The Great Release Program 2025 - A Living, Creative Process by Silver RavenWolf

The Great Release Program 2025: A Living Creative Process (and a Gentle Reminder You’re Doing It Right) by Silver RavenWolf

Every year, when I sit down to create The Great Release Program, I feel the same mix of excitement and holy-wow-what-have-I-started? emotions.  I look forward to the task and yet trepidation lurks.  Writing and creating the artwork for 32 days straight is a challenge in itself.  That means writing, shaping, and delivering something every single day, even when life is loud, schedules are packed, or the creative well needs coaxing. But there’s a strange gift in that steady rhythm, too: once the wheel is turning, it carries you—and the participants—farther than anyone expects.

Some of you may know that I’ve been offering this program in one form or another since 2010. It began on my WordPress blog (and it’s still available there), then shifted and adapted as the years changed: some seasons stayed blog-based, while a few years lived almost entirely on social media, with daily posts on Facebook and Instagram. Since its inception, the Great Release Program has kept its core promise steady and simple: one day at a time, one small release at a time, with enough encouragement to keep you moving when life is loud and the season is louder. In the earliest “Great Release Challenge” years, the posts leaned into practical, bite-sized tasks and supportive check-ins, the kind that help people push through overwhelming emotions without feeling judged. Over time, the format refined into a clearer day-by-day structure, making it easier to follow, easier to repeat, and easier to return to year after year, even if you miss a day or need to adapt the work to your own life.

One of the things I treasure most is how consistently readers have shown up for it. Since the program began, my WordPress blog has reached over 1.5 million views, and that number isn’t just a statistic to me, it is quiet proof that people are hungry for gentle structure, practical steps, and a little magickal light to carry them through. The Great Release Program has changed in presentation and expanded in flavor, but its purpose has never wavered: make it doable, make it supportive, and make sure you feel better when you’re done than when you began.

The Great Release Program isn’t just a checklist of decluttering prompts. It’s a living, breathing creative project that I have been crafting for fifteen years—part story, part art, part practical household magic—and it’s built to meet the needs of today’s modern magickal practitioner: Busy, overloaded, creative, and still yearning for a little wonder that actually works in real life. I don’t let links, likes, or metrics influence my program because, quite frankly, once-upon-a-time I worked in statistics.  I wasn’t the brilliant one – I was the grunt worker, so that should tell you I know EXACTLY where those stats come from and how they get there.  And why.  Call me jaded.  That’s okay.

Instead, I keep my focus where it belongs: on the reader, on the day’s task, and on the hoped-for result—more breathing room, a clearer mind, a lighter heart, and that quiet, powerful feeling of “I can do this.” Some people will post and celebrate every step, others will do the work silently and never say a word, and both are equally real to me. The program isn’t built to perform for an algorithm; it’s built to support a person.

And yes—it’s always been free. On purpose. This program is my way of handing you a lantern and saying, “Come on. You don’t have to do the dark parts alone.”

Keeping it fresh means honoring real life (not fighting it).

One reason the Great Release Program stays relevant year after year is because I’m not trying to write from a mountaintop. I’m writing from the middle of life—where we all actually live. I write every day, and the program often follows my own life path: what I’m sorting, what I’m facing, what I’m learning, what I’m trying to release. That’s why it feels honest. That’s why it doesn’t read like a generic self-help pamphlet.

It’s also why your feedback matters so much.

When readers share suggestions—what worked, what didn’t, what felt too big, what felt too small—it keeps the program grounded and in perspective. It helps me refine the flow, clarify the tone, and keep the challenges realistic. And maybe most importantly: those comments quietly encourage the silent participants—the ones who don’t post, don’t reply, don’t “check in,” but are still showing up, still trying, still doing their best behind the scenes.

If you’ve ever left a kind note, a suggestion, or a “hey, I’m still here,” please know: it lands. It helps. It keeps this whole thing moving.

The artwork: from hand-painted characters to a finished digital rendering

Let’s talk about what goes into the visuals, because this isn’t a quick-copy-paste situation.  Sometimes the artwork takes longer to design than the writing aspect of the program.  I can literally spend hours on a supportive piece that the reader will glance at, decide if it is meaningful to them, and move on.  Six seconds.  That’s the average that you will look at each piece of artwork I create for the program.  Sometimes I’m not even that lucky!  I might literally only have 3 seconds through creativity to link with you.

And yet, it is artwork and photography that help to cement the energy exchange in any article, book, or blog post. 

The characters you see—Count Boogie Knight, the Countess, the children, the relatives, the enchanted helpers—are physical, real-world creations. They are hand-painted by me, one by one, the old-fashioned way: brush, paint, patience, and a lot of “hold still, tiny wooden face.”

From making each stone by hand to glue them around the windows, to painting the characters and decorating the furniture...hanging lace skeleton curtains and handpapering the walls -- The Booger Knight's Castle is definitely a labor of love!

And the castle? Also physical. The rooms and little backgrounds you see behind them? Real. I build and arrange the spaces, stage the scenes, and create the “world” they live in so the story has a place to breathe. It’s not just cute—it’s intentional. A proper setting gives the imagination something solid to hook onto, which makes the daily message easier to feel, easier to remember, and honestly… easier to come back to when your energy is low.

