Jonathan Koe is a queer astrologer, diviner, and alchemist of the subtle realm. Their work aims to empower fellow shapeshifters, visionaries and intuitives in remembering their essence, cultivating skills in being present with the ever-changing nature of reality, and weaving sincere, loving kinships with the world - even when the world has broken our hearts. 

Episode Highlights

Welcome to our second cross-pollination episode, where we share space with other queer podcasters and creators. Jonathan is the host of "Healing the Spirit" podcast.

• We take an energetic stroll and explore the medicines of queerness, healing, astrology, collaboration & connection. 
• Add nuggets of grounding, breathwork & gratitude throughout our shared time. 
• We mix and marinade in queer joy, laughter, connection & community. 

Web links

• Find them online at JonathanKoe.com
  
• You can also connect with them on Instagram @jonathankoeofficial
• Listen to Healing the Spirit podcast here

 

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Madre Jaguar (she/they) is a Queer, Non-Binary Birth Doula, Oracle and Curandera of Mayan, Pipil, Nahual and Garifuna descent. Born in Los Angeles, CA to Salvadoran immigrants and raised in Mexico. Their practice is rooted in their ancestral heritage and indigenous traditions of Mexico and Central America.

Episode Highlights

• We learn about Madre Jaguar via some sweet nuggets of their story and how they answered their call to magic. 
• Madre shares about some of the tools and medicines she works with regularly (mushrooms + tarot) and the impact they have on their life and practice. 
• The three of us drop in together and share a platica (heart to heart) where we navigate what’s showing up on our hearts + how we are navigating + responding to current energies
• Madre Jaguar is called to draw a tarot card and share a reading for the collective.

Web links

• Find Madre Jaguar online at IamMadre.com
  
• You can also connect with them on Instagram @Madre.Jaguar

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TanyaMarck Oviedo (they/them) identifies as a non binary, queer, native indigenous person of color who resides on Tongva + Kizh + Chumash land (colonially known as Long Beach, Ca). They currently are of service to their communities as a mentor + wellness facilitator. They are creator of Vamonos a healing arts practice rooted in and with well + being + of service. Vamanos builds community to explore and embody wellness via breath work + energy + mindful movement + mentoring + space holding.

Episode Highlights

• We discuss how TanyaMarck first learned about the power of connecting to the breath from their baseball coach as a child.
• We learn about their current breath work practice helping clients to release stuck energy and activating new insights.
• Nick and TanyaMarck share stories about discovering magic and spirituality through candles at church and connecting to the elements of nature, wind and fog.
• They talk about learning to be of service to family and community, and cultivating that service as a spiritual practice.
• They share about their connection with food as medicine and why they feel called to work with food magic.

Web links

• Find TanyaMarck's offerings here - linktr.ee/tanyamarckvamonos
• Connect with them on Instagram

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Brandi Stanley (she/her) makes a living out of making connections—science and art, fermenting and theology, permaculture and social movements, neuroscience and dance. If creativity is the ability to connect the seemingly un-connectable, that’s the art she practices. In love with the space between things—the intersections and the paradoxes—she's constantly looking for what insights can be gained when we mash the unexpected together and the growth that happens when we learn to hold complexity. These days, she does that by running a podcast and writing a newsletter, both under the name This Plus That, where she's interviewed guests like authors David Epstein & Charles Eisenstein, and well-known artists like Ashley Eliza Williams and Tyler Thrasher. When she's not working on the pod, though, you can find her obsessing over great food and fermenting everything in sight.

Episode Highlights

• Brandi shares how she left the world of marketing and branding, listened to her heart, and started her podcast and newsletter.
• We explore the practice of finding balance, connection, and opposites.
• She talks about her own healing journey of opposing forces in her body and how she cultivates balance in herself today.
• We discuss the gift of queerness in that we bridge the binaries and help others see connections between poles.
• We talk about the concept of holding opposites within ourselves and being capable of holding one side without having to jettison the other.
• Brandi shares her insight that the root of many emotional and physical ailments is inflammation, both in a material and immaterial sense.

Web links

• Find Brandi online at ThisPlusThat.com
• Connect with him on Instagram, Twitter & YouTube

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Kenji Oshima is an Intrerfaith Spiritual Director, Community Dharma Teacher and Life Coach specializing in high functioning adults with ADHD. When not geeking out over Sci-Fi you’ll find him volunteering for QTAPI groups, reading at the beach, or finding ease in alternative health care.

Episode Highlights

• Kenji shares how his diagnosis of adult ADHD started him on the path to becoming a life coach.
• He talks about his philosophies of bringing shift and ease to his own clients.
• We discuss how mindfulness and spiritual practice has supported his own journey which led to him becoming a spiritual guide and companion. 
• Kenji describes what “co-active” coaching is and how he works with it.
• We explore the concept of epigenetics and what we inherit from our ancestors.

Web links

• Find him online at CoachKenji.com
• Connect with him on Instagram & Twitter

 

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David Weissman is a documentary filmmaker, public speaker and longtime activist. He is best known as producer of the films THE COCKETTES, WE WERE HERE, and CONVERSATIONS WITH GAY ELDERS. David was also co-founder of QDoc—The Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival.

Episode Highlights

• David shares about how he became an accidental filmmaker while he followed his path of activism.
• We discuss how his style of interviewing to elicit personal story colors the depth of his documentaries on queer history.
• David talks about his Gay Elders Project and value of including queer elders in his documentary work.
• He also talks about using younger folks to edit Gay Elders Project, and the importance of intergenerational collaboration.
• David provides insights into his connection between activism and filmmaking.

Web links

• Find him online at DavidWeissmanFilms.com

 

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Bonnie Violet is a trans femme genderqueer spiritual drag artist, identity doula and digital chaplain; YouTuber, Twitcher & Host of A Queer Chaplain podcast with such series as Drag & Spirituality, TranSpirit & Faith Leaders. Co-host of Splintered Grace with her conservative christian aunt, and At the Castro Country Club recovery podcast. Director of 1st Annual Drag & Spirituality Summit to take place in Chicago in October 2022.
Bonnie Violet shares her experience of strength and hope with HIV, recovering from drugs, alcohol, and sexual assault in classrooms, community centers, churches, online and anywhere else she is invited.
As a queer chaplain she is present with people in death and dying to self by helping to lace one’s narrative with a spiritual thread to remind them of their resilience, strengthen faith in self and create serenity in the now.

Episode Highlights

• Bonnie shares about her personal journey with drag and her trans identity being a result of a spiritual awakening.
• She talks about her work as a queer chaplain and identity doula to helps others through all transitions of life.
• We learn about Bonnie’s connection to her spirituality through sobriety.
• Bonnie talks about their work with death and dying.

Web links

• Find Bonnie online at www.aqueerchaplain.org
• And follow her on Instagram, TikTok & YouTube

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Seth Eisen is a San Francisco-based artist, writer, director, dramaturg, archivist, and educator who engages LGBTQIA+ history as a living, breathing dialogue by researching lost legacies. His transdisciplinary aesthetic combines physical theater, dance, ritual, puppetry, drag, circus, installation, and video art. Blurring the edge between art, research, and activism, the work is a hybrid of visual art and immersive live theater. For 25 years Seth has staged performance pieces, original plays, street spectacles and installations and has curated and appeared in numerous collaborative projects created with other Bay Area artists.

