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:

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.

Episode 3: the Minister & the Shaman with Reverend Howard West

I am so honored to share this conversation with my friend and spiritual advisor Rev. Howard West. Howard is an ordained Presbyterian Minister with at Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and he specializes in geriatric spiritual care, dementia, end-of-life care and caregiver support. He has served for more than 15 years as Executive Director of Spiritual Life Services of Country Meadows Retirement Communities.  Howard is also a trained counselor with a Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Pittsburgh with almost three decades of experience collaborating with self-help groups that address family and relationship problems, addiction/codependency, depression and other mental health issues.  Howard has a B.A. in East Asian Studies (China specialization) from Penn State University, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is a daily practitioner of Chinese martial arts including Taichi.  He also has a long-term interest in eastern spirituality and its impact on physical, emotional and spiritual health.  When Howard and I met, his first question to me was, “Are you a shaman?” From there, we became fast friends. Our spiritual connection runs deep, always coalescing in discussions about how much we actually have spiritually in common. I once said to him, we should really have a podcast called “the Minister and the Shaman” where we answer questions from people and I admit that when I started this podcast, I immediately thought of Howard and some of our amazing conversations about spirituality, religion, trauma, psychological issues, & emotional sobriety. I consider Howard to be one of the most important spiritual advisors, influences, and friends. We have birded together, as Howard has an uncanny ability to be observant and aware in nature. No mistake that he is an avid outdoorsman and nature photographer. His connection to the Earth and nature is profound and humbling. I’m so honored to have this as one of many conversations we will have together, so here is my conversation with Reverend Howard West.

Episode 2: What is Tarot's place in this moment? with Kyra Paules

Oh, boy, I was looking forward to this conversation with Kyra Paules so much. I have known Kyra for a number of years, and she has become one of my go-to Tarot friends who I talk to about cards, life and ethics. In fact, I called on her when I was working on my June reading, because I just did not know if any of this was relevant or useful in this time. She and I talked about it, and I thought…this might be a useful conversation to have on the podcast. So, I hope you enjoy it!

Episode 1: Chakras with Sharon Muzio

It was so fun to talk to one of my BFFs Sharon Muzio from Alta View Wellness Center in Harrisburg, PA. She is a long-time practitioner of energy work and massage. She is the OG in this area. I wanted to talk chakra with her, since she works with the chakras do in-depth. As COVID-19 has reared up, she has recorded journeys around each of the chakras, which will soon be available. She actually has a journey coming up on June 2nd called Shamanic Journey with the Chakras, which you can register for now. It is being held on Zoom, and seriously, she leads a beautiful journey. You can register by getting in touch with her at avwc@comcast.net

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Have a listen to my conversation with Sharon: