Where I Am Now: January 2018

Hello all!

If you missed the social media announcements, you probably still figured out that I gave/am giving the blog a little hiatus. Some of it was because I really am not happy with the quality of work I was putting out. I really love the Multi-Passionate Diaries and I really love when I get personal about tarot and spirituality (IE my Reclaiming Hestia post). It's important to me to share links that say things I wish I'd said or are just neat, and important to keep myself accountable with end of month check ins. Everything else I just felt meh about. No inspiration, no drive to complete anything. So I am still on a little bit of a hiatus, but wanted to do a beginning of the year/big news/where to find me check in since there is a lot of buzz happening in my hive.

For starters...I got a book deal!

I'm so ecstatic to turn my Queering the Tarot series into a book, but that does mean things like blogging take a bit of a backburner. I suspect I will be much more present on my own blog once my draft is turned in. I have LOVED finishing up this series and working through re-writes. My book won't be out until early 2019, and I will certainly keep you posted about specific dates and other important info. In the meantime, you can always catch the latest article in the series here or here. 

I also just agreed to be the in house reader at my friend and client Dominique's website about managing bipolar disorder, Take Your Pills! I'll be doing a monthly reading to help you anticipate and handle any mental health quandries that come up throughout the year. There will be a mini interview and bio about me going up in the next couple of weeks, and then right around the first of every month, the reading will drop. I'm sooooo excited to give this series to those who need it. As someone with a laundry list of mental illnesses, this is an area I'm very well-versed in reading cards for and about, and I'm thrilled to share that side of my work with you all. Furthermore, Dominique's writing about self-care and her honesty about her own bipolar disorder are groundbreaking, and I'm THRILLED to be part of it.

That's my BIG news but there's some other cool stuff going on too. As you can see, I updated this website to show off some of the teaching and coaching adventures I've been getting into, as well as encourage other businesses, organizations, and individuals to bring me in to teach tarot or small business/solo entrepreneur/freelance skills. If you want to catch classes already slated, you can head down to The Future tonight for a Sex & Tarot class at 7 or sign up for Tarot 101 for Creatives in February. I LOVE these classes and I love this space, so 10/10 would recommend. You can also catch rare short readings from me at this beautiful, healing event (for queer women and non-binary people only) on the 20th. I adore reading for GirlPond events, and Northern Lights Witch will be reading also if you want ALL the queer readings. 

I am, of course, still reading tarot cards and witching it up all over the Twin Cities. I have in-person appointments available if you e-mail me or go through this website's contact form, or e-mail readings available here. I'm excited to start another year reading at The Eye of Horus too, where you can make even in-person appointments online. I'm also doing some really fulfilling arts journalism over at The Column still. I was so excited to talk about Bi-Lesque, a burlesque show of all bi+ performers most recently, and you'll see a piece about the Minneapolis Art Shanty Project soon too. 

My theatre company is working hard too--our March mainstage play is about trans identity and mental illness and how they overlap. I'm "just" producing and so happy to see my genderqueer business partner work with an all trans and genderqueer cast for this. To raise money for it, Sober Queer History is happening at Steamship Coffee in Minneapolis on January 28th, so if you love queer art, come on down. If you want to support queer art but don't live here or that date doesn't work, check out our GiveMN which allows your donation to be tax deductible. 

Things I'm still looking for this year:

• A regular tarot or witchcraft column at a major publication (online or in print).
• More teaching opportunities!
• Storytelling, other big writing gigs, and miscellaneous arts, writing, and witchy gigs. 
• Cheap adventures! (Or enough money to do regular adventures!) 
• Obviously more Gadfly Theatre donors and audience.

If you've got any idea or thoughts about any of that or have a gig to offer, let me know. I set a lot of big intentions for the year PLUS I already know I have a book getting ready for publication so I'm in for an exciting year and a half no matter what. I'd love to amplify that with more of the work that makes my heart sing though, so here's my open call to speak with me about any appropriate opportunities.

Before I go, here's some quick recommendations of things I've read/seen/gotten into lately:

• Books: My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emily Ferris. Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby. 
• Movies: The Shape of Water. Ladybird (Yes, I'm among the millions who loved it). Coco. And of course The Last Jedi. This is actually one of my favorite Star Wars movies of all times. 
• Decks: My Next World Tarot by Christy C. Road is one of the only things in the world I really, truly care about at this moment in time. 
• Miscellaneous: I got a SodaStream for secular Christmas and honestly it's such a game changer. I like putting lemonade (which is usually WAY too sweet AND too sour for me) into it with just a small splash of simple syrup. I'm obsessed. It's one of the only other things I care about in the world, truly. Other things that have delighted me lately include the card game Bears Vs. Babies and watching House Hunters International on Hulu and daydreaming about other lives I could live if I really wanted to. 

That's basically it, y'all! This is where I've been and what I've been working on. I'm so grateful you all came along with me in 2017, and am even happier to have a great 2018 full of whimsy, witchcraft, and art with you. To keep up while the blog is on semi-hiatus, check out my Instagram for (almost) daily promotional readings, my Facebook or Twitter for real time updates on where to find me, and my newsletter which sometimes has exclusive offerings and free monthly readings. To support this blog or any of the other tarot or writing I do for free, here's my PayPal.me link.

