 2020)Intro music 00:03(Intro music) 20 years ago, three young friends realized they were witches. They scattered to different parts of the world following Magick and Spirit. Now, they're back in their hometown to share what they've learned. Welcome to That Witch Life Podcast. Your home for living as a Witch in today's world.Hilary 00:48Welcome, everyone to this bonus episode three of That Witch Life podcast. How's everyone doing?Courtney 00:56I mean, in what context?Hilary 01:00I figured that might be where we're at. Today we're joined by Najah Lightfoot, who's been on the on the show before and she's amazing. She is the author of "Good Juju: Mojo, Rites, and Practices for the Magical Soul" She is a winner of the 2019 New York City Big Book Award. She is an initiated member of La Source Ancienne Ounfo, a private Vodou society in New Orleans, Louisiana, a sister-priestess of the Divine Feminine, and an active member of the Denver Pagan Community. She keeps her magick strong through the practice of Kung Fu, the folk magick of Hoodoo, Pagan rituals and her belief in the Mysteries of the Universe. She finds inspiration in movies, music, and the blue skies of Colorado. Najah Lightfoot is also a regular contributing author to the Llewellyn Almanac series. She is also under contract for her new book in the "Good Juju" series and is mid writing it is that correct, Najah? Najah 01:57That is correct. Yes. I am.Hilary 02:00So we are thrilled about that. And also just thrilled to have you here. Um, yeah, it is crazy times for everyone, right? I feel like is every day is I'm sure I think we're all trying to take each day, one day at a time, but it's definitely a crazy world out there. What does everyone been up to in their isolation?Najah 02:22Yeah, I'm trying to just take it one day at a time. And thank you for mentioning that. You know, I'm under contract for the second book in the "Good Juju" series with Llewellyn and I'm very happy about that. And I'm very grateful that I'm under contract because it's been very difficult to write. I don't know if I would be as motivated and I'm just not beating myself up about it. Some days I can get, you know, words on the page. Other days, I can only just get a thought on the page and just really just giving myself, you know, room to say, you know, today I can write, today I can't write, it does seem, you know that my muse just flew right out the window with the Coronavirus. And I think it's important during these troubled times that we're in this, you know, unprecedented time we're in that people have the space and the permission to just, you know, be how you are, however that happens to be and try not to put any extra pressures on ourselves.Courtney 03:35This is Courtney, since Hilary didn't introduce me, I'll introduce myself. Hi, this is Courtney, and I'm one the co-hosts.Hilary 03:41I mean, at this point, everyone should know who you two are.Courtney 03:43What if it's the first time somebody's listening, Hilary? Kanani 03:46You're not me, Courtney. She's not me. Not everyone knows who she is.Hilary 03:53Okay, that's fair. So So just to clarify, we all know Kanani, so nothing new there. But we also have Courtney, a co-host on the show...SHOCKER.Courtney 04:07Anyway, I was going to say thank you Najah for saying that because I have had this weird pressure on myself to fix everything in the house I've ever wanted to fix and write the novel I've been trying to write for four years all in the same week, because if quarantine lifts next week, which we now know that it won't. Then I'll be mad at myself that I didn't get all of my cabinets cleaned out and organized. But I did organize two of the drawers in my kitchen, which a lot of people have commented on because of my Instagram feed. They're like, "yeah, your drawers look awesome." I'm like, thanks!Najah 04:42Yes, I saw those pictures. Your drawers do look awesome! Kanani 04:45My husband hates your drawers because I bought the organizers that you used.Courtney 04:51Did you really?Kanani 04:52I did so my husband's like furious. He's like, "Why is she posting things for you to buy?" Like this is not the time.Courtney 04:59Kanani's like, "I will not let her succeed over me."Kanani 05:01I was all, "She can't have things I don't have. That's not how this works, you know that." And he does. And he got over it. He knows. He's not new to this rodeo.Hilary 05:14oh my goodness...Courtney 05:16this is the first week where I started to feel the pressure mount to a pitch for me. There are quite a few 3am crying sessions, because I couldn't sleep and everything feels so much more intense and it is one of the things that I worked with was really fortuitous because as one of my, you know, sitting up at 3am crying and looking on Facebook, which never makes me feel better, but I always go in there anyway when I'm upset. I don't know why. It's not gonna help. And Ivo Dominguez Jr. had written and recorded...actually his husband had recorded it, but a very beautiful meditation for cutting through emotions that are unhelpful and are holding you back. And so I've been doing some of that work and I will post a link to that on our website. But the short version is that you envision the really painful emotions around you as like a storm cloud and you rise above it and you pierce it and then you disperse the storm. And I found that imagery incredibly helpful. So again, I will post the link to where people can find that because he is graciously giving that meditation a way for free right now. And I found it helpful so I hoping other people can find it helpful too.Kanani 06:44Let me tell you what is not helpful with being able to sleep at night? Watching "The Tiger King" on Netflix.Najah 06:52All right, all right, PSA. I am not watching "The Tiger King." I heard about it. I saw it. My son was like "You should watch 'The Tiger King'!" I'm like, no.Kanani 07:04Like last night was the first night I could start to sleep and that's when my husband and I started watching it. And my brain was just going all night long, like "Why? Why? Why are they like this? Why? I don't understand. Why?" Najah 07:18He came back and he said "Mom. You made a good decision." I said, "Thank you, honey. Please, I don't want to know any more. I don't want to know."Kanani 07:33I watched three episodes and I couldn't tell you anything about the show other than your mouth is open the whole time and you're just going "it hurts me that we live on the same planet."Najah 07:44You know how Netflix does that horrible thing of playing all the previews when you're watching something? I have to mute it so I can just look but I had heard like some of the conversation and was like, Oh, no, no, this is not for me right now. No can do.Kanani 08:00my