Today's episode is a bit different than the usual... but one I've been so excited to publish for a while. Calling all my witchy babes - we are diving into all things witchcraft, magick, breathing through stereotypes, and more. We're chatting with Tenae Stewart, cottage witch and published author of the best sellers, The Modern Witch's Guide to Magickal Self-Care" and "The Modern Witch's Guide to Natural Magick". For all my Practical Magic Fans, astrology curious, and spiritually inclined, this is for you.
What we talk about:
+ So much more
About Tenae:
With a passion for infusing simplicity into the realms of magic, astrology, and self-care, Tenae is on a mission to guide others on a transformative journey. As the proud author of "The Modern Witch's Guide to Magickal Self-Care" and "The Modern Witch's Guide to Natural Magick," Tenae's work serves as a beacon, inspiring modern witches to nurture their minds, bodies, and intuition. Her mission is crystal clear: empower individuals to embrace their most magical selves each and every day 🙌🧙♀️
To connect with Tenae:
IG: lupinehollow
www.witchoflupinehollow.com
To connect with Kasia
Today's episode is a bit different than the usual... but one I've been so excited to publish for a while. Calling all my witchy babes - we are diving into all things witchcraft, magick, breathing through stereotypes, and more. We're chatting with Tenae Stewart, cottage witch and published author of the best sellers, The Modern Witch's Guide to Magickal Self-Care" and "The Modern Witch's Guide to Natural Magick". For all my Practical Magic Fans, astrology curious, and spiritually inclined, this is for you.
What we talk about:
+ So much more
About Tenae:
With a passion for infusing simplicity into the realms of magic, astrology, and self-care, Tenae is on a mission to guide others on a transformative journey. As the proud author of "The Modern Witch's Guide to Magickal Self-Care" and "The Modern Witch's Guide to Natural Magick," Tenae's work serves as a beacon, inspiring modern witches to nurture their minds, bodies, and intuition. Her mission is crystal clear: empower individuals to embrace their most magical selves each and every day 🙌🧙♀️
To connect with Tenae:
IG: lupinehollow
www.witchoflupinehollow.com
To connect with Kasia
Hello and welcome to the Other Way, a lifestyle podcast exploring uncommon, unconventional or otherwise alternative approaches to life, business and health. I'm your host, Kasia. I'm the founder of Inflow, a woman's wellness brand that designs intentional products to help women reconnect to their unique cyclical rhythm and find a balance between being and doing. This podcast is an extension of my mission with In Flow. Here we provide intentional interviews with inspiring humans, trailblazers, researchers, spiritual teachers and more on the journey of doing things the Other Way. Hello everyone, Welcome back to the podcast. Today I have a very special guest for you. I am speaking with Tenae Stewart, who is a practicing cottage witch, a certified astrologer, a coach and a published author. She is on a mission to embody simplicity and magic, astrology and self-care. She is the author of the Modern Witches Guide to Magical Self-Care and the Modern Witches Guide to Natural Magic. Her work empowers witches to nourish their minds, bodies and intuition so they can be their most magical selves all day, every day. Y'all this episode. This is an interesting one and I am so pumped to bring it to you. For those of you who are tuning in because you found me on LinkedIn and you worked with me at Microsoft or in some area there. Welcome. For those of you who are finding this podcast through any other channel, welcome as well.
Kasia:This is a topic that I have been dying to dive into but definitely felt a little bit uncomfortable around. I feel like there is a lot of truth out there to the whole witch-wound concept. I think that women's intuition and kind of almost like spiritual essence has been demonized for hundreds of years and we get into it on this episode a little bit as well. And yet I just feel so called to explore this. I full confession here have been a practical magic fan for so many years and as a child I found so much just connection and mysticism in the world around me. After watching that movie, or perhaps even before that, I would find myself, you know, time and time again like locked in Barnes Noble. While I was locked, but I found myself there for many hours. My mom listening to this is probably laughing, but I would be out there, you know, in Barnes Noble reading books on magic, on mysticism. I've been such a curious child, I grew up as a curious child wanting to explore these realms. Yet for so many years I suppressed that side of myself Later in my career when I worked in tech, what I talk about, my belief systems around manifestation and vision boarding more openly, but it always fell into the realm of being a type A goal setter. And now I'm kind of coming out of the closet. This interests me. I'm so pumped about it.
Kasia:I think that the sharing the knowledge about witchcraft, about magic, about spirituality, whatever it means to you, can be so empowering to just have these discussions and witness them between other women. And so here we are. We are going to be diving into witchcraft and magic 101. This is a completely not religious or dogmatic episode, so I'm going to teaser it with that and we actually talk about some of the misconceptions. Early on in the podcast we're going to define what is which the different types of witches and what those identities even mean, if they even matter. If you're curious about being drawn to different styles of witchcraft, perhaps this might be interesting to you how magic is accessible to everyone and how to tap into it it's easier than you think. 2024 astrology stuff we definitely forecast quite a bit and daily practices to bring into your life to tap into magic and so much more.
