Belief, Being, & BEYOND!
What you Believe constitutes how you Behave in the world. But there is always something more - The BEYOND! Let's talk to people with a variety spiritual belief systems, perspectives, approaches, and backgrounds in order to sate our curious minds - "What else is out there?"
Belief, Being, & BEYOND!
Samhain (Halloween) - Jenny C Bell
The ancient Celts understood something profound about October that modern society often glosses over with candy and costumes - this is when the boundary between our world and the spirit realm grows remarkably thin. In this captivating premiere of "As The Veil Thins" series, Granddaughter Crow welcomes witch and author Jenny C Bell to explore the deeper meaning behind Samhain, Halloween, and our cultural relationship with death.
Jenny reveals how the Witch's Wheel of the Year places Samhain at a critical juncture between the fall equinox and winter solstice - a time when nature herself appears to die. This seasonal death isn't something to fear but rather investigate with curiosity. As trees shed leaves and animals retreat into hibernation, we're invited to reflect on what parts of ourselves might need releasing. Perhaps it's an outdated belief system, a career that no longer serves you, or simply making peace with a chapter that's closing.
The conversation takes a deeply personal turn when Jenny shares her unexpected reconnection with her estranged father after his death. Through a medium friend, she discovered how souls often reflect on unlearned life lessons after passing, seeking understanding and forgiveness from beyond the veil. This perspective offers profound comfort for anyone hesitant to connect with complicated ancestors or painful family histories.
You'll discover accessible ways to honor those who've crossed over - from lighting candles while speaking their names to preparing cherished family recipes or hosting a "silent feast" with place settings for departed loved ones. These practices don't require special abilities or elaborate rituals - just heartfelt intention and openness to the unseen.
For those concerned about unwanted spiritual encounters during this sensitive time, Jenny offers practical protection methods using crystal allies like smoky quartz and labradorite, alongside her reassuring mantra: "All crystals are protective and all herbs are cleansing."
Whether you identify as a witch, spiritual seeker, or simply someone curious about meaningful autumn traditions, this conversation invites you to look beyond the Halloween decorations and discover the profound wisdom of honoring endings as the necessary precursor to new beginnings. Join us each Saturday in October for more illuminating discussions as we continue exploring what happens as the veil thins.
Jenny C. Bell is the author Spirit Crystals: Discover Your Crystal Guide for Healing and Empowerment (Summer 2025) and Divergent Witchcraft: An Inclusive Approach to Making Magic (Spring 2026), founder of the Our Coven online community, host of the Cozy Coven Chats podcast, and a practicing witch. For three decades, Jenny has practiced yoga, meditation, read tarot cards and worked with the healing powers of crystals.
www.jennycbell.com
Protective Circle Video: https://youtu.be/918dC6rB7OA?si=K1guqGxs9X9soxgH
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Welcome to Belief being and Beyond with your host, granddaughter Crow, as the Veil Thins series. Join us, as Granddaughter Crow interviews spiritual leaders, in riveting conversations about this time of year here. Hi everybody, granddaughter Crow here and it's time for yet another Belief being and Beyond, and I've got to tell you something that I am bringing to you with a bunch of wonderful people. This month, october 2025, every Saturday night at 5 pm Pacific, 8 pm Eastern Time, I'm going to release one of four series called as the Veil Thins. As the Veil Thins, and we're going to be talking all about this month, this time of year. I mean, I have some wonderful guests. Today, we're going to be interviewing Jenny Z Bell, which I will talk to you about in just a minute. Also, on October 11th, we're going to have Nikki Wardwell Sleeth, who's going to be talking to us about death and the unseen world. Also, october 18th, tune in, for we have Jamie Wagner. She is the author of Hades and she talks to us about the Wild Hunt. Like, these are great topics. And then, of course, we have the Blue Witch, laura Gonzalez she's my sister, cousin, I love her talking to us on October 25th about Dias de las Muertes. So, you guys tune in. It's wherever you get your podcasts. However, if you go to Granddaughter Crow on YouTube yes, I have a YouTube channel Like subscribe, share whatever you want to do Hit the notification button because these are going to premiere on YouTube. Now, it's not going to be live, but the chat will be live and I will be in there celebrating with you. I am so, so, so excited. Of course, if all of that just flew over you and you're like what, what did that granddaughter crow call at me? Just go to wwwgranddaughtercrowcom under events and you will see all the details. Always feel free to ask me any questions, but I am going to bring to you beautiful, beautiful, seasonal information to sate your curious minds with as the Veil Thins. So, that being said, we have our first guest with us today for as the Veil Thins, we once again I know you've seen her, I know you guys love her. She is a wonderful, wonderful person. Today I have Jenny C Bell with me. Today. She is the author of Spirit Crystals Discover your Crystal Guide for Healing and Empowerment that just released September 2025, and yet she has another one coming out Divergent Witchcraft yeah, you heard me. Divergent Witchcraft an inclusion approach. To talk a little bit about that towards the end of the show.