husband's gonna get mad at me for oversharing this, but I'm going to because it was funny. He was talking about how maybe we should get a little frisky tonight. And I looked at him and I'm like, "we're gonna be watching some more episodes of 'The Tiger King.' We already said that." And he's like, "Yeah, I know." And I looked at him and I'm like, "if you can have sex after watching episodes of 'The Tiger King,' you just pack your shit now and get out of the house." Because if there is anything that is the anti aphrodisiac, it is that show. And he laughed and I'm just like, "I'm not even joking. Like if you can even think about it, like you just get away from me."Hilary 08:41Oh my god. Yeah. I binged just that over the weekend and it was a ride. It was a wild ride.Courtney 08:49I just started it and my husband does not want me watching it while he's in the house. But more than that, I don't want to watch it while he's in the house because it will make him so angry I'm afraid he's gonna start breaking things. But, but um, I did watch the first two episodes and I definitely need to see the whole thing. I actually have two good Netflix recommendations. One of them is hysterical. One of them is hopeful but also kind of horrifying. So the hysterical one it's a little old now, it's two seasons in, its last season came out last year. It's "Derry Girls." Hilary 09:28It's so good.Courtney 09:29Oh, you've seen it.Hilary 09:30I've seen a few episodes.Courtney 09:32It's so good. Kanani, this is going to be your next one. This is gonna help get "The Tiger King" out of your soul. So it's based in Northern Ireland in the 90s. And it's you know, so it's as the height of the of The Troubles in that part of Ireland. And it's also teenage girls just being completely moronic, teenage girls as they are and their over anxious parents. A lot of it hit really close to home being teenagers in the 90s.Hilary 10:06It's really good.Courtney 10:08It's so good. I watched it and I honestly forgot that there was a virus going on while I was binging it. It was that good.Kanani 10:15There's actually been a couple shows or like movies, I've watched with the kids, I've realized I have to tone down my news intake. Because there were a couple of times where we were just like having a game night or a movie night and things just felt normal for a moment. And I was just like, I need more of these moments. Because they're so infrequent now. I'm like, I need more of these little moments, where it doesn't feel like everything about our life is upside down right now. I was trying to decide whether or not I was gonna make everyone mad at me. But I will because it's fine. I don't care. I did in fact, watch Monty Python.Courtney 10:56Oh god, I'm afraid. Go ahead.Kanani 11:01My husband laughed the entire time.Hilary 11:03Cuz it's amazing.Courtney 11:05A clarification! This is 'Monty Python and The Search For The Holy Grail' because there are more than one Monty Python movie. Kanani.Kanani 11:12'Monty Python and The Search for The Holy Grail.' I can't even. I can't even. I don't know that I ever actually physically laughed out loud. There were times that I definitely like smiled and wanted to die less. But there were definitely moments. All the coconut moments? Just no. No.Hilary 11:35So this show is now only hosted by Courtney and Hilary. Kanani 11:39Yeah, I know. It infuriates people I get it. But see, to me it was like if I had seen that show when I was in high school, I would have lost my shit.Hilary 11:49But it's not like a "Crow" situation.Kanani 11:51No, no, it's not. It's not that it's time it's...I don't even begrudge people like the whole slapstick thing because when I was like, before I was dead inside? I loved them. I'm dead inside now. That stuff just makes me roll my eyes. I can't handle it.Courtney 12:10You did make me watch a lot of Adam Sandler movies.Kanani 12:13I know I did! And now I hate it. I hate it was a passion. I hate it with a fiery passion that consumes my soul. I used to love....I was devastated when I realized that I no longer loved "Robin Hood Men in Tights." Courtney 12:28I still love that movie! Kanani 12:29I watched it 100 times and thought it was the greatest movie that had ever been made. And I watched it a couple years ago. And I just I was devastated. I could not. I was devastated.Hilary 12:41I am devastated at YOU.Kanani 12:43I understand. This is what happens when you're dead inside. Courtney 12:46You know, this was my fault. I should have I should have seen this coming because I had a feeling that Kanani, in her soul-lessness was not going to be into Monty Python. Kanani 12:54You knew.Courtney 12:55I did know. I just had hope. And maybe you should have because you know what, you're missing a lot, especially as we're in an election year, and that whole speech where they're like, "I didn't know we had a king" is on every single meme. And so at least I can include you in this conversation.Kanani 13:12There were some phrases that I was like 'ah, okay, I know that phrase.' You know what I mean? Like that have become pop culture phrases that I never got and so I'm like, "Okay, this is the movie where it came from."Courtney 13:25Well, actually a show, well, it's a series. It's a limited series, Kanani, that I actually think you would like on Netflix and Hilary, I think you would like it too. Najah, I'm not sure if you would or not. But I think you know, it's always worth a shot. It's really well made. It's called "Unorthodox." And it's loosely based on a true story of a young woman who fled the Hasidic community in Brooklyn. So if you're not familiar with Hasidic community is it's a very...I hope this would be the appropriate word. It's very fringe sect of Judaism. Very, very conservative, a lot of very intense structure around the lifestyle, especially with regards to women. Most women don't have any education beyond a certain level and are really encouraged that their whole focus should be marriage and children. And this young woman fled to Berlin and it is based on a true story loosely, they they took a lot of liberties with the plot, but the concept is real, there's also a glimpse into this very closed off culture.Kanani 14:32Isn't it kind of, for comparison, they're kind of to Judaism, what the Amish are to Christianity. Would that be a fair comparison you think? Courtney 14:43I think it's a reasonable comparison. Whether or not it's fair, I don't know. But there is the sense of the very closed community, very strict traditions. And I don't believe the children have the opportunity to experience the life outside of the community, but I could be wrong on this. I'm not an expert. This is such a risk when you're a podcaster. You say anything and if you're wrong, everyone's like, 