That Witch Life – A Podcast on Living as a Witch in Today ...



TWL Episode 31Thu, 4/16 6:55PM ? 1:22:44SUMMARY KEYWORDSoils, scent, aromatherapy, home, essential oils, spritz, witch, feel, put, house, carla, piece, smell, people, good, day, listeners, magic, practice, greatSPEAKERSKanani, Intro music, Courtney Hoover, Hilary, Carla, (Exit Music)Intro music 00:05(Intro music) 20 years ago, three young friends realized they were witches. They scattered to different parts of the world following Magick and Spirit. Now, they're back in their hometown to share what they've learned. Welcome to That Witch Life Podcast. Your home for living as a Witch in today's world.Courtney Hoover 00:47Welcome back everyone to That Witch Life podcast. I'm Courtney. I'm hosting today and I am joined by Hilary Hilary 00:54hello! Courtney Hoover 00:56and kananiKanani 00:57 Hello Courtney Hoover 00:59and This is one of our standard episodes, although we are still in deep social distance and recording from our respective homes instead of Hilary's basement. So let's quickly check in how are you two doing, considering the state of the world?Hilary 01:23(Screaming Goat) I think that about sums it up. No. Uh...Courtney Hoover 01:28I think it's, for a lot of us the streaming dope mentor lives at the right time. Yeah right? You know, getting by like everyone trying to, it's that balance of like, finding enough stuff to keep yourself occupied without putting the pressure on yourself to find a bunch of stuff to keep yourself occupied. Does that makes sense? Right.Hilary 01:51So yeah, just been like working on some house projects. And I'm working from home still. So during the week, it's, you know, a kind of nine to five scenario.Courtney Hoover 02:04what house projects are you working onHilary 02:06potted flowers and I'm starting some seeds starts, that I'm hoping will sprout so I can transfer it to a receptacle outside. What else is...Courtney Hoover 02:17magical or magical or just regular stuff?Hilary 02:19Both! Some magical, some edible. I mean all edible but some magical and some that are just for, you know, food or cooking. Although something a lot of times those are the same thing. And then I redid my kind of work from home, rehearse from home, teach from home space.Courtney Hoover 02:45Yeah, can you share with us what magical stuff you're planting?Hilary 02:48So I have some lemon balm that's going into a pot and obviously not planting that in the main yard. I have... Courtney Hoover 02:56That's an invasive plant alert with lemon balmHilary 02:59Yeah, it's great. It works really well if you pot it. And then I have some rosemary that's going in. I'm sorry if you guys hear puppy crying in the back.Courtney Hoover 03:12Oh, nooooo. Well, it sounds like the between the lemon balm and the rosemary are set to do some really good cleansing workHilary 03:18AbsolutelyCourtney Hoover 03:19Which we are all gonna need when we're on the other side of this, this craziness. Yes. Kanani, What are you up to? Kanani 03:29I am saving the world by eating candy and shopping.Courtney Hoover 03:35Oh, because that means that you're not going to go out there and murder us all or start telling us what to do. You just keeps you nice and sedated. So that's what I said.Kanani 03:43Yes, that actually is one way I do that. But no, actually I had a friend on Facebook talking about how she wanted to make masks and she's great at sewing and she's retired. She's got lots of free time, but she doesn't have a whole lot of fabric. And so I messaged her and I said, well, I don't know how to sew and I don't have free time but I know how to shop for fabric. And so I actually got her about 17 yards of really cute, fun, different patterns of fabric and so she's going to use them to make masks for people. So..Hilary 04:17That's so awesome. Kanani 04:18And I delivered them to a front porch while eating a Cadbury creme egg so...Courtney Hoover 04:22 Oh my God, that's, I had my Cadbury creme egg of Easter season earlier this week. I decided I earned it. I don't know what I remember what I did that I think that I earned it but I must have been big. I think I was just really patient with people on the phone all day. And so I got a Cadbury creme egg out of that. I mean that's worthy of it, right?Kanani 04:42I they're like Prozac to me. I just I just pop them like Pez so Courtney Hoover 04:45They're so good. They're so bad, but they're so good. It's like you're eating it and, you just know that this is the worst thing you could be putting in your body besides like, you know, street drugs, and it's how goodKanani 04:57they're amazing.Courtney Hoover 04:59They're really good. My mom has potentially charged me with making masks for the whole family, because I'm the one who has possession of the one sewing machine that's in our family. It's this monster thing from the late 1970s. And I had to find a YouTube video to show me how to use it because when my mom gave it to me, and she gave me all the parts, it was long before this, my plan was just to use it to make my niece and nephews Halloween costumes once a year and maybe curtains. And she showed me all the pieces and looked at me with her motherly wisdom and said, "Never underestimate the value of the glue gun." And that was it. And so now I need to figure out how to use the sewing machine and potentially make masks for my family. But remember how I recovered the chair in my bathroom with that awesome mermaid fabric. You know, I'm gonna make some really badass mermaid face masks and yes, I will make them for the two of you. Hilary 05:55YAY! Courtney Hoover 05:56I mean, yes, absolutely. Sorry listeners, I can't make them for everybody because sewing is not my bag, but I will give them to these two to keep them in my graces since I have to continue to work with them.Kanani 06:10I have also been tiara shopping so that's been funCourtney Hoover 06:14Where are you tiara shopping? Hilary 06:15What are you talking about? (Laughing)Kanani 06:18 I found a website and I think I may have bought a fewCourtney Hoover 06:25(Laughing) Are they on Instagram? We need to see them like immediately. Oh, whenKanani 06:28they get delivered, I will show them for sure. Courtney Hoover 06:30You're gonna model them?Kanani 06:32I'll probably do that too. Okay, yeah. I'll probably just wear them all the time. I'll be like, this is my new, not in quarantine, part of my attire. Like this is what I do now.Courtney Hoover 06:41Yeah, so for me, um, well, the walls have been closing in quite a bit this week. I had a lot of 3am crying sessions, like more than the week before. I didn't sleep at all last night. Part of it is the medication I'm coming off of just gives me wicked insomnia and I also just I read that the state of things is causing a lot of people to lose some sleep. So I've been up since two in the morning which means I will either start rambling or laughing or crying before the end of this episode and probably a combination of all three so get ready. (Laughs) But what I've not been doing and I need to do is go to my altar more because I feel the spirits wanting to be there with me. I'm still tending my magical work, I haven't dropped it but what I've not been doing is the work on myself and I feel like that's what has got to be the most important thing in my witchcraft right now, given the circumstances. Hilary 07:41YeahCourtney Hoover 07:41And I don't know why it's so hard for me just to sit my ass down in front of my altar maybe it's because I just cry when I'm there. Hilary 07:48No, I totally agree. I've been having the same thing, like I all day I was like, you know what I should tend to my alter a little more, I need to like, just sit with myself, and I have found that I have had a very hard time doing that.Courtney Hoover 08:03Yeah, I mean, maybe we can rely on our listener help. Can you guys just send us messages on Facebook or Instagram or we're also on Twitter, or even just to the contact page on our website and just the message sit your asses in front of your altar today, and we'll do it. But we just need to be reminded and told to do. We do what we're told most of the time. Hilary 08:26Two of us do! Kanani 08:28Are you new?Courtney Hoover 08:30Yeah. Well, Kanani, you sometimes do what I tell you to do when you're when you're in need. When it reaches that point where you're actually asking for my help, then yeah, you do listen. So...Kanani 08:39I feel like I'm doing this backwards because I feel like I was a dumpster fire, shit show when this started. And I feel like I've I feel like I'm like i've i've succumbed to this is my life now. And I'm just like, okay,Courtney Hoover 08:51yeah, all the memes that people are spreading on Facebook right now about the moms who have just given up and basically let their kids run around being feral children. You know, pulling the insulation out of walls and making that their dinner? Those are basically written for and about Kanani. Kanani 09:06Oh 100% 100% Courtney Hoover 09:09Well, you had like extra quarantine this week, didn't you with your son?Kanani 09:13Yes. So my son ended up getting sick last week and he hasn't left the house for a couple weeks. So we had no idea. Was it something he ate? Is it something that he got exposed to that we brought home? Because the only thing we've gone out for is food. And we don't do that very often. Because we've got pretty stocked up. So just to be on the safe side, I quarantined myself with a young child for three days inside of our master bedroom because we have a bathroom in here. And that was not fun. It was not fun. It was not so bad because he was not feeling well and lethargic and just laid there. But then when he was, you could tell he very much was feeling better and he was literally bouncing off the walls and on the bed. It's like Okay, okay, we're going back into the house now.Courtney Hoover 10:05How do you still have two children after that?Kanani 10:07Ugh! But I mean, so we pretty much are meandering throughout the house now. But he bounced back rather