Back on the Broomstick

05/29/2025

On episode 116: Celebrating World Tarot Day (And Chelle's Birthday) Chelle introduced a Tarot spread she crafted called “Flowers of May – Where Will I Bloom?” Created to encourage self-reflection and harness the blooming energy of summer, this spread invites you to explore where you’ve been, where you stand now, and what’s beginning to take shape in your life.

It touches on your roots, your obstacles, your allies, and what’s about to blossom (plus an optional wish card added by Laylla). It works for birthday introspection or whenever you are ready to see where you're at on your path.

Flowers of May – Where Will I Bloom
1 The roots, your foundation
2 What holds you up? What nurtures you?
3 What sustains you?
4 What is holding you back? Holding you down?
5 What steps need to be taken towards your future?
6 Your truth. Who are you really?
7 From where do you draw your energy?
8 What are you drawing into your life?
9 What should you nurture going forward?
10 What is about to blossom in your life?
11 (optional) What wish could come true if you play your cards right? What is a hidden desire that you should be working towards?

05/01/2025

Happy Beltane! Today we honor the fire of life, the blooming of the Earth, and the wild joy of becoming!

Beltane also honors the sacred union of the God and Goddess; the divine dance of masculine and feminine energies within us all that spark creation and growth. It’s a time to celebrate passion, balance, and the sacred beauty of life awakening!

If you're up early enough (cough Chelle cough) gather some morning dew for use in glamour spells. Beltane dew is believed to hold magickal properties for beauty, vitality, and self-confidence. To get a little of that magick for yourself, simply anoint your forehead and heart with Beltane dew while saying:

“As the dew blesses the leaf so am I blessed in beauty. I rise in light, I grow in strength, I shine from within.”

Let it dry on your skin and sink into your energy to carry that glow with you into the season.

*Laylla says you can also use a bit of Beltane dew to seal your rolling paper around smokable herbs and have a little wake and bake sesh to honor the sun with fire*

Then, as the sun rises higher, honor the growing strength of the light and end the day with fire, lighting candles (or bonfires!) to celebrate life, love, and the sacred spark within us.

Beltane's divine dance reminds us we are always in motion. It is a spiral of opposites containing everything in a double helix of creation. From the cool dew of dawn to the firelit revelry of night, the energy of the season is yours to create!

04/22/2025

While chatting with the brilliant Lalania Simone on a recent episode of Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle discussed her beautiful Spiritual Growth Spread that she created for Tarot of the Cosmic Seed. Lalania revealed that she adds more cards than the book shows and gave us permission to let you all in on her secret! Here is the modified
"Spiritual Growth Spread" by Lalania Simone !

1 The questioner

2 & 3 The Root (added by Lalania during episode) - Why are we here in the present? What events have impacted or are impacting the current question?

4 The spiritwork at hand. What is blooming or unfolding for your spiritual growth?

5 & 6 These cards indicate the environment and the support/challenges that may arise to the work.

7 & 8 Indicates short term progress as you do the work

9 The outcome or what needs to be worked on further

04/21/2025

“The Seed” A Tarot Spread for Ostara/Spring by Tarot-dreams.tumblr

On our Fashionably late Ostara episode we talked about this spring-time tarot spread that we both fell in love with! Try it and let us know what you think

1 The Soil
Where do you grow from, what lessons can be learned from the past? What are your roots?

2 The W**d
What are your obstacles, and what is holding you back? What is stunting your progress?

3 The Seed
Your immediate future, in what area will you first see signs of growth? What seeds have taken hold and will begin to grow?

4 The Sun
This is partly the love and support you get from other people; but remember that the will to grow comes from within. What nourishes you? What do you need to keep in mind in order to help yourself grow? Energy and lessons from other people that you internalize and use to help you move forward.

5 The Rain
A blessing in disguise. Things are not always what they seem. If the skies are grey and rainy you may miss the sun but rain is jkust as necessary aw the sun to grow. Through struggle, you gain strength. What blessing in disguise in on your horizon?

04/01/2025

This April Fool’s Day, we’re honoring the most sacred of tricksters, The Fool of the Tarot!

For our recent ritual workshop at Sacred Space Conference “The Fool’s Path: Unlocking Potential and Possibility,” we created a custom set of Fool cards using 5 different decks in the public domain, and 3 created with the help of Canva collage. Each one was chosen or created for its energy, symbolism, and sheer beauty. The Fool cards were part of the meditation acting as magical mirrors and portals. Each ritual attendant was given a random Fool to help them along the path of their own spiritual unfolding.

The Fool represents sacred potential, the leap into the unknown, and the spiral of becoming; and it was such a joy watching everyone connect with their inner Fool!

A bunch of people asked which decks we pulled from, so we’re sharing them here for everyone to enjoy, explore, and maybe even find your own favorite Fool!

Which Fool would you choose to walk the spiral with?

