NEW MOON in LIBRA
October 10th
A reset around relationship, reciprocity, boundaries + how we’re meeting ourselves and each other. With Venus retrograde, there’s a deeper invitation to get really honest about what we actually want, value + desire now—not what we’ve wanted historically or what we think we should want. RX → Choose one relationship (including the one with yourself) and name what you want to do differently moving forward.
FULL MOON in TAURUS
October 26th
Bringing us back down into the body + what is actually real, nourishing and sustainable. Pleasure, safety, money, worth, enoughness. This feels like a moon for getting out of our heads and letting the body have a fucking vote lol. RX → Do something deliciously slow + grounding. Cook, touch dirt, take a bath, make love, lay in the sun, eat something amazing. Let yourself RECEIVE.
THE WITCH ARCHETYPE
Sovereignty and Self-Authority: At her core, the witch answers to no higher societal master. She stands outside patriarchal or conventional structures, trusting her own inner compass, moral code, and direct experience over dogma.
The Threshold Guardian: Witches traditionally dwell at the edges of the village—at the threshold of the forest, the boundary between the conscious and unconscious, or the space between life and death. They are the keepers of liminal spaces who guide others through major life transitions (birth, illness, grief, and death).
Embodied Wisdom (The Healer and Herbalist): Long before institutional medicine, the witch was the local wise woman, midwife, apothecary, and herbalist. She understands the language of plants, cycles of the moon, and the rhythms of the earth, bridging physical healing with energetic alignment.
The Shadow and Transformation: The witch holds the medicine of the shadow. She is unafraid of the dark, decay, destruction, or anger. She understands that true creation requires deconstruction, making her the archetype of profound personal metamorphosis and alchemy.
The witch is in our DNA.
Historical Evolution: From Wise Woman to Rebel
The Ancient Seeress: In prehistoric and pagan societies, women holding intuitive, medicinal, and prophetic roles were revered as tribal pillars and spiritual guides.
The Historical Scapegoat: During the European and early American witch trials (15th–18th centuries), the archetype was systematically demonized. The persecution targeted independent women, healers, widows, and those who stood outside communal control, weaponizing fear to suppress female autonomy and traditional earth-based knowledge.
The Modern Reclamation: Today, the witch has been triumphantly reclaimed. She represents ecological consciousness, creative self-expression, political resistance, and the reclamation of intuition in a hyper-rational world.
the COSMIC BRIDGE
In all its forms. Prayer is the bridge between you and the web of the divine, the cosmos. Clear the pathway for consciousness to sing through and reach you. Your body is a prayer. Your tears are a prayer. Your ecstacy is prayer. Prayer is a breath. Prayer is your slow neighborhood walk. Your consciousness is a prayer from the universe. Your life is your great cosmic prayer.
Back From the Borderline : How to Pray
D’arcy Benincosa : Healing the Collective Fear of Being Seen, Witch Wound
MUSIC FOR THE DIVINE
Our monthly playlist, intended to use for prayer. Each chant is a prayer rich with language that shifts your frequencies. Listen to the playlist blindly first, then look up the meaning of any mantras you connected to. Begin meditating with these mantras in a way that feels like prayer to you. Come back to often.
Calling Upon Your Inner Witch
Create an altar for her. This could include objects as offerings to this archeytpe within you. They could each represent something symbolic to your inner witch’s qualities. Do this intuitively. Continue adding to it throughout the month.
Build out a character for her. Make a pinterest board so you have a visual representation of her aesthetic.
Look in your ancestry to see if your
Your hands are your wands.
the original instruments of creation, protection, and transformation
Part 1: Have We Lost This in Our Culture?
Yes, and no. While popular fantasy keeps the trope alive through witches, wizards, and Jedi, modern Western culture has largely mechanized and disembodied the hands.
The Shift to the Digital: Today, our hands are primarily trained for typing on glass screens, clutching steering wheels, and manipulating machines. We use them as tools of labor and productivity rather than organs of perception and subtle energy.
The Rise of Hyper-Rationalism: During centuries of institutional control, witch trials, and the rise of industrialization, the direct, unmediated power of the human body was systematically devalued. Traditional healing arts (like laying-on of hands or somatic sensing) were pushed to the fringes, labeled as superstition, and replaced by external authorities and tools.
The Underground Survival: Yet, the magic of the hands never truly died; it simply went underground. It survived in textile crafts (weaving, knotting, stitching), in the intuitive touch of the herbalist and massage therapist, in the mother soothing a child's fever, and in sacred gestures like mudras and blessings. When you knead bread, shape clay, or stroke an animal, you are participating in ancient hand-magic.
Part 2: Legends, Lore, and Folklore of Magical Hands
Across global mythologies, the hand is viewed as a microcosmic map of the universe, radiating life force:
The Hand of Glory (Main de Gloire): In European folklore, particularly in British and French grimoires, the Hand of Glory was the dried and pickled hand of a hanged criminal, often fitted with candles made of rendered fat. It was believed to possess terrifying magical properties—capable of unlocking any door it touched and rendering anyone in the room motionless and asleep. While dark folklore, it highlights the ancient belief that immense residual power lingers in human hands after death.
