1. You are never too old to wash your face in the morning dew. There is nothing wrong with staying youthful.

2. No matter how you honor this Earth based fire festival, it’s the right way.

3. You don’t have to jump the belfires. A lovely candle will suffice.

4. If you cannot honor the festival today, tomorrow is good too. Sunday if you need another day to get your sh*t together.

5. This is a fertility festival. You have been warned.

6. Once we get through this weekend I begin the Practical Magic 2 countdown. This is your second warning for the day.

If you are like me and you honor the Earth and these seasonal festivals, I want to wish you a wonderful day. If you are not like me and don’t honor them, I am wishing you a spectacular day as well.

In honor of today, this is a little early morning walk in my garden. In a few more weeks it will be teeming with flowers, tomatoes, and all the beautiful things.

At field parties while drinking beers around a bonfire in my small rural town I would tell my friends about their sun signs and wisely explain to them why they were they way they were. After all, it WAS the 80’s.

I left all of that behind when I left for college and it was not until my mid twenties that I picked up my spiritual pursuits once again. I spent several years in spiritual circles and then came motherhood. My spiritual work waited patiently as I diapered and breastfed, carpooled, watched athletic practices. I would attend occasional spiritual events, only to retreat again to sacred homemaking. 10 years ago I began working with spiritual entreprenuers - primarily women - to assist them in building their businesses. The work involved building websites, marketing, brainstorming, creating event registrations, sending out newsletters, all the things.

My children grew older duing this time of building and and my own spiritual pursuits began to return along with my remembrance of the badass I thought I was as teen.

But, they looked vastly different from how they looked when I was younger. Gone is the dedicated altar. Instead I have an entire office that is afforded a midlife woman whose children have mostly flown the nest. It is filled with books and treasures. It is an altar of life, filled with gifts from friends and families, books that have had the most impact on my life, and spiritual treasures that reflect my relationship with the Divine.

When I began my spiritual path I leaned heavily into Goddess chants, Native American flute music, and vibey new age music. Okay, truthfully I still do. But, it’s interwoven now with songs from my youth that have taken on new meaning as a woman in midlife. Stevie Nicks has always been a vibe, but now as a 53 year old woman watching parts of the world burn, I am raging against the machine in a whole new way.

I no longer rush to attend every spiritual event in my area. I now choose what serves me best for my soul and my time. Though I still occasionally sit in ritual filled circles, full of reverence, I prefer circles filled with authentic conversation or classes filled with knowledge now that I have the time and brain power to absorb it. I also enjoy sound circles where I can sit or lie down in stillness just being with the knowledge I do not have to rush to meet the needs of a growing family.

Maybe you are an empty nester, maybe you are single and have chosen to not embrace the pull of creating a family, maybe you are a mom of teenagers and have made the decision to not wait until they are grown to step into fulfillment. Maybe you are none of these things but can identify with other situations or impulses in your life. Regardless of where you are, I hope you are enjoying a rich spiritual life in your own way. I hope each day is filled with magic and wonder, deep breaths, and intentional movement.

Have a great day!

~Dana

In addition, I have my mother’s DNA and looking back on photos, her legs. I also have a vascular condition, which I have talked to doctors about for years and how it is impacting my whole body, with no success. Thank goodness that in the last few years women are talking more about health and our lymphatic systems and there is much more known about how our lymphatic system plays a part in our health.

In 2025, I began incorporating Qigong excercises into my fitness routines. I know this particular series of excercises made a difference in how I felt, especially how my back felt, but wasn’t entirely sure why. Fast forward to January of this year when my inflammation increased and my body discomfort grew alarmingly fast. I began to really look for answers and found a tremendous amount of information about lymphatics.

Since January I have gotten up almost everyday with a new routine based on the information I found and I can say, with no uncertainty, it has made a difference. Upon waking I lie in bed for a few minutes and do a few gentle stretches to wake my body. After the requisite trip to empty my bladder I stumble into the kitchen to prep the coffee. While is makes, I perform a series of lymphatic drainage excercises.

There is a lot of information out there about draining our lymphatic systems and what exercises to do. I have followed a lot of creators talking about this online and have narrowed it down to a few people to recommend to you.

