February 20, 2025 • 31 mins
Reverend Laura Gonzalez, a spiritual luminary and community healer, takes us on a heartfelt journey from her beginnings as a tarot reader to becoming a beacon of empowerment in her community. Her rich tapestry of knowledge in traditional Mexican folklore, Native philosophies, and North American paganism shines through as she shares her experiences at the Parliament of the World of Religions in Chicago. With a deep commitment to education and advocacy, Laura's voice resonates with the call for unity and support for indigenous, pagan, and LGBTQIA communities. She unveils her latest endeavor, Blue Witch Org, a digital sanctuary for learning and connection, underscoring the transformative power of reclaiming personal strength.
We explore the captivating myth, and the celestial bodies, revealing the poetic allegories that mirror our connection to nature. These narratives offer more than ancient wisdom; they provide educational opportunities through classes and community circles that foster understanding and cultural appreciation. Laura's message of love and positivity serves as a powerful reminder of our inherent worth, urging listeners to rise above negativity and foster a supportive network. This episode invites you to embrace the spirit of community and share in the uplifting journey of empowerment and belonging.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Granddaughter Crow (00:00):
Welcome to Belief, being and Beyond with
your host, granddaughter Crow.
Hi everybody, granddaughterCrow here with another episode
of Belief, being and Beyond, andtoday I have the wonderful
honor of interviewing andspending some time with and
allowing her to share with youher wisdom, laura Gonzalez.
(00:25):
And it is just.
Let me just tell you a littlebit about Reverend Laura
Gonzalez.
She is a spiritual andcommunity healer, priestess,
minister, specializing intraditional Mexican folklore.
If you want a little bit ofMexican folklore, follow her.
(00:47):
She's got classes, we'll talkabout it.
Also Native philosophies andNorth American paganism within
the goddess tradition, and Ican't wait to get into that.
She also holds a leadershiprole at a Chicago-based
community practice of Nahuawatradition of Mexico.
Please correct me if I'm sayingit wrong.
(01:09):
That's correct.
Yay, where she providesguidance, support community
harmony.
Laura also advocates forindigenous pagan LGBTQIA
communities, with a focus onwomen's rights and diversity.
And I am so honored because,laura, I have met her and she is
(01:32):
my sister.
She is my sister, she is mysister.
I'm pretty sure that ourancestors knew each other at one
time.
So everybody, please welcomeLaura Gonzalez.
Say hi, everybody.
Say hi Laura.
Laura Gonzales (01:47):
Hi, hello and welcome and thank you for being
here, yeah.
Granddaughter Crow (01:51):
My honor and pleasure.
Oh, good, I'm, I'm interestedin.
Laura I mean you have a newwebsite, bluewitchorg.
Bluewitchorg.
People Go to bluewitchorg.
Blue Witchorg people Go to BlueWitchorg newsletter straight
away.
Sign up for that newsletter.
Do you know why?
(02:11):
Because then you get to knowdifferent parts of the community
that you get to become a partof and rely on.
Because that is what we need todo in this time is community.
So tell us a little bit.
I mean you've got so much stuffon your website, but tell us a
little bit more about you.
Changed it or what happened?
(02:32):
What?
Laura Gonzales (02:33):
happened is I started my business about 13
years ago as a tarot reader.
I've been reading tarot since Iwas 14 years old, 15 years old,
but I started as a business umin 2011 and something must have
(02:55):
been in the water in 2011because I started doing a lot of
things.
I started podcasting and Istarted my business and um.
You know there was a lot ofchanges and and I had a website
that was for tarot right forjust the tarot readings.
But the truth of the matter isthat I am much more than a tarot
(03:17):
reader.
I've been an educator my wholelife.
I have.
If I learn something, Iimmediately turn around and then
start teaching people, and thatwas, back in Mexico, the way it
was when I was younger.
If you have a certain degree ofeducation, you can actually
teach the younger degrees ofschooling.
(03:37):
So at one point in my life Iwas teaching uh, first graders
and third graders uh, mostlyEnglish and history, but you
know general sciences, and itwas a short period of time and I
always knew that I loveteaching.
I love everything that I do andeverything that we do for our
(03:59):
communities, right Like to bethere to conflict resolution, to
help with activism, to helpempower people and to to
remember who we are and toremember that we own the power
and we own the power and we ownthe power.
And so I have always translatedthat into teaching.
(04:19):
Let me teach you this.
Let me teach you about that,you this, let me teach you about
that, let me, yeah, and so mydesire, since I started my tarot
business, was let me introducemyself as a tarot reader, and
then you can come to my classesand come to my workshops and all
of that.
And at certain point, I don'tknow what happened and I kind of
(04:40):
lost the plot and and a lot ofpeople knew me.
It's so peculiar and and a lotof people knew me.
It's so peculiar and funnybecause a lot of people knew me
as a tarot reader, luckily, butonline it did translate it into
she's a teacher, she's you know.
So I always have like this kindof like this two communities
separate.
So there was a website Pleasedon't look for it anymore.
(05:02):
It doesn't exist, but it was.
You know the Blue Witch.
So there was a website Pleasedon't look for it anymore.
It doesn't exist, but it was.
You know, the Blue Witch, itwas, pardon me, it was Bruja,
laura Gonzalez and, of course,years go by, you learn more
things, you teach more things,you do more things.
You know a lot of things happenon 2023.
Okay, I was part of theParliament of the World of
(05:24):
Religions and it was in Chicagoand I was invited to be part of
the opening speaking event, theopening plenary, and also to
march with the parade ofreligions, and I was incredibly
(05:47):
honored to be asked that and Ithought, you know, I'm going to
march with, like the whole lotof people.
And then I come to Parliament,which was here in Chicago at the
McCormick place, and I have myregalia on because they suggest,
they asked me, you know, if Icould have my regalia.