quickly that I'm, we're leaning towards that was something that he ate or something that just didn't set well with him. Because he didn't bounce back within probably 48 hours. But still, I mean, it's absolutely horrifying when you know, suddenly someone's sick and you know they haven't been exposed anything outside the house. And it's like, what the hell?Courtney Hoover 10:35Did you watch anything good while you were stuck in your master bedroom with your son?Kanani 10:39Oh, no, because I had to watch nothing but children's cartoons and I am now proficient in Teen Titans Go, which was not something I ever wanted to be. And watch some other cartoons that apparently he watches that I just was like, yeah, now that I know, you're not allowed to watch this anymore. So yeah, it was good times. No, I mean, I just I do I feel like I'm kind of calmer through this. I kind of have accepted this as the future fate for the time being and we've just had so many different things kind of fall to shit in this time period, that it's just kind of like everything is now, I'm just immune at this point, everything is just one more thing...one more crazy thing. And so I think I've just resigned myself to, you know, it will be over soon. That's all I keep telling myself. It will be over soon.Courtney Hoover 11:22Well, that's important to remember. his will be a memory at some point. It feels like forever now, we will be past this at some point.Kanani 11:43Exactly! Hilary 11:44Yeah, that's really important to remember. I try and remind myself that when I'm starting to go (yells) you know, like just like, starting to panic about being sad or, or how long this is going to last. I like trying to remind myself that this is hard. And it's gonna be hard. hard, but that it's temporary.Courtney Hoover 12:02Right? But with that, we're going to set aside the Coronavirus talk for just a little while and actually talk about some hardcore witchcraft. And we have a wonderful guest coming on today, Carla Gaskins-Nathan, who is an aromatherapist and a witch, will be joining us in a little while to talk about her magic and what we can use from the aromatherapy world in our work.Kanani 12:29Love that!Courtney Hoover 12:31Yeah, so welcome to April everyone, it is time for our card of the month. I am using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which is not everybody's favorite. It's pretty ubiquitous and certainly I don't think it is the only deck people should use but it's the only one available to me right now because in addition to being quarantined, I'm also quarantined and half our house because the other half is under construction, which means a lot of my Tarot decks are inaccessible. So I'm using this one. I'm going to shuffle this up and find out what what is our card for the month? Okay, so the card we got is the Hierophant. This is a tricky card. It is it's suggestive of patriarchy in many ways, it tends to evoke things of organized religion. Things that witches are not always fond of. The benefits of this card, though, include order, and plan and organization. I've often said to people that if you start working at a new company, your Hierophant is your human resources director because they're the one who tells you how everything operates and the rules of the place. So this is encouraging us to try to establish some order and rules within the chaos. This doesn't mean that you suddenly have to go except the patriarchal, end stage, capitalism that is killing us all. In fact, we highly recommend that you don't. However, it does mean that you can create order and structure in your own life. I feel like that might be a message for us to try to get our asses to our altars once a day. At least that's what I'm taking from it from myself and starting to making sure that I'm in a regular spiritual practice. So listeners out there, something to reflect on is what is the Hierophant trying to encourage in order for you? We're releasing this on Monday, April 6. Tuesday, April 7, we have a full moon in Libra and there is a lot of shit going on. And I'm going to try to say all of this without losing it because like I said, I'm really tired and some of these words are just, you know, beyond me. So the first thing to know is that the moon is trineing Mars, which is a really good time for spells for harmony. The sign of Libra is not always known as a home based planet, but if you know any Libras, hashtag Kanani, do not fuck with their homes and their spaces. Okay? (laughing) So think of, I want you to imagine Kalani and being in Kanani's space and understand the order and the "don't fuck with my space" energies there. This is the time to establish that in your home. Again, the Heirophant, it's a really excellent time for restoring relationship with your space, which I think is particularly important given the circumstances. If you're feeling especially emotional, I do recommend the meditation called "Calming the Storm" by Evo Domingues, Jr, which we will have a link for it on our website. And this will allow you to clear your emotions before setting in to do the work. There are also a lot of energies in this moon that involve getting small projects done but also they can indicate the struggle to finish things. So I wouldn't use this moon for say, like, cleaning out your closets, but it might be good time to say, get rid of a pile of mail clutter in your living room.Kanani 15:02Hashtag true storyHilary 15:07(Screaming Goat Sound) I just did that yesterday. That's really funny. (laughing)Courtney Hoover 16:07Excellent. So in doing this, connect your negative energies to this work and let them know you're releasing the stress and frustration, the sadness. If you have a magic broom, this is a really good time to bust it out. Again, I keep recommending Stephanie Rose Bird's "Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones". There are some really wonderful broom spells in there. So if you can get your hands on a copy of that book that will help you use this work as well. But even if you don't have a magical broom, pick up your standard broom and ask it essentially to help you do this work and say hey, normally you are my sweep up the cat litter broom, but today you're going to be my magical broom and I need you to step in here. So sweep from the back of your house out to the front and, if this is possible in you're your dwelling, open up the front doors and the front windows, focusing on the spring air and inviting the newness and renewal to envelop the house. If you live in an apartment where your front door opens into a hall and not outside, perhaps go to the front of your building, open the door briefly. You shouldn't leave the front door of your building open, close it, but then you're bringing in the spirit of that clean energy back into your house and see it like blue energy, enveloping each room of the house as you walk through and touch each wall of your dwelling. And it can help if you say something, knowing that your home is a living, breathing thing. So as you lay a hand on each wall, say aloud, or in your head if your roommate or your spouse are just not into this and get creeped out, and say "May you be happy, may you be at peace." And then make sure you do that same blessing to yourself. "May I be happy May I be at peace." So very simple spell for us to do at home when it's really hard to get outside and get materials. If you've got candles around your house that you want to charge with the same intention and light them great. But for the foreseeable future, we're going to keep including spellwork in here where you really don't need anything except for things that you likely already have in your house, just because we should be staying at home.Kanani 18:27I did think it was funny, Courtney, that you mentioned to me that one of our listeners laughed at the fact that you told me to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail because the listener was like I already knew she was gonna hate it before she even watched it.Courtney Hoover 18:42She did. I had a I had a Skype session with one of our listeners, which was really fun and she said, "Yeah, as soon as you told Kanani to watch that movie, I didn't think that was going to go well" and I was like, damn it, how do people know her better than me? This is really, scary.Hilary 18:57Because you want to think the best. Kanani 19:00Why you don't see me for reality? Other people are like, oh, no, no, she is that terrible. Courtney Hoover 19:04That's been the curse of my life, just believing in people in general, especially you. Kanani 19:09Exactly! So what we really need his listeners to tell me what to watch because clearly they know what I'm going to like and what I'm not going to like.Courtney Hoover 19:18So we do need some more suggestions because Kanani might not let us ever pick a show for her again, and she's gonna make us watch The Good Witch over and over.Hilary 19:25Yes. So if you have suggestions, let us know. And I also have a musical suggestion. Courtney Hoover 19:30Yes!!!!!Hilary 19:31So I have a friend who is a DJ and she goes by Spellbound DJ. She's a witch and an amazing human. She has been doing live dance parties and live playlists. You can find her on Facebook and and we will link to her page. She has also done, in those, fundraising for sex workers who have no money coming in during this time, and so it's a good way to give back to people that have had like a sudden loss of income. And yeah, I mean, her music is awesome. It's a really fun dance party. I've attended too. And then yeah, she even put together a playlist for kids, a dance party playlist for kids. So anyway, we'll link her. She's a wonderful human. She's helping to raise money for important causes and her dance parties are super fun. She's always super dressed up and decked out while she's DJing live. So..Courtney Hoover 20:37This is so, these are delicious recommendations. Thank you, Hilary. We've also had more people come in and let us know that their magical gifts are available for purchase