Outgrowing Your Life (And the People Who Knew the Old You)

When you uplevel — spiritually, emotionally, in your career, anywhere — a strange thing happens. You stop fitting into the old version of you. And when that happens, it can get lonely fast. The people and places that used to feel like home suddenly don’t.

I’ve been hearing this from students across every platform, every class, every reading lately: this quiet twinge of loneliness that shows up right when things are actually going well. And I want to talk about it, because I think it needs to be normalized. You are allowed to change and become something else, no matter what anyone else thinks — even when the space between the old you and the new you feels crunchy and in-between.

Elevation Requires Separation

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve heard me say this before: elevation requires separation. That doesn’t mean you have to burn everything down. It means that when you grow — spiritually, emotionally, in your career — it naturally creates distance from the version of you that everyone around you still knows. And when the people in your life only know the old you, you stop fitting into that space the way you used to. That shows up at work, in families, in friend groups, sometimes even with a partner.

There’s no right or wrong here. If growth is the point, then we’re all sovereign beings with free will — we can choose to become better, or we don’t. But you can’t let the fear of losing your fit stop you from becoming who you’re becoming.

Not Everyone Has to Understand You

Some people will hold every version of you, even the ones they don’t fully recognize. I have friends from college who knew me before any spiritual awakening, before I was a witch — they know my “muggle” imperfections and my spiritual ones, and we love each other through all of it. I don’t see them every day, but they’re there. I’m lucky for that.

But more often, people don’t know what to do with you when you change. And that’s real. When you grow — especially spiritually — the things that used to matter to you stop mattering. Materialism, certain social scenes, certain ways of living. Your priorities shift because you’ve shifted, and some people won’t like it.

There’s a whole spectrum of ways to handle that:

· You can end the relationship outright.

· You can have the hard conversation.

· Or you can simply love people from afar — holding compassion for someone else’s pace and path without needing them to match yours.

That last one, to me, is spiritual maturity: recognizing you’re different, that you can no longer relate to a person or a way of being, and being okay with that. Spiritual maturity is realizing that what you aligned with before you grew just doesn’t fit anymore.

When Bridges Burn — and When They Rebuild

Sometimes relationships don’t survive your growth, and that’s okay. Some bridges need to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.

I think about a client of mine who went through a real rupture with one of her oldest friends — over the fact that she’d started giving real time and depth to a new relationship. In the past, she’d only ever offered partners a sliver of herself: a little texting, a few nights out, nothing too close. This time she wanted real depth, which meant she wasn’t as available to her friend anymore.

Her friend didn’t take it well at first. But my client held her ground — this mattered to her, she said, because she hadn’t gotten it right before and she was trying to grow. And eventually, her friend came back and said: I want that too. How did you do it?

Now they’re growing together, figuring out how to show up differently in relationships side by side. That’s one outcome on the spectrum. I know just as many people who simply let the friendship go because it stopped fitting. Both are valid. The point isn’t which path you take — it’s recognizing that it’s okay if the people around you haven’t caught up to who you’re becoming.

I’m Not the Same Person Who Started This

I’ve written five books and an oracle deck in a year and a half. That kind of output requires a level of solitude I didn’t used to have in my life, and it’s changed me. Friends who see me between chapters of life tell me I move slower now, that I don’t burn as hot as I used to. They’re right. It’s the quiet the writing demanded of me — and it’s taught me new rituals, new ways of doing magic.

Some people see that growth as elevation. Some see it as separation. It doesn’t have to be either — the key is being able to talk about it openly, without dimming it.

And I won’t dim it. I’m not going to shrink my accomplishments so someone who’s always wanted to write a book — but hasn’t — feels more comfortable. I love my friends who want to write their books. You should write the book. But I’m not going to make myself smaller so that’s easier for anyone else to sit with.

Here’s the truth: when a relationship doesn’t grow and change alongside you, it’s usually because the other person is reflecting their own stuck place back at you. Sometimes that person is you — watching someone else grow and feeling like you’re falling behind, feeling less-than. We’ve all been there.

Loneliness Is Information, Not a Verdict

Growth and change aren’t optional on this path. The second you start identifying as a witch, start using ritual and magic to actively build your life, you will change — a lot. And it’s okay if that comes with loneliness sometimes.

But that loneliness isn’t necessarily a sign something’s wrong with your relationships. Sometimes it’s a mirror. It might mean you’re not fully at ease with yourself yet. It might be pointing you toward a change you need to make — in your job, your relationships, how you’re spending your energy. I know plenty of people surrounded by a hundred others who are still deeply lonely. That’s an inside job.

You don’t have to make any decisions the moment you notice a relationship shifting. Just witness it. Sit with the discomfort of becoming more mature — spiritually, as a witch, as a human — and watch what ripples out. See who stays for the ride. Who says go, go, go when your passion lights up, even if they’re not doing the same thing themselves. Who believes rising tides raise all ships.

And for the people who don’t see that for you? That’s okay too. Burn it down, or love them from a distance. Your choice.

Find Your People

If this resonates — if you’ve ever felt yourself drifting from relationships as you up-leveled, spiritually or otherwise — you’re not alone in it, even if it feels that way. Community doesn’t have to disappear when you grow; it has to be rebuilt to match who you’re becoming.

That’s exactly why I build community inside Moon Temple Mystery School, through the High Priest and High Priestess path. Watching initiates come together — bonded for life, showing up for each other across classes and in person — is one of my favorite parts of this work. Enrollment for the next cohort closes the first week of September. If you’re feeling that pull deep in your belly, even without knowing exactly what it means yet, that’s the place to explore it.

Enrollment is OPEN for the last High Priestess (and High Priest) class of the year. Register HERE

(this transcript is from my upcoming YouTube show that will air on 8/10 - watch the full show HERE

I immediately knew I didn’t want to show that card on video. The painting in the card was too raw, too much of me, too much period. So, I set it aside and carried on my reading and then created the videos I had planned to make.

When I was done, I looked over at the card I had cast aside as not right for public consumption. Then I realized, what am I going to do when that card is in the hands of every reader? Should I have taken it out? All the doubts flooded in and I realized I was meeting a new shadow. One that comes along with the word “artist.”