So, through my tradition, youknow, we wear white and red and
(06:09):
my face painting and I have somesmoke medicine with me and all
that you know.
So I was nervous because I'venever been in Parliament of the
World of Religions, let alonehave to speak.
Nervous because I've never beenin Parliament of the World of
(06:29):
Religions, let alone have tospeak.
And I asked where does theprocession begin?
And they asked me what's yourname?
And I say I'm Laura Gonzalez,and then they say, oh yeah,
you're first.
And then everybody lined upbehind Laura and I was like what
?
I'm like, can you repeat that?
She's like, yeah, you're first,you're first.
And then I have a person whosename I didn't get, but he is a
(06:55):
man the liaison of indigenousaffairs for parliament and he
came near me and he told methere's two elders that are
going to join you once youapproach the door, and one of
them was none other than, um,grandmother mary.
God, I'm blanking on the nameslions, grandmother mary, lions.
(07:21):
And and then another lady whosename I can't remember, but she
was on a TV show ReservationDogs.
Granddaughter Crow (07:33):
I love Reservation Dogs.
I love Reservation Dogs.
Laura Gonzales (07:37):
She played the grandmother of one of the kids
and she was there on the paradewith Grandmother Mary Lyons, so
I had the incredible honor towalk with all of them and we
walked into the parliament andthen, when it was my time to
speak, I had been asked to speakin Nahuatl, and then in Spanish
(07:59):
and then in English.
And unfortunately, I do not knowNahuatl, because colonization
was for do not know now what,because you know, colonization
was, for lack of a better word,so effective in Mexico that they
detrabalized a lot of us and we, a lot of us don't know our
languages or original languages,but I know a couple, I know a
(08:20):
couple of songs and I know, youknow, I know a few, a few words,
and so I I sang a song on nowwhat?
And then I said a goddessprayer in Spanish and then in
English, and I also happened tobe the first women who spoke on
the opening.
Uh, 30 minutes after the thestarted, there was nothing but
(08:44):
men, and then the first womenwho spoke it was me.
So that was an incrediblylife-changing event and honor.
And so, after that happened, alot of things started happening
in my life, happened in my life,and I got a very clear, very,
(09:09):
very clear message fromancestors from the land, from
from Chicago itself.
Um, in my pagan practice I usedto do paganism and I keep my
indigen, my indigenous umpractice and my indigenuity I
always kept separated and I'vebeen a pagan priestess and I've
been practicing paganismpublicly teaching, etc.
(09:31):
But the indigenous part wasalways like, kept on the side
right and after this event she,he, it.
Whatever they are the messagewas very clear and the message
was oh, I need you whole and Ineed you to work all of it, yeah
(09:59):
.
And then I was like, but isn'tit, isn't it a mistake to put
paganism and the goddess andindigenous stuff?
And then what I heard wasbasically like, did I stutter?
Right?
Granddaughter Crow (10:15):
Right, I love it.
Did I stutter?
You heard me, little girl, youheard me.
Laura Gonzales (10:21):
Yep, and little girl is right, because I had a
tendonitis in both my hands andI could barely do anything with
my hands, so it was like you arenot to work with your hands.
Okay, right, your medicine isnot.
Yes, you do have medicine inyour hands, but your medicine is
not in your hands.
Yeah, right, here, that's,that's, that's where your
(10:44):
medicine is.
That's right, and and and I'mlike okay.
So, because of all that this, Iknow this is a window, that's
answer, because I, that's me.
Um, so all these changes happenbetween last year and 2023, the
ending of 2023, 2024.
(11:06):
And I have a lot, a lot, a lotof work, and all that work was
spread out into like 20 pods andI met this wonderful person
whom has been my apprentice fora long time and has been helping
(11:27):
me physically when I go toplaces and I do classes and
workshops and whatnot.
And because another personlearned that I have this person
helping me, they offer to help.
So now I have now I have twopeople that work with me as the
Blue Witch team, so Sani andAndrea.
(11:49):
Sani is basically my personalassistant and Andrea is my
business manager, and Andreawent and did a whole lot of work
to put the website together.
If you ask Andrea if we canlaunch the website officially
and tell everybody about it, shewill say no, we're still
working on it.
We're still working on itbecause andrea's constantly
(12:11):
adding things and working, uh,with so much honor, with so much
gusto.
You know putting everythingtogether and again helping me
reflect on all the work thatI've done and all the things.
So you can go now toBlueWitchorg and then you can
(12:31):
find all of my classes, you canfind all of my services, you can
find all of learning programsthat you can learn on your own
pace.
These are pre-recorded classesand you can join our live
classes.
So I have classes that arepre-recorded right of a tarot
(12:57):
course, like an introductorytarot course that I taught in
like 2021, I think, and then youcan learn that at your own pace
.
Right, then I have a spellscourse that I taught all of 2022
.
So all of the year 2022, orrather I'll say 2023, I think it
(13:19):
was the spells series and sameyou can learn on your own pace.
And same you can learn on yourown pace and, um, I I suggest
people's spells, but I focusmore on like this is the
technology behind doing a spellfor fill the blank, none is.
(13:40):
It's not a class where I'mgoing to tell you yeah, we grab
deserve, we grab herb, we grabthis.
In this class, I teach peoplelike what do you need?
How do you focus on what youneed?
What are the tools that canhelp you?
This is the technology and thisis how you use it.
And then, of course, towardsthe end of the class, there's
always going to be a couplespells, but it's not a class of
(14:03):
spells.
It's like how to craft your ownspell.
Yeah, and then on 2024, becauseof the old, you're not working
with your hands anymore, and soI started the decolonizing the
goddess class.
Yes, in 2024.
and and this is it, this is theindigenous knowledge.