'Oh my god! You screwed that up!' I am NOT a scholar on Hasidic culture. But from what I understand, I think that is a reasonable comparison. But, and it's honestly a beautifully made movie. Well it's not a movie, it's a series. There's only four episodes and my husband I do not watch the same shows. Like he is right now bingeing Twin Peaks, and I like to watch Vikings and never the two shall meet. And, and this is a show that he and I watched together and like, I couldn't wait for him to, you know, stop doing what he was doing so I just started watching more of it. And he's out there now finishing the series as we talk. Najah 15:49Well, my husband and I, we do watch a lot of t.v. together and on Friday, I drew a card in the morning from what's become my new favorite deck: The New Orleans Oracle deck, which was created by my dear friend Fatima. And it was interesting. I got the Mardi Gras card and it was like "what?" and it was like, "you need to loosen up, you know, you need to kinda, you know, just check all this stuff aside." So it was like, "even if just for a few hours, you know, you just become so bound up and everything" and I'm like, "Yeah, you're right." You know, so I decided on Friday that, you know, we were going to watch nothing but comedies. So, um, you know, we got out the libations early in the afternoon. Um, you know, poured some whiskey and my husband and I we sat down and watched "Booty Call."Hilary 16:46I am so happy that that is what you just said.Najah 16:53And, Jamie Foxx, and I mean, yeah, and Vivica Fox. And we laughed till we cried. It is it remains one of our favorite movies and it still remains one of the best movies for practicing safe sex in a just most comical hysterical way. I can't remember what we followed up "Booty Call" with after that...(laughs)Hilary 17:21I love this. Najah 17:25You know I just needed a break. I didn't want to hear any news. I'm trying to remember what funny movie we followed up "Booty Call" with but that was that was good for usCourtney 17:40That stuff is essential. I actually wrote about that this week, how really important it is to watch some absolutely ridiculous humor to cleanse your mind and soul.Najah 17:52Yeah, you gotta laugh. I mean, you know everything is very heavy and very serious and there's so much soul trauma going on right now. But, you know, in addition, we still gotta hold on to humor wherever we can find it because we're in for the long haul and, you know, whatever, you know, you can get a laugh out of during the day because laughter, you know, to, quote the old cliche, laughter is good medicine. And we still got to find things to laugh about, you know, during our day. It was a great day. We just, we just laughed, you know, for hours. Hilary 18:29I love that.Kanani 18:29Well, I'm glad that we all decided that, you know, and part of being relaxed and, and trying to not really worry about things. We all decided that we weren't going to wear pants while we recorded this.Hilary 18:41That is not true.Kanani 18:43That was a communal decision, right?Hilary 18:45I have pants on. Okay, anyway, Najah, I'm really glad that you found or got to revisit that movie that really makes you laugh. I think that one thing that I realized during this time is that you know, we have a lot of heavy stuff going on and I think that I often plow through life trying to be like productive and work on this and do this and do this. And, and I think that I've really, during this time realized how important those moments just to like watch something stupid that makes you laugh, like watch something that's just like something that's hilarious to you that gives you that little breath from kind of what's heavy going on around us, you know?Najah 19:22Oh yeah, we need a break. And, you know, I feel too like, you know, I felt conflicted because I had felt pressure being a writer and an author and a spiritual person to, you know, portray this, you know, face this certain kind of face or give these kind of words and so, I've started doing this today's good Juju, anti COVID-19 stayed home message and just post whatever I feel and know that, you know, even the most spiritual person during these times or the most religious or witchy or magical. I mean, this is some hard shit. And, you know, maybe today I have a word of wisdom, maybe tomorrow, it's just you know, like, you know, like you said it's a picture of your cabinet or doing something silly and I think the need for us to connect on a real level with each other right now is so strong. That, you know, we're doing more good I think just by being humble and being real and letting people be with us and as be with them just how we happen to be because it's definitely a time of like peeling off layers and masks and just, you know, letting people know that you're here and I'm glad you guys are there and you you're doing these bonus episode shows because every little bit is helpful.Courtney 20:57I'm supposed to be extra nice and patient to Kanani, but she's like Facebook messaging me over in the window. We're recording a podcast! Why are you on Facebook?Kanani 21:06I'm not on Facebook!Courtney 21:08You just sent me something! Oh, you texted something. Kanani 21:10I texted you something. Courtney 21:12Why are you texting me things? Kanani 21:13Because I can.Courtney 21:14Oh for god's sake...Kanani 21:16One of one of the things, Najah, that I totally relate with what you're talking about is, I'm super lucky that right now I'm still working. And I am hoping and trying to put that energy out there that I'm going to keep working through all of this. But I am finding it, and I'm someone who's usually doing eight different things at one time, including holding down a full time job and taking care of my kids and all the other things we do. And now it's like all I have to do is kind of be home with the kids and and work and I find it really hard to focus on work. My brain is just going a million miles an hour and there's so much just anxiety and stress and so even though you know, in theory, I have all of this free time, and you would think that now I could, you know, and I'm fine with my work but it takes so much more mental energy and focus to sit down and do the same things I've done for years. Just because everything else is so overwhelming.Najah 22:24Yeah, it's really hard. I mean, I've been getting that a lot from people. "Oh, this must be a great writing time for you!" "...oh, you must sitting there just writing away." I'm like, "No, it's exactly the opposite." I'm like, okay, write. Yeah. Okay, I need to check the news. I need to get on Twitter. I need to get on Facebook. You know, because what was normal and our patterns and everything that we depended on, you know for routine has, you