Ember Rites

This week's lineup is stacked! Flow through Raqs Asana (Vinyasa yoga meets belly dance isolations. Yes, your hips will thank you) or get witchy with our elemental belly dance class. Mind, body, and a little bit of magic. Which one's calling your name? 👇

I have a confession to make.

I got too busy. Not the good kind of busy, but the kind where you look up one day and realize you've been saying yes to everything except the things that actually fill you up.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, yoga and belly dance got pushed to the edges. Classes that deserved my full creative energy got whatever was left over. And the things I love most, like performing, choreographing, and diving deeper into this art, kept getting moved to the bottom of the list.

In witchcraft we talk about shadow work. The practice of looking honestly at the parts of yourself you'd rather not examine. The patterns that don't serve you. The places where you've been unconsciously out of alignment.

This was mine.

I wasn't honoring my practice. And because of that, I wasn't fully honoring my students either.

The first step in changing something is seeing it clearly. So here I am, seeing it clearly.

This is the first in a series of posts about what happened next.

Happy Witchy Wisdom Wednesday, loves. If things feel a little foggy, a little tender, a little slow right now, you're right on track. That's the medicine.

Mercury is retrograde in Cancer for the first three weeks of July, encouraging reflection on family matters and emotional patterns.

And Neptune stationed retrograde in Aries on July 7th. Neptune is the planet of dreams, illusion, and spiritual depth turning inward.

These two major planets slowing down at once is the cosmos saying: not yet. Go back, feel deeper.

Mercury retrograde in Cancer isn't about missed texts and tech glitches, rather it's about the emotional messages you've been avoiding. The conversation you keep rehearsing but never having. The feeling you've been too busy to sit with. Cancer rules the home, the womb, the heart. This retrograde wants to take you back there.

For belly dancers: Cancer rules the belly, the womb space, the very center of our art. This week, drop into your core, not for technique, but for feeling. Let your belly lead. Let it be soft, let it remember what it knows.

For yogis: this is the week for deeply nurturing, restorative practice. Child's pose allows you to return home. Yin yoga, hip openers, anything that asks you to curl inward and rest. This can include the womb pose, the fetal position.

Mercury retrograde ritual: pull out an old journal. Reread an entry from six months ago. What did that version of you need to hear? Write her a letter. That's your spell for the week.

What emotional truth has been waiting for you to finally listen? 👇

My belly dance troupe and I will be performing at Drops of Fae this Saturday afternoon. Come see what we've been working on lately.

Witchy Wisdom Wednesday is glowing under the rising Strawberry Moon, loves.

June's Full Moon, the Strawberry Moon, reaches its peak on June 29th in Capricorn. Earthy, ambitious, wise Capricorn. The sign that knows the mountain was worth climbing because of the view from the top.

This Full Moon in Capricorn urges us to be cognizant of our choices through reflection. Look back at what you've built, what you've survived, and what you've become. That's evidence of your power.

And this week carries three big cosmic currents simultaneously. Mercury is entering its shadow phase before stationing retrograde on June 29th, so start wrapping up loose ends, backing up your files, and getting clear on what needs to be communicated before things slow down. Then on June 30th, Jupiter, the planet of luck and abundance, enters Leo for a full year, opening a fortunate new chapter especially for fire signs. The horizon is glittering, witches.

For belly dancers: Capricorn energy is mastery. This Full Moon, perform or practice something that shows how far you've come. Video yourself. See what your body has learned. Honor the student and the artist.

For yogis: this is the Full Moon to honor your practice. How has your body changed? How has your breath changed? How have you changed? That evolution is sacred. Document it.

Full Moon ritual: light a black or deep green candle, write down three things you've achieved since January, and burn the paper in gratitude. You did that.

What are you celebrating this Strawberry Moon? 👇

Witchy Wisdom Wednesday falls in the most luminous week of the year. We are building toward the Summer Solstice! On June 21st, the Sun swims into Cancer and the summer solstice commences, offering us the opportunity to embrace our sentiments.

The solstice is the longest day, the peak of the light, and in witchcraft, it's one of the most powerful solar celebrations of the wheel of the year. This is the moment to fully inhabit your light. To stop apologizing for your brightness. To let yourself be seen.

The solstice arrives harmonizing beautifully with Chiron in Ta**us, softening the atmosphere dramatically. This isn't harsh, blazing light, but warm, golden, healing light. The kind that says you are safe to be exactly who you are.

For belly dancers: the solstice is pure performance energy. This week, dance like the sun, like your light is the point, not a distraction. Chest lifts, shimmies, arms wide open. Take up every inch of the space.

For yogis: sun salutations are literal magic this week. Do them at sunrise if you can. Feel every warrior pose as an act of claiming your power, not just stretching your body.

Solstice ritual: write down what you want to illuminate and grow in the second half of the year. Read it aloud in the sunlight. Your voice under the solstice sun is a spell.

What are you illuminating this solstice? 👇

Happy Witchy Wisdom Wednesday, curious ones! We're in the dark moon phase, building toward the New Moon in Gemini on June 14th, and the energy is buzzing with questions, ideas, and new beginnings in communication.

Gemini is the sign of the twins, the storyteller, the shapeshifter. This New Moon intensifies our ability to speak our minds and plant seeds around how we share ourselves with the world. What story do you want to start telling? What creative voice is waiting to emerge?

And woven into this week, Chiron, the wounded healer, enters Ta**us, beginning a years-long journey through the sign of the body, the throat, and self-worth. Chiron in Ta**us asks: where have you felt shame about your body? Your voice? Your worth? The healing begins now.

For belly dancers: Gemini rules the arms, hands, and shoulders. This is your invitation to bring more intentionality to your arm work this week. Let your arms tell the story your hips can't quite say.

For yogis: try poses that open the chest and shoulders, or work with the throat chakra. Lion's breath, fish pose, supported heart openers. Let what needs to be said rise to the surface.

New Moon ritual: write a letter to your future self about the story you're choosing to tell. Then seal it, date it, and open it in six months.

What new story are you ready to step into? 👇

**us

Witchy Wisdom Wednesday, loves, and this week the sky is dripping in honey.

Venus and Jupiter meet exactly on June 9th at 25° Cancer, but we are already swimming in this energy. This is one of the most beloved conjunctions in astrology. The planet of love and beauty wrapped in the arms of the planet of abundance and expansion, both in tender, nurturing Cancer. It doesn't get much sweeter than this.

This aspect favors abundance, harmony, beauty, relationships, and pleasure. It's the cosmos saying: you are allowed to have good things. You are allowed to feel good in your body. You are allowed to receive.

That last word is key for dancers and yogis. So much of our practice is about giving — energy, presence, performance, and effort. This week, the medicine is receiving. Let the music hold you in belly dance instead of driving it. Let gravity do the work in your yoga practice instead of fighting it. Feel the ground rise up to meet you.

Create a small abundance altar this Wednesday with flowers, honey, and/or something golden. Write down three things you're ready to receive without guilt. Let Venus and Jupiter do the rest.

What are you finally ready to let in? 👇