online, one of which is Crescent Moon Gifts, who has a limited amount of products available to order online, but they are happy to take calls and be your personal shopper. So, someone offering could be a personal witchcraft shopper is so badass. So I would definitely take take our friends up on this they said they have over 20,000 magical items, including crystals, tarot, books, figurines, jewelry, herbs, essential oils, blends, tea, ritual items and of course That Witch Life spell cards and they ship daily and worldwide. They're linked , and they will also be on our website. Speaking of talking to one of our listeners, Carly Anne, aka the sassy astrologer, is doing some very timely music. Hilary you're gonna die, you've got to listen to this, it's called the Black Death Project. So they are recording music from plague era, medieval Europe. Hilary 21:50Oh my GOD, awesome.Courtney Hoover 21:50And it is beautiful. When she told me about it I said okay, Hilary needs to stop what she's doing and listen to it. So we've got a link to Carly Anne singing this absolutely beautiful, but really eerie, song on our website, so please go and check that out as well. We also had a listener question which we are going to answer before we bring on our guest. And it goes, I was curious to know if you can expand on an idea you spoke about in the podcast, I was a little lost on the crystal concept. Do you keep the same crystal and charge it at every solstice, so you have it throughout the year, or was it at certain solstices so you can have it throughout the year? I really love the concept if I understood it correctly, and would like to translate it to different parts of my witch crafting. This listener is referring to a practice we suggested at the Winter Solstice which was to take a crystal and let it be exposed to the first light at dawn. So the first light of the winter solstice, and this crystal can be used to shed light on things in your life. It can also Be used to bring light into darkness. If you all l charge your crystals at solstice, this might be a really good time to be bringing them out, carrying them, meditating on them, so trying to bring in the promise of brighter days ahead is what this is saying. And the truth is you can use this crystal and charge it only a winter solstice and that is your winter solstice crystal. You can charge it for a while and then use it for something else or give it away and use a new crystal every winter solstice and that's part of your renewal practice. I personally am going to use my crystal on both the winter and the summer solstice. So I'm going to use it to capture the sunset on the longest day when we have our summer solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere in June. So it keeps the continuity of long, bright days and bright light shining on things. That's my choice. And if you have lost or the misplaced your crystal, need a new one with Summer Solstice, okay, so be it, that's just the way things go, the crystal may have decided just to bounce and it doesn't want to do the work anymore. Or you can keep them separate, it's really your choice. But I do find that capturing light from those two days in a crystal or in different crystals is really, really powerful for your magic throughout the year. So I hope that answered the listener question. Do you have anything you want to add to that?Kanani 24:26I would just add that, kind of what you said, which is there there is no right or wrong. It's just whatever she chooses to do. You could have a different crystal for every single Solstice and Equinox and you know, however you want to do it. You can have one for all, it's whatever you would like and I think how you choose to use the crystals and if you want to, you know, imbue something in one and not another, or like you said, use one that you use specifically for capturing, you know, all kinds of light. Yeah, it's totally it's totally choice. So there's not really a hard and fast rule of what you have to do. It's, it's what you would like to do and what you think works with your practice.Hilary 25:15Yeah, I agree. I have crystals that I use that I have charged on a particular Solstice or a particular day. I also have some that I charged just on full moons or cleanse on full moons. So yeah, I think it really is I don't think there's a right or a wrong way although I do love the concept of utilizing that crystal from the winter solstice so the bringing back or coming back of light during this time, I think is a great idea. Especially since we feel like we're in the darkness in this even though even though there's some some daylight happening.Courtney Hoover 25:55Right. There is a power in repetition and magic. This is a reason why we chance. Hilary 26:00Yep. Courtney Hoover 26:01And the reason why it's is good to reuse magical tools for the same task because it increases their power. And sometimes that's not always feasible. Right? And so the point is just do the magic it's better to do the magic than the not do the magic out of concern that you're not doing it correctly. So try aound, try the repetitio, try it differently and see what you get a stronger result because each witch is its own individual being, just as different foods react with us differently, different magical practices are going to do that as well. Well, I am delighted to welcome our special guest today. Carla Gaskins-Nathan, who is the founder and CEO of Zelah LLC and Rooted Bodywork, her private massage practice. Carla works as an individual and organizational wellness consultant, educator and practitioner of healing arts. As a solo practitioner. Carla is working on remembering and reclaiming the practices of her ancestors going where spirit takes them and embracing community where love is found. They believe that, through caring for ourselves, we are able to fully engage with our life, work, and communities. Carla focuses her work on LGBTQ communities of color yet opens her practice to all that see the importance of holistic wellness. Carla is a lecturer and writer and has been featured in various podcasts, conferences and magazine articles. Welcome to That Witch Life Podcast, Carla.Carla 27:31Thank you. Thank you.Courtney Hoover 27:33So listeners and YouTube may remember my stories about Carla from earlier in our season, in which Carla was the one who went with me to the magical Walmart up in the Bronx. And we spent all of our money because they had all of that Juju going to basically suck it out of our wallets.Carla 27:52All the moneyCourtney Hoover 27:52 So we left with a bunch of great stuff and absolutely no cash. We're both looking at each other like what the fuck just happened? She's also one of my closest and dearest friends and she's a lot nicer to me than either one of you are so I am very glad.Hilary 27:56Wait... I'm pretty niceKanani 28:09The bar for that's not super high though.Courtney Hoover 28:14(Laughing)Hilary 28:14Speak for yourselfKanani 28:19That's right, Hilary's way nicer than I am.Courtney Hoover 28:22That's true. That's true. All right. Well, anyway, she's much nicer than Kanani. But you're also right doesn't take much. My garbage can's nicer to me than Kanani most days.Kanani 28:34Well, maybe.Courtney Hoover 28:36So Carla is in Harlem in New York City. And although we have specifically said we're not spending this entire episode talking about the Coronavirus, I think it would be unreasonable not to even mention it or hear about what Carla's experience has been like recently given that you are in the current global epicenter of the outbreak from what I understand How is it going? And how are you faring with all of this?Carla 29:03Yeah, I'll be honest, it's a bit surreal. So there's this piece of, you know, you look out the window or I have a dog, my wife and I have a dog, so walking the dog. It feels sometimes like, oh, this is an XYZ kind of regular-ish day. You know, the normal folks are out, we're walking, people are on the street still quite a bit. It's not quite as congested as it usually is. But then, you know, three quarters of my neighbors are wearing face masks, and I'm like, well, that's different. Um, the last two weeks, I will say in particular, have felt harder. I'm there constantly and, my mic may or may not pick it up, I tried to close all the windows, but the ambulance sirens. There's actually one in the background right now as I just said it, are constant. You know, I was walking my dog just the other day and I was on the phone for maybe 20 minutes with a friend and four different ambulances passed us, and ones that are for hospitals nowhere near you know where we live. And so it's definitely feeling a bit more surrounding. And then just things that are weird, like I'm used to people being around in my neighborhood. And if you're not paying enough attention to this, oh, people are still out and people are still moving, but it's Harlem, there's a lot of like older black women and older folks that are just normally out and about and go shopping and doing those things. You can go outside and see people but what you'll notice is you're seeing adults, um, I don't see kids, and there's tons of kids in our neighborhood and even in my building. So sometimes I will not see a child for literally days, maybe twice a week now. Same thing, a lot of the older you know, folks, I just kind of know from around the neighborhood have been living here. I'm from Brooklyn, and then moved back to New York about 10 years ago and live in Harlem. And, you know, there's just folks you get to know that you just know from around and I, you know, I just I don't see them anymore and I'm hoping that they're well and every time you know, you do hear an ambulance you're like, I hope that isn't Mrs. So and So or, you know this person or that person. So that pieces is harder and then I think this surrealness of you're watching the national news and now your local news is national news. I mean, in NY, we're kind of self centered sometimes, so our news is often makes national news but for so