That Witch Life



TWLEp86 Crystal Magick with Kathleen BorealisWed, 5/19 11:35AM ? 1:08:22SUMMARY KEYWORDSpeople, crystals, magick, traditions, laughing, earthquake, fucking, aurora, witch, friends, llewellyn, oregano, herb, tornadoes, hillary, world, kathleen, episode, hilary, teaSPEAKERSKanani, Intro music, Courtney , Hilary, All Three, Kathleen Borealis, (Exit Music)Intro music 00:2920 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 00:48Hey, everybody, this is That Witch Life Podcast. I am Courtney. I am your host today. Hilary 00:54And I'm Hilary and I am a co host.Kanani 00:57And I'm Kanani and I am a grouchy bitch today.Hilary 01:04Is that different than usually?Kanani 01:06Not? Not? Well, ice cream is not helping. So we'll just say Hilary 01:09Oh, so it's realllll bad so it's real bad then! Courtney 01:12it's it's Yeah, we're reaching epic levels.Kanani 01:15Exactly.Courtney 01:16Well, we are going to at least have a good show today. We are taught we had a really wonderful interview with Kathleen Borealis. So I am delighted. We're sharing that with you all talking about crystals and crystal magick. And Hillary is going to be talking with us about oregano. We have not had you do an Herb in awhile and actually we had some feedback saying people missed it. So definitely bringing that back. Kanani 01:42Oh, I actually have a show to talk about, by the way.Courtney 01:45Oh, do you? What are you watching?Kanani 01:47In all my grouchy my grouchiness, I managed to start watching Shadow and Bone.Courtney 01:53(Gasps) Is it good?!Kanani 01:54It's, it's real. I like it. It's really good. It's we'll talk We'll talk about it later.Courtney 02:00All right, we'll get we'll get to that because that is actually on my list for this weekend. I have plans to binge that thing. So I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say.Hilary 02:07I've watched like an episode.Courtney 02:10Oh, God. Well, literally, though, I'm so rattled right now. And six years ago, if I come in saying this, I would have thought that I needed probably, I don't know, a deep spiritual retreat and a silent meditation for about four days, so I could try to calm my nerves. But I think after all that's happened. Nobody's surprised that our government is now talking about how they found UFOs. Like,Hilary 02:37I'm not surprised.Courtney 02:39I gotta be honest. Alien Invasion scares me. You know, last week we talked about the things that scare Hillary and she's afraid of tornadoes and tsunamis. You know what I'm afraid of? tornadoes and aliens.Hilary 02:52tornadoes and aliens Courtney 02:53tornadoes and aliens. I'm not afraid of the tsunami. I know I should be but I'm not. But I'm very afraid of tornadoes. And I'm afraid of aliens and the 60 minutes special that was just released this past weekend before we recorded this. It's, I'm sorry, I'm scared. I can always dismiss the stories and Unsolved Mysteries as people who just wanted television attention. But I'm really having a hard time dismissing it from the point of view of armed service personnel who have witnessed them and then they have pictures. And I've tried to convince myself saying it's the Russian or the Chinese government's that are just sending things with some special technology, but I'm finding it kind of hard to buy into that.Kanani 03:36here here's here's my here's my opinion on it, honestly, and I I am not. I'm not passing judgment on people who believe in extraterrestrials. Okay, like alien spaceships. But here's the here's the reality. We know. We're about 20 to 30 years behind our governments technology. Okay, it was in 2001 I was at an old relative's house. She was in her early 30s. And her parents apparently worked for the CIA. She had a tape over all of her webcams. Now, this was a very she was already kind of a eccentric woman. And I thought she was a little nutters, and I asked her I was like, oh, are your webcams broken? And she goes, No, they can watch you. Like, okay, and she's like, No, I'm serious. She's like, they they can people can watch you they can log into your computer and they can watch you through your computer. And I was just like, oh, okay, yeah, have a great day. Tap Tap. Now it's common knowledge. Yeah, like, but they've been doing that for as long as they have webcams like and now that's just common knowledge that they can do that. And we just accept that know that and now have Alexa and just welcome them into our homes. So I mean, we're 20 to 30 years behind the technology that certain parts of government know about. So I'm not convinced that a lot of I would say probably 90% of those things are actually things that they, someone knows what they are. And they're not necessarily extraterrestrial in nature. They're just the types of technology that they're not willing to share with the general public that exists Yeah, but when Congress is allowing money for more investigation into what they are. That's when I start to get nervous. And that's what's happening. Yes. And I think, Well, I think there's there's just more stuff that's that that's having to come out and they're having to say things. And like I said, I, I am of the belief that we don't know. Like, I don't know, I don't know, I'm not, I don't think it's a ridiculous notion that they're out in the world. Hilary 05:50No, I mean, there's no way that we're we are the only thing in the universe! Kanani 05:54Yeah, I don't think that's a ridiculous notion,Hilary 05:55there's just no way!Kanani 05:56I'm not convinced that it's been here, but I don't think it's a ridiculous notion to think that it exists.Courtney 06:03Well, and but I kind of I'm sure they do exist. And I just, I just hope they haven't been here. And I hope they won't be here for a very long time. Because I believe what Neil deGrasse Tyson says is that we don't want the aliens to find us. No, no, no, I because people are like, oh, they'll teach us things. I'm like, they will eat us, that's what will happen is they will harvest our planet for the things that they want and they will eat us. And then somebody says, Well, that's just making the assumption that they're like us and like I think we're safe in assuming that. And that's what Neil deGrasse Tyson said. would happen if they come and I believe him.Kanani 06:34People are dicks on any planet.Hilary 06:37So I'm assuming like an A tornado of aliens like shark NATO but alien NATO would be like your worst nightmare.Courtney 06:44I think at that point, I would flip over into the I can't stop laughing territory cuz I thinkHilary 06:49you just my whole like your brain couldn't handle it. So it would just be likeCourtney 06:53the fear pheromones in my brain would just kind of melt down and there'd be nothing left. And I would just laugh and laugh and laugh like I did over that Husky video with the song and sometimes my lips get stuck on my teeth. Okay, I got into so much trouble with my husband last week because there was this video on Instagram. I will link it in our show notes because you need to see it of this poor little Husky. But, you know, Huskies sometimes their lips do get stuck on their teeth. Somebody wrote a song on my teeth. I cried. I laughed literally for two hours. I couldn't stop. The only thing that got me to stop laughing was I finally sang it to my niece and nephew. And they laughed so hard that it just kind of I was able to pass it along. And the energy was more dispersed. So yeah, that happened so...Kanani 07:41 I had one time where it was. It was back in high school.... Like, it had to have been like senior year of high school. It had to have been senior year of high school. And I was driving one of my friends and there was snow everywhere. And so it was hard to get around because they're the you know, the highway is is stuck because there's snow everywhere. So everyCourtney 08:05and also when it snows and the West in Western Oregon, everything like as Hillary says there's 2 snowflakes and all the cars not eastern Oregon, speaking to our friends in Eastern Oregon, y'all can do snow, but west of the Cascades. We don't know shit about snow and we just freak the fuck out it's actually kinda funnyHilary 08:21yeah the whole world like yeah, the grocery store sells out of kale. Because what the fuck right? and bread bread and kale and milk. What?? If you think your power is gonna go out... I mean, it's just like, it's really weird. Oh, like KALE??Kanani 08:37my, my friend and I had we decided in the middle of a snowstorm. It's a good idea to go to Portland. I don't know why this was a good idea. We were 17 it just seemed like a good idea. Yeah. And so we're like, well, 26 sucks. The