(14:29):
We focus on the indigenousknowledge of these details, this
goddesses, and we focus on themand we do a little bit of a
comparative to like pagangoddesses or more mainstream
(14:50):
goddesses.
So I grab the first 12goddesses that are very well
known for people, even for bothfor indigenous people who are
not really knowledgeable ofthings, but also for pagan
people who I'm sure have heardor have seen these icons.
And so the first year of theColor Nights in the Goddess it
(15:14):
was Chalchitlique, quatlique,citlalinique, chantico,
xochiquetzali, chico, mecoat,you know, like all the usual
suspects, the ones that peopleknow more, and for people who
don't understand what I'm sayingor don't know, it's like
(15:37):
Tlaliniqa is the star goddess,so she's like the sky and the
stars, like you're paintingbehind you we have Xoch, she get
sally who is the goddess offlowers and beauty, but it's
also related to like completionand renewal and self um
(16:00):
actualization.
Yes, chantico, chantantico,chantico, come to us.
Chantico, chantico is thegoddess of fire, protection and
the fire of the house, the fireof the heart, the hearth, yes,
(16:20):
but she's also the warriorgoddess that protects the realm
and protects the house, oh, andprotects the community.
So, chantico, please, chantico,yes, come to us and um, and
then you know, like we have,like koyoshoki, the moon goddess
(16:41):
, and we talk about the moon,and you cannot talk about
Koyushauki without talking aboutQuatlikwe, who's mother earth,
and Huitzilopochtli, who is herbrother, and there's the whole
mythology, one of the best knownmyths of the Nahuatl people the
(17:03):
birth of Huitzilopochtli.
That happens in winter solsticeand is basically the birth of
the winter sun.
But have you ever heard the?
Granddaughter Crow (17:15):
myth no tell.
Can you share yeah?
Laura Gonzales (17:19):
So her name is Cuetlipue and she is cleaning
her house.
She's sweeping the floor andthen she finds this beautiful
bundle of hummingbird featherson the floor and it's so
beautiful and colorful andmesmerizing that she picks it up
(17:40):
and she put it on her skirt.
You know, she tucks it into herskirt and next thing you know
she's pregnant on her skirt.
She tucks it into her skirt andnext thing you know she's
pregnant and she's pregnant withthe feathers.
She became pregnant and herdaughter finds out.
Her daughter is called Shaukythe Moon.
And her daughter finds out andthat's not right, because we
(18:05):
don't have a father and how youhave a child like, yeah, what
happened?
And so koyoshoki goes and tellsall her brothers and sisters,
whom are 400 warriors wow, allthis and son, since on sees nawa
, and I can pronounce that namecorrectly, so please forgive me
(18:28):
if you know how to pronounce itbecause I know I butchered it.
So the 400 brother warriors.
They know that mom is pregnantand that is not right.
So Koyoshaoki starts this plotto kill the unborn child.
And they don't want him to beborn because it's like a sin or
(18:54):
whatever Right.
And so Coatlicua is incrediblyafraid because 400 warriors
close in on her.
Yeah, her daughter are comingto get the baby, and the baby is
on her womb.
And then she's trying toconsole herself.
And she's there, like you know,trying to sit and contemplation
(19:15):
, and then she hears the voiceof her son from her belly, which
is telling her uh, it's gonnabe okay, mom, wow, hey, I'm
gonna take care of you.
Mom, don her, it's going to beokay, mom, wow, hey, I'm going
to take care of you, mom, don'tworry, it's going to be okay.
It's going to be okay, don'tworry about it, I'm going to be
born and it's going to be okay.
(19:36):
Wow, a full-on warrior with anincredible shield and a weapon,
and he first goes to koyoshokiand cuts her into pieces.
I can't remember the name ofthe of the weapon, but it's one
(19:59):
of those wood things that hadobsidian oh, wow, yeah, yeah,
yeah, poking out from each side,yeah, wow the name is, uh, the
fire serpent, shukwat, oh, wow,and he.
So he grabs the shukwat and he's, you know, fighting all the,
and he, him and mom are okay,wow.
(20:26):
So the myth is like what, right, there's betrayal, there's
flooding, don't forget.
What liquid is the earth?
Um, koyoshoki is the moon, yeah, and the sense on, since now,
(20:49):
what are the stars?
Oh, and with silaposhli, is thesun he is your son.
So what we're talking about hereis we're talking about the
earth, yes, the myth and themovement of this, of the
celestial bodies from an earthperspective.
(21:10):
When you see the earth at night, the, the big sister, the moon,
is there and the 400 brothersare the stars.
And when we seeuitzilopochtliis born on winter solstice,
though he is a baby because he'sa small son, he's the tiniest
(21:33):
son of the east.
When the sun comes out, itkills the brothers and sisters.
When the sun comes out, youdon't see the moon anymore, you
don't see the stars.
And our people were so poeticto do these allegories, to tell
(21:56):
the stories, because even thedismemberment, which is so
apparently violent for peoplewho don't understand that this
is an allegory, thedismemberment of Koyoshauki,
it's actually talking about thefaces of the moon.
Granddaughter Crow (22:12):
Right, I was thinking that, how it was
chopped up into slices, andsometimes you don't see it.
And yeah, all of the faces ofthe moon.
Laura Gonzales (22:21):
Sometimes you can see here how she's being cut
up Wow.
Sometimes you can see here howshe's being cut up, wow, and.
And sometimes she's whole, andsometimes she's half right, yeah
.
So so that that's.
That's a little bit of taste ofyou.
Know.
You come to my class, I tell youthe myths, I tell you the story
I tell you how you know,reclaim the, the knowledge of
(22:44):
the myths and, more importantly,we recognize that these are not
stories told about gods andgoddesses, right, but through
the little threads that theyleft us, we can see, we can pull
that thread and understand thatwe're talking about human
nature.