much of what's happening here to be then reflected. So just a hard piece of balancing news were for us, our local news and national news is reflecting what it is like to be the epicenter of the epicenter and in what that feels like. And then, I guess the last piece too, is just that it's getting closer to home, you know, logging on social media, more and more people we know directly are having it and dealing with it. You said I teach I've had students who have had it in our thank goodness recovering from it. So that's been hard.Courtney Hoover 32:01 Are you able to take care of yourself, you know, spiritually and emotionally right now?Carla 32:07Yeah, I think to the best of one's ability, I just was messaging with some of my colleagues and, you know, sometimes we get so caught up in my world with like the should'ves, you know, doing wellness work. I'm a licensed massage therapist, doing self care consulting, you know, we work in a world where we're always like, how can we be of service to others in our community, and you know, trying to check in with other people who identify as healers. And I can get on a whole soapbox about that, but for healers, definitely talk about it in a context, especially with people of color that do wellness work, and not coming from a pedestal guru type person, like, when I say that, so I'll leave that soapbox alone but that I'll put that out there. But for those of us that are out there doing, you know healing arts work as healers and folks that are licensed practitioners, all trying to figure out the balance of how do we put stuff out there to offer to others, but then also how do we make sure that we're nourishing and caring for ourselves. And also for me, I had to give myself permission to be like, I'm not in the space to like, make videos. Some of my colleagues are like, they're making videos post stuff on YouTube and the "gram" and this that in the third. And I'm just like, I'm sad, and I'm emotionally exhausted. And it's okay. Like, it's okay that I'm not on doing Facebook Live every, you know, afternoon and be like, here's these tips. You know, someone talked about in a group that I'm in about, you know, toxic positivity, and just being aware that this whole piece to around the capitalism of being overly productive for folks feeling like, I need to be able to do X, Y, and Z and offer all these things during this time. And it's like, yo, son, if you decided to switch from the gray sweatpants to the black sweatpants and put on some ankle socks and flip flops. Great, right? So just trying to figure out, you know, what does it look like you mean, for your day. So for me, it's meant spending time at my personal altar. I maintain an ancestor altar refreshing that, um, one thing that I did for myself care, and a friend of mine that's a friend and spiritual mentor, both mine and Courtney's our friend, Renee. And you know, a couple months back, she was at my house and I will periodically buy my ancestors flowers, but I won't say at that point, I wasn't like every week making sure there's fresh, fresh flowers. She was at my house and, she was like your Egun, they want fresh flowers. And I'm like, Okay, cool. And so then from there on, and probably two, three months ago, I've made sure every week and I just kind of made it a routine, like, the dog and I would walk and we'd go past the grocery store or outside of it in New York, often grocery stores will have people who sell flowers either outside of grocery stores or bodegas. Courtney Hoover 34:16YES! I love Renee. Yes. Carla 34:49But now with everything going on, you know, they're not out and I'm also trying to limit my interactions with people. So um, I decided for my self care because I was just sad not having those flowers. I was like, well, I have paper and I got like markers and all kinds of art supplies, I colored in drew flowers, and then I cut them.Courtney Hoover 35:07AwwCarla 35:08 And I put them in a mason jar, which is what I normally use on my ancestor altar. And I cannot tell you how happy it makes my spirit to see those. And then when I told Rene and she was like, send me a picture, and so I sent her a picture. And it just she was like, that's so beautiful. And she was like, it probably is even more meaningful for them, because I actually made it with my hands. And just the flowers that I've been seeing in my neighborhood that are blooming, so like daffodils and tulips are starting to bloom and it just felt so cathartic to just make into color. And then also what we're going to talk about today is just that use of scents. Just using these various things to really just ground myself in this time right now has been extremely important.Courtney Hoover 35:58I am so in love with the idea of drawing and coloring flowers for your ancestor altar. What a fabulous suggestion when you can't get out or you don't have the money or you're trying to keep your kids busy.Carla 36:10Yeah, you know, the is the time of adaptation if anything, right. It's like, how are we adaptable? How do we, you know, how do we switch stuff up right now? If there ever was a time, right, until that's where we are.Courtney Hoover 36:24So, this brings us into the meat of our discussion, and we're starting with the first question that we typically ask our guests and how did you know you were a witch? Oh, wow. So that is an interesting question. You know, if I actually sit down and think about it, I would say it goes back to childhood. It is something that I always was intuitive, I don't identify as a psychic, but definitely as a child, I would just know things that, in theory, I wasn't supposed to know. So like one of my earliest memories of like, Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud, is I was playing in my friend's backyard and, you know, kids running in and out of the house. I was running back into their house for something and I passed their aunt on the way she was coming, I think, out of the houses as I was running up the back steps into the kitchen to like, grab some juice or something. And I just looked at her and I was like, congratulations, and then like, went about my business. And she had this look of shock on her face. And she then stopped me and she was like, how did you know? And she was like, we haven't really told anybody. I think I was maybe 10, if that and I was like, oh, I just knew so congrats, and she was like, okay, and she just kind of went about our business we never talked about it again. You know, and I was just like, do do do and just different times in my life, throughout childhood and then from an early age, just having a connection or wanting and knowing, a craving about ancestors who had passed. So my grandfather, my paternal grandfather, passed before I was born. And I just remember, like constantly wanting to ask my grandmother questions about him, you know, who's that in this photo? What were they like, things like that, was something that was strong. And then just kind of what we talked about, like that gut feeling or that gut sense, um, in my life as a kid growing up in New York, and then I moved to the Midwest, in adolescence, just dealing with, you know, from a safety perspective, and from a just like, feeling like there's just these tales of like, hey, you shouldn't walk down this black, you should cross the street, you should do this and just listening and understanding the importance of that listening. And my grandmother never talked about magic directly, but she did talk to me a lot about gut intuition, and kind of following what you know what your Spirit says. And so that's something that really stuck with me. And then just has continued on. And then I think really it probably wasn't until, like my 20s that I really started to identify with the term. And a lot of it, I'll be honest, was a lot of cultural stuff. Growing up in a religious household where that wasn't an okay word or term to use. And so that really was a big piece. But the big piece for me has really been about like looking at the work that I do now. And like, what does it mean? So it's like, what do I do I hold space as a facilitator, I listen to people, I offer tools, I offer resources, and like all of us say like it was really listening to your first episode. It's like most folks always have that kind of coming out story or a moment of like that connection with nature, whatever form or way it needs to be based on your location and wanting to make that connection. Yeah. And you're relatively new out, of the quote unquote, broom closet. So what prompted you to come out as a witch and what has this process been like for you?Carla 40:00Oh my goodness, it's been a really amazing process. The more I think about it, um, there was definitely some nervousness. The big thing for me that I realized is like, I'm out as queer and being genderqueer, so I just figured out, like, why not be out about this. For me I identify more as a solo practitioner, but definitely have different folks that I connect with, and mentors and guides. But I realized that, you know, being out about this really is about thriving for myself and for my people, and what I like to refer to as being afropresent, so I don't go as deep into the afrofuturism as my wife does, she is well more read and versed in that area, but I really like to think of an afropresent, what does it mean in the current time in context to really love blackness? What does it mean for me to love queerness? So to me, I look at being out as you say, of the broom closet, as possible. of embracing my ancestral, spiritual and healing practices. And to me that means a path to home, to wellness and to liberation. It's also about remembering who I am, who we are as a collective, and then basically that it breathes magic into us, into all that we do. And really the work of late that I've been doing that's multi faith is also it's part of our divinity. And it's our birthright as a person of color. I very much believe that. And then I think the last piece of that, that I feel like I wouldn't do justice and