I’m not an artist. I’m a professional, I’m a practicing witch, I run two businesses and am a person that loves to help wake others up to their own power. I carry the blood of Athena in my veins…I’m not an artist kind of person. I have no formal training and no lineage of artistry to claim. I’m just someone who loves to paint my feelings, the outcomes of ceremonial magic, or even just to capture the essence of a spirit I’ve communed with. Yes, that’s the witch in me, but artist? Nah, that’s not me.

Hello new shadow.

When I was done letting it sink in what I was feeling, I knew I needed to sit with her and talk it out.

I set my recording equipment aside and held the card in question against my heart and asked this new shadow, “What are you afraid of?”

She said, “My art isn’t good.”

I asked, “Do you love it?”

She said, “YESSS, I feel the feelings from the exact moment I created this painting.”

I asked, “What if that is what makes art good, is that you feel something?”

She said, in the voice of a younger version of me who loved to create crafts and art projects, “But what if others don’t feel it too.”

I said, “It’s okay. It doesn’t change how you feel, does it?”

She said, “No, that feeling is magical to me and nobody can’t take it.”

I then sat with the painting (each card in my deck is a photograph of an actual painting) and thanked it for showing me that I’m still learning about this part of me, the part that’s called an “artist.”

I won’t tell you which card that lit up the vulnerable part of me, but I will say that the entire deck is very personal to me. It’s almost too much for me to hold both the booklet (that I wrote) and a stack of cards (that I painted), that are packaged beautifully with messages that I channeled. It’s a gigantic expression of my heart and my spirit that woke up new mysteries within myself.

For now, I’ll sit with this vulnerable shadow, and I’ll do what I do- take the feelings to a fresh canvas and capture how this feels. Maybe that’s what artists do after all.

You can pre-order a copy of my deck HERE

Find all my works at tahverlee.com

(This is taken directly from my recent YouTube video where I share much deeper – find the link here if you prefer to listen) FULL VIDEO

When you turn your senses on and begin developing your psychic gifts, you become more sensitive. That’s the whole point. As your intuition grows, you start receiving more information through your body. You notice more, you feel more, and you begin picking up on things you may have missed before. But if you continue allowing certain things into your field that drain your energy, you’ll slowly become desensitized again, and your gifts won’t stay active.

One of the reasons I teach people to awaken their senses is because our senses are directly connected to our intuition. They’re connected to our gut knowing, our clairvoyance, our clairaudience, our clairsentience, and all the ways we receive information. I want your senses to become so alive that you begin to identify as a highly sensitive person, because once you do, you’ll realize there are certain things you simply can’t keep doing.

It’s actually one of my deepest pleasures to keep awakening my senses. There’s always another level. There’s always another layer. It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion until you reach that golden light at the center, the place where so much wisdom lives. Every time I uncover another layer, I realize how much more there is to experience.

As that sensitivity grows, you become aware of things that never used to bother you. You begin receiving information in ways that surprise you.

Take smell, for example. When your sense of smell is awakened, spirit can communicate through your olfactory system. This is something you can actually strengthen. Maybe you spend time smelling citrus fruits, or you rub a mint leaf between your fingers and really take in its scent. Over time, your body begins creating associations. A few weeks later you’re doing a reading for yourself, asking a question, and all of a sudden you smell mint even though there isn’t any around. Immediately you recognize the presence of a particular spirit guide because you’ve built that relationship through your senses. This becomes incredibly powerful.

Now imagine spending all day surrounded by synthetic fragrances, perfume, cologne, scented candles, and toxic air fresheners. Those same sensory pathways begin to shut down. When we become sensitive, we become sensitive to everything, and that means we have to be more intentional about what we allow into our field.

I learned this firsthand. Thirty years ago I loved those scented wall plug-ins. I had them all over my house because I loved walking into a room that smelled good. At least, I thought it smelled good at the time. Then my psychic gifts came online. I started practicing magic more deeply, and I realized there wasn’t room for all of that anymore. My body didn’t want it. The stronger my senses became, the more those artificial scents bothered me, because I could feel what they were doing to my system.

The same thing happens with so many areas of our lives.

Whether you’re using Tarot, communicating with spirit, journeying, working in the astral plane, or simply asking what you need to know right now, you’re asking your senses to receive information. That information comes through your body. Your body is the instrument receiving the message.

If your body is constantly processing things that don’t support it, your gifts get turned down. I truly believe every one of us has access to intuition because every one of us has a body. Our bodies are feeling machines. They are incredibly intelligent. They know how to receive information long before our minds catch up. The question isn’t whether you have the gifts. The question is whether you’re creating an environment where those gifts can stay awake.

Over the years, I’ve realized there are a handful of things I simply don’t do anymore because they interfere with that sensitivity. If you want your intuition to stay online, these are worth paying attention to.

Watch the FULL Video Here

Important links: Mystery School Classes

Author Site: Books and Oracle Deck

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There’s a secret to spell work that a lot of people don’t talk about and it’s one of the most important pieces of the whole practice. I’d call it a secret ingredient, or maybe just an unknown piece of the puzzle, that helps you truly anchor your magic so it has real, lasting impact in your life.

I’m Tahverlee, a High Priestess, practicing witch, author, and founder of the Moon Temple Mystery School and I’m here to help you create magic that’s transformative and that sticks.

Because here’s what I keep seeing happen in spiritual and magical communities: people cast the spell, do the ritual—and it works. And then it doesn’t stick.

Maybe you’ve done an abundance spell, or you’re working on manifesting something new. You put a big spell behind it. The thing happens. And two weeks later, you’re right back to where you started.

Here’s why: you haven’t yet learned how to hold the transformation you just created.

Why the Old You Comes Rushing Back

This is real, and it makes sense once you understand it. Every time you transform yourself, you’re raising your own bar. You’re increasing your upper limit of what’s possible for you. And when that upper limit shifts, you need time to recalibrate. You need time to let this new way of being actually anchor into your life.

For a lot of us, that means holding it. Holding it a little longer before we rush off to the next spell, the next goal, the next thing. Holding it a little longer before we let ourselves sink back into the way things used to be.