Until next time then, Blessed be!

A Staircase to Nowhere + A VERY Cute Lab Puppy (September Check In)

Autumn along the Mississippi River. <3 

Happy October Everybody!

This is my absolute favorite month of the year, as it is for many witches, and I am ecstatic that fall weather has finally fallen upon my large mid-sized city. I went for a walk along the river starring crunchy leaves yesterday, and I comfortably drank a hot coffee outside today. Bliss.

It is incredibly strange to be writing a “September in review” post when I actually can't talk about a lot of what's going on in my life yet, but rest assured, in the upcoming months I will have beautiful news to share! In the meantime, I have a big announcement post about a series of classes I'm doing at Eye of Horus hitting next week. I can also let all you Pagan art lovers know that my next theatre project includes you! It's a queer, feminist retelling of the Holly King & Oak King myths. We go up in December. Head over to Gadfly's website for more! Other than that...welll...here's the abbreviated info on what I can share about how my September went!

• Tarot Life: My Sex & Tarot class wasn't such a big hit on a Saturday night, but I did get to spend an evening at The Future helping a tarot lover unblock her energy where cards were concerned. I still taught her some spreads on improving her sex life, so it was all around a successful evening. I have been working hard on “fall semester” classes coming up. You can still catch me on Instagram with a nearly daily tarot reading to cut through the muck of your day too. I read for LOTS of really beautiful people this month, especially at the Eye of Horus, where I'm still slinging cards Sundays & Wednesdays.

• Theatre Life: In addition to gearing up for & casting the aforementioned The Crown of the Holly Queen by Eli Effinger-Weintraub, I produced one of my favorite Drunk Queer History events to date. Lisa Marie Brimmer is a beautiful, wonderful soul & storyteller who was more than happy to get on the far end of tipsy and teach us about ball culture, growing up in the Wisconsin Dells, and Bayard Rustin. This was one of my favorite theatre months in recent history. I deeply loved everything I was working on and feel sufficiently amped up about the rest of the year too.

• Writer Life: I wrote some stuff I really love this month, namely this piece on Reclaiming Hestia and this review of local play Ex-Gays. I'm going to be completely honest though. This was a really hard month for someone with Avoidant Personality Disorder to be a writer. I had countless pitches rejected and to be perfectly honest I'm used to shooting and scoring where writing is concerned. I feel really defeated in this moment. I have to remind myself that I have a steady writing gig and big things are on the horizon though, because all of that is true and I am so blessed. Stay tuned for more on that, and know this: it is all worth it. I absolutely love everything I do, even when it feels really, really hard.

Keep reading if you want this photo to make sense

• Non-Work Life: What a fun month otherwise! Since my Two Harbors trip last month I've been intentionally making space for fun and for peace. The outcome has been unbelievable. I planned one hell of a birthday for my favorite person in the world. This was also the month where I decided a fun Instagram game was “How much fast food can I eat on the beach?” and it's been a blast. I generally eat healthy but when I have a craving for junk food, I purposely end up on the beach. I honestly crack myself up about it. My queerplatonic partner and I love empty playgrounds almost as much as beaches and riverfronts, so we ended up at a few of those goofing off. I saw some really awestriking art this month, including two shows by Patrick's Cabaret that took my breathe away. If you are in the Twin Cities, really, really check something out by them if you haven't. I'll end this section on this: Target has the weirdest line of masks this Halloween season. They look and feel like very low budget Furry masks and I am kind of living for it. We acquired this Unicorn one as part of the QPP's birthday, but honestly, the whole line is hilarious and absurd. Go check it out.

Recommendations: I finally read AJ Jacobs The Year of Living Biblically and Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half. I was so surprised by how compassionate and spiritual TYOLB turned out to be. HAAH was what I expected, but what I expected was absolute hilarity. I couldn't stop laughing, and as a mentally ill person a lot of that came from what I related to. I also recommend late night walks with your favorite people, the new It (such good scare moments!) and helping your best friend paint their restaurant. All of these things filled me with immense joy this month. Finally, while everyone is talking about it, I cannot recommend The Good Place enough for sit-com lovers. I've always loved Kristin Bell and Ted Danson, but this “What is good? What is heaven? Oh wait, what is hell?” is brilliant and dark in ways I didn't expect.

I promised you a very cute puppy. This is Vanna. She came to my apartment to meet cats and be in an apartment. She is a service dog in training that a friend is fostering. I. Love. Her.

That's a wrap on September! Hope you are all enjoying the bona fide sweater weather & scary movies we've been waiting for all year.

Blessed be, y'all.

Multipassion Diaries: The Incredibly Boring Secrets To My Success

In which I take pictures on the river on a day off. 

I am writing this blog at 3:37 PM. By 3:37 PM today I have already seen actors auditioning for my December play, queued up social media for my tarot and theatre business, and pitched three articles. I've e-mailed clients, and now I'm writing this. I'm also seeing a show tonight that I'll wake up in the morning and review. On paper, I pass as fairly productive and successful. Yet I stay relatively chill, which causes a lot of people to ask me how I manage three careers so easily. To which I respond: I don't manage them easily. Ha! I'm stressed out all the time! I have like four different anxiety disorders! Only two are work related but still!