Speaker 1:Hosts the Cozy Coven Chats podcast. She's been a practicing witch for three decades. Jenny has practiced yoga, meditation, reading the tarot cards and working with spirit crystals. And you know what I love about? When she reads the tarot cards she goes oh, I'm a fortune teller, I'm a fortune she's bringing. I'm a fortune teller, I'm a fortune, she's bringing back the old school fortune teller. So anyway, jenny, blah, blah, blah, I'm so happy to have you. I know I ran through all of that I'm so happy to have you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being on the show today.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and that was so impressive Like that's so impressive to run through all that. Very professional, I have to say I admire it as a fellow podcast host. I wanted to say that today I'm officially putting on my witch's hat for this conversation, so for those that can see me, it's a literal hat.
Speaker 1:Pause the recording. Go get your witchy hat. Go get your witch's broom recording. Go get your witchy hat, go get your witch's broom. We're gonna kick off October 2025 as the veil fins right now with Ginny C Bell, the certified witch, with her beautiful witch hat. Jump over the YouTube channel if you want to take a look at it. I think it has an owl on it. Does it have an owl on it? It does, it does. Ooh, that's so perfect. So, ginny, what I would love to chat with you about is Samhain. I want to talk. Okay, what is Samhain people? Maybe Ginny can tell us. Halloween is another term, mm-hmm, but this year and the veil is thinning could you kind of let the audience know what is Samhain? What is Halloween? Why are you wearing a witch hat? Why does it have an owl on it? What's going on?
Speaker 2:Jenny Seabell well I am wearing. Let's start with that. I'm wearing a witch hat with an owl on it, purely for fun and because we like to have a good time over here. I decided a few Halloweens back that I would just be a witch every year, because why not? And so I invested in a night. It was made on Etsy. It's like a really nice hat, and I chose the owl because that's one of my favorite animals and I'm sure, if you're not familiar, there's a lot of superstitions about witches and owls and some people actually fear owls because of that. We've talked about that before, but yeah, so that's why.
Speaker 2:But before we jump right into Samhain, I just want to give everybody a quick background on the Witch's Wheel of the Year or the Sabbaths, because I think that will help them understand Samhain a little more. So we have something in witchcraft called the Witch's Wheel of the Year, which are eight Sabbaths that we celebrate, and this is not everyone. So witchcraft is very, very open and some witches do one way and some witches do another way. The witch's wheel was kind of put together in the Wiccan movement. So Wicca is a religion that is based off of kind of neo-paganism and witchcraft, and so this wheel was put together by, like Gerald Gardner and those type of occultists as a way of trying to legitimize witchcraft and also kind of give it more of a religion. Like you know, every religion has holidays, so they were kind. He was kind of pulling from different places and so we have the witch's wheel, which is the two equinoxes and the two solstices, and then we have what are called the cross-quarter days and those are usually like smack dab in the middle of those others. So, for instance, samhain is right in the middle of the fall equinox and the winter solstice, so it's a cross-quarter day. I love that.
Speaker 2:I mean eight holidays to celebrate means November, like it was their name for the month of November, and so it was kind of borrowed. A lot of these terms like Mabon Samhain, they were just kind of borrowed and put together into the wheel. So if people feel more comfortable using Halloween because that's what they grew up with, that's totally fine. Technically, halloween is on October 31st and Samhain is on November 1st, so technically they are different. But every witch just do your own witchy thing, like if Halloween's the day for you to celebrate, it doesn't. It's fine Because, as we talked about, the veil is thinning and that begins to thin really like right after autumn equinox. I feel like a lot of people start to feel that thinning and that thinning is you know kind of what this whole podcast is about, right, this whole little series and that has been celebrated by witches and Samhain for a long time.