Kasia:This is definitely a beginner episode for anyone who feels called to their own intuition, to the cycles of nature, to honoring that, to the mysticism that is present in our world. This episode will absolutely resonate with you without further ado. Enjoy and let's jump on into it Today. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited. Oh, I am so excited. As we were talking right before we started recording, I reached out to you back in September. It was like in the height of all things, like practical magic, trying to get into all the witchy things. So I am so excited to be finally recording this and we have a lot to cover.
Tenae Stewart:Yes, yes, we do. We're finally here, starting the year with this.
Kasia:Oh yes, starting strong. Let's kick it off with a question that I love to ask every single guest, and that is what are three words that you would use to describe yourself?
Tenae Stewart:Oh, that's a good question. Probably, let's see probably grounded but passionate and, I guess, intuitive.
Kasia:Well, I was waiting for one of those to go in there, because of your background.
Kasia:I was like which one is she going to choose? I love that and it feels pretty accurate, based on what I see, with your online presence and your incredible books, which we're going to get into for sure, because, for those who don't know and I think everyone knows, if you're listening to this because of the intro but tonight you're a witch. You're a certified astrologer coach and a published author. I discovered you through your book, a Modern Witch's Guide to Natural Magic, and I loved it. I know you have one on self-care as well, which I gifted to my bestie, elisa. Shout out to you, and you have an incredible gift for really making magic accessible. This definitely wasn't my first book introducing me to witchcraft and magic and all those things, but it definitely felt like the one that just felt so intuitive and easy to read and easy to tap into, and so I really want to cover all of those topics today, give folks an introduction to witchcraft, and so I think why don't we start there? What is a witch? What and who is a witch?
Tenae Stewart:Yeah Well, thank you so much. I love that. You loved natural magic. I have two books out and natural magic was the second one and I'm I don't know, you don't have favorites technically, but I love that book and I always love when people really found it and connected with it, because it's in many ways, I think it describes my own whole practice, and so I just thank you. I love that.
Tenae Stewart:So what is a witch? So witchcraft is basically the practice of transformation. Ultimately, right, it's about knowing that we have the power to transform our lives and transform ourselves, and there are so many different ways that people might do that, might use that practice, but it's something that's like almost universal in the practice of witchcraft is doing so in some kind of connection with nature. So, whether that's working with the seasons and the earth, working with the moon, working with plants or crystals, working with the planets, right, having some kind of connection to nature in some way is true for the vast majority of us, although everyone approaches it differently.
Tenae Stewart:And so being a witch is really about in a lot of ways, it's really about self empowerment, it's about knowing that we can change ourselves if we want to. We can change the world around us, we can change our circumstances. And having this connection that we're part of something bigger, right, as humans, we are part of nature. We're not something separate from it. And so, really having that connection and that knowledge right, I always say that one of our most important tools, as witches, is awareness. Right, it's self awareness, but it's also awareness of what season are we in, what moon phase are we in, not just to know those things, but because they have a real impact on us and there are a real reflection of things that are happening for us.
Kasia:I love that and that really did stand out to me in your book as well. There's that sense of almost like, instead of going outward for the knowledge and the source, there's like a grounding and coming home, reconnecting to the earth, reconnecting to the seasons, and I think that's so beautiful. But I will share that and I think I'm not alone in this that when a lot of people hear the term witch or witchcraft, there's like this kind of maybe some fear that's brought up around it or a sense of you know, oh, is that a religion? Like what exactly? How do I box this? Like what category do I put it into? And so I would love for you to maybe speak to that a bit. Is witchcraft? Is a practicing witch also, by definition, someone who is religiously a witch? Could you speak to kind of clarifying the differences for us?
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, so which, to me, is spiritual, right. So it's a spiritual path and or practice, right, there's usually something physical, right, it is a practice, just like your yoga practice or, you know, your creative practice, right, it's something that you do and it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be doing really complicated, elaborate things. It might be that you are walking outside and looking at the full moon coming up, right. There is some kind of action involved to me which is kind of inherent in, like the word craft, right, it's something that we do, so it's really a practice and it has a spiritual aspect. There is a, there can be a religious component for people.