In 2007, he founded the ensemble-based theater company Eye Zen Presents that unearths and elevates the lost and hidden histories of queer ancestors so that we can better understand our lineages and ourselves. The company’s mission is to share queer cultural legacies with the general public and provides space for our local QTBIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities to gather and be in creative relationship with each other. Eye Zen creates multidisciplinary community-building events in traditional and alternative theater spaces, private homes, gardens, schools and community centers. Eye Zen’s most recent multi-year project OUT of Site, is a series of performance-driven queer history tours make the connection between the people and the sites where histories took place, bringing them to life in immersive, educational, and entertaining events around San Francisco. FabLab queer history program provides community members opportunities to learn queer history while developing creative interdisciplinary projects specifically focused on queer ancestors of color.

Episode Highlights

• Seth shares his path of creativity through his youth to becoming a performer and producer.
• We talk about why he began focusing his work on queer ancestors and how he brings these histories alive in the present day.
• We explore Seth’s simultaneous connection with spirit and his creative work, beginning in childhood.
• Seth talks about the art of puppetry and his work through that medium.
• He shares about the experience of caring for his brother, who passed from cancer, and how it transformed and inspired his life & work.
• We discuss the power of place when bringing queer history alive, in particular queer BIPOC ancestors

Web links

• Find Seth online at www.eyezen.org
• And follow him on Instagram & Facebook

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For nearly a decade, Mike Iamele has helped hundreds of GBTQ+ men to integrate shame and figure out what they subconsciously do every time they’re successful –– through a process called Sacred Branding®.
In 2014, Mike accidentally came out to millions when he wrote an article about falling in love with a man after identifying as straight––and 100,000 people shared it overnight.
He's also the author of Enough Already: Create Success on Your Own Terms (Conari Press 2015). Mike's shared his provocative and vulnerable take on sexuality + shame in hundreds of magazines and podcasts, including NPR, CBS, and Huffington Post.

Episode Highlights

• Mikes shares about his unique work with clients with mapping sensitivities and performs a live demonstration with Nick.
• We talk about how this practice can help you discover your superpowers in all aspects of your life from sex and relationships to having a better experience on the job.
• We explore the meaning of “sensitive” and how that connects to being alive.
• Mike illustrates how his work is about reclaiming who we are and releasing the shame around stamping out who we’re supposed to be.
• Mike shares about his own journey to find his purpose.

Web links

• Find him online at MikeIamele.com
• And follow him on Instagram @mikeiamele

 

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Kalyela J (she/her) is a Queer Spirituality Coach whose desire is to help the LGBTQ community experience love and peace with their spirituality and sexuality. She is considered a “Soulspeaker'' helping people heal their limiting beliefs so they can live into their purpose.

Through first-hand experience she knows the journey and challenges that a Queer person faces. For over 20 years as a gay woman she struggled with religious trauma, lack of acceptance from family, and internalized homophobia. As she encountered a spiritual awakening she found peace and inner knowing that being LGBTQ is a divine gift. Her soul purpose is to help you receive the same so that you can live a life of purpose love and freedom.

Kalyela resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, where in her free time she loves to read, spend time with her family and her fur baby. Her life’s mantra "Live Life with Intentionality.”

Episode Highlights

• Coach K shares her story of struggling with her queer identity while growing up in a conservative Christian community and how she eventually reconciled her faith and identity.
• We learn how she shares her work with her clients and how she became a soul speaker.
• We discuss religious trauma and its impact.
• Coach K describes her spiritual coaching work and its empowering effect on her clients’ lives.
• Coach K describes her definition of Soul Speaker.

Web links

• Find Coach K online at Kalyelaj.com
  
• And follow her on Instagram @queeronpurpose 

 

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Anna Renée Winget (they/them - currently living on Tongva land) is an artist, activist, scholar and educator. They currently serve as Affiliated Scholar at the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) where they are collaborating on Crossing Pride: a transnational digital healing storytelling project and archive by/ for/ with queer and trans refugees. They hold a doctorate in drama and theatre from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) and at San Diego (UCSD) where they completed their dissertation, "Performing Possibilities: Trans-Healing in Activist Performance" and received their MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. Anna teaches theatre and writing in communities and universities and develops new collaborative performances with communities toward decolonizing and healing. They have developed the Newcomers Performance Project which focuses this work on empowerment for queer and trans refugees. With Tina Rosenberg and Sandra D'Urso, they are co-editor and contributor in the newly published textbook, "Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Feminisms in Contemporary Performance."

Episode Highlights

• We learn about how Anna found a place in theater to express and find their true identity. 
• Anna shares how they explored the therapeutic and social justice aspects of theater and how they traveled internationally helping queer refugees tell their own stories.
• Anna talks about how theater and film can be tools for conscious raising and healing.
• They talk about their journey towards becoming a drama therapist. 
• We discuss the healing power of sharing stories with each other.

Web links

• Find them online at AnnaWinget.com
• And follow them on Instagram @2queernheal 

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Mahrs Schoppman, born and raised in California, is a queer & trans somatic psychotherapist with a private practice based out of his home office in Occidental, California. He specializes in working with the queer community and with those who live with the embodied traumatic impacts of growing up in an oppressive religious environment. He is passionate about walking with people on their journeys of reclaiming embodied knowing, sensation, emotional range, and vitality. Currently, he is launching a series of religious trauma therapy groups with an understanding that group-based trauma needs group based healing.

Born queer and raised orthodox Mormon, Scott Sessions knows about navigating worlds that seem like polar opposites. Scott, who now identifies as an agnostic post-Mormon mystic, is developing a career as a spiritual life coach. He helps those who have left restrictive religions to cultivate new spiritual practices that bring healing and inner peace. In addition to coaching, Scott runs monthly reading events (both online and in-person) called Queer Bedtime Stories, where folks come together to share and be moved by the words of LGBTQ authors. With a commitment to help meet the spiritual needs of this particular moment, standing firm in both Mormon and queer identities, Scott proudly carries the pioneer tradition into the 21st century.

Episode Highlights

• Mahrs shares about his upbringing in the Evangelical Christian church, and how that effected him as a queer and trans person.
  
• Scott shares about his childhood growing up queer in a Mormon community, and struggled with his queer identity and coming out in that space.
  
• They both share how they found their path out of the dysfunction of those religious sects, and discovered their new spiritual practices.
  
• Mahrs shares how his relationship with the sensations of his body deeply impacted his ability to reconstruct his spiritual self.
  
• Scott talks about how he felt numb when he left his church and reconnected to spiritual sensation through writing and poetry. He also shares that learning about the spiritual practice of other queer folks informs his practices as well.
  
• Mahrs shares how his work as a psychotherapist is expanding to offer groups for folks recovering from religious trauma. He explains more about what somatic psychology therapy practices look like in practice.
  
• Scott shares about his new life coaching groups for queer folks who have left restrictive religions. He also talks about his Queer Bedtime Stories for folks to gather in a soft space to connect online and in-person.
  
• They both share their struggle to stay present in groups generally as a result of religious trauma, and how they stay grounded in their bodies in those moments.