know, gone out the window.Hilary 22:31No!Kanani 22:59Exactly. Yeah, I've had to...that's kind of where I've been having to be very, kind of, do this self care and be kind to myself because in my head, I feel like you have so much more free time right now. You should be accomplishing, like everything you've wanted to accomplish. And instead I'm having a difficult time just accomplishing the few things that I HAVE to accomplish. Yeah, like having to like tell myself "that's okay."Najah 23:30Well, it's really not free time. Kanani 23:33Exactly.Najah 23:34We're trying to put, you know, it in a category in a box. "Oh, we have free time." Now we don't. We're not all on a vacation. It's not like we always went, "Oh, you've got several days unending off now go do whatever you want to do." Kanani 23:51 Exactly. Najah 23:52It's the opposite of that. This is this isn't, you know, just a stay at home staycation. Do whatever you want to do. It's exactly the opposite. We're dealing with some really heavy things. And so, yeah, everybody's just trying to do the best they can because that's, you know, nothing is the way that we've come to know it as so these areas that we create in or work in, we're also anchored on the routine and the normalcy of our daily lives and those things are gone now. So of course, creative people who are trying to do projects or work from home, you know, the world has changed. So we're, you know, we're in a new new ocean, but we're swimming.Kanani 24:39I will say that one thing that has been nice for me, personally, is I think for me, I'm on, I want to say week three of this, because I think I started doing, we started doing the work from home stuff, I think a little sooner than some other people did it. As far as working from home all the time, 24/7, I've always worked from home a handful of days a week, but it had gone to just straight home a while ago. This was the first Monday, where I kind of, it's almost like it's a new routine. So it wasn't so overwhelming and exhausting. Because it's like, I now know what this week is like. You know what I mean? Najah 25:24oh, yeah. Kanani 25:25Now I know what it's like. I know what it's like to work from home. While we're trying to have the kids do their online school. I'm not going to have to be running errands in the evenings to take them to different extracurricular activities because they're all closed. And my husband's having meetings for his job at home. But all of that is now becoming the new normal. And so it's not quite so suffocating. As I feel like the first couple where everything about your life has just changed completely. I feel like now it's kind of you know, you're kind of resolving yourself to the situation and kind of finding a new normal.Najah 26:07Yeah, makes total sense.Hilary 26:08So we had a question from a listener. The question is: "So, serious question. Know of any stones I could carry for protection at work? Know of any spell I could cast for health and protection? Today in our nursing group messenger, someone asked if we had any confirmed cases. Today they said, one. I'm internally terrified. I'm an ICU nurse. I'm a healer. This is my duty and my calling. I am terrified, petrified. I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions? I'm overwhelmed with Pinterest and Google." So we talked about this a little bit between Courtney and Kanani and I, and of course, we want to say first and foremost, we obviously can't speak for medical protection and what what you can do from a medical perspective. We like to leave that up to the doctors because they're the experts. But, you know, we wanted to talk about little bit about things that maybe could help for general protection or, or things that could be could help with stress reduction. I know I really love Black Tourmaline for general, you know, energetic protection. Does anyone else have any suggestions that might help our listener? I just really feel for them. And, you know, I can't imagine what it's what it's like to be in the, you know, out there really like fighting this war on the front line as a healthcare worker right now.Courtney 27:31Well, this is why I'm glad we have Najah here because this is right up her alley. I think, just to underscore what Hilary said, there is no spell or stone that will protect anyone from the corona virus. The virus also not be cannot be prevented with the use of herbs. I've seen some of those discussions on on witchy Facebook groups, so, no. Herbs will not protect you from the corona virus. Yes, they might, CERTAIN herbs for CERTAIN people might aid overall health, but so does a good night's sleep. And healthy food and gentle exercise...Hilary 28:09Yeah, there's lots of ways that like help support your immune system and keep you healthy. That doesn't mean that it can prevent a virus.Courtney 28:16No, this is a very contagious, very aggressive virus that really really kicks people in the ass. So your protection methods are washing your hands, disinfecting surfaces and, of course, social distancing. But I would love to hear Najah's suggestions, if there's anything magical that this listener could do perhaps to ground herself or steady herself or, like Hilary said, some just general protection in doing this really important work.Najah 28:44Well, yeah, you know, I'm gonna take it back to and I totally agree with what you said, you know, we've got to keep it real. You can't be going around saying 'Oh, yeah, this herb's gonna cure it. This spell's gonna do that.' You know what we practice it is in conjunction with science and health care regulations and the CDC. And you know, we just are here to support people and help them find strength and courage and comfort wherever they can so they can go out and do what they have to do, especially the health care workers and the people on the front lines. And so, you know, and I'm going to suggest, which has been really helpful to me, because most people that I've come in contact with who do work on the front lines, and those of us who are healers as well, we're very empathic people. So we feel things deeply. And in and all of this stuff is coming at us, you know, like big waves, and it's hard to catch your breath. So, you know, I would like to suggest to people, especially to healthcare workers, is to find that quiet space, day or night in their home, where they can just take a minute and go inside themselves and connect with whatever higher power or deities that they find comforting to them. And, you know, one of the things that I do, which I've been able to do during this whole time as I still maintain my daily practice of going out, you know, looking at the sky, calling upon my ancestors. In everybody, in any culture has people who have gone before them