1. Sarah Whitlow. Of all the content creators around this topic, she is my go to. Her body is shaped more like mine and her transformation has been amazing. You can follow here on FB @xosarah

2. Dr. Caitlin Czezowski. Not my body type but her content is fairly exclusive to functional medicine and lymphatic drainage. If you are on the thin side and are looking for a health creator that looks more like you, this is your girl. Regardless of your body type, her information is fabulous. You can find her on FB @drcaitlinczezowski

I want to suggest to all the women out there regardless of age that you consider looking into keeping your lymphatic systems healthy and a 7 to 10 minute morning routine each day can get you started.

Have a great day!

~Dana

This week I can feel that same stirring and emergence in myself. Today I am having a 2 hour wait at Starbucks while my daughter’s car is getting a new tire glow up.

I am taking the opportunity to revisit last year’s goals and to do lists. I am pleasantly surprised to see how many things I can check off, whether they are my goals or those I created in tandem with my hubby.

While here, I received a text from a friend. Her mother makes the most beautiful smudge fans. I have a large stock of turkey feathers and I offered them to her. I have held onto them for way too long. How many things do we hold onto for some day? These are the things that become wallpaper in our lives. One day we look up and see a 5 year old unfinished project that has become a fixture in our home and we did not even realize.

Imbolc has come and gone. Chinese New Year is next week. This is a wonderful time to let go of the wallpaper of our lives that is in the background holding our energy - holding us back. Refocus on the goals and projects that will feed your soul or even choose new ones.

We have 5 weeks until Spring! 5 weeks to spring clean the house and the soul. For me, once spring arrives, life gets much brighter and definitely becomes busier with the garden and barbecues and festivals. I am thrilled with anticipation!

But for now….spring cleaning.

First act of this ritual for me? Wrapping turkey feathers to gift to a friend.

I had spent most of Friday cleaning the house so we could relax over the weekend, so until I dropped an entire bowl of tortelli with sauce in the kitchen last night, I was gratefully wrapped in cleanliness. Yesterday, prior to the pasta incident, I napped.

Between the unsettling of the world with the murder in Minnesota and the uncertainty of our power (thankfully we still have power), I only slept a few hours on Saturday night and took to my bed on Sunday for a few hours until rising again to make French bread and pasta for dinner.

By the end of the evening, my husband was concerned. I wasn’t myself. No. I’m not. It is difficult to be normal and myself when Americans are being gunned down by hired mercenaries, hundreds of thousands of my neighbors are without power, and there may be sick or hungry or cold or all of the above people trying to survive this weekend in the wake of the storm.

But, today is a new day. I am making blueberry muffins and braving the cold and ice to take a welcome gift to the new neighbors. We must care for one another today and everyday.

The question regarded where to put her altar when she had young children who would most certainly destroy it (hopefully accidentally) or in some way disturb the energy she had so carefully set. For me, this was an easy answer.

A kitchen window.

When I began my spiritual path I purchased an inexpensive coffee table, probably from Goodwill. I placed it in my apartment bay window and would regularly use it as a space to meditate, draw cards, create crystal grids, all the things, as a young single woman (later a young woman living with her boyfriend). After we were married and I quickly became pregnant and we moved into a more grown up space (our newly purchased home), I decided this was no longer a practical arrangement. Busy with all the things that come with being a new wife, mother, and full time homemaker (still not sure how that happened), my daily rituals fell apart, so I thought. But I still longed to have something of that tangible magic in my life.

During that time there are two things that happened. One, my mother in law gifted me with the Sarah Ban Breathnach book Simple Abundance and two, that same MIL shared with me that her kitchen window was somewhat of an altar for her. Sarah also talks this in her book and about the aha’s that come with the unintentional meditation that happens when we complete our most mundane tasks, such as washing dishes at the kitchen window. I took this to heart and in 2 homes have set up mini altars in the kitchen window. They were not much, a sacred image, a picture of my children, a handful of crystals, and a candle. It was simple, unobtrusive, and worked.

I no longer have small children, I have college age children whom I taught about magic in many ways, including with their own nature altars, which we maintained for years. Rocks and sticks found (they both still have a box of these things), little tiny gifts received, gnome homes - items from the magical and natural world. I do, however, have an office. Now I can set up an altar any way I want without any fears.

Even with this freedom I no longer find that I need anything elaborate. Bilbo Baggins said, "I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong; that's home." I don’t miss mine as I have surrounded myself with these things in my small office in our home, but I feel this all the same. I think in some way my office is an entire altar. I have my workspace, a comfy loveseat, bookcases and books, a window to watch things grow and for ritual sake, candles.