highway sucks. So let's take Germantown Road. So to just describe to people who are not familiar with this, on a great day, this is a very treacherous road that people die on because you're going up a mountain, and there's no sidewalks it is one lane each way and you can barely cross you know, you barely go by each other. It is it is so tight quarters in such tight turns. And we start going up there and not long after we've gotten up there. We realize like, this was a horrible idea. Like it's cold, the roads are worse there!Courtney 09:34You're gonna list that up there with you're going to list that with the time you brought home the ominous crowfeatherKanani 09:40Oh my god, and I laughed hysterically because I was convinced we were going to die. And so my friend is screaming and she's crying because we're I mean, we go off of the road and you're just you're just dead like you're just going to plummet 40 feet, so I can't stop laughing because I am So scared and terrified that I couldn't. There was nothing else my body could do other than just laugh hysterically waiting to plummet off of off of this road while my friend is poor thing is crying and screaming and we're like WHAT WERE WE THINKING?! and I.....So yeah, I understand the hysterically laughing because you were absolutely mortified.Courtney 10:22Oh, yeah. Well, the grief and fear will bring that bring that out in people yeah, well, and I remember that we were teenagers and we Yeah, when we would get scared, Hillary would start to giggle and I would start yelling at her like, not now I know. It's like now that I'm older, I get it when you start giggling Hilary 10:37and then, the more you yell, the more I'd laugh.Courtney 10:39Yeah, it would just happen and then she'd be like, I'm sorry, I'm scared.Hilary 10:45I'm like, I'm scared. I'm a nervous laugher for sure. Courtney 10:48I know. And I feel I feel bad now. So Hillary, I'm sorry, I yelled at you. Hilary 10:51Why are you such a bad friend?Courtney 10:53I'm pretty much I'm pretty convinced that the one star reviews that we have that don't have a comment attached to the one star reviews I have for my books are all still coming from the same source. They're coming from the UFOs off the coast of Virginia. I just feel that that's what's happening. So anyway, um, speaking of things that we are not perfect at. So I didn't realize this but we are not experts in cryptocurrency or Bitcoin.Hilary 11:23You didn't realize that?! (laughing) I didn't realize that like straight up Kanani was like, I don't even know what that is.Courtney 11:29I said the same thing. I said literally Cheweon, What the fuck is this stuff. So if it wasn't obvious to our listeners, we don't have or don't have any experience with these concepts, cryptocurrency Bitcoin, NFT's anything like that. And we got some feedback about our last episode that people were concerned. Because a cryptocurrency and Bitcoin especially has a very heavy carbon footprint. And there's a lot of people that are, you know, encouraging people not to use that technology. And you know what, that's fair. And so we are, if you check your, you know, but basically, just keep in mind, guys, we're not experts in hardly anything on the guests that the guests bring up. And that's why we bring people on the show.Hilary 12:13Oh, yeah. Oh, and sometimes they bring things up unexpectedly. So like, you know, we don't we believe that we're a platform in which, you know, we want people to be able to speak their perspective, right freely, provided, it's not damaging to other humans, you know, and ummKanani 12:31okay, but here's the thing, okay, you used to not be able to buy electric vehicles, because the battery alone cost $15,000. Now, they can make batteries for a couple $1,000. And so now they work better, and they're more efficient. And that's the same thing is gonna start happening with cryptocurrency. If it becomes a thing, they'll make it right, figure out how to make it have less of a carbon footprint, right? No,Hilary 12:55I think I know, I don't I mean, I agree. I think that they adjust all the time as technology comes out to. But I think, you know, our, the listener brought up a good point, which is, Hey, I just want to make sure that people are aware that there is a large environmental impact. And to do your research, like we just we want everyone to do to do their research,Kanani 13:18Don't ever do anything, because we talk about it on the show. I mean, like that seems pretty self-explanatory to me.... Oh, well, like, like, we are not doctors, we are not medical professionals. We are not saying that everything we talks about is like exactly how to do it.Hilary 13:34Like basically Kanani just told everyone not to listen to our show anymore.Kanani 13:37I mean...no! Listen to our show. But for the love of God, don't look at us like, we are the knowers of all things!Hilary 13:45Listen to our show. But everything we say is trash. No, that's not true! There are a lot of things we know about. But that particular thing is not something we know about. So, you know, uh, I, you know, I think Cheweon was able to give us a ton of information. And I think that's fantastic. And I think anytime you're going to invest in anything new or interesting, or or pursue a new technology, it's important to do your research. So there it is. Do your research, folks.Courtney 14:15Yeah, there's some of our listeners sent us some great articles for people things for people to consider before investing in cryptocurrency and things. So do check our show notes. If you go to our website on the episodes, if you scroll down to where it says resource lists, we always list the links to the things we talk about on the show, if there is a link and that's where you will find it. So with that, thanks. Thanks again. But yeah, yeah, that's that is it. So Hillary, oregano,Hilary 14:44oregano,Courtney 14:44tell us all about Oregano. Oh, well, here's an expert in oregano.Hilary 14:48I mean, I don't know about expert but I do know about Oregano!Kanani 14:51You know ALL the things about oregano? all the things?? Hilary 14:55every single one Kanani 14:55you invented oregano?Hilary 14:59Individually I did and then I umm... I'm actually an alien and I've traveledCourtney 15:04nope nope I'm not I'm not speaking to you speaking to you anymore if you're an alien, I'm sorry. Judging, I've judging you. Kanani 15:12I am now going to spend all my time trying to convince Courtney that you are actually an alien!Hilary 15:19so Okay, okay, listen up. God damn it. So oregano The cool thing about oregano is you can get it anywhere you can get it in your grocery store, you can get it usually fresh and dried in your grocery store. Oregano is a great herb for life because it is known to bring in joy. So anytime you're working magic to bring in happiness, good fortune, like elevating your mood, you know? Try you know trying to heal from something that's sad. It's a great thing to use. You can use it you can burn it so you can burn it like most herbs provided you make sure they're not poisonous. So you could it could be in an incense you could you can I mean I know people that have had tea with it in there. Obviously if you ingest herbs I mean we know this is a safe to ingest herb because it's a culinary herb, but you know, obviously just be careful that you're not doing anything silly.Courtney 16:15Don't snort itHilary 16:15don't snort it don't snort it.Courtney 16:18I'm going to recommend that Kanani snort it because she sure as fuck could use it. But then I was afraid I'd get criticized for encouraging people to use oregano in an unsafe way. Yeah, put it on your pizza KananiKanani 16:28It would get, it would get in the way of me snorting my coffee grounds. Hilary 16:32But here, here's the cool thing. So like, you know, we've we've we talked to Dawn Hunt, right. So Dawn, I mean, she talks a lot about culinary magick and, and you know, food magick. So you can literally use it, you can do culinary magick, you can dress a candle with it. You can, you know, do... you can put it in a spell jar. The other thing you can do is it can be good for prophetic or psychic dreams. You can put it in on a sachet under your pillow. But it's really good. I know a lot of times I've heard of people using it and I don't know about a lot of times but I've heard a piece of people using it during handfasting ceremonies on their with crowns on their head because it brings happiness in so it's a really good herb for happiness. You can also find oftentimes essential oil with it if you like the fragrance. I mean, it's just one of those herbs that is is good for joy. And can