who struggled deeply. You know, in the case of African Americans, we have our ancestors, ancestors who survived slavery, European ancestors have famine, people who've just been through horrible things. And so, now we need to like reach out, reach up to those people and ask them for their help. And then, you know, keeping it real I, every day, I never leave home or never start my day without my Florida Water. I don't know if people can find that now, but it's pretty easy to find a bottle of Florida Water online and it has such a good cleansing, refreshing scent. And we use it a lot in hoodoo to wash things off to protect things to anoint things. And just that little dab of Florida Water just seems to lift your spirit and connect you to the higher realms and the people. Your guides, your spirit who can help you and I also you know if people are open to it every day and I wrote about this in my book, "Good Juju," I always begin my day practicing the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram, which is pretty involved. But you know, just for people listening, you know, the Arcangels are there. They're there to help us. They're there to guide us You know, you can't like call on them too often, this is what they do. They're higher beings in the spiritual realm that are here to assist us. And these are the times where, you know, you have to call upon that what you need. And so, you know, I would just offer those suggestions to people. Something they can do, you know, that's easy and slow and you know, you can also just use some salted water when you come home and kind of just wash your hands in that a little bit, sprinkle it over yourself, just that act of using the cleansing and refreshing blessing of salted water just to kind of connect, you know, with the earth and the powers of water can be very helpful. It doesn't have to be something really big or a stone you've got to go out and find you know, come across a rock in your yard that caused you to put that in your pocket. Do that! So that's where I'm going right now with what's been helping me and what I've been trying to share with people.Hilary 33:10Can you tell people what Florida weather is in case the person that wrote in doesn't know what that is?Najah 33:15So, um, yes, Florida Water. I have a bottle of it right here on my desk. There are recipes online but basically the one that you see a lot it's made by Murray and Lanman. It comes in this beautiful greenish plastic bottle with a gold label and it's got beautiful pictures of flowers on it. And contrary to opinion, it is not Florida-water, water that's made in Florida, it means "water flowers," and it's used in a lot of spiritual work in a lot of different communities, and it has this very refreshing scent. And so you just can pretty much Google Florida Water And find it by Murray and Lanman. That's you know, that's pretty much the gold standard. You can usually buy it in Walgreens next to the witch hazel. It's used as a refreshing cologne when people are hot and it's used in lots of cleansing and so yes we use Florida Water a lot in hoodoo and Conjure and lots Witches use Florida Water it's just a good all purpose cleansing liquid. Courtney 34:31Like as we're doing a lot of work to clean our hands and our spaces, it's also really important that we're cleansing our souls and as some say, the etheric bodies, the energy that we carry with us because like Najah said, it's toxic out there right now. You might as well be in a swamp when you take that very short walk to your into your driveway which is as far as you can go.Najah 34:54Exactly. And actually the bottle says Florida Water Cologne and it says New York and it's very Beautiful bottle. And you know, I use my Florida Water every day. Every day. It's used in a lot of different ceremonies, it's just an all purpose, good cleansing refreshing scent it, you know, just smells so uplifting and people you know, use it for all different types of magic purposes but I find just putting a little dab will do on a daily basis and instantly get that connection like, "Ah! Okay! I'm connected to spirit I'm connected to cleansing and healing work and, and hopefully that will help them you know, some of the health care providers, you can even, you know, dab a little bit on the inside of the mask that you're wearing, you know, just to kind of breathe that nice scent in to help ground you and it does really ground you very quickly. So I would suggest that. It's not very expensive, you can get little tiny bottles of it. It's pretty easy to find.Hilary 36:01That's a great recommendation and thanks for explaining that. I think lots of people do know about it but in case some of our listeners don't, you know, it's a really good resource and a really good thing to use and have in your supply, your magical toolbox, as I like to call it.Courtney 36:17I think it's also an important reminder that there are recipes to make it online. I think also Stephanie Rose Bird has a recipe in her book "Sticks, stones, roots and bones."Najah 36:27Yes! There's lots of recipes out there to make your own.Kanani 36:30Yeah, I would suggest maybe putting it...I wouldn't put it on your mask because I think the requirements for the people with their masks is once it's wet, or if it's moist, they have to throw it away.Najah 36:42That makes sense.Kanani 36:44So but I mean, if you could put it on maybe like, like if you had a bracelet or something? Like a leather bracelet or you know something that you could have that could kind of maintain a scent like she's talking about that you could kind of, you know, really stress that you could Kind of breathe in, or like a satchel or something, I think that would be phenomenal.Najah 37:04It disappears, the scent disappears pretty quickly. I was thinking maybe they can even just touch the strings that they tie around their ears with it or says that if they can't do that, I'm glad you said that. Thank you so much for saying that. You know, we're not medical experts, but you know, maybe the strings that go over their ears or something and they barely touch that and then that that would keep that mask part. I was just thinking about how I've been reading how they're just wearing them all day. The same mass, you know, that's just got to be really unpleasant, you know?Courtney 37:39It is. I had to go to the doctor last week, and they put me in a mask. And I only had to wear it for like two hours. But I was really done with that mask after two hours. Hilary 37:56The N95 masks that people have to wear, they are meant to fit very tightly around your face, it really creates a seal. So like, it's uncomfortable. I wore one when I had to go out and get some supplies. And I had to go into the workplace to deal with a