In this snack-sized episode I re-introduce you to Kacie of Kacie's Corner, then tell you about the awesome giveway happening right now!
When we went to Anahata's Purpose, Kacie and I decided to join forces and she agreed to come on my show once a month for a little bite (a snack, if you will) of what's going on in her corner of the world, and how she manages it with her anxiety issues. She shares a brief story of her Anahata's Purpose experience, then helps me tell you about how you can get one of my wonderful Patreon spell boxes. Choose from Protection, Dream, or Community. Listen to the podcast to find out the rest!
Be sure to check out Kacie's socials:
youtube
Snack Size 7.
Partnership with Kacie, and a giveaway!
Welcome back to Your Average Witch snack size edition. In this episode I am going to be explaining to you how you can win one of my awesome Patreon boxes, and I'm going to introduce you to my new partner Kacie of Kacie's Corner on YouTube, who will be popping in for a visit once a month from her corner of the world. And welcome Kacie!
Kacie: Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Kim: Thank you for partnering with me.
Kacie: Yay! I'm so happy to be bringing little little stories and visits from my little corner of the world and the places I visit where you can find your average witch.
Kim: Hey, I see what you did there.
Kacie: Hey, hey, hey. I'm working on it. Working our two worlds together.
Kim: What do you have going on right now that you're going to share eventually?
Kacie: I'm looking forward to sharing some stories and views from my recent trip to Anahata's Purpose, and also right after that I've got coming up DFW Pagan Unity Fest. I'm hoping to share how I got into being a coordinator for this major community event with all my high anxiety. Who on earth do I think I am?
Kim: And you are actually looking for volunteers, right?
Kacie: Yes, we are. If you are in the DFW area and are looking to get involved with the local Pagan community and want somebody that understands some high anxiety to help you out if that's an issue, hit me up. You can contact us on the DFW Pagan Unity Fest Facebook page, and you can also email me at volunteers@DFWPaganUnityFest.org.
Kim: And if you are one of those people who had big time fomo about missing out on Anahata's and you live in the DFW area, this is your chance to develop and grow your own community whether you volunteer or not, still go to the event. And it's a free event, right?
Kacie: Yes. Oh yeah, it's a free event. I definitely recommend coming out if, especially if you're wanting a taste of that Anahata's but not quite ready to commit to a whole weekend trip across the country, it's definitely great to come out for just a day long event. We're from November 5th, 10am to 5pm so we'll have classes and workshops, vendors, and we'll be doing an open ritual, that for the first time I will be a part of. I'm so excited about that. So it's a great place to come and have some community for the day.
Kim: I'm also excited for you to do that. I have never done a ritual in my life. I don't do ritual. I'm not a ritual person.
Kacie: Right. I blame my Catholic grandmother for my love of ritual. I love it. I've mostly, yeah, mostly just my own personal private rituals and then these past few years, getting a little more involved in online community work and leading online groups and stuff. But this is going to be my first public, big public ritual so I'm looking forward to that and I really hope some of y'all DFW pagans and witches come out and visit me. And with that, let's go ahead and listen to my first little visit from my little corner of the world.
Kacie: Hey y'all, this is Kacie from Kacie's Corner where I share stories and musings from my life as a witch who also happens to be a mom with a bipolar two diagnosis and more anxiety issues than any community focused witch needs. I am so excited to be joining Kim each month for a snack size visit from my little corner of the world. Each visit I hope to share stories from the events and places us average witches can be found. And it is my hope that I can help my fellow solitary witches seeking community with my tips and tricks as a high anxiety witch. And my anxiety and issues, given my anxiety issues and history of trauma, I never thought I could attend public events and find a community I could belong to.
It took me many years of therapy, shadow work and developing coping skills to face my fears but it has been so very worth it. Humans really do tend to thrive when we can team up and work together with others, and too often folks are disenfranchised from their communities for cruel meaningless reasons. I know what it's like to lose my entire support system multiple times because I refused to stop being anyone other than myself. I spent many years being told I'm too much, and was outed from a few communities for being too different. I tried to conform and my mental health deteriorated as a result.