Yes, threat and understand thatwe're talking about human
(23:09):
nature, yes, and human naturethat has been like every other
culture before christianityanthropomorphizing the forces of
nature.
Yes, understand human natureand to understand our behavior.
So people can come and get theseclasses and they can buy the
whole series with a discount andyou can pay on like two
(23:31):
payments, or people can buy ondemand.
Hey, I just want to hear aboutthis, goddess, or I just want to
hear about this, goddess, andpeople can still jump in on 2025
.
We're so early in the year soyou still can jump and you can
still buy 2025 the whole year.
So that'll give you access tothe live classes, which is
(23:53):
fantastic, because people cometo the live class and if they
have questions, they can ask itat the moment.
Ask it at the moment, but thereare people who cannot come to
live class, but they can nowhave access to the whole year.
Yeah, so buy the whole year,buy on demand, pay in two
payments or one payment and thendo your thing.
(24:15):
And we also are doing communitycircles.
Yeah, I saw that.
Tell us about how we can join inyeah, and what we do is
actually, uh, uh, sanseco tlisli.
Sanseco tlisli now, what wordfor all of us to learn.
Sanseco tlisli, which isbasically a gathering of people,
(24:44):
community coming in a circle.
And it's a community gathering,so we come together.
I give prompts for the month.
For example, the one forFebruary.
The prompt is love andgratitude and radical self-love
and unconditional love.
And, you know, not justsexuality, not just romance, but
(25:07):
how do we go about?
Um, unconditional love, whichis the of most important at this
day and age?
Yes, regardless of what ishappening in the world, but now
even more, yeah, absolutelybecause, yeah, and, and what
that looks like is people cometogether.
(25:29):
I give a prompt.
First of all, we check in, andthen I give the prompt, and then
we all, you know, breathe andwe do some kind of music.
Um, I'll do a chant orsomething, or somebody else will
lead a meditation, or you know,and then we talk about our
(25:50):
grievances, we talk about ourhappiness, we talk about
reflections that have come to usthroughout the time that we
have shared together.
And sometimes a communitygathering, a person is having
like a heavier load than therest of the community.
So we come together and itcould be, decide what the prompt
(26:15):
was.
It could be, you know it couldbe.
This person needs us now, so weturn into just holding that one
person.
It has happened a couple oftimes when somebody in the
community needs us to be therefor them, and this community
(26:35):
gatherings I've been doing withthe same set of boundaries.
The first boundary is that theyare absolutely confidential.
Granddaughter Crow (26:46):
Yeah.
Laura Gonzales (26:47):
What is said on the community gathering.
Don't leave the communitygathering period.
They're not recorded, they arenot to be.
The second boundary that we askpeople to hold is that we're
not there to fix anybody Right.
I love that.
We're not fixing people.
We're not fixing problems.
(27:07):
We're not making them better.
People are excellent as theyare.
Nobody needs to get betterunless they want to get better.
Of course.
Sometimes people say like, likeI was saying earlier, sometimes
people help me right, sure, andthe third and most important one
(27:28):
, I think, is we are not thereto give advice, like I'm not
gonna give you advice.
I'm not.
I give you advice when you payme for it.
Yeah, absolutely, yes, you know, otherwise I don't give advice.
I'm there to listen andeverybody is there to listen and
they are so incrediblyrewarding and so incredibly
(27:49):
spiritual and beautiful.
I'm still learning the wordmeans gathering, and not from
ego to understand that we alllearn from each other.
Granddaughter Crow (28:06):
Yes, absolutely 100%.
Laura Gonzales (28:11):
I always tell my apprentices you hold your bag
of medicine, yes, and you can beon the lineup of 50 healers and
each one of the 50 healers isgoing to have their bag of
medicine right in front of themand the people that need to come
and take from your medicinewill be lying to you.
Granddaughter Crow (28:33):
Absolutely 100%, and I love that you are
saying.
You know, when I thinkcommunity, I think that we all
stand in a circle and I thinkthat there is no head of the
table Again.
Bluewitchorg, sign up for thenewsletter so that you don't
miss any of this.
Thank you, andrea, thank youSunny, thank you to everybody in
(28:57):
our communities that know usboth.
Shout out to Alohim Lifar I sawthat you had written something
in Dream Witchery.
Aloe, Aloe Leifar, I saw thatyou had written something in
Dream Witchery, as well, as youcontribute to a lot of different
books, magazines, etc.
Yeah, absolutely, and I'm justlike thank you for you know,
it's funny too, because you andI have similar stories where we
(29:21):
just kind of come out and we doone thing and then spirit and
community say oh no, you'regoing to do this and it's like
me, me, okay, okay, I'll say yes, I'll say yes and it's just,
(29:42):
it's right in time.
I'm so happy that I know you,cousin, I love you from depths
of my soul and I reallyappreciate you being here on the
podcast.
Is there any last thing youwanted to say to the people?
Laura Gonzales (29:52):
I always sign off saying never forget that you
were loved and I want you tobelieve me.
Yeah, I want you the hype,don't believe the propaganda,
don't believe the lies that areout there floating Me saying
(30:13):
temporarily, momentarily, justcame out today.
Granddaughter Crow (30:17):
Oh, wow.
Laura Gonzales (30:18):
I heard it loud and clear.
Yes, so you and I know thatit's spirit through us.
Right, that's right, this is amoment in time.
Yes, this is a snag on ourtapestry.
Granddaughter Crow (30:30):
Yes.
Laura Gonzales (30:33):
We will move past it.
So don't ever forget, don'tever, ever forget that you are
loved.
Granddaughter Crow (30:41):
Yes, absolutely, you are loved, are
loved.