Speaker 1:I love it. So, as the veil thins, a lot of different people who are just entering into you know figuring this whole thing out, or they've been practicing their path for like 10 years and they never felt like, ooh, what is this freaking veil that everybody's asking everyone? What is? How do you, jenny C Bell, perceive the veil and the thinning of the veil, and what does that mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question. I get that asked a lot in our coven because it's a very like mysterious name, right, like the veil is thin. It sounds so mysterious and people are like, what does that mean? And does it only happen at Samhain? And the answer is no. It also happens on the other side of the year, which would be Beltane, which is between spring and summer. So we have two cross quarter days that actually celebrate the thinning of the veil.
Speaker 2:But Samhain is more popular because Samhain lines up with Halloween and the Day of the Dead and some other holidays that honor ancestors, past and others that have passed away, and so that's why it's, I think, why it's more popular.
Speaker 2:Even Catholics celebrate like All Souls Day around this time, like it's everybody's lining up for the celebration of those that have passed away and the celebration of death and the dead and ancestors and ancestor veneration. And so when we say when the veil is spinning, witches, take for truth and most witches not all, but most and shamans I know too take for truth that there is an invisible world, that we are attracted to. This, I think, path because the invisible world has called to us. We've seen signs of the invisible world, we've communicated with the invisible world. And the invisible world is spirits, it's ancestors, it's guides, it's angels, it's dragons, it's ghosts, it's deities. It's so much right, and so we work to connect with that invisible world, like when we say, oh, I saw a sign. And the sign means this the invisible world's communicating with us and we as spiritual people, as witches, take that as meaning and honor that instead of just being like, oh, I keep seeing this, this crow everywhere and hearing a caw, but it doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 1:But I do mean something. I mean so much I love it. You know it is. It's one of those times that I love that you said that, because it's not just witches or pagans that talk about the thinning of the veil. Maybe other belief systems may not call it that, but there is like the All Souls Day and the Day of the Dead and this understanding that we are changing, you know, in the natural world, into, oh, it's getting darker outside and things like that. So now, oh yeah, and there's one more thing. Oh yeah, and there's one more thing. People, whether you want to celebrate Halloween on October 31st or November 1st is fine, because Grand Daughter Crow is going to be celebrating it from October of year, with the veil thinning and Samhain and Day of the Dead. What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to approach that? Why are we so happy?
Speaker 2:about it personally really like working with people have passed away and I really like death deities. So you know, I know you're having a guest on here to talk about the wild hunt and you're have, you know, the book on Hades, and so anybody that works with dark goddesses or underworld deities or ancestors who have passed on, or has a, a spirit guide who's someone that passed on, we're all working with beings or agents of death. And so what I like about witchcraft is that it doesn't like take death and like brush it under the rug. We take this time of year to know and just acknowledge that death is part of life and there is no life without death and there's no death without life and it's this whole. We see it as a cycle. We see, and that's why we have the wheel, and Samhain begins kind of the death time.
Speaker 2:So we have the autumn equinox, when all the leaves are falling and things are dying and animals are going into hibernation, it's all getting prepared, and then Samhain is that last harvest, it's that last moment before winter comes, which is really like. You know, if we look at Mother Earth, she's sort of dead at that time, like a lot's going on underground, but trees appear dead, they're not, but there's a lot of this kind of death imagery and feelings of going within and it's darker and all of that. And so Samhain invites us to process death in our lives. So it could be like an actual loved one who has passed, it could be a part of you that passed this year. So you know, if you're looking at, okay, I'm at Samhain, you know I haven't had any loved ones pass away this year, but I did give up this really horrible habit that I wanted to and that part of me died, or I changed jobs and that career is dead to me and I'm onto something new. So it's a time to investigate death with curiosity and not fear.