I just don't have it in me to pretend to be someone else for so long. And it turns out there is an entire world of witches like myself out there networking and building safe spaces for each other. I want to highlight those spaces in order to help us all build a community we can all thrive in. So to kick that off I want to tell you all about my recent trip to Anahata's Purpose. If you don't know what that is and are listening to this, hold up- what? How is that even possible? Go listen to the numerous episodes this very podcast has done on the event, and then get back here. For the rest of y'all, I'm not going to spend too much time repeating what you already know. Anahata's Purpose is a wellness retreat with a dash of music fest and a whole lot of witchy spice. It's held each September in the woods of Pennsylvania with a mini version of their event being held in March without the music festival aspect. And I'm here to tell y'all about my experience deciding to attend the event as a first timer.
I'll admit I was pretty terrified of going. If Kim hadn't been such a good friend by taking the time to help me prepare for the entire previous year, I never would have been ready. She's the real MVP. I'm not even sure I would have made it on the plane if she hadn't talked me through that too. Thank you so much for being my friend, Kim. When I first heard of the event I wanted to go immediately. It sounded like so much like my experience with my local pagan unity fest, only on a bigger scale as a multi-day event. However, a few things initially had me convinced I could never actually go. The cost, the distance, and my own fears and trauma had me convinced such an event was out of reach for someone like me.
Last year I sat at home and accepted I wasn't going. To combat my feelings of FOMO I decided to, instead, redouble my own efforts to build my community around me by focusing on my work with my online community and by leaning into my work helping to build safe spaces for my local pagans via my volunteer work at the DFW Pagan Unity Fest. I spent Anahata's 2021 casting spells of safe travels and sending feelings of love, support and community for my online friends who would be attending the event. It filled my heart to see their pictures and hear their stories. I really never thought I would be there with them just one short year later. You really never know what life might have in store for you if you're just willing to take a leap of faith and say yes, especially when your fears are screaming no.
To prepare, I learned all I could about the physical layout of the place, as well as all I could about the people who would be there facilitating the classes. I allowed myself to grow close to a group of friends who I would be sharing a cabin with. I trusted them with my triggers in case of emergency, and let them know how to help me and how to recognize that I would need help. I packed extra supplies so I could create a curtain around my bunk space so I would have a safe space to retreat to when I needed it. I took shower wipes in case I was unable to use the public showers with so many people there.
They turned out to be a genius move because one of the things I wasn't prepared for was the gender-neutral bathrooms; so I was startled and had a trauma response after using the showers once. I couldn't put myself through that again, but I didn't worry about it since I had those alternatives prepared instead. My first 12 hours there were about as much of a shock to my system as it was to Kim's the previous year. I cried in the woods so much my first night there I'm pretty sure I became a cryptid. I missed my family and was questioning everything that night, and it wouldn't be the last time, either. However, by my second morning I was confident I was exactly where I needed to be. It was a leaf that finally made everything click for me. I wasn't sure why it affected me so much at the time, I just know as I sat by the river that morning something special happened. After an early morning nature walk to delay the peopleing, I just wasn't ready for that yet; I had made my way down to sit on the dock and just be with the space there for a bit.
After some time a yellow leaf caught my attention as it fell from a tree across the riverbank from me. As I watched it drift and float and eventually land on the water, something inside me fell in place and I burst into tears. Again. But it was a good cry this time. I felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be in that moment. There was something about a darn leaf that felt like a hug from an old friend. It was just... everything fell into place. As I went on through the weekend I kept coming back to that leaf and that feeling, like I was right where I was supposed to be.
I took classes and had an amazing experience that I can't wait to share with everyone over on my channel, Kacie's Corner and my next series of event vlogs and also in further stories here, on my snack-size visits. But through all that weekend my mind kept coming back to the scene with the leaf, the trees along the river turning colors and losing their leaves in the water with the sea of green rising up behind.