answering that, is it also to I have to talk about the history of colonization of so many black and brown people, and that a big piece of this, to me, is a coming out but it's more of a remembering and a reclaiming. Right? It's more about recognizing that my people were separated from our land. We were separated from each other. We were separated from language, history and culture, which is everything from the music, to the spirituality, to healing, and for us, we have all these like broad associations as black folks with the continent, right? But now we, you know, our people were able to hide bits and pieces. So a lot of us are reclaiming, remembering. This isn't new. We're just like, how do I weave this into the current fabric that I need now to give my soul and my spirit warmth? What does that look like? What does that feel like? So how do we stitch that back together and put it in a contemporary experience? Basically, we're filling in those holes and those gaps, I want to be warm. I want to be warm with that love with that knowledge and with that connection to my people.Courtney Hoover 42:43Oh, man, every time I think I couldn't love you more than you just go off and start saying beautiful, important things and then I just start crying. A lot of your work, as you talked about is aromatherapy and so for, and I realized actually, I don't know a lot about aromatherapy, I know that there were tons of books and Kanani's bedroom in her first apartment, that we're all about aromatherapy, and I realize that's the limit of my knowledge is reading those titles from the stack of books by her old futon. So currently, why don't you enlighten us? What exactly is aroma therapy? Cool.Carla 43:18So, you know, I should say that, you know, nerd alert, so I really am just going to go straight up with there's the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy, so they're, you know, definition of aromatherapy is that it's a practice, that aromatherapy uses natural plant extracts, such as essential oils, hydrosols, carrier oils in a variety of ways to heal the body, mind and spirit. It is the promotion and harmonization of emotional, physical and spiritual health through the application of these extracts. So that's one of the resources I would say is the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy. I know we'll get into that a bit later on. Then for just like Carla, keeping it real, two cents is aromatherapy to me is about using scents, be it from essential oils, be it from plants, you know, be it from things that you already have, you know, with you at your home in a way that helps ground you, helps pivot and helps create a conduit for health, healing, and, you know, transitioning into other things. So that's the big piece for me.Courtney Hoover 44:28And so what are some of the ways that a witch can use aroma therapy in magic? Carla 44:34Cool. I'm gonna go on a little tangent for a second and then we bring it back. So, I think the big thingCourtney Hoover 44:40(Laughing)Hilary 44:41I love it. Carla 44:41Yeah, I'm bossy so right? So my thing that's most important before we even talk about how we use it, imagine is like why would we do it in the first place? So the first thing is we have to acknowledge the power of scent memories, right? So just taking a second as you all sit where you are and think about just like how is it when you take a whiff of a familiar scent, and how it can instantly take us to a different time and place. Courtney Hoover 44:44YesCarla 44:44Now, often we're hoping for the scent memories to be welcomed, right? They're things that we remember. It's our grandmother's cooking.Courtney Hoover 45:17YesCarla 45:17For some of me, it might be that sweet smell of bacon, it might be lilacs in the springtime, it may be fresh cut grass, but we all have these different things. They're also sometimes our set memories that are unpleasant that we associate with people or places and things that were traumatic as well. So we have to also acknowledge that. Now, again, a nerd alert, is just like, you know, scientists look at that there's actual chemical information that gets translated into electrical signals that traveled to the brain, and it actually affects our behaviors and choices as well as our mood. A lot of times this is done without us even paying attention. So this is like a paraphrasing of Paolo Palazzo, which is a scientist, but scent matters right? Scent matters literally leads to our lives and people I think take cent for granted. One of the unfortunate things with this pandemic is that one of the symptoms that's newer is that some people are actually losing their sense of smell and taste. Courtney Hoover 46:18OH!Carla 46:19Yeah, that's that is a thing and I actually have had some friends directly that that happened to. It does come back but it is one of the signs, on of the symptoms. So the first thing is like scents matter ,scents protect us It literally protect us our life right? Scents let us know if there's a fire, scent protects us from eating spoiled food. You're like, yo, how long ago that ramen in there? And you open it, you're like, yeah, that's not good anymore, right? So it literally helps us for self preservation, right? It also guides us it guides us to our favorite coffee shops, our favorite bakeries or restaurants. Or when you're asleep and somebody in your house is brewing coffee, you're cooking something that's your favorit, it may even wake you up. Courtney Hoover 47:04YesCarla 47:05So first as we think about it in terms of magic, we have to think about the places it takes us and where we want it to take us. So I like to think of scent as a facilitator. And even for me and my healing work, right, I don't think of myself as a healer, as I'm not coming in and healing somebody, I'm helping facilitate it. Often the body knows what it needs. Sometimes it just needs a translator or someone to help the conversation along. So even in the body work that I do, or energy work that I do, that's the role. Right? So scent's just another facilitator for us, for our wellness, and when I think about magic and think about, you know, That Witch Life, right, I think about it's healing, it's about nourishment. So we want to look at what is it that we want it to facilitate? So if you're using it for a spell, for example, then what is the purpose of that spell that you're doing? Right, is it about empowerment? Is it about banishing? You know, what is that piece? And then what are the scents that you think would go with that? So with aromatherapy, there's tons of books and websites, and we'll talk a little bit about those later, but we also just have our innate sense of smells that we like or don't like. So for example, if you're trying to banish a person that you don't like, and there's a scent, you know, they don't like then guess what, you might use that sense, right? If you're trying to attract, and you think of it's richest on abundance, then what might that smell like? May that be, if you think of gold? Is that something yellow? Is that honey? Is that marigold? Is that, you know, things that have that smell? Is in lemon, what is that? So that's the so that's the piece. So then we want to think of how we want that scent to anchor us. Right? If we're using it in a spell or in a situation and we're looking at changing then how do we use scnet as a pivot? So for me, I often also talk to people and clients about using it as a pivot because a pivot is something that we want to change out of. So I hate sometimes when people are like, hh, we want to do a 180 want to do a 360. Sometimes we just want to do a little bit of a directional turn. It doesn't need to be that full range.Courtney Hoover 49:11We wanna do a 12, we wanna do a 15.Carla 49:14Right? You're just like, I need a 15. Right? And then I'll go to like, you know, I'm a Harlem I'm sassy, right? Like part of the deal. embracing that witchness in me is that it's like a white pair of Nikes go with the broomstick, right? So you also got to recognize what works for yourself and who are you and your practice, right? So that's, you know, for me, I'm like joking with Courtney. I'm like, okay, me being rich, what does this mean? What does it look like for me? Right? So the anchor in that pivot. So if the pivot is hey, I feel like I'm on this path or doing what I need to do but with everything going on, you know, I'm at home. I'm having to work, take care of my kids, support a sick family member all at the same time. There's not enough hours in the day. I just need to pivot. I need something that's going to take me either a little bit out of my current context or embrace me where I'm at in it, but pivot my mood, pivot that energy, right? It's not going to say it's going to take me completely out of where I am. But what is it? So some of it is thinking of natural scents and flavors that already exist. And while we can talk about essential oils, let's be honest, we're in the middle of a pandemic, it's hard to get things right now. So often even thinking about things you already have in your home. If you're a baker, do you have different extracts in your home? Courtney Hoover 49:19Ohhhhh! Carla 50:26Do you have fresh herbs in your house? Do you have lemons or limes? So can you great, can you grate the peel? Can you squeeze some of that juice? You know, if you have, if you're a drinker, even if you're not, but you have alcohol in your house, vodka, or even rubbing alcohol, you can add some of that either extract, herb, you know, squeeze a fresh juice, lemon juice citrus is really helpful. It's very brightening and it brings up and elevates folks, right? There's all these things we can use that we already have, then depending on how deep you're into that magic life, and you already have certain supplies on hand, then by all means you can use things that are specifically for aromatherapy. But please don't listen to this and be like, Oh my goodness, I wish this was the time I could just go to my co-op or to my, you know, whole foods or to wherever it