Speaker 1:I love that and I really love that. You took it even to the little deaths that we have in our own life because, you know, some people are wanting to dive right in, you know, with a dark goddess and you know, let's summon up. You know, my ancestors, I'm there with you, I am there with you, but then there are some heightened sensitivities around. Oh, I was told never to talk about that stuff, and so there's a but I'm curious. So I really even really enjoy how you kind of brought it home to people that they don't have to worry about getting out a Ouija board and now we're going to summon Aunt Beth or whatever, and she's going to tell us where her treasure is or whatever it is, because you could have a lot of fun people with respect and all of that. But I like that. You're kind of bringing it home and going what part of me is? Am I going to honor that has died this year or that is dying? And it could be like an old belief system or like one of the things that I always say is there is a price for wisdom, there's a price for knowledge, and that is your, like naivety, that is your. You know ignorance and being ignorant sometimes is bliss, because you don't know. But I still seek knowledge and I like to celebrate the death of my own ignorance at times.
Speaker 1:Yes, so how do we do it, like I mean, beyond the, how does a witch approach? Even baby witches or old witches, whatever you are? How do you make the shift between Halloween and Samhain? Like, okay, we've got the tradition, we buy the candy, we dress up bob for apples, jack-o'-lanterns, ghosts, and that's all. Actually during this time of year it's very like oh yeah, I'm a ghost this year, hey, I'm a witch this year. And they have no idea what they're doing, but it's a lot of fun. And then, how do you take it to make it more meaningful or spiritual, or have meaning? What's the difference between how they're celebrating it and how you would celebrate it? Or is there a bridge and you do both, or what's the difference? How do we step into the spooky Samhain from the Halloween candy?
Speaker 2:Well, I love that. I think Halloween derives from ancestral celebrations, right? So as far as I understand they're, originally people would carve turnips, because pumpkins are not native to Europe, and they would carve faces to either there's different, conflicting information, so it's either to ward off spirits they didn't want visiting or they would put the light in them to welcome the ancestors back home. And so you can read it. You'll see both information in there, and then you know dressing up was another way to confuse spirits and to protect people. It's the same thing about like. Like, just a quick spiritual protection is giving yourself a spiritual name that you don't tell anybody. So if someone curses you by name, they, it doesn't have any effect on you, right? And so it's kind of similar. It's like I'm going to dress up in this, you know, as a ghost and you don't know who I am and you can't get to me. It was kind of, you know, this confusion aspect, something that can be so simple, and you can do this with children, because a lot of times if you're a parent, you want to celebrate Halloween and you're like really tired the next day for Samhain is to carve your jack-o'-lantern in a way that is spiritual, and so that could be that you all are carving and you're doing a rune, or you're doing, you know, a sigil, or you're doing like a symbol of something, or you're taking it as an opportunity to face the fear. So maybe you're really afraid of death and so you carve a skull on that pumpkin as a ritual of releasing that fear and then you're putting a light in it to let go of that fear. Or, you know, you can also carve them for ancestors. You could. You know, my uncle, so-and-so, my uncle Billy actually passed away this year and my uncle Billy, he was very proud to be Irish, he was a big Irishman, he was very funny, and so something I could do is, you know, make a very Irish-looking pumpkin with, like a four-leaf clover, the Irish flag, and that could be my way of honoring him.
Speaker 2:But I can still participate with Halloween and no one's going to go oh, she's doing witchcraft, like it just is just part of a Halloween season and you know, that's kind of where I'm at in life is like, how can I blend things? You know, I use I use Halloween and Samhain, those terms interchangeably, because to me it's the season like we're in the season of the witch which is my favorite time to shine and you know I can go out and people are like, oh, I love your costume. It's like it's not a costume. Um, it's the time of year where, like, I have a ghost phone case all the time. But people are like, oh, I love your phone case, so seasonal right, right, they only see it in October.
Speaker 1:I love that because it's funny. I I used to work for the state of Colorado for a short stint and it fell on Halloween and they said she's a shaman. And I'm just like actually kids. I just don't have to change before I go to the shop and read people's cards and do fortune telling. So this is actually me and I find so much charm in that. I'm like I duped you guys. Now you see me. It's not that scary, is it? It's like so, so, so much fun.
Speaker 1:So what I'm actually hearing you say is that it's really not necessarily just what you're doing, but it's the meaning that you're putting behind it, whether you, I love that idea of putting in, you know, for the Irish and the four-leaf clover and things like that. So what I do and I'd love to get your thoughts on this what me and my husband do, is we have a silent feast. Yes, we have a silent feast and for those of you who don't know, I'll just kind of quickly introduce but Jenny looked so happy about that, so I know that she's got some ideas to say. So basically, there's many different ways to do it. I'll just share the way that me and my husband do it. We have a pretty long table and it and all and the way we do it is okay.