Tenae Stewart:So I'd say most people who identify as witches fall somewhere on the spectrum from secular to spiritual to religious. You absolutely can be a totally secular witch and I have some close friends who do identify that way which basically means that they are really working from like a psychological perspective, right, so really tapping into their own inner wisdom. It's very much about intuition, it's very much about mental health and self-care, right, which is not that you can have those experiences in some of the other areas too. But if you're a secular witch like that's really where you're coming at it from. I identify more as spiritual, so definitely having a connection to not only like the earth itself and the moon itself, but also some kind of spirit there, right, whether it's ancestors or goddess work, or I mean there's so many different ways that that might show up, right but even just the concept of like your own higher self, things like that, or nature, spirits, right, like spirits of the land, etc.
Tenae Stewart:And then there's people who do identify as it being more of a religion, which typically most people who would identify as a witch and identify as religious would probably be Wiccan, which is a specific religion and it does have, you know, more specific deities and traditions and rituals and things that you're actually doing. But people who identify as Wiccan are actually a fairly small percentage, especially now. You know, originally, so many of us originally identified as Wiccan because that was the term, right, that was how people often came to this path, especially, I'd say, in like the late 90s, early 2000s, right, like that was the term that was actually in some ways more accepted. But a lot of people have, you know, kind of come to a feeling of like I don't actually identify as religious and so maybe I don't actually identify as Wiccan, therefore. And so there's. You know, there's a myriad of ways that you might identify, but I think it kind of tends to fall in those three categories.
Kasia:Well, I love that you've defined that for us because you know, and I think maybe we talked about this in the intro, but the NERJ podcast covers a range of topics and it's all about this intersection of what I would call like modern scientific living with like Eastern spiritual practices and spiritual practices as a whole and the term, which I think has a lot of misconceptions around it, and I think one of those, unfortunately, you know, might be kind of bucketing not unfortunately, but bucketing the term which into some of what we've seen in Hollywood with some of those scarier terms black magic, very dangerous. And then the other thing, misconception is that which needs to be Wiccan or religious by default, and I love that breakdown of the scale from secular to spiritual to religious that you provided for us. I think that's really, really helpful.
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, definitely, because I think that that did happen. Right, there was a point where, like, which, in a lot of ways, became a little bit more normalized and a little bit more accepted. You know, there was a lot of movies and TV shows where there were characters that you identified with, but they were often, very often, like some of the most classic examples, they used the word Wiccan, which in many ways I'm so grateful for, because it really did help normalize and bring this idea that, like, being a witch is not necessarily something dark or bad in any way, and that there's actually a lot of light and a lot of beauty and, you know, a lot of hope in this path. But it also created this kind of like dichotomy, right, it's like, oh, you know well, if you're not a bad witch, then you're Wiccan, right, and there's nothing wrong with being Wiccan either. But there's a lot in between.
Kasia:Oh yeah, love that. So let's dive into your practice. I noticed in your bio that you mentioned that you're a cottage which. What does that mean?
Tenae Stewart:So it means that my home, essentially my home, my is the heart of my practice, it's my sanctuary, right, and that was something. It's funny because it's a term that I came to a very long time ago and I always say I'm not entirely sure where I came across it. The closest thing I can think that maybe was my first example of that was there is a book called Cottage Witchery, I think. I think is what it's called. I haven't read it in years, but there was a book that I really enjoyed. It existed at some point.
Tenae Stewart:And there was. So there was a book that I think had that in the title, but originally I had played around with kitchen witch, green witch, which are more common terms and especially were more common then, and they just never felt like they fit. It was like, yeah, this kind of resonates, but I didn't really consider myself an herbalist, cooking was not really the core of my practice, and so at some point I came across this term cottage witch. That just really resonated with me because it felt like it pulled in all of those elements but it was much more kind of like, more kind of holistic, I guess I would say.
Tenae Stewart:And over the many years since then, like home has become a very important part of my life and has been demonstrated to me over and over, like how important that is for me and that that is a spiritual experience, right, having like a safe, grounded place that is home, and not only you know having altars in my home and things like that, you know decorating for the seasons, but just the like sacred space of it.
Tenae Stewart:So that's really the core of my practice. But I also always like to say like I actually think that finding words like that that describe your practice is really powerful, but that it doesn't mean that it boxes you in in any way. Right, like I yes, I'm a cottage witch I'm also a professional astrologer and working with the planets is a huge part of my life and practice, and that is very cosmic and very outside of the sense of sacred space. Right so, and obviously can be tied together too, but it doesn't mean that you know, if you choose a label of any kind, that it boxes you in in any way. So for me, it's more about like describing what's really the heart of my practice, you know.
Kasia:I love that. And what is your practice actually look like from a tangible point of view? If you could I don't know, maybe walk through a day or a week or a month with some of the highlights and or maybe even how you think about it from a philosophical perspective, like how do you build your practice? Because I think for a lot of people out there myself included, feeling very much like a beginner, exploring magic and exploring kind of what resonates with me it can be hard to figure out. What does that practice mean? You can go to a yoga class, but it's a little bit harder to figure it out when you're kind of on your own, maybe listening to this podcast. So what does yours look like?