The Hamsa and the Hand of Fatima: Spanning Middle Eastern, North African, and Mediterranean cultures, the open right hand (Hamsa) is a universal amulet of protection. It wards off the evil eye, blocks negative energy, and brings blessings, strength, and power. It is a direct acknowledgment that the palm can act as a shield.
Celtic Bardic Hands: In Celtic myth, the hands of master bards, smiths, and druids were said to possess Gae Buide or specific magical currents. A smith's hand could temper enchanted steel without burning, and a healer's hands could draw out poison simply by hovering over a wound without physical contact.
The Mudras of Buddha and Hindu Deities: In Eastern iconography, the hands of statues are almost always locked in specific mudras (Abhaya for fearlessness, Varada for granting boons). These gestures were not artistic choices; they were believed to broadcast real, tangible energetic frequencies to those who looked upon them.
Part 3: How to Begin Connecting with the Magic of Your Hands
If your hands have fallen asleep to their magical heritage, waking them up is an intentional somatic practice. Here are four ways to begin building a relationship with your hands as wands:
1. The Energy Ball (Waking Up the Lao Gong)
In traditional Chinese medicine, the center of the palm contains a vital acupuncture point called P8 or Lao Gong (meaning "Palace of Toil" or "Palace of Exhaustion," paradoxically where heart fire collects).
How to practice: Rub your palms together vigorously for 10 to 15 seconds until they feel hot and tingly. Pull them apart by about two to three inches, facing them toward each other.
The Magic: Close your eyes and slowly pulse your hands closer and further apart. Can you feel a subtle magnetic resistance, a warmth, or a buzzing between your palms? That is your biofield. You are feeling the literal current of your life force.
2. Charging and Blessing (Anointing)
Treat your hands as sacred instruments before performing any craft, ritual, or healing touch.
How to practice: Put a single drop of essential oil (like frankincense, lavender, or a warm herb like cinnamon-infused oil) or a bit of salt water on your palms. Rub them together while setting an intention. Whisper over your hands: "My hands are clear. My hands are strong. My hands create sovereignty."
3. Cultivating Tactile Intention (Sensory Awakening)
Witches and mages in stories don't just wave their hands blindly; they feel the air.
How to practice: Next time you are in nature, don't just look—use your hands to hover over the bark of a tree, the petals of a flower, or running water without touching them. Notice how the temperature changes against your skin. Practice feeling the invisible boundary where your energy field meets the world.
Meridians, planets, nerve endings.
I cried writing this.
Take a photo of your hands. There will literally never be another pair of hands like this. Ever ever ever in history forever and ever. These are yours. The only ones to exist. They are your shape. They will carry you through this entire lifetime. They will touch the faces of those you love and caress the lips of your lover. They will feed you and write beautiful things.
Kiss your fingertips. Remind them they are beautiful. Tell them thank you. They will witness this whole life with you.
There will never be another pair.
I cried writing this.
Take a photo of your hands. There will literally never be another pair of hands like this. Ever ever ever in history forever and ever. These are yours. The only ones to exist. They are your shape. They will carry you through this entire lifetime. They will touch the faces of those you love and caress the lips of your lover. They will feed you and write beautiful things.
Kiss your fingertips. Remind them they are beautiful. Tell them thank you. They will witness this whole life with you.
Hand Ritual
Care for your hands extra this month. It’s getting dryer out, so get a hand oil so you can give them a luxurious drink. When rubbing your hands, pour love into them. Pour trust into them.
Clean up your nails, paint them, get them done, oil your cuticles, do a sugar scrub on them.
Take a photo of your hands.There will literally never be another pair of hands like this. Ever ever ever in history forever and ever. These are yours. The only ones to exist. They are your shape. They will carry you through this entire lifetime. They will touch the faces of those you love and caress the lips of your lover. They will feed you and write beautiful things.
Kiss your own fingertips.
Feel into them often throughout the month. Play with sensing energy by placing your hands :
the MAGIC of MUDRAS
Mudras—frequently called "yoga for the hands"—are ancient, intentional hand gestures used to channel, seal, and direct subtle energy within the body. Rooted primarily in Ayurveda, Kundalini, and Tantric traditions, mudras are far more than physical poses; they are an intricate system of somatic and energetic circuitry.
How Mudras Work: The Energetic and Neurological Mechanics
Reflexology and Neural Mapping: The hands are densely populated with nerve endings and sensory receptors that map directly to the cerebral cortex. When you press specific fingers together or adopt a particular hand shape, you stimulate precise neural pathways, sending feedback loops to the brain that can calm the nervous system, alter brainwave states, and induce deep focus.
Circuitry of the Subtle Body (Nadis and Prana): In yogic anatomy, the body is traversed by thousands of subtle energy channels called nadis. The fingertips are considered major terminal points or junctions where these energetic currents flow. By closing a loop (such as touching the thumb to the index finger in the Jnana Mudra), you create an internal circuit that prevents your vital life force (prana) from dissipating outward, redirecting it back into your energetic field.