Because spells are powerful. Magic works. But if your baseline — your baseline of who you are, your baseline of what you believe is possible — doesn’t also shift, then the spell will still work, the thing will still happen... and the old you will just quietly slide back in. All that momentum you built? Gone. Because at its core, spell work exists because we’re seeking transformation. And transformation isn’t just the event — it’s the becoming.

You Are the Magic

If you’ve worked with me, you already know our spells work. You know our rituals work. But the most important magic isn’t the tools, the herbs, the candles, or even the words — it’s the ones that change you. Because you are the magic. Everything else is just support.

I want you to know how to hold that change. How to let it make you into something different. How to actually let yourself become.

If you’re doing this becoming work with me — especially if you’ve checked out my new book (it’s available now at Tahverlee.com) — you already know there isn’t just one way to get there. There are a thousand paths to transformation. But whichever path you’re on, the same rule applies: if you do the big transformative work and then immediately move on, or assume the old version of you can just carry on as before, you haven’t held the change. You’ve just visited it.

Doing the Work vs. Holding the Work

Now, there’s a difference between this and the release work we teach around manifesting (as an example). When you’re calling something in, you do the ritual, set the intention, and then let it go. Or that’s how most people teach it and to trust that it’s coming. It’s often taught not to hover over it, don’t overthink it, or re-process your desire on repeat, because doubt and over-processing can genuinely repel what you’re calling in. That part is true, and it matters.

But here’s the question nobody asks: what happens after your spell works? What happens when the ritual you’ve shown up for every day for 21 days in your journal actually creates the change you wanted?

Then what?

Then you’ve birthed a new version of yourself. You’ve increased your capacity to hold something more magical than what you had before. And that new version of you needs to be held, practiced, and lived in, not abandoned the moment the excitement fades.

There are powerful ways to “hold” the magic and let the transformation work through you. I go into more detail on tomorrow’s show on YouTube. Subscribe now so you don’t miss it!

My YouTube Channel Here

Here is what you can do today to align to energy of blessings:

**First ritual of the day, do it for seven minutes.

1. Start with meditation or breathwork to slow you body down and focus on your heart’s energy and let it expand all through your body.

2. Then for seven minutes, speak aloud “I receive, I allow, I align”. Of course, you can add a few words in or change it to suit what feels good to you.

3. For seven minutes, speak this over and over. Let your body feel it and your ears hear it coming from your own voice.

**Second ritual of the day (at 7 pm if possible as the extra seven will be a boost, but if you can’t, it’s fine to do this anytime at the end of the day).

1. Breathwork again or meditation to clear the energy of the day. Grounding, aligning and making sure you feel present in the moment.

2. Grab your journal and pen and turn off al devices and write 1-7 on the left side of a page. For each number, write out one thing you are grateful for or a way you know you are blessed. It will be “I’m blessed because…” or “I’m grateful for…”

3. Write 7 items out.

4. Then start a new page in your journal and do the same 1-7 numbers and write out what you want as an “I am grateful for” (even if you don’t have it). Project yourself forward and imagine the things you want are already in your life and you’re writing a gratitude list for it as if it’s already happened.

5. The first list sets the tone for the energy of the second list – don’t skip it.

Add your pages on your altar. Add in candle magic, water magic or any other spells you normally use to put the final list into your craft.

Lastly, while laying in bed before sleep (without your phone, of course), do seven minutes of the first incantation again. This extra layer before you sleep will amplify all your magic.

If you want more just like this - check out my new book - releases TOMORROW. Grab your copy here: All My Works Here

Enjoy!

And by the way, hello — I’m back after a short hiatus while I wrote and completed my 5th book in the last year. Phew, it’s been a big journey. But I’m back and ready for weekly doses of magic.

Today I’m talking about all aspects of initiation from how to do your own and how to embark on formal paths. And because I’m me, and I like to talk, I’m going to be adding an audio recording for you.

Read more

I am not one to shy away from what might ruffle feathers, and I’m also not one to shy away from the foundations of what is behind spells and rituals that work. So here we are — I’m combining them both.

First, let’s start with what I am seeing a lot of today: going to AI to create your spell for you. This is slop and is lazy — don’t do it. What the machine spits out will have no value based on experience and feeling. It just scrapes other sources, compiles them, and spits it out. Instead, go to someone who has done the work and can teach you how to create your own. You are your own most powerful spell creator — you only need to learn how (and then, of course, try it for yourself to learn what works).

Next, if you don’t know how to raise and create the energy needed to cast the spell or do the ritual, then it will fall flat. Our emotions are powerful energy forces to use as a source of energy, but only if they have been grounded and steadied first. As an example, if someone pisses you off and you immediately hex them or put them in a jar without reflecting on whether you played a role in the issue, whether you needed to set human boundaries, or whether a conversation needs to happen first — then you are using magic to bypass doing the human work.

Raising energy that is focused and clear comes from a clear mind, a solid practice of knowing yourself, grounding, and then calling forth the energy needed that matches the working.

The caveat to this — as most of what I’m saying isn’t always as black and white as I’m writing it — is that the majority of the time it is, but there are always exceptions. The exception to this is if you feel your physical or spiritual safety is in question.

Third, you need to go outside and interface with the natural world on a regular basis — not only to ground and connect to what is natural and real, but also to remind you of the cycles of nature, which are the same cycles we experience. It’s perspective-building.

Fourth, tools are just that — tools. The crystals, cards, wands — all of it — are an extension of the energy they carry or the energy you give them, but in all cases it is you casting the energy. The tools themselves are neutral until you infuse them with your energy or the energy you want them to carry. All of that still comes from you, and the tools are there to aid you.

Which means you are steering the ship. Want more money? Great — then how much are you working on receiving and managing your beliefs about money before you cast a spell with rose quartz? It’s you first.

I could go on for days, but lastly, here is a short list (aka rant):

1. Spirits and guides will aid you if you know how to be in the right relationship with them. They aren’t a source to siphon from endlessly.

2. Spells take time to plan — unless it’s a real emergency. Otherwise, haste makes waste in spell work. Plan the intention, know why you don’t already have it, plan the working, and then include a list of follow-up human steps to take. Then have a way to measure the success.

3. The moon cycle matters less than your mindset.

4. Spells to avoid being a human in the human world are bypassing the point of it all.

5. Your spaces (home, offices, cars) carry energetic imprints. If you don’t clear them, set them, clean them, and care for them, then they will bleed old energy into your workings.

