The Cliche of Thankfulness

Today we’re sinking into the heart of Yule itself. Not the facts and the bullet points (you know I’ve done that in past years). This time we’re going sensory, immersive and witchier than ever. We’re going to explore Yule through the body… through the breath… through that slow winter magic that kind of curls around you like a warm blanket. Because Yule isn’t just a sabbat on the calendar. It is a feeling. It’s the hush after the longest night.  It’s the comfort of firelight. It is the sweetness of cinnamon and cloves and pine resin warming in a candle flame. It’s that first tiny spark of returning light after months of shadow work and late-night journaling and trying to keep ourselves grounded in a chaotic season.But that’s the thing about this season: it never shows up the same way twice. We certainly have our holiday traditions ... we have those things that must happen no matter what. But every December carries its own flavor, its own texture, its own little whisper in the dark. It’s like Yule has this personality that shifts each year ... sometimes bold and fiery, sometimes soft and nostalgic, sometimes a little chaotic ... but it is always magical. So before we wander down this snowy little path together, go ahead and get yourself comfy because this episode is meant to feel like sitting beside me at a winter hearth. A place where the world softens for a moment. A place where you get to remember that magic doesn’t just live on your altar ... it lives in your senses, in your memories and in the warmth of whatever you choose to hold close.Happy Yule! CharleneHearth & HenPatreonWitchy Work Wishes

This time of year ... this delicious, liminal stretch where the energy gets soft and shimmery (and just a little bit strange) is a doorway where your hand is on the frame. You are not quite inside the room and you are not quite out of it either. Just suspended between chapters. Between versions of yourself. Between everything you’ve learned and everything you’re about to become. It’s a tender place. A potent place. And honestly? I love it. Because this is where the magic of planning really takes root. At the end of the year, our planning and lists become something entirely different. They stop being reminders and suddenly become reflections. Breadcrumbs. A map of the human-and-witch experience we have lived through. The end of the year doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It can be grounding. It can be magical. And with the right list? It can feel downright simple. And today's episode is going to walk through all of the steps needed in creating a end of year magical plan!And I want you to remember that you’re not doing any of this alone. I’m right here with you, doing the exact same work. I am pulling out my journals and my planners, scribbling down messy lists, clearing out old energy, choosing my guiding themes, grounding myself when things get overwhelming, and building my own rhythm for 2026 right alongside you. I’m reflecting, releasing, dreaming, and planning too. We are walking this path together, hand in hand across the turning of the year.We've got this! Charlene PatreonHearth & HenWitchy Work Wishes

Today’s episode is a special one. It’s not just another weekly get-together! This feels like a milestone. Because we’re doing two things: we’re honoring the journey we’ve taken all year long, and we’re stepping into the fierce, powerful, magnetic energy of our final oracle guide for 2025 … the Dragon Spirit!Today is a reflection moment and a rise-up moment. We get to look back at who we were in January, honor what we walked through, and then… stand up a little taller because of it. This is like that deep breath before the next chapter opens. The kind where you realize ‘Oh wow… I actually grew. I actually changed. I actually did the work.’ We all did the work! And now, the Dragon Spirit has come for our December guidance. When I say Dragon is big energy, I mean BIG. But not in a scary way. This isn’t some villain boss battle where we’re fighting for our lives. This is more like the final level of a video game where you suddenly realize you have been training for this all year. Every card, every moon phase, every shadow moment has been preparing you. Dragon is the ‘big boss battle' but in the most empowering way. It’s the moment where everything we’ve learned clicks into place, and we get to say, ‘Ohhh… this is who I’ve become.’ And as we walk through each month… I want you to feel something with me. This wasn’t chaos. This wasn’t coincidence. This wasn’t 12 separate little lessons floating around in space. I believe this was a storyline. A spell. A full-blown initiation.  Every spirit that showed up in 2025 was part of a larger arc. Like a staircase, a spiral, a sacred unfolding guiding us from who we were… to who we were becoming. Who we are now. So settle in, grab a mug, light a candle if you want… because we’re looking back at the path behind us, and we’re stepping boldly into the energy ahead of us. And if there’s one thing I know for sure ... it’s that none of us are the same witches we were in January!We've got this!Charlene PatreonHearth & HenWitchy Work Wishes

