{"id":4121,"date":"2026-07-21T16:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/?p=4121"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:02:27","slug":"what-the-witch-is-reading-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/what-the-witch-is-reading-july-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"What The Witch Is Reading – July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A TBR pile that is a personal apprenticeship<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This section of my blog is dedicated to spreading the love of reading and books and the people who make them happen. I would not be the Witch I am today without books. I owe an obscene amount of gratitude to all the makers of books out there. This is my way of giving back. I hope that something I pick up and review will guide you to acquire the next tome on your To Be Read stack.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Life here #OnTheCovenstead is warm, alive, and productive. I also noticed that the last high growing season my book intake dipped. Yet the quality of what time I do have for reading feels more intentional. Even the way I process a text seems to change in-season. When I\u2019m out tending the Land there is a more natural space for thought, and if a book is in my hands, it tends to remain active in my mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This particular volume fits within my ongoing personal apprenticeship in mediumship. I\u2019m interested not only in mediumship as a practice, but in the people who do it, their temperaments, their modes of perception, how they receive or deliver what they describe, and how all of that evolves as personal practice deepens. Over the coming months, I\u2019ll be sharing more titles as part of my series of posts for WTWIR, but this book is not the beginning of that thread. Fear not, there are other subjects and genres in the upcoming TBR pile, to include parenting, tech-world current events, and, of course, fiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may remember that in November 2025<\/a> I reviewed two books centered on those who speak with beloved dead and those who navigate \u201cthe other side.\u201d At the time, I didn\u2019t fully understand why those narratives kept pulling me in. I\u2019m realizing now that my interest is less random than it looks. Despite having rarely encountered medium-focused work in my everyday life, I can see how my own history \u2013 being a \u201cspooky kid,\u201d (the kind who spoke to presences that others couldn\u2019t see) has always left me oriented toward Spirit. It now feels clearer that I wasn\u2019t only curious; I was being led toward information, teachers, and models that could support my own development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took more time with this one than usual because I was also answering questions I\u2019d been carrying personally. And while this review is offered from my lived experience of inquiry, it\u2019s still written for the prospective reader. I want you to approach the text knowing why it mattered to me and what kind of questions it may help you explore as well. Again, please know that mediumship won\u2019t be the only territory we\u2019ll travel within What The Witch Is Reading<\/strong>. There will be other topics and reading directions ahead in future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What the Dead Taught Me About Living Well<\/em> by Rebecca Rosen<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Based on the many years of Rosen\u2019s career as a medium, the book is part spiritual memoir and part practical life guidance (like how the dead help her navigate hired help who were stealing from her). Through a series of reflections attributed to \u201cspirits\u201d and her own experiences, especially around mortality, meditation, and \u201cglimpses at the Other Side,\u201d Rosen argues that living well is less bout achieving perfection and more about returning to compassion, trust, and self-worth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A central message begins early: spirits view the living with kindness for what life demands, and they urge readers to stop pursuing perfection. Rosen connects this idea to a broader reframing of life goals: before each person is born, she suggests, we set ambitious plans, then we\u2019re simply not meant to complete everything. This them becomes an actionable spiritual practice. Instead of striving endlessly, Rosen encourages surrendering the \u201cdo it all\u201d impulse and trusting that your \u201cTeam Spirit\u201d support system helps bring balance in \u201cdivine timing.\u201d The emphasis is not on passivity, but on replacing frantic overreach with grounded affirmation: \u201cToday I did my best, and I\u2019ve done enough.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the short gratitude statement, \u201cI have a body; I am a soul. I am grateful to be alive,\u201d reinforces her view that well-being starts with relationship \u2013 gratitude for life and a steadiness within it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She blends emotional and spiritual self-understanding with health and behavior. She frames addictive or compulsive patterns, food, shopping, technology, drugs, entertainment, sex, excessive exercise, and overworking as signs of being disconnected form one\u2019s power. In her view, when people repeatedly encounter the same difficulties or feel stuck in relationships or circumstances that leave them \u201cSacrificing, settling, or accepting less than (they are) worth,\u201d that pattern can reflect an ongoing loss of personal power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She goes further by linking emotional powerlessness to physical manifestations, suggesting health issues may mirror an inner state of disconnection ala pain, depression, or disease. This is one of the book\u2019s more provocative through-lines. For Rosen, spiritual clarity can be felt not only in thoughts and choices, but in the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support that shift, the author offers introspective questions that operate like a guided audit of the mind, body, and spirit. She asks the reader what a given event is trying to teach them, whether it\u2019s connected to worth or self-value, or if the person is \u2018playing small\u2019 or giving power away. If the answer is yes, her remedy is to move from \u2018less than\u2019 to \u2018worthmore.\u2019 She discusses a fear barrier to power, providing exercises to ask your younger self who taught them they weren\u2019t powerful or deserving and whether anyone taught them their needs should always come second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book pairs this with affirmations designed to rewire the felt sense of safety around strength (\u201cI am innate and powerful\u2026). Her writing repeatedly returns to practices that make power feel embodied, such as doing what makes one feel \u201cstrong, vibrant,\u201d and physically powerful (e.g. yoga, walks, clean eating). In this way, the book\u2019s spirituality is meant to be lived in everyday habits, not just believed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme of abundance expands the same philosophy into money and receiving. Rosen frames abundance as something practiced and protected by releasing fear of not having enough, separating past financial narratives from present reality, and letting go of inherited limiting beliefs \u2013 including multiple \u201cI release\u201d affirmations to try. She emphasizes that self-worth isn\u2019t defined by a bank account, but also comes with responsibility and generosity, especially where spiritual talents are concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underlying many chapters in the book, Rosen argues for connection rather than isolation. While she acknowledges that humans come into the world alone and leave it alone, she says Spirit and spirits repeatedly show her that people are connected to something larger than themselves \u2013 communities, species, and \u201can unseen force of bright, limitless love,\u201d which can be named in many ways (Universe, Divine, gods or goddesses, higher consciousness). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me the book\u2019s spiritual comfort is both relational and immediate: you\u2019re not stranded, but rather supported. Rosen sums this tone up in grounded, daily guidance, \u201cYou are your own energy source, so take steps daily to recharge, which brings the book back from cosmic reassurance to practical emotional maintenance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What ultimately makes What the Dead Taught Me About Living Well c<\/em>ompelling is how Rosen ties her metaphysical ideas to simple daily reframes, like stop demanding perfection, return to gratitude, be in the now, and live from worth rather than fear (that last one I may have tattooed on my arm \ud83d\ude09 ). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She uses spiritual language not as decoration, but a living spell for the reader to use to trust the balance of your inner guides (what she refers to as Team Spirit), to return to a life of appreciation and thankfulness as a kind of offering, grounding the spirit in reverence, and to finally reclaim your personal power that fear has been stealing. In her telling, worth isn\u2019t an idea you chase. It\u2019s a doorway you walk through, until you live from \u201cworthmore\u201d instead of the dull pull of scarcity and shame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like any good magical book it invites you to practice, to shift energy, and to remember \u2013 again and again \u2013 that you are held, guided and connected by Spirit and spirits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A TBR pile that is a personal apprenticeship Life here #OnTheCovenstead is warm, alive, and productive. I also noticed that the last high growing season my book intake dipped. Yet the quality of what time I do have for reading feels more intentional. Even the way I process a text seems to change in-season. When…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[421],"tags":[555,649,650,436],"class_list":["post-4121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-the-witch-is-reading","tag-a-bookish-witch","tag-rebecca-rosen","tag-what-the-dead-taught-me-about-living-well","tag-what-the-witch-is-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4126,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121\/revisions\/4126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}