Yes, absolutely, you are loved.
Audience, thank you so much forlistening to another episode of
Belief being Beyond.
Like, subscribe, hit the bellsand whistles, share this.
If this inspired you and itmade you think of someone, share
(31:02):
this information.
This is wonderful, empoweringinformation that can lead us
home, lead us to community, andyou can text the show.
If you're listening to this ona podcast, just scroll down,
text the show.
I don't know who you are, youcan tell me or stay anonymous,
but, just like Laura Gonzalezsays, you are loved, I love you
(31:24):
and we'll see you on theflippity flip.
Welcome to Belief, being and Beyond with
your host, granddaughter Crow.
Hi everybody, granddaughterCrow here with another episode
of Belief, being and Beyond, andtoday I have the wonderful
honor of interviewing andspending some time with and
allowing her to share with youher wisdom, laura Gonzalez.
(00:25):
And it is just.
Let me just tell you a littlebit about Reverend Laura
Gonzalez.
She is a spiritual andcommunity healer, priestess,
minister, specializing intraditional Mexican folklore.
If you want a little bit ofMexican folklore, follow her.
(00:47):
She's got classes, we'll talkabout it.
Also Native philosophies andNorth American paganism within
the goddess tradition, and Ican't wait to get into that.
She also holds a leadershiprole at a Chicago-based
community practice of Nahuawatradition of Mexico.
Please correct me if I'm sayingit wrong.
(01:09):
That's correct.
Yay, where she providesguidance, support community
harmony.
Laura also advocates forindigenous pagan LGBTQIA
communities, with a focus onwomen's rights and diversity.
And I am so honored because,laura, I have met her and she is
(01:32):
my sister.
She is my sister, she is mysister.
I'm pretty sure that ourancestors knew each other at one
time.
So everybody, please welcomeLaura Gonzalez.
Say hi, everybody.
Say hi Laura.
Laura Gonzales (01:47):
Hi, hello and welcome and thank you for being
here, yeah.
Granddaughter Crow (01:51):
My honor and pleasure.
Oh, good, I'm, I'm interestedin.
Laura I mean you have a newwebsite, bluewitchorg.
Bluewitchorg.
People Go to bluewitchorg.
Blue Witchorg people Go to BlueWitchorg newsletter straight
away.
Sign up for that newsletter.
Do you know why?
(02:11):
Because then you get to knowdifferent parts of the community
that you get to become a partof and rely on.
Because that is what we need todo in this time is community.
So tell us a little bit.
I mean you've got so much stuffon your website, but tell us a
little bit more about you.
Changed it or what happened?
(02:32):
What?
Laura Gonzales (02:33):
happened is I started my business about 13
years ago as a tarot reader.
I've been reading tarot since Iwas 14 years old, 15 years old,
but I started as a business umin 2011 and something must have
(02:55):
been in the water in 2011because I started doing a lot of
things.
I started podcasting and Istarted my business and um.
You know there was a lot ofchanges and and I had a website
that was for tarot right forjust the tarot readings.
But the truth of the matter isthat I am much more than a tarot
(03:17):
reader.
I've been an educator my wholelife.
I have.
If I learn something, Iimmediately turn around and then
start teaching people, and thatwas, back in Mexico, the way it
was when I was younger.
If you have a certain degree ofeducation, you can actually
teach the younger degrees ofschooling.
(03:37):
So at one point in my life Iwas teaching uh, first graders
and third graders uh, mostlyEnglish and history, but you
know general sciences, and itwas a short period of time and I
always knew that I loveteaching.
I love everything that I do andeverything that we do for our
(03:59):
communities, right Like to bethere to conflict resolution, to
help with activism, to helpempower people and to to
remember who we are and toremember that we own the power
and we own the power and we ownthe power.
And so I have always translatedthat into teaching.
(04:19):
Let me teach you this.
Let me teach you about that,you this, let me teach you about
that, let me, yeah, and so mydesire, since I started my tarot
business, was let me introducemyself as a tarot reader, and
then you can come to my classesand come to my workshops and all
of that.
And at certain point, I don'tknow what happened and I kind of
(04:40):
lost the plot and and a lot ofpeople knew me.
It's so peculiar and and a lotof people knew me.
It's so peculiar and funnybecause a lot of people knew me
as a tarot reader, luckily, butonline it did translate it into
she's a teacher, she's you know.
So I always have like this kindof like this two communities
separate.
So there was a website Pleasedon't look for it anymore.
(05:02):
It doesn't exist, but it was.
You know the Blue Witch.
So there was a website Pleasedon't look for it anymore.
It doesn't exist, but it was.
You know, the Blue Witch, itwas, pardon me, it was Bruja,
laura Gonzalez and, of course,years go by, you learn more
things, you teach more things,you do more things.
You know a lot of things happenon 2023.
Okay, I was part of theParliament of the World of
(05:24):
Religions and it was in Chicagoand I was invited to be part of
the opening speaking event, theopening plenary, and also to
march with the parade ofreligions, and I was incredibly
(05:47):
honored to be asked that and Ithought, you know, I'm going to
march with, like the whole lotof people.
And then I come to Parliament,which was here in Chicago at the
McCormick place, and I have myregalia on because they suggest,
they asked me, you know, if Icould have my regalia.
So, through my tradition, youknow, we wear white and red and
(06:09):
my face painting and I have somesmoke medicine with me and all
that you know.
So I was nervous because I'venever been in Parliament of the
World of Religions, let alonehave to speak.
Nervous because I've never beenin Parliament of the World of
(06:29):
Religions, let alone have tospeak.
And I asked where does theprocession begin?
And they asked me what's yourname?
And I say I'm Laura Gonzalez,and then they say, oh yeah,
you're first.
And then everybody lined upbehind Laura and I was like what
?