Today we have a special Thanksgiving edition of being thankful … and the sidekick energy of the Cliché of it all this time of year. We are diving into something that gets tossed around so much it starts losing its meaning: gratitude itself. The cliché of thankfulness.  You know the one ... the forced positivity, the “be grateful because it’s November,” the pressure to list ten things even if your heart isn’t in it. And yet, here we are, sitting in this real, honest gratitude together. The kind that doesn’t feel scripted or polished, the kind that actually matters. Let's go deeper. Let's talk about why gratitude gets so overused, why it feels hollow sometimes, and how we as witches can take this tired old cliché and breathe real magic back into it! We've got this!CharleneHearth & HenPatreonWitchy Work Wishes

Today we are wandering right into the heart of Crossroads Magic and brushing up against the mysteries of Hecate. And you know how it goes when we get into the good stuff. The path twists, the lanterns glow a little brighter, and suddenly we’re knee-deep in stories, lessons, and those soul-nudging moments that deserve extra time and space. So get comfy ... today's episode does go a little long!Crossroads are so much more than physical intersections where one path meets another. They are the invisible meeting points of our soul. Where intuition, logic, fear and hope all sit down at the same table and wait for us to decide which direction to move. And that’s why they’ve always been magical. In nearly every tradition across time, crossroads were considered holy (or at least powerful). Places where the veil between worlds thinned, where spirits might linger and where choices carried more weight.To the ancient Greeks, this very crossroad is where Hecate stood. She “IS” the goddess of thresholds, holding her torches to light the way. But ….. she didn’t tell travelers which road to take; she illuminated the space in-between, so they could choose with awareness. Hecate isn’t the goddess of outcomes. She is the guardian of possibilities. She watches over that delicate place where endings bleed into beginnings, where grief and excitement coexist and where uncertainty hums like a living spell. She doesn’t rush us. She simply waits, with her lantern held high, reminding us that liminal spaces (those “in-between” places) are not to be feared, but honored.So today, I invite you to walk this one slowly with me.  The road is a bit longer (we go over an hour and a half) but the magic is rich and I’ve saved a spot for you right beside me at the crossroads.  We’re talking today about crossroads magic with Hecate; spells, choices, and that mysterious, powerful space we call in-between.We've got this!CharlenePatreonHearth & HenWitchy Work Wishes

Episode #161 is a cozy, let’s curl up and just talk type episode.  Shadow work doesn’t have to be scary. It can, in fact ….. be cozy.  Today we’re curling up under the November moon to talk about gentle ways to face what’s been hidden, guided by Hecate’s lantern and the soft wings of the Bat Spirit. We’ll sip tea, light candles, and learn how to release what’s heavy before the year ends. This, my witchy family, is your sign to slow down, breathe, and let the shadows become your teachers. I know shadow work can sound a little intimidating. It carries that weighty, mysterious vibe doesn't it? It makes people think of deep dives into pain or big emotional reckonings. But today is not about diving off a cliff into the abyss. Today we are taking a lantern (a gentle, steady light) and we’re walking softly into the edges.We are learning how to do this in a way that feels safe, gentle and real! Something you can do while curled up in your favorite chair, not some heavy ceremony that leaves you drained. This is cozy shadow work. The kind that happens quietly, between sips of tea or coffee …. when you finally exhale and let yourself be.We've got this!CharleneHearth & HenPatreonWitchy Work Wishes

Today’s episode feels a bit heavier than other ones we have done.  We have some stories of fear, control and survival but also some stories of courage and resistance. Around the world, countless people were persecuted in the name of witchcraft. But through those ashes we find lessons about strength, truth, and reclaiming our power.The intention for today’s episode is simple but hopefully powerful:  We are here to honor the memory of those who suffered and to transform that pain into empowerment. We’ll talk about what happened…. but more importantly we’ll talk about what we can learn from it. How their stories become lessons in resistance, resilience, and truth.We are heading back to Europe between the 1400s and 1700s when our world was lit by candlelight and superstition. Where the whisper of a neighbor could destroy a life. The witch trials didn’t just vanish into dusty pages though. They linger in our bones, in our families, in the parts of ourselves that learned quietly, not to be “too much.” Not to speak too loudly. Not to let anyone see the magic. The story of witchcraft didn’t end in Europe or with the trials. It continued in bloodlines, in whispers, in kitchens like mine and yours. And maybe (just maybe) every time we bake bread, pour wine, or whisper a spell under the full moon ... we’re continuing the work they started.Their persecution might have been rooted in fear, but their spirit .... That was never extinguished.  And I believe that’s the lesson they left for us. To keep going. To keep rising. To keep creating magic out of the ashes. We are here to honor the memory of those who suffered, and to transform that pain into empowerment. We’ll talk about what happened…. but more importantly, we’ll talk about what we can learn from it. How their stories become lessons in resistance, resilience, and truth.PatreonHearth & HenWitchy Work Wishes

