S2, Episode 9: Practices for Hope in Today's Climate. (Rock out with your c*** out)

In this episode of the Lost Girls Podcast, hosts Neva and Maria delve into the topic of using witchy and tarot practices as tools for maintaining hope and joy amid a chaotic, challenging world. They openly share personal experiences and practical advice on grounding, energy protection, and self-care rituals that blend the magical with the mundane. 

Both hosts emphasize the importance of simple, accessible daily practices—like mindful moments during showers or walks—to foster spiritual well-being without overwhelming oneself. They discuss grounding as a foundational practice, including spending time outdoors and physically connecting with nature, which helps stabilize energy and mental clarity. Protection rituals, such as creating wards with jars containing herbs and symbolic items keyed to family members, and cleansing energy through Reiki and other healing modalities, are explored as ways to safeguard one’s mental and spiritual space from negativity.

Highlights

• 🌿 Grounding through nature connection is essential for mental and spiritual stability.
• 🔮 Tarot and witchy rituals can be simple, daily practices that nurture hope and presence.
• 🛡️ Protection spells and energy cleansing help maintain boundaries against negativity.
• 📚 Lazy Witchcraft for Crazy Shitty Days offers practical, low-effort rituals for tough times.
• 🤝 Community connection, even informal gatherings, provides powerful collective healing.
• 🌙 Working with lunar and seasonal cycles can enhance spiritual energy and intention.
• ✨ Self-care and celebrating small achievements are crucial for sustained magical practice.

LINKS: 

Athena's Protection Ritual

Meg's Tarot Spreads Book

Lazy WitchyCraft for Shitty Days Book

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✨ Produced & Edited by Maria Ruscitti, LLC

🎶 Huge thanks to Nick J Ludwig Music for composing and mixing our theme song, "Go Do This."

🔮Neva Rowland (she/they) is a multi-faceted creator whose work blends spirituality and art. They work as a state-employed civil servant to pay the bills and feed their art supply and tarot collection addiction. 

🔮Maria (she/her) is a mother to two adorable gremlins. She has a long-term partner. Maria has been a public school educator for nearly 20 years, focusing on inner city schools and diversity education. She has been a practicing witch for most of her life, starting with Italian folklore witchcraft as a child and growing into her own traditions. She loves Moon and High Holiday Rituals (Especially Beltane), Simmer pots, Tarot Pulls, candle and herb magic, and plants! 

Transcript

 Hello, friends. Hello, friends. And hello, friends listening. This is the Lost Girls Podcast, and I am one of your hosts, Eva. And I am your other host, Maria. Yay. Yay. Yay.

 Today we have a pretty heavy topic, but I'm going to say...

 I don't even know how to put it into words. A good one? I think it's going to be good. I feel like full of actionable advice. Yes. Oh, that's such a good way to put it. Yes. Yes. I love that. I also, as I was thinking about this, like I'm personally going to share things that help and work for me. And I imagine you're going to do the same, but that doesn't mean this is an all inclusive list.

 Correct, yeah. So, oh, we should probably... So the actual topic... We are killing it already. The actual topic is...

 Witchy practices or tarot practices to remain hopeful and joyful in a world that, wow, really is anything but and kind of is on fire and falling apart around us.

 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's actually pretty much what my therapy session was about last week, actually. Yeah. It's what a lot of my therapy sessions are about recently, so, you know. Can't imagine why. Yay. I feel like some of mine are magical and mundane. Yeah.

 Okay. I like that. Yeah. Yeah, I have a mix. Yeah. Yeah. But I also love finding the magic in the mundane, so...

 Yeah, I think that's a it's also like an easier point of entry for people instead of having to set time aside to do this like special specific thing. You know, as you're washing your hands, you can say a thing you're grateful for. Or when you're taking a shower, you can imagine that the water is cleansing you both spiritually and physically.

 That's actually how I started taking showers. And to add on to that, my shampoo is sea salt and cedar scented. And I kind of chose that specifically because sea salt and cedar are very...