Speaker 1:My husband, he's a wolf toad and I'm all, hey, wolf, you get to invite three people and I get to invite three people, and we literally make a place and when we and then the sun goes down, we light candles and we sit in silence and eat with whomever it was that we invited. Now, it could be, you know, somebody that you know like an ancestor, it could be a deity, it could be a hero that you have that you want to talk to. So we kind of just do that and it is so cool. And then afterward I mean it's amazing, it's absolutely amazing. So what do you think about silent feasting?
Speaker 2:I love it. We did our first virtual silent supper in our coven last year where basically I said that if they had a photo of a loved one, they could share the photo, but if not, share the name and tell us a little bit about them, and then when we individually did our Samhain festivities or silent supper, we would speak about that person and so, even though we didn't know them in life, we would just honor them separately, just as a way of having more than just you honor your loved one, and so that was kind of a fun. We'll probably do it again this year because it went. People really liked. That gave a lot of people. I think gives people closure, um, but I love that. And just so people know, your silent supper doesn't have to be silent if you don't want it to be.
Speaker 2:Um, and something I like to do is usually make a food that honors the people that passed, and so I don't know I don't need to do a lot of Irish cooking, so I'm gonna have to research. I usually do something very Italian because most my family is Italian. That's passed away. But Uncle Billy, I'll have to come up with something. He likes seafood, so maybe I'll do something like that, but I like to try to make a food that honors the person who most recently passed away and not necessary, but I do love to cook, so it gives me, like another reason to look up a new recipe, so I love it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Another reason to look up new recipes. There should be a book. I mean, there's a lot of wonderful witchy cookbooks out there, but they should. They should do whoever is out there who is a cook and an author. Maybe Jenny herself should do a whole book on silent feasting. Yeah, wouldn't that be fun.
Speaker 2:We need to tag Dawn Aurora.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, kachina, aurora, dawn, the Kitchen Witch absolutely conversational witchcraft. You were just on her show talking about wonderful things. She is an Italiana witch and she is amazing. I work with her oils. She pre-charges them, not like cost charges them, but energetically charges them.
Speaker 1:And absolutely so, dawn, if you're out there listening we have a book idea for you, my dear Love. You Like you don't have enough on your plate, right? So anyway, yeah, with even congregating and hailing, honoring, remembering ancestors, people who have passed on and I know that it is a touchy situation because death and all of this kind of stuff but the way that I look at it is, one day I'm going to be them Exactly and I stand on their shoulders in this lifetime, their history, their experience, their wisdom. And one day, I hope, in a very, very long time, maybe 50 years from now, somebody finds this old podcast, hears me talking about a silent feast and invites Granddaughter Crow to your silent feast.
Speaker 2:I'll show you, yeah, and something that I get asked sometimes is especially from people that don't know their ancestry. Sometimes they are nervous to connect with ancestors because, like, what do my ancestors mean? But I'll tell you, having like read a lot about mediumship and having connected with people who have passed away, when someone passes, the life lessons they didn't learn in this life they reflect on. So that's why it's, I think, sometimes easier for people to forgive those who passed away. But I'll just quickly talk about my own experience.
Speaker 2:My father didn't want anything to do with me when my mom was pregnant with me. He denied that I was his, even though we all know I was. And then on the day that he was supposed to take a blood test, a paternity test you didn't have to show ID back then and he sent a friend because he didn't want to have to be involved. And so that was my whole life. And then I got curious one day and I Googled him and I found out he had passed away like actually very recently, and I was like that's really interesting. And I have a friend, my best friend, myra. She is hasn't really developed her mediumship because she works and is very busy, but she's very open and very things come to her all the time and she was doing readings for me to practice like pretty much every week, and my father was coming through every day. Like every time she did a reading she'd be like I had to explain the whole story and she's like, yeah, he keeps coming through and he's wanting forgiveness and this and that, and it was just like it was things like music would come in all the time at night. I found out he was a musician.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that. It was like things I had to like research and learn, and it was like a whole year and it turned out he had died like two years prior to that and I think what happened was he died, he reflected, he processed and he was like, oh my gosh, I missed out on this person's life because I was stupid. You know what I mean, and so I think that's important to know is that people are often afraid to connect with their ancestry. So, like, what if they're abusive? Or what if they? You know they were terrible. You know, a lot of our ancestors had it really rough and I'm not excusing their behavior, but it was pre-therapy and it was pre like nutrition, like a lot of them struggled with mental health for a variety of reasons. But I know for a fact that once they pass over, once they cross over, lessons get reflected, lessons get learned and they are much more helpful from the other side.