I'm like, can you repeat that?
She's like, yeah, you're first,you're first.
And then I have a person whosename I didn't get, but he is a
(06:55):
man the liaison of indigenousaffairs for parliament and he
came near me and he told methere's two elders that are
going to join you once youapproach the door, and one of
them was none other than, um,grandmother mary.
God, I'm blanking on the nameslions, grandmother mary, lions.
(07:21):
And and then another lady whosename I can't remember, but she
was on a TV show ReservationDogs.
Granddaughter Crow (07:33):
I love Reservation Dogs.
I love Reservation Dogs.
Laura Gonzales (07:37):
She played the grandmother of one of the kids
and she was there on the paradewith Grandmother Mary Lyons, so
I had the incredible honor towalk with all of them and we
walked into the parliament andthen, when it was my time to
speak, I had been asked to speakin Nahuatl, and then in Spanish
(07:59):
and then in English.
And unfortunately, I do not knowNahuatl, because colonization
was for do not know now what,because you know, colonization
was, for lack of a better word,so effective in Mexico that they
detrabalized a lot of us and we, a lot of us don't know our
languages or original languages,but I know a couple, I know a
(08:20):
couple of songs and I know, youknow, I know a few, a few words,
and so I I sang a song on nowwhat?
And then I said a goddessprayer in Spanish and then in
English, and I also happened tobe the first women who spoke on
the opening.
Uh, 30 minutes after the thestarted, there was nothing but
(08:44):
men, and then the first womenwho spoke it was me.
So that was an incrediblylife-changing event and honor.
And so, after that happened, alot of things started happening
in my life, happened in my life,and I got a very clear, very,
(09:09):
very clear message fromancestors from the land, from
from Chicago itself.
Um, in my pagan practice I usedto do paganism and I keep my
indigen, my indigenous umpractice and my indigenuity I
always kept separated and I'vebeen a pagan priestess and I've
been practicing paganismpublicly teaching, etc.
(09:31):
But the indigenous part wasalways like, kept on the side
right and after this event she,he, it.
Whatever they are the messagewas very clear and the message
was oh, I need you whole and Ineed you to work all of it, yeah
(09:59):
.
And then I was like, but isn'tit, isn't it a mistake to put
paganism and the goddess andindigenous stuff?
And then what I heard wasbasically like, did I stutter?
Right?
Granddaughter Crow (10:15):
Right, I love it.
Did I stutter?
You heard me, little girl, youheard me.
Laura Gonzales (10:21):
Yep, and little girl is right, because I had a
tendonitis in both my hands andI could barely do anything with
my hands, so it was like you arenot to work with your hands.
Okay, right, your medicine isnot.
Yes, you do have medicine inyour hands, but your medicine is
not in your hands.
Yeah, right, here, that's,that's, that's where your
(10:44):
medicine is.
That's right, and and and I'mlike okay.
So, because of all that this, Iknow this is a window, that's
answer, because I, that's me.
Um, so all these changes happenbetween last year and 2023, the
ending of 2023, 2024.
(11:06):
And I have a lot, a lot, a lotof work, and all that work was
spread out into like 20 pods andI met this wonderful person
whom has been my apprentice fora long time and has been helping
(11:27):
me physically when I go toplaces and I do classes and
workshops and whatnot.
And because another personlearned that I have this person
helping me, they offer to help.
So now I have now I have twopeople that work with me as the
Blue Witch team, so Sani andAndrea.
(11:49):
Sani is basically my personalassistant and Andrea is my
business manager, and Andreawent and did a whole lot of work
to put the website together.
If you ask Andrea if we canlaunch the website officially
and tell everybody about it, shewill say no, we're still
working on it.
We're still working on itbecause andrea's constantly
(12:11):
adding things and working, uh,with so much honor, with so much
gusto.
You know putting everythingtogether and again helping me
reflect on all the work thatI've done and all the things.
So you can go now toBlueWitchorg and then you can
(12:31):
find all of my classes, you canfind all of my services, you can
find all of learning programsthat you can learn on your own
pace.
These are pre-recorded classesand you can join our live
classes.
So I have classes that arepre-recorded right of a tarot
(12:57):
course, like an introductorytarot course that I taught in
like 2021, I think, and then youcan learn that at your own pace
.
Right, then I have a spellscourse that I taught all of 2022
.
So all of the year 2022, orrather I'll say 2023, I think it
(13:19):
was the spells series and sameyou can learn on your own pace.
And same you can learn on yourown pace and, um, I I suggest
people's spells, but I focusmore on like this is the
technology behind doing a spellfor fill the blank, none is.
(13:40):
It's not a class where I'mgoing to tell you yeah, we grab
deserve, we grab herb, we grabthis.
In this class, I teach peoplelike what do you need?
How do you focus on what youneed?
What are the tools that canhelp you?
This is the technology and thisis how you use it.
And then, of course, towardsthe end of the class, there's
always going to be a couplespells, but it's not a class of
(14:03):
spells.
It's like how to craft your ownspell.
Yeah, and then on 2024, becauseof the old, you're not working
with your hands anymore, and soI started the decolonizing the
goddess class.
Yes, in 2024.
and and this is it, this is theindigenous knowledge.
(14:29):
We focus on the indigenousknowledge of these details, this
goddesses, and we focus on themand we do a little bit of a
comparative to like pagangoddesses or more mainstream
(14:50):
goddesses.
So I grab the first 12goddesses that are very well
known for people, even for bothfor indigenous people who are
not really knowledgeable ofthings, but also for pagan
people who I'm sure have heardor have seen these icons.