Web links

• Find Mahrs online at TherapyWithMahrs.com
• Find Scott on Instagram @scott-strolls & @queerbedtime
  

 

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J.P. DerBoghossian (he/they) is the founder of the Queer Armenian Library - the world's first library devoted to literature, film, and television by, about, and for Queer Armenians. He serves on the Board of the International Armenian Literary Alliance and is a past President of the Armenian Cultural Organization of Minnesota. He hosts the podcast This Queer Book Saved My LIfe which is a 2024 GLAAD Media Award nominee for Outstanding Podcast. He is a Lambda Literary Fellow and his essays have appeared in We Are All Armenian (University of Texas Press), The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough (Anamot Press), and Emerge (Lambda Literary). He started his career in television broadcasting and then transitioned to a ten-year career in higher education where he ultimately served as the Chief Diversity Officer for Normandale Community College and Saint Paul College. With This Queer Book Saved My Life he returns to his broadcasting roots, as he additionally hosts The Gaily Show for AM950-KTNF in Minneapolis. He holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Minnesota. He resides with his partners, splitting their time between Minneapolis, MN and Barronett, WI.  

Episode Highlights

Season 7 premieres with our first cross-pollination episode, where we share space with other queer podcasters and creators.

• We start by floating into a round of: I will share mine (show you mine), if you share yours (if you show me yours) - a lovely space where we each share books/authors that have impacted our queerness.
• We reflect and share about the books and the aspects of our queerness that are awakened.
• TanyaMarck & Nick get into some queer spirit medicine and drop into some breathwork + movement + toning with the intentions of bringing and sharing all of theses beautifully awakened frequencies with our bodies and systems sprinkling it all with gratitude.
• Thank you to books and their authors: Home at the End of the World, by Michael Cunnigham; The Velvet Rage, by Alan Downs; The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, by Ann Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure; & Tales of The City, by Armistead Maupin.

Web links

• Find J.P. online at ThisQueerBook.com
  
• You can also connect with them on Instagram @thisqueerbook

 

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Ni’Ja Whitson is a multi award-winning Queer Trans NB artist and futurist, a wound and medicine worker, noted by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. They are a United States Artist Fellow, Creative Capital and two-time "Bessie" Awardee who engages transdisciplinarity through a critical intersection of the sacred and conceptual in Black, Queer, and Transembodiedness.

Episode Highlights

• Ni’Ja shares about their artistic and spiritual origins, as well as their emergence from a lineage of dreamers.
• They discuss their current project, The Illumination Catalogue, a ceremony project honoring Black, trans, and gender nonconforming lives and communities across Turtle Island (U.S.).
• We learn about their transformative experience in Tanzania and the meaning of their name.
• Ni’Ja talks about what they call a Black Trans Cosmic Map, an aspect of the Illumination Catalogue that is a compilation of life stories, cosmology, and ancestral connection of Black trans people across the country.
• We explore the astrological connections between the movement of laws in the United States and how they affect the lives of the queer community.
• Nick & Ni'Ja discuss the importance of creating sacred, intimate space in which to share stories and the journeys of people in the Black trans and gender nonconforming community.

Web links

• Find them online at NijaWhitson.com
• And follow them on Instagram @illuminationcatalogue & @thenwaproject,  and on Twitter

 

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Eli Ramer, who writes under the name Andrew Ramer, is the author of several books of interest to gay/queer readers, including "Queering the Text" and "Two Flutes Playing," which author and journalist Mark Thompson (who interviewed Ramer in his book "Gay Soul") called "a gay classic." Ramer will be talking about his new book, "Two Hearts Dancing." He lives in Oakland, California.

Episode Highlights

• Eli talks about his new book, Two Hearts Dancing, which is a companion piece to his classic, Two Flutes Playing.
• We explore the value of poems and stories in our increasingly complicated and wobbly world.
• We also discuss the role of queer folx in engaging and dealing with climate change.
• Eli shares three of his pieces from Two Hearts Dancing.
  
• We reflect on the world changes since the first conversation with Eli on this podcast.
• Eli draws comparisons between the unification of the queer community during the AIDS crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Web links

• Find Eli online at AndrewRamer.com

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Daily Magic for Peace offers a quick and simple way to focus your intentions, prayers, and actions toward healing the crisis in Ukraine. By gathering one or two items and joining the circle, you will help send positive energy to counterbalance injustice, anger, and fear. Music by Terry Hughes. 

https://ever-changing.net/daily-magic

Listen here on Apple Podcasts & Spotify

Sheridan Gold is a retired Special Ed teacher of at-risk youth, and is currently very involved with creating art, and playing and performing music. She enjoys her days with her wife Dianna, their dog Sweet Pea, and their 13 chickens, and teaching hand drumming to seniors.
Dianna Grayer has been a Marriage Family Therapist for the last 25 years. She is the author of 8 children's books and has written 11 plays; she's a guest speaker at schools and colleges, and co-hosts her radio show with her wife Sheridan.

Episode Highlights

• Sheridan and Dianna share about their long-running radio show, Living Proof.
• They share about their creative outlets, such as poetry, writing, music and other inspirations outside of their show.
• We talk about the healing power of music for people of all ages.
• They discuss the strength, beauty and support of their relationship, and how it provides ample ground for creativity.
• Dianna talks about her new play, Release: Unearthing the Silent Rumblings, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Web links

• Find them online at SheridanGold.com & DiannaGrayer.com
• Our Lives Matter Theater Company
• Connect with them on Instagram
  

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Sifu DeVante Love is a Gay Olympic Martial Artist, QTBIPOC Counselor, Wellness Coach, and Spiritual Teacher who has over a decade of experience guiding thousands of folks across the world who have felt weighed down by their trauma, anxiety, stress, or cultural expectations. They are the Founder of Healing Kung Fu, an online queer and BIPOC friendly spiritual martial arts school which teaches people how attain new levels of wellness through movement meditation practices. After getting his masters in Spiritual Psychology from Columbia University, he was invited to train, teach and compete all over the US and internationally.

Episode Highlights

• DeVante shares how from a young age, they first learned martial arts as a way to protect themselves as a child when they first came out. They were drawn to Kung Fu because of the spiritual and energetic aspects of it, as well as the connection to meditation and mind training.
• We discuss the idea of Eros as a kind of energetic connection, and how that shows up in spiritual practice and community.
  
• DeVante shares how they integrate the mind, body and spirit in their practices and teach that integration in their work to others. These teachings initially revolve around body movements and postures.
  
• They share how grounding earth practices have been most needed during the last two years of the pandemic.
  
• DeVante shares how it has been to be a queer POC in the world of martial arts, and modeling difference in those spaces.
  
• We also discuss different experiences and understandings of the spiritual through the practice of Kung Fu.

Web links

• Find DeVante at HealingKungFu.com
• Connect with them on Instagram
  

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Jacoby Ballard is a yoga and Buddhism teacher with over 20 years of experience, working at the intersection of social justice, trauma and embodied practice. He has taught in prisons, schools, hospitals, recovery centers, offices, co-led a yoga teacher training, and co-founded a worker-owned cooperative healing justice center in Brooklyn. His first book is released November 23, A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation.