I digress. Easily or not, I do manage those careers and have fun in between. So I do understand why people ask me how I do it or what my secret is. Unfortunately though, when most people ask me that they seem to be looking for magick and wisdom, some miracle or pearl they can hold to. My answers are...um...not the most satisfactory.

• I sleep as close to eight hours a night as my body will let me.

• I don't let myself get distracted during a work session by fun social media or my cats wanting attention, but I do take breaks to nurture those things. I cut my work day down by over 90 minutes a day when I stopped checking Facebook every ten minutes. That's 90 minutes of good cat cuddling time I was wasting every day, y'all.

• I take my meds and drink lots of water.

• I do something for every career every day.

• I also do something fun and something for self-care that isn't just “food and meds” every single day. Every. Single. Day.

• I eat when I'm hungry.

• I keep my apartment fairly orderly for focus reasons.

• I keep a paper planner with to-do lists at my side when working. It's old-fashioned and boring. It also works.

• I take days off. Wild and innovative, I know. But this stack of comic books isn't going to read itself, and what am I supposed to do—NOT go to the beach when it's super nice out?! Psssh.

I can't believe I was losing 90 mins a day with these guys to Facebook. Which, hilariously, is also featured in this photo.

Look, the reality is I don't have kids. I do lose entire days to sickness, but still manage to get a bare minimum done on those days. Not everyone can do that. I also have an incredibly supportive group of friends and family. They are all also part dreamer, part doer who own restaurants, run Reiki businesses, and make lots of of art--so they get it. All of that means that in the grand scheme of things, I'm incredibly blessed in flexible time and having support. My life is probably not manageable with kids, and it certainly was not manageable before I was on proper meds for my 9,000 chronic illnesses. Certainly I have had bad family relationships and incredibly toxic social groups, and you know what? I didn't realize it then but my careers suffered greatly in those times. By sheer stroke of luck, my circumstances allow my careers to flourish and that's the harsh reality of success sometimes. Don't beat yourself up if things take you longer because of other dreams you had, mistakes you made, lack of support in your life, or really anything else.

Regardless of those extenuating factors though, the way I manage multiple careers is by taking care of myself first, my loved ones second, and my careers third. It's not easy and anyone slinging you expensive, magickal surefire tracks to success online is probably lying to you. The path to loving your life, including and especially your work life, isn't easy but it is doable. (Please note: Placing career third doesn't mean you don't do stuff. I work anywhere from a six to a fourteen hour day most days, with my average being around a standard “eight.” Taking care of career third means taking care of it.)

To summarize: If you're juggling multiple careers and a whole life outside of that, how do you ensure success? Allow for it to happen over time. Don't rush. Oh, and take care of yourself first, your loved ones second, and your careers third. You'll get where you need to go.

An Abbreviated Post-August Check In

Hello friends, witches & tarot lovers!

Mercury Retrograde has not been friendly to my apartment's electronic devices today so here's a quick update on where I've been AND an important September announcement!

Also, here's an arbitrary picture of Sir Didymus and Sebastian. Just because. 

Tarot life brought me TWO amazing classes, one on "Queering the Tarot" at The Future and a BRAND NEW course on "Sex & Tarot" at none other than The Smitten Kitten. My big announcement? DO NOT DESPAIR if you missed the first "Sex & Tarot"--it's happening again THIS month on September 16th at The Future. Sign up here--my queering class filled up quite nicely and I don't want you to miss this one too. PLUS if that date DOES NOT work for you, I'll be teaching not one, not two, but THREE classes at my beloved Eye of Horus this fall & winter. One for 101 newbies, a Queering the Tarot, and a Sex & Tarot. Check it out! 

Theatre life was a lot of prep for this month & my December show. Nothing thrilling to report about the work I've already done, but uh, you're not gonna wanna miss Drunk Queer HIstory on the 26th. Grab your tickets NOW! 

Writer life was my safe space this month. I got to review and feature a lot of cool events here, and I'm still going strong over here. I'm sitting on some potential big news, and getting a lot of storytelling pieces done in my free time (so if you like stories about illegal boat hopping or lizard rectums, hit me up). 

From Two Harbors, MN. Over Iona's Beach. 

Non-work life took a hit for most of the month as a re-designed my Queering syllabus, created a Sex & Tarot syllabus, and stayed super, blissfully busy with tarot clients & behind the scenes theatre work. However, I insisted on taking my queerplatonic partner up to Duluth & Two Harbors MN last week and I am so unbelievably relieved to have ended such a busy month this way. We spent 2.5 days eating at some of our favorite restaurants, sitting on beaches, climbing up to cliffs and (literally) crying on said cliffs about how beautiful it all was. We also sipped tea until 3 AM with a darling college friend and got see Northern Lights Witch who gifted us a trip to Vikre Distillery for fancy cocktails.

I also spent a day earlier in August watching bad horror movies, eating Chinese food, and gifted one of my favorite people a fake llama head to decorate her wall with because birthdays are my favorite. 