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, no, that's so true, and I think that you know I always say, like, there are no rules in witchcraft, which is one of the things that draws a lot of people here, right, a lot of people come to this type of practice from a more traditional religious background right, not all, but a lot of people do, and so we're often looking to get away from that, right, like we're looking for something that doesn't have a lot of rules, that really allows us to be intuitive, and that sounds great, but it's actually really hard, right, it's really hard to build something from the ground up when you don't have those kind of traditional rules and structures to rely on. And so that's something. It's actually something I talk about a lot in my book on self care is how do you do this? Right, and it's something I teach a lot about. So, for me, creating your practice has a lot to do with, again, awareness, right, self awareness. What do you actually need? What does your schedule actually look like? Right, like what's actually realistic for you. And so my practice has definitely evolved a lot.
Tenae Stewart:You know, when I first? Well, when I first started practicing, you know I was in, like, high school and college, and then when I first really recommitted to my practice after some time away. At the time I was working a nine to five, you know, regular job. I was commuting. Now I, you know, work entirely for myself. I work full time. Well, not from home, I have an office space, but for myself, right, my schedule is much more flexible. And so, even just that, you know your schedule and even the way your schedule changes throughout the year, you know, based on the seasons and how much daylight there is and if your kids are home from school, right, like, there's just so many ways that our practice has to evolve. But with that said, there are certain things that I'm pretty consistent with. So, on a daily basis, I typically, you know, in the mornings, I will make a cup of tea, usually something like fairly seasonal. You know, more flowers in the spring and summer, more spices in the fall and winter, right, so I'll make a seasonal cup of tea.
Tenae Stewart:I get kind of like back in bed, kind of cozy space, and do a little bit of journal, lights and candles, do a little bit of journaling. I'll pull an Oracle card, do a little bit of gratitude practice, that sort of thing. I always check, you know, what sign and phase the moon is in for the day. That's a big part of my practice is working with them, especially the moon signs. So I just kind of have an awareness of that. I might check in with some of the astrology pieces. I like the Channy app it's C-H-A-N-I. It's a great app for just like knowing where the planets are, what's going on for the day. So I like to check in on some of those things in the morning.
Tenae Stewart:And then, you know, in some ways there are little pieces of my practice that are just woven really naturally through my day. You know, I always have, like certain crystals on my desk, I often always have full decks on my desk and I'll, you know, pull cards through the day as I feel called to, you know. So there's little bits of my practice that are just like in and amongst my daily life. And then on kind of a bigger scale, you know, like I said, decorating my house for the seasons is a really important part of my practice.
Tenae Stewart:So you know, especially, I would say, in the fall and winter. But even, like you know, we just took all of our holiday decorations down, like last week, and cleaned the house and got the house all refreshed, you know, and cleaned my altar and so you know just kind of like those little seasonal practices, whether it's every month or every few months, you know, just kind of like tuning in, having a fresh start again I think is really important. So doing some of those types of things, and then for the new and full moons I will typically do a little bit of a larger ritual. So I have a particular journal or grimoire which I use just for moon rituals and so I'll light some light, more candles, light some specific candles, you know, maybe do some meditating or card spread or something like that. But all in all, you know, my practice is I teach a lot about how to be consistent and I think a big part of that is allowing it to be really simple.
Kasia:Oh, yes, so important. I just got back from a women's retreat this past weekend and one of the main takeaways was how crucial and important like these magical moments are, as opposed to like long, you know, and there's obviously a place for that to like a long, extended ritual, but that consistency is so much more important than kind of committing to something that can be a bit too elaborate, and I love how accessible the rituals that you have are and it definitely shows how you talked about you know kind of the elements of the seasons and being a cottage witch and how home is interwoven into your practices, and I think talking about the tea and the meditation and bringing kind of the seasons inside with decorations like it definitely speaks to all of that. Hi everyone, I wanted to pause this episode to tell you a bit about today's sponsor, my company Inflow. Ladies, if you suffer from PMS and feel like your monthly cycle is brutal, I feel you. As someone who suffers from endometriosis, I understand what debilitating pain and fatigue around your cycle feel like and after years of fighting against my body and my symptoms, burnout inspired me to see things.
