Winter can be hard. Even if you love the cozy vibes, early sunsets, and snowy mornings, winter is not always the easiest time to take good care of yourself and feel your best. Between frigid temperatures and a lack of sunlight, you can easily find yourself feeling a bit blue and not wanting to partake in practices and activities that fill you up and allow you to bring your best self to light. So this winter, instead of checking out mentally until the daylight returns, let’s intentionally devote the darker half of the year to self-love.
Self-love expresses itself in self-care and in our fast-paced, modern society where everything is about what you can deliver and produce, we have to intentionally learn, practice and devote ourselves to this expression.
If you struggle with self-love, my upcoming Awaken Your Inner God/dess workshop is just what the doctor ordered. This five-week-long workshop will jumpstart your self-care practice and guide you into a more meaningful, caregiving relationship with yourself. This workshop focuses on building a self-love and self-care practice by connecting you with your own inner divinity. You’ll learn how to treat yourself with the same devotion, reverence, and love as you would a divine being. This workshop is a way for you to find yourself and use the winter to hibernate, practice introspection and truly care for your mind, body, and soul.
But if you are a more seasoned self-love practitioner who maybe just needs to put the spice back in your relationship with yourself, I have a quick winter self-care starter pack for you today. The practices are a quick and easy way to incorporate self-care into your daily routine and help you reclaim the winter months as a time to nourish your mind, body, and soul. But as always, if you need more ideas, check out my videos on Making Your Winter Magickal and Winter Witchcraft.
For Your Mind
It goes without saying that meditation is one of the most powerful practices for shifting your mindset and taking care of your well-being. You can easily tailor the meditations to fit your schedule and personal needs. You can try out apps, or take advantage of the wealth of free content on YouTube, Spotify, and even Instagram. There are mediations for different times of day, different mindsets, walking meditations, soundbaths, and more. Or you can even escape to the shores of a sun-drenched sandy, beach with a guided visualization! Whatever you need, you are sure to find and studies have shown that even five minutes daily can boost your mental health and well-being.
For a longer, witchier meditation, give my guided visualization on Awakening Your Inner Magic a try! And to receive exclusive witchy meditations and visualizations on a monthly basis, consider joining my Patreon – together with a lovely community of other witches.
For Your Body
The cold winter months are the perfect time to indulge in the ever-so-witchy practice of ritual bathing. Take a moment for yourself, throw together a seasonal herbal blend or grab some essential oils that support your desired state. Turn off all distractions, lock the door and submerge yourself in the warm, cleansing power of water. To make it a full and truly luxurious experience that truly nourishes your body, you could light candles and play music, or do a grounding meditation during your bath. If you don’t have the luxury of a bath tub – this also works great in a shower!
When you are finished cleansing, be sure to show your body some extra love by giving yourself a little massage. You can create your own enchanted, self-love oil with ylang-ylang, rose, or vanilla to support your loving intention. As you massage, think of at least one thing each part of your body allows you to do that you are grateful for before moving on to the next part. Be sure to spend extra time caressing and loving the parts of your body you regularly spend time thinking negatively about or hiding.
For Your Soul
In order for self-care to be truly transformational and not just damage control for our modern lives, we must be committed to enacting it in our daily lives. As witches, we are particularly adept at ritualizing things, so why not some self-care for your soul?
Try setting up a self-care altar in a special and private place. From now until Ostara, commit to spending just 3-5 minutes each morning at your self-care altar. Each day, in a journal, write one word or a quick sentence that states what kind of care you need that day. Then write another word or sentence describing how you will give that care to yourself. Check in with your journal regularly and take note of how setting the intention to care for yourself in specific ways has changed your relationship with yourself.
Caring for others can come quite naturally to us, but when it comes to self-care we often need a bit more help creating the practice. Join me this winter in reclaiming the dark months as the season of self-care and see how your world shifts.