As a 50’ish woman who has sat in women’s circles, pulled cards, meditated, done all the things for years (and will continue to do them), I find my daily rituals now consist of lighting a candle each morning to welcome in all the good, expressing gratitude, and washing the dishes. An elaborate set up is not needed, I also no longer need the kitchen window, though I still find washing the dishes very meditative.

Our daily life is not only ritual, it is seasonal. I have been through 2 seasons of life with altars and am now in my 3rd. As a maiden I set up one altar, it contracted but still served me in season 2, and in season 3 I have found balance.

With that said, I am now walking away from my desk. There is a house waiting for me to clean it and sprinkle a little magic from one end to the other.

Dana

Energetically, this simply is not the time to make these determinations, unless, of course, you want to. January is our time of hibernation. It is a time to rest and rejuvenate before the new buds of spring begin to emerge. It is a time to turn inward and reflect. I find myself revisiting the past year (or beyond) and considering which goals I am still working toward and which ones need to be released. Within that I am also considering new goals and laying the groundwork to make them happen.

But, what of the new year and the value we assign? I see a lot of people talking about rejecting the idea of the new year completely. Guess what? The calendar year turned whether we want it to or not and it is a ritual unto itself. It is not a religious holiday and has no astrological significance, yet is is a human ritual that is celebrated around the globe.

I returned to college in 2021 to complete a degree in Global Studies. One of my professors, who has traveled extensively and lived in many other nations, frequently told us that America has traditions and culture, despite what many of us believe. He is right. New Year’s Eve traditions fall into that category. Whether or not you have dinner with friends or family, attend a dance party, or simply sit home and watch Ryan Seacrest host the Dick Clark celebration on ABC, what you do that night is a ritual itself (my personal ritual).

This year, due to a late family Christmas celebration with my sisters, my husband and I picked up take out, watched both a movie and Ryan Seacrest, and worked on a jigsaw puzzle. It was not a terribly exciting evening, but I had satisfaction in knowing I watched the ball drop and the cycle of 2025 was now complete. I was ready for the calendar to turn to January 1 and for a delightful luncheon with my in-laws (a bit of tradition for us) when we would feast on traditional new year’s foods to bring us good health and wealth. I was ready for the holiday decorations to be packed away. And I was ready for a new year, with all the things that come with it.

Happy new year, friends.

Dana

Saturday brought us the wolf full moon. It is especially meaningful to me as I have held a long and deep connection to the goddess Artemis. She has been with me for many years and her messages this full moon have been like a swift kick in the pants. This wolf full moon was filled with unfortunate revisits to dreams not attained and emotions not yet worked through. It was/is also filled with action and these sleepless nights dwelling on the ghosts of Christmas pasts has spurred me into action for the things I am looking toward in 2026. I know it doesn’t sound like a slow January, but it is. We can move slowly and dream all while looking ahead and making plans.

That brings me to crones and Myrtlewood. I read a lot, I mean alot, of murder mysteries, but have had this gem sitting in my Kindle account waiting for just the right moment. A full moon in Cancer is definitely the right moment to begin the Myrtlewood Crone series and it begins with The Crone of Midnight Embers.

I was introduced to Myrtlewood in The Myrtlewood Mystery series in early 2025. It took me a moment to love the series. The first book moved slow in the beginning, but in reality, the introduction to new characters is often slow. You must slog through the awkward getting to know you period to get to the good stuff. I began following the author, Iris Beaglehole on social, and have fallen in love with her work even more.

Right now I am about a third of the way through the book and like it so much I wanted to share and give a wholehearted recommendation for those of you who love a good piece of paranormal women’s fiction. The main character is likeable (so many main characters are not). She has not (yet) done anything cringey or stupid, though there is time. She is also a crone but doesn’t feel like a crone. She feels like a women in midlife who is just getting started, and I love that!

The supporting characters are other 2 other delightful crones - albeit a bit grumpy - and a grandmotherish tea shop owner that you want to have in your own life. There is one set of characters I find ingruent to the story, but I have a feeling I will understand why as it all evolves.