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Tenae Stewart:So one of the ways I would say that I work with that the most is so in especially my like lunar grimoire, because I'm basically writing a ritual. You know a few pages, maybe some journaling. You know what cards I pulled, that sort of thing that I'm writing in essentially every two, every two weeks, right, twice a month for the new infolments, and so that journal doesn't fill up very quickly, right, especially if I skip one, which sometimes I do, right, and so usually any one of those journals will have like a few years of rituals recorded in it, and it's so powerful to flip back through that and see like where things have stayed the same, what has changed, what focuses are you know, you know what things have manifested, what I'm still focusing on, like things like that. And so one thing that I usually will do is, like so, when we're recording this, the new mooning Capricorn is coming up really quickly, and so what I would typically do is flip back through that journal as I'm doing my new moon and Capricorn ritual to the full moon and Capricorn, which will have been about six months ago in like July, and maybe even the new moon before that, although I happened to know I didn't do a ritual for the new moon and Capricorn last year, because it was a tough month, it was not a great month, and sometimes that's what happens, right? Sometimes life happens and it doesn't mean you weren't consistent in other ways, but so I would flip back through and be able to see these transformations of over six months at a time, right, I might even be able to go back farther than that, depending on you know how far back this particular journal goes or find some others you know I do hang on to them, but you know being able to flip back and look at that. You know, each month the you know the new moon is in a particular sign. Six months ago the full moon will have been in that sign, and so being able to do that and flip through that and really see, like, not only the passage of time and be able to mark things in a really intentional way, but it helps us to see how much transformation is occurring, right, because so often we feel like, you know, either nothing has changed or everything has changed, but it was out of our control, and that's a lot of times that's just not true, right? And so being able to reflect on that and, you know, see it written, even if it's just in a few sentences I wrote down at that time, is really powerful and it helps you to be able to see how much transformation not only has occurred around you, but that you have created, you know. So that's a big part of that.
Tenae Stewart:For me, transition can also definitely be spell work, and one of my favorite ways to do that is through candle magic. So you know, having a particular candle that you're lighting. You know something I liked a lot of people like to light a candle and then burn it all the way down for a given spell, which is really powerful in its own way. I tend to be like longer term.
Tenae Stewart:So I'll have like a candle that is dedicated to something in particular, that I'm lighting periodically, that I'm like recharging. You know, like I have like a series of candles that I light throughout the month of December leading up to the winter solstice, and burn those down like before the new year. You know to kind of like release the old year. I'll have, you know, maybe a larger candle that's dedicated to something big that I'm manifesting and slowly burning that down as that's coming in so many little simple ways that you can do that sort of thing where you're just really like reinforcing your energy, reinforcing your intention, right and then making sure that you're also taking some kind of practical action around whatever it is you're trying to create or trying to change, you know.
Kasia:Yeah, oh, and I love how you mentioned candle magic, because that feels so accessible. It's like such a simple tool that most of us have in our homes probably the majority of us and to have that be kind of set with an intention and, as you mentioned, like kind of reenergized every single time you light it, that is just so beautiful, so simple, so accessible. Because I think spells, like even the words, like when I hear the word spell, it feels inherently so complicated, like I don't know what to do, like do I Google this? Do I read it in a book? Like how do I? And then, as we talked about at the beginning, there is that fluidity and the personalization that can come with building your practice. But for somebody who's a complete beginner and is just feeling called to this, it can be a feel so overwhelming as to what to do next.
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, and that is like the two top two things I hear from my clients is that they're overwhelmed and that they want to be consistent, but it just doesn't seem to stick right. And so the overwhelm piece, I think, is it's funny because, on the one hand, we have so much more access to information about all of these topics than we used to. You know, even 10 years ago, but definitely 15, 20 years ago, there was very limited information. There were books, there were whole publishing houses that published books on these topics, but they were like the only authority right. There was not a lot of information out there, and especially between like 2010 and 2015, it really exploded. And then, of course, in 2020, we saw such a huge explosion of interest in these topics and so over the last 10 years, we've gained so much more access, which is incredible. It's amazing, you know, I always tell a story that they at my local Barnes Noble, they moved to the like witchy section from literally like the back corner upstairs to by the front door.
Kasia:And it has stayed by the front door for four years.
Tenae Stewart:Oh, my God, I love that so like it's just, it's amazing, it's a different, it's a totally different space than it used to be, right? But the downside of all of that is that there's so much more information. It's really overwhelming, right. It goes back to the what I was saying about like there's no rules, which is really hard. There's so much information, which is really overwhelming.
Tenae Stewart:And so the most important piece with that is number one, I think to trust, well, absolutely number one to trust your intuition, right. That, like, if you're reading something and it doesn't resonate, then it's not for you. It doesn't matter. You know where it's coming from, who it's coming from, you know how many people like them and listen to them. If it doesn't resonate with you, then it's not for you. And on the flip of that is, if you hear something and it really does resonate, even though it's not how a lot of people are doing something, or if it's, you know, even if it's in contradiction to what some people are saying about that same topic, it's probably right for you. You can trust yourself with that, right, and there's some discernment. That has to happen, right.
