Season 1 : Episode 4 : Priestess Contessa Louise : Yes you heard that correctly

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hey, everybody, and welcome tothe Black Other Experience Podcast. I am
your host, Ashley, and todaywe have an amazing guest. I will
let her introduce herself and tell her, have her tell you how amazing she
is. Take it away. Hey, everybody, my name is Priestess Contessa
Cooper. And you know, everybody'slike introduce yourself to everybody. What you

(00:26):
do? It's more like what don'tI do? Because I have no hand
fipped in all kinds of stuff.But you know, I've take like it
took a year, a whole year, just to focus on me and on
self care and on my own spirituality. And let me tell you something,
that was the best year I everhad. I was completely totally selfish on

(00:51):
doing the things that I wanted todo and learn the things that I wanted
to learn. And so one ofthose things I learned how to do is
really tap into my spirituality to reallyfigure out the stuff that I believed and
the stuff that I didn't believe.And there's a whole lot of stuff out
there that I don't believe, butthe stuff that I really believe really kind
of makes me who I am.So spirituality is not something that I turn

(01:17):
on and off like a light switch. It is embedded in every single thing
that I do, and so forthis podcast, in this moment, I'm
gonna call myself a spiritualist. How'sthat say? I like it. I
like it, and I know thefolks at home will like it too.

(01:37):
I'm glad that you guys to hopon and do this interview today because for
those of you who don't know,Contessa and I talk quite often and have
been friends for quite some time inthis yoga space and the spiritual space,
all the while being super ratchet whiledoing it. It's very very nice.

(01:57):
It's a lot of fun and atthe very release is deeply entertaining, and
y'all might learn something along the wayto No promises though, but I'm sure
one of us will make you laugh. So I can't wait because you're like,
I can't wait to see the directionthis is gonna go with, because

(02:21):
I mean, you you bet yourratchet. I was like, oh,
some of these spiritualists out here,you know, she said it, not
me. You know. One ofthe things about the conversations that we have,
and you mentioned this in your introduction, is about finding yourself and what

(02:46):
rings true to you. And whatyou're like, Nah, that just sain't
for me. Though we laugh aboutit, it is very important to figure
that out for yourself because a lotof times the spirituality that we have is
something that has been given to usor has been forced upon us as children
and as adults, or I finda lot of adults who haven't really taken

(03:09):
time to evaluate whether or not thateven rings true to them or not.
So I know in this year ofself care that you had taken like that
was one of the things that youkind of came across, like what rings
true do you? So? Whatdid you what did you find and how
important was that for you to dothat for yourself. Well, I'll start

(03:30):
off by saying is that for many, many, many, many many years,
I was deeply involved in Christianity,like in top leadership positions of some
really big name churches here in theWashington DC area, and I experienced church
heard, and so I left completelyleft, didn't want nothing to do with

(03:51):
church, nothing to do with Christianity, nothing to do with organize religion.
And in my year of rediscovering myself, I realize that there are some parts
of Christianity that I definitely agree withand identify with and other parts that I
didn't. So I tossed out thosethings that I didn't believe and stuck with
those things that I do, Andin identifying those I realize, Yes,

(04:15):
that is definitely a part of me. Even if no one introduced me to
the term Christianity, that was alwayssomething that was a part of me.
Being an intercessor was something that hasalways been a part of me. It's
not something that's just a part ofChristianity, but a part of my makeup
and who I am. I'm alwaysthere to pray for other people or prey

(04:41):
on behalf of other people. Andwhen I claimed the term priestess, it
is still a part of who Iam as a priestess. And so sometimes
when you go back and look atthose things that you believe, you can
say, yeah, I still believethat. Yeah, I still believe that.
No, I'm not come with that. It's okay to take parts of

(05:02):
certain religion, certain parts of religioustexts, certain parts of some of the
spirituality that you grew up with andkeep those things and toss out what just
doesn't make sense to you. Yeah, I agree that it's about figuring out
what works for you. And whatworks for the time that you are in

(05:29):
your life right now, because whatI've noticed for myself personally is the things
that may have worked for me evensix months ago just may not feel right
today. And especially in this worldthat we live in. Work quarantine is
a thing, and we're home andwhere you know, our work life home