Finally, stop overlooking the spirit of the elements themselves — not just the materia of the element. They have powerful spirits that you can find in the natural world and are by far some of the most powerful forces of nature. Learn to work with the elemental spirits, and everything will change for you.

Want more? Check out my new book, Sacred Magic of the North, available for preorder at www.tahverlee.com. Plus, I have a brand-new Oracle Deck coming out - you’ll see it all there!

I understand why people believe this. I believed it too, for a long time. The imagery alone is powerful enough to keep you coming back. You close your eyes and picture it, money raining down, opportunities stacking up, your bank account filling like a well after a storm. And the truth is, frequency work matters. Spells matter. Altars matter. These are real tools with real energetic weight behind them. The problem is that this belief, taken on its own, leaves out the most critical piece of the entire equation.

Here is the piece no one talks about enough: unless you know how to put your hands out and actually receive the leaves as they fall, they will land on the ground around you and blow away. You can shake the tree all day long. You can perform the most exquisite ritual. You can align your vibration until you are practically humming with abundance energy. And if you have not trained yourself to receive, you will watch opportunity after opportunity drift past you without ever quite understanding why the magic didn’t work.

That is the biggest misconception about abundance magic and manifestation. People think the magic is the whole system. It is a part of the system.

The second most common misconception is closely related. People assume that spells and rituals are meant to work in isolation, that the energetic work replaces the need for action in the physical world. It does not. The most powerful manifestation happens when spiritual practice and real world action steps move together, like two hands working in coordination. One hand reaches into the unseen and shifts the energy. The other hand reaches into the material world and does the work. You need both.

So the real formula looks like this: know how to receive, understand what action steps to take, and combine those with your magical and frequency work. When all three of those elements are in alignment, the results can be staggering. Let me walk you through each one.

Learning How to Receive

Before we talk about spells or strategy, we need to talk about receiving, because this is where most people are quietly, unknowingly blocked. Receiving is a skill. It is a practice. And for many of us, it has been slowly trained out of our bodies and our nervous systems since we were children.

Think about the last time someone gave you a genuine compliment. What did you do with it? If you are like most people, you deflected. You said something like “oh, this old thing?” or “no, I actually look terrible today” or you immediately redirected the conversation back to the other person. That tiny moment of deflection is a microcosm of how you handle abundance in every area of your life. Every time you push away a compliment, you are practicing the energetic pattern of pushing away receiving. Every single time.

Now think about what happens when someone offers to help you. Maybe a friend offers to pick up the check at lunch, or a coworker offers to take something off your plate, or a neighbor offers to watch your kids so you can have an evening to yourself. Do you accept? Or do you immediately say “oh no, I couldn’t” and insist on handling everything yourself? That refusal is another form of blocking your own ability to receive. You are telling the universe, in the most literal and practical way possible, that you are not available to receive support, generosity, or ease.

This is where the daily practice begins. You start small. Radically, almost uncomfortably small.

The next time someone compliments you, say thank you. That is it. Do not explain it away. Do not minimize it. Do not return the compliment immediately so that the attention shifts off you. Just let it land. Feel it in your body. Notice what comes up. You might feel awkward. You might feel guilty. You might feel a strange urge to give something back right away so that you do not feel indebted. All of those reactions are information. They are showing you exactly where your receiving channels are pinched shut.

The next time someone offers to do something kind for you, say yes. Let them. Let someone hold the door without you rushing to grab it yourself. Let someone buy you a coffee. Let someone tell you that your work is beautiful and sit in that warmth for a few seconds before you respond. These are not trivial exercises. These are the foundational reps that rewire your nervous system to accept abundance in all its forms.

Love is another place to practice. Can you receive love fully without immediately wondering what you need to do to earn it or keep it? Can you let someone care about you without making yourself smaller so they do not have to stretch too far? Receiving love and receiving money are connected in ways that will surprise you once you start paying attention. They both require the same vulnerability. They both require you to believe, on a deep and embodied level, that you are worthy of having something given to you simply because you exist.

Start a receiving practice today. Make it conscious. Make it daily. When you catch yourself deflecting, gently redirect. When you catch yourself refusing help, pause and reconsider. Over time, you will notice that your capacity to receive expands in every direction, including the financial one.

Your Upper Limits and the Stories You Inherited

There is another layer beneath the receiving work, and it lives in the beliefs you carry about money that you did not choose for yourself. These are the inherited stories, the phrases your parents repeated, the unspoken rules about wealth that were baked into the culture of your household long before you were old enough to question them.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees.” You have probably heard that one a thousand times. On the surface it sounds practical, even wise. Underneath, it carries a very specific message: money is scarce, it is hard to come by, and wanting more of it is foolish or naive. That message lodges itself deep in your subconscious and quietly runs the show for decades unless you dig it up and examine it.

Maybe your family carried the belief that rich people are greedy or selfish. Maybe the unspoken rule was that wanting money made you shallow, that truly good people did not care about material things. Maybe you grew up watching your parents fight about bills and you internalized the belief that money always comes with stress and conflict. These are not just memories. They are active programs running in the background of your operating system, and they directly impact how much abundance you will allow yourself to hold.

Gay Hendricks calls this the Upper Limit Problem, and it is one of the most important concepts you can understand on this path. Every person has an internal thermostat for how much goodness they believe they are allowed to experience. When things start going well, when money starts flowing, when life feels abundant and easy, that thermostat kicks in and creates self-sabotage to bring you back down to your familiar set point. You pick a fight with your partner. You overspend on something impulsive. You miss an important deadline. You get sick right before a big opportunity. The sabotage looks different for everyone, but the mechanism is the same. Some part of you believes you have exceeded your allowed quota of good, and it is working to correct the imbalance.

The work here is to become conscious of your thermostat setting and to slowly, patiently raise it. Start by writing down every belief about money you heard growing up. Get them all on paper. Look at them honestly and ask yourself which of these beliefs are actually true, and which ones are just inherited fears wearing the costume of wisdom. Then begin to consciously replace them. You are allowed to have more than enough. Wealth can be a tool for generosity and good. Ease is not laziness. Abundance is your birthright.

This inner excavation work is essential. Without it, you can cast every spell in every book and your subconscious will find a way to block the results before they ever reach you.