I was mid-flight on the way home when it occurred to me why that scene kept sticking out in my mind and affected me so. When I got home, one of the first things I did was check my vision board to confirm my suspicions. I had seen this scene before, when I had crudely painted it on a piece of art I did after a meditation almost a decade ago. It was a guided meditation about visualizing a safe space for me to be able to call to mind when I needed it. It was something I was doing at the beginning of my re-dedication to this path, and to my path as a hedge witch. That moment when I sat by the river and watched that leaf fall... deep inside somewhere, my heart knew I had found the safe space I had been seeking for so long. Not just in that place, but in the community that got me there.
So I want to thank that community right now. My husband and my kids for supporting me and holding down the fort while I was gone for the first time ever. Like my oldest was 20 years old this year, and this is the first time I left my kids for so long. Shout out to the beans and the beehive! Thank you all so much for welcoming me into your corner of the world, via our interactions and the bean can and over on the Marco. If you want to hear more about my time at Anahata's or my upcoming night out at the Witches Ball, then be sure to check out my upcoming snack size visits and of course be sure to follow my socials. I'm sure they're linked in the description.
And if you have any events you'd like to recommend to the average witches in your region, or have a few tips and tricks of your own you'd like to share, send me a voice note at my email, welcometokaciescorner@hotmail.com. That'll also be linked in the description. You can follow me over on Facebook and the YouTube's at Kacie's Corner or follow me on the Instagram and TikTok at killakc because I am too cool for one identity. The links will be in the description as always. Thank you so much to Kim, the Queen Bee herself, for helping to get me to where I needed to be, and for asking me over for a visit from my little corner of the world. And thank you all so much for listening. I'll see you next time. Love y'all. Bye.
Kim: I know you guys are looking forward to hearing what she's going to say next. I know you are. Unfortunately, you have to wait until her Anahata's episode goes out, and she does the DFW Pagan Unity Fest. And now we are going to talk a little bit about a giveaway that I will be having.
Kacie: I'm excited!
Kim: Kacie actually knows what it is. One of my Patreon boxes from this past year. So she's experienced everything in every box because she was my second patron, and she's been my patron the whole time. Yeah!
Kacie: I'm OG patron here, whaaat? I didn't know I was the second one, yay!
Kim: Now I'm gonna have to make pendants that say OG patron now.
Kacie: I wasn't quick enough on the draw to be number one. That's okay.
Kim: Because you're in a different time zone. And we were, I was in the same time zone as the first person.
Kacie: Oh, dang. Gets me every time, those time zones.
Kim: I did it at some weird time of night. If you like the giveaways, we will be doing a collab. Kacie and I will be doing a collab. So listen out for that.
Kacie: Yeah, keep an eye out for that.
Kim: Yes. But for this one, You can choose from one of three boxes. I have a community box, which was based on Anahata's Purpose, a protection box, and we all need protection, or a dream box, and that one has a dream tincture that I've been making for I don't know how long it was. Six months? I don't know how long it was. A long time.
Kacie: Yeah, I remember when you started it, it has been about six months I think, yeah.
Kim: So that stuff is potent! Have you tried it yet?
Kacie: Not yet. I just did the unboxing of it today. So I will be sharing that. I also have unboxings on my YouTubes of the other two, of the community box, and I might have one of that protection box.
Kim: I need some good pictures of it.
Kacie: I know I took pictures of it. I remember reminding myself not to sniff that powder you made.
Kim: Oh yeah.
Kacie: Yeah. And I appreciateed all the warning labels on it, reminding me not to sniff it.
Kim: In the protection box, you will get creosote leaves. And I use creosote for endurance and determination. And those things will grow anywhere, and they live forever. And if you cut them down, it comes back like crazy. Some fiery protection powder, which smells like Satan's butthole this time, because I added some of the tar water that I got from Hearth Wisdom.
Kacie: Ooh. That's good stuff.
Kim: Yeah, it's rancid. Some protection and deflect oil...
Kacie: The smellier, the better.