(05:50):
life does not look like what itlooks like even thirty days ago, even
two weeks ago in many cases,even twenty four hours ago in some cases.
That it really has given me timeto evaluate what rings true to me
and what works for me, andit's to me my personal feeling is it's

(06:10):
okay for that to be different foreverybody, And there's ninety nine point nine
nine nine percent, and me feelslike it should be something different for everybody
because we're all different people, rightlike it, We don't all come in
the same shape size with the sameset of life experiences, So why would
that look exactly the same for everyone. But you bring up a good point

(06:31):
of at least just taking the timeto even figure it out and give some
energy to figuring it out, andalso knowing that it's okay that you don't
have to in a sense throughout thebaby with the bathwater. You know,
you can choose to keep those thingsthat work for you. You can also
with equal permission, leave those thingsbehind that don't. And both of those

(06:54):
things are equally as Okay, Iknow one of the things that you do
is pull tarot cards, which it'snot my bag. I enjoy doing it
for myself, but I'm not wantedto typically pull cards for other people.
But that's something that you do andthat you do well. That's why I'm
usually in your inbox about it.You full cards for me. She's really

(07:17):
really good at this. Don't lether tell you otherwise. So could you
speak a little bit to that andhow you got into tarot card readings and
what it is that you what thecards, I should say, with the
cards offer for people if it's somethingthat folks are interested in. And so
there are two different kind of thoughtsas far as tarot cards and just tarot

(07:41):
reading card divination. Whether you're usingoracle cards, whether you're using affirmation cards,
whether using tarot cards, it's stillcard reading, like tarot cards is
not evil and oracle cards are safe. All that is nonsense, Okay,
it is all the same. Thereare different approaches. Some people believe that

(08:05):
these cards will tell you the future. It can give you the exact path
that you're going to take. Idon't believe that it's more or less.
These cards should confirm something you already. No, I should not be telling
you something that's a big surprise thatyou've never heard before, unless we're doing

(08:26):
something like some past life reading,and there still should be something that connects
with you on some level. Tarotcards should not be used as a direction
as of this is written in stone. It should be used to give you
some insight into what's going on.I tell people, don't ask me yes,

(08:48):
no questions. Don't ask me whatshould I be doing? Ask me
open ended questions. What should Iconsider? What would happen if I do
this instead of this? What aresome things that I should be looking forward
to? What are some things thatI should look out for. What are
some questions I should ask myself aboutthis situation going forward. It's more like

(09:13):
a hey, take a look atthis. This might be something that might
be coming up in your life.Pay attention to these things, and it's
not something that's woo wooh and scary. It could be like, hey,
you need to get your life together. Hey, remember those things that you
were supposed to do last year?You should get on that shit. You

(09:37):
know. Those are the type ofanswers that I give people. You know,
if you're going to ask me ifyou should break up that old dude,
if you have to ask me that, the answer is yes, you
should leave him. And this iswhy. It has nothing to do with
old dude, but it has somethingto do with you. Why would you

(09:58):
need to ask? There something that'son the inside of you that's saying I
should ask if I should still behere? What's in it you that's saying
something's wrong unless investigate that. Thoseare the type of readings I do,
right, I don't do any surfacelevel. Oh, life is great,
there's gonna be rainbows and you thecorn glitters. Nah, we gonna get

(10:22):
deep down, like, have youreally taken a good look at yourself?
Why is my life shit? Whydo you think? Do you finish anything
that you start? Let's start there, right, Maybe you should stop sleeping
with someone's husband. Those are thetype of that I do. So don't

(10:43):
come to me unless you really wantSpear to check you, because my guys
are no joke. Like the waythat I'm talking now is the way that
they talk to me and the sameway that I'm gonna talk to you.
But I'm not gonna leave you hangingright. I'm not one of those.
Is like, if you pay mefive hundred dollars in life, handle walk
around it three times, it's gonnabreak that curse. Number One, you
ain't cursed because you ain't nobody right, It ain't nobody sweating you in order

(11:09):
for you to be cursed. Theonly curse you got in your life is
you have cursed you by not doingthe stuff that you're doing. The biggest
the will be like, hey,oh delusion, it came back in Okay,

(11:31):
cool. So the biggest part ofthat that too that you that you
mentioned is the taste the idea thatyou're cursed as opposed to you. It's
just something as simple as you're notdoing what you were supposed to do in

