Back on the Broomstick: Old Witchcraft, New Path

Samhain is approaching, the nights are growing longer, and we’re making room for some powerful company. This week, Laylla and Chelle are talking about dark Goddesses, the pull toward Hecate and Lilith, and why Their energy feels especially relevant right now. When the world keeps asking us to be quieter, smaller, and easier to manage, there’s something deeply magickal about connecting with a goddess who encourages us to stand in our power.

Chelle shares her personal experiences with Hecate, while Laylla talks about her relationship with Lilith, reclaiming female power, and questioning the patriarchal perspectives that shape the stories we inherit. We explore what “dark” means in our spiritual practice and how these relationships can help us navigate endings, hold boundaries, and trust our own voices as we enter the season of the witch.

We’re also answering your questions about recognizing a connection, making offerings, beginning a devotional practice, and working discreetly while still in the broom closet. Whether you’ve walked with these powerful figures for years or are just getting curious, join us at the crossroads for a conversation about devotion, sovereignty, and the parts of ourselves we’re ready to stop apologizing for.
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Names have power, witches. But when someone knows yours, what do they actually have access to?

This week on Back on the Broomstick, Laylla and Chelle explore the folklore of true names, secret identities, and supernatural bargains, from Rumpelstiltskin toThe Wizard of EarthSea. Why do so many stories hinge on discovering a name, and how does that idea show up in modern witchcraft?

We’re talking about names as taglocks, the connections they create in spellwork, and why a “true name” might mean something very different from the one on your birth certificate. We also explore the power of choosing a name that expresses who you are or who you’re becoming, and why some names are shared freely while others are kept between a witch and their practice.

Then we get into warding your name. What exactly are you protecting, and how can you put some magick behind the boundaries you set? From private ritual names to the usernames we put all over the internet, there’s plenty to consider about who gets access to us and on what terms.

Plus, two simple spells: one to reflect unwanted energy directed at your name, and one to give your name a magickal cleansing. Because you can’t always keep your name out of someone’s mouth, but you can have a say in what power that gives them.
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Back on the Broomstick
PO Box 21
Tioga, PA 16946
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Fall is here, whether the weather got the memo or not, and Laylla and Chelle are welcoming the season of the witch with a visit to a local Pagan Pride Day event and four spooky cemetery tales full of curses, cages, shocking encounters, and graves that are rumored to be alive with ghostly witches.
The witches talk about going to CNY Pagan Pride Day on Saturday, September 19! Laylla and Chelle will be there with Back on the Broomstick and Crystal City Circle, helping lead this year’s main ritual, hosting a community table, and presenting workshops. Come say hello, join us in circle, and spend the day celebrating our wonderfully witchy community.

Our spooky stories range from an accused witch escaping Sale, to the Catawissa caged graves to Shamokin’s Witch’s Hat monument, the witches share stories of restless spirits, whispered warnings, and a summoning dare with some seriously questionable consequences. But who were the people buried beneath these unusual monuments, and how did their resting places become the stuff of local nightmares?

After the ghost stories, we turn to the history we can uncover, including grave robbers, grieving families, and the gap between what a monument means and what people imagine it means. We also discuss why these legends take hold, why women so often become the witches in someone else’s story, and how our expectations can influence what we experience.

Plus, a grounding and centering practice for approaching spirit work with an open mind, clear intentions, and room for “I don’t know.”

This episode is sponsored by our friends at The Witches Moon.
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Back on the Broomstick
PO Box 21
Tioga, PA 16946
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The Wheel is turning, the leaves are falling, and some of us would like to speak to a manager about summer ending. This week, Laylla and Chelle explore the magick of Mabon, the autumn equinox, and putting the garden to bed, including the things in our own lives we’re trying to keep blooming through sheer stubbornness.

From the harvest we actually got to the seeds we absolutely don’t want to plant again, the witches get honest about manifestation, changing seasons, and finding balance without giving every obligation an equal piece of ourselves. There’s room for gratitude and grief at the same table, lessons from Persephone and Demeter, and a reminder that you don’t have to hate something to let it go.

Along the way, we share simple seasonal magick for releasing what’s finished, protecting what matters, and tending ourselves through the weeks between Mabon and Samhain. What are you preserving for Future You, and what can you finally give permission to rest?

We close the episode by pulling cards from the Motherpeace deck and The Oracle of Forgotten Witches for a little guidance as we move into the darker season.
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Back on the Broomstick
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The autumn equinox is here, the light and dark are balancing, and the witches are taking stock of what actually grew this year. In this episode, Laylla and Chelle talk about Mabon, Harvest Home, and why more modern witches are rethinking the language and traditions we use around the season.

Then it’s time for gratitude, but not the sugary “everything happens for a reason” kind. This is gratitude with an attitude. The kind that honors what nourished you, what challenged you, what taught you where your boundaries are, and what you are very grateful to be leaving behind.

The witches explore the growing trend of 30-day gratitude practices in modern Paganism and how to make them feel more magical, grounded, and reciprocal. Instead of simply listing what you are thankful for, what happens when gratitude becomes a relationship with the land, your home, your community, your spirits, and the everyday things that keep your life moving?

Plus, some ideas for turning the weeks around the equinox into your own personal Harvest Home season by asking what you are gathering in, what you are sharing, what you are giving back, and what you are finally ready to compost.

Because sometimes the harvest is abundance, sometimes it’s wisdom, and sometimes it’s realizing you absolutely do not need to plant that particular seed again
Got a question? Send the witches a message here!
Support the show
Want to send us a letter? Witchy things to review?
Our mailing address is:
Back on the Broomstick
PO Box 21
Tioga, PA 16946
Email: backonthebroomstick@gmail.com
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Back on the Broomstick Website