Episode Highlights

• Jacoby shares how he stumbled into yoga and meditation by chance while in school.
• We learn how those practices have supported him as a queer person and an activist.
• He talks about his new book, A Queer Dharma: Buddhist-Informed Meditations, Yoga Sequences, and Tools for Liberation, and the importance of understanding the history of cultural appropriation and capitalism in the yoga industry.
• We discuss the importance of creating a safe, queer-centered space to practice and form community.

Web links

• Find him at JacobyBallard.net
• Get your copy of A Queer Dharma
• Connect with Jacaoby on Instagram
  

 

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Kendrick Daye is a multi-media collage artist and the creator of the Black Queer Tarot. Originally from Coconut Grove, Florida, he is now setting up art camp in Harlem, NY. His diverse approaches to making art include art direction, bespoke design, music, and most notably collage - both digital and analog. Kendrick aims to create work that imagines a future where black, queer life is prosperous and thriving.

Episode Highlights

• Kendrick shares about how he started making art and how he dove in deeply, creating a zine while in college.
• Kendrick talks about how creating art has been a foundation of his life and led him to the projects he’s working on now.
• We discuss his new Black Queer Tarot deck, co-created with Justin Henry.
• He shares about his creative process working on the Tarot deck and what that was like during the pandemic.
• We talk about Afrofuturism and its place in art and society today.

Web links

• Find him at KendrickDaye.com
• Get your deck at BlackQueerTarot.com
• Connect with Kendrick on Instagram & Twitter
  

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First and foremost, David Nazario is a human, spirit, brother, lover and friend. Secondly, he is a writer, speaker, and educator. David released his first book, "Make Love Your Religion: How To Put Love First & Succeed at Doing What You Love" in 2018, and his second book, "Poems Written In The Bathtub While Cumming Out"  released Winter 2021.

Episode Highlights

• David shares his passion for writing and exploring ideas through story and poetry.
• We explore how writing can serve as a healing practice.
• We talk about his book, "Make Love Your Religion: How To Put Love First & Succeed at Doing What You Love," and how it is a guide for healing the Self and connecting with the Divine to fulfill one’s purpose and passion.
• We get to hear one of David’s poems from his upcoming book, "Poems Written in the Bathtub While Coming Out."
  

Web links

• Buy his books on Amazon
• Connect with David on Instagram & Twitter
  

 

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Matthew Clark Davison is the author of Doubting Thomas (Amble Press in 2021) and creator of The Lab :: Writing Classes with MCD. His textbook The Lab, Experiments in Writing Across Genre, co-authored by bestselling writer Alice LaPlante, will be published by W.W. Norton in 2022. His prose has been recently anthologized in Empty The Pews (Epiphany Publishing) and 580-Split; and published in or on Guernica, The Advocate, The Atlantic Monthly, Foglifter, Exquisite Pandemic, and others. Matthew also teaches full time in SF State's Creative Writing MFA and BA programs.

Episode Highlights

• Matthew shares about how he first started writing in church services after he ran away from home.
• We discuss his new book, Doubting Thomas, and how the political landscape of the last two US presidencies influenced the story.
• We explore the themes of control and surrender.
• Matthew shares his experience with organized religion and how his perception has changed since being introduced to GLIDE Memorial Church in San Francisco.

Web links

• Find more at MatthewClarkDavison.com
• Connect with Matthew on Instagram & Twitter
  

 

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O (they/them) is a yogi and priestess committed to helping themselves and others release attachment to fear and vibrate at a radiant frequency of embodiment and joy. O is a healer and artist working internationally in the media of social practice, vibration, yoga, dreamwork and reiki. Their dissertation with the State U of NY centers around flow psychology as a phenomenon.

Episode Highlights

• We talk about O’s journey from a classically trained composer and music teacher to delving into the study and practice of vibrational alchemy.
• O shares how the practice of deep listening, developed by Pauline Oliveros, lead to the paths of dream yoga and asana, which they incorporate into their vibrational alchemy work.
• We discuss the joys of teaching children, especially in music education.
• We delve into the worlds of dreams: dream recall, dream yoga and dream work.
• O talks about their experiences with sound healing and forest bathing.

Web links

• Find out more at Zotique.org
• Connect with O on  Instagram & Twitter
  

 

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Join us for our season finale: Nick (he>they) + TanyaMarck (they/them) share about their queer story and connection.

Episode Highlights

• We flow into and explore the potency of cultivating queer connections.
• We take a dip into queer spirituality. 
• And finally we are honored to share and announce upcoming queer spirit offerings in 2024.

Web links

• Follow us on Instagram @thequeerspirit
• Find TanyaMarck online at TanyaMarck.com and on IG @tanyamarck
  
• Find Nick online at QueerHealingJourneys.com and on IG @holisticqueerhealing

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Keone is a queer, a heretic and a fool, here to help shift the paradigm and welcome the higher dimensions through play and joy. They bring dreams and visions for the collective through their paintings, poetry and story telling. For them, it’s all about energy; helping nurture our energetic connections with plants, trees and other beings. And also helping us clear blockages and bring medicine to our own energy bodies.

Episode Highlights

• Keone shares some poetry from their new collection, “Love Songs For Boys,” including their focus on the intersection of painting and poetry.
• We discuss nature vs. capitalism, messiness as a path to healing, and laughter as medicine.
• They talk about how the ancient forest near their home has inspired their poetry, and how patriarchy and white supremacy serves as a metaphor for the destruction of nature.
• Keone shares about how they found poetry to be a source of healing throughout their life.
• We explore the Fool archetype and its inherent beautiful, queerness.

Web links

• Connect with Keone on Instagram @keone1973
  
• Get a copy of "Love Songs for Boys" HERE.

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Kerem Brule is a self-taught musician who has continued to experiment and evolve creatively in search of her own authentic musical expression. Kerem is an electronic music producer, sound healer, drum circler, singer-songwriter and even… a rapper! She is a lover of improvisational layering of rhythm, harmony and melody, and along the way has discovered some great musical expression hacks that have fast tracked her to greater expansion of her musical expression. Kerem is a believer that we are all capable of making music in ways that can feel intuitive, natural and above all, feel good at any age and experience level!

Episode Highlights

• We talk about how music holds the power of healing and memory.
• Kerem shares her experiences of music as medicine and the power of improvisation, regardless of age.
• We learn how drumming was significantly healing and inspirational for Kerem and what she learned from it.
• We discuss the power of sharing music collectively and what that means for personal and social healing.

Web links

• Find Kerem at BeautifulSounds.co 
• Connect with her on Instagram & Facebook

 

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Minoritea Report is a weekly BIPOC Gay Podcast. Join Yo' AunTeas Kerel, Dawon, and Jerrell as they catch up & spill tea about the Black & POC LGBTQIA+ experience, relationships, politics, sports, and pop culture! 

Episode Highlights

• We learn how the hosts met and why they decided to start their podcast, Minoritea Report.
• They talk about the importance of representing variety within the queer BIPOC communities and showing that to the world.
• They discuss the ways last year’s events have impacted them and how that is reflected on their show.
• They share about how their podcast has helped them learn how to listen to people who not only agree but also disagree with them, and cultivate necessary conversations from those interactions.
• Most importantly, we talk about wigs!