be can be utilized because it is edible, right? It can be utilized in culinary magick, a lot of times we are like careful. Some people can eat this but you can't if you're like oregano is in a many, many things. You've probably eaten it this week. So it's a it's safe to consume herb. Courtney 17:49Brian made the most delicious tomato sauce over the weekend. So good. Hilary 17:53And you probably were really happy because it had oregano in it.Courtney 17:55I was happy because I didn't have to cook. And then I had leftovers for lunch today. So yes, oregano brought me joy.Hilary 18:03Yeah, so oregano, I mean, like truly and also the scent is really lovely. So like I mean, it is you know, I think I really like to use it. I mean, I use it in food magick a lot. Because it's like again, it's something that's a common ingredient in food. So it's not like you're trying to put an herb that tastes terrible into something and then it tastes gross. Like this tastes good. makes some Italian food you know?Courtney 18:24Well, thank you Hillary. That was incredibly helpful. So Kanani, are you gonna put some on your pizza tonight?Kanani 18:30I just shoved a burger the size of my face down my gullet. So I will not be having pizza tonight. Although now it sounds good that we've been talking about oregano now. I'm probably gonna have to have pizza tomorrow night.Courtney 18:42That's not a bad idea. You're still living in the hotel. So you know that's that's an excuse to have pizza every night if you want. Kanani 18:48Oh my gosh. Yes, yes. Good times.Courtney 18:52All right.Kanani 18:53So, do I get to talk about Shadow and Bone now?Courtney 18:55Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I almost forgot. God, I'm a great host. I'm so good at this. Go ahead. Kanani. Tell us about Shadow and Bone.Kanani 19:00Okay, so first of all, I had to look up a description, because I've been trying to think of how to describe the show. And I can't even though I've watched four episodes now. So one of the things that's hard for me is I I'm not good at science fiction like I think I've talked about the fact that I hated the Lord of the Rings. One of the reasons I hatedCourtney 19:22That's not science fiction it's fantasy Kanani!Kanani 19:25fantasy fantasy-fiction oh whatever whatever fuck anyways, cuz I can never keep track of like there's different worlds and lands and different people Hilary 19:35those are like you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna make some people fucking angry because those are two VERY different genresKanani 19:43I'm SUPER fine with that. I hate them all. So anyway,Courtney 19:47(Disclaimer voice)The views of Kanani do not necessarily represent the views of Hilary and Courtney,Kanani 19:52Shadow and Bone.Hilary 19:54(laughing) Please don't quit this podcast.Kanani 19:57It kind of falls into that category of of fans of just that fantasy kind of genre feel as as I would say like a Lord of the Rings kind of thing. Um, the description of the best only half the descriptions I found I'm like that makes no sense. So the one I found that makes somewhat sense even to me. It says the shadow fold a swath of impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters that he that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once great nation of Rathka. Elina, a pale lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdoms magical elite, the Grecia. So it's,Courtney 20:41wait a minute. I've heard this plot before.Kanani 20:44Yeah, 100 times.Courtney 20:46It's the never ending story.Kanani 20:49I don't remember the neverending story because it gave me nightmares. So I only saw it once, I don't remember any of it!Courtney 20:54it's the nothing. That's That's absurd. That's taking all of us it Fantasia. It's taking all of Fantasia there's this one boy who has to save it from darkness because he has a special power. I think it's been a long time since I was traumatized by that movie. And I don't plan on ever watching it again.Kanani 21:08I'll never watch it again.Hilary 21:09I'm gonna make you watch it. We're watching it together.Courtney 21:12Fuck you, Ree!! My sister sent me a meme today, which we will have to put on Instagram, which is called 80's Children Anxiety Pack. It has a number of things that looking at them instantly. Causes just this swamp of sadness was there in the corner and I like wrote my sister like I hate you. And she's like, I'm like is everything in here was giving me stress? I'm gonna send it to you, Ree and you have to post it, but actually, I'll post it.Hilary 21:43Will you text it to me right now so I can see it?Courtney 21:45Oh, yeah. Hold on, hold on. I'm gonna send it to you right now. Get ready guys. Kanani 21:48That was so anyways. So the show apparently is based on a book. So some people may have read the book. It took me because I'm not good at these kinds of storylines and whatnot a little while to kind of get into it. Because I have to kind of start to be able to figure out the who's who in the from where. I really like it. I mean, I'm definitely gonna binge watch, I watched I've watched the first four in one sitting. And I'm definitely gonna keep watching them. I really liked it. I you know, I do enjoy movies that involve a, you know, people who have, you know, magick, stuff like that shocking. It's also interesting that there is the there's the concept in there that there's the magical people and the non magical people. And there's the uh...Right. And there. And there's a lot of and there's a lot of anger towards from the non magical people. They refer to the Grecia, who are the people with these magical powers as witches. And so there are people that hunt them and try and kill them. And so it's this, it's, it's really interesting, I actually really like it, it's the story of what I also think is cool as they call it the fold. And so when they look at maps, there's just kind of a dark fold in the map. And that's the line that people don't cross because to go into that is to go into the darkness and to likely be killed by these monsters that exist in there. And so it's just and so people, because it's easier to try and pass through that space, as opposed to taking four days to go around it to like retrieve supplies and materials and things like that for other towns. There's always people and military that are trying to just get through this space to be able to bring supplies back from the other side. And so it's just really interesting. It's fun. I think a lot of our listeners would really love it. So if you haven't started watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix, definitely check it out because I hate this stuff. And even I like it.Hilary 23:53Oh my god this fucking meme is so accurate. We're gonna post this because like if you grew up, if you grew up in the 80s this is like everything that makes you anxious in one picture!Courtney 24:06We'll explain, we'll explain so...first of all, it's Rescue 911 which I used to watch religiously.Kanani 24:13I don't even know what that is.Hilary 24:14What?!? Rescue 911??Kanani 24:16I don't even know what that isHilary 24:18what happened to you.Courtney 24:19Oh my god. It's like it's all these these quote unquote True Stories; these dramatizations of when 911 save the day. Okay, it's America's Most Wanted and I swore that my school bus driver was somebody I had seen on America's Most Wanted. My mom told me to stop saying that and I think it's true. She was right that's not a nice thing to say about somebody because also thinking about it like the background checks they would have figured it out before he drives a school bus.Hilary 24:45I mean...in the 80's, would they?! likeCourtney 24:48I don't know it didn't quite have the internet back. Then Then there's the the the castle with the with the fire..wand of fire from Super Mario brother.Hilary 24:59which is like...such bullshitCourtney 25:03perfection the game which I'm like tensing up looking at it, I know. You had to like put all the little pieces into the little holes before it pops back in your face and scares the shit out of you. With this just fucked up game. And then of course, the swamp of sadness scene from The Neverending Story, which is the worst thing that's ever happened to movies ever. So that to be said, thank you, Kanani for giving us a great synopsis of this and once again, Hillary and I have ruined your work on Hilary 25:34Yeah, Kanani 25:34pretty much, yeah Hilary 25:34Well, I was pretty much I was key. I was keeping it together. And Courtney was just falling apartCourtney 25:39no you weren't I would knowHilary 25:40I was silently laughing like a normal