Hello, lovely listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Backyard Magic. I'm your host, Nicole Berrios, and we are about to enter the Eclipse portal. For anybody who follows astrology, you already know this that we're about to head into the Eclipse portal. For those who don't follow astrology and have no clue what I'm talking about, every year we have eclipse season. We have it twice a year. There's one in like the spring, like late uh winter into the spring, and then another one in like at this time of year, like around August, kind of like late summer into the fall. And it's basically a period of time where we have a I think it's a lunar eclipse at the new moon. And then there's like a two-week window in between. That's called the eclipse portal, which is ended, it's like capped by a solar eclipse in the full moon. I'm pretty sure that's how that works. Anyways, we're about to enter the eclipse portal. I thought it would be fun to do an episode about this because if you're listening to a show like Backyard Magic, you probably are sensitive to these eclipse portals. Whether you follow astrology or not, you probably notice that you might be going through some stuff right now, like more so than usual, or that things just feel weird, like not bad, just like what is happening? You know, like that kind of vibe. That's kind of what happens during eclipse portals, is just wonkiness. And I thought it would be appropriate to do a little episode about like doing magic specifically for eclipse season, how to stay sane during the eclipse portal. And because this is backyard magic and we're all about like low effort, easy rituals for anybody to do, you know that that's gonna be the theme for what we do to help us get through eclipse season. Before we get into that though, what's in Nicole's mug? What is in my mug? I'm so sad. I don't have a mug today. I don't have a mug. I haven't had tea in the last couple of days. It's been kind of chaos. Kind of chaos. I've been really busy. I haven't had a refrigerator in almost three weeks. I know a couple people know this, like, have already heard me talk about my refrigerator debacle. I don't know what's going on with my throat right now. Just like have to keep clearing my throat. I sound like a smoker. Goodness gracious, we might just have raspy, raspy Nicole voice today. Do not know what's happening. Probably because I don't have a refrigerator. I haven't had a refrigerator for almost three weeks. It's a whole thing. It's getting repaired on Thursday, supposedly. Um, very hard to find repair people who keep their word and show up when they say they're going to. It's it's just been a thing. Anyways, we do have a freezer and we do have a mini fridge. The mini fridge has been very helpful, but it doesn't hold very much at all. And we I can't really cook a whole heck of a lot. For the first week, we didn't have a mini fridge at all. We didn't have any refrigerator, and dang, you really learn to appreciate refrigerators when you don't have one. It's like, oh, it is very hard to survive without one. Thank goodness for refrigerators. Yes, I wasn't really able to cook at all the first week because I had no place to store leftovers. Um, so we did get a freezer and I've kind of just been living off of TV dinners. Like Kevin's is a brand out here. I I'm sure I don't know it's it's nationwide, but Kevin's. I've been eating so many Kevin's TV dinners just because I can't like cook much. Because you can't eat out all the time. Like, one, eating out is just not that good for you, you know, like the quality isn't that great, and two, it gets expensive. So we've been eating a lot of freezer food. My daughter's had so many chicken nuggets and french fries, like we are all over it. Even my daughter, who you know, you know how kids can be, they just want to eat junk food all the time. Even she's tired of the junk food. So I'm like, okay, this is probably a good thing that she's she can feel it. She's like, I miss real food. Like, me too, honey, me too. Anyways, the refrigerator has really like thrown a wrench into life. And I haven't I haven't had a chance to go to the herb shop to get new tea. And then I haven't had time to make new tea because my daughter also started school. I went to Sedona this weekend, which was fabulous, by the way. I just I haven't had I haven't had time. My routine is totally off. I don't have anything in my mug. I did bring a protein shake today because I've also been mildly living off of protein shakes because no refrigerator. Um, so I guess that's what can be in my mug today. I'm having an Aloha um chocolate and sea salt pea protein drink. It's okay. Whatever. It's 18 grams of protein. Like that's that's something. So, and it's only like four grams of sugar, which as far as protein drinks go, not bad. There's definitely better ones out there, but this one, not bad. They don't have to be refrigerated, like that's kind of the main the main part. They're already like ready to go, they don't have to be refrigerated, so I've just been drinking them room temperature because I don't have a refrigerator. Oh my gosh. I know a couple episodes ago I was talking about the pool filter cracking. Guys, this has been an expensive summer, just all this stuff falling apart. I've also never lived in one place for so long. I've been in my current house for almost eight years, and I think this is just what happens. Like at the eight to ten year mark, is that stuff starts to fall apart and you have to replace it or get it fixed. But again, I've never lived in a house that I owned before and have never been in a house this long. I think the longest I ever lived anywhere prior to this is five years. Anywhere from like three to five years. We moved a lot when I was, well, I