Witch Sweat

"Facilitation is triage now" -NB What does it mean to lead group spaces in a world that feels increasingly raw, volatile, and grief-saturated? Melissa and Narinder sit down as artists, death workers and teachers to talk about how the role of the facilitator is changing, and why many space-holders are feeling exhausted and under impossible pressure. We talk: the collapse of the Spiritual Teacher archetype the rise of grief-literate communities entitlement dynamics in healing spaces discernment vs hypervigilance boundaries for facilitators the difference between authority and domination how facilitators can survive this era without burning out grief as a portal to joy why artistic practice is a potent container for grief This episode is for anyone who holds space for others: teachers, grief workers, artists, coaches, therapists, facilitors and community organizers and leaders. ✨ Magic Links: 🪞 Narinder Bazen’s Nine Keys School of Death Arts 🌷 Flowers on a Table (Narinder’s upcoming course) 🫧 Join Devotion Mode — Melissa’s monthly snail-mail art club: Each month, readers receive art in the mail: postcard prints, drawings, and writing that’s cooked up in the studio that month. A tactile antidote to the algorithm. Go slow, touch paper.   Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals

When you find yourself more and more interested in non-ordinary states of consciousness and cultivating a deep relationship to Divine Intelligence, but have spent a dizzying amount of time apologizing, downplaying, or sanitizing your visions, gifts and ‘out-there’ theories on reality, my friend, you may be hauling around the Mystic’s Grief. Let’s sort through some of that, shall we?   Grief Threads winter edition begins February 23 - are you in? Five weeks of cozy sewing and intuitive quilting while getting about the grief stored in our hearts and bodies.   Work with Narinder 1:1 or learn about her Death Midwifery Training. 10/10 recommend!   Book 1:1 Creative Coaching time with Melissa   Free Resources — Download Attention Reset - my free digital art zine on getting outta your head and into your body Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot spirit memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and first dibs on workshops and art Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals Erin Palovick made our stunning cover art <3

Oh lordy this is a big one for my artists and creative folk.  I asked my audience on IG to name some of the grievances they carry having chosen the artist's life, or from not feeling allowed to chose the artist's life. Ugh, devastating. You're responses were gutting, and very universal. So here's my hot take on each of them. Spoiler, it's a lot of tough love. So go make your art. Some topics covered: - feeling too broke to do the kind of art you wish you could make - feeling like your ship has sailed, and comparing yourself to other people who achieved 'success' early on in their journey - feeling robbed of a childhood where free, playful expression could be fully explored - fear around not having a clear direction - too many ideas and paralysis on where to start, overwhelm overwhelm overwhelm. 

A rebroadcast of a workshop I led recently on the power of moving grief and worry and anxiety out of the body through the exit route of the hands. Grief does not love to be analyzed or hyper fixated on through the channel of the mind. It's a visceral project, it requires our feeling and sensing self. How better to get about it than through moving our hands creatively with others.  The meditation is from 9:10 - 21:03 Grief Threads starts February 23 - Find your people, pour out the grief waters, listen to your fabrics, make something beautiful with a beginner's mind.  Small groups, intimate fellowship, new ways to see yourself and your life material.  Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals Album Art by Erin Palovick

Is it Anxiety or is it Life Grief? Solo episode dive into the difference between life grief and death grief. Thank GOD we are developing some maturity about the difference. I give much thanks that the cultural conversation is shifting and we are gaining some literacy around how much ~mental health stuff~ can be attributed to unprocessed and unmanaged life grief. Grief is the groundwater flowing under every aspect of our lives, and it has wisdom and gorgeous teachings for us if we are brave enough to move towards and not away from it. Book 1:1 Creative Coaching time with Melissa Mentioned in the Show — Join me for Grief Threads workshop - begins February 23 Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals Album Art by Erin Palovick