After that comes the photography. I take the photos, adjust the setup, tweak the lighting, change the props, and take more photos. (If you’ve ever tried to photograph small objects, you know this is where time either disappears or laughs at you.)  The next stage is cleanup through Photoshop Elements.  More adjustments!  Much like writing a book, blog post, or article – there’s draft after draft until it “feels” right.  In years past, Photoshop Elements represented the final rendering; however, with the inception of Canva and other programs, my artistic process doesn’t end with Photoshop. 

And, I have a good reason for mentioning this.  Stagnation is the quiet killer in anything – medicine, art, magick, writing, science, religion – the list is endless.  This beast convinces us that repeating the motions is the same as being alive. In art, it shows up as playing it safe, polishing the same familiar piece until the soul goes dull, calling it “style” when it’s really fear of change. In magick, it becomes rote ritual, words spoken without heat, tools used without listening, and timing followed like a checklist instead of a living conversation with spirit and circumstance. In religion, stagnation turns mystery into bureaucracy, replaces compassion with gatekeeping, and forgets that tradition was once someone’s brave new thought, offered with trembling hands. The antidote isn’t disrespect and it isn’t chaos, it is presence, it is curiosity, it is the willingness to ask, “Is this still true for me, does this still serve humanity, does it still awaken something honest within me?” When we keep learning, adapting, questioning, and renewing our practice, we don’t abandon what we love, we protect it from becoming an empty shell.

Whether you’re 17 or 70, “keeping up with the times” isn’t about chasing every trend like it’s a lifeboat, it’s about staying awake and staying willing. The world shifts, language shifts, tools shift, and the way people connect shifts, and if we refuse to learn anything new we don’t preserve tradition, we just fossilize ourselves inside it. Growth doesn’t require you to abandon what you love, it asks you to translate it, to refresh it, to make sure your art still breathes, your magick still has heat, and your spiritual practice still serves real humans living real lives right now. You can honor the old ways and still update the delivery, learn the tech, listen to new voices, and adapt with integrity. Staying current isn’t selling out, it’s staying present.

I do the program right along with you

Here’s a truth that surprises some people: I don’t write this and then float away. I do it too. I’m not barking orders from a balcony while you wrestle a junk drawer alone.  I’m releasing alongside you. I’m cleaning alongside you. I’m having the same “why do I own twelve mystery cords?” moment you’re having. I’m doing the work, living the days, and walking through the energy in real time.  That’s part of why the program has heart. It isn’t just an idea—it’s a practice.

The biggest hurdle isn’t the tasks—it is perfectionism

Now, let’s gently confront the biggest obstacle I see every year:  People quit because they think they must do it exactly as written, in perfect order, consecutively, and without missing a day—or it “doesn’t count.”  That’s not discipline. That’s a trap.  The Great Release Program is not a school assignment. It’s a tool. A companion. A structure you can lean on when life is messy. And life is messy.

If you skip a day, you haven’t failed.If you start late, you haven’t failed.If you jump around, you haven’t failed.If you do three days in one day and then disappear for four… congratulations, you’re a normal human being.

The work still works.

The magic still counts.

Library Day! The Ten Little Boogers especially like Silver's books!

About the astrology -- helpful, fresh, and never a prerequisite

I added astrology for the same reason I fight stagnation in my life: it keeps the work awake. Astrology reminds me that nothing is static, not our moods, not our seasons, not our challenges, not our opportunities, and it gives language to the shifting weather we’re already feeling in our bones. It doesn’t replace craft or devotion, and it certainly doesn’t remove responsibility, but it does offer timing, perspective, pattern, and psychological insight, a way to step back and say, “Ah, this is why this feels intense,” or “This is a good day for clearing, for speaking truth, for resting, for rebuilding.” It helps me keep the program fresh without turning it into novelty for novelty’s sake, because the sky itself provides a living rhythm. And for the reader, it adds a gentle reassurance: your struggle isn’t a personal failing, sometimes it’s simply the season you’re in, and you can work with it instead of fighting it. Yes, the astrological information is fresh each day. I do that intentionally, because it adds texture and timing—a sense of rhythm, weather, and mood. It can help you understand why one day feels like a breeze and another day feels like walking through pudding.  The astrology is a helpful tool, not a must follow dictate.

You do not need to “wait for the perfect transit” to clean out a drawer.You do not need to understand aspects to throw away a broken spatula.You do not need to do the day exactly on the calendar date to receive benefit from the practice.

Honestly?  Use the astrology like a compass.  You can still walk where you want to.

If you want to keep going in the program, here’s the real secret

The secret isn’t willpower. It’s permission.  Your permission to make it yours.Your permission to adapt.Your permission to do less when you need to.Your permission to do more when you can.Your permission to return—again and again—without over expectation.

Because the Great Release Program isn’t about proving you can be perfect.  It’s about creating space -- in your home, in your head, in your heart—so something better can finally move in.  And if you’re still here, still reading, still considering taking another small step?

That’s the work.

That’s the magic.

That’s you—already doing it right.

Dance the dance.

See ya tomorrow!

Silver