was gonna say when I was a kid, but geez, that continued as an adult too. Anyways, go and hug your refrigerator. Be grateful that you have it, and maybe clean clean your refrigerator, do some refrigerator magic. Maybe that's what this episode should be titled titled, like refrigerator magic. The magic of modern appliances. Thank goodness for modern refrigeration. So, anyways, I don't have anything in my mug. Even if I had made tea, I'd have to make it by the cup. I wouldn't be able to make a big vat because I don't have any place to put it. There's no, like we have a tiny little tiny little mini fridge that's like just enough for, you know, like milk and some eggs and some cheese. That's pretty much it. No room for tea. So I'm really hoping that by the next episode I will have been drinking tea for days and it will be fabulous, and I will have something more exciting to report about what's in my mug, other than my mug is empty and I'm just drinking a protein shake. Oh goodness gracious. This actually ties in really nicely with the theme of the eclipse portal because things get weird around the eclipses, and it sometimes it's like actually during the two-week window between the new moon and the full moon. Um, but when this episode comes out, it will be the day of the new moon, actually. So happy new moon in Leo. Yeah, it sometimes wonkiness happens during the two-week window, and sometimes it's like around that time period, you know, like not exact dates, but more like things are starting to get a little bit weird in the lead up to the portal and in the fall, you know, like afterwards. So I I feel like I've already been in the eclipse portal. Yeah. How are you guys doing? Are you guys in the eclipse portal too? We're all just like living in weirdness. My goodness. Living off of Kevin's TV dinners and protein shakes. I was able to make a crock pot dinner last night. I had just enough room in the fridge for um to store the leftovers. But like fresh produce, like we don't have room for fresh produce. Oh, it's terrible. It has been terrible when your refrigerator dies and repair people are so flaky. I've considered starting a repair service, like after this whole thing, even though I don't know anything about repairing appliances. But I'm like, maybe this is a manifestor thing, like the manifestor just initiates it, and I like create the company and like find the people to work it for me. And I was like, I should call my business like the no flakes, no flakes appliance repair. Like, we will show up when we when we say we're going to show up, and we will not leave you hanging. Man. Okay. Magic for the eclipses. So because I've been living in Weird Land and haven't been eating very well, I thought, like, I'm kind of doing going to be doing some rituals during this eclipse portal season, like over the couple of the next couple of weeks, like when we're in the the wormhole basically, where I will be filling my cup, like specifically working on filling my cup. I don't really want to be doing any big manifesting work right now. You know, like you like to when this episode comes out, it'll be the new moon. And usually that's the time where you plant your seeds, like for things that you want to manifest. And honestly, you can continue doing that up until the full moon, as the moon is waxing, because it's like you're generating energy for something that you want. I I love doing this sort of work. By the way, you don't have to do manifesting work like that only around the moon cycles. You can do it whenever you feel motivated to do it. But if you do sync it with the moon, if you're able to, one, it gives you like more power punch, but also I think it's more helpful if you make it more of a long, a longer term like spell or ritual where you work over the course of two weeks with the moon as it waxes. Or if you're going to be doing like a releasing sort of ritual, it's nice to do it over the course of the two weeks from the full moon to the new moon when the moon is waning. I think, I don't know, I've been getting more into like these longer-term rituals lately, partly because I'm like too tired to put a bunch of energy into one big ritual. And so this is a way for me to like build up some energy steadily over a longer course of time. I kind of started doing that with my burnout ritual that I did a couple months back. Um, I did an episode about that, and I really liked it. I really, really liked doing that because it just felt more natural. It felt more natural and it felt more in sync with my energy, like meeting my energy where it was, instead of like trying to push through some, you know, push through to achieve something when I didn't actually have the energy to do it. So, yeah, I've been digging these longer-term rituals. So that's kind of what I plan on doing with this um eclipse portal. Um, I like I said, I don't really plan on doing big manifesting energy because everything has just been so wonky. Like, I just want a working refrigerator and to have like a ton of produce. Like, I just want salad greens and kale and carrots, fresh onions and garlic, like things that I need a refrigerator for, you know. Like, I I don't necessarily need to store these things in the fridge before I use them. I mean, like the the greens kind of do need to be refrigerated, and I know onions can be in the cupboard, but like once you chop them up, like they need to be in the fridge. Oh my gosh, I miss fresh food so much. Because of all this wonkiness, and I have protein shake for what's in my mug today. I would like the next two weeks to be focused on regaining a sense of normalcy, getting back into my routine, eating decent food, nourishing myself, getting more rest. Part, you know, my like I said, I went to Sedona this weekend and