Tenae Stewart:We have access to people talking about all things online. The reality is, you really can't do witchcraft wrong. It's not dangerous, right, Like you're working with the earth, you're working with the elements, you're working with your own intuition, and as long as you can trust yourself, then you can trust what choices you're making in this area, right? That's not to say that you can't. You know, learn from people who are going to lead you astray, right, and you need to be able to trust your intuition about that too. So there's obviously some discernment that has to happen, but, frankly, there's also discernment that has to happen with published books as well. There's not as much oversight as you might think. So, you know, it's really not about, like, what is the right information or the wrong information. It's about knowing that you feel you can trust the information you're deading right, and that you can trust yourself to know that you can trust it.
Kasia:So good? No, so good. I'm so glad you mentioned this. You know I will. I'll share a little bit of a story. That same BFF that I sent her your book, I think I forgot. Oh, it was. Um, we wanted to celebrate Sawane. I think I'm pronouncing that correctly. So you know Halloween, sawane, like just before Halloween, right? Um, or is it exactly on? Is it exactly on Halloween? So?
Tenae Stewart:it's traditionally celebrated on the October 31st. There's like a cosmic date which is like a few days later, but yes, october 31st.
Kasia:Okay, so we wanted to celebrate.
Kasia:However you pronounce it, I can't do it.
Kasia:However, um, you know, I remember I was like doing all this research as to what do you do during this time and how do we Run this appropriately, and she was like, well, we could also just use our intuition and like go into nature and like Find things that are symbolic and kind of create our own Celebratory ritual.
Kasia:And I was like, oh no, like that's not the right way to do it, you know, and so I so appreciate you just calling out the fact that I mean and I think you said this at the very beginning there's an element of the intuition and the power behind your intention and what comes from within. That is a key part of this. Like harmonizing with nature, yes, and maybe not necessarily just following the rigid guidelines in a book, some of which might be contradictory or whatever. Like if it resonates, that's great, but not to necessarily just lock yourself into that, because that can create some paralysis, like waiting for the right guidance, right Absolutely yeah, and I think a piece of it is that we all have our own relationship with all of these different things, right?
Tenae Stewart:Like you can find you know lists of what every color means to to choose the candles you're going to use in your spell. You can find you know lists of what you're supposed to put on your altar at sau and or any of the other festivals. Um, but you have your own relationship with those things, right? Like you might associate a particular color with something that it's not traditionally associated with and you actually using that and your own association In your spell work is actually going to be way more powerful than being like, well, that's not what it means to me, but this is what the list says. So that's what I'm going to do, right, and you know, choosing what to put on your altar, even if it's, you know, theoretically random, theoretically not related to what the book tells you is supposed to be for that festival, for that season, that time of year, is going to be more powerful because you're going to know why you chose that thing, right, why you were drawn to it, and so, yeah, I think that you know having the knowledge, having the information about, you know where all of these things come from, why those traditional associations exist right, is really amazing. It's so amazing that we have so much access to that, and trusting your intuition first is so much more important, because going through the motions and this is, you know, like I said then, one of the number one things I always hear is people want to be consistent, but they struggle to be, and usually the couple of things that are causing that is either they're trying to do something that they don't actually like, have time and capacity for, right, it's typically the first thing. But also is that they're trying to do it right. Right, they're trying to Go buy the books, go buy you know, the, the podcast that they're listening to. That are telling them Okay, this is how you celebrate this season, but, for whatever reason, it doesn't really resonate with them. Maybe it's because they have their own experience of that season. They have. They have particular traumas that happen that time of year that are hard for them and it's not a time they actually want to celebrate. Maybe the climate where they live is really different than the climate where that festival originates from and they're not actually experiencing that seasonal shift, or maybe it just doesn't. It's not looking for them right. It's not a festival or a season that Is really that really works for them, right?
Tenae Stewart:I also teach about your Speaking with seasons. I also teach about your astrology chart has a lot to do with your relationship with different times of the year. And so if it's the middle of summer and you're supposed to be celebrating you know the summer solstice and it's, you know this, really joyful, energizing. You know festival and you have no energy, you feel really tired and worn out, then it's not going to work, right, it's. You're not going to stick with that because it doesn't actually work for you. And so trusting your own experience and your own intuition and then turning to get some additional guidance on like, okay, how can I flesh this out, right, I think is much more impactful.
Kasia:Ding, ding ding. I love that, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. So, speaking about astrology, you know we're recording this right at the beginning of the new year, so perfect timing. I would love to get your thoughts, as a certified astrologer, on what are some of the themes that you're looking at in 2024? And also, how can we make it personal, because you know there are all those like here are the themes kind of like I don't know if they still do this like Cosmo publishes, like what's trending this month for your sign, but it goes so much deeper, so I would love to get your like broad themes. And then, how would you recommend Anybody listening to this kind of connect to it on a deeper level and how they might be able to maybe look at their chart To learn a bit more about that?