gets, though, we have scents throughout our homes. It even could be your moisturizer that gives you life, go to that bathroom, smell that for a minute, take a timeout, hide from whomever in your home, and recenter yourself as a pivot. So let's also broaden that that scope.Hilary 51:36That's such a good reminder. I think sometimes I get stuck in that, like, oh, I don't have this thing or I maybe I should go get this item. I think it's always such a good reminder that there, we can make a lot of those same things with what resources that we have available.Carla 51:52Yeah, we can make it make it do make it simple. And that's one of the things your podcast has been really helpful for me. It's just like hey, like, you know don't get so caught up on I don't have the right color candle, do you have a candle? Tell it it's pink, keep it moving.Hilary 52:08(Laughing)Kanani 52:08(Laughing)Courtney Hoover 52:08(Laughing)Carla 52:11Right? Like this is what I need you to be.... transmute.Courtney Hoover 52:14I'm a witch, I can make you be a pink candle.Hilary 52:17I'm going to carve pink into the side of this white candle and it's gonna be a pink candle. Carla 52:21That's what I'm saying, take your kids crayons. That's what you gotta do. Make it work make it.Hilary 52:25(Laughing) I love it.Carla 52:27So that's the other thing. The other piece too is remembering it for self soothing, right like a lot of us right now are going through collective trauma, right? For those of us that believe in interdependence, and how we are all connected, and for those of us that are connected to nature, there is a collective, global, trauma happening right now. So even if you're in a place where the case numbers are high, yet, right, we still are interconnected and we all have loved ones and folks we care about in different parts. This globe. So let's honor and give ourselves space for that. Because I think sometimes too, people aren't breathing and allowing some of the grief and things to happen because they're like, well, it's not you know, even for friends that live other places they call the check on us, which I appreciate the texts and calls, you know, they're like, oh, my goodness, I feel so bad for y'all. You know and I'm like, make sure you're taking care of yourself too, right? Like, we're aware of our numbers. Some of y'all aren't. You know, so looking at those looking at those things. So in terms of kind of magic, or people who do want to kind of start their supplies or already have some oils in our house. Here's kind of a list of like the top 12 kind of basic oils that often are recommended. So lavender, frankincense, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree, grapefruit, rosemary, lemon, sweet orange, patchouli, bergamont, and lemongrass, right? Those are the kinda top 10, 12, these are the 12 that most sites when you go to will recommend. Most people are familiar with lavender right? It's the most popular. Some folks love it or hate it some people just associate it with like, weird soaps there because there's also a lot of. The thing to remember what scents to, um, there's some scents you think you may like or may not like, is to recognize that a lot of us have been exposed to scnets that aren't natural scents. So what I mean by that is there's fragrances that use the same name, but it's not an actual extract from a plant, flower, herb, leaf, right, bark. So sometimes we think we dislike a scent until we actually smell it in its natural state or in an essential oil state. So I do want to put that out there as a caveat. So there's different benefits that are associated with different oils. I'm not going to go into all of them. The big thing with Essential Oils right is that they're generally going to be extracted from a plant, like I said from a plant, from a bark, you know from herbs. Generally you want them to be from a source where they are steam extracted not using any kind of solvents, which some of the cheaper oils do use. I don't recommend particular brands because I feel like people need to at least in this kind of format, one on one I would, you know, you need to look at a) you're looking at your budget works, what works for you what the oils are, and then from there trying to get the source that fits best with your budget. That's going to be the less chemically, the least chemically involved process is what I recommend for folks who are starting out. The other thing too is different oils smell different from different distributors, depending on where the plant is grown or where the source material comes from. So every lavender doesn't necessarily smell exactly the same every frankincense isn't gonna smell exactly the same and so forth. Um, the other thing is a person who, you know is trained and licensed as a practitioner. I'm not a licensed aromatherapist or aromatherapy is within scope of practice for us in New York is licensed massage therapists. So it's something that I learned about, it's something that I use and teach in the school I teach it in massage school, massage and acupuncture school. But from the science perspective, you wanna treat essential oils just like you would treat any other kind of supplements, right? You want to, you know, check make sure that there isn't any what we call contra indications with any kind of health conditions. So that's information you can look up on places like aroma talks about oils, it talks about the benefits, the aroma and then the uses. The big thing with essential oils are they're not they're not supposed to most of them should not be used as what we call neat. Neat means that you take an oil and put it directly on your skin, most things have to be used with a carrier oil, or some other sort of base such as a lotion or cream, or it can be put into a bath. But a lot of oils, you have to remember they use, you know, that takes tons of lemons, tons of flowers in order to make these, you know, small bottles of oils. So the other piece about that out there is that some of these oils, you'll see that the prices can vary wildly. Some things are being over farmed and over harvested. So there also is an environmental aspect to this. So there are some proponents out there for us to not use either certain essential oils and there's some people who don't think we should use them at all. And that is really a personal decision. And that's why I like to talk to people about what are the things around your home, around your neighborhood that in terms of sense can work for you so that this is accessible to people in regards to money, in regards to politics in regards to where you stand in terms of environment. So I really want and hope that this episode will be really accessible to folks. So I hope that that's coming through in this. Courtney Hoover 58:10I absolutely think it will be, but it does raise the question. Are there specific companies that if somebody did want to go ahead and use an essential oil that you particularly recommend?Carla 58:23Yeah, I would say the big thing to look at is, you know, is on their website, are they saying that things are fair trade? Are they saying that the oils are tested? There are independent testing bodies? For oils? Um, a lot of people do their oil testing though, in house. You know, but there are labs that will test it. It is hard. It's not something that the FDA, you know, regulates stuff when we start talking about things being used as medicine. The issue with a lot of body products or certain bodies products is a bit of a wild west out there in terms of regulations, because it's all about the labeling and how people label their products. So, like I belong to like the Soapmaker and Cosmetics Guild, because part of my work I'm in the process of developing I have developed a couple of different aroma therapy sprays, but there's a whole legality to how things are labeled. So you know, some people like Frontier Co-Op, which is where a lot of the co-op brands buy a lot of their products from have a line card or Aura Cacia. That's a brand that most people for entry level find to be affordable. Aroma Head is a school that's based here in New York, upstate New York and in Florida. They provide a lot of online courses and some in person courses that people can take. And they even have like a basic online course that people can take for free as a beginner, all the way up to if someone wants to become certified and so they give a lot of good recommendations. In terms of guides and books, I would say the aromaweb websites a great place to start and then you know, NAHA, which is where I started with is a National Aromatherapy group, which is a great place to start as well. That's where if you actually want to, you know, consult with an aroma therapist, as a practitioner on that you can do as well as get the profiles and things of different different oils. So the big thing is making sure that it's an oil and then it's not a fragrance and then it's saying that it's 100% of the particular thing that it is so if it's lemon and it needs to be just lemons and not any other fragrance. You will see that some things that are more expensive may already be be in a carrier or like jojoba is really popular. So just because something's in jojoba, but that again doesn't necessarily mean it's not an essential oil base, but because that particular extraction process is so expensive and it takes so much in terms of raw material it will produce you know, an ounce of oil, certain things like you know, frankincense, often sandalwood, because it is so expensive often is in jojoba. Rosebud will often be in hobo because to get a bottle of it pure depending on the brand can be anywhere from $30 to $80 $90 and up. Do not make the assumption because something is more expensive that it means that it's necessarily pure. So definitely use you know, the resources that I referenced to look at that. You know, to look at the different oils, also that website for the aromaweb also talks about hydrosols. So that's distilled water, or floral waters are hydrosols, but they also