(black background with the 5 public domain Fools)
Top row left to right:
Charles VI (or Gringonneur) Deck; Le tarot de Charles VI
Smith Waite (RWS)
Polski: Wielka Arkana
Bottom row:
Sola Busca tarot deck, late 15th century
Le Fou from Oswald Wirth's 1889 tarot deck

03/31/2025

Laylla and Chelle got to meet some amazing fellow presenters and authors as well as connect with old friends ...such amazing people ❤️
Kristopher Hughes, Mhara Starling, Jhenah Telyndru, Ness Bosch, Amy Blackthorn, Matt Auryn and Christian Brunner.
We are fan girling right now like no one's business 😍
Such amazing folks!!!
Inspirational, transformative, and soul filling!
We also took a bunch of different listener selfies, but we weren't sure if we should post those 🤔 (let us know if we can if we took a pic with you!!)

03/30/2025

Hey witches!! It's been a minute since we have been on the socials....you know how life gets 🤪😵‍💫
Spring is here....festival season has begun and Laylla and Chelle have crawled out of thier anti social slumbers and have taken a road trip together! And we are blessed to have some of ya'll with us this weekend!🥰

This weekend we are at the Sacred Space Confrence in Towson, MD and it couldn't be more fabulous!
We will post a bunch of great pics and bring you a little bit of ❤️

02/08/2025

This week's episode, Chelle & Laylla tackle Altar tools. We talk about some of the most common tools in Wicca as well as in Paganism and touch on some other random tools and their uses as well as some basic Altar set up.

Although not make or break, tools can provide a necessary focal point or be a means to project energy during your ritual or magical working.

Yes we love pretty shiny things but Altar tools may vary by person or tradition. Some traditions have *very* specific placement to tools on the Altar and others do as they will 😁
What tools do you use?

02/05/2025

Looking for community? https://www.mandragoramagika.com/ has connections! Witchvox may be no more, but Mandragora Magika has stepped up and filled the void. This is where Chelle found her coven, and where you can look up festivals, services, articles, podcasts, businesses, and so much more. Check it out and maybe find your new witchy besties!

Mandragora Magika is a worldwide Wiccan & Pagan network as well as a resource for Initiatory Wicca, Witchcraft, British Traditional Wicca, Coven Craft, Paganism, Witchcraft Art, Finding a Coven, Pagan Meet Ups, Pagan Stores, Media and More.

02/04/2025

It's 100 episodes, witches! To celebrate, we’re stirring up a little chaos and blending Back on the Broomstick with our old podcast, The Stoned Witches Hour!

This one’s got it all, creepy stories about a cranky tarot reader throwing curses, a frog cryptid lurking in Ohio, and a little cannabis wisdom from Laylla (because someone definitely mispronounced something again).

Plus, we’re wrapping it up with witchy tips on how to tell if you or your home are cursed and what to do about it!

So grab your favorite herbal offering, settle in, and join us for a spell! The 100th episode is coming out soon!

Thanks for hanging with us through 100 episodes of magick, witchcraft, and bestie shenanigans!

02/03/2025

Q***ring the Runes : Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom in Rune Magic & Mythology by Siri Vincent Plouff

This one folks .... this is a good one!

Having approached Rune use from several different angles over the years, I feel this is the book that tied it all together for me!

Much like the author, my introduction to Runes was more in a magical/sigil kinda way. As I tend to lean with a lot of things of this nature; my Rune work eventually took a turn towards divination.

You will get a lot of things out of this book such as trad Rune meanings, advice on how to q***r the Runes in your own way, modern relevance, great ideas for connecting with the Runes, myth, legends and lore and my favorite.....Rune divination!

Lots of great exercises and plenty of reflective prompts (we will NOT use the word journaling 😜)

Siri Vincent Plouff does an excellent job of relating the Runes to the Q***r experience and not only makes it relevant for the LGBTQ+ community but for the Pagan community as a whole. There is plenty of fantastic information to be gleaned from this book no matter your orientation!

The way the author prompts you to connect with each Rune individually is a fresh approach that I very much got into and think you all will as well. For each Rune the author includes a section called "opportunities for ancestral discovery" and I found this to not only guide in the way of Rune work but also ancestral work.

The author uses the definition of Q***ring as, the disruption, disturbance or and questioning of the normal; that which is taken for granted and uses the Q***r Theory throughout.

This book weaves communal pagan heathenry, Runes, introspection and out of the box thinking while swirling in myth, magic and lore - all with a focus on inclusiveness.

If you are drawn to Rune work this is a must have book!
~Chelle

01/24/2025

Swords = Fire; Wands = Air? Or is it Swords = Air and Wands = Fire?
Laylla and Chelle weigh in on this age old debate! And we have opinions! 😁 Check out episode 98 to hear what we think

What do YOU think? How do YOU read the suits in Tarot?