Web links

• Listen here to Minoritea Report 
• Connect with them on Instagram , Twitter & Facebook

 

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"We are erotic by nature." This is the core belief underlying all that Darshana Avila offers as an Erotic Wholeness coach and guide. Supporting folx to establish a deeply felt sense of pleasure and ease in their bodies and relationships is her joy. Guiding folx to reconsider the stories they've been told about who they ought to be and what it takes to belong is her passion. She shares all this through a somatic sex and intimacy coaching style that is trauma informed, justice oriented and nature based.

Episode Highlights

• Nick & Darshana discuss the difference between erotic and sexual states of being and how we can cultivate our own eros through connection with the natural world. 
• Darshana shares how she helps folks heal from trauma and shame, and to learn and prioritize our own pleasure.
• We learn about Darshana’s Erotic Wholeness coaching practice.
• We explore the disconnect between human society and the natural world, and how that has cost us in mental, emotional and sexual health.
• Darshana talks about “eco-sexuality” and its role in our well-being as humans.

Web links

• Find more at DarshanaAvila.com
• Connect with Darshana on Instagram

 

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Anthony Michael Lopez is a queer, disabled actor known for his appearances on Broad City, Homeland, and the feature film “Mapplethorpe” starring Matt Smith. He recently shared the stage with Daniel Craig, David Oyelowo, and Rachel Brosnahan in New York Theatre Workshop’s production of “Othello.” Anthony’s new streaming miniseries “desert in” - premiering June 3 on Operabox.tv - is a supernatural story exploring queer love, loss, and the price of memories.

Episode Highlights

• Anthony shares his journey as an actor and how his identities of being queer and disabled have shaped that path.
• We discuss the intersection of disability and queerness in media and how Anthony is working to bring more representation into the field.
• Anthony shares how his work with attachment theory has been very healing for him.
• He talks about his most recent project, “Desert In,” an operatic online mini-series.
  
• We explore why it’s so important to have queer and disabled people on both sides of the camera in the entertainment business. 

Web links

• Connect with Anthony on Instagram
• Watch "Desert In" online at Boston Lyric Opera

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Richael Faithful is a multidisclipinary folk healing artist, healing justice strategist, complex conversation facilitator, community lawyer and creative. Working from the shamanic tradition of conjure, they focus on the interactions of generational healing, practical ritual, and magic and death doulaship.

Episode Highlights:

• Richael shares their path to finding and practicing folk healing work.
• We talk about the different ways Richael uses this work, particularly in groups with healing justice practices.
• We learn how Richael answered their shamanic calling.
• Richael talks about their passion for drumming and leading drum circles as ways to create communal space.
• They share about the importance of not only healing the individual body but also tending to the collective body.
• We discuss Richael’s book, “Together at the Edge of the World: On Healing Justice."

Web links

• Find more at RichaelFaithful.com
• Connect with Richael on Instagram & Facebook
• Get Richael’s book, “Together at the Edge of the World: On Healing Justice” HERE.
• Get “The Black Trans Prayer Book” HERE.

 

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Colleen Thomas is a ritual artist and independent audio producer. Her podcast, Shame Piñata, focuses on creating rites of passage for real-life transitions.

Episode Highlights

• Colleen shares about her podcast Shame Pinata, and how it focuses on creating rites of passage for real life transitions.
• We discuss the importance of ritual as a container and support for big and small changes in our lives.
• Colleen shares how she discovered the power of ritual to help her feel supported through life’s challenges.
• She talks about some ways people have honored their relationships from the stories on her podcast.
• We learn about Colleen’s first exposure to the pagan community and how it challenged her to re-examine her conditioned assumptions.

Web links

• Find Colleen's podcast at ShamePinata.com
• Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter

 

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Claudiu Oprea is a queer permaculture educator, artist and healer. Since the pandemic he has set up the Sanqtuary Goa, India, an experimental arts and permaculture sanctuary that explores the intersection between permaculture and queerness as well as the question of where our healing may come from.
Maria Fernandes is a body based facilitator and therapist, merging yoga and expressive arts therapy as well as social permaculture.

Episode Highlights

• We learn about the creation of Sanqtuary Goa and the importance of safe, physical space for LGBTQ+ people.
• We discuss how the principles of permaculture, to live in harmony with the natural world, help us to create and foster queer community,
• Claudiu and Maria share their ideas about how nature is inherently queer.
• We talk about their vision for the Sanqtuary Goa, as a center of art and healing for queer folks in that region of India.

Web links

• Find Claudiu at claudeoprea.wordpress.com
• Connect with The SanQtuary Goa on Instagram

 

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Nikki Borodi is a Bay Area-based acro-phenom, musician, songwriter, filmmaker, educator and activist storyteller. Borodi dazzles audiences by combining her unique vocal stylings and acrobatic talents during her signature "Acrolele" performances where she sings and plays ukulele while doing acrobatics. “Acrolele” is an astounding demonstration of human potentiality that transcends perceived impossibility. Her message can be felt through every show she gives-we have the power to transform fears into flight and to live as our most authentic selves. Her work and creativity coaching inspires others to embrace diverse identities and dive into spaces of vulnerable exploration. 

Episode Highlights

• Nikki shares about her path as a musician, performer, and artist.
• She talks about how she finds healing through creative expression and the way she works with others to transform fears into flight.
• We learn about how Nikki teaches and encourages people to express their creativity and vulnerability through music.
• We explore how fear of failure or rejection can impede our creative drive and we discuss how to remedy those fears.
• Nikki talks about her conception of her Acrolele project and her upcoming album, Lesbionic.

Web links

• Find her at   NikkiBorodi.com
• Connect with him on  Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & YouTube

 

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Dr. Rehan Lakhani is a naturopathic doctor in Ontario, Canada. He focuses on treating mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression by reducing systemic inflammation and optimizing the gut-brain axis. His treatments address the root cause of illness and include diet and lifestyle changes, orthomolecular medicine, botanical medicine, and more.

Episode Highlights

• Dr. Rehan helps us understand the connection between our mental health, gut health, and nutrition.
• We talk about the ways that modern diets and lifestyle are detrimental to our overhealth, and steps we can take to improve it and reduce anxiety.
• Rehan shares about his own personal journey which led him to his own medicine practice.
• We explore how chronic stress and anxiety is directly tied to physical health.
• Rehan offers some simple steps to help increase awareness around what we eat and how we eat.
• We discuss how our work lives and environmental surroundings can also contribute to a variety of different conditions in our physical and mental health.
• He talks about the importance of spending time in nature and the connection with mental and physiological health.

Web links

• Find Dr. Rehan at GeorgianIntegrative.com
  
• Connect with him on Instagram and Facebook

 

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Ruth Camillia (they/she/ella) is a bilingual, bicultural, healing arts practitioner, reiki master, akashic records practitioner, and tarot reader. With maternal Indigenous roots from Los Altos de Jalisco, México, they integrate curanderismo and other ancestral practices into their daily life and work. As an intuitive and trauma-informed practitioner, Ruth believes healing is sacred.

Episode Highlights

• Ruth shares their queer journey and story in the most delightful ways. And we explore aspects of Queerness alongside them.
• We get curious about and drop into the Akashic Records. Ruth collaborates on a reading for Nick.
• Ruth offers a Tarot reading for the queer collective  -  it’s cute + juicy. 
• Thank you magic and animal medicines of: hawk + black phoebe  + Akashic Records, Cosmic Tarot by Norbert Losche, Sanskrit tools and practices 
• Queer spirit fingers to Leah Garza @crystalsofaltamira + Linda Howe @drlindahowe + Salva @salvatattoo.

