I'm chatting today with author and chaotic wellness witch, Mandi Em, about her newest book, Shadow Work for Hot Messes.

Mandi Em's book, Shadow Work for Hot Messes, is the ultimate guide to self-awareness and healing, even if you're a certified hot mess. Mandi condenses the complex concept of shadow work into a three-step process: Perceive, Investigate, and Integrate. By delving into core wounds, inner child work, and feelings of shame and fear, readers are prompted to confront their inner shadows, leading to a more empowered and fulfilled self.  With prompts, activities, and fill-in-the-blank exercises, this book encourages readers to reconnect with themselves and pursue their personal healing journeys.

It’s the next evolution of shadow work as only Mandi Em can deliver it. With introspective exercises and relatable guidance, this one-of-a-kind book helps you do the work to become a happier, healthier, and more empowered hot mess.

Take yourself from hot mess to a happier, more empowered hot mess who is in touch with their shadow self with this powerful new book from Mandi Em, the unhinged author behind Witchcraft Therapy, Happy Witch, and Feral Self-Care.

This book is intended to provide fun and sassy direction to folks looking to reconnect with themselves and pursue their own healing journey for maximum wellness. The tone of this book is like having a BFF right by your side, helping you swerve around the BS and yanking you back to your core to connect with your own inner shadow to find healing and live your best life.

Find Mandi:

The Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Shadow-Work-for-Hot-Messes/Mandi-Em/9781507222997

Website: https://healingforhotmesses.com

Instagram: instagram.com/healingforhotmesses

Facebook: facebook.com/healthylivingforhotmesses

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HealingforHotMesses

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@healingforhotmesses

Mandi Em is a humorist, author, and chaotic wellness witch. She’s the author of Witchcraft Therapy, and she shares funny, approachable self-help guidance on her blog and social channels for Healing for Hot Messes and resources for nonreligious witches over at The Secular Witch. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, HuffPost, SheKnows, Refinery29, McSweeneys, and more. She and her husband are born-again hippies raising their three children in beautiful Vernon, BC, in Canada.

I'm chatting today with Lalania Simone about Lalania's newest deck, Tarot of the Cosmic Seed.

In an effort to decolonize the tarot, remove outdated ideas of hierarchy, and shift ingrained gender norms, Lalania, founder of Alchemy Ritual Goods, has created a lush and vibrant deck with unique imagery and symbolism and an array of people and cultures. Having renamed the royalty cards—including the Hierophant, Emperor, Empress, and the court cards—Lalania has expanded their interpretation into energy signatures rather than personality types. The result is a deeply diverse spiritual tool, a bridge to the mysterious and the esoteric, as well as a guide to the everyday. Using the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition as a foundation, this deck offers a twist: there is a twenty-third card added to the Major Arcana—The Cosmic Seed, a representative of us all as infinite, cosmic spirits, enmeshed in sacred flesh for a time on this Earth.

Find Lalania:

Buy Tarot of the Cosmic Seed: https://amzn.to/3VkQb2j

Instagram: @the.cosmicseed

www.lalaniasimone.com

Lalania is an artist and entrepreneur on a path of personal expansion and collective liberation. Their work here on earth is to awaken to the fullness of my divine presence, and to experience the pure divine potential in every person and thing that surrounds them. Lalania is the author of Urban Soul Warrior: Self Mastery in the Midst of the Metropolis, the creatix of Tarot of the Cosmic Seed, and co-owner of a magical BIWOC owned metaphysical shop called Alchemy Ritual Goods.

Today I'm joined by author Coby Michael to chat about poison plants and their potential use within your witchcraft practice.

Examining the art and science of working with noxious and malefic plants and fungi, Coby Michael discusses the occult properties of poison and how poison plants can be used in spell work and other magical operations. He looks at the plants of Fate and the divination practices they support, love magic with poison plants, shadow work, the devil’s garden, and the use of nightshades as power plants for medicine and magic. Presenting a detailed formulary, he shares rituals, magical correspondences, and recipes for working with specific poison plant allies and other baneful herbs of occult herbalism.
Exploring the path of dark herbalism, the author explains how it encompasses not only veneficium—poisonous plants and fungi—but all plants that humanity has tried to forget, from “invasive” plants and those we can’t domesticate to those that have been regulated arbitrarily or simply feared as “toxic” or “poison.” He shows how the dark herbalist seeks out plants that are adversarial or taboo because the qualities we consider “dark” are really the plant’s spiritual medicine and can offer powerful wisdom and healing. Examining poison history, lore, and occult toxicology, he explains how the aim of using these plants is not to cause physical death, but rather death of the ego. He shows how “poison” in this sense is an alchemical force that allows the practitioner to become a vessel for the forbidden fruit of knowledge and how the transmutation of our personal poisons can lead to powerful self-transformation.