person that's on a podcast so, when they're laughing and they shouldn't beCourtney 25:46And tears are running down her face. So, noHilary 25:48there's a few tears. Okay, only two.Courtney 25:52So yes, that is going to be on Instagram, if you need to see it, because it explains why all of usHilary 25:59I have anxiety. I should have I should have I should have gotten stoned before this episode.Courtney 26:08So anyway, a quick shout out. We want to let everybody know about something awesome that our friends at Llewellyn have going on. LlewellynCon 2021 is on the way, which is a free virtual convention featuring their author presentations, plus giveaways and much more. So there are 10 days, 40 authors that's 40, and it's taking place from June 10 through June 19. As you know, we we are always a very, very happy to be joined by Llewellyn's authors. They have so many many many wonderful books out there these days. And it's free, so make sure to check that out if you need more information. It is at Llewellyncon2021 So to register for the giveaways or to view the event schedule. And you can also go to the Llewellyn crowdcast channel to save your favorite seat, which is@crowdcast.io/e/ which is crowdcast.io And these links are on our website as well under the resource heading. So uh, thank you so much to all of our supporters. Last week, we released another preview of my upcoming book on Hekate. Thank you for letting me do a little self plug plug. And it's a great way if you like our content and want to support us and get more content for as little as $1 a month, you could join us on Patreon and higher levels can get you access to our private private Facebook page or a live virtual special events, our early release episodes, a longer ad free episodes and even a quarterly magickal subscription box and possibly even a tarot card pulled for you on the show. And like today, I am pulling for Jen who just joined at the So mote that shit level which gives her access to all the stuff plus the quarterly subscription box. This next magickal subscription box is going to be super cool. We're not going to tell you yet we'll let you be surprised. But it's pretty exciting. And I want one. So Jen got The Five of Wands, okay, some people call this the stupid tent card because it looks like people either bashing each other in the head with with sticks or trying to set up a tent. And so it's a sign that says, make sure you're focused on really what's important, and not let the small things trip you up and to keep you from your goal. So it's a really it's a good card that is about priorities and focus. And so thank you. I hope that that was helpful for you. And thanks again for joining us at the So Mote that Shit level. So other ways to support the show. If you cannot do a monthly donation, you can always just buy us a coffee or you can buy That Witch Life merchandise on Etsy and I believe that Kanani's mom is still shipping it for us.Kanani 29:10Yes, she is. And we have your new signed books back in.Courtney 29:14Yes, I have my books back in stock. And so we have Brigid and The Morrigan And Tarot For One and I signed them all and they are available as well as all of the badass spell kits, which are many of them are good year round, not just on holidays. So be sure to check those out. You can also consider becoming an episode sponsor, have you got a small business that would be great for a bunch of witches to hear about? Let us know and let's work together and promote your business. Or just purchase shout out which is a great way just to get a few lines out there about your special event. Or just send love to someone who you know listens to the show. So find out more on our website at And I think it's just about time for a word from our sponsors. All right, We know that after this interview, you’re going to be racing to get more information about crystals and using crystals in Magick, and guess what? We’ve got just the recommendation for you! Speaking of Llewellyn, there is yet another new title you’re going to want to add to your shelves. Pamela Chen’s Enchanted Crystal Magic is now available for pre-order!Open your heart to the uplifting energy of crystals and discover your unique magic. This book shows you how to start your own crystal enchanter practice to help improve your love life, manifest more money, heal emotional wounds, and connect with your true sparkly self. Let expert teacher Pamela Chen take you by the hand and show you how to create and activate crystal grids, make crystal potions, and cast crystal spells. You will discover the secrets of which colors to use and how they relate to powerful chakra energies. Each chapter focuses on a specific purpose—such as getting in touch with your intuition and protecting yourself from negative energy—and includes a spell, meditation, or ritual in addition to a divinely channeled message. Whether you already have your own crystal collection or are just starting to appreciate the spiritual power of these spectacular stones, this fun, high-energy guide shares everything you need to begin practicing your own enchanted crystal magic. Pre-order your copy of Enchanted Crystal Magic today at ! Save 20% now with coupon code CRYSTAL20. Coupon valid 5/15/21 through 6/30/21; not valid in conjunction with other discounts or previously placed orders. Note that you do need to be logged in to your account for coupon to apply and thank you to Llewellyn for being an episode sponsor.Hilary 31:54It’s definitely spring and soon to be summer and you know what that means? Courtney 31:58Leaping bonfires?Kanani 32:02Oh my god. So ready. Hilary 32:04AND if you are all about infusing Magick as much as flavor in your food, you have got to check out Cucina Aurora. Courtney 32:10YES. Dawn, Head Witch at Cucina Aurora, has a whole line of spring-oriented Magickal foods, including a zesty-lemon infused olive oil, charged for purification and cleansing, AND a lavender a l’ orange infused olive oil for calming energy. Kanani 32:26Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is coming upand Cucina Aurora has a whole lot of Magickal goodies such as the Conjure Collection Starter Kit to get for a Mom. OR, just buy it for yourself and put your kids’ names on it. Just make it easier. You’ve earned it. Courtney 32:43And Dawn now has a new cookbook available! A Kitchen Witch’s Guide to Recipes for Love and Romance which lists the Magickal properties in many common foods, helping you figure out what to cook or simply eat! Hilary 32:56Cucina Aurora has so many incredible products, like the roasted garlic infused olive oil which you can add to your meals for protective energy or just because it’s so ridiculously good. Cucina Aurora also has super-easy products to expand your cooking.?Kanani 33:10The lemon asparagus risotto might mean I’ll actually make risotto for once.Courtney 33:15We can’t say enough good things about Cucina Aurora.? Whether you’re interested in the amazing oils, the new A Kitchen Witch’s Guide to Recipes for Love and Romance, or other Magickal food products, Cucina Aurora has a special rate for our listeners. Go to ? (spells out Cucina Aurora) And enter WITCHLIFE2021 at checkout to get 10% off. Offer good all year!? Hilary 33:45Cucina Aurora is THE BEST and I know I have at least half their stock on my birthday wish-list! Thank you to Cucina Aurora for being an episode sponsor! ? Courtney 33:54So Hillary moved last month and my husband and I offered to help and we thought we were going to be packing her clothes and stuff but no, Hilary has an enormous stash of tea and my husband spent two hours boxing it up.Hilary 34:06 Okay, like maybe an hour. But the thing is, is I seriously have so much tea from the Jasmine Pearl Tea Company.... It's kind of embarrassing. Courtney 34:15OMG and for good reason, too.?Hilary 34:17Yeah, like, my whole life is scheduled around my next cup of tea and I have literally told everyone I know that they need Jasmine Pearl tea. These teas are SO GOOD! Every morning, I fuel up with the The Burnside chai and have hooked all of my singing students on the Aria blend, which is unbelievably soothing for tired throats. Courtney 34:36So, I mentioned last time that the Jasmine Pearl’s Lapsan Souchong is the only beverage that I will choose over coffee in the morning, but I also adore their Feel Better tea, which is designed to soothe frazzled nerves, which I really appreciate given that I work with both Kanani and Hilary on a near-daily basis. Their Feel Better blend is very light with lots of notes of citrus, so it’s a great springtime blend.??Hilary 34:58We’re all about supporting family-owned