That's it for me this month! Follow my multipassionate adventures in real time on my Instagram, or "like" my tarot page on Facebook for up to date info on where I'll be.

Blessed be, y'all!

Better Late Than Never!

Hello all,

I am back for this blog's monthly Link Roundup; admittedly I'm about a week late but it's for a very good reason. My 18 year old sister came into visit from Ohio! She is the cutest, sweetest little human and I cut my workload down to "need this money now" work. I missed doing my other stuff though, so next time I'll get it all queued up before I have a visitor. 

Out adventuring with my Sister. Had to show her my river :)

Before we dive in, TWO quick announcements! People are getting excited about both of the workshops I'm doing in August which is getting me all kinds of excited (but also nervous). The first is a revamp and remount of my Queering the Tarot workshop at The Future on August 17th. The other JUST officially announces is a brand-new (but still totally in my wheelhouse) Sex & Tarot course at The Smitten Kitten! Luckily for you, Queering the Tarot is sliding scale starting at just $15, and Sex & Tarot is FREE to you! Which means you could potentially take two radical tarot classes that weekend for just $15, and that actually seems like a pretty sweet deal to me!

Now, on to radical things OTHER people are writing and doing! 

Politics & Resistance

• If you want a quick breakdown on what's going on with that BS Department of Justice statement that LGB people aren't covered under Title VII, Autostraddle has you covered.
• There's some pretty important legislation being discussed about the non-profit sector too. It's easy to be overwhelmed right now, so this was easy to miss. 
• A Lithub personal essay/book review about being torn between queer and Southern identity, plus the books he covers sound like important reads too.
• Why IS Hyperfemininity Expected of Fat Girls? This one practically garnered applause from me.
• I should probably just have a permalink list somewhere to all of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's writing, and her Bitch articles have been on point lately. I especially loved "A Modest Proposal For a Fair Trade Emotional Labor Economy (Centered By Disabled, Femme of Color, Working Class/Poor Genius)". 
• On Black Lives Matter, Queer Identity, and Appalachia. 
• Lisa Frank Body Positivity is not as cool as it sounds. This is a good read though.
• Prison Reform is one of the most important issues to me that never gets talked about. The way our society dehumanizes and traumatizes inmates, many of whom are in for minor crimes or no real reason at all, physically makes me ill. This piece talks about the juvenile system and why it's reform is a necessary queer issue. 

Tarot & Witchery

• This has been shared around a bit in metaphysical circles, but just in case you missed it: "Astrology of the Stonewall Riots" is as cool as it sounds. 
• Asali Earthwork regularly blows me away with her writing and witchery. This month I bookmarked both her review of The Personal Space Tarot and this so-necessary piece about mental health and witchcraft. The review is a really great example of a review and discusses tarot and the deck in depth. The personal piece spoke to me so deeply and is every bit as brave and beautiful as the title suggests. As a bonus, head over to her shop and snag some tea because it is delicious.
• Dior is making Motherpeace Tarot inspired clothes now, and Vogue has the scoop! I completely nerded out when I saw this. 
• "See the cripple dance" is ALWAYS one of my favorite Little Red Tarot columns, but this one on the Seven of Cups hit really deeply for this PTSD-trodden, chronically ill queer.
• Also from Little Red: a super easy, informative guide to snagging the best crystals for spiritual fatigue.
• I'm never going to stop posting about representation in the spiritual community and why it matters. I'm also never gonna stop linking back to radical writers of color highlighting the issues better than I ever could. 

Writing & Business

• I love peering into people's personal work processes, and Benebell Wen's look at promotional tactics, what worked, and what didn't was great insight with useful information AND things that won't work for everyone but were still fun to read.
• In Minneapolis everyone has a Prince AND a Bob Dylan story; in any case Seth Godin went somewhere I didn't quite expect with this one. 
• This really applies to all types of writing and made me laugh a lot. Here's "How Not To Write A Play."
• Y'all know by now how much I adore Theresa Reed, especially her "Soul Propietor" series. This one on how you want to feel in your business is especially good. 
• A cute cartoon about job and gig hunting that everyone should see. It'll take you four seconds but it's good!
• I talk about "Money Dates" a lot and how they've changed my life and both of my businesses, but it never occurred to me to share this primer from Bari Tessler herself with you. So...here you go!

A picture of Sir Didymus to break up the monotony of text. 

Theatre & Art

• "A Collective Call Against Critical Bias" is a wonderful start to important conversations about arts criticism and where we drawn the line, and features goodies like: "As female artists and academics…we have dedicated our careers…to dismantling discriminatory structures and practices in theater, and the criticism this year is so blatantly prejudicial that we felt compelled to collectively author an editorial that both documents the problem and puts it in an historical context."
• There's a new series at the Twin Cities Arts Reader entitled "The Curmudgeon" about all the ways arts organizations are NOT actually helping the press help them. It sounds heady but it's actually really easy to access information about how to market shows better. 
• I was so happy and surprised when I saw my friend Shannon on one of my favorite blogs today. Shannon runs Uprising Theatre Company, is a fantastic writer in his own right, and oh yeah, is a transgender Priest! 
• Sometimes the title does the talking for us, like in "The Necessity of Diverse Voices in Theatre Regarding Disability and Difference."