(11:52):
the first place, or you're notdoing what you said you wanted to do,
so your life is still a hotmess, Like we have more responsibility,
we have more power than we're usuallywilling to accept, and people seem
to always be so baffled by thatfact, like you're not cursed. Just

(12:13):
go do what you're supposed to do, right, Like you already know you're
in a situation you ain't got nobusiness being in. Get out of it.
You already know you hate your job. You've hated your job for the
past five years. Do something else. It's so easy to blame the universe.
That's this huge thing that has noface. Right, It's easier to

(12:37):
blame the universe than to blame yourself. A lot of times when I pull
cards, it's just gonna say,look in the mirror, bitch, it's
you. Oh dis behave it already, look y'all. I told you,
y'all. I won't tell the productionthat this may be a little ratchet,

(13:03):
but you might learn something here.We are well because I know that sometimes
we want we want it to belike you said, this faceless, nameless
thing or whatever name we've given toit. We want it to be some
other worldly force or power or whathave you that's keeping us from living our

(13:26):
quote unquote best life. But ninetynine point nine percent of the time we
are the obstacle. We are whatstands in our way of us living our
best life. And if we werewilling to step into our own responsibility of
doing and or being our best.Then good things can happen to us too.

(13:52):
But we spent I think we spenta lot of time being so deeply
afraid of what's on the other sideof where we are right now that we
get paralyzing. Then we don't makedecisions, and we don't seem to move
forward. And like you said,the cards are only there to almost affirm
what we already know to be true. They're not giving us any new information.

(14:16):
Basically, is that pretty much whatthe understanding is. That's pretty much
the understanding. Now. If youare a psychic medium, right, and
you're channeling and you're pulling cars atthe same time, that's where you may
get messages that you don't know.But the cards themselves, that's what I

(14:37):
tell you. The cards themselves arenot magic, right. They're a piece
of paper, just like it,just like playing cards. They're not magic.
There are a piece of paper,a piece of cardboard. The magic
is in learning how to interpret thecards, or learning how to dive deep
into your own intuition. So Ido a couple of things, right,
I combine the two. Tarot isa specific way of reading the cards.

(15:05):
The full card is the full cardand every single deck. It means the
same thing in every single deck,right, the Aid of Pentacles means the
same thing and every deck of cards. But when you combine that with your
own intuition, when you're connected withspirit, that's when you get a very

(15:26):
detailed message specifically for that individual person. And looking at the imagery in the
card can also give you a differentmessage. Why. That's why I could
read for three different people, pullthe same exact card and get three different
messages. So I'm like, whatdoes Ashley need to know? Right?

(15:48):
That's using the first question I asked, what do they need to know?
I don't care what they're asking me. What do they need to know?
First and foremost? And a lotof times it's a message that is something
of encouragement, because, especially now, we're all kind of discourage about some
things, like our life is notthe way that we thought it would be

(16:10):
at this point, and most ofthe message are it's okay, everything is
going to be fine, You're notalone, and you can most definitely do
this. And so that was justa free message for y'all. But most
of us who are listening right now, that is the message that we need

(16:32):
right now, everything is going tobe okay, And well that I was
going to say that is the biggestmessage that most of us need right now,
since we're all stuck at home.But even outside of that, I
think there's a message in in general, in all of this of you have

(16:56):
more control than you think you do. Absolutely, absolutely, we weren't put
on this earth to be powerless,right, there's not. And I remember,
I don't know if anybody's seen this, but Clust of the Titans I
think it was where all the godswas up there and we were chess pieces
and they were just moving us aroundand doing whatever they want to. It's

(17:17):
not like that, Okay, ifyou really take a look at the universe
and how small and how tiny weare compare to the universe, do you
actually think that they care about everysingle little decision that you make during the
day. No, they don't.That's why they gave you free will,
and free will basically says, goout there and try not to kill each

(17:41):
other. Right, You don't needdirection on every single thing. Man,
Should I wear the pink top orthe blue top? Today? Still?
There, GUS promise you they don'tcare what color you are wearing today.
But a decision like, man,should I get my family in debt buying

(18:03):
this eight hundred thousand dollars home?Or should I wait? Those are things
that they care about. Why Becausethat's gonna impact other people's lives, Right
You? Putting yourself into the debtis going to impact the lives of the
people in your home. It's gonnaimpact where you work, it's gonna impact
where you play, it's gonna impactall those things. It's gonna impact how