Speaker 1:I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that, because I think that that's I agree with you. I agree with you. I have the experience where it's kind of like I feel like they're sitting in a movie theater and they got to watch their life from a different point of view or something, and if they can truly do it, then their soul evolves and that's why I try to be a good girl, because I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't know what I want to know, what I'm going to see on my reckoning day. But you know another thing that you know, just for anybody who's out there who is like well, I'm not a witch, I practice something else or whatever, but I do connect with what you're saying and I do want to honor a specific person or an ancestor. I'm thinking and I'd like to hear what ways could you do that? One way that comes to my mind is I'm a firm believer that fire, a candle lit, is seen through all space and time, multidimensional. When intention is set.
Speaker 1:And when I light a candle and speak a name, and I inside of me, I truly believe that that person, wherever their energy is at least, sees a shooting star or something, and I'm connecting with them, I'm lighting it for them. So it could be as very as basic, as I don't have a medium, I don't play with a tarot, I don't know how to do this, but I do want to say you know, grandma, I love you, thank you for teaching me how to make those cookies. It's as simple as lighting a tea light candle in your kitchen, you know by her recipe and maybe putting a picture up. Do you like? I know I just put you on the spot spot. Do you have any other ways that you would say that people could easily connect with and honor, respect their ancestors or anybody else that is on the other side of the veil?
Speaker 2:Well, I love what you said because you could connect that with a jack-o'-lantern. Yeah, you can light the candle in the jack-o'-lantern and be like this is for you, grandma, and it's like a twofer right Like's the halloween theme, so I love that. Um, I I already talked about recipes, but I think, eating the food like I'll, I have this very. I think I'm a little emotional this day, but, um, I had a step-grandmother who treated me like as my own and she's one of my guides and she's always with me, grandma, and shout, shout out to grandma, and and she is from the Czech Republic and she would make what she called Guam keys and I'm probably saying it wrong, but basically it's a stuffed cabbage with pork and rice and a tomato sauce and she'd bake it and I'm vegetarian, so don't eat pork. So I made them like a vegetarian style and I have this very clear memory of sitting down serving everyone for dinner, taking a bite and just crying because it tasted like her food. I felt her presence with me. It was such a deep connection. It was like amazing. So, lighting a candle, making a recipe If you have an object of theirs like I have my grandma's doll you can talk to the doll.
Speaker 2:Grandma, I love, love you. Give the doll a hug. Um a photograph. Sometimes we don't have those things because of however things were divided up amongst families. Sometimes we don't get any of that stuff. Um, something you know they would like. You know, like I talked about my uncle, billy, being irish, like I'm definitely. When he passed away I went through a very big like irish music phase. I'm like this is for you. I put it on every day. And because I also think that they stick around and they see, like hear us, they see us, like you know, wearing their sense, like sometimes I'll catch a whiff of my grandmother's lipstick. Her lipstick had a very special smell and I'm just like, oh hey, grandma, like I know you're there talking to them. It can be as simple as just sitting down and saying I don't know if you can hear me, but and then say their name and say what you need to say, say your piece.