Web links

• Find Ruth online at RuthCamillia.com
  
• You can also connect with them on Instagram @ruth_camillia

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Mark Horn is the author of “Tarot and the Gates of Light: A Kabbalistic Path to Liberation.” This innovative, spiritual workbook has won praise from two groups that don’t usually come together—rabbis and tarot experts.
Mark has been a life-long activist in the post-Stonewall LGBTQ movement, starting in 1970 as a member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance; as well as serving as chair of Gay & Lesbian Youth of New York. Over the years his activism and community service has included working as a peer counselor at the LGBTQ counseling center, Identity House; and serving on the board of directors of NewFest, New York City’s premier LGBTQ film festival.
He is the editor/writer of the Stonewall Seder liturgy, a ritual dinner celebrating Jewish LGBTQ Pride, which has been used and adapted by congregations around the United States, Europe and Australia.
Mark is probably the only person who has taught at the Readers Studio International Tarot Conference, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Identity House Gay Men’s Conference.
He lives on the Upper West Side in New York City where he is available for private instruction and consultation.

Episode Highlights

• We discuss Mark’s book, Tarot and the Gates of Light: A Kabbalistic Path to Liberation. 
• Mark shares about his spiritual journey from his days studying Buddhism in Japan to his work today teaching and doing tarot readings.
• He talks about his ways of working with his mysticism traditions as a path of queer liberation and wholeness.
• We learn about his creation of the Stonewall Seder and how it has grown and evolved over three decades.
• We explore the heroic journey archetype and how that applies to the queer community.

Web links

• Find Mark at GatesOfLightTarot.com
  
• Connect with him on Instagram,   Twitter and Facebook

 

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Gwion Raven is a tattooed Pagan, writer, traveler, musician, cook, kitchen witch, occult shop owner, and teacher. Although initiated in three magickal traditions, Gwion describes his practice as virtually anything that celebrates the wild, sensuous, living, breathing, dancing, ecstatic, divine experiences of this lifetime.
Born and raised in London, England, he now resides in Northern California and shares space with redwood trees, the Pacific Ocean, and his beloved partner.

Episode Highlights

• Nick and Gwion discuss his book, The Magick of Food: Rituals, Offerings & Why We Eat Together.
• We talk about creating special meals with gods and ancestors as a way to establish and strengthen connections.
• Gwion shares about his passion for food and how that translates into his spiritual practice.
• He expounds on the communal, healthy nature of food sharing and cooking together, and how it’s still possible during the pandemic.

Web links

• Find more & get your copy of "The Magick of Food" at www.GwionRaven.com
  
• Connect with him on Instagram and Facebook

 

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Vanessa Rochelle Lewis is the Founding Director of Reclaim UGLY.
She is a healer with a satchel full of medicine words,
A conjuror with desire to nurture other artists as they create magic and save lives,
A faery princess mermaid gangsta for the revolution,
A lush-bodied, Black femme Goddess motivated by sensuality and freedom,
An educator and performer with a passionate exuberance for silliness, laughter, and the stage,
A starlet who doesn’t want to be in the spotlight alone,
A lover of all things collective, emergent, and interdependent,
A wild-seed born and blossomed in South-Central Los Angeles,
A fighter with fists born of circumstance and a heart that refused to harden,
A warrior committed to freedom, brow dripping with resilience, wings crusted with diamonds that grew from trauma healed,
And so much more.

Episode Highlights

• Vanessa and Nick discuss the way culture has used the label of “ugliness” to oppress, dehumanize and disconnect us. 
• Vanessa talks about her journey with her organization, Reclaim Ugly.
• She shares how we can turn ugly on its head to uplift, glorify and love ourselves.
• We explore where we find “uglification” in our country’s history as well as in today’s world.
• Vanessa talks about the importance of taking care of ourselves without perpetuating the harm done to us.
• We discuss the insidious uglification we experienced in recent events such as the January 6th Insurrection of the US Capitol.

Web links

• Find Vanessa at ReclaimUGLY.org
  
• Connect with her on Instagram and Facebook

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Julie Bacher is an author and teacher from New England. She has traveled the world working on community service projects, and spent 23 years as a public school teacher. She is the author of four books, with her latest book, Oh S#*t! I think I’m Gay: a coming out book. Julie is passionate about LGBTQ issues, social justice, and crafting the right words to speak your truth.

Episode Highlights

• Julie and Nick talk about LGBTQ issues, social justice, and crafting the right words to speak your truth.
• She shares her inspiration for writing her latest book, “Oh S#*t! I Think I’m Gay.”
• We explore some of the origin stories of famous queer people and their impact on our culture today.
• Julie talks about the journey of her own coming out as well as the benefits of her spiritual practice.

Web links

• Find her at JulieBacherAuthor.com
  
• Connect with Julie on Instagram and Facebook

 

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Marc Boone is a Wizard and the founder of the Academy of Magical Thinking. The Academy helps grown-ups connect with their Inner Kiddo. Marc got his training at Parsons School of Design and he has worked as an elementary school art teacher.

Episode Highlights

• Nick & Marc discuss the power and importance of fairy tales, myths, and bringing magical thinking into our everyday lives.
• Marc shares how stories influenced his life from childhood and how they affect him today.
• We reflect on the stories of our youth and the frequent lack of representation of queer and POC characters. 
• Marc talks about the experience of writing his own bedtime stories for queer folks.
• He shares about his Academy of Magical Thinking, encouraging adults to embrace their inner kiddo.
• We discuss the crucial fun of play-dates in adulthood.
• Marc ponders the importance of sharing magical thinking.

Web links

• Find  Marc on Instagram @InnerKiddo
  

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Jessie Susannah Karnatz, aka the Money Witch, brings capitalism-critical, shame-free education to healers, hustlers, and creatives in order to catalyze change in their financial lives. She believes healing our finances will bring blessing to our lives, our lineages, and our communities. She offers education, Money Magic products, Intuitive Financial Coaching, and tax preparation online and in the Bay Area (unceded Ohlone land) and does it all with #businessladyswag.

Episode Highlights

• Nick & Jessie Susannnah explore the impacts of financial health on our lives, our lineages, and our communities. 
• Jessie Susannah describes her journey through union organizing into intuitive financial advising.
• We learn about her spiritual path from Unitarian Universalist to Judaism.
• We delve into the entangling of psychology, spirituality, and everyday choices about one’s life and finances.
• She emphasizes the importance of focusing on our material experience while still maintaining connection to spirit to lead meaningful human lives. 
• Jessie Susannah shares about her money magic products that help align one’s energetic body with different financial situations.
• She explains the connection of working with the Tarot with her work with budgeting.

Web links

• Find more at MoneyWitch.com 
• You can also find her on  Instagram, Twitter &  YouTube

 

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Roger Kuhn (Poarch Creek) is a doctoral candidate whose research focuses on Two-Spirit love, sexual sovereignty, and erotic survivance. He works as a psychotherapist and Professor of American Indian Studies, and is a board member of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS). In 2020, Roger served as the Chair for the BAAITS Two-Spirit powwow. 