All The Other Things I Love and Thought You Might Too

• I was obsessed with Poison Ivy as a child. No, not the Batman character I'm still in love with, the other one. The movie starring Drew Barrymore. I guess I wasn't alone and this revisit from Dazed was written wonderfully. 
• Andi Grace gets real at Little Red Tarot about what she's been through lately, and tells us what she's learned living in a van about boundaries and letting go. This one was truly beautiful.
• One of my biggest flaws is that I'm a jealous friend. I will love you deeply and unconditionally. I will want nothing but the best for you. I will also be unbelievably jealous and feel incredibly stupid voicing that to you. So I was relieved to find an actual good article addressing this jealousy and it's roots.
• An oldie but a goodie came back up in my feed the other day--an absolutely side-splitting teardown of Goodnight Moon. 

That's it for me y'all! Blessed be.

Peace Out, April!

Easter cookies received as a gift to help usher in a new season and era!

A month is not inherently bad, nor does it cause pain on it's own or without provocation. In fact, April has brought me a number of highlights and joys we'll break into in a minute. But it also brought me these things:

• A phone so broken it wouldn't even turn on and a phone company insisting on a pretty high payout to do anything about it or turn a new one on.
• My queerplatonic partner getting extorted for money without any evidence or proof over something that happened over a year ago and getting verbally abused in the process.
• A tax bill I wasn't quite ready for. (This one is, admittedly, on me. Lesson learned.)
• AND A mystery illness that is forcing me to get a neck/throat ultrasound this week and sending me to specialists. I can barely eat. It's....awful.

I spent the entire month near breakdown point in spite of friends and family helping out every time they could and things otherwise going swimmingly. Things thawed out towards the end, but I had to catch up putting together a community garage sale & one act festival, running a tarot business, and writing deadlines. It's been...a lot. Even so, I'm very proud of what I've accomplished in my career and the adventures I did squeeze in. Such as:

• Tarot Hits: I acquired a Mystical Spiral from Lo Scarebo that is not my normal hyperqueer, feminist fare but is so delightfully absurd that I adore it. In actual tarot business life I'm working on TWO tarot e-books at the moment. It is my fondest, greatest wish to get a quick, popcorn take on Queering the Tarot out this April. I've got a bigger project that's more of a workbook on learning tarot the storytelling & art theory way that I'm slowly chipping away at. In the meantime, I LOVE the Sunday shifts I've picked up at Eye of Horus, the clients I've seen at my studio, and seeing my student pool grow so much this month. I'll have a couple of classes to announce soon which is VERY exciting. I also had the very distinct honor of being featured on one of my utmost tarot hero's blog as well.
• Stuff I Wrote: I had a wonderful time at my steady writing gig, including this review that breaks down why casting cisgender people in transgender roles is stupid and goes into ways NOT write a trans character in the first place. I've officially queered all the wands of the tarot too. Right now the King is only available at The Column, but will be dropping into Little Red this coming month.
• Theatre Kid Chronicles: Not a ton to report, but I'll be blogging about June one act festival a lot over the next couple of months, I'm sure. My company is running a huge community garage sale tomorrow from 8-2, so if you're in the Twin Cities, come on down to the Fox Egg Gallery!

Rocking this theatre kid life with my biz & queerplatonic partner.

• Reading & Watching Recommendations: I think this was technically May, but there's a recent episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that seriously addresses the intersection of being black and a cop. It is so so good. I read much more than I zoned out to the TV for this month. I devoured the most recent Saga graphic novel. I also maybe cried or something over it. I dunno. I read Unholy Night, a semi-horror retelling of the three wise men tale, and it was really silly but weirdly gripping.
• Other Adventures: MAYBE my best friend's oldest kid hid a bunch of bananas around her house and I went to help her find them, only to have my queerplatonic partner turn around and re-hide them all. Maybe. I also went to a bunch of really great live shows: a comedy show at Lush run by my friend Sarah, a flash theatre project at Patrick's Cabaret, and a modern retelling of Prometheus Bound were all super exceptional.  My favorite was a night featuring Venus DeMars and a slew of A-List Minneapolis performers raise money for The Aliveness Project called Last Call. It was beautiful from start to finish. I ended the month with my best adventure for it--checking out the new Lotus restaurant in Uptown and ending up walking around a Thai New Year's Festival where I got blessed by monks (the bracelet they gave me went right on my altar) and got to hear some great Thai music.

Lanterns for luck at the Thai New Year Festival I ran into.

That's pretty much it for my April. I had some beautiful moments, but am not sorry to be into May which has already been amazing so far. Wishing you and yours a month of laughter and brightness.

Blessed be y'all!

On Lizzo, River Walks, and Gearing Up for April

The river is rushing, wildflowers are starting to bud, and my eyes won't stop watering. It must actually be full-on not-a-joke-this-time Spring! Normally autumn is MY season. Fall is when I come alive, when I feel my dieties working with me, and when I get excited about the year's transformations in my life. That's still very true—nothing like an October chill to reinvigorate me—but this Spring feels really fresh and exciting to me too. As we jump into warmer weather, here's how I spent my March when I wasn't here:

A beautiful Spring day driving past a beautiful spot in Minneapolis.