Kim: Some cactus spines, both dark and light, from some prickly pear. You have some black tourmaline for negativity absorption, some tiger eye to make the spell stronger, and a sun catcher that I made which has a little bell on it to hopefully you hang it up, a little witch bell, scare away the baddies with the sound and the light. That's in the protection box.
Kacie: I love that bell so much. I love the rainbows it makes.
Kim: Oh good. You took those really good pictures of it.
Kacie: I'm looking at it right now.
Kim: In the community box, you will get a community candle that I carved a little bind rune in it for community. It's dressed with rose petals and purple and blue.
Kacie: It's so pretty.
Kim: It's like, it's like, it's so sparkly! Community dressing oil for the candle, some wild tobacco so you can build community in your area, and that's offered up to the spirits near you. A beautiful clear quartz crystal, and a bindrune pendant that is the same one as the one on the candle to carry your community with you.
Kacie: I love that pendant so much.
Kim: Do you? oh, that makes me happy.
Kacie: Yes. Yes, I've been wearing it for all my Unity Fest community work too. And last, we've got the dream box. It's the one that I just did the unboxing for. I'm real excited about it. We've got that dream tincture that Kim worked so hard on, that you might need a chaser for. A carved soapstone dolphin for protection and courage in your dreams. She also added in there, a creosote shower bath bundle for a hit of dopamine right before bed. I love that Creosote. There's also some autumn inspired bedtime tea in form Apple Cinnamon Rooibos. It smells so good. And a dream charm to hang by your bed or to keep under your pillow with the bindrune for lucid dreaming, and amethyst to help guide you into the dream world.
Kim: I am really excited about that one, but I do. You are right. I hope people hear you when you say you need a chaser. And that's why I was very, very clear. Don't drink or eat anything that tastes good before you take that tincture.
Kacie: No, yes, I do appreciate those instructions to...
Kim: You will be sad.
Kacie: It's nice to be forewarned.
Kim: Jayne tasted it and she was like, wow. That's bad. You're correct.
Kacie: I almost want to do it as a video just for the face.
Kim: I almost want you to. Or a reel, oh my gosh, do a reel, dude.
Kacie: I might need to do it as a reel. Just for fun.
Kim: To enter this awesome giveaway, go to Instagram or Facebook and look for the Snacksize 7 episode artwork. It will be my Your Average Witch logo, which is a hand and crystal ball on a green background. Follow Your Average Witch Podcast, like the post, comment which box you like best, tag a friend that you want to introduce to your podcast. Someone you think would appreciate the wit and humor that I bring. No, not really. Somebody that you think would like to hear from witches around the world. And for a bonus entry, share the post and tag me in your stories and it'll get you a little extra bump towards possibly winning this giveaway. The winner will be announced at the end of the new moon episode on October 25th when I talk to the midwestern which Taryn from Nebraska, who DaNae Sweet from the Witchy Woman Podcast was kind enough to introduce us. And that's how you can enter to win. And that is it. Thank you for listening, thank you Kacie for being here and talking with me.
Kacie: Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to be back and share more stories with you all.
Kim: Yay. And be sure to check out Kacie's socials down in the show notes. And I will be posting them on my Facebook. And that's it! I'll see you guys on the internet. Bye.
Kacie: Bye y'all!
Kim: Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet, on Instagram @youraveragewitchpodcast, Twitter at averagewitchpod, Facebook at Facebook.com/youraveragewitchpodcast, at youraveragewitch.com, and at your favorite podcast service. Want to help the podcast grow? Leave a review! You can review us on Amazon and Apple podcasts, and now you can rate us on Spotify. You just might hear your review read at the end of the next episode. To rate Your Average Witch on Spotify. Click the home key. Click on Your Average Witch Podcast and then leave a rating. You can also support the show by going to patreon.com/cleverkimscurios. If you'd like to recommend someone for the podcast, like to be on it yourself, or if you'd like to advertise on the podcast, send an email to youraveragewitchpodcast at gmail.com.
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you when the moon changes.