my daughter started school. We also started martial arts, so I'm now like a martial arts mom, which is fun. I I dabbled in martial arts myself, and it's really cool to see her doing it too, and she loves it. But still, now it's like, oh now we're gonna be going to martial arts all the time. And I'm like, this is exhausting. I'm ready to like fall into a routine. So this is this is the magic and the the low effort ritual that I plan on doing for eclipse season is I just want to feel normal, like for thing, you know, normal routine, better food, better rest. And let's see, what am I going to do like as this ritual? I really, really like candle, candle rituals. So I there will probably be some candle magic involved. I like candle magic because it's so simple and you don't need much other than a candle, and you know, like the kind where you can burn it for a little bit every day until it you until you use it all the way up. Um, I know for people who don't who aren't allowed to use candles in their home, if you wanted to do something like a candle ritual, you can use the battery-operated candles instead, and then just turn it off when you're done. Like so many ways to go about this. So, what I plan on doing, my goal, I'm going to like set my goal, which is I just want things to be like calm and normal. And I'll probably write these things down in one of my journals. I have so many journals, by the way. I know people talk about like their grimoires and their book of shadows. I have one book, one journal that I think I would actually consider the book of shadows, but for the most part, I just have so many different journals that all serve different purposes. Also, my mom is a crafty person who sews, like, you know, with fabric. Like, she sews things, she makes really cool stuff, and she makes the coolest journal covers. They're made for um those composition notebooks that you can get, like at the dollar store. And they're fabric, and they've got there's like a built-in bookmark ribbon. I love them, they're so cool. She finds the the neatest fabric and turns them into book covers, and like you just use a composition book, which is nice because once you fill the book up, then you can just replace it with a new one so you can like keep using the journal cover. Um, I love it. So, anyways, I have so many of these journal covers because my mom is always like, Here, do you want this? And I'm always like, Uh, yeah. In fact, I think she's got another one that she's about to send to me. Like, she she found really, really cool like zodiac fabric that's like this teal color, which is one of my favorite colors, teal and purple. She just sent me a picture and was like, Do you want this? I was like, Yes. Do I need it? Uh at the moment, no, but I will find a use for that journal because wow, so pretty. So I have so many journals. One of them is like specifically for just junk, like notes. I've got one journal that I use specifically for when I have mean thoughts that I just need to get out of my head. I've got one that's like specifically for tarot, like I've I've got journals for all purposes. So when people talk about Book of Shadows, I'm like, I don't really have a book of shadows, I have many journals. It's more like my series of shadows. Like, it's not one book. Series of shadows. Oh goodness gracious. Whichever journal I decide I'm going to use for this, I will be writing down what I plan on achieving through the Eclipse portal. Like, what's the magic that I want to do? And like I said, I've been tired. I haven't recovered from my trip to Sedona. I'm like not caught up on sleep, even though I've been sleeping pretty good, which is good because uh there were some moments last week where I was having the weirdest sleep issues, but they're it's better this week. So, anyways, I'm tired, I don't have like a ton of energy. So, again, low effort, low energy, low maintenance, rituals and magic for the eclipse portal. I'm gonna write down what I want. Like I said, it's gonna be basic. I just want things to be level and normal, to eat eat decent food and to get good rest. Just low-key two weeks. And then from there, I will probably just sit at my little altar and light a candle and just meditate. By the way, I haven't had time to meditate in days, and I just was thinking this morning that I miss myself. I don't know if you guys ever feel like this when you've just been very, very busy and you haven't had a chance to like sit with your own thoughts. That's been me lately, and I've hit that point where I'm like, I miss thinking my own thoughts and like just being by myself. So very much looking forward to that. I should have time to do that tonight, finally. But that's what I plan on doing. It I don't know if I'll be able to do this every single night for the next two weeks, but definitely a good couple of times a week, I should be able to do this where I sit at my altar, light my candle, and just meditate on the feelings that I want to be feeling, like just the calm, the normalcy. I might even have a little brainstorm about what food I would like to cook once our refrigerator is operational again. And that might be it. And then I might just blow out the candle. I might pull some tarot cards or pull cards from my my llamas season of the Witch Oracle deck, which by the way, so far, I still have two more decks to get before I have all eight of them. I think the llamas one might be my favorite. I don't know. I I like them all, they're all so pretty. This is a toss-up between llamas and uh in bulk. But I love them all, but I have yet to see the the one for Mabin and Sawin. So once I once I've got all eight, I will report back. Maybe I'll do a review. I'll do a review on all eight of the decks. Anyways, that was a side note. I might pull