Your Creative & Magical Life

Message the show & share your thoughts!A séance can be a parlor trick, a sacred practice, a history lesson, or a mirror. For me, the most interesting version is the one that makes you feel more awake to your own intuition... and more honest about what you can’t explain. Which is why I wanted to sit down with Albert Lucio and Jake Cordero from Austin Séance, which has been hosting public seances and hands-on divination and supernatural workshops for the past decade. They now publish the Austin Séance Quarterly Journal as well.Our conversation explores the roots of American spiritualism and why it caught fire in the 1800s, from table-tipping to spirit cabinets to the push for “scientific proof" of an afterlife. We also talk about how cultural instability, war, and grief can drive supernatural belief culturally, and how spiritualism intersected with progressive movements, like women’s suffrage.Albert and Jake tell the story of how they came to work together, how they experience the intersection of mysticism and creativity, and what they fight about at 3am in the IHOP after every séance. We also get into:Albert and Jake's work in particular: participatory séance sessions and experiential workshops with talking (Ouija) boards, tea-leaf readings, and psychometry. How Albert and Jake sit on different parts of the metaphysical spectrum — one more skeptical and evidence-driven, one more focused on meaning and faith. The idea that art-making itself is a mediumship and channeling practice, where you stop forcing and allow something come through.If you're paranormal-curious (or obsessed, like me!), I think you'll enjoy this one! Subscribe, share with a friend who’d go to a séance with you, and leave a rating or review so more Creative Spirits can find the show.Check out Austin Séance's website and Instagram.Subscribe or advertise in the Austin Séance Quarterly Journal.And hop into Cosmic Garden, where we explore magic, mysticism, Tarot, and astrology together — in living practice and community.This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!"Pilgrimage" feels like an antique word, but this spiritual practice from centuries' past is still available to us today. It starts with an unlikely calling or surprise invitation... you argue with it like any reasonable modern person would... then you go anyway and return transformed. In this episode I share the story of my summer pilgrimage to connect learn about and connect with Mary Magdalene — from an invitation out of the blue,  to what I discovered and the magic that emerged along the way, to the ways the pilgrimage continues to unfold back at home.The journey takes me to the Omega Institute in New York for a workshop with feminist theologian Meggan Watterson, whose work on Christian mysticism and the Gnostic gospels reframes Mary Magdalene as a spiritual teacher, a close companion of Jesus, and a critical missing piece in our modern understanding Christian history. We dig into the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, why it (and other texts!) were excluded from the Bible, and how institutional Christianity consolidated power while erasing women’s spiritual authority. Along the way, we explore the “eye of the heart” as a model for divine perception and direct knowing, plus Meggan’s soul voice meditation as a grounded practice you can use right now.There were all kinds of mystical signs, synchronicities, and awakenings along the way, and I talk about the importance of making time for pilgrimages like these, to the sites we hold sacred, in search of spiritual discovery, to connect with teachers and figures who can help us along the next leg of our journey through life. (I also share an older version of The Lord's Prayer that will blow your mind!)If you’ve been feeling a nudge toward to pilgrimage, let this be your permission slip. (And subscribe, share, or leave a review so more Creative Spirits can find the show!)See images from this trip on Instagram.Try Meggan Watterson's Soul Voice Meditation.Get your copy of Mary Magdalene Revealed or the MM Oracle Deck.Hear Meggan Watterson on We Can Do Hard Things.A podcast on Mary Magdalene represented in visual art. For more on buried feminist theologies, check out this series.This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!A tarot reading can feel like truth, comfort, and clarity all at once, but only when it’s held with consideration and consent. In this episode of YC&ML, I’m joined by Crystal Hines — an EMDR  trainer and consultant and an IFS clinical consultant — to talk about what happens when intuition and divination meet trauma-informed care. We get honest about the hidden load therapists carry, the constraints of therapy as an industry and institution, and why so many helpers quietly burn out from a model built on one-sided giving. Which has a lot to do with Crystal's personal shift from one-on-one therapeutic work with patients to supporting therapists with the resources and community they need and deserve.Then we go deeper into spiritual consent: what it means, why it matters, and how religious trauma can shape our relationship with Tarot, magic, and inner knowing. Crystal tells a story of being blindsided in a psychic session and how that experience clarified her commitment to permission, intention, and frequent check-ins. If you read cards for others, practice energy work, or simply want your spiritual life to feel safer, this part of the conversation is a grounded gut-check.We also demystify Internal Family Systems (IFS or parts