Buckle up, baby, we’re jumping into the fascinating world of psychic medium Caroline Brown. Cherished by many for her incredible mediumship abilities, Caroline shares her journey from being an accountant to becoming a conduit to the Spirit world and helping people connect to their Beloved Dead. We discuss how to talk to your Spirit team when you’re scared out of your gourd, and how to develop an ongoing relationship with them like you’re yakking with your middle school bestie on the landline well past bedtime. It’s easy to forget that we GET to ask for help from our Spirit Team - they’re ALWAYS available for guidance, support, feedback and directives. It’s just a matter of learning to refine our listening… Whether you're curious about the Spirit world or seeking to develop your own psychic capabilities, this episode brings us right into the heart of mediumship.   Mentioned in the Episode — Caroline's Website Join me for Enter the Sweat Portal - a workshop for creating your own daily somatic movement practice Book 1:1 Creative Coaching time with Melissa Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals

Ok my creative little gremlins, today we’re talking about BEING SEEN. Ahhh the terror! the allure! the yearn! the repulsion! We’re getting up underneath the complex layering of what it means to be successful by collective standards, and its requisite pressure to achieve widespread recognition, alongside genuine desires to be seen and acknowledged by many for your unique expression in the world. We’re unpacking the energetics of putting yourself out there and dispelling the judgements we might carry about both being seen and not being seen! We also discuss the devilish phenomenon I like to call the 'what’s the point voice’ that loves to plague the raw beginnings of a creative act, and how that inner antagonizer maps onto our fears about being witnessed.   Love the episode? Share with a pal you think would dig. OR leave me a review - your feedback means a lot around here <3   ✨Book a Creative Revival Session with Melissa 🪱Come to an in-person movement class in Atlanta Free Resources — Download Attention Reset - my free digital art zine on getting outta your head and into your body Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals

Yikes ya’ll, sorry to say it but being out of control is just such a vital part of being more creative. It’s laying yourself at the feet of the MUSE, jugular exposed, giving up your Best Ideas to instead be ravaged by the strange unknowable force that is your true Creative Work. Buckle up and get cozy, we are getting freaking COMFORTABLE WITH UNCERTAINTY, and we’re doing it through the lens of creative practice. We explore the different and distinct flavors of uncertainty, and how to deal with each of them. We are flying our freak flags high in the name of improvisation, going with the doggone flowsky and unclenching our buttholes and tight gripped fists so that we can actually create something real and honest with our lives yippeeee so fun let’s go! Solo episode. A love letter to your weird little inner child artist. ilysm. <3 Get a Creative Revival Session with Melissa Free Resources — Download Attention Reset - my free digital art zine on getting outta your head and into your body Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals

A cross-posted conversation from Nico Wolf’s podcast Living Liminal, where Nico and Melissa chat about the intersection between ritual textile play, creative practice, and our Spirit work. They speak to the magic of hands, lost contexts of craft, and the necessity of the revival of recognizing the ways the Unseen world can inform the the gift of creative vision. They bring in threads from their upcoming collaboration Distaff Ways: A Threefold Alchemical Healing, Seership Training & Ritual Fiber Arts Exploration w/ the Wisdom of the Spinners & Weavers This collaborative offering starts online at the end of August and culminates with a 6 day in person artist in residency in Santa Fe, NM. This work is open to all levels of experience and genders.   Learn more about Distaff Ways here: https://www.schoolofliminalarts.com/distaff-ways and Nico Wolf   Book a 1:1 Creative Revival Session with Melissa   Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals

This week we’ve got LA-based dance artist/body wizard Stephanie Zaletel in the broadcast portal with us. GIVE THANKS! Church is served, honey! This episode is very much about the vital research of coming back home to yourself, your body and your essential creative voice, and the cost of not answering the call.  You KNOW we got up to some 12 step talk and wooooo baby the ancestral addiction to shame and emotional spirals that get lodged up in our tissues. Stephanie’s exquisite research on the nervous system and somatic practices of care work and co-regulation are unmatched. The way she talks about her research and outlets for group practice is nothing short of stunning. Get somewhere soft and low to the ground to tee this one up.   Learn more about Stephanie HERE Follow I Care About Your Body on IG Stephanie’s IG   Sign up for Melissa’s Scrap the Plan workshop in August!   Book a 1:1 Creative Revival Session with Melissa Free Resources — Download Attention Reset - my free digital art zine on getting outta your head and into your body Stay Connected — Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals Sound Clip: Magic Stars Retro Sparkle by smokinghotdog via freesound.org