businesses and the Jasmine Pearl was started by proprietor Heather Agosta and her husband Chuck, who have been directly importing and blending their own loose-leaf teas since 2004. Everything is hand-blended by their small team in Northeast Portland. The Jasmine Pearl’s tea blending philosophy is based on using excellent quality ingredients (most of them are organic) and building blends around good teas (versus using mediocre ingredients and dumping a bunch of flavoring on them).Courtney 35:25But you don’t even have to be a tea snob to be into Jasmine Pearl’s teas. Like, I used to be someone who liked tea but I wouldn’t call myself a tea-drinker, but Jasmine Pearl has totally made me a TEA DRINKER. Their vanilla rose tea is like silk in a cup. OMG. It’s so good. Jasmine Pearl is 100% online. Customers can have their orders shipped, or do contactless pick-up at their warehouse. They offer free shipping on orders of $25 or more.Hilary 35:54Check them out at and let them know you heard Courtney and Hilary gush all about them on That Witch Life podcast.? Courtney 36:02and thank you to Jasmine pearl for being an episode sponsor. All right, so I have been jonesing to get this witch on the show and I finally succeeded. Yay. It is my pleasure to get to welcome Kathleen Borealis, who Kathleen Borealis is the hostess of the Borealis Meditation Podcast, an earth science podcast for everyone on a spiritual path. She has a graduate degree in geology and works as a research geologist and is also a lifelong witch and self identifying pagan. Both her professional work and outreach focuses on helping people live with and understand our amazing planet. She currently lives in Southeast Asia but is from the Pacific Northwest and has also called Alaska and Hawaii home. Kathleen is passionate about bridging the gap between the spiritual and science worlds, and does outreach not only with her podcast for the past decade but also through social media. She recently also started #WitchesWearMasks to show support to the vulnerable members of the community during the pandemic. And thank you so much welcome, Kathleen. How are you doing? Kathleen Borealis 37:19Thank you. I'm doing great. How are you guys doing?Courtney 37:22We're awesome. I was so excited. Like I said as soon as I heard you on New World witchery which friends that should be in your rotation if it's not already. I said we have to get this person on the show Kanani literally said why isn't this person on the show now? And took us a couple of months to get our shit together. But here you are. So where in Southeast Asia, are you?Kathleen Borealis 37:42I'm currently living in Singapore. Courtney 37:45Oh, wow. And you said there's a holiday going on right now. Kathleen Borealis 37:48Yeah, so it's the end of Ramadan. So it's a public holiday here.Courtney 37:56Yeah. Oh, that's great. So you've warned you warned us that there will be festivities in the background, which I am totally fine with. And I'm sure listeners. I'm like listening to festivities in Singapore. I'm all in. Alright. So anyway, the question we ask all of our guests when they first come on the show is, how did you know that you are a witch or a magickal person. Kathleen Borealis 38:20Um, so this is kind of a funny story. And I guess it kind of also tells a lot about me in that. But so my parents are not very religious. So I grew up in kind of what I call the like Seattle hippie household, where it was pretty, you know, like, not really religious, but you know, definitely the like, celebrate the seasons. And you know, like solstices and equinoxes, and stuff like that. That was kind of our holidays. And I knew pretty early on that I was religious. And so at one point, I was left alone in the public library. I went into the world religion section, I found a world religions and just started flipping through it. And I remember reading through a couple and I was like, Shintoism, that sounds like me. But I'm not Japanese. And then I ended up reading about Neo paganism and was like, Nope, that's me. That's definitely me. And then, kind of that sent me to that section of the library. And I just started reading from there. So I kind of already knew a lot about how I felt in the world, and I just needed a word for it.Courtney 39:26Mm hmm. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago with Crystal Blanton, about like, falling into the word and once you have the word for it, yeah, yeah. So some really truly powerful thing. So one of the reasons I wanted to bring you on the show was to talk about crystals now, we get a lot of questions about crystals, what crystals are good for what how to use crystals in magick and you have such a spiritual and ecologically and community minded approach to crystals. So that's one of the main reasons we wanted to have you come on the show in addition to you just being awesome Um, so um, so first off, like, could you tell us a little bit about crystals mean more than just like shiny pretty rocks? That litter in Kanani's house and most of Hilary's house as well. So tell us about your work with crystals? Like, how do they influence your magick And how did you come to work with them? Kathleen Borealis 40:18Yeah, so umm, I think one of the things to remember is that a crystal kind of has multiple different meanings depending on what context you're in. I'm trained as a geologist. So I tend to think of it as an individual mineral. Now a mineral is a, it's kind of the building block of rocks. And they have a very defined chemical composition and structure. So it's a inorganic solid with a defined chemical composition and structure. And what we tend to think of as minerals would be an individual growth of that mineral, or ice crystals. Sorry. So we also though use the word crystal to kind of mean like any pretty rock or solid. Yeah, but technically speaking, ice is a crystal.Courtney 41:02Nice!Kathleen Borealis 41:03it's a mineral. So you know, you can.. ice, it can be a crystal. So I work with both minerals and with rocks. Personally, I really like connecting with local minerals and rocks around me. So I've never really been in kind of like the crystal industry. I've always kind of approached it from like, I found this cool thing outside, what is it? So that's definitely where my background comes from in terms of crystals. So I try to do a lot of outreach about like, what are different minerals that make up the crystals that people normally use? Where do they come from? What other things there are, that are options for it, there's a lot of things that have to do with like naming. So there's a lot of things like crystal names or gem names that are given to these different minerals. And it's just all the same mineral. So I tried to get people to think about, like, what it is about crystals that they think is most important, because that will actually guide you in terms of how you want to work with them. And then like what your options are in terms of purchasing them.Courtney 42:08So a lot of witches believe that crystals have specific powers or abilities to work in magick, like the idea of that, if I'm doing a spell say for, for love. And I have a piece of Rose Quartz that I put into the sacred space that that's going to lend the powers of love to my spell. You know, as an example of how I've seen people utilize crystals, and a lot of people carry them in their pockets, they put them in their in their tarot card bag and try to charge power and stuff like that. And I just want to know your opinion as a geologist and as a pagan, you know, how much truth is there to crystals having different types of energies? And that can these be tapped into for magick?Kathleen Borealis 42:54So I have two answers. Courtney 42:56Yes, I love two answers. Use them.Kathleen Borealis 42:57As a geologist answer is there's nothing we can measure, period, end of story, there's nothing we can measure. But that also means we just maybe don't know how to measure it. You know, that's something I think people don't remember with science is, there's lots of things that we used to not be able to measure at all that we can now measure. You know, we used to not be able to measure the gravitational field of the earth. And we didn't know that there were all these like highs and lows, and you know, different weird structures. But now we can measure it, and we can actually see it. So just because we can't measure something now doesn't mean it's not there. But we don't have a way to measure it. So we can't quantify it. So my geologist answer is nothing that we can measure. When it comes to my witch answer, I know that the most obnoxious thing