workplace situation and had it on for about three hours and like my whole face was like raw from the areas that it was sitting on.Kanani 38:23Well, that's the one that people are showing pictures online of like nurses that have bruised faces. And it's because it's so tight it literally causes bruising.Najah 38:33and it has to be tight like that to protect them. But yeah, that sounds painful.Hilary 38:39Yeah, it is not comfortable. Kanani 38:42one of the things....I stocked up on a lot of magical supplies around the holidays, and I had taken my daughter into a place in tigard called "If The Broom Fits," and we had bought a couple different spell bags and the spell bag that she picked out was one for stress relief, which first of all my children have nothing to be stressful about, but it had candy in it. So of course she liked the spell bag.Courtney 39:11(laughs) If there were any question that she is your child....Kanani 39:15She's my child. So I of course let her buy it. But in fact, right now I understand they ARE are under a lot of stress.Najah 39:23Yeah,Kanani 39:24so she actually broke out her little spell bag. And part of the spell was that they eat, they get to eat a piece of candy. And then it has a bubble wand. And then they go outside and they just take deep breaths and they just blow bubbles. And then there's a little chant that went with it. And so they blow bubbles as they're saying this little chant and it was just so sweet to watch her do that and I just thought, you know, that's a really good kind of kid activity. You know, because they can do it from the patio, they're getting some fresh air, bubbles are fun. Everybody loves bubbles. And you can kind of come up with whatever you know calming soothing chant works for you. But that was kind of fun so that was kind of something we my daughter we are reorganize their altars we're trying to kind of they still look very winter ish because we haven't really been able to go out and collect the things that we would usually collect for spring. Courtney 40:23I'm sure that's kind of low on the priority list.Kanani 40:26Exactly.Courtney 40:27But maybe it shouldn't be. Maybe our altars should be a larger priority. Not to add like one more thing to do but tending your altar is an act of self care. I think we sometimes forget that. Hilary 40:40My daughter actually started having like some weird visions, which I had talked to Courtney about. And my daughter actually has a, it's absolutely adorable--you can find it online, it's a kid's tarot deck.Najah 40:55Ooh! Kanani 40:57They're not stick figures per se but they're very, very simple simple drawings for each card. And they were like printed on paper and laminated and and they have a little their own little bag and everything and so she actually started we actually did like a little mini Tarot class, which we thought was so funny. And she actually has started like pulling cards to like learn about the cards and things like that. Najah 41:23You know what? I just want to say sometimes...I'm to share something with you guys. I get these impressions. I've never, you know, used the word psychic with myself at all, but I am highly intuitive and so I just, it's like pressing on me to say, to the person who wrote in about feeling terrified. Um, I just gonna say the way it's coming to me Is that Spirit wants me to tell her to ground by putting her hand on the building when she comes out. Like touching the stone or the cement to ground herself. And if there's trees, if there's trees anywhere nearby to actually go and hug the tree and give the, tell the tree her problems, find comfort in trees around the building or where she's working or if she passes a tree, that the strength of the tree that's connected to the Mother Earth and the roots and the healing will take her sorrows and her fear and use that as an ally for her in her work.Hilary 42:57What a beautiful messageCourtney 43:00There's a symbol there, which is you're telling the building, "All right, you keep this energy. Just keep it." Hilary 43:06Yeah. Courtney 43:06And, so that you're not taking it with you. My cousin, who's a healthcare provider, I know when she sometimes goes into her house, she'll tap, she's Southern, she'll tap her shoulders and say "no piggybacks! no piggybacks!" So that whatever she's carrying with her doesn't come in the house. But I love the idea of basically leaving that energy with the space or in the tree, finding a way of sending it down to its roots or out through its its branches. But that's really a powerful sentiment. And I'm sure it'll be helpful not just for this listener, but anyone who's working at, whether a hospital or grocery store, or any of the other essential fields who are out and about right now.Najah 43:47Well, yeah, I mean, everything that we have is being compromised and what a lot of people are in these sterile environments. But we really still have the gift of nature. Nature is all around us. It's thriving, I get up every day and I look outside, "Ah okay! The trees are still here." The birds are still coming to my feeder. Okay, if I start seeing lots of birds on the ground, then I'll probably get really, really, really worried. But so far that hasn't happened. So I'm like, Okay, so, you know, we're struggling through this, but we still have nature and a lot of us who are called to these paths is because of our love of nature. I mean, that's how I came in. Because I've always been comforted by nature, I can always depend on that. And so, you know, everyone doesn't have the time to be running around and find this, that and the other or looking for a stone. When really what we have is right outside. We can't go very far. But we do still have nature. We still have the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees and the ground. And, you know, we just have to kind of dial things back now, and use what's here right in front of us, and that just was really strong that I needed to share that.Courtney 45:09Thank you for saying that it does sometimes seem funny when I'm driving to one of the two places I go now either to the nature trail to exercise my dog or to the grocery store. It does seem strange to see the trees in bloom because I want to say to them, "haven't you heard there's a plague going on? Why aren't you going within?" But the trees are like, "No, I'm still going to do my tree thing. And here are some pretty blossoms for you enjoy while you're quarantining." Najah 45:39Mm hmm.Kanani 45:41One of the things that I've done a lot more since all this has been going on is first thing I do in the mornings now is I open up all the all the blinds and all the curtains and I get as much natural light in as I can, and I've been super fixated on our patio and we have