Episode Highlights

• We unpack what it means, as queer people, to unsettle our bodies from cis-, straight culture, liberate our eros, and respectfully reconnect with indigenous land.
• Roger shares how his introduction to yoga became a major lift shift for him. 
• He explains the meaning of somatic psychology and some of its practices.
• He talks about his experiences and process of working on his Ph.D. dissertation on decolonizing sexuality.
• We explore the relationship between sexuality and the land before the arrival of European colonizers. 
• Roger discusses the notion of queer assimilation to Western heterosexual culture and questions why it is needed for survival.
• He shares about the healing power of pleasure and the redefining of eroticism.
• He talks about his definition of two spirit and two-spirit love.
• We learn more about the annual BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow in San Francisco.

Web links

• Find more at RogerJKuhn.com
• Learn more about the BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow at www.baaits.org
• You can also find BAAITS on Instagram & Facebook
• Native Land map website  | Mobile app
• If you are not Indigenous to the place you live, please consider paying your land tax/offer a gift to the people whose land you are on.
  – NYC: mannahattafund.org
  – Seattle: realrentduwamish.org
  – SF Bay Area: sogoreate-landtrust.com/shuumi-land-tax

 

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Elsa Asher (they/them) is a practitioner and teacher of somatics and ritual with a specialty in healing developmental and intergenerational trauma. They are a registered biodynamic craniosacral therapist, life coach, doula, Koheneh (Hebrew ritual leader), and wilderness first responder. 

Elsa holds a master’s of science degree in narrative medicine from Columbia University, a bachelor of arts in healing and humanities from Antioch University, and a certificate of Jewish studies from Machon Chana Institute. They’ve been an associate professor of narrative medicine at Columbia University and Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and presented workshops at various universities, conferences and organizations.

Elsa was born and grew up on Duwamish land, currently called Seattle, and lives on Lenape land, currently called Philadelphia. They are queer, non-binary, disabled, and mixed-class.

Episode Highlights

• Elsa & Nick discuss what it means to reconnect with our bodies in order to heal generational and developmental trauma. 
• Elsa shares about the practices of ancestral connection and how we can begin to re-inhabit our own bodies for more healing.
• They talk about their own past trauma and how it led to their work with health and healing.
• Elsa shares how, as a doula, they came to understand that peoples experiences  in their bodies are very relevant to the birth process.
• We explore balancing one’s spiritual calling with societal demands on one’s gender and body expectations.
• They explain the nature of intergenerational trauma and the importance of its healing journey.
• We talk about the differences between event trauma and persistent or developmental trauma.
• Elsa talks about the powerful sense of spiritual presence and its involvement with healing, in particular cranio-sacral healing. 

Web links

• Find more at ElsaAsher.com
• You can also find them on Instagram

 

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Fresh “Lev” White is a love and compassionate activist. He offers mindfulness, coaching, mediation, and diversity trainings as tools for shifting towards more authentic, conscious and passionate living. He teaches and writes about how love and self-compassion are the ultimate gateways to loving and understanding others; thus, healing our communities, and planet.

Episode Highlights

• Lev and I discuss mindfulness coaching, mediation, and diversity training as tools for shifting towards more authentic, conscious and passionate living. 
• We discuss cultivating self love and compassion as ways to overcome self judgment and hatred.
• Lev shares how his journey through love and compassion led to his Buddhist practice.
• Lev talks about the power of self-compassion and self-care. 
• We examine examples of spiritual leaders throughout history and their practices of self care.
• Lev explains his work mediating microaggressions and transphobia within his community. 
• We explore the pervasiveness of unconscious biases.
• Lev shares about his experiences as a queer person of color, including micro- and macro-aggressions, the influence of the media, and the challenges trans people face.
• We discuss the importance of unpacking internalized hatred towards one’s self.

 

Web links

• Find Lev at AffirmativeActs.com
• You can also find them on Twitter & FaceBook 

 

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Natalie Zeituny is a modern mystic, reality researcher, conscious business entrepreneur and energy medicine healer. She is currently working with individuals and organizations’ fields of consciousness and soul psychology to bring about higher states of consciousness and well being. Natalie is a facilitator, speaker, presenter and the author of Ensoulment, dedicated developing conscious evolution models. 

She has been researching Consciousness, the structure of Reality and the influence they have on the society and the earth for 25 years. She is a graduate of “Technion" Information Systems Engineering, and possesses an MBA from the Ben-Gurion University in Israel. She lived in California for 18 years, and in the last decade was certified in Energy Medicine, Clairvoyance, Psychology and Consciousness Studies in San Francisco. Natalie is also a Conscious Business Entrepreneur and the founder of the Conscious Business Center. To date, she held dozens of workshops and worked with hundreds of private clients and organizations internationally including Apple, Google, UCSF and Oracle. She has been researching and publishing in the field of Conscious Evolution for over 30 years. Her 3rd book “Ensoulment” was published in 2018.  

Episode Highlights

• Natalie shares how the trauma of her early life, and her discovery of Carl Sagan, shaped her and the questions that she dedicated her life to answering.
• She talks about the living universe that we all participate in.
• We explore the meaning of being part of the soul of the world, and the concept of her book Ensoulment.
• Natalie talks about her spiritual awakening with the exploration of her queer identity. 
• She ties in the meaning of the name Jehovah with cultivating the evolution of the collective and individual soul.
• We discuss how sexuality and spirituality are two sides of the same coin.
• Natalie describes how pleasure is essential in the evolution of the soul of the world.
• She shares how “soul-lessness” is the active descent into the basement of the psyche.
• We talk about the power of dancing with our shadow sides.
• She describes the power of her work with conscious business.

 

Web links

• Find more at NatalieZeituny.com
• Connect with Natalie on Facebook

 

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*Audio Note: Volume and clarity varies during some parts of this interview.

Rekara Gage (she/her) is an herbalist who focuses on the importance of ritual, safety and community when it comes to personal healing and growth. Her approach to wellness is based in food medicine and spirituality, emphasizing new ways to add plant medicine to the routines that you already have in place. She loves helping people reconnect with their intuition and do things with meaning, making everyday feel special. In her practice, it's important to provide access and information to the public so that they can make the best health choices for themselves. Rekara is a student of Traditional Western Herbalism with Julie James at Green Wisdom Apothecary and School of Herbal Studies in Long Beach.