(18:27):
you show up as a leader,especially if you have people following you.
So those decisions are important decisions becauseit's impacting other people. But Yo,
they don't care if you wear pinkor blue lipstick. I promise you that,
all right. It's amazing the thingsthat they think that the universe,

(18:49):
that spirit really cares about. Righta lot of times when they're like should
I pick this job or the other? Most of the time they really don't
care. What they're asking you iswhich was going to make you happy?
Right? Right? Will? Becausewhen you're sitting in the bathtub drinking your

(19:10):
glass of wine and crying about howshitty your life is, you're like,
why don't you do something to fixit right right, They're like, crying
to us isn't going to fix it. We have given you fifty eleven ideas,
and you have an actiot, dosomething, stand in your power.

(19:37):
That's why they have people like me. That's when I have people like you
to be out here trying to encouragey'all to do something with your life.
Right and whatever that something looks liketo you is cool. Like you're something,
maybe being a teacher, you're something, maybe being a stay at home
mom, You're something, maybe runninga business. You're something. I don't

(20:02):
know, maybe like I can't thinkanything else right now. But the point
is you're something doesn't have to looklike somebody else's. It can be yours
and yours alone. It's just amatter of doing it. Go do it,
doing it. There's so many ofus that are just sitting here doing
nothing, letting life happen to usinstead of doing something taking control of our

(20:32):
lives. Look, you ain't gotto be a CEO of a billion dollar
business. There are very few peoplewho are called to do that, right,
So don't don't don't let some ofthese gurus out here telling you that
you should be out there making money. Twenty four to seven. Stop that.
That's not going to make most ofus happy. Okay, that's gonna
make most of us miserable. Don'tdo that. But figure out what makes

(20:53):
you happy. A lot of us, a lot of us not. That's
spinning where time at home makes ushappy. And we and we realized dated,
right, And so you've been wonderinghow come my prayers aren't being answered
because you really, deep down theside, I don't want what you asking
for at all you think you dobecause everybody else is asking for But uh

(21:21):
uh, you don't want that LikeI thought for the longest time I wanted
to be married. No, Idon't want that. Whoa boy? And

(21:42):
they have saved you from yourself aswell. It's like I want this to
be like, no, you don't, I go call you out. But
you know, it's about knowing whatyou actually you want and giving yourself the

(22:02):
space to figure it out. Rightright now, a lot of us have
a lot of time on our hands. Are at minimum, we're at home
more than we were before. Evenif we are working from home, you
probably still have more time because nowyou're not commuting into an office and all
that kind of stuff. Just thegrind of having to go into work.
So one of the things that youcan do is use that space to give

(22:22):
yourself time to figure out what doI actually want when the world resumes in
whatever capacity it resumes, because itwill it will definitely look different than it
did pre coronavirus. But when theafter comes, what do we want that
after to look like? Right?And this is the time that you can

(22:45):
take for yourself to try and shapethat into something. I know a lot
of folks are probably in some sortof panic mode and are stressed in terms
of like what am I going todo? How am I going to meet
my needs? All those things arereal and deep concerns, and all of
those things have to be addressed aswell too. But don't leave this on

(23:06):
the cutting room floor. Make surethat you are really addressing what you do
when you go forward from a placeof is this what I want? And
what do I want things to looklike and to be going forward? And
with Contested's ability to pull cards foryou again, the cards are just kind

(23:29):
of a guide to reaffirm what youknow to be true for yourself already at
the end of the day, regardlessif you pull cards, you know pray
about it, have somebody pray foryou, send in deep meditation. No
matter how you get whatever answers,you still have to execute on whatever that
thing is like, it's still onyou. It's not going to happen unless

(23:51):
you do it. And there's aspace for you to be tired, there
is a space for you to beupset about it, and there's space for
you to be not interested in doingany of it. But just know that
with the space for all of thosefeelings and all of those things, you're
still going to be right where youare currently staring at you in the mirror

(24:14):
trying to figure out what the nextsteps are or still have those steps that
have been presented to you available totake. Right at the end of the
day, it's it's on you.There's no magical theory if you will,
that's coming to do it for you. It's ultimately your responsibility to move in
the directions that you want to move. And I'm not saying that there are

(24:38):
other forces that bump up against that, but it's up to you to kind
of see it through in any waythat you need to see it through.