talk about the use and guidance of those. But it's important to know that you know, like I said, the supplement pieces that, you know, there's certain essential oils that people can't use when they're on certain medications. You know, lavender, which is super popular is also a hormone disruptor. So for some folks, if they're on any kind of, you know, hormone therapy, that's not going to be the best thing for them to just like lather on their bodies, soak in baths with and that sort of thing. So it really is important to you know, to look and check. I personally do not advocate for ingestion of essential oils, you will see some websites that is very much a personal preference, but again, looking at the strength of when you're looking at a pure bottle of oil, and what that is in the concentration. It's just not something that a lot of people recommend, but now, you know, aroma therapy is seen as part of complementary and alternative Medicine. So even the National Institute of Health, which is part of, you know, the US government, they have some guidelines around the use of aromatherapy, you can look at major places like Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins so if you're someone listening to this and you're like, you know, you have a you know, chronic health condition or you're on medication, then I would say go to the more scientific places first, you know, before diving too deep in with it, just to make sure that it's not going to, you know, interrupt or contradict a thing that you're on or any other therapies that you know, you're integrating into your lives, but it's definitely something where, you know, doing the things around the house, in terms of scents is something that you can do you know, your facial moisturizer, say for you, you know, you can eat lemons, you know it's okay for you to have grapefruit and things like that. Then if you have those things in your house and are able to get access to those and you still can use those scents, you're just not using this super concentrated version and also for you, in terms of where you are with your environmental politics, then you're not contradicting that as well. So that's why I like to give that wide range of options to start embracing this and the use of what you do.Hilary 64:12That's so helpful. I also always tell people with pets too, and this is true of herbs and oils, so just make sure you do your research because there are some essential oils that are, that aren't great for pets and that varies per animal. But the information is very widely available online, so do your research.64:32And that definitely is a huge piece. Like I said, I have a dog and so you know, a lot of diffusers are popular right? So I mean for us now in most states everything's, like for me in New York, everything pretty much is non essentials close, but like yeah, I own diffusers in my home. So diffusers are a way to use a couple of drops of oil. You add water to the diffuser and then it does a steam or a mist to let that oil go through, you know the air and into the room. So a lot of those things, those have become more popular and they become easier to buy before it was like you have to buy them online or co-op or go to a metaphysical store or now like you can go to like a Homegoods, a TJ Maxx or whatever and find them on endcaps and Target and stuff now right? So that's changed but yes if you have you know pets, small children, things like that there's certain oils that they can't be around so you know you eucalyptus, for example isn't necessarily good for a dog or for someone who has epilepsy. Having a lot of that scent and deeply concentrated is too much. We have you know, we still laugh about geranium so my wife's dog that she had when we first got together I made a spray. I went up and looked what was you know, safe for him and got this like floral mix going for him for the summer. I was like, alright, we're gonna make Zeb nice, you know, smell good. And he was like, I hate this. And we always joke about dogs and their smell and he's like, I'm a dog like I worked really hard to smell like this. I love the smell, I rock this smell. So after a camping trip we're like lets spritz him, you know, we spritz him, you know, did all the recipes looked everything up and the dog was like, I absolutely hate this. So then he was just pissed because he's like, this is the dog funk that is my funk. So he was like, What is the smelliest thing that I could find to like lay or like roll in and no joke on like a campground or somewhere there was like a dead animal and the dog was like YES!Hilary 66:27Every time.Courtney Hoover 66:29That's my boy and that's what he loves. Oh, dead yard rat. Oh, yeah. Carla 66:33He was like, his is amazing. And he was like no, this was his aromatherapy. So also recognize for the people in your life, right they have their smells that they rock. So it may need to be what is your jam and also thinking about who's in your, you know, who's in your home and how you use particular oils is the other big piece. So for some oils in terms of magic, spiritual baths is a great place to start integrating essential oils. So spiritual baths are a part of your, you know, practice. In New York A lot of people don't have bathtubs. So I would like to acknowledge spiritual baths can also be done in the shower. So you can mix whatever you would normally mix for the spiritual bath and that you would put in a bathtub but have a bowl that shatterproof so a metal bowl or plastic bowl, preferably metal if you're using oils and things, bring that with you in your shower, right, do your shower, normal, whatever. And then at the end of the shower, then you start to use that water you can use a washcloth a sponge, a loofa and just start putting that over your body and then reserve some for the very end. If this is something that's comfortable to you, then you're going to pour that over your head. Let it go down your back and down a bit in front of your front of the body as well. And that's another way to do a spiritual bath. Another option for a spiritual bath too is to do it in a spritz. So you would still take those same items. You know get a spray bottle that you know, don't use something that's had like clean or anything, if you can get if you can't get a newer spray bottle or something You can use a spritz and do you know that's like a spiritual bath spritz on the go. You know a lot a lot of us of course in our practices saltwater, saltwater is amazing that's often a base that people are going to do, you're going to, preferably when you're doing any kind of spritz you want to use distilled water if possible, because that's gonna stay longer. Sometimes people who also will add if you have vodka, or I know rubbing alcohol is a high commodity right now so some folks may not be trying to use that. But for example for a basic oil spray, if you have a small like, two ounce bottle, you take about three and a half teaspoons, tablespoons, I'm sorry, of distilled water, about a half tablespoon of alcohol or vodka. The reason we use vodka is it helps the sentence stay longer either in the air or on the thing that you sprayed on, and then about 10 drops of oil of your choice if you're using just one oil, or a mix oils at that ratio. But the other websites that I gave also have all kinds of, you know, recipes and things as well. But that's like a nice basic spritz. So you can do that with a single scent, or if you're mixing on scents, and that's another thing is huge, you know, essential oils safety, education another book that's great, The Complete Book of Essential oOils and Aromatherapy. Valerie Anne Worwood is another great resource as well to start to start doing that.Courtney Hoover 69:43See, I can imagine that using a spritz would be great in your magic space before you're doing a spell so like spritzing with the scent, similar to how we were talking with Amy Blackthorn last month about using incense is to help prepare so the essential oils can be there and I know working with you, you often have people inhale a specific scent in order to perhaps, you know, prepare the change, prepare themselves internally for doing the work as well which I think is just wonderful. I could see putting droplets on the the altar cloth and being careful about putting them actually on candles because many of these could be combustible. Carla 70:19YesCourtney Hoover 70:19But there's a lot of different ways to use the scent because it's about changing your mindset is what I feel like you're saying before going into do you work. 70:26It's definitely about the mindset and then what's going to help amplify or complement the intention for the thing that you're doing, for the prayer that you're doing, for the spell that you're doing. For the cleansing that you're doing, you know, what is it it's good to compliment and go with that? So again, you know, in terms of basic uses, you can take a couple drops of oil, put it on a Kleenex, wiff it underneath your nose, that's something we do in massage, you know, massages often will start with that, that you have a client laying facedown on the table. Some people will put it in their hands mixed with oil and ask the person that inhale, you know, and exhale a few times, or a lot of times like, yes and when Courtney I've been in, you know, circles together that that's something that we do is that we, I usually have a mixture of oils that are out, and I try to make sure that I pick oils that aren't too strong or it could trigger somebody with epilepsy or that it's something it's not safe for someone who's pregnant. That's another thing for people that are pregnant, there are certain oils that shouldn't be used as well. So I'll I'll send you resources for that. And then I also too if you have other people in your house, another quick trick to have on hand is I take coffee beans, whole coffee beans, and I keep some in basically like a spice jar. And you notice that in like perfume stores and stores with really strong body products, is that coffee beans help