In a perfect world I would have time today to sit by the fire the remainder of the day and sink deeply into this story. But, there are kitchens to clean, client work to be done, and people and cats to care for. I’m diligently working this morning so that those moments of quiet with a glass of wine and my book sitting by the fire are part of my story today.

What’s your favorite piece of paranormal women’s ficton? Would love to hear from you!

Dana

My life has been an adventure. I’m a small-town Tennessee girl, forever curious and always seeking the magic in everyday life. My husband of 23 years and I are raising two amazing young adults—a recent college graduate turned real-life archaeologist and a college freshman—who keep us laughing and on our toes.

Now, right in the heart of midlife, I feel more at home in myself than ever. Like many women my age, I’m rediscovering what it means to live a life I truly love—and I’m passionate about helping other women do the same. Whether you’re stepping into your next chapter or finding your way back to yourself, I believe in creating spaces where women can feel seen, inspired, and empowered.

(In my home office)

Entrepreneurship runs deep in my roots. One of the first stories ever told about me takes place in our little country grocery store, where my mother worked while raising four kids. She’d get my father off to work, send my siblings to school, and then bundle me up for a day at the shop before heading home to make dinner. It’s no wonder I became a generational entrepreneur—it’s in my blood.H

(Headed to an autumn new moon gathering)

In 1998, I walked into my first women’s circle, and my life has been devoted to women’s spirituality in one form or another ever since. I’m a storyteller at heart—passionate about sharing my own stories and, for the past eight years, helping other women tell theirs.

I live a cozy, magical, and bookish life filled with cooking, creativity, and community. My favorite reads are British cozy murder mysteries and women’s cozy paranormal fiction—stories with a touch of magic, a dash of mischief, and plenty of heart.

Thank you for letting me share with you!

(With my family in our happy place.)

If you have followed me on my blog for a few years or my Instagram, you’ll know I almost always talk about the reasons I do not make resolutions on January first, or any day for that matter (hint, there is a negative connotation to resolution). I also do not spend the first day of January writing goals or committing to a new me. The first day of January is a traditional dinner with family, eating traditional new year’s day foods. It is cleaning the house and beginning the deep work of dreaming, rejuvenating, and nesting.

That isn’t to say I am not thinking about the goals or reminding myself why January is a great time to examine my health and make plans. I love Christmas and Yule, but my house is trashed. It needs a good scrubbing. The Christmas decorations need to be put away. I need a clean and organized home free of distraction so I can do the aforementioned important work.

Today I began by giving my cabinet doors and countertops a good wash. I put a simmer pot on in my little crock pot. I pulled all of the holiday decor from the open kitchen and den area we spend most of our time in. It will be packed into its assigned bin tomorrow. Before I go to bed I hope to finish by cleaning the floors. It seems that waking up to a clean floor tomorrow may be the greatest gift I can give myself today.

As I go through these after holiday rituals, my thoughts will wander and the dreaming will begin. It is often when we do the most mundane things that our best moments of meditation happen. One of my personal favorite books that I have turned to time and time again over the last 25 years is Simple Abundance. The author, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes about meditating while washing the dishes. If you are like me, sometimes that is when your most important thoughts rise to the surface.

Happy New Year. Cheers to a slow January, filled with cozy days and big dreams!

Dana

(If you are interested in this little Bella crock pot, you can shop the link on Amazon.)

It should have been Sunday. It was not.

Sunday was making breakfast, going to church, budgeting, errands with the hubby, dinner, home to fold towels. It doesn’t sound like much but after the previous 2 weeks plus taking on Thanksgiving, I was exhausted but there was no time for rest. Yesterday was my second wind and my day stretched from 4:30am to 10:30 last night with more cleaning, work, holiday shopping and making 10 large jars of broth.

Today was much of the same. Up at 5am, prep breakfast, sweep, move laundry, put up more Christmas decor, work for a client and now my friends,it is 2:15pm and l I can go no further.

I did something I never do during the day and certainly not on a weekday. I turned on my fireplace, got on the couch with my laptop to work, pulled a blanket up to my chin, and a short while later, I was dozing off. I think tonight’s dinner tonight will be a simple affair of soup dumplings and eggrolls.

I’m practicing today for the hibernation of winter. Tomorrow is another day.

with Love,

Dana

I was reminded of all of this last night as my hubby and I discussed our plans for the week. We rarely have a lot going on during the week, but this week is particurly busy and I immediately felt the need to cull one item from the list. When asked why, I told my husband I was hoping to have a slow December where I could enjoy the spirit of the season and prepare for the coming winter months.