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Yep. Yeah, I love that. And so I feel like that is bringing some magic into the mundane. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think that's really important. I know for my partner, he's been finding a lot of, I want to say like magical joy in walking our dog. Yeah.

 So, they're like meditative walks. I mean, for both of them. But, you know, like, he'll go on 20, 30, 40 minute walk with the dog and come back and just be like, I really needed that. Like, yeah, the dog needs to be walked, but like, he really needed that. Just like that mindfulness practice. But, it's funny, the first thing I have on my list is grounding. Okay.

 That was the first thing on my mental list. Hell yeah. So what I was going to say is like, put the phone down and touch some grass. Yeah, but like, for real, oh my god, sit in the grass. That's what my thing says. I love it. We're so in sync. Oh boy. But yeah, I feel like grounding rituals.

 Thank you.

 Breathing has been a real struggle this summer. That's been really fun. So I don't know about Connecticut, but I know in Kansas we have a lot of... First of all, we had a stupid heat wave the last couple of weeks. The last couple of days it broke, but we've had north winds, which has been blowing smoke down from Canada. And so everything is in a haze. And I imagine being in Connecticut, it's probably...

 The air quality has been absolute trash. Um, and so it was the day of, you know, Gemma's birthday party. So we were outside for the whole day, which was great. You know, tons of kids running around and parents and our family, which was awesome. But also I didn't like realize how bad the air quality was till like halfway through the day. I was like, I can't even, and you know,

 I said to my partner, I was like, can you go get my inhaler? I think I'm gonna die. Oh my god. And then I like checked the weather and I was like, oh my god, it was like, you know, 162 whatever for particles. And I was like, holy shit. So then the party wrapped up and...

 I went inside and I was like, I was really struggling because I had to do like a nebulizer treatment and then, so that was a week ago and since then the air quality like only just got better in the last couple days, but it's been a fucking nightmare. It's like, it was, you know, it's rough. Anyway, be outside if you can breathe. I know this is not related to anything we're talking about in the pod, so if you want to cut this, that's fine. Allergies like make my mom's

 Welcome to my lecture.

 multiple times per week if not multiple times per day and her doctor got her I don't I can't remember what the med is called and I can ask her but some sort of allergy medicine and she hasn't had to take her inhaler once this summer what I know holy shit yeah

 If you get the name of that. So, yeah, I'll text my mom and I'll ask her what that's called. I'll be like, hey, my friend Maria's dying. What's the name of that bed that you take?

 Yeah. And if anyone else has that problem, then let me know. Yeah. You know what? We'll leave this in and I'll put it in the notes just in case anyone else is struggling with this. Oh my God. Yeah. But I've sounded like, you know, a mix between Tony Braxton and Barry White for like most of the summer. I'm just like, Hey baby, how's it going? It's not my normal voice. Like you've been smoking a pack for 40 years. Yeah.

 A pack a day. Right, yeah. Smoking two packs a day. Down it with a 40. I don't know why I'm also from New York now, but...

 But anyways. Anyway, there's side tangent one. Side tangent one. Go outside if you can breathe. Touch some grass. Grounding is so important. Yeah, I have definitely, even on the stupid hot days, like, oh my, I can't even describe how hot it's been.

 I get it. There was one day I was working from home and I went and I sat on my front porch for my afternoon break. Love that. It was like I could...

 I feel the heat and humidity like all over my body. It was like, like, imagine. Yes. That's the only way I can describe it. No, it's like walking in soup. It sucks. I could feel it. And all I was doing was sitting there. That's yeah. Full body shudders. It's so disgusting.

 But I was like, I just need some fresh fucking air. And there's barely any air out here. It feels like water. Just breathing in hot soup water. Fucking gross. I know. Going outside felt like stepping into the water that you get after you boil hot dogs. Oh my god, yes. Disgusting. Disgusting.

 Absolutely disgusting. Oh my gosh. I have also been doing a lot of...

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Welcome to my lecture.