like bird feeders out there. So occasionally the birds come and the kids get excited and we've got beautiful planters out there and we've got some decorations and because to me bringing the outside in is infinitely more important than it ever has been. And so if even if it's something as simple as being able to look at some lavender plants on my patio, it just it calms me down. It makes me feel not quite so claustrophobic.Najah 46:28Oh, yeah, I mean, all of that is perfect. And we know how wonderful lavender is. Oh my gosh, I love lavender plants. Wonderful.Courtney 46:36One of the many things we're trying to do right now during our bonus episodes is try to profile and uplift small businesses, because so many people are out of work right now. So we put the call out to anybody who wants to let us know about your magical pagan witchcraft goods that are for sale that you You can purchase online and can mail to people. And we had a couple of people write to us this week. First was Jenny Davies-Reazor who produces mythic and magical pieces from ceramic sculpture to mixed media jewelry. She was going to be at the Between The Worlds and Sacred Space Conferences and we were going to get to meet and unfortunately that's been postponed. Jenny, I was looking forward to meeting you as well. And her website is , that will be on our website, and also reminding everybody about Alchemical Goddess who does beautiful handcrafted pagan talisman jewelry. She has an Etsy store, but she's also at , and she also carries our spell cards. We will have all of her contact information on our website so you can get your beautiful jewelry and the spell cards that we created. So now is a really good time friends to do your Christmas shopping for others if you are able to do that so let's support our local businesses and go ahead and get the Christmas, and Yule, and Samhain and birthday presents now. My birthday is in July, I will take presents, early would be glad to help that way.Hilary 47:33Also hi, I'm turning 40 in May, May 14, so send the presents my way, friends!Courtney 48:26We have to put together a "Hilary's Turning 40!" gift registry of small things you wantHilary 48:33That would be amazing because you know I'm going to be stuck inside.Courtney 48:38Let's do that! Friends, buy Hilary a birthday present!Hilary 48:44Oh my god. Literally I was like saying that today. Someone was like, "are you getting excited for your 40th?" I was like what the hell are you talking about? No, I mean, like, yes, but I mean, I'm gonna have to create it with some sort of virtual party clearly.Courtney 48:59Yeah, our plan to to rent the entire of The Enchanted Forest in Salem and then just get really drunk and high and run around on the slides I don't think is going to happen.Hilary 49:10I definitely want to do that but not while we're at, I mean I'm like for sure we're still going to be I think we'll likely...I don't know, may 14 I don't think public gatherings will be back yet so so, so I've been trying to think of creative...maybe we can like....Kanani 49:27we couldn't have afforded to rent it out anyway. So maybe let's just go and trespass.Hilary 49:32I'll just go outside and I'll just go and print out on like some on some computer paper, like an image of one of the things and I'll just take some mushrooms and pretend that I'm there. It's fine. (Laughter) I'm totally joking....maybe.Courtney 49:46Um....you're not totally joking, Hilary. Hilary 49:50I was mostly joking.Najah 49:52You can astral travel to it!Hilary 49:55I'll just sit there and really deeply meditate and astral travel and we can have an astral travel Enchanted Forest party. Najah 50:04There you go. Hilary 50:06Najah, you're a genius.Najah 50:10I've already got a hat on. I'm already there, man. Kanani 50:16She doesn't need pants. She has a hat.Courtney 50:19Najah is way ahead of us when it comes to you putting yourself together we're barely...I mean I'm basically wrapped in a bed sheet here. That's the way I've been for weeks.Najah 50:29The minute you said Enchanted Forest party, I'm like "Yeah! I've got have it. I'm already out there."Hilary 50:34There next time you come to Oregon and hopefully it's sometime it you know, I think it's a they're open between like March and September or March and October, I think. The Enchanted Forest for those that are wondering what the hell we're talking about, is a very bizarre like, children's story books theme park. Courtney 50:41It is the best place on earth. Hilary 51:03It is the best place on earth. It was built in like, I think the 60s, 70s?Courtney 51:08Yes. And it has that vibe.Hilary 51:10Oh, it's so weird. And it's like, it is HILARIOUS. In fact, I was on a work call, and so we are obviously all using Zoom to do work calls and you can set your background to like whatever photo you want. So it looks like you're wherever the photo is. And so I've got a picture of like "The Witch's mouth" and put it on there and was like, I wonder who and like, all these people are like "Hilary, what the hell is that?" And then all of a sudden, I started getting these messages like "Enchanted Forest!" And I was like, "I know who grew up in Oregon!"Courtney 51:46It's the strange ride where you like go into The Witch's House and you go down the slide or something and you come out her mouth.Hilary 51:52Yeah, you walk into her mouth. Courtney 51:55Oh you walk into her mouth. Okay. Hilary 51:57And you slide out the side of her head or something.Courtney 51:59I love reading the TripAdvisor warnings about it from people who did not grow up here and they're like, "You crawl into a hole in the ground and it's Hansel and Gretel's cottage and, and Hansel is actually in a cage and they're animatronic mannequins and they're really creepy!"Hilary 52:15Yeah, the like 70s era animatronics are just delightful. Like they are just amazing.Courtney 52:23But actually one of the beautiful things about it is every single one of those rides was built by one man.Hilary 52:29Yeah, this story is incredible. There's like a whole documentary about it. And now you can go when you're there and there's like the there's a gift shop area there and they also have like a little theater that now shows the documentary on like, the building of this, how long it took, and everything they put into it. It's it's kind of really amazing place but I mean, it is like a staple of my childhood. Najah 52:53Incredible. It sounds like so much fun.Hilary 52:56Oh, it is the best. I had some friends up from California, let's see, it must have been summer last year or late summer and they were like "Hilary....what is this place???"Courtney 53:10You're like, IT IS MY CHILDHOOD. If you speak ill of this place, you are speaking ill into my heart.Hilary 53:17Yeah, they