a scientist can say is it depends. And I feel like I'm on the spiritual side of that saying it's personal. It's really up to you. And I think people fall into this trap feeling that they need to feel something specific or have a specific reaction to something. And you have to remember that different people have strengths in different areas. So for me example, I can't keep a plant alive to save my life. Like just... can't do it. Some people are amazing. They can like touch a plant, and it's like, perfect Courtney 44:11Hilary, that's Hilary! Kathleen Borealis 44:13So you know, your, what you how you experience crystals, and how you work with them is really going to depend on you personally, and whether you're the kind of person that can feel things from crystals or you can't, it's really very personal. So if you try and it doesn't feel like it works for you, it may just be that that's not the way for you to work with crystals. So I think that it's really important to remember that, that we have all these lists of associations and things. But where did those come from? And who came up with them? And, you know, really, it's up to you and your relationship with that specific rock.Hilary 44:49I think that's a really good point. And I think too, I always find that, you know, sometimes you'll look in a book and it'll say, Oh, well if you want to bring in X, you should get a piece of melakite or like, whatever rightCourtney 45:02melakite is such a hot topic right now though, don't get melakite guys Hilary 45:06so like, whatever, like I'm just like throwing a stone out there. It's like just what popped into my head but. But I think that there's also the element of like, if the stone doesn't feel for me like I walk around and touch things and I'm like, Oh, this feels really good in my hand, right? Because not everyone is going to connect with the vibration or the energy energy of any particular object, whether it be a plant or stone, or the like a tree or whatever. And so I do think that while I find these, like metaphysical purposes for these stones really interesting, and I know that there's obviously people have, like, believe this, and there's, it's come from somewhere. And I and I believe that there's some truth to that. I also think that people forget that to trust their own intuition in that scenario, like if something feels right to you. It's right. Yeah, it's not. It's not like if if a rose quartz feels right to you, but the crystal book says, it should be an amethyst, like, but that doesn't feel good. Like, maybe that's not right for you, you know, so it's like that combination. I think so I love your answer. I think that's like, kind of how I how I tend to...Courtney 46:14Hilary's way of saying, I just fucking love what you just said, right there. So, yeah, welcome to our show.Hilary 46:20Welcome to like, I was like, Yes, that's what I do. You know? Yeah, that's really good.Kathleen Borealis 46:24Yeah. Yeah. And I also one of my, like, pet interests is like historical uses for different crystals and historical ways of thinking about them. And if you look at kind of some of these earlier, books or writings about em, you know, what you associate a specific crystal with changes with time a lot. And it also depends on the cultural context. So you know, what's considered lucky here in Southeast Asia is really different from you know, what would be considered lucky in like Europe. So, you know, these, there's these historical uses for crystals, but there's also kind of like cultural associations that, you know, are different all over the world.Courtney 47:07So here's a thought and something I've wondered. Kathleen, do you think that crystals have cognizant spirits that may actually have a vested interest or disinterest in working magickally, that's something I experienced with plants is that when I talk with plants or or other, you know, organic creatures, I sometimes get a sense that either they're yes, no, indifferent... get away from me when it comes to like, working with magick, but I'm always curious is if that exists in an inorganic compound, like you mentioned, like a, like a crystal? Kathleen Borealis 47:43Yeah. So I um definitely identify as an animist.Courtney 47:47Yes,Kathleen Borealis 47:48but also, I tend to work more with geologic forces. So the thing I think people need to remember is that when it comes to plants, and animals, they kind of live on our timescale. But when it comes to things like geologic, I don't know, like rocks and stuff like that they have a completely different timescale that they live on. So when we are talking about geologic events, we're talking about like, 10s, of 1000s of years to millions of years. So they it's this concept of deep time, so they kind of run on a different timescale than we do. So whether or not a rock is paying attention to you, you may ask it a question, and it may answer you in like 100 years. So, I mean, I tend to, I tend to work more with kind of geologic forces, then kind of human stuff. So I try to remember that, you know, these things work on a different timescale than we do. And so their, their perception of reality is going to be different. I mean, kind of, like our perception of reality is going to be different than, you know, an animal that lives for 24 hours. So, no, I think that's, that's one of the concepts that I think we miss sometimes is this concept of time and how it's relative to kind of your lifespan or experience and how these different beings kind of live in these different time ranges.Courtney 49:11So when you say you work with geologic forces, what does that mean? Exactly?Kathleen Borealis 49:16So right now, what I currently do is I work to help support for volcano monitoring. So I work a lot with volcanoes. I also work with earthquakes and tsunami and I do natural hazards. So I work with natural hazards a lot. And so I work with professionally with helping people live with natural hazards in their area. So like in the Pacific Northwest, we have earthquakes and volcanoes. So I do a lot of work with you know, how do you prepare for an earthquake because it's not a matter of if an earthquake is going to happen? It's just when and how big Yeah, so being prepared for it knowing how to live in a place with earthquakes as well as volcanoes you know, knowing what the hazards are, you know what specific events So a lot of the rocks that I have that I work with are from my fieldwork. And so I tend to I like to say I talked to volcanoes and earthquakes, and they don't always listen. And if they do, they don't always respond. But you know, that's, that's kind of professionally where I work. And I feel really strongly about people understanding the forces around them. So when I lived in Hawaii, it was really interesting to see the people that had lived in Hawaii for a long time really have this strong connection with the volcano, and are very accepting of the fact that, you know, a lava flow may come into their town, whereas the people that move to Hawaii and maybe aren't as used to it, they have this kind of perception that you can work against it. Right. So you can like block the lava flowCourtney 50:49(laughing)Hilary 50:49right and yeah, right. Kathleen Borealis 50:51Yeah. But you know, it's that that feeling of like that human need to like control something you don't understand. So they are much more traumatized by the most recent eruption than my friends that have lived there for a really long time and are just really accepting because they understand what's going on. They have a relationship with it. And you know, they, they know that, you know, the whole island is going to be covered in lava at some point. So that's kind of how I, where I work in kind of both senses.Courtney 51:18So slightly off topic, but a really funny story that really illustrates people's need to control things, not planetary aligned. This is when I worked at Columbia University, and my husband and I went to the cocktail party. And, you know, he and I were geeking out with the astrophysicists and ask them about their work. And they were excited to talk about it. One of them was talking about the binary black holes. And that he said, it is true. His German accent, he said, is if they ever collide, we are all gone. But we won't even know we won't even feel it. My husband and I are like, Whoa, cool. Well, of course, then at his mother's Christmas party, we decided to start telling her friends about the binary black holes, and how when they collide, it will be the certain instant heat death of our entire solar system and most of the galaxies surrounding us. And we were so excited