Frequency and Spell Work for Abundance

Once your receiving channels are open and you have begun to untangle the inherited beliefs that keep your thermostat set too low, you are ready to bring in the energetic and magical tools with real power behind them.

Frequency work is about aligning your emotional and energetic state with the reality you are calling in. This means spending time each day in the genuine feeling of abundance rather than the anxious wanting of it. There is a world of difference between the two. Wanting vibrates with lack. Feeling vibrates with having. Your job is to find ways to genuinely access the feeling of abundance in your current life, because that feeling is the signal that draws more of the same toward you.

You can find this feeling in small moments if you look for them. The warmth of your morning coffee when you have nowhere to rush to. The satisfaction of paying a bill on time. The pleasure of a meal made with ingredients you love. These are all abundance. When you can train your body and your energy field to recognize and amplify these moments, you are tuning your frequency to the channel where abundance lives.

As for spell work, this is where I encourage you to do your research and find practices that resonate with your specific tradition and intuition. There are many approaches to abundance magic, from candle work to petition spells to jar spells to full ritual ceremonies, and the most effective one will always be the one that lights you up from the inside. If you are looking for guidance on this, you can check out my books, which are available for preorder now at Tahverlee.com. I go deep into specific practices and the energetic principles behind them so that you are working with understanding rather than just following steps.

tahverlee.com

The key to remember with any spell or ritual work is that you are not begging the universe for something. You are co-creating with it. You are using focused intention, symbolic action, and energetic alignment to declare what you are ready to receive. The magic is not about convincing some external force to give you what you want. The magic is about becoming a match for what you desire, and then opening the door.

The Action Step That Brings It All Home

So you have done the inner work. You have opened your receiving channels. You have examined your inherited beliefs and started raising your upper limit. You have gotten into the frequency of abundance and you have done your spell work with intention and care. Now comes the part that ties it all together and gives the universe something to work with.

You have to take action.

This is where manifestation meets the material world, and it is where so many people stall out. They do all the energetic work beautifully and then sit back and wait for a check to arrive in the mailbox. The universe is endlessly creative in how it delivers abundance, but it needs you to participate in the physical dimension too. It needs you to give it pathways and openings.

Apply for the job. Put your name in the ring for that promotion. Start the business you have been thinking about for three years. Launch the side hustle. List your work for sale. Send the pitch. Have the conversation. Sign up. Show up. It does not matter which action you take, because any action taken in alignment with your magical and energetic work becomes a doorway.

Here is what I have seen happen again and again, in my own life and in the lives of people I work with. You take one aligned action, and it does not lead exactly where you expected. Instead, it leads somewhere better and stranger and more perfectly suited to you than anything you could have planned. You apply for one job and do not get it, but the interviewer refers you to someone else who has exactly the opportunity you needed. You start selling your handmade candles at a local market and meet a shop owner who wants to carry your entire line. You put up a simple website for your services and a friend shares it with someone who becomes your biggest client.

This is how magic works in the real world. It unfolds. It spirals. It takes the seed of your action and grows it in directions you could never have mapped out with your logical mind alone. The action does not have to be perfect. It does not have to be big. It just has to be real. It has to exist in the physical world so that the energy you have been cultivating has somewhere to land.

You shake the tree with your magic. You open your hands with your receiving practice. You clear the old stories that told you the fruit was not for you. And then you walk forward, take one step, and let the abundance meet you there.

That is the full picture. That is how it actually works. And once you experience it for yourself, you will never go back to thinking that any single piece of this puzzle is enough on its own. The magic is in the combination.

Thanks for being here and receiving the magic I’m sharing. Lets stay connected – visit tahverlee.com for more.

This is solar plexus medicine, fire in your belly, and a roar rising from somewhere deep inside that you can feel.

The lion is showing up strong in this full moon, and with the upcoming shift from the Year of the Snake to the Year of the Fire Horse, the message is clear:

This is a battle cry for courage.

Making and creating a life based on holding tight to your freedoms is what’s needed right now, not tomorrow, not when things calm down – but right now.

I know you’re feeling the heaviness of collapsing systems. Me too.

I also know that we need you centered and lit up in your solar plexus. The world needs your fire lit and visible, not tamed and scared.

So here’s a ritual to harness this energy as we lead up to the full moon.

Part One: Daily Ritual Cleansing

You are carrying heavy energy right now. Collective grief, fear, uncertainty—it’s landing in your body whether you realize it or not. This needs constant attention, not just a once-and-done clearing.

Do this daily:

1. Name the pain you’re feeling about the world right now. Don’t rush past it. Sit with it so you can feel it and speak it aloud if that helps. .

2. Notice where you’re carrying it in your body. Your chest? Your throat? Your gut? When you find where it’s stationed itself inside you, place your hands on that area. Rub it to give love to it and let your touch be medicine.

3. If you have a favorite incense or smoke blend, use it now. Let the smoke surround your body while you do this—cleansing, clearing, and finding balance inside you and around you with your own energy.

4. Once you’ve loved on that part of yourself—once you’ve let yourself feel it and acknowledge it—close your eyes. Picture a giant stream of bright white light pouring down from the sky, washing over your entire body from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Hold this vision as long as you need to until you feel the ache lesson.

This isn’t optional self-care or something fluffy – its survival.

You should also be walking and moving your body daily. Movement shakes loose the last bits of stuck energy that even the best rituals can’t fully clear. Let your body do what it knows how to do.

Part Two: Full Moon Journal Prompts or Card Spread

Set aside an hour, either a day or two before or after the peak of the full moon, and work with the questions below.

You can use these as journal prompts—free write whatever comes through without editing yourself.

Or, if you prefer, grab your favorite tarot or oracle deck and pull one card per question.

If using cards: Lay them out in a circle, moving through each question in order. The final card goes in the center.

a. What thoughts are taking over my mind right now? What is consuming my mental energy and pulling me out of balance?

b. What is blocking me from activating my throat chakra? What truth am I not speaking? What words are stuck?

c. What sits heavy on my heart right now? And what sits lightly—what is my heart still holding hope for?

d. What feelings are trapped in my belly, blocking my intuition? What emotions have I swallowed instead of felt?

e. How can I root my body deeper into the earth? What do I need to feel safe, held, and grounded?