And so the first year of theColor Nights in the Goddess it
(15:14):
was Chalchitlique, quatlique,citlalinique, chantico,
xochiquetzali, chico, mecoat,you know, like all the usual
suspects, the ones that peopleknow more, and for people who
don't understand what I'm sayingor don't know, it's like
(15:37):
Tlaliniqa is the star goddess,so she's like the sky and the
stars, like you're paintingbehind you we have Xoch, she get
sally who is the goddess offlowers and beauty, but it's
also related to like completionand renewal and self um
(16:00):
actualization.
Yes, chantico, chantantico,chantico, come to us.
Chantico, chantico is thegoddess of fire, protection and
the fire of the house, the fireof the heart, the hearth, yes,
(16:20):
but she's also the warriorgoddess that protects the realm
and protects the house, oh, andprotects the community.
So, chantico, please, chantico,yes, come to us and um, and
then you know, like we have,like koyoshoki, the moon goddess
(16:41):
, and we talk about the moon,and you cannot talk about
Koyushauki without talking aboutQuatlikwe, who's mother earth,
and Huitzilopochtli, who is herbrother, and there's the whole
mythology, one of the best knownmyths of the Nahuatl people the
(17:03):
birth of Huitzilopochtli.
That happens in winter solsticeand is basically the birth of
the winter sun.
But have you ever heard the?
Granddaughter Crow (17:15):
myth no tell.
Can you share yeah?
Laura Gonzales (17:19):
So her name is Cuetlipue and she is cleaning
her house.
She's sweeping the floor andthen she finds this beautiful
bundle of hummingbird featherson the floor and it's so
beautiful and colorful andmesmerizing that she picks it up
(17:40):
and she put it on her skirt.
You know, she tucks it into herskirt and next thing you know
she's pregnant on her skirt.
She tucks it into her skirt andnext thing you know she's
pregnant and she's pregnant withthe feathers.
She became pregnant and herdaughter finds out.
Her daughter is called Shaukythe Moon.
And her daughter finds out andthat's not right, because we
(18:05):
don't have a father and how youhave a child like, yeah, what
happened?
And so koyoshoki goes and tellsall her brothers and sisters,
whom are 400 warriors wow, allthis and son, since on sees nawa
, and I can pronounce that namecorrectly, so please forgive me
(18:28):
if you know how to pronounce itbecause I know I butchered it.
So the 400 brother warriors.
They know that mom is pregnantand that is not right.
So Koyoshaoki starts this plotto kill the unborn child.
And they don't want him to beborn because it's like a sin or
(18:54):
whatever Right.
And so Coatlicua is incrediblyafraid because 400 warriors
close in on her.
Yeah, her daughter are comingto get the baby, and the baby is
on her womb.
And then she's trying toconsole herself.
And she's there, like you know,trying to sit and contemplation
(19:15):
, and then she hears the voiceof her son from her belly, which
is telling her uh, it's gonnabe okay, mom, wow, hey, I'm
gonna take care of you.
Mom, don her, it's going to beokay, mom, wow, hey, I'm going
to take care of you, mom, don'tworry, it's going to be okay.
It's going to be okay, don'tworry about it, I'm going to be
born and it's going to be okay.
(19:36):
Wow, a full-on warrior with anincredible shield and a weapon,
and he first goes to koyoshokiand cuts her into pieces.
I can't remember the name ofthe of the weapon, but it's one
(19:59):
of those wood things that hadobsidian oh, wow, yeah, yeah,
yeah, poking out from each side,yeah, wow the name is, uh, the
fire serpent, shukwat, oh, wow,and he.
So he grabs the shukwat and he's, you know, fighting all the,
and he, him and mom are okay,wow.
(20:26):
So the myth is like what, right, there's betrayal, there's
flooding, don't forget.
What liquid is the earth?
Um, koyoshoki is the moon, yeah, and the sense on, since now,
(20:49):
what are the stars?
Oh, and with silaposhli, is thesun he is your son.
So what we're talking about hereis we're talking about the
earth, yes, the myth and themovement of this, of the
celestial bodies from an earthperspective.
(21:10):
When you see the earth at night, the, the big sister, the moon,
is there and the 400 brothersare the stars.
And when we seeuitzilopochtliis born on winter solstice,
though he is a baby because he'sa small son, he's the tiniest
(21:33):
son of the east.
When the sun comes out, itkills the brothers and sisters.
When the sun comes out, youdon't see the moon anymore, you
don't see the stars.
And our people were so poeticto do these allegories, to tell
(21:56):
the stories, because even thedismemberment, which is so
apparently violent for peoplewho don't understand that this
is an allegory, thedismemberment of Koyoshauki,
it's actually talking about thefaces of the moon.
Granddaughter Crow (22:12):
Right, I was thinking that, how it was
chopped up into slices, andsometimes you don't see it.
And yeah, all of the faces ofthe moon.
Laura Gonzales (22:21):
Sometimes you can see here how she's being cut
up Wow.
Sometimes you can see here howshe's being cut up, wow, and.
And sometimes she's whole, andsometimes she's half right, yeah
.
So so that that's.
That's a little bit of taste ofyou.
Know.
You come to my class, I tell youthe myths, I tell you the story
I tell you how you know,reclaim the, the knowledge of
(22:44):
the myths and, more importantly,we recognize that these are not
stories told about gods andgoddesses, right, but through
the little threads that theyleft us, we can see, we can pull
that thread and understand thatwe're talking about human
nature.
Yes, threat and understand thatwe're talking about human
(23:09):
nature, yes, and human naturethat has been like every other
culture before christianityanthropomorphizing the forces of
nature.
Yes, understand human natureand to understand our behavior.
So people can come and get theseclasses and they can buy the
whole series with a discount andyou can pay on like two
(23:31):
payments, or people can buy ondemand.
Hey, I just want to hear aboutthis, goddess, or I just want to
hear about this, goddess, andpeople can still jump in on 2025
.