some cards from that deck. And I kind of think that might be it. I think that is all I'm going to do. I think this just needs to be a time of kind of going inward and being still because we're we're in the waning part of the year now. Like we're way past the summer solstice. We're heading into the fall equinox that's coming up pretty quick here. I'll do an episode for the fall equinox magic in a couple of weeks. But yeah, for right now, I don't know. I just feel like it's it's time to start slowing down a little bit and regrouping, recovering, getting back to baseline. And that's what the magic, my ritual is going to be for the eclipse portal. And honestly, I think this might resonate with a lot of you because summer is just busy, it's so chaotic, it's so hot, the weather is completely erratic, and that impacts us, you know, like all the uh like unpredictability, like that that impacts all of us on many different levels, and I kind of think we all might be craving just a little bit of stillness and a little bit of peace. And so that's what I plan on doing. And like I said, I'm probably gonna sit at my altar for a lot of this because I feel that I can be less distracted when I'm when I'm doing that. Um, I might have some moments where I also do this outside in the backyard, because you know, backyard magic. I just I tend to be distracted is not the right word. I feel like I don't have an easy time meditating out there the way that I can when I'm sitting inside at my altar, because when I'm outside, I'm usually just I'm present, like I'm very. Present, but I'm not meditating. Do you know what I mean? Like I'm usually looking at this at the stars because I do most of my rituals at nighttime. I'm usually looking at the stars or feeling the wind or petting my outside cat and like hearing the trees, like I'm very, very immersed. Like it's um it's much more like elemental magic that I'm working with when I'm out there, but it is but still it kind of brings me back to like I'm not hearing myself think. I'm like just sitting and being present and in tune with the elements and the the energy around me, which is still important and I still want and need to be doing that. But for what I'm the way I'm feeling right now is more like I just need to be calm in my body and like in my mind. And to me, that means sitting in my sacred space inside my my home at my altar with my candle. The candle is nice because it's like a little focus point, it's also just beautiful. I love burning candles, and I've just been using the little chime candles, they're like spell candles, because they're they don't take that long to burn. Like I could like so long as there's not like a breeze blowing on it or like a fan or air conditioning vent blowing on it, they can they do take a little while to burn down, but it's still not as as uh slow as like a um like a bigger candle, and it's also not as fast as a tea light. I don't know, they're they're nice. I've I've really been liking the the little chime candles. Sometimes I'll dress them like with essential oils, or I'll carve some little like symbols on them, but sometimes I don't, and honestly, I probably won't for for this particular like two-week little ritual that I plan on doing because I'm tired. I'm tired and I just like want to sit with myself and be peaceful and think about food. Maybe I'll carve food on it. So it's just gonna be really, really easy. So that that's that's my my little mini candle burning ritual for the next two weeks, just to kind of find some calm and serenity and like peace within the chaos, if that makes sense. So there you go. Low effort magic for eclipse season. Simple as always. Sometimes I wonder if this stuff is too simple. Like, should I like is it the same every time? I feel like in a way it kind of is, but it's also not. I I'm hoping that by doing these episodes, it'll help it'll help you guys to see how easy that it actually can be to practice magic. I it's like I've got a couple of little tools that I really like to use, and I use them for most of the rituals that I do, and I just kind of tweak them in little ways every time to make it a little bit different, or to like make it fit the theme with what I'm doing for any particular ritual. Um, like you know, a couple the last couple of rituals I feel like tea magic, like I was doing a lot of sun tea with you know the solar energy with like the like beltane and the summer solstice, like those are things that I like to rely on, and candle burning rituals are super, super easy for doing other types of magic. But yeah, I just I keep it low-key. I don't like to have a lot of stuff on hand. Um, I I really just like to drink my tea. I miss my tea. I like to drink my tea, that's part of my ritual. I like to be in my journal, um, sitting outside connecting with the elements. Like, this is this is all just part of it. Like, it's simple magic wherever you are. Anybody can do it. You don't really need much. You just need some focus and some some attention and like dedicated time, and that's what I'm gonna do. So, happy eclipse season. By the time we do the next episode, we should be just at the full moon. Okay, so coming out of the eclipse portal. I don't know, things might be a little spicier by then, so we'll see how how everybody's feeling, and um I guess we'll go from there. If anybody decides that they want to do some like simple eclipse and magic, I would love to hear about what you guys are doing and how it's working for you. So hit me up. I will put my contact info, like my email, in the show notes, so you guys can hit contact me if you wanted to. And yeah, just let me know how it's going. I would love to hear about it. Thank you all so much for listening, and I will catch you guys in the next episode. Bye.