cleanse the palate, your nasal palate, in terms of smells, if you're like checking out a bunch of different smells and you kind of get overwhelmed, then you can inhale the coffee beans. So if you have like a young person or someone in your house that you think is more sensitive to smells, and you're trying to figure out what's okay to use around them, by all means do the research, but then also if you have coffee, that that's something that's helpful, because it also helps calm down the brachial in the lungs to make sure that they don't have like an overreaction is also a start. So you also want to think about to, you know, the volume of whatever scent you're using relative to the size of the space that you're in. And the other thing that's really accessible for oils for people too, is like, you know, in New York, like we're renters, so a lot of people if you rent, you know, in New York, you straight up can't smoke, even in your own home with the policies that we have. So people have to be careful about even using smoking incense, you know, people still do, but if you're trying to also be mindful, not just of your own home but of neighbors and things like that, and pets, then aromatherapy's a nice way to start incorporating scenys in a way and you're not having to use fire for that that's great. So again, using it, you know, for some people, there's a oils and things they use right when they start, you know, at their altar. So like I have aromatherapy spritz that I make, and every day I use one of probably usually three to four different things. So Florida Water, like I was listening to the bonus episode with Najah in talking about the amazingness of Florida Water and that's something that, you know, for me is a set memory all the way from childhood and in New York, it's really popular so I can buy it at a bodega supermarket, like pretty much wherever. But even for something like that I put Florida Water in a spritz in a spray bottle, and sometimes I just spray the back of my neck. For me in terms of my connection energetically with folks in the work that I do, I'm having to do I personally have to do a lot of cleansing. Because I'm working directly with people I'm working with their bodies and what's going on with them. And so I always want to make sure after working you know with clients and even after teaching, so teaching is even more intense because when I teach, you know, in a massage class, I'm often physically touching, sometimes every student in my class because when they're working on each other, I'm offering corrections, guidelines sometimes having to work directly on the person they're working on, so they can see how I do it. And then they can repeat that step where we're working together, I'm working on one side of the body while they're working on the other. So in one class, really, in a one three hour period, I can be working on a dozen or more people, that's a lot of stuff that I'm working with, right. So I always have to make sure that I'm doing things to transition from one part of my day to the next. So for me scent is usually a huge piece of that. So a huge mentor of mine has been our friend Renee's padrino, his name's Jason, and he's really helped me a lot on my spiritual path overall. Going to him to get readings and things like that. But one of the things he told me about reminding me to cleanse myself was like, hey, what are these things you already use because sometimes we forget. And so I was like, hey, I take I carry oil or spritz on me spray the back of my neck. Sometimes I may dab something on my forehead like on that third eye spot, as well. I also have certain oils for me, the vetiver for me is a go to oil. It's just a really woody scent, that's a grounding oil. So the thing to is to think about for your scent toolkit for you, and you can start this at home even during us all sheltering in place, is thinking about what are the scents that are familiar to you, that, you know, help elevate your mood, that help calm your mood, that help ground you, and just thinking of those three basic categories and then writing a list of at least you know, two to three things for each of those categories. And that's kind of how you can start your toolkit and being aware at home if you are able to order stuff then by all means research that, if you're not then what are the things you already have in your home that's gonna fit for each of those categories. So for uplifting, you know, grounding and kind of helping you, you know, pivot. Courtney Hoover 76:09I think this idea of pivoting and changing . This week, we had a similar question about leaving energies from an ICU nurse on the episode Najah and it was a lot about, like putting your hands on things and touching trees, which is all really great. Yet this is another tool that people can use to to change their energies. To me, the main use of aromatherapy is for people to help calm themselves and use it as a form of therapy, use it as a tool to make themselves feel better or relaxed or calm or more in the moments or more focused. So I think that it's just important that people find some scents that they react to, that they respond to and they can be scents that they have at home or that you know they find through essential oils or things like that but even in times like this if it's something as simple as you're sick of not leaving your house so put on your favorite perfume and and have that on you while you sit and watch some TV and relax. I think that you know aromatherapy and scent is an excellent tool to kind of help help you with your mood and whatever you need. This is so many important gems in this episode and so very timely, I'm just bouncing up and down over here. I wish you guys could see it. So you know, we've currently you've I know you've heard this before, because this is often how we end our shows is we do as below so above which I think I got right. And something that we're letting go of and something that We'd like to bring in so we invite you to join us in this if you would care to. Carla 78:05Yes, I would love that.Courtney Hoover 78:08So I am happy to go first. I want to let go of anxiety. I am not typically an anxious person but I have been over the last few weeks and so I'm going to make a conscious effort to banish negativity as part of my magic this week and therefore I would like to bring in internal peace. So mote that shit.Hilary 78:33So mote that shit. Carla 78:34So mote that shitCourtney Hoover 78:35 Now I'm taking the unusually quiet kanani making her go next.Kanani 78:40Yeah, you're gonna have to give me a minute.Courtney Hoover 78:43Oh god, all right, Hilary, you go.Hilary 78:44I'll go now. I am I also am letting go of anxiety. Um, you know, I tend to be a pretty level headed person and can talk myself out of most anxious situations but I think, you know, anxiety that we're feeling now isn't just personal but it's also a reflection of the world and everything that it's experiencing right now. So letting go of that which doesn't belong to me, um, and bringing in you know, when I am down or depressed or anxious or stressed, I often forget about myself the quickest and focus on what I can do to help everybody else so I'm bringing in time for self care and time for tending to my own self and my own practice.Courtney Hoover 79:37So mote that.Hilary 79:38 So mote that shit. Courtney Hoover 79:40All right, Kanani, you have to go now.Kanani 79:42Alright, so I guess I would say I am letting go of the way things should be right now. Because everything is upside down and nothing is going to go the way it typically would for quite some time and so I'm letting go of the expectation of where we should be. At this time, and just trying to bring in calm.Courtney Hoover 80:05You and me both. Hilary 80:06So mote thatCourtney Hoover 80:07All right, Carla, what what are you hoping to release? And then we're also bringing inCarla 80:13Oh wow. I'm definitely releasing grief which I think is going to be ongoing in this process and especially living in this, living in New York. I don't want to become desensitized to the sirens but I have to let go of and not allow as much kind of anxiety that is starting to cause. I literally hear two more while I'm saying this in the background. So yeah, I just want to let it, let go of the grief as it needs to be let go of through this ongoing process. And then I pulled at the beginning of our time together the knight of swords.Courtney Hoover 80:59Yes!Carla 81:00Yeah the particular deck today that I chose was the Next World Tarot, which I love. And on the bottom of it, it says the escape plan. So definitely, I'm just bringing in that piece of me just like navigating life's challenges and just you know, making this time you know, making things transformative is what I'm doing.Courtney Hoover 81:24Oh beautiful, so mote that. Carla 81:26So mote that shit. Courtney Hoover 81:29Oh Carla, this has just been a delight, thank you so much for coming on. Yes, Carla thank you so much, Definitely words of wisdom that our listeners needs to hear. And don't forget to go to our website to see the links of the different artists and musicians that we've been discussing as well as where you can find Carla. If you haven't checked out our Etsy store. We are still up and running. every purchase you make dings on Kanani's phone and it makes her life so give the woman a smile. It makes her so happy. Wo we are releasing a bonus episode next week, so you will have us two weeks in a row. And don't forget to leave us a review or rate us on Apple podcasts, we could really use the additional support. Until then everybody be safe be well and Blessed beHilary 82:17Be blessed. Kanani 82:32Blessed be(Exit Music) 82:38Join us on the first and third Mondays of the month for magickal tools, tips and stories about living as a Witch in today's world. Find us at for archived episodes or to ask your burning questions for us to answer on a future podcast. So mote it be! ................
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