We're so early in the year soyou still can jump and you can
still buy 2025 the whole year.
So that'll give you access tothe live classes, which is
(23:53):
fantastic, because people cometo the live class and if they
have questions, they can ask itat the moment.
Ask it at the moment, but thereare people who cannot come to
live class, but they can nowhave access to the whole year.
Yeah, so buy the whole year,buy on demand, pay in two
payments or one payment and thendo your thing.
(24:15):
And we also are doing communitycircles.
Yeah, I saw that.
Tell us about how we can join inyeah, and what we do is
actually, uh, uh, sanseco tlisli.
Sanseco tlisli now, what wordfor all of us to learn.
Sanseco tlisli, which isbasically a gathering of people,
(24:44):
community coming in a circle.
And it's a community gathering,so we come together.
I give prompts for the month.
For example, the one forFebruary.
The prompt is love andgratitude and radical self-love
and unconditional love.
And, you know, not justsexuality, not just romance, but
(25:07):
how do we go about?
Um, unconditional love, whichis the of most important at this
day and age?
Yes, regardless of what ishappening in the world, but now
even more, yeah, absolutelybecause, yeah, and, and what
that looks like is people cometogether.
(25:29):
I give a prompt.
First of all, we check in, andthen I give the prompt, and then
we all, you know, breathe andwe do some kind of music.
Um, I'll do a chant orsomething, or somebody else will
lead a meditation, or you know,and then we talk about our
(25:50):
grievances, we talk about ourhappiness, we talk about
reflections that have come to usthroughout the time that we
have shared together.
And sometimes a communitygathering, a person is having
like a heavier load than therest of the community.
So we come together and itcould be, decide what the prompt
(26:15):
was.
It could be, you know it couldbe.
This person needs us now, so weturn into just holding that one
person.
It has happened a couple oftimes when somebody in the
community needs us to be therefor them, and this community
(26:35):
gatherings I've been doing withthe same set of boundaries.
The first boundary is that theyare absolutely confidential.
Granddaughter Crow (26:46):
Yeah.
Laura Gonzales (26:47):
What is said on the community gathering.
Don't leave the communitygathering period.
They're not recorded, they arenot to be.
The second boundary that we askpeople to hold is that we're
not there to fix anybody Right.
I love that.
We're not fixing people.
We're not fixing problems.
(27:07):
We're not making them better.
People are excellent as theyare.
Nobody needs to get betterunless they want to get better.
Of course.
Sometimes people say like, likeI was saying earlier, sometimes
people help me right, sure, andthe third and most important one
(27:28):
, I think, is we are not thereto give advice, like I'm not
gonna give you advice.
I'm not.
I give you advice when you payme for it.
Yeah, absolutely, yes, you know, otherwise I don't give advice.
I'm there to listen andeverybody is there to listen and
they are so incrediblyrewarding and so incredibly
(27:49):
spiritual and beautiful.
I'm still learning the wordmeans gathering, and not from
ego to understand that we alllearn from each other.
Granddaughter Crow (28:06):
Yes, absolutely 100%.
Laura Gonzales (28:11):
I always tell my apprentices you hold your bag
of medicine, yes, and you can beon the lineup of 50 healers and
each one of the 50 healers isgoing to have their bag of
medicine right in front of themand the people that need to come
and take from your medicinewill be lying to you.
Granddaughter Crow (28:33):
Absolutely 100%, and I love that you are
saying.
You know, when I thinkcommunity, I think that we all
stand in a circle and I thinkthat there is no head of the
table Again.
Bluewitchorg, sign up for thenewsletter so that you don't
miss any of this.
Thank you, andrea, thank youSunny, thank you to everybody in
(28:57):
our communities that know usboth.
Shout out to Alohim Lifar I sawthat you had written something
in Dream Witchery.
Aloe, Aloe Leifar, I saw thatyou had written something in
Dream Witchery, as well, as youcontribute to a lot of different
books, magazines, etc.
Yeah, absolutely, and I'm justlike thank you for you know,
it's funny too, because you andI have similar stories where we
(29:21):
just kind of come out and we doone thing and then spirit and
community say oh no, you'regoing to do this and it's like
me, me, okay, okay, I'll say yes, I'll say yes and it's just,
(29:42):
it's right in time.
I'm so happy that I know you,cousin, I love you from depths
of my soul and I reallyappreciate you being here on the
podcast.
Is there any last thing youwanted to say to the people?
Laura Gonzales (29:52):
I always sign off saying never forget that you
were loved and I want you tobelieve me.
Yeah, I want you the hype,don't believe the propaganda,
don't believe the lies that areout there floating Me saying
(30:13):
temporarily, momentarily, justcame out today.
Granddaughter Crow (30:17):
Oh, wow.
Laura Gonzales (30:18):
I heard it loud and clear.
Yes, so you and I know thatit's spirit through us.
Right, that's right, this is amoment in time.
Yes, this is a snag on ourtapestry.
Granddaughter Crow (30:30):
Yes.
Laura Gonzales (30:33):
We will move past it.
So don't ever forget, don'tever, ever forget that you are
loved.
Granddaughter Crow (30:41):
Yes, absolutely, you are loved, are
loved.
Yes, absolutely, you are loved.
Audience, thank you so much forlistening to another episode of
Belief being Beyond.
Like, subscribe, hit the bellsand whistles, share this.
If this inspired you and itmade you think of someone, share
(31:02):
this information.
This is wonderful, empoweringinformation that can lead us
home, lead us to community, andyou can text the show.
If you're listening to this ona podcast, just scroll down,
text the show.
I don't know who you are, youcan tell me or stay anonymous,
but, just like Laura Gonzalezsays, you are loved, I love you
(31:24):
and we'll see you on theflippity flip.
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