work) in plain language: the managers, firefighters, and exiles, and the idea of self-energy as both intuitive presence and nervous system regulation. We talk about gatekeeping and affordability in popular therapy modalities, plus practical ways to meet your “problem-solver” or “caretaker” parts without shaming. To close, we do a live card pull that pairs a parts-focused deck with The Tower, and Crystal offers prompts you can use for journaling and self-inquiry.If this conversation supports you, subscribe, share it with a friend or therapist who's Tarot-curious or regularly dorking out about IFS, and leave a review so more creative spirits can find the show!Follow Crystal's work here, and scroll to the bottom of her page for some free resources.This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!In this episode, I ask: What is creativity? Like, what is it, really?It's a question I asked in a recent workshop called Tarot as an Ally for Creativity (Under Capitalism), and many folks in the room offered interesting answers. I pulled them together, separated them into categories, and present them to you here — spontaneously applying them to the chakra system... Like, if Creativity had seven chakras, here's what they would be. (It was an impromptu creative move!)I hope this exploration helps you see something new in your relationship with creativity this week!And if you're curious about one-on-one creative mentorship with me, hop on the Creative Conjuring waitlist!And check out Marina and the Diamonds singing You Are Not a Robot (mentioned in the episode).This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!July 4th doesn’t feel like a party for me this year (or most years), and I wanted to say why without pretending it’s simple. In this episode, I’m riffing solo, unedited, exploring what the United States is celebrating at 250 years, what we’re ignoring, and what I wish we were celebrating instead.As ever, I use Tarot and astrology as a framework for meaning-making, starting with the Three of Cups, the card associated with the part of the zodiac year that holds July 4th in Cancer season. In this card, three femmes dance with raised goblets, surrounded by the fruits of a shared harvest. This card is called the Lord of Abundance, sometimes described as the Walled Garden. In the context of July 4th, it raises a potent question: what would America feel like if safety, community joy, and plentitude were normal instead of rare? From there, I talk plainly about nationalism, white Christian nationalism, corruption, attacks on immigrants, and the steady erosion of public goods and public lands — because our creativity and our nervous systems live inside these systems.I also talk about Cancer and the Chariot (emotion and forward motion), the moon and The High Priestess (intuitive knowing), and Mercury and The Magician (the possibility of honorable communication).I hope you'll join me in imagining practical abundance during this weekend celebrating "freedom" — things like universal basic income, universal health care, well-resourced schools, more time to make art, and more local sharing that builds belonging. I also look at the Mars Uranus conjunction on July 4th as a charged, unpredictable transit and why it's important to slow down and stay grounded!If this lands with you, send me a note via Fan Mail (link above), subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review so more Creative Spirits can find the show.This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!A mountain lion shows up in a dream, you turn the page in your calendar and there's an image of the same thing... suddenly you 're wondering whether reality is speaking in symbols or whether your brain is just doing what brains do: pattern recognition. We sit down with Arianna Smith to explore signs and synchronicities as a lived practice — not a gimmick, not a commandment, but a way to notice what keeps repeating and decide what kind of meaning you want to make from it.We talk about perception as the real gatekeeper of “magic” and why widening attention can change your whole experience of daily life. That includes tarot as a structured way to invite symbolism, the uncanny moment of pulling the same card twice, and the relationship between sign work and manifestation when you need reassurance that you're moving in the right direction. Ariana shares a memorable experiment in asking for a clear color-coded sign, and we unpack why the timing of a synchronicity can be as important as the symbol itself.We also name the limits. Signs can be comforting, especially in grief, but they can become harmful when trauma, religious coercion, or OCD patterns turn meaning into a spiral. So we offer a grounded approach: experimentation, consent with yourself, and interpretations that create relief rather than fear. If you've been craving a more mystical life without losing your critical thinking, this conversation is for you.✨ Follow Arianna's work here.