by the fact that watching their faces go gray. And this poor woman in this Eastern Ohio Christmas party goes, is there anything we can do? And then a friend of ours who was listening, she goes, Yeah, maybe if you separate your recycling. (laughing)Hilary 52:31Oh, my God. Oh, my God.Kanani 52:36This is why people don't invite you places. By the way. Just incase there was any confusion. This is why people don't invite you.Hilary 52:43You know....just a casual party conversation. Just a casual party conversation! (laughing)Courtney 52:50about the potential intermediate death of of everything we've ever know. At Christmas, so but I know I married the right person, because he was totally in his world. So excited about it. Oh, yeah. I loved watching Kathleen's face, as I've explained this to her, she's like, you really brought this up at a Christmas party? Oh, I know where this is going. Oh, shit. Because she and I have had these conversations many times as well. Well, you know, it's funny, because, you know, growing up the Pacific, Northwest, when I was living when I was living in New York. There a woman at my job, said, Courtney, I just saw a documentary last night about the tsunamis that could hit the Pacific Northwest and like, yeah. And she said, and the earthquakes I said, Yeah, that happens. And the volcano and I said, Yeah, and she goes, how do you? How do people just live that way? And I said, Well, you take the subway to work every morning, right? And she said, Yeah, and I said, you go under Time Square. She said, Yeah, I said, Well, my friends in Oregon want to know how you do that when there's a potential of a terrorist attack. And you would be in the subway when it happens She goes, Well, it's probably not gonna happen. It's fine. And well, that's that's how they live as well.Kathleen Borealis 54:00Yeah. Yeah.Courtney 54:02We all have our thing. Tornadoes scare the hell out of me and they don't scare my cousin cuz he grew up with them a tornadoes. No, no.Hilary 54:09Oh my god, they terrify me. Oh, that's scary. Two things that scare the shit out of me. Like earthquakes. I've been in like a couple moderate earthquakes and like, yeah, they're fucking scary, but like, I've experienced a few so I'm like, whatever the two things that scare the shit out of me or tsunamis, like scare the shit out of me. And tornadoes like hurricanes and tornado like, Hi, I'm like that just rip through. Kanani 54:33Why in the shit are you afraid of tornadoes? We live in the Pacific Northwest. Like you've only ever read about it in a book.Hilary 54:43Yeah, I'm not afraid of it. Because I think it's going to happen to me. I'm afraid of the concept that it exists like, right like yeah, I one time I one time was in I think I was in Oklahoma City.Courtney 54:55Oh, no, that's Tornado Alley.Hilary 54:57And I was like, and I was in the hotel. Um, it's like, like the big fucking siren goes off and I'm like, totally shitting my pants like, I'm like, that's it. We're gonna die. I'm like, where do we go the bathrooms in the hotel, you go to the bathrooms like they have like a, you know, like tornado area. I'm like freaking out. these motherfuckers are like standing out in the front like, cool. Yeah, I'm like, Are you kidding me? I literally thought for sure I was dead and B.) the locals are like, what is, what is actually they're ike, you're not from hear? You're not from here, are you?Courtney 55:29from around here? or? Yeah,Kanani 55:31I mean, no one's gonna be surprised for me to say this. But you have no idea how badly I would have been fucking with you. If I had been in that room with you. Like, I would have been like, okay, that nothing is gonna suck up the toilet, you need to get on the ground, lay on the ground, hug the toilet hug that toilet, then even if it comes, it won't suck you in the toilet? Oh, my God, I would have just beenCourtney 55:57the moral of the story, don't hang out with Kanani everHilary 56:01I think when you're in an area where you're experiencing stuff regularly? Or you're in an area where the reality is that you might that you're going to it's as you said, it's not a question of, if it's a question of when, when you know what to do when you're prepared. Like there's a self there's a sense of like, there is a sense of control in that because while you can't control what the what geologically happens, or what environmentally happens use you can control how you respond in that moment. And like knowledge is power in those situations, you know, right. And the difference between life and death? Often Yeah, you know. Yeah. And also I love that you do that work?Kathleen Borealis 56:39Yeah. So also, you know, one of the things that I think people don't think about is, my, one of my professors, when I was in grad school said this wonderful thing, which is that earthquakes don't kill people buildings do. So yeah, if you live somewhere where your buildings are built to withstand an earthquake, like Japan is great for this. Like, their their buildings are like frickin engineered like crazy. You know, they'll withstand a lot of shaking, and then you're totally, you know, you're much safer than somewhere else where, you know, maybe they haven't invested in the infrastructure. And so, you know, something like, where I grew up in Seattle, like, if you're down in Pioneer Square, like those are old unreinforced like you're like, the ship's gonna fall off the front.Kanani 57:22Yeah, well, it's funny. I was walking with a condo we just sold the stairs always felt a little like wobbly. And I always thought it was just because you know, it's condo. So there shit stairs right? Or, you know, it was a new even though it was a new condo, it was a newer condo, it was brand new, Courtney 57:38or you were drinking again and you were drinking...Kanani 57:41Or, I was drinking again. And I'd forgotten. And so anyways, I was with one of our neighbors. And they they looked at me and I made a comment. And they laughed the guy, you're stupid, and which, you know, I was. And they said, Well, it's because they're earthquake proof. And I was like, oh, and so it was made to be able to move. So that if if the building kind of shook a little bit, the stairs would just kind of roll with it. And so because that was always my thought with an earthquake, was I always kept extra, I always kept the most important emergency supplies because we lived on the third floor with us, because I always figured that the patio would go, and the stairs would go. And so it would be futile to keep things in the garage, because we may not be able to get downstairs. And then they explain that to me about the stairs, they're like no, that the stairs are made so that they will withstand like a 9.0 earthquake. I was like, awesome.Courtney 58:38But a 9.1 earthquake, well, then you'reKathleen Borealis 58:42also you know, one of the things that's important with buildings is they need to be able to kind of like flex and move with an earthquake. Like if it's really rigid, then it's gonna fall apart. So there's a there's a really good earthquake Museum in Taiwan, I went to that had this whole like interactive thing where they had all these different structures, and it's like a table and you just shake the table really hard and you will see how the different structures respond to that shakingHilary 59:08that's amazing Courtney 59:09when you play God and just say, I'm going to shake up this little mini Mini World. Yeah,Kathleen Borealis 59:14I mean, I feel like....Kanani 59:15I want that job.Kathleen Borealis 59:17I was gonna say, whenever I'm helping, like set up new stuff, or I know where seismometer is, I'm the one jumping up and down. Like, Oh, a very serious scientist thing, I must make an earthquake.Courtney 59:31Hi. I believe it. So we have a listener question. And it says, Hello, I'm rather new to witchcraft. I've been reading Tarot for a while for a little while, and started doing more research beyond that, which resulted in me finding this podcast. I don't know whether to celebrate or feel bad for this person. But this has been an amazing resource that I love listening to you. Thank you. I'm about seven to eight months behind right now. So I'm sorry if this has been answered already. But I've been trying To catch up, and some of the episodes I've been listening to, there has been a point made that magic will, quote, work better and, quote, If you work with your ancestral tradition, this makes sense to me and seems a good way to avoid accidentally invoking closed traditions. But how does this work when Christianity has destroyed replaced the pagan traditions of my ancestors? For example, one