Tenae Stewart:Yeah. So the themes for 2024, the big things that are happening. So the absolute biggest thing that is happening this year, um, astrologically, is that on January 20th 2024, pluto will move into Aquarius. So Pluto moves very, very slowly. It really only changes signs about once every 20 years. We had a little taste, a little preview, of Pluto and Aquarius for a couple of months in 2023, but we're really mostly very settling into it now. There'll be a couple months where we're still out of it again this year. So we're we're still a little bit in transition, but essentially this year, pluto is moving from Capricorn, where it's been since 2008, into Aquarius, where it will be until 2044, and so we're in this a big cultural shift. Right when transits like that happen very infrequently, we really feel them, and so Pluto moving into Aquarius is the big deal for 2024 and 2025, and it's very much about this cultural shift towards, you know, the, the values of Aquarius, which are about the collective. They're about, you know, alternative ideas, alternative spiritualities, about intuition, about community care, about equity, things being more equitable, more sustainable. So a lot of the things that we're seeing, you know, in conversation over the last few years are going to really be amplified, starting with Pluto and Aquarius, and that's very much at the like, social, cultural, collective level. For the most part, if you have strong Aquarius energy in your own chart, then it may. It's going to show up on a more personal level for you, but in general, this is very much about our society, right? So that's the really big theme.
Tenae Stewart:The other things that are happening this year we have eclipses, mostly in Aries and Libra.
Tenae Stewart:There we always have two sets of eclipses every year and I think three out of the four this year are in Aries and Libra, and so that's very much about where One half of Eclipse season is about releasing something and one half is about embodying something. So we're really releasing Libra energy this year. So the shot releasing the shadows of Libra, which is about people pleasing and prioritizing connections over like our own needs, and we're really learning to embody Aries more, which is much more about individuality and trusting ourselves and prioritizing our own needs, our own passion. So that's a big theme this year as well, especially in. We'll see that, especially in the spring, like March, april, and then in the fall, september, october. And then the great thing about 2024 is that we don't have last year we had like it was like every single month either an outer planet, a big planet, was moving, changing signs, or something was retrograde, or there was a major eclipse, like a brand new eclipse we hadn't had in 20 years, like felt it.
Tenae Stewart:Yes, 2023 was like one of the most intense astrological years in a long time. 2024, I mean Pluto's a big deal. It's intense, but we just don't have as much happening like constantly. So they'll be the normal Mercury retrogrades which happen every year. There'll be normal eclipses. Jupiter will change signs. Jupiter will move into Gemini, which is with Aquarius and Gemini are both air signs. We have big air energy this year which is very much about like communication and conversation and connections and relationships, especially like friend group relationships. But there's just not as much happening as there was last year. So I think we're going to be it's going to be more focused right, it's going to be more like we're very focused on this air energy of being in connection with others and on fire energy, which is going to be, you know very much about like okay, how can we be in those connections that still really honor ourselves and our own passion, our own creativity and that sort of thing? So those are kind of like the really high level themes.
Kasia:All right, Well, that's a lot, but I mean, first of all, I'm relieved to hear about the retrogrades, because that was definitely getting to me. I'm glad to have a pause there. Is this also the that term, the age, the Aquarian age is it is that kind of what's representative of the shift in January that's happening late January.
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, so there's a few different definitions for what, like the age of Aquarius, literally means. One of them is like a very technical definition that has to do with the poles and the constellations and things like that.
Tenae Stewart:But a lot of people are saying like this is kind of the age of Aquarius. It might not be like technically the definition of it, but Pluto moving into Aquarius is a big deal. And so we had in, I believe, I think it was December 2020. We had a conjunction, which is two planets right at the same degree of the zodiac, between Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius, and in fact it was at zero degrees of Aquarius, so right at the very beginning of the sign, and that's a conjunction that hadn't happened in. I think it was a few hundred years it's too many years ago now I can't remember, but it was a big deal and it well a lot of people remember this.
Kasia:They remember this, oh yeah.
Tenae Stewart:Well, and it was like the Christmas star, right, and there's actually a theory that, like the Christmas star from the Bible story, is actually a Saturn and Jupiter conjunction, because it appears very bright, like if you got to see it, like it's really beautiful, and that's not always the case with those kinds of events you can't always see them, you know.