(25:02):
One last thing that I want tosay before we kind of wrap this up
is don't burn it all down,right, So we're at a point where
you may be like, oh,I hate everything about my life. Don't
quit your job, don't leave yourspouse, don't move away to go out
to the mountains. Really come upwith a plan first, right to make

(25:26):
sure that this is something that youabsolutely totally want. That is my If
you walk away with anything from this, that's what I'm going to tell you,
don't burn it all down because alot of times we don't know what
we want, and you may thinkyou want that right now, but when

(25:47):
we get back to our normal youmay find out that, oh, I
didn't want that at all. Yeah, that's a huge point. So like,
don't I know the urge of letme just burn it all down and
start it over can be so soso strong. It can be so pushing

(26:08):
you forward, especially if you're ina space where you're angry. But I
employ you to work through that angerfirst and then strategically plan whatever your next
steps are, especially if you havemajor responsibilities that you still have to take
care of. Burning it down justputs a deep strain on everything and everyone

(26:30):
else around you. So, likeTessa said, you know, taking the
time to plan strategically and then moveforward to find whatever peace looks like for
you. If you will, thenthat is the best way, the better
way if you will, of goingabout it. Now. The other thing
that I will say is peace canbe found in Peace is typically found in

(26:59):
an internal space, not from externalthings. Oh say that, a gay
girl, say real loud for thepeople in the back. The caveat to
that is only when you are ina set in a space that is not
physically safe for you to be in. That is the only caveat to that.

(27:21):
Other than that, this is anexternal journey to the internal, not
an internal journey to the external.Okay, So look, this is why
the burning it down theory of thingsis typically not the way to go.
The only caveat Again, I needto say this one more time because I

(27:44):
know people always say this, Well, what about if you want to are
in a situation where you are physicallyunsafe, where your children aren't safe,
where you have your your basic needsas a human being aren't being That is
very very different, right. Butif you're in a position where you if

(28:15):
you are in a position where thosethings you're taken care of, and you're
in a safe environment, but youare emotionally in a place where you need
to find out who you are orwho you want to be. Uh.
It is definitely work that needs tobe done from an internal perspective. Can
tell what say you about that.Like people won't make you happy, you

(28:40):
may think it they do. Gettinga new spouse is not going to make
you happy. Having kids won't makeyou happy. Buying more things won't make
you happy. True happiness comes frombeing, It comes from inside, and
you know you'll find people who haveall the things in world. People are

(29:02):
envious of them. A lot ofthese celebrities and athletes you think should be
happy, they're sad, they're depressed, they're angry, they're all those things
because deep down, on the inside, they don't have joy. Joy is
what it is that we're all seeking. And you can find joy in so
many situations. You can have nothingbut the basics and still find joy.

(29:26):
You could be sleeping on someone's sofaand still fine joy. You could be
working at a job where people aretalking about you twenty four to seven and
still fine joy. It's up toyou to determine what is it that is
truly bringing you joy, and that'swhen you know you've done the work right.

(29:47):
That's the work of determining what isjoy to you and being able to
find it no matter what. Likethe world is just crazy right now,
right I have joy in my heart. My kids are safe, I'm safe.
We don't want for anything. Ihave joy. Are there things that

(30:11):
I wish I had? Absolutely Iwish I was on a beach somewhere,
But that's not stopping me from havingjoy in my heart right now. And
really, if we're going to betruthful, that's what we're seeking. That
joy in that happiness is not things, it's not stuff, it's internal peace.

(30:33):
So spending this time to figure outwhat that internal piece looks like for
you, that's what we should befocused on right now. Well, wonderful
contesta. I appreciate you Shane withus, and that is such an important
and amazing message. If the folkswant to catch up with you out here

(30:53):
on out Gore's Internet, how canthey find you online? I am super
super super easy to find. Youcan find me all over social media at
cantesla Louise and of course on mypersonal website cantesla Louise dot com. Awesome.
Well, folks, make sure youcatch up with Tessa. She'll pull

(31:14):
cards for you if you ask hernicely. And uh, just be prepared.
Just be prepared, all right.I appreciate you guys tuning into the
black Yoga experience. I hope thatyou found this helpful, and I look
forward to seeing y'all next time.Bye,