The Element Theory (Ayurvedic Roots): According to Ayurveda, each finger corresponds to one of the five cosmic elements:
Thumb: Fire (Agni) – representing willpower, the divine spark, and ego.
Index Finger: Air (Vayu) – representing the mind, breath, and expansiveness.
Middle Finger: Ether/Space (Akasha) – representing connection, intuition, and space.
Ring Finger: Earth (Prithvi) – representing structure, stability, and vitality.
Pinky Finger: Water (Jala) – representing emotions, fluidity, and circulation. When you bend or press fingers together, you are actively balancing, augmenting, or subduing specific elements within your physical and emotional body.
monthly SOMATIC PRACTICE
Pick one of the the mudras below. Work with this singular mudra for the entire month. Combine with prayer, chanting, meditation, or when laying in bed and winding down. You’ll develop your own personal relationship to it. As you build your own personal relationship wot a mudra, you are building neural pathways that the body will associate with the specific intentions you associate with it. This can become a somatic anchor for anything you want : opening yourself to prayer, when needing to calm anxiety, or when calling on your ancestors or guides.
DHYANA MUDRA
The Gesture of Meditation & The Void
The Energetic Signature: This is a mudra of deep containment, inner sanctuary, and the deep womb-space of the unconscious. The closed loop of the thumbs creates an undisturbed energetic container, preventing your energy from leaking outward.
Magical & Somatic Vibe: It anchors you in the center of the storm. The triangle formed by the thumbs is a classic shape of manifestation and sacred geometry. It brings a profound sense of inner quiet, emotional integration, and peace.
When to use it: During deep introspection, shadow work, breathwork, or when you feel over-stimulated by the external world and need to drop down into your root and center.
SHUNYA MUDRA
The Gesture of Emptiness & Sacred Listening
How to form it: Bend your middle finger so that its pad rests on the base of your thumb. Then, press your thumb gently down over the back of the middle finger. Keep the remaining three fingers extended straight.
The Elements at Play: The middle finger represents Akasha (Ether/Space/Spirit), and the thumb represents Fire. This mudra specifically reduces excess earth or dullness in the body while opening up vast internal space.
Magical & Somatic Vibe: "Shunya" translates to zero, void, or emptiness. In magical practice, this mudra is a portal to the unmanifest. It hushes the sensory overload of the material world, opening the inner ear to subtle frequencies, clairaudient messages, and deep, restorative stillness.
When to use it: When your mind feels dangerously crowded with noise, when you are seeking deep spiritual clarity, or during meditation and ritual work where you want to drop below the surface chatter of the ego.
BLESS A TREE
Choose a tree. Greet the tree. Place your hand on its body wherever you feel intuitively drawn.
Give it a blessing by mentally visualizing your hopes and dreams for this tree, everything you hope it to experience.
Tell the tree thank you, charge the tree with gratitude, with how you perceive its beauty, its majesty, its perfection.
expanding PLANT allies
I am currently learning about two new plants a month to expand my apothecary and plant knowledge, unlocking new allies of the natural world. This month I am sitting with Damiana and Cinnamon, bringing them into my every day and my rituals. Tuning into their energetic frequencies, how my body responds to them, and learning about how they’ve been used for across cultures.
Cinnamon
traditionally prescribed to invigorate circulation, bring warmth to cold hands and feet, and move stagnant energy
Blood Sugar Regulation: Cinnamon contains bioactive compounds (most notably cinnamaldehyde and polyphenols) that mimic insulin and increase glucose uptake into cells. Studies show it can help improve insulin sensitivity and moderate post-meal blood sugar spikes.
warms the digestive tract, eases bloating, relieves gas, and stimulate sluggish digestion by encouraging the flow of digestive enzymes
carries frequencies of courage and illumination. It brings heat to stagnant situations, burns away energetic debris, and acts as a spiritual spark plug.
cinnamon is known as a catalyst. Whatever intention it is paired with, cinnamon is believed to speed up the manifestation process and amplify the potency of the working.
Because of its intense heat and drying, protective qualities, cinnamon is used to create energetic shields. It wards off heavy, draining, or parasitic energies, keeping your personal sovereignty intact
How I’m using it :
Making cinnamon tea – it’s incredibly grounding. Place ceylon cinnamon stick in hot water, allow to steep. Drink hot or place in fridge and sip cold.
Cinnamon lattes. Cinnamon in every fucking thing I bake forever and ever.
Cinnamon incense. These are my all time favorite incense, one of my absolute favorite gifts to give. Order multiple if you placed an order, they’re incredible.
Damiana
This wonderful aromatic has a long history of both folk and scientific use as an aphrodisiac, antidepressant, antianxiety, and more. This plant has some adaptogenic effects as it greatly regulates stress in the body, is non-toxic and normalizes hormonal processes. For centuries it has been used to enhance pleasure, mood, and sexual function. It has additionally been used to elicit positive effects on the sexual organs, has been used as a diuretic, and even as a cough suppressant.
I have been smoking in joints or mixing with cannabis and blue lotus. Very nice to have before winding down for bed, stretching by candlelight before bed.
Using in my tea,
I get mine HERE.