Today, I invite you to join me in leaning into this season, find wonder in the lights, immerse yourself in the handmade, create a cozy corner, and so much more. Starting today, I’ll be sharing a daily ritual to prepare get you into the space to welcome the longest night of the year and move you right into cozy season.

Watch for my next post where I’ll be making broth from the last of the Thanksgiving turkey to serve as a base for a season of soups.

with Love,

Dana

P.S. Is anyone else thrilled that Mercury went direct? That retrograde cycle was not fun!

As I write, there are several thoughts that go through my mind. The first is how much of a ritual this annual tradition is for Americans. The second is the memory of one of my cultural geography professors telling us that Americans do have a culture, despite our belief that as a young nation, we do not.

I walked into my first women’s circle in 1997. I was enamored with its earthy vibe and the exotic nature of the event. The leader of the circle was a woman in late midlife who had taveled the world studying with shaman and elders. I connected with a part of myself and an impulse that I had been searching for my entire life. Following this was years of study of the Celtic wheel of the year, the seasons, and traditions of other cultures.

As I have grown older, I have gained an understanding that many of our American traditions are rooted in something deeper and longer than the 250 years of our nation, especially our food traditions. With our growing seasons and foods being tied to both our European ancestors as well as the people that inhabited our nation long before we deigned to step foot upon these shores, we do have ritual and tradition.

That brings me back to Thanksgiving. It is an American ritual. It is a new tradition, a new ritual as it arose formally out of the Civil War, though we tie it to a mythology around early Americans - the Pilgrims. It is problematic. Yes, I said it, but it is still our tradition. (Will write more on this later.)

As you go through your own rituals for the season of gratitude, I hope you will dig deep into your family traditions, the stories and memories, and the gratitude that make this season special. You may look toward the ancient Celts of others for inspiration, but do not forget that you probably have tradition and ritual close to home.

~Dana

Today is a full moon and I am here for it. This full moon in Taurus right in the midst of Scorpio season sends an impulse to dig down into ourselves, our cozy cores and what soothes us, all while evolving into that next phase.

That’s what I’m doing. Since 2008 I’ve blogged about home, family, business building, a little of this and a little of that. Eventually, my blogging turned stale. I spent more time wrestling with all the tech as I moved platforms to find the right one that did all the things that I needed and to be honest, it sucked the life out of me. In 2015 I launched a business to support women in the healing arts promote their businesses - mainly online - and all the tech I offered them continued to drain me and my blogging decreased even more.

One of my 2025 goals was to begin blogging again. I LOVE to write. I just couldn’t quite get my groove back. While trying to reach that goal I was stepping away from my clients and focusing on launching my own online bookish biz.

This gave me time to really think about my blogging, what my tech challenges have been, how I want my blog to work….that’s all to say I’ve moved to Substack. It really is excatly what I wanted. So, here I am, embracing all the cozy I can with myself, my home, and my business and evolving every single day.

Enjoy this beautiful day. Tonight, look up at the sky. Howl at the moon. Most importantly, take care of yourself, your neighbors, and step into evolution.

~Dana

On Saturday we hosted our annual Halloween party. It normally is a week or two before the big day. We host friends (ours and our daughter’s) and family for a fun night of chili, a backyard fire, and general merriment. This year we hosted a Harry Potter trivia night for my hubby’s family (all Potterheads like we are) and a couple of friends. No costumes. The day AFTER Halloween. Inside instead of out. In all, quite different, but it was glorious fun and I was exhausted.

That led me to languidly lying on the sofa like a Victorian woman with too many books and too much time on her hands. I turned on a lovely bookshop You Tube video with fall jazz playing on my television screen. My couch view was of our backyard and falling leaves. I knew there is enough chili in my fridge to get us through the remainder of the day. And my brain and my body had a chance to rest and recuperate.

Last night I had a date with my hubby and college freshman daughter to watch the new Harry Potter Baking Challenge on Food Network. It was all a marvelous repreive before the the week, which leads me to today.

Today is the first Monday of November. It is filled with gratitude, with anticpation, and with lots of new things before the full moon in Taurus and the next mercury retrograde is upon us. I hope you will join me here on Substack as I share my cozy, mystical, magical, and bookish life.