Center Card / Final Prompt:

How can I tap deeper into my courage and activate the full power of my solar plexus?

This full moon wants you brave and truthful to yourself.

Let the lion lead.

So this year, instead of writing the classic letter to Santa, I have written a spell disguised as a wish list. A declaration of what witches truly want as we cross the threshold into the dark season and toward the turning of the sun. And maybe, just maybe, these wishes will find their way into the hands of those who need to hear them.

Dear Santa,

Here is what we really want for Christmas.

First, no more devotion that outsources our power to the sky daddy. We are done with the idea that holiness is found only in the heavens. Witches know the truth, that power is not above us. Its inside us, under our feet and in the breath that steams the winter air. It is in the belly where intuition hums. We don’t need intermediaries, we do not require permission, and we will not bow to a god who asks us to shrink in order to stay loved.

Second, no more oppressing the wisdom inside a woman’s body just to tame her. Her blood is the most powerful tincture on the planet. Her bones are the oracles of thousands of years. Her womb carries the memory of creation itself, and yet she has been told to be quiet about it. To hide the very thing that makes her powerful. For Christmas, we want a world that stops confusing silence with virtue. A world that remembers that a woman who knows her body is a woman who cannot be controlled.

Third, we want depth and devotion to our hunger. Real hunger. The kind that wakes up the old gods inside us. The hunger that refuses to be wrapped in pretty spiritual language or diluted into “good vibes only.” Hunger is holy. It tells the truth and witches know that desire is not a flaw, it is a compass. Let the world choke on its discomfort while we feast.

Fourth, we want to stop being told to smile more or stop being too intense. The witch has always been punished for her expression. She’s been too loud, too powerful, too scary with her spellcasting ability and her intensity is too much. But intensity is a gift. A woman with fire in her belly that spews from her mouth is not dangerous because she is unstable. She is dangerous because she sees and speaks truth. Because she casts spells with every word she speaks. And the world has never been ready for a woman who refuses to dim.

Fifth, we want all women to stop watering themselves down to fit in. The dilution was the spell they cast on us. To make us soft and smooth our edge, as if our sharpness isn’t palatable. Witches were never meant to be palatable. We are meant to be potent. And nothing potent has ever been easy to consume.

Sixth, we want more witches, men and women, awakened to their innate power. Witchcraft is not a costume. It is not a phase. It is the remembering of what you already are. The returning to the truth that has always been in you. The power you buried under obligation, survival, and the myth of acceptability. We want a world where more people pick up that thread and weave their own sovereignty back together.

Seventh, we want more witches to take the reins back from the systems that shame our bodies. Shame has been the leash for centuries. Shame about desire. Shame about rage. Shame about blood. Shame about aging. Shame about beauty. Shame about softness. Shame about power. To reclaim the body is to break the oldest spell ever cast against us. And witches are very good at breaking spells.

So how’s that, Santa?

A strange request list, perhaps. Not something you can wrap with a bow or leave under a tree. But witches have never asked for trinkets. We ask for liberation. We ask for fire. We ask for the return of what was stolen, hidden, or shamed into silence.

And maybe this year, as the dark thickens and the cold settles in, we will be the ones delivering the gifts. Gifts of awakening. Gifts of rebellion. Gifts of remembering.

Because all we really want for Christmas
is for witches to rise

.

The lessons found in imperfection often pull you toward your deepest shadows, the ones that whisper you are not perfect and therefore not enough. That voice will always try to rise, but it is not the lesson your cycles are trying to teach you.

The dark moon says, “You cannot grow into a blossoming tree until you have first been a seed that is buried in the dark.”

This is the second to last dark moon of 2025, a moment where the year, both astrologically and numerically, is nearing completion. The wheel is turning. A new blank slate is forming, waiting for you to shape it. But before you write anything new, the shadows want you to release what has held you back. They want you to strip away the noise you have taken in this year and transmute it into power.

The darkness on this dark moon says, “Do not collapse in the void of light. Build your own light.”

Today and tonight, let yourself soften. Let yourself shed. Remove the layers of fear-based noise you have carried and stand in your truth. Only yours. From there, you will be ready to decide how you want 2026 to unfold.

A Ritual for Tonight

Sit in silence, alone with only the flame of a candle. Ask these four elemental questions, or use your tarot or oracle deck to pull a card for each one.

1. The North (earth) asks: What part of your body have you disconnected from, and why? When complete, write a message to yourself on how you will reconnect.

2. The East (air) asks: What beliefs have you consumed from the outside that now live inside you? You have been fed fear and poison all year long. Name it and then create a release ritual to give it all back.

3. The South (fire) asks: Where have you held yourself back to make someone else happy? Maybe you withheld your dreams because they did not fit someone else’s plan. Maybe you stopped doing something you love because others do not like it. Name it and then create a list for 2026 on how you will let your truest desires, your fire, come out to play.

4. The West (water) asks: What emotions are driving you right now, and why? Are they yours or are they coming from outside of you? Then create a full ritual cleanse to wash away what is not yours.

When complete, begin looking at 2025 as if it is moving into the rearview. Consider what you refuse to carry into 2026 and how you will leave it behind in the dark.

I am releasing a full 6-part series of winter magic that will show you how to release what needs to go and begin preparing for 2026. Find me on YouTube and subscribe for updates.

I am right here walking this path alongside you.

XO

Let’s be honest — connecting with your spirit guides isn’t as mysterious or complicated as it sounds. It’s actually one of the most natural things you can do. You already have guides around you, helping, nudging, and whispering to you every day. The only real difference between hearing them and missing them is learning how to listen.

I’m Tahverlee, a witch, a High Priestess, and the founder of Moon Temple Mystery School. I help people like you wake up to their magic and build a real relationship with the unseen world. I’ve spent years doing this work, and I can tell you without question — your guides are real, and when you learn to work with them, every part of your life starts to shift.

So let’s get you started.

What You Should Know First

• They’re always with you.
  Spirit guides never take a day off. They’re with you through joy, heartbreak, confusion, and every in-between moment.

• They only want what’s best for you.
  Their entire job is to help you grow, heal, and remember who you really are. Their guidance always comes from love.