of my family lines is polish and the catholic church did a thorough job wiping out anything that there was centuries ago. Obviously, more research is needed on my end, but the vast majority of my ancestry coming from someplace in Eastern or Central Europe, I'm pretty sure this is going to be an issue that comes up again, how does one work with the traditions of their ancestors when there are no records of what those traditions were? PS: I'm sorry for how long this question is. No apologies necessary. Kathleen, what do you think?Kathleen Borealis 1:00:48So I have some thoughts on this. I really think there's a couple places you can start What is with your individual family traditions? Like how does your family celebrate the Christian holidays? You know, what is it that some what are some of the common things that you have? also any stories or, you know, folklore from the region is also a really good place to do it. Because a lot of times what happens is these earlier tradition traditions or earlier cultures, they're still there. They're just combined with Christianity. So Christianity in Central Europe, and Eastern Europe looks very different from other places. And you can see this a lot. I mean, I live in Asia now. And you know, the Christianity here looks completely different from where I grew up. So looking at how your family or your culture in those areas celebrates different holidays, look at a lot of the handicrafts that have been done on clothing, what are some of the themes that are represented kind of over and over and over again, what are some of the different foods that are eaten in different types of the year, you're not going to find like a whole tradition, but you're going to find really strong hints as to what's really important and what was really important to the culture before that other culture came in. So you know, it's a lot of experimentation. And then I would say also also blend it with kind of your local area and where you're at and kind of builds your personal practice with these different elements. And then it also helps you keep in contact with your family and still celebrate their holidays with them. Because you're kind of taking what is important to the culture and not necessarily the holiday that was kind of like put on top of it, if that makes sense.Courtney 1:02:25That makes perfect sense and I think there's also some we being familiar with with what is happening in this specific part of the world that our listeners talking about Eastern Central Europe. Okay, so you had Celts that moved into that region. And there were indigenous people that were already there and the Celts and the indigenous people started doing their own thing. Okay, well, then the Romans came in and colonized them okay, so they changed everything again. And then Christianity trickles up there and I would not say that it thoroughly wiped it out because if you look at like Orthodox Christianity, a lot of focus on eggs, a lot of focus on weaving, a lot of focus on on traditions and folklore, I think is a big way of looking at the fold practices. And then even since then you've had like, you know, the Soviets and and you know, Nazis and stuff, depending on where your family was from all that stuff has been affected. So it's just like layers upon layers kind of like geology Cathleen yeah layers of rocks. And so um, I don't think that any of it is to negate it but I do think that that for me having Slavic ancestry just kind of scratching the surface a little bit on some of the Eastern European traditions and boom there's there's a whole thing like this curse that my father and his brothers used to say which made my great grandmother my Baba cross herself because it I don't know what the wording is is in Slovak but in basically means a lightning strike you dead I'm sorry, it wasn't Slovak was Ukrainian, but they used to say may lightning strike you dead. And I just was like, Oh, that's just a saying but then in a little research I found out there is a curse in Ukraine that says may Perun take you because Perun was a thunder god and so it's like kind of morphed into something that doesn't sound quite so pagan. But it has those ancient roots so that even you know living generations know to say it when they really want to insult someone so you know I just have fun with that have fun with scratching the surface and be like oh look at that and don't be angry that like Christianity took it gotta remember the Romans did it first and the Celts did it before that, you know, there's just layers upon layers of cultures coming in and doing that in that part of the world. I I don't I don't say that about every part of the world where the traditions have come in and change things around. But at least for that part of the world. Don't be too upset just to scratch and scratch and sniff There we go.Kathleen Borealis 1:04:48Yeah, and I would say that, you know, sometimes it's easier to see this influence and this layering in different areas and in Southeast Asia. You know, we have major traditions we have Buddhism, Hinduism and There's a lot of majority Muslim countries, but the kind of underlying culture, you can see it through the whole area, and it just kind of has these other religions on top of it. So, you know, it may be easier to see someplace like here that you can see there's kind of this undercurrent of what would have been there before. And sometimes it's just hard to see when it's something that you grew up in, and it's something that you're used to. And sometimes you have to take a step back to look at it.Courtney 1:05:26Yeah, for real. That's been a big journey with me and my, my mom's Appalachian traditions, and realizing, okay, there's so much of that has a lot of folk magic that they would never call it that. But like, things my mom is I've talked about the White Candle wicks that she never let us put out a candle without at least browning the wick a little bit. And she just said that because it looks better. But turns out in Appalachia, that's a very serious tradition, you do not let your candle wick stay white. So it was like, okay, that's where that comes from. You know, because bad luck. Yeah, attracts death or whatever. Everything in Appalachia is about avoiding death. So. So, um, okay, well, Kathleen. What is umm? Where can people find you and find your work?Kathleen Borealis 1:06:08So my podcast should be everywhere. I think I got everything. So it's Borealis meditation podcast. You can also find me at my website I've got a link to the podcast there. It's on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts. Spotify, should be everywhere. I think I got everything. I'm also on Twitter and Instagram @CatBorealis. And I'm pretty active. I'm always happy to answer questions. I don't think any question is stupid. I think usually there's just holes and understanding. And if I don't know something, then we both get to learn something. So, that's great. Courtney 1:06:43That's why Scientists are so great to hang out with because they're not afraid to say I don't know thats uhh...Hilary 1:06:48yeah, no, I agree. Courtney 1:06:50All right. Alright, well, Kathleen, really, really appreciate you being here with us. (Exit Music) 1:06:55And thank everybody so much for listening. Don't forget if you want to support the show, the best way is to subscribe and spread the word. You can also consider leaving us a rating review us on Apple podcasts or buy us a coffee check out our merch at our Etsy store. And for bonus content, become a supporter on Patreon. We are also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and for show notes, audio transcript or to ask us a question to answer in a future episode. Go to Don't forget to listen and subscribe to Borealis Meditation as well. And check out Kathleen's work and until then, keep moting that shit, we will talk to you all next week.Hilary 1:07:33Bye,Kathleen Borealis 1:07:37ByeAll Three 1:07:38So Mote it Be!Courtney 1:07:48Hillary's hangry so, she's not responding and Kanani's just not responding...Hilary 1:07:52I'm like, what is the response?Courtney 1:07:55Say good job Courtney. You you recognize?Hilary 1:07:58I said I was like I get it your dream. I mean, like your psyche came through in your dreams. That's I mean, like, Kanani..Kanani's just not even she's she's like I'm not gonna fucking comment.Kanani 1:08:10I'm just not. Hilary 1:08:11I am hangry though.Courtney 1:08:12You remember the story right?Kanani 1:08:14Oh, of course.Courtney 1:08:15Oh my god.Kanani 1:08:16Oh, the stories. Oh no. 30 years old. ................
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