were like, "this is so amazing." I mean, it's so ridiculous. It's totally amazing. We also scared the crap out of ourselves in the like, not very scary haunted house, but like scary because like, it's not like it's not the gore fest that haunted houses are these days, but it's like super creepy in and of itself. Because of the way it's built. It scares the crap out of me every time.Courtney 53:42Yeah, oh, man, you're making me really miss normal times. I really want to go to a strange theme park and....Hilary 53:47Oh, I know. I know. Courtney 53:49And take selfies and complain about the lines.Najah 53:54I know, it's funny what you don't complain about anymore, isn't it? Courtney 53:58I know, right? Like the drive to Salem, Oregon does not seem that far right now.Hilary 54:03No, it's like you're like, oh, that short little jaunt is like not very far. I'm like, I'd take it." So I wanted to take a moment, I know that we've been recommending causes that you can pay attention to or help support during this time and I wanted to make sure we got to this so a cause that I think is worth looking into comes out of The Pride Foundation. And they started a crisis Community Care fund. And the goal is, they say "we recognize the disproportionate disproportionate impact this virus has had and will continue to have on people in our communities. There are so many in real danger and we are committed to centering those who are most impacted by the crisis." They are they are prioritizing helping people within these communities; black, indigenous, and people of color, people living with HIV and AIDS, older Adults and elders, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, in these communities experiencing violence and discrimination. So we'll put their site up, there a link to their funding site up, I think they're a great organization to support. And, I mean, they're a great organization in general. And I think their, their response fund is really is really trying to be out there and help the most vulnerable people in this in this scenario. So we'll list them as a resource on our site. Najah, before we before we kind of start to wrap things up. I was wondering, and you've given us a ton of advice already, but is there anything that you think a meditation or a resource or a practice that you think is, you know, easy for people that you know maybe don't have a lot of time to dive into something deeper can can integrate into their into their daily practice or things they can do to kind of help ground themselves. I know obviously we've talked about going out into nature, nature, but if there's anything else or any other pieces of wisdom that you could, you know, give to our listeners, I think we'd be all ears.Najah 56:13Well, you know, I'm gonna keep with my tradition and just encourage people to make connection with their ancestors, with those who have gone before them. I think it's very important right now that people take a moment to realize that they stand on the shoulders of many of their loved ones who struggle through tremendous and difficult times. And something that you know, I can just kind of narrow down which has several steps to it, but it's pretty simple is to pour water to your ancestors in the morning when you wake up. In my practice, we do that before we take a drink ourselves. And so you just, there's many other steps to it. But you know, just to briefly just to take that moment and give yourself get a glass of water and raise that to all the people who have gone before you pour that on the ground. And then after you poured a little, you know, sip a little bit of water on the ground and you take a sip yourself, so that you connect to the life force of water, into those who have gone before us. You know, we're going forward into the unknown, but we know behind us, we have so many great loved ones, so many helpers on the other side, and we're not alone. And I think a lot of people do feel alone and are very afraid. But if you can connect with that strength of those who have gone before you and call their love and comfort to be around you. I find it to be a great help and I do it every day. So that's what I like to leave people with.Hilary 57:59That's beautiful. Is there a way for people that are maybe in apartments and not able to go outside? Is there a way that they can adapt that if they don't have earth to pour that on? Najah 58:10Yeah, sure, you know, they can actually, you know, spirit is forgiving that they could pour it in a little glass and then pour that down their sink and just say a prayer, or they can pour it in their plants, if they have plants. You know, it's just basically the act of pouring water. So I'm glad you said that. So yeah, it's more the act of just acknowledging them and acknowledging yourself in that, in that connection that's never broken no matter what.Hilary 58:40That's such good advice. And I really appreciate you sharing that. I think that we're all looking for things that can help us support ourselves through this and, and support each other through this and that's just like a very tangible way, something that's not that's easy to integrate in it doesn't take resource. It doesn't take You know, it doesn't take money that people don't have. So I really think that especially right now, when people are scared, physically scared financially, it's really nice to have something that they can utilize or put into their practice that is tangible for them to do, and something that I think is really impactful. Well, to all of our listeners. We really appreciate you being with us today. Continue to reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram, obviously . We'll have all of the suggestions and recommendations that we've made during this episode up on there. And obviously with questions feel free to, to reach out to us via email or website, any of our social media platforms. And thank you so much for supporting us.Courtney 59:54Wash your filthy hands.Najah 59:56Thanks you guys for having me. It's been a pleasure. I really enjoy being with you guys. Thank you so much and blessings and safety and Good Juju to all your family, friends and loved ones and to all the readers and listeners out there the same to everybody. We're all in it together.Hilary 60:15We are definitely all in this together. Kanani 60:18Thank you, Najah! Hilary 60:19Yeah, thank you, Najah. Thank you so much.Najah 60:22Thank you guys!(Exit Music) 60:24Join us on the first and third Mondays of the month for magickal tools, tips and stories about living as a Witch in today's world. Find us at for archived episodes or to ask your burning questions for us to answer on a future podcast. So mote it be! ................
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