Tenae Stewart:So that was a really big deal and a lot of people talked about that as maybe being like the start of the age of Aquarius, and then with Pluto coming in a few years later, and so, yeah, it's the next 20 years of Pluto being in this sign and a lot of people are talking about this idea that, like this is a new age. This is a very different energy than we have been in, not only for the last 15 years, but for the last, you know, several decades. Pluto hasn't been in an air sign since the early 80s and it hasn't been in Aquarius since literally the 18th century. So, yeah, I think it is really a new age, especially around technology and politics and business and like justice and things like that.
Kasia:Yeah, and we're totally seeing that. I mean that shift 2020, it literally changed everything. It was just this like massive upheaval of our society, societal norms as we knew it, and so it's just kind of wild to see these things coinciding with what astrologers are saying too. I mean it's kind of it's I mean so remarkable. Those of us who already knew about this knew about it. I mean, I don't know all the details, but it's like you know, hair flip. I was right, that's probably you in the evening, every evening.
Tenae Stewart:So yeah, but you're so right, though, about like how do we make this personal, though, because these are like huge themes and huge topics. So what you really want to look to, with any transit of our talking Pluto, Eclipse, mercury, after grade, whatever it is what you want to do is look to your chart and see which house that sign is in your chart. So, if we're talking Pluto and Aquarius, you're looking to your chart and you're finding what house is Aquarius in which are there's like little pie slices, little wedges that your chart is divided into, and those are the houses. And if you can find that and then look up what that house is all about, it tells you what area of your life this will show up in, right.
Tenae Stewart:So, like I have Aquarius in the sixth house, which is about, I mean, at the most basic right, it's about work and it's about, like, health. So that's where, like transformation Pluto theme is going to be showing up for me, versus, if you have it in, like you know, the 10th house, it's all about your career. If it's in the 11th house, it's all about your communities, right? So that really helps you personalize it and see like it's not just like absolutely every area of your life, no matter what it's like, somewhere you know it's showing. Every transit is showing up for you somewhere in your life and it's going to be more important if you have planets there.
Kasia:Love that. And does the same apply to the Eclipses? So you mentioned that some Eclipses are for releasing. Would that same kind of theory apply where, if you have a planet that's kind of affected by that eclipse like where it shows up in your chart is where perhaps something needs to be released? Or does it go deeper than that?
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, absolutely so. You can apply this to literally anything. So if it's like a releasing eclipse, the house you have it in is the area of life. You're releasing something you know. If it's an embodying eclipse, it's you know. The same idea. If it's a Mercury retrograde, it's like where things are, where things need your attention, where you need to reflect on something or reevaluate something.
Tenae Stewart:You know any transit, even just a planet moving into a new sign, is going to show up for you somewhere based on the house. Even if you don't have any planets in that house. Right, it's just still going to tell you like, okay, this is about communication for you, this is about your relationships. And then if you do have a planet that's in the same sign as something that's happening today, right, then that's going to be more important, more personal, right? So if it's showing up somewhere where you don't have any planets, it's going to show up somewhere. You know in your life that that house rules, but it might not be like really deep or really personal. If it's showing up like with your sun or your moon or your Venus, right, it's going to be more important.
Kasia:So helpful and I'll deep link the Chani app, which I know you mentioned, and some I guess also other resources for pulling your charts, so that way folks can get contacts if that's something that they don't know how to do. It all Now I know the immediate next question is going to be where can I find you? Today, because I want to learn more about this as we go through the year as well as dive into rituals and practices. We didn't even get to touch on like a lot of the stuff around moon phases, but we talked quite a bit about seasonal living, so I know people are going to want to go deeper. How can they find you? What do you have coming up that you could share with our audience?
Tenae Stewart:Yeah, absolutely so. My website is www. witchoflupinehollow. com , so you can find everything there. I'm mostly on Instagram where I'm " Lupin Hollow, so those are kind of the two main places where you'll find me, and then everything is linked there podcasts, all that sort of thing. Okay, so, things coming up, I produce a magazine, so the Spring Magazine will be coming out in late February, so that's probably the next thing to keep an eye out for will be the Spring issue of Starlight Magazine, and then that'll lead you to all the things that I do.
Kasia:Well, I do love that magazine myself, so definitely check it out and I'll deep link, hyperlink everything below. And I could keep chatting with you, but we're at time. I just want to say thank you, thank you for hopping on, sharing your wisdom. So much more to cover and it was truly a joy. Thank you so much. This was great. Thanks everyone for listening and see you next time. Thank you so much for tuning into the Other Way. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a five star review. It really helps the podcast grow and I'm ever so grateful. If you want to stay connected, you can find information on how in our show notes. And finally, if you're curious about Inflow and want free resources around cyclical living or moon cycles, check out inflowplaner. com. And, of course, for all my listeners, you can use the code podcast10. And that's all. Lowercase podcast10 for 10% off any purchase. All right, that's all for today. See you next time.