Episode Highlights

• Thank you to our grounding plant medicines and their energies: dandelion root (clarity), mullein (lung support + moisture), tulsi ( aids with stress + clear headed + relaxation) , and elecampane (breathwork).
• Rekara shares with us about her healing journey and how the medicines and magic of storytelling, food, movement, plants, family, community and curiosity play active roles in finding herself and herbalism.
• We learn about the medicines of ritual and practice that Rekara partakes in throughout her personal herbalism journey, and how they are connected to her culture.
• We learn what herbalism is: understanding plant medicine (the chemistry), how we can benefit from plants being here, how we can learn from them, and how they support us.
• Rekara reminds us that when working spiritually with herbs and plants, important aspects to explore and consider include: connection, intention and being open to answering the call to mindfully interact and work with them.
• Rekara drops an herbal tea recipe that will nourish our queer hearts, bodies, spirits , and souls.  Thank you to these plants  for sharing their medicine and energies:
• Rose (color + reminder of boundaries + protection + safety) 
• Tulsi (aids with stress + clears the mind) 
• Damiana (spicy + sassy + libido + reminds us who we are)
• Cinnamon (unsung hero that moistens us + grounding + supportive)  

Web links

• Find Rekara online at Re-ngage.com
  
• You can also connect with her on Instagram @rekaraneal & @rootedherbalcollective
  
• Find Green Wisdom Herbal Studies & Apothercary & IG @greenwisdom
  

 

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George Taxidis (he/him) is a therapist working in private practice in east London, UK. He holds an MSc in Therapeutic Counseling from the University of Greenwich, which was integrative in orientation, and is in the final stages of a second training, this time in Jungian analysis with the British Jungian Analytic Association. In 2016, George co-founded the Queer Social Dreaming Matrix which now meets monthly to play with dreams in the queer community. He was also involved in creating the Queer Analytic Circle, a collective of psychoanalytic and Jungian practitioners who are interested in queer challenges to analytic theory and practice. George is an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he teaches on introductory therapy courses and psychosocial studies, and regularly uses the social dreaming method with his students. The method brings together a number of his interests: spirituality, Jung, radical politics, queerness, creativity and imagination.

Episode Highlights

• We discuss spirituality, Jung, radical politics, queerness, creativity and imagination.
• We learn about George’s group the Queer Analytic Circle.
• George shares about his discovery of the power of dreams through the work of Carl Jung.
• George discusses the usefulness of keeping a dream journal.
• He talks about the formation of the Queer Social Dreaming Matrix.
• We explore the importance of creating safe space for queer people to share about their dreams and their associations with their dreams. 
• George describes his spirituality as a sense of awe towards the unknown.
• George highlights the profound experience of dream sharing.
• We learn about George’s work to provide a supportive community for queer people in training for professional therapy, as well as receiving therapy.

Web links

• Find more info on the Queer Social Dreaming Matrix - Email, Instagram & Facebook
• Find George at GeorgeTaxidisTherapy.co.uk
  

 

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Cassandra Snow (they/them/she/her) is best-known for penning the Queering the Tarot book and a series of the same name, which was seen on Little Red Tarot. They’ve also written about tarot, witchcraft and theatre at Take Your Pills, QueerTarot.cards, and Howlround among others. Cassandra’s second book, Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins, is coming out via Red Wheel/Weiser Publishing on November 1, 2020.

Cassandra has been reading tarot for over a decade, and operates out of Minneapolis, MN. Cassandra is normally stationed weekly at The Eye of Horus and twice a month at The Future. They also read regularly at The Haunted Basement’s Maker’s Fairs and special events. They’ve taught classes and workshops everywhere from colleges to sex stores, as well as at the more expected metaphysical stores and events. 

Cassandra firmly believes that tarot and witchcraft should be accessible tools for anyone who wants to use them and works to make them approachable without making them seem fluffy. Humor, generosity and collaboration weave their way through all of Cassandra’s work. The work also comes from a radical, queer, sex-positive, fat-positive, anti-racist, feminist and Pagan point of view.

In Cassandra’s other life, she runs a queer theatre company called Gadfly Theatre Productions in Minneapolis.

Episode Highlights

• Cassandra shares about the importance of making tarot more approachable to all people.
• They share about their book “Queering the Tarot” and how it brings the queer perspective into divination.
• We explore what it was like to grow up queer in a Christian conservative community and how Cassandra found their liberation through witchcraft and tarot. 
• Cassandra discusses the concept of a fluid god energy and how it manifests in the form it needs for the specific person.
• They talk about the importance of honesty, compassion, and empathy when it comes to tarot readings.
• Cassandra shares about the significance of empowerment through tarot.
• They talk about their new book, “Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins.” 
• Cassandra shares their favorite queer tarot decks:
  - Next World Tarot
  - The Numinous Tarot
  - This Might Hurt Tarot
  - Modern Witch Tarot
  - The Fountain Tarot

Web links

• Find more info at Cassandra-Snow.com
• You can also find them on Instagram, Twitter, Patreon & FaceBook
  

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Karen Erlichman provides psychotherapy, spiritual direction, supervision and So(U)L coaching in San Francisco. Most recently she has been exploring embodied leadership and transformation, and has been inspired by learning at the Strozzi Institute, the Jewish Studio Project and the Center for Courage and Renewal. Karen’s writing has been published in numerous journals, blogs and anthologies, including Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, Feminist Studies in Religion and in the interfaith anthology Spiritual Guidance Across Religions. She is passionate about creating diverse and welcoming spaces for liberation, embodied spirituality and community.

Episode Highlights

• Karen starts by helping us understand what spiritual direction counseling is, and why someone might seek it out.
  
• We explore what it means to be spiritual versus religious.
  
• Karen talks about the importance of discussing the spiritual dimension with clients, and the difference between psychotherapy and spiritual direction work.
  
• She shares how she got interested in spiritual work with clients when she felt called to do more than therapy and social work.
  
• Karen also does Soul Coaching and explains how it’s different from therapy and spiritual direction work.
  
• We explore the idea of wholeness and how spiritual practice can support it in ourselves.
  
• We also discuss how a queer persons journey of coming out is a path toward wholeness.
  
• Karen shares how she works with trauma by bringing somatic (body) work to her practice.
  
• She also talks about the importance of engaging the body in spiritual practice, when it has been seen as dangerous by many traditions.
  

 

Web links

• Find Karen at KarenErlichman.com
• You can also find her on Instagram & Twitter

 

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Justin Sayre, praised for their “deeply passionate soul and acerbic wit” by The New York Times, is a writer and performer who Michael Musto called, “Oscar Wilde meets Whoopi Goldberg.” They were hailed as one the “Funniest People in Brooklyn” by Brooklyn Magazine and among “LA’s 16 Most Talented LGBT Comics” by Frontiers Magazine. Sayre's most recent book, Mean, the third in their trilogy of young adult novels from Penguin Books, was released in 2019. Sayre’s works for the theatre has been seen at LaMaMa, The Wild Project, Ars Nova, and more. Sayre’s Ravenswood Manor was recently produced at LA’s Celebration Theater and hailed as “a sharply written and well-acted exemplar of the horror-comedy genre” by The Los Angeles Times. Sayre also writes for television, working with Michael Patrick King on his hit CBS comedy “2 Broke Girls” and for Fox’s “The Cool Kids.” Sayre also appeared on HBO’s “The Comeback” with Lisa Kudrow.

Episode Highlights

• Justin shares how they started “The Meeting” after redirecting her acting career and coming up with a variety show she created on retreat with the Radical Faeries.
  
• The Meeting took a hiatus when Justin moved to LA but is now coming back [online, for the time being.]
  
• We discuss how The Meeting was created as a way of cultivating community, sharing successes and challenges in the queer communities.
  
• Justin shares their flair for mixing humor with darkness, while holding the audience with radical compassion.
  
• They tell the story of lending her platform to support a Black Lives Matter performance when a show was cancelled, and how communities of difference need to support each other.
  
• Justin talks about their forthcoming book, “The Gay-B-C’s,” a dictionary of queer culture, and what inspired its creation. 
  

Web links

• You can also find Justin on Instagram, Twitter & FaceBook

 

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