Speaker 1:I love that, I absolutely love that. And then you don't have to. I mean, some people will actually hear them or do like. Some people will just be like they'll get an idea to cook a meal, they'll join you in the kitchen. But also pay attention, because Jenny said something very interesting A lot of times spirit from the other side will come through songs and so random songs. When you hear a random song or maybe there was a quirky thing that they did and then somebody else did it and you're like nobody else does that Watch for those things and just say thank you. Just say thank you and that you have a recognition towards them. So in the last little bit, I do have a really strange question just because of the heightened sensitivity Warding off unwanted spirits, do you do anything to ward off or set sacred space or is there any keys that you would give us prior to tapping into? You know doing any of these things, so just curious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm extremely passionate about spiritual protection and I talk about this all the time. We just did a live in our coven because, like I would say, I'm hypervigilant, so much so that my psychic friend was like, hey, I need you to turn it down a notch because I can't connect to your guides. It's like hyper vigilant. And so something I like to think about is, first of all, most people aren't really bothered by spirits, and so just, I don't want to put fear into people. However, when you decide to engage in, like works of divination or things like that, you do open yourself up to energy because you're asking to know, you're asking to see through the veil. When you're asking to see through the veil, anyone can come through the veil if you don't aren't careful. So, for witches, we always cast what's called a ritual circle and actually have a YouTube video on how to do that, and so it's very simple. You don't have to believe in any deities. You can be an agnostic witch or secular witch, and we just connect to the four elements and create a circle, talking to the elements, asking them to protect us. And we talk about a circle, but it's really like a sphere. So, like you envision it. You know around, above and below, and so that's very simple. It's very accessible.
Speaker 2:I did bring a couple crystals with me to talk about for Samhain season.
Speaker 2:So smoky quartz is a really great protective crystal. So smoky quartz has a lot of great qualities, but in spirit crystals it has the archetype, the medium, and so if we're looking for a crystal that's going to do a twofer for us, protect us but also help us open up to talking to the loved ones and seeing through the veil, it would be smoky quartz and very accessible and it ranges from color. So if you sometimes you'll get one so light it's almost like a clear quartz, and sometimes it's so dark you can't see through it. So I want people to know that if you find one and you're like, well, it's so light, it's if it's probably real. And then, just while we're on the subject, the other crystal I think is really great for this time is labradorite, and labradorite really opens you up to psychic abilities in your clear senses, but it's also protective. Something I say all the time in our coven are two things All crystals are protective and all herbs are cleansing, so when in doubt you can't go wrong.
Speaker 1:I love that. All crystals are protective and all herbs are cleansing, healing, cleansing.
Speaker 2:So if you're looking to cleanse your space, we can use any dried herb. If you're looking to add some spiritual protection, you can turn to any crystal. I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know just a public service announcement. And you know just a public service announcement If the crystal is sitting there and you've got somebody that you don't like and they are not being warded off, do the old fashioned way and huck this. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:That's why I like the bigger ones.
Speaker 1:All of those are protective. Literally, literally, use your own judgments. You know, don't condone violence here, but not condone violence, just having a little bit of fun. And if you do throw a rock at somebody, please don't tell them that granddaughter pro sent you. So anyway, let me know. What else do you have going on like this season? What's going on with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I have a live coming up that's free for everybody to attend. It's going to be through Zoom and the best way to know about that live is to sign up for my free newsletter, which is at JennyCBellcom. C is in the letter C and it's just at the bottom of every page. Just sign up for that newsletter. You'll get a free um tarot spread when you sign up and then I only really email once a month. I like to do like a witchy newsletter with what the astrology is like and all of that, but in that newsletter I will be hosting a um the witch's new year portal where we're going to talk in depth about Samhain and how it's like a new year energy and we'll do a little meditation and like a little live chat and so and that's open to everybody as long as you get the newsletter, you'll get the zoom link. So I do. I would love to cordially invite anybody on listening to the podcast. If you want to know more about Samhain and join me, I'd love to have you there.