Find the Book and Conference:

Poison Path Grimoire: https://www.innertraditions.com/the-poison-path-grimoire

Botanica Obscura: https://www.botanicaobscuraconference.com/

Find Coby:

Website: thepoisonersapothecary.com Facebook and Instagram: @poisonersapothecary Patreon: patreon.com/poisonersapothecary

COBY MICHAEL is the author of The Poison Path Herbal & The Poison Path Grimoire, and co author of Leo Witch and is a prolific writer. He is an occult herbalist and Poison Path practitioner and founded The Poisoner’s Apothecary in 2016. Coby has studied religion, history and herbalism and is well read in a variety of occult sciences and is practitioner of “traditional” witchcraft and folk magic. He has been lecturing and facilitating workshops since 2016 and has appeared at events around the world. Coby is founder and co-host of Botanica Obscura Conference and online plant spirit practitioner gathering held annually every march.

All about the energies and magic of December plus a few December holidays to highlight.

• Correspondences:
  • Crystals: turquoise, onyx, bloodstone, blue topaz 
  • Animals: elk, horse, stag, reindeer 
  • Flowers: Narcissis 
  • Deities: Jupiter, Artemis, Rhiannon, Thor
• The sun is in Sagittarius until December 22. Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign.
• Moon Phases
  • December 1: new moon in Sagittarius
  • December 8: second quarter moon in Pisces
  • December 15: full moon in Gemini
  • December 22: fourth quarter moon in Libra
  • December 30: new moon in Capricorn
• December Ancient Holidays:
  • Saturnalia (December 17-23) - a major Roman festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture and time.
  • Brumalia (December 24 - December 25) - a Roman festival celebrating the winter solstice, overlapping with Saturnalia. The festival honored Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry, and involved feasting and drinking. It was a celebration of the lengthening days and the return of the sun.
  • Sol Invictus (December 25) - Sol Invictus, or the "Unconquered Sun," was a festival dedicated to the sun god Sol. Celebrated on December 25th, this festival marked the rebirth of the sun as the days began to lengthen. It was a significant holiday in the Roman Empire and is thought to have influenced the choice of December 25th for Christmas.
  • Kalikai (December 15 - January 15) - Kalikai was an ancient festival celebrated in the Middle East, including parts of Mesopotamia and Anatolia. The festival was associated with the rebirth of the sun and the end of the darkest period of the year. It involved celebrations, feasting, and offerings to gods and deities associated with the sun and fertility.
  • Feast of the Nativity of Mithras (December 25) - Mithras was a deity from the Persian tradition who was adopted into Roman religion. His birthday was celebrated on December 25. The festival of Mithras celebrated the birth of the god of light and truth. It was part of a broader Mithraic tradition that was influential in the Roman Empire and shared themes with other December festivals.
  • Wild Hunt (December) - In Norse mythology, the Wild Hunt was associated with the Yule season and was believed to be a ghostly procession led by a god or spirit.
• December Modern Holidays:
  • Yule (December 21) - Yule, or the Winter Solstice, marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. It is a celebration of the rebirth of the sun and the gradual return of longer daylight hours.
  • Dongzhi Festival (December 21 or 22) - The Dongzhi Festival, or Winter Solstice Festival, is celebrated in China and other East Asian countries.
  • Christmas (December 25) - Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated holidays worldwide, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is observed by Christians and also celebrated by many non-Christians.
  • Hanukkah (Dates Vary) - December 25 - Jan 2 this year - Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday that typically falls in December, though its exact dates vary each year according to the Hebrew calendar.
  • Kwanzaa (December 26 - January 1) - Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration of African-American culture and heritage, founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga.
  • Omisoka (December 31) - the Japanese New Year’s Eve celebration, marking the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. 
  • New Year’s Eve (December 31)

I'm joined today by Siri Vincent Pluoff to chat about their newest book, Queering the Runes.