• They don’t yell.
  Guides don’t usually drop loud messages from the sky. They show up through gentle nudges, sudden thoughts, songs on the radio, or perfect timing that makes you pause.

• They’re not all human.
  Some may be ancestors or past-life helpers, but many are ancient beings who exist beyond time and form. They speak the language of energy, symbols, and feeling.

How to Start Talking to Them

1. Make time.
Pick a few minutes each day or week to sit quietly and connect. This doesn’t need to be fancy. Just time that’s yours.

2. Create a calm space.
Light a candle, clean up your space, or just close your eyes somewhere peaceful. Energy moves better when your space feels safe.

3. Set an intention.
Say out loud, “I’m ready to connect with my spirit guides. Please show me what I need to know today.” Keep it simple and honest.

4. Relax.
Breathe deep. Let your body soften. You don’t have to meditate perfectly. Just breathe until you feel still enough to notice what’s happening inside you.

5. Ask for clarity.
You can ask things like, “What do I need to focus on?” or “How can I move forward?” Speak to them like trusted friends.

6. Write it down.
Grab a journal and free-write. Let whatever comes flow onto the page. Even if it feels random, keep going. Later you’ll see patterns and messages.

7. Watch for signs.
Guides love to send messages through repeating numbers, feathers, songs, or people who say exactly what you needed to hear. The more you notice, the more they show up.

8. Be consistent.
The relationship grows stronger the more you practice. You don’t have to be perfect — just keep showing up.

9. Say thank you.
Gratitude keeps your connection strong. Even if you don’t understand the message right away, thank your guides for showing up.

A Little Personal Story

I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately, and I’ve noticed how the ache to create often comes from my guides. Artists and writers call it being “in the flow,” but really, it’s just another way of channeling.

One of the guides I’ve worked with for years is a mythical figure known as the Siren. She first came to me in an abandoned church — not as a voice, but as a deep vibration in my body. She wanted her story to be told.

She showed me how women have been trained to be “mermaid pretty,” soft and pleasing, while the Siren was cast as dangerous because she was loud and deep. Her story is about reclaiming that power. The more I wrote, the more I realized she wasn’t just a myth — she was a part of me.

That’s how it often works. Spirit guides don’t just speak to you; they become part of you. They live inside your art, your words, your choices. When you follow that ache, you’re following them.

The Truth About Spirit Guides

Talking to your spirit guides isn’t about hearing a booming voice or seeing a glowing figure. It’s about learning to trust the small voice inside that already knows. It’s about remembering that you’re never walking alone.

Your guides are your unseen team — the ones who whisper, “You’ve got this,” when everything feels uncertain. The ones who send you signs that you’re on the right path.

So keep it simple:

• Sit down.

• Ask.

• Listen.

• Say thank you.

That’s it. Over time, the connection gets stronger, the messages clearer, and the magic undeniable.

If you’re ready to go deeper and bring your spirit guides into your everyday life, I’d love to walk that path with you. Join me at Moon Temple Mystery School — it’s a place where your magic, your guides, and your truth all come together.

Your guides are already waiting. All you have to do is start the conversation.

2025 was that kind of year for me. I shifted timelines and grew faster than all my planning had accounted for. My capacity to hold magic widened, the edges of holding focus became razor sharp, and I am now reflecting on what actions and magic I used to get through this expansion.

As I close the chapter of this year, I’ve begun reflecting on the spells I cast, the ones I didn’t, what I surrendered to, and what I chose to walk away from. In my own practice, and in what I teach inside Mystery School, this is how all new cycles begin—with reflection on the cycle that is closing.

Before we cast the magic of the year ahead, we must understand the energy we are carrying from the one that’s ending. You can replace the word “intention” with “goals” if that is how you plan your year ahead.

I’m sharing this with you to support your own beginning plans for 2026.

By the way, if you want to listen to me read this with additional commentary – click below.

The Calendar We Use

Let’s talk about the “year” that I am referring to. Most of us plan our year using the Gregorian calendar. It’s the system the modern world recognizes (Jan 1 – Dec 31). But for many witches use Samhain, moons, or even Yule or Imbolc as the start of their year.

I say this because I do work with natures cycles too – but for this article I’m talking about the current Gregorian calendar.

What Worked (and What Didn’t)

When I look at 2025, I see both the heights of expansion and the depths of deep personal work. I made massive moves in a short time. If someone had told me a year ago where I’d end up, I would have thought I misread the cards—it’s been that kind of year.

So what worked?

First, the wheel I cast for 2025 (which I do every year), was powerful to begin with. I know how to forecast my year and blend in intentions (and goals). That was done well last year. And if you want to do your own full year planning – use the link below to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’m releasing a 6-part series to support you.

Second, I followed every intuitive hit that came through. I said yes to what felt right in my body and no to what didn’t – keeping my year of intentions as the lens in which I used to decide. Even when any “no’s” pushed against my comfort. I stretched my beliefs, my capacity to hold magic, and my willingness to stay with the spell long enough to see results. And I tracked each and every one of them (still am).

Third, I had to raise the ceiling on what I thought was possible—and to stop saying yes out of habit or routine. There was no “normal” allowed in my 2025 year.

While I’m reflecting on this magical year, I’m now tracking every major yes from January through now and comparing it to the Wheel I cast this time last year.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

What made the magic work

1. I completed my yearly wheel with power and added it as notes in my phone, had a visual of it in front of me the entire year, sat with it, and made sure that the intentions I made were fluid enough to let the outcome be even BIGGER than I had planned. It’s a fine line between setting specific intentions and letting them be even better.

2. My spells and rituals were clear and focused. All damn year – I remained committed to bringing magic to every part of my life.

3. I visualized daily and held those outcomes in meditation. Which means a lot more time in stillness with quiet reflection. I said no to many offers from friends in order to remain in the space of quiet intentions.

4. I backed every intention with grounded human effort. Meaning, I took the human steps too. I didn’t sit back and “hope” my spell worked; I made sure that it did.

What I sacrificed to stay aligned:

1. I said no to distractions that pulled me off my path. This included long breaks from the small little fake dopamine machine we all carry in our hands.

2. I kept my body’s health at the forefront – exercise, food, nature. My body is the signal catcher for magic and it needs to be in prime state. This meant less time the nights before drinking or eating out. My evening rituals were key to holding the energy of growth during the day.

