Your Creative & Magical Life

In this episode, I dive into the HUGE topic of Capitalism and how it impacts our Creativity. I share 5 BIG THINGS I see within this tense relationship between the two, and what that often means for us as Creative Spirits. 

Let's explore... how Capitalism infiltrates our thoughts, beliefs, aspirations, and the way that we create — often without us even realizing it... what could it be like if Capitalism were not such a giant pai...

In this episode, we explore The Tower (no one's favorite card to receive!). The Tower is a card that can shake things up, to put it mildly, and bring about great change. 

My guest is rather familiar with The Tower's energy and impact, and shares about their personal experiences with this card as we explore this archetype of disruption, awakening, and reorientation.

My wonderful guest is Robin Gow, a trans poet, writer, acti...

In this episode, I talk about one of the foundational beliefs of my work — that creativity is an energy, not a personality trait, nor an exclusively human feature. 

I explain 5 elements, aspects, or implications of this belief and what it means for us as creatively inclined humans.

I'm curious to know... does this resonate for you? Does it change the way you think about creativity?

Expect a few more "5 Things" episodes ...

This is a follow-up on a previous episode (Using Tarot to Make Decisions — Part 1), where I talked about how I used Tarot as part of my process for making a big decision. 

I ended that episode giving y'all the impression that I'd gone with the option that appeared to be "less glorious," and a little softer.

But after sharing that episode out, THINGS CHANGED! And I changed my mind. 

So, it feels only right to share ...

In this episode, I talk with artist and illustrator Kevin Jay Stanton, creator of the Botanica Tarot, a deck comprised of 78 gorgeous paintings depicting a different plant for each archetype. Kevin's work on this deck included extensive research into the natural history, cultural associations, and mythologies associated with each plant, and these are included in the guidebook to inform the seeker's experience with the car...

In this episode exploring The Devil card, I talk with Khadi (Khadijat) Oluwatoyin, founder and director of Sober Black Girls Club, an organization that offers  support and community for Black women, femmes, and nonbinary folks who are practicing or exploring sobriety. 

Both Khadi and I share lived experience with alcohol addiction, a dynamic perfectly encapsulated in The Devil card. We talk about our struggles with alcohol, when and...

Recorded on an auspicious Martin Luther King Day that coincides with the inauguration of a new and former extremist US president... in the wake of the LA wildfires and the acceleration of climate collapse writ large, we turn to the novels of Octavia E. Butler, the groundbreaking Black feminist sci-fi writer whose work is rooted in the aspirations, truth-telling, and hopes of Afrofuturism.

In a wide-ranging conversation wit...

It's the year of The Hermit (because 2 + 0 + 2 + 5 = 9, The Hermit's number). And it's sure to be a wild year all around — politically, environmentally, technologically. So, what wisdom does The Hermit have to offer us as we head into the unknown?

In this episode, I share three key themes from the Hermit workshop I hosted last week in the Creative Magic Collective. Presented as Hermit principles or philosoph...

In this episode, I share how I recently used Tarot to help me make a decision that felt risky and challenging, and how I fell into a hierarchical paradigm with the cards... but discovered later there was more nuance to what the cards offered (like always!!!). 

I use this story to share some thoughts about why we might consult the cards when we face big choices, how to regard the cards that show up, the goodness of calling ...

To explore the Temperance card, I connected with Natalie Ross, a trauma-informed marketing coach and the creator of one of my favorite podcasts, the now-retired-but-still-available "Earth Speak," which aired from 2016 to 2023.

In this episode, Natalie and I dork out about the art on both the Smith-Waite and the Gentle Tarot decks, analyzing the visual elements and parsing out themes and messages: earthy-ness vers...

For an exploration of The Hanged One, I had to talk to Amelia Hruby, creator and host of the podcast Off the Grid, a show for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their clients.

These days, the prevailing logic is that ANY and EVERY successful business MUST have an Instagram account. But Amelia's made it her mission to show us what else is possible — something The Hanged One is in th...

I've deferred The Hanged One episode briefly (it would normally appear here), because this conversation on the Death card unexpectedly took on much bigger dimensions in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated huge areas of Western North Carolina less than two weeks ago.

My guest for this episode is Mara June — death doula, grief alchemist, and community herbalist who lives in Asheville, NC. Mara experience...

For the Justice card, I HAD TO talk to Maria Minnis, the liberatory Tarot goddess and author of Tarot for the Hard Work: An Archetypal Journey to Confront Racism and Imagine Collective Healing, 

Maria's book, which came out early this year (2023), explores each Tarot archetype within the Major Arcana through the lens of social justice work, offering reflection questions, recommended actions, and deeper study to help y...

In this microdose episode (un-edited and ALMOST under 30 minutes!), I follow up on our Hermit and Wheel of Fortune conversations to explore why it's so important to seek out and enjoy solitude.

I talk about solitude as a place to center ourselves, discover what's true for us, commune with Spirit and Creativity, and just be in our own energy.

I also talk about how solitude helps us navigate when the Whe...

In this episode, we explore the Wheel of Fortune archetype with visual artist Ami Plasse, who I first met in group therapy! We start out this conversation reliving our Wheel-of-Fortune origin story — how we went from strangers in a therapy room to friends and collaborators in the "outside" world.

Then we dive into the Wheel of Fortune card, exploring its rich symbolism and meanings, including "the unspeakabl...

In this episode, we explore The Hermit card with poet and writer Chad Hutchinson, who is also a friend of mine. In our conversation, Chad talks about his personal Hermit story — how he spent much of his adult life "on the run," trying to escape The Darkness that found him when he was alone.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 and Chad was forced to sit with himself, he made the choice to sit still on a blanket in his ...

In this microdose episode, we apply one lesson of the Strength card (self-acceptance and self-love) to help us explore, name, describe, and meet different parts of our Creative Self. 

Drawing on the framework of Internal Family Systems (or "parts work"), I outline an exercise to help you identify eight different parts of you that show up in your creative process — both helpful parts and hindering parts. 

Can the path to healing and self-love be found within the cards of the Tarot? Join me as we explore the profound lessons of the Strength card in the Major Arcana and its themes of self-love, tenderness, and resilience. Through personal reflections and stories, we unravel how this card invites us to embrace and nurture all aspects of ourselves, even those parts we find difficult to love.

For this episode, I'm joined b...

In this collaborative episode with The Basement Girls podcast, we discuss the recent supernatural / horror film TAROT by Anna Holberg and Spenser Cohen, based on the 1992 novel Horrorscope by Nicholas Adams.

I had a great time watching this film in the theater with Bianca Pérez and Steph Grossman, who cohost The Basement Girls podcast, which explores their mutual passion for the horror genre.

I expected to hate t...