• Tarot Stuff: As some of you reading have already discovered, I have picked up Sunday day time shifts at my beloved steady gig, The Eye of Horus! I'll be there from 11:30-6 on Sundays in addition to evenings on Wednesdays. In more mundane news, I've started using my Modern Spellcaster's deck in readings, and I've gotten into a lovely e-mail reading groove with a few of you too! You can find out more about my e-mail readings here.

• Writing Round-Up! I did a major big kid writer thing this month—I applied to not one but TWO emerging writer's grants to finish a manuscript for a memoir about finding laughter in traumatic circumstances. There's also some Queering the Tarot action here and here, and a profile I got to capture on a poet I just adore here. I'm also working on a second e-book for y'all. This one is a little more substantial but I hope to finish up this month. You can grab my first, a mini e-book about using tarot for healing here.

• Theatre (and beyond): Oh, you know, just performed improv and front of people for the first time, thus finishing my improv class with a bang. Plus a Drunk Queer History my company organized, a mainstage show I directed, and I dunno, something about us getting a grant for our summer one-act festival. Keep up to date by signing up for Gadfly's mailing list!

• Life Outside of Work! (That's a thing, sort of?): I managed to have a really spectacular month in spite of having three careers, two of which required grants due and one which I produced multiple major events. Most notably, I ended the month at a Lizzo concert with three of my very best friends, brought to tears at a hip-hop show for (I think) the first time. The show has me mulling over self-love and what loving your body truly means. I adore my mind, and I'm a genuinely kind, sweet person and love that deeply about myself. I'm also incredibly fun. Yet for all of my body and fat positiviy and attraction to women and genderqueer people of ALL sizes actually loving my body the way Lizzo raps about is so hard for me. She has completely re-inspired me to take on self- love exercises to help me get there though

  • Favorite things I read: I started the month by breezing through Neil Gaiman's accessible, fun take on Norse Mythology. I got super sucked in to Murakami's weird world again with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I devoured Fisher's Princess Diarist and Mara Wilson's Where Am I Now in approximately a day and a half each. That's a lot, I know but it was a really good book month!

  • Favorite Things I Watched: I went to see King Lear at the Guthrie, not for research or review but just to go. This was the first time I'd gotten to do something like that in a very, very long time and the show was wonderful. The eye gouging piece of the play was SO well executed, and the rest of the show was pretty great too. Alternatively, Manny and I also binged Season 1 of Supergirl in about a week. I am completely obsessed and dying to get my hands on Season 2 even though it's still happening. I saw Get Out in the movie theater and OH. MY. GOD. Even with all the rave reviews I was surprised by how good it was, because it's that good. I don't even like scary movies but I'm raving about this one still. As just a guilty pleasure thing, I've also been watching Trial and Error on NBC. I love John Lithgow and this one is really silly and fun.

  • Other Things I Loved: Manny and I have spent several afternoons or evenings walking along the Mississippi River just chatting about ourselves, art, and the river itself. I'm so overjoyed that we're back in “hanging out near water” season and these escapes have helped my mental health so, so much. Now that it's warming up, if you're physically capable and live near a large body of water—go! What are you doing reading the internet right now?!

One more view of the river before we head out for today!

That's it for me and my theatreific, booktastic, Supergirl-swamped March! Please tweet or Facebook me about your own adventures!

Blessed Be, y'all!

Spring is Here--Sort of? Maybe? But March Definitely is!

While February is hands down my favorite month, I am elated every time March hits as well. My oldest younger sister was born in March, the mainstage work I do for Gadfly Theatre is usually in March, and while I like winter, the seasons changing in general tends to help me hit a reset button. Granted, this year the latter hasn't been quite the steady rise I had hoped, but everything else stands!

February was wonderful, busy and hectic, but wonderful. I'm still in the middle of putting together a mainstage show about queer homeless youth and victims of sexual abuse. It was my birthday month which took me out for Mexican food and my favorite drag show with so many of my favorite people. That Pisces energy is hitting me pretty hard though, especially in light of the New Moon and eclipse and everything else. My PTSD is having some issues, but I'm also working through some emotions positively too. I'm a lot more in touch with my sensitive Pisces soul than I have been in a long time. I don't feel the need to play tough anymore, and I'm ready for real again--real feelings, real relationships, real, deep love of all types. I find myself welling up out of joy and gratitude AND fear and sadness at least a few times a day, but I'm letting myself have and experience that even though I've been trying to shove it down for the past couple of years.

