Episode 72: Positivity + Chronic Conditions with Julie Taylor

Today’s episode is near and dear to my heart, as Julie and I dive into living with Chronic Pain and Chronic conditions and positivity. I am so honored to introduce Julie Taylor. Julie is an Endo and IC Warrior who's passionate about mindset as medicine. Endo is an abbreviation for endometriosis and IC stands for Interstitial Cystitis (a painful bladder syndrome). While healing with these chronic conditions, she learned the power of crystals and energy to heal and how using a positive mindset as a tool to help manage her moods and emotions helped her body build resilience. Julie's formal degrees are in writing and early childhood ed, though the innate cheerleader at home in her heart drives her to write words, she hopes will spark a mood or mindset that might brighten things for others. Julie is the author of a children's book, Blue Hissy Highness and the Shiny Stones (you can buy that here). The book focuses on how a positive mindset can reframe and heal. It also reminds children that we can move toward mutual acceptance and forgiveness, but also the very adult reminder that acceptance isn't a one-and-done ideal—a lesson we need to revisit as we age. Julie also tends a website and an online space called Stone Spelling & Witchery, which is also the name of her private Facebook group Stone Spelling & Witchery to connect and share the metaphysical and mystical, celebrate earth and moon cycles, share spells, post favorite crystals, chat about witchiness, and ask questions. Julie curates a beautiful community that serves as a magical hub for joy and positivity.

Julie and I talk about living with chronic conditions and chronic pain, how we manage our spirit during times of flares. We talk about positivity, staying positive, toxic positivity or not toxic positivity, the benefits and downfalls of emotional bypassing, and what Julie has terms LoMo—or how to manage Low Moods and shift them to help with chronic conditions. Honestly, this is such a refreshing conversation for me—I could talk about pain and living with autoimmune disorders without censor. As someone who has to manage many chronic autoimmune conditions, speaking my truth about living with pain and fatigue feels like a long deep exhale, as I often just go through life sucking it up. Julie is so wise, intelligent, and articulate about her approach to living with physical challenges.

Here is the latest podcast:

You can also follow this link to listen on Spotify. Episode 72: Positivity & Chronic Conditions with Julie Taylor. You can also listen on any of the podcast services you can think of—Apple Podcasts, Pocketcasts, Amazon Music, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, Podbean and whatever you listen.

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In other news, this upcoming week, Julie is popping in for a guest post about Crystal Skulls. Monday, I will have a piece on the history of Crystal Skulls, debunking some myths, and talking about skullies in general. I will have a cool Tarot Layout using the Skull as a basis, and I will be sharing a journal entry about my meditation experience with my Fossilized Skull. All SKULLZ—this week!

Episode 70: The Rat Chronicles with Dr. Amy Kittelstrom

Episode 70: the Rat Chronicles with Dr. Amy Kittelstrom

Dr. Amy Kittelstrom, is a professor of history at Sonoma State University and author of the book the Religion of Democracy (https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Democracy-Liberals-American-Tradition/dp/1594204853) . I asked this incredibly accomplished historian to talk about “Rats”, the rodents and the proverbial rats of the world. We talk about what it is like to be a single mother homeowner who needs some home repairs done and rats removed from the house. I am really grateful for the opportunity to share Dr. Kittelstrom, one of my closest friends, with my world.

 or listen on Spotify here:

shadow work

I am answering questions again. I like to answer questions, so keep them coming.This time I invited Kyra Paules to join me. We exchanged some Marco Polos about it, and then we jumped on Zoom.

Do we do shadow work or does the shadow work us? That is not the question we answer, but we say it at some point. So, Kyra and I thought we would answer some questions about shadow work, but really we only answer one question. Why are we qualified to talk about shadow anything? We like it. Also, Kyra is training to be a Jungian analyst, she is an official shadow retrieval facilitator and a therapist. I am a shamanic practitioner and we basically are shadowy creatures that like to explore the liminal spaces. And I am in recovery and we do shadow work, even though we don't call it that. We call it the fourth and fifth step. 

Here are the questions we actually were asked:

Tan - My question is:  how do you integrate shadow work? Shadow work gives us breakthroughs and revelations, most of the time I end up not knowing how to integrate it. How do I implement the changes? Sometimes I might even have a glimpse of what I need to do but actually doing it becomes hard. Maybe ego sabotages your missions with laziness or talks you out of it. How can we integrate our shadow in a way we don’t fell into it again?

Beka - yes, break it down on how one can do shadow work, ID your shadows etc.

If you want to find Kyra, go to http://awentarot.com and you can always find me at http://themoonandstone.com

Episode 12: Tarot's Card of the Year for 2020 with Kyra Paules

I love me a good conversation with Kyra. It was so fun to talk about the Card of the Year (Emperor) for 2020 and the Card for 2021 (Hierophant). So we talk Tarot and the energy of the past two years and how we see archetype and tarot work play out on a larger scale with this work.