3. I limited time with people who couldn’t see the bigger vision. This was a biggie. I have many wonderful sister witches, friends, brother witches, communities and people that I enjoy having in my life and whom I love. But the truth is: many of them couldn’t understand the success I was aiming for and had a hard time holding that big energy with me. I understand and its okay, but I did limit time with those that were on a different trajectory at this time. Growth feeds off of growth and that’s what I needed.

4. I joined new communities (masterminds and covens) that had similar energy to where I am headed.

5. I traveled less, choosing only experiences that held real meaning. Which for me was speaking or events that aligned and seeing family. Very little other movement took place.

This was the combination that opened the door to massive growth. Magic and human effort working together and sacrificing the mundane to experience more of the magic I wanted.

I can say with certainty that I was distinctly aware of what I was choosing, when I said no or spent more time alone. I sought out mentors, classes, and groups that could relate to this new version of me. I was choosing me and my own growth above all else. But it wasn’t always easy. I felt the pressure. I felt the boundaries tested.

I definitely bumped up against our beliefs that we should give more to others than to ourselves, which the goddess knows I’ve done for many years of my life, but not this year. This year was for me. It took deep insight into my shadows when guilt or worry that I was letting other people down to focus on myself. Still does.

Preparing the Ground for 2026

This reflection is important for me because I know how I want 2026 to roll out. I have the vision and I know what kind of year I want to experience. I will now use what I learned that worked and didn’t work this year as the building blocks for the next year, the next wheel I’ll cast.

I also want for you to begin looking ahead by looking behind first.

I created a Spotify playlist for you to use when you are ready to begin reflection and 2026 planning and you can find it HERE

Before stepping into next year, take time to look at what worked, what didn’t, and where your energy truly flowed. Don’t rush to set new intentions until you’ve honored what you’ve already created or didn’t create, and why.

This is an important part of the process, no matter if you cast spells or not, your next year of expansion begins in the soil of your current one.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more insight. The first of six episodes will begin this month.

If you’re new here, Hi, its nice to meet you.

I’m Tahverlee, author, witch, and founder of Moon Temple Mystery School. I teach how to live a magical life that’s rooted in both earth and action. My work is where ancient wisdom meets the modern world, where ritual and real life come together.

If this writing speaks to your soul, I invite you to subscribe here on Substack. You’ll receive new writings, rituals, and reflections on living a magical life.

My forthcoming books Sacred Magic are set to begin releasing in July 2026 (Llewellyn Worldwide).

Find Me On YouTube

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The Cost of Magic

I’m done keeping the glossy version of witchcraft on display, the one that skips over the messy parts, the heartbreak, the doubt, the rituals that don’t land, and the spells that fall flat. This space is where I want to talk about the challenges and real truths of walking the path of a witch. The parts that ache and confuse and transform. The places where things go wrong, where I question it all, and where I can share what actually holds power.

I write and paint to process my feelings. It’s how I move energy through my body and understand what’s stirring beneath the surface. Sometimes that comes out as art that’s beautiful, and sometimes it’s a chaotic scribble that tells me I’m alive. Either way, it’s real – and I’m going to share it all here.

Especially as I’m in the throes of finishing my 3rd and 4th books of the Sacred Magic Series (coming in 2026-27). This shit has been hard and expansive, and we often don’t talk about the cost of doing big work of any kind. By cost, I do not mean money.

After spending the last 1.5 years deep in the writing process of four books that are created by direction, starting with the North, each one contains a specific element. In each case, when you go deep into elemental magic, you are also exploring how that element relates to your life. I’ve discovered something I didn’t expect – and that’s the cost that working with each element requires of you.

Let’s start with the North and the element of earth. Surface-level witchcraft focuses on bringing parts of earth into your ritual like soil, crystals, trees, and plant allies. And those are real and usable facets of the North. I teach this too.

The truth of really understanding the North and the element of earth – is that it is also your body. The cost is your shame and expectations about how your body should look and feel. We don’t judge a tree based on how it looks or if it matches trees we see on social media – yet we continually judge our bodies. To really work with earth energy, you must be deeply in tune with your body’s natural rhythms – the ones that are yours alone and the ones that match the natural world around you.

I say earth element tools are great in magic, but knowing your body and how to use it to cast spells is greater. And it comes with the need to release judgment.

I’ve spent years teaching the structure of magic: the tools, the elements, the ways to shape energy. But underneath all of that lives the human experience – the pain, the pleasure, the power we have to hold both at once. The cost of living a magical life is that you must let go of how others believe you should live it.

This is what’s on my mind right now. If the word “cost” doesn’t sit well with you, then call it something else. And it’s always there.

Let’s look at fire for a moment. Using fire in any ritual definitely comes at a cost because fire needs to feed itself to survive. A physical flame needs to consume in order to remain lit. Spiritual fire needs a place to express itself to remain alive. The cost? Stagnation. You cannot remain stagnant and work with real fire energy because it needs to feed, move, and transform.

These facets of the costs of magic are not limited to rituals and spells. It’s the same with the things we want in life. Writing books has come at the cost of my free time and definitely sleep. Is it worth the cost? For me, yes. Although many people around me would prefer that I give less of myself to my projects and more to the ways they are used to me showing up in the world.

Same with you. Your job, the relationships you have – you’ve chosen them knowing the cost is giving up something else to do this thing, this way. If you want something new in your life, the cost is giving up the way it used to be for things to change.

Which leads me to hold the idea of what the cost is for anything we are doing in our practices. The cost of living in magic is not fitting into the box our world wants you to live in.

So if you’re new here, welcome. You’ve landed in the place where truth gets loud, where magic gets messy, and where we talk about what actually works and what doesn’t. I’m not here to polish the edges or make it look pretty. I’m here to speak what’s real, to stir the cauldron, and to invite you to do the same.

I’m Tahverlee — witch, teacher, and founder of Moon Temple Mystery School, where magic is lived, not performed. I guide seekers through the deep, gritty work of transformation and teach the craft that changes lives from the inside out. If you’re ready to remember your power and walk the path of sacred magic with me, you’ll find my classes, writings, and offerings at www.moontempleschool.com.