Other things I've been up too:

• Tarot Stuff: I've got this really short but powerful mini e-book for sale. It hasn't quite gotten the attention I'd hoped for, but everyone who has snagged one has loved it--so maybe you want to be one of those people? I'm still down at Eye of Horus on Wednesdays, and come April I'll be picking up Sundays too! After letting a good friend crash with us for a few months because of some work hubbub, I have my at home tarot studio back! I also got to read for some of the absolute cutest, sweetest people this month, saw a small boom in my e-mail business, and am talking to a few potential students for my newly revamped coaching package. See my services page to grab your own slot in any of that! I also had new headshots taken! Wheee!
• Writing Round-Up! I really love some of what I did on the blog this month--plus the aforementioned e-book. My favorites beyond that are here and here. Additionally, some Queering the Tarot goodness--the Ten of Wands and Knight of Wands on different sites showed up, as usual. I also got to highlight one of my very favorite artists and get more insight from what drives her. I also got to research, write, and explore the beginning and growth of ball culture in the U.S. for Gadfly's latest Drunk Queer History. Even though a drunk storyteller doesn't quite get word perfect, I was really pleased with how it came out.
• Theatre (and beyond): In addition to the hinted at work above with Gadfly (see our site for more), I'm in a WTF improv class at Huge Theater right now. I was absolutely terrified and super caught up in "OH MY GODS WHAT AM I DOING?" But I wanted a foundation to improve my storytelling, the quick one-minute play style of theater I love doing so much, and even just to learn some new tricks as an instructor and director. All of that happened and is happening, but I, um, think I've been bitten by this improv bug I was warned about...
• Life Outside of Work! (That's a thing, sort of?): Because this has been a pretty emotional month, I'm a little all over the place in terms of goals like "reading a book a week" and doing things like squad hangs, but I had a few fun adventures. My birthday party at Lush was one of the most fun nights I've had in months, and I'm so grateful for the people in my life and that Lush like, exists and does such wonderful LGBTQ+ nightlife.
  • Favorite things I read: Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica by Zora Neale Hurston has lots of rich myth and culture about the oft misaligned voodoo. It reads as easily as any of her other work too. I also devoured Octavia's Brood, a speculative fiction collection inspired by Octavia Butler, mostly writers from marginalized communities. 
  • Favorite Things I Watched: Moonlight winning the Oscar for Best Picture was SO SO important to me. And that's the part I choose to focus on. Swiss Army Man was even weirder than I anticipated. I loved it.
  • Other Things I Loved: My hair went even bolder in it's purple, blue, and teal glory this time and I loooove it. Two of my best friends are obsessed with these tiny hands and overly large hands and any time they get broken out to play it's a good time. I finally tried Glam Doll NE thanks to some birthday fun, and they have some unique to that branch flavors and this ridiculous couch (pictured below) that I'm in love with. My brother sent me this deck for my birthday. It's stunning. I also worked some pretty hardcore magick this month (hence the first photo).

I have big goals for March: one event is down, but I have And Then They Fell opening. I want to get a second e-book, this one a little more substantial up. I have a couple of new regular series that will hit. And I'm determined to make it to a few shows I'm not directly involved with, in spite of the time crunch. And I can't wait to officially add a few decks to my repertoire, mostly this week or next: the Fairy Lights, Modern Spellcaster's, and eventually the Slow Holler (right now I feel really personally connected to the deck and using it elsewhere feels weird, but I do know it well enough by now), to be specific. I'm also pretty interested in a web overhaul but not promising that within the month.

Until then, blessed be! Feel free to share your own adventures. Love y'all.

In Comes November

Unless you're here for the first time and know nothing about witches, you know by now that October is my absolute favorite month. This one was a little rougher than most, but in true October fashion it all came together and created a stunning bigger picture for the season and I am so happy with how it all came together. Here's some snapshots for the month as we move into November. I often forgot how lovely November can be too. This year I might have some fun semi-surprises going on in my personal life, and will have some events/press/etc. going on that I'll probably talk about here. Here's where October took me:

• My Tarot Practice: took a bit of a hit this month, and after a real rollercoaster year in my creative life, I struggled to find spiritual and emotional centeredness, eventually getting there by the end of the month. I've decided to shelve my push to work events for awhile (inspired in part by this post), if not forever. I was shocked when that decision resulted in a new burst of individual client work, potential writing and collaborative opportunities, and a few exact ideal events (but not an overwhelming amount) cropping up. Sometimes you have to kill something that's been stressing you or bringing you down to achieve the greatness you know you deserve, and that's a core tenant of my life, yet I am always surprised by how quick that turnaround was.
  
