In this episode of Sober Witch Life, Sunshine explores the powerful and often misunderstood relationship between desire and addiction. Inspired by Valentine’s Day reflections on self-love, she challenges the belief—rooted in both Catholic teachings on the seven deadly sins and traditional recovery culture—that desire itself is dangerous. Drawing on themes from the film Se7en, she reflects on how many “sins” are distortions of desire, not desire itself.

Sunshine distinguishes between impulsive compulsion—driven by trauma and dopamine-seeking—and sacred longing, which unfolds slowly and aligns with purpose. While early recovery requires structure and caution around urges, she argues that long-term healing involves learning to trust aligned desire. Suppressing ambition, visibility, wealth, leadership, pleasure, or partnership can create restlessness that ultimately fuels relapse.

Weaving together psychology, trauma research, spirituality, and the Japanese concept of ikigai (reason for being), she suggests that addiction is often born not from excessive desire, but from shaming it. Alcohol, she shares personally, was a substitute for permission—to be visible, confident, connected, and sovereign. True recovery, she explains, is not about permanent contraction but about stabilizing enough to expand into one’s authentic purpose.

For spiritually wired people—creatives, witches, mystics, and visionaries—desire can function as a compass toward alignment. Mature recovery is not about suppressing longing but learning to interpret it wisely. When desire is honored rather than shamed, life expands, relationships deepen, and purpose becomes clear.

Sunshine closes with an invitation: your longing is not a flaw—it’s guidance. Early recovery teaches you to distrust impulse; mature recovery teaches you to trust aligned desire.

In this episode of The Sober Witch Life Podcast, Sunshine reflects on a deeply fulfilling weekend of personal and shared milestones, using it as a gateway to explore a core spiritual truth: magic, manifestation, and recovery require aligned action—not passive intention.

Drawing from over 30 years of spell work and more than six years of sobriety, Sunshine explains that no spell has ever worked in her life without real-world participation. Rituals, intentions, and divine guidance cannot replace the uncomfortable, embodied actions required to create change. What many mistake for magic is often just wishful thinking dressed up as ritual.

She highlights how avoidance is often disguised as “trusting divine timing,” sharing personal stories—especially a costly delay in leaving corporate life—to show how ignoring intuition and signs leads to exhaustion, illness, and stagnation. The universe, she explains, responds not to desire alone but to follow-through, movement, and willingness to change.

The episode connects this principle deeply to recovery, emphasizing that healing from addiction, trauma, and self-abandonment requires actions like seeking connection, accepting help, slowing down, telling the truth, nourishing the body, and responding to discomfort as a signal for growth. Resistance, repetition, fatigue, and emotional loops are framed as messages from the universe calling for release and transformation.

Sunshine concludes by reframing spell work as a sacred agreement with the divine—one that demands responsibility. To cast spells without changing behavior is to opt out of co-creation. True magic, she says, is living inside the spell for as long as transformation takes. Aligned action is not optional; it is how we honor the path, protect recovery, and create a different life.

In today’s episode, we’re diving into the "River of Slime" that heavy, psychoreactive energy currently pulsing through the collective. If you’ve been feeling unusually moody, agitated, or just "on guard" lately, you aren’t alone.

As we move out of the "social safety net" of Dry January and into the volatile energy of February, maintaining your recovery and protecting your nervous system is more important than ever. I’m breaking down why the current world climate feels like a scene out of Ghostbusters 2 and how this "collective sludge" specifically impacts empaths, witches, and those in recovery.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Ghostbusters 2 Metaphor: Why it feels like there is a "river of slime" feeding on negativity beneath us right now. Ghostbusters 2 Official Site
• Nervous System Overload: How collective stress spikes our cortisol and puts our impulse control at risk.
• Post-Dry January Reality: Navigating sobriety and moderation now that the "trend" of January is over and the real work begins.
• Imbolc Energy: Finding the "first sparks of spring" even when it’s still snowing outside. Learn more about Imbolc traditions on LearnReligions

If you’re feeling overextended or "wearing your crazy on your sleeve," tune in for some validation and a reminder that your sensitivity is a barometer, not a burden.

Stay Sober, Stay Magickal.