Speaker 1:I love it. So you guys remember wwwjennyc as in the letter C, bell B-E-L-Lcom. Check out, sign up for her newsletter and then do you have an idea of when this live will happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be October 21st, which is the new moon, so we're going to get the new moon energy and we're going to be entering closer to Samhain energy, but we're already in the veil thinning, so it's going to be it's a powerful day.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love that. So sign up before then. You have a few weeks, but might as well, after you get off this podcast, go check it out. Lots of information, and also so you have an online community. That I really wanted to highlight because right now you know, as this podcast goes out, whether people are listening to it under, you know, october or Samhain or anything like that, or in the future, maybe you know. You like what's being said, you like how Ginny throws down her magic, you like how she explains it. She actually does have an online community that you know you can do in the privacy of your own broom closet. Could you tell us a little bit more about your, our community, the coven, all of that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So first I want to say that we in our coven we're going to have our first guest and everyone's super excited about it because it's granddaughter Crow, so we're really excited. But she's going to talk to us about shamanism and it's going to be a little live chat in there. But, yeah, so our coven community people can find out about that on the same website as the newsletter and people can pick and choose their adventure. They can sign up just for one month if they want to catch the live with you, or they want to sign up for a half a year, a whole year. However they want to kind of fix their journey is up to them. But it's something I created as a like a passion project. It was like, okay, um, so many solitary witches out there or people who consider themselves witchy or beginner witches that don't really have resources where they are or don't connect with the local resources for whatever reason, because the path is very varied and sometimes we get people we just don't agree with or vibe with. It's just like any kind of religion or spirituality, and so we created I created this with. It's just like any kind of religion or spirituality, and so we created I created this space. It's a private social media, meaning that people can't just like pop in and sell you stuff. And we do a live every month. We do a card reading every month. October is my favorite month to do card readings because I have so many Halloween, oracle and tarot cards. My favorite month to do card readings because I have so many Halloween, uh, oracle and tarot cards. And this year I actually um bought this vintage, uh set of like their little sticks from the 1970s and they're like which is um fortune telling sticks and so I'm using those and they were still in the package. So that was like super exciting. It was like someone gave me an Etsy gift card and I saved it. I'm like I'm saving this for something Halloween, and that was like super exciting. It was like someone gave me an etsy gift card and I saved it. I'm like I'm saving this for something halloween and that was my purchase, so that will be in the, that's in the reading and I don't know like we do that. And then there's a huge library with like anything you could ever ask and then we do a live chat. So we pretty much just check in every day with each other, um, share photos of feathers we find, and you know, share a card reading and be like I don't understand what this means. Help me.
Speaker 2:It's just such a supportive group from people all over the globe and the thing that's just like it makes my heart happy because they do things like where we exchange readings. So I'll put up a tarot reading and be like who would like to do a tarot reading for someone. It's free and they some of them zoom, some of them do them and digitally and send them. But they built so many connections doing that and like, made really good friendships and they share recipes. It's just, it's a sharing circle. It's what we would like a coven to be if it could be like a perfect kind of world, you know, where you could just get together with like-minded people. And it was created because I wasn't jiving with my own area and I was like I need something, I need community, and so that's kind of where it came from.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love it. Once again, wwwjennycbellcom, check out all the fun things, and sooner rather than later, because it sounds like there's a lot of fun things, including Grandad or Crow showing up talking about shamanism. I'm honored, I absolutely love it. So, in kind of wrapping up as the veil sends, is there any? I know I love it. Is there anything else that maybe comes to mind that you would like to share with the community as this airs? And yeah, just let us know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just want to say that if you've never tried any kind of fortune telling you never read cards, you've never done anything like that, but you've had an interest, this is the time. Like the veil thinning means that it's much easier for you to connect with your guides, it's much easier for you to be in your guides, it's much easier for you to be in tune and have stronger intuition. So if you have always been like, oh, you know, or you've had that pack of tarot cards and you're like I just didn't connect, try now. This is the. I feel like we get the best readings. In fact, because it's kind of like this new year, energy for witches, it's a good time to do like a year ahead reading, because you're gonna get really deep insight right now. Um, so yeah, and it doesn't just have to be cards, whatever you're into, there's um.
Speaker 2:Something that's really fun is, if you like to collect trinkets is using charms to cast, like just cast them like a curio, because some people use like bones and things like that, but whatever, and you can assign different meaning to it. It's very open. That's really fun to do with a group because you kind of look at it together and be like. I think it means this I have a set of milagros that are like old from Mexico and I use those. So it's like there's like a leg, there's like a heart, there's like a little boy and girl holding hands, it's like all this, this kind of really open to interpretation, that's really fun to do, like with a group setting too.
Speaker 1:Love it.
Speaker 1:I think that the whole thing is if you haven't caught anything else, play, play, play. Be aware that the veil is thinning and join me as the Veil Thins series. Jenny, thank you so much for kicking off as the Veil Thins series. Jenny, thank you so much for kicking off as the Veil Thins. And again you guys, wwwjennycbellcom and celebrate. Get more of a community around you so that you can celebrate. I love you guys and I will see you in the live chat on the premiere. And anyway, have a wonderful Samhain Halloween season. I love you guys. See you on the flippity flip.