✨ Check out the books mentioned in the show: Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe, Everyday Intuition, and Mysticism. ✨Learn more and sign up for the Summer Solstice Tarot Summit running June 26-28. Use the code CECILY15 to save!This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!Manifestation can feel like a promise and a threat at the same time. Promise, because we want change. Threat, because so much “manifesting” advice ignores real life constraints, nervous system limits, and the reality of systemic oppression. So we slow it down and get specific, using Tarot as a clear mirror instead of a glossy shortcut.I’m joined by friend of the pod and recurring cohost Ariana Smith to talk through manifestation via The Magician card, the archetype most associated with magic and bringing visions into reality. From there, we unpack what actually helps: calibrated affirmations that don’t backfire, detachment from the exact “how,” pleasure and somatic awareness, and low-stakes experiments that build trust. We also name the darker side of manifestation culture, including exploitation and the myth that mindset can solve structural harm. And of course, we include a three-card Tarot spread to explore the topic... Plus Cecily's sex magic story about a manifestation effort that led to romance and intimacy in exciting and lasting ways. If you’re craving a grounded, mystical, and practical conversation about manifestation, Tarot, and learning to receive, press play. And if you like, please subscribe, share with a friend who’s tired of the hype, and leave a rating and review to help more creative spirits find us!Check out Cecily's CREATIVE CHANNEL here.Sign up for a future DECAN WALK with Cecily here. Check out Arianna's INTUITIVE BIO offer here.Subscribe to Arianna's NEWSLETTER via her website here. This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!Doors to the Creative Magic Collective are open! And you're invited to join our 2026 Astrological Pilgrimage through the Tarot... which is a fancy way of describing a "decan walk" — a fascinating, structured way to explore the Tarot through its astrological associations in real time. In this episode, I'm joined by Sara Pettit, an astrologer and Tarot reader I've befriended during my first decan walk studying with Christopher Marmolejo (author of Red Tarot). Sara will be joining our decan walk and hosting astro chart readings with us every few months. In this conversation, we explain what a decan walk is, how it blends Tarot and astrology, and how this particular approach helped both of us see Tarot in new ways, fall in love with astrology, and find magic in the overlap of these two divinatory artforms.You'll also hear more about the decan walk we're hosting, how it will work, and what it has to offer your spiritual and mystical practice! Learn more here...This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!In this episode with guest co-host Arianna Smith, we weigh AI’s promise against its costs through a creative, mystical lens, stepping into the messy, practical reality of how we actually use AI.From there we go deeper into the tradeoffs no one wants to talk about — the environmental costs of data centers and  local fights around water and power. We look at the shaky economics behind the AI industry, the push to automate labor, and the imperative to use AI everywhere and expand its relevance. Plus, AI that can lie, manipulate, and commit crimes. But also how chatbots affirm our worst thinking while keeping us isolated. As writers and readers, we also name why AI copy often feels hollow, and human words carry a warmth that can’t be faked.Then, the best part — we consult the Tarot to ask questions of AI, and the cards we pulled were mind-blowing. Here's the spread if you want to try it yourself:1. AI, what do you want to tell us?2. What should we be concerned about (re: AI)?3. What should we be excited about?4. What can we do to take care?2025 was a "breakthrough year" for AI, and it'll be interesting to see what develops in 2026. If you want to share about your AI Tarot pulls, or how you're using and experiencing AI, let us know at [email protected] on the waitlist for the Creative Magic Collective decan walk!Check out upcoming events and workshops.Explore Arianna's work and hop on her newsletter.This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.

Message the show & share your thoughts!2025 was The Year of The Hermit (and still is for a couple more weeks).While I didn't move to a mountaintop cave (and you probably didn't either), The Hermit still had lots to teach me this year (and probably you too!).In this episode, I briefly review the imagery, meaning, and archetypal substance of The Hermit... Then I share five ways I worked with The Hermit this year — often without even realizing it in the moment. Some of these involved internal shifts, big downloads, and changes in routine. Others came from external experiences and interactions with other beings — human and nonhuman. My hope in sharing my examples is that you'll be begin to notice how The Hermit showed up for you this year! But if you want more help with that, join my Reflecting on the Year of The Hermit workshop on December 29.HEAD TO THE EVENTS PAGE for details on this workshop and others coming up this winter, including another on the Wheel of Fortune (and The Magician), our cards for 2026.If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, leave a review, and pass along to your creative and magical friends! Then have a sweet little chat about it!If you wanna share about your Hermit year or what landed for you in this episode, send me a DM on Instagram @typewritertarot.* Grab a copy of the novel I mentioned in this episode: Love & Fury by Samantha Silva.* To hear more about our decan walk in the Creative Magic Collective in 2026, join the waitlist!This podcast is a production of Typewriter Tarot. Learn more & join us:Subscribe to the newsletter.Study & practice Tarot, astrology & creativity in Cosmic Garden.Get a copy of my workbook, Tarot for Creative Spirits.Book a Tarot or Creative Cosmology reading.Shop our bookshop.