  My tarot highlight of the month was reading at the anniversary party for the Eye of Horus--I had such a lovely time and got to read for a store regular dressed as Rose Quartz from Steven Universe! I love my work family so much. They have been so supportive of my tarot career inside and outside of the store and I really feel I've grown as a reader and a witch in ways I never anticipated when I nervously went in for my audition gig. I'm so grateful and so happy for such a celebration of their 13th year.
• Things I Wrote: While I kept up with my steady writing gigs and am happy with the (sparse, few, but lovely) things I posted here, one of my best memories for the month (and year!) was featuring at Story Club, a local storytelling event in which I talked about one of my worst and least talked about trauma sources. The crowd was perfect and I feel such an intense relief--and an intense eagerness for more storytelling opportunities!
• Theatre Life: GADFLY KILLED IT THIS MONTH. I am beside myself. Our first mainstage show at the Gallery sold out it's entire closing weekend, and in fact oversold one night (which was stressful in its own right, but the right kind of stress). In addition to that, we welcomed long-time queer art icon company Patrick's Cabaret into the space for regular events, and got to see some of our all time favorite performers at Outspoken queer open mic's third anniversary.
• Other Things I Loved: Manny and I's queerplatonic partnership turned 13! Exciting stuff. We met right around Halloween--we didn't get to celebrate until just barely into November, but it was marvelous nonetheless. Our Samhain ritual with another friend was very special and really magick (and unexpectedly invigorating). Other fun things from the month:
  • All of my friends' Halloween costumes were so cute! Manny went as Tina Belcher, and I spent time with a Ghostbuster. Those were my faves, but everyone rocked it this year. You can see some on my personal instagram. I also do a (mostly daily) free promotional reading to help guide your day there.
  • I saw Chastity Brown in concert again, this time on her own! Her voice alone brings me to tears, and the intimacy of the space we were at made everything extra evocative.
  • I guess I live here now? A couple of my favorite nights of the month were spent with a fancy overpriced OR really crappy beer, long intense games of oversized Jenga, and some very hostile (on my end) pinball. They have them in more places than just Minneapolis, so see if one's near you if you aren't living here!
  • Walks along the Mississippi never get old, and Pokemon giving us extra candy and ghosts made that extra true. I also love just sitting by the dam and listening though, and there's usually a busker I really love right nearby.
  • I did try to go to the Luke's Diner pop-up because I am an unabashed Gilmore Girls fangirl, but the place I was at ran out of everything! I was so disappointed but consoled myself with Tiny Diner because it's also amazing.
  • Book recommendations! Even This Page Is White by Vivek Shraya left me unable to move or even blink in multiple places. One of the hands down best poetry books I have ever read in my entire life. Buy it right here. Just do it. In lighter news, Spider-Gwen took me awhile to get to. It was on my comics list, just not high priority. I'm glad I delved in though, it's pretty rad. I've also been plowing my way through 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I'm not finished, but I'm super into it. King is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me--I don't love his protagonists most of the time, and plotholes exist pretty plentifully in his world, but this one is really absorbing and a great offset to a hectic, tumultous, but ultimately good month.
  • TV & Music Recommendations: This season of How to Get Away With Murder is seriously heart attack inducing. I just want my big dumb babies to be okay. I also hopped on the Steven Universe bandwagon late in the game but I'm ridiculously here for it. I already talked to you about Chastity Brown but WOW. Her CD and EP will cut to your core. It didn't get much notice, but Rufus Wainwright has a CD of Shakespeare's sonnets set to music. It's not for everyone--but it is amazing if you're into that sort of thing.

That was my month! I hope you all had a marvelous month of spoop and celebration and witchery. Feel free to tweet at me, leave comments, etc. to tell me about your own month or chime in about my recommendations. Until next time,

Blessed Be.

Welcoming August (and Lammas) with Open Arms

Lammas (which is tomorrow) is generally a time to welcome a harvest with open arms, celebrating the growth and fruition of all the seeds you planted. The reality of this year is that a lot of planted seeds that sprouted only to wither or die or never got off the ground in the first place. This too is a gift, it's just one that takes awhile to process the lessons and gifts off. My preferred method of this is to count my blessings of what DID harvest, or what blew in in lieu of one while I journal through my darker feelings. I do not expect anyone to be able to match me in this--we are allowed to grieve when our dreams die and if wallowing is what you need then wallow like no one ever has before. For me personally, it helps with the grieving to honor the good in that time. SO with that in mind, here's my blessings list/July wrap-up.

• Outdoor Tarot is consistently a high point in my life, and while me and my favorite decks didn't have any huge adventures, we did go out to a hippie farm up north, out to my yard on countless days, and to a beautiful cabin (that one of my best friends owns) in the cutest small town in Wisconsin.
• Things I Wrote: Still in love with my turn at Little Red Tarot, and over at TheColu.mn I published this huge write-up of Queer Fringe pieces. I was thrilled to hop over to Abbie's blog to talk about my favorite writer and what tarot IS to me. I also talked about the importance of taking a break, how to support Black Lives Matter, and a relationship check-in and advice spread on this very blog.
• Theatre Life: Gadfly is moving into an art gallery! I'm sure I'll post more about this, as creating and changing an environment is a spiritual and creative endeavor in and of itself. As such we are genuinely elated for this opportunity, as well as the opportunity to offer low cost space to other queer and marginalized artists. I also took part in the One Minute Play Festival which really reignited my love and joy of theatre outside of Gadfly again.
• Other Things I Loved: playtime with my cat babies (even if they are a suburb over from me right now :( ); boat rides in new lakes, game nights (so many game nights!), the most fun night ever at my new favorite bar/old school arcade, an all POC version of my favorite monthly show, OutSpoken, and too, too many trips to my favorite dive queer bar and corresponding diner across the street.
• Recommendations: The Art of Money by Bari Tesler which I will have MUCH more about coming soon. Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera. All of the Saga and all of the Lumberjanes. Season 3 of Bojack Horseman and Stranger Things, both on Netflix. Pokemon Go, obviously. The card game Gloom (so silly-macabre and fun). The Linestrider tarot (official review coming soon!).

I hope those of you celebrating harvests this Lammas get to keep on rocking and those of you grieving missown or bum seeds have a better fall. Blessed be. XO.