Episode 6: The Dead Baby Club with Jess Southwood

Today’s conversation is with one of my closest friends Jess Southwood. Unlike my other guests who work in the realm of spirituality, Jess is a Business consultant and facilitator, with a particular focus on leadership development, team dynamics and creativity in business. But honestly, I didn’t invite her to talk to me about her work, though it is fascinating and has taken her all over the world. I didn’t invite Jess to talk because she loves yoga and writing and poetry. I invited Jess here because we share something in common—we re both bereaved mothers. We “met” in 2009, after our second daughters were stillborn. And through our grief, we both sought community on the internet and through starting our own blogs about grief and mothering. We were both writerly and creative and irreverent and formed an immediate and all-encompassing bond. I wrote at a blog called Still life with Circles, and she wrote at a blog called afteriris and then we both were invited to write for the Literary Hub Glow in the Woods, founded by Kate Inglis as a place to write more literarily about what Kate titled babyloss. I later became the editor for a few years. We spent time in person together, and have maintained our friendship for the last 11 years, growing together and experiencing more of us. I wanted to talk to Jess about sisterhood, spiritual bonding, emotional intimacy, grieving publicly, and you know, dead babies. We say that quite a bit in this episode. We talk about it bluntly, like you find in the community of grieving women on the internet. There is a whole community. Most people who have never lost a child have no idea there is a corner of the internet where women talk about the death of their baby—over and over again. We write stories and exchange emails and have an entire community of bereaved mothers and fathers. Jess is an extraordinary woman. I feel so blessed to have her as one of my best friends. As you can hear from our conversation, she is deeply thoughtful, funny, intelligent, self-aware and interesting. Jess’ s first collection of poetry can be found at littlelosses.com. She has a Masters degree in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. She lives in Birmingham, UK, with her husband, three children, two cats, one dog, and too many books. I hoe you enjoy my conversation with Jess Southwood.

My grief blog: http://stilllifewithcircles.blogspot.com

Jess’s first poetry collection: https://littlelosses.com/

Glow in the Woods: http://www.glowinthewoods.com/

We mentioned a few things in this podcast including the Right Where I Am Project.

First year: http://stilllifewithcircles.blogspot.com/p/right-where-i-am-project.html

The last year I did this: http://stilllifewithcircles.blogspot.com/2014/07/right-where-i-am-five-years-and-almost.html

Kate Inglis who coined the term Babyloss’s writing: http://www.kateinglis.com/

Kara Chipoletti Jones https://linktr.ee/griefandcreativity

Niobe and Dead Baby Jokes: her blog

Niobe’s GITW posts: http://www.glowinthewoods.com/blog/tag/Niobe

Angie’s GITW posts: http://www.glowinthewoods.com/blog/tag/Angie

Jess’s GITW posts: http://www.glowinthewoods.com/blog/tag/Jess

Episode 5: Coming Out of the Broom Closet with Kristin Gallagher

Eclectic Pagan Witch Kristin Gallagher and I sat down for a little talk about coming out of the closet—the broom closet, that is, and being a public witch. It is something we have privately talked about for years—sharing our experiences with being public and sharing our personal spirituality. I absolutely love Kristin and her energy. She has gotten super popular on TikTok, sharing her witchy content and Witchy Mamma lifestyle.

You can find Kristin on TikTok at @onewitchymamma  or on Instagram at witchy.mamma – Instagram and coming soon (no videos up yet) WitchyMamma – Youtube. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Kristin Gallagher. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Kristin!

Episode 4: Tarot's Gatekeepers of Shadow with Kyra Paules

You know, I love good conversations with laughter and insight. Kyra and I always seem to have these interesting wandering conversations that are enlightening and interesting. This one started as a conversation about the “dark cards” of the Major Arcana. We were basically using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck for reference and start with the Hanged Man and end with the Tower, talking about this part of the spiritual journey through the Major Arcana.

Centered

One of the things I love about what I do for a living as a healer and teacher is having amazing conversations with people. Breakthroughs happen. Ways of thinking about our own journey evolve and change. I often say in my classes, I can raise your vibration, but you have to change your consciousness.

We are all on the path of healing. I grow because of the people around me, the conversations that are evolving. One of the things I have felt were most damaging to the metaphysical community is the BS. I really crave conversations that get to the meat of matters and really dig deep into the rich soil of healing work. I kept thinking about some of the conversations I have had with my friends who are healers and psychics when we are just bullshitting on the phone. We talk about HOW we do this work for ourselves. I am really interested in sharing some of those conversations, so I have invited some of my friends to talk to me about a topic. My hope is that it isn’t just get to know you conversations, but deeper conversations about specific topics.

I’m going to have regular monthly conversations about astrology, tarot, healing and other one-off conversations with spiritual people who are doing their work.

Listen to the trailer here:

Healing your Inner Child, a conversation

This conversation on Healing your Inner Child with transformational healer Walking Crow, renowned author and mystic Katye Anna and I was such a beautiful experience. Walking Crow and Katye Anna and I explore what it means to be triggered, how to recognize it is happening and then how to heal from trauma and wounding from a young age. It was a beautiful experience. I hope you give a listen and then comment below. Follow Etheric Connections on FB for more of their powerful conversations. Lloyd and Leslie also have an awesome crystal shop, that is currently closed due to the state regulations, but they are selling online and are happy to look at inventory and help you shop. Support Local Small Businesses closed for the foreseeable future. Comment below to continue the convo.

I'll Follow You Podcast

Allison Felus, the Queen of Peaches, has a new podcast this year. She posted it on Instagram in the beginning of the year, and I started listening right away. The thing I love about it is Allison has just an easy way of dialogue. She lets people tell their story. She also interviews her people—people from all aspects of her life and her personality. She is a musician who works in publishing. She is an accomplished writer, and she is a psychic. She is also a crystal healer and energy healer. I just adore her. She is thinky and smart and spiritual and interesting. She wants to talk about art and writing and thinking and Spirit, but without all the bullshit. Like I said, she is one of my people too. I did this interview a little bit ago, before the shutdown. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to post this here. Mainly because this is a forgotten spot on my things I like to do. So, I am going to be sharing stuff here more often. As you probably figured out, Allison invited me to talk for an hour or so, and here it is. Please enjoy and check out Allison’s other podcasts too. They are endlessly fascinating!