Queering the Runes by Siri Vincent Pluoff is a love letter to the runes, the gods, and the people who follow the Nordic path. The author presents an alternative approach to the runes, one that creates a gentle container for those who want to follow this heathen path. Pluoff presents the traditional meanings of the runes, then helps the reader to queer the runes in their own way. Included is the lore associated with each rune, exercises, to apply them to modern life, activities to engage with the rune (layouts, castings, and galdr), and how to use the runes for divination. Queering the Runes seeks to blow open perceptions of the runes. Exploring them as active, living symbols available to all, as well as the inherent connection with ancestral magic that comes with rune work. 

Siri Vincent Pluoff has been a practicing witch for nearly twenty years and has been reading tarot and runes professionally for six. They are also the brain behind the radical heathenry podcast, The Heathen's Journey, adapted from their column of the same name at Little Red Tarot.

Websites: sirivincentplouff.com; lore-books.com

Instagrams: @siri.vincent.plouff, @lore.books.mn

TikTok: @SiriVPlouff

Tap into the divine wisdom of horses for guidance and self-transformation as I'm joined today by oracle deck author Sandra Wallin.

Allowing you to tap into the earthly and spiritual wisdom of horses, this oracle embraces humanity’s millennia-old relationship with horses as interactive guides to transformation.

Each beautifully illustrated card conveys the captivating presence of the horse, offering an encounter with the equine soul while transmitting healing frequencies directly from the mystical Council of Horses. Serving as portals of transformation, the cards allow you to actively engage with horses as sentient beings who choose to support the well-being of humankind.

The accompanying book explains how to work with the cards, alongside a history of the horse as an intermediary between humans and the divine. From modern-day mystics to legendary horse avatars like unicorns, kelpies, Pegasus, and Chiron, the horse of each card offers guidance and courageous questions to help you determine if you are on the right path, off track, or need a nudge in a more positive direction.

Find Sandra and the deck:

https://www.sandrawallin.com/councilofhorses

https://www.instagram.com/chironsway

https://www.facebook.com/ChironsWay/

Today I'm chatting with Casey Zabala about the anthology A Confluence of Witches. A Confluence of Witches aims to highlight how witchcraft has always been a diverse, constantly evolving, culturally specific practice with many lineages and rich traditions. It features essays, spells, and reflections from witches, traditional healers, herbalists, and artists on themes of magical activism, animism, and merging ancient practices with modern technologies, among other mystical subjects. The diverse representation of contributors will honor and celebrate the multicultural and multivalent ways that the witch operates within our society.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wandererstarot/ Casey's substack: https://notesfromthehedge.substack.com/ Casey's website: https://www.wandererstarot.com/ Modern Witches Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/witchesconfluence/ Modern Witches Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/modern-witches/id1583475537 Order "A Confluence of Witches": https://modernwitches.org/anthology

All about the energies and magic of November plus a few November holidays to highlight.

• Correspondences:
  • Crystals: citrine, cat’s eye, topaz
  • Animals: snake, eel, goose, raccoon 
  • Flower: chrysanthemum 
  • Deities: Pluto, Anubis, Kali, Inanna
• The sun is in Scorpio until November 22. Scorpio is a fixed water sign.
• Moon Phases
  • November 1: new moon in Scorpio
  • November 9: second quarter moon in Aquarius
  • November 15: full moon in Taurus
  • November 22: fourth quarter moon in Virgo
• November Ancient Holidays:
  • The Festival of Ceres (November 1): held in early November, was dedicated to Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility.
  • The Roman Festival of Compitalia: a festival held in November dedicated to the Lares, the spirits of the ancestors and guardians of the home and fields.The Festival of the Dead (Nebra): celebrated by the Gauls and other Celtic tribes in late October or early November, dedicated to honoring deceased ancestors and included rituals and feasts to ensure the protection and favor of the spirits of the dead.
  • The Feast of Neptunalia (Early November): a festival dedicated to Neptune, the Roman god of the sea and water. It was celebrated in early November.
  • The Festival of Saturnalia: a major Roman festival held in mid-November to honor Saturn, the god of agriculture and time. Although Saturnalia was primarily celebrated in December, its influence and some of its preparations began in November. The festival involved feasting, gift-giving, and role reversals, reflecting themes of liberation and abundance.
• Modern Holidays:
  • All Saints' Day (November 1): a Christian holiday dedicated to honoring all saints, known and unknown. It follows All Hallows' Eve (Halloween) and is observed by many Christian denominations.
  • All Souls' Day (November 2): a day set aside to honor and pray for the souls of deceased loved ones who are believed to be in purgatory.
  • Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) (November 1-2): a Mexican holiday that honors deceased loved ones and celebrates their lives. It overlaps with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
  • Veterans Day (November 11): a U.S. holiday that honors military veterans who have served in the armed forces.
  • Thanksgiving (Fourth Thursday in November): a major American holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, focusing on giving thanks for the harvest and blessings of the past year.