Signs! We have been talking about them off and on all year. What they are, what they can feel like, how to recognize them and then … what to do with the information when you get the download, the direction and all of the amazing emotions wrapped up in all of it.  Last year (literally a year ago) the sign I got was one of those .... slap in the face type messages! Fast forward to June of this year …. And I drew the Spider Spirit Oracle card for our June Patreon workings. In doing the research for it, I was reminded of this download and night of the intense message and sign.When we pause to truly look at a spider’s web (like really look) we see how every thread is part of something larger. Even the tiniest strand connects to others. If you brush one edge ever so gently, the entire structure trembles. The vibration doesn’t stay where it began; it travels. It ripples outward, reaching every corner.  I think … That’s exactly how the Witch’s Web works. Every spell, every word spoken with intention, every breath of magic ... none of it happens in isolation. What we do here, in our kitchens, on our porches, beneath October’s star-drenched sky, moves through the web. Like a pulse of light, it travels unseen, connecting with threads spun long before us and stretching into futures we can only imagine.And right now, in October, the web feels even more alive. This is the season of the thinning veil, when the boundaries between our world and the spirit realm soften. It’s when whispers come a little clearer, shadows carry familiar weight, and the unseen web that connects us all shimmers! Ancestors, beloved spirits, land guardians, and witches from ages past are close. The ancestral threads in the web are some of the oldest and strongest threads we have. Every ancestor who stirred a pot, spoke a prayer, planted seeds, healed wounds, whispered their hopes to the night sky spun their magic into the web. Their threads stretch through bloodlines, through chosen families, through spiritual kinships. They are not passive observers on the edges of the web. No, they’re part of the structure itself. They hold us, steady us, and sometimes give the strands a little nudge to remind us they’re still here.Today you'll hear my journey with the BIG sign and message I got last year, but today isn’t just a story time. It’s a journey. A weaving. And as we gather here just days before Samhain (when the veil is at its thinnest) I believe the air is thick with signs, whispers, and ancestral presence. The web is alive… and it’s waiting for us to listen!CharleneHearth & HenPatreonWitchy Work Wishes

Bones carry memory. Blood carries movement. We are not separate from our ancestors.... we are their continuation. Their songs hum in our marrow and their stories course through our veins. Their wisdom lives in our hands, our dreams, our instincts. And one day, we will be the bones and blood that hum through someone else. This Samhain we are giving ourselves permission to be quiet. To breathe. To listen. To place our hands over our heart and feel the pulse. To trace the lines of our bones. Let that hum rise. Because within each of us are entire generations ... not gone, not forgotten, but living, flowing, remembering!This Samhain, whether you’re baking bread at midnight, setting a quiet altar, whispering family names into candlelight, or simply journaling by the fire ... know that these small acts matter. They’re bridges. They’re spells. They’re how we keep the lines alive!Bread Bones Blood & Memory is all about weaving ourselves back into that timeless web of our bloodline. We’ll talk about how those ancestral threads live on in us (in our hands, our stories, our kitchens) and how we can honor and celebrate those memories in a modern, magical way.It's time to head back into the kitchen ... let's bake some memories together!CharleneHearth & HenWitchy Work WishesPatreon

Whether you are honoring ancestors by candlelight, building a pumpkin-lit altar at home, or tucking a sprig of rosemary beside your keyboard, you are part of a living tradition that stretches back through time! Samhain invites us to pause, reflect, honor what has come before and step boldly into the dark half of the year with intention.Samhain isn’t just “Halloween but Witchier.” It’s so much richer than that. This old Celtic festival marked the end of the harvest season and the turning of the wheel toward the darker half of the year. It was a time when the veil between worlds thinned, when communities gathered close for warmth, story, and ritual. And it was a time when spirits were believed to wander just a little closer to our realm.Grab your favorite fall drink, wrap yourself in something cozy and settle in. Today …. We are heading back in time together. Think crisp autumn nights, bonfires on distant hills and the hum of ancient celebrations drifting through the chill of October!Let's celebrate Samhain together!CharleneHearth & HenPatreonWitchy Work Wishes