I'm chatting today with Jezmina and Paulina about their new book, Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling!

In Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling, Paulina Stevens and Jezmina Von Thiele share the knowledge and personal experiences of being raised to be fortune-tellers. They share divination methods, tools, and techniques that have been created, adapted, or popularized by the Roma, including card reading, palmistry, dream divination, and tea-leaf and coffee reading. They share exercises to strengthen your intuition and discover your natural gifts, and explain how divination helps with shadow work, blockages, and self-awareness.

Find More:

romanistanpodcast.com

jezminavonthiele.com

romaniholistic.com

https://www.instagram.com/jezmina.vonthiele

https://www.instagram.com/romanistanpodcast

https://www.instagram.com/romaniholistic

Today I'm joined by author Judika Illes to chat about her newest book (and all the other things she's contributed to the witchcraft community!) Let us know - who is your favorite cinematic witch?

WITCHES: A COMPENDIUM is a concise compendium of witches through the ages, from earliest prehistory to some of the most significant modern practitioners, Witches explores who and what is a witch. Also included are an exploration of the sacred and the profane, the myths and misconceptions of witchcraft, a travel guide for the witch curious, and introductions to practicing witches of today.

 
Witches explores what a witch is and the different ways to be one. Judika Illes presents the history, mysteries, and diverse natures of witches from around the world. Featuring a who’s who ranging from famous—or infamous—historical witches such as Tituba, Sybil Leek, Aleister Crowley, Isobel Gowdie, and Countess Erzsebet Báthory (widely known as the Blood Countess) to popular literary, cinematic, and TV witches such as Endora, the Scarlet Witch, Melisandre, Storm, Agatha Harkness, and the Wicked Witch of the West, Witches also offers travel tips for witches and a guide to the tools of the trade such as brooms, wands, cauldrons, and mirrors.
 
This celebration of witches and witchcraft also features:

• Sacred witches such as Baba Yaga, Lilith, Isis, Hekate, Diana, Circe, and Yemaya
• Familiars and creatures closely associated with witchcraft including cats, bats, crows, owls, and foxes
• Art witches like Moina Mathers, Vali Myers, Rosaleen Norton, Leonora Carrington, and Cameron
• Different schools of witchcraft including green witchery, kitchen witchery, Wicca, and Hekatean Witchcraft
• The various things witches do from divination to spirit working to spell-casting

Judika Illes is a lifelong student, lover, and practitioner of the magical arts. She is the author of numerous books devoted to spells, spirits, and witchcraft, including Encyclopedia of Spirits, as well as Pure Magic, Daily Magic, Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints, and Sages, and Magic When You Need It. She has been a professional tarot card reader for over three decades and is a certified aromatherapist. A native New Yorker, Judika teaches in the US and internationally, live and virtually. Follow her on Instagram @judikailles and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorJudikaIlles/.

Today I'm joined by author Kris Spisak to chat all about her newest (and fifth!) book, Becoming Baba Yaga.

Becoming Baba Yaga (https://redwheelweiser.com/book/becoming-baba-yaga-9781642970517/) is an in depth look at the Baba Yaga mythos and history through Slavic folklore. The book is filled with historical and cultural context and analyses, and is a comprehensive resource for anyone hoping to learn more about this ambiguous character and how her multifaceted presence still ripples through the present day. 

Spisak explores Baba Yaga’s connection to nature as an Earth goddess and as an herbalist. She also delves into the Shadow Self and Baba Yaga’s aspect as a trickster and places her in a modern context as not merely a witch of the woods but also as an archetype and force for finding your own path.

Find Kris:

https://kris-spisak.com/ 

https://kris-spisak.com/becoming-baba-yaga/

 https://www.instagram.com/kris.spisak/

 https://www.facebook.com/KSWriting

Kris Spisak earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William and Mary, her master of liberal arts from the University of Richmond, and did further graduate work in fiction through the University of Iowa. She taught college writing courses at schools including Virginia Commonwealth University before stepping away from the classroom to pursue her own writing work. Kris has been spotlighted in Writer’s Digest and HuffPost for her work as an editor and author dedicated to helping other writers. She is the author of The Baba Yaga Mask (a novel) and Get a Grip on Your Grammar. Kris fully believes that well-written words and well-told stories have always changed the world and that they will continue to. She can’t wait to tell you her next story.