 It is. Yeah. Um, but, um, and I'll, I will text you the link to this post. Um, so Athena, who we had on previously, she posted, um, back in like March or something, um,

 This, like, cleansing your energy, protecting your energy, grounding sort of thing. Yes, I feel like I remember seeing this. Okay, so I was like, I love this. I wrote it down in my little, my book. And so I've been using that. I've literally done it.

 pretty much every single day, every single morning. Oh, wow. Um, that's awesome. Yeah. And I kind of been combining it with some self Reiki. Cause nice. Cause you're doing that. I'm level two attuned now. Oh, bitch. Yes. It's like no big deal. Hey, you're doing awesome. And I'm super proud of you.

 Oh, thank you. You're welcome. And I'm also only level one because I never went back for the class. But it's all good. It is all good because level one, you know, you can do it on yourself. Right. Or people who let me.

 Or people who let you, yeah. Mostly my family members and friends. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I have some of the symbols, and I'm like, I'm not gonna remember all these, but okay. No, oh my god, that's where I fall apart. Like, I don't remember the hand things I'm supposed to do, and the like...

 Fuck you, bad energy! Fuck you, bad energy! Why can't I just feel it? Okay, so for real though, this was a conversation my teacher and I had, was Reiki is just one specific healing modality, and you don't have to do Reiki to heal people. You could call it

 Whatever the fuck you want. Yeah. Mariki. Right. Like, this is my fuck you energy healing modality. And, like, that's totally valid. Yeah.

 I know. It's so weird because, like, I grew up with a version of Reiki, but it's not Reiki. It's like the Italian, like, meloic, like getting rid of the evil eye. But you're doing the same thing. You're just cleansing people's energy. You're just doing it through different rituals. And I'm like...

 So when I tried to like fit what I was doing into the box that Reiki is, I was like, oh, there are parts of this that don't fit for me. So I'm like, I appreciated the education and the understanding of the chakras and like, because I'm a hoe for information. Like, don't get me wrong. I always want to know more. So like, I loved that part of it. But as a practice, I was like, I don't know that this fits in line with Reiki.

 How aggressive my energy is and just how I cleanse. But either way, cleansing, protection, grounding. Get your Reiki on.

 Yes. Yeah. I love it. Whether it's self healing, whether, cause honestly you just be like, I'm sending healing energy to myself. Yeah. That's your intention. You're setting that intention. Right. And you know, source doesn't care.

 It really doesn't. I don't think. I don't think so. Yeah. I feel like she would have said something if she cared. Like, already. You know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If she had a problem with it, I think we would know. Oh my god. What else you got? So, the other stuff on my super cute little list. Um...

 My super cute list is in my head, so, you know. Well, that tracks, because you are, in fact, super cute. Aw. Maria's just, like, hyping me up today. I got that hype energy. I'm the meanest cheerleader you'll ever meet. Except, like, with compliments.

 You're so fucking beautiful. You're so fucking... Just take the goddamn compliment. You goddamn starfish. See, this is why I need my Leslie Knope doll next to me. It's because she gets me. Leslie Knope gets me. Leslie Knope gets me. I literally said to Nick the other day, he's like, oh, what are you going upstairs to do? And I was like, I'm jamming on my planner. He was like...

 Okay, nerd. It's like, I don't know what to tell you. Oh no, things are moving. It's because my chair keeps turning. So the next thing on my list, I put protection spells and wards. So this is a thing like I do. I don't know if it's a thing, you know, a lot of people do, but I find it very helpful. I make...

 welcome to my lecture.

 I have four jars, I put them in the four directions, north, south, east, west, of the property. But you can do this in an apartment, you can do this in a bedroom, you just have to find the cardinal directions and then place them in those directions. But it also, the jars that I use contain like rosemary, black salt, rusty nails, send that shit back, and also the DNA of every person living in my house.

 So there's a cloth and we either all pricked our fingers and put it on the cloth or used hair. I was going to say lick it. Yeah. Gemma, of course, chose to lick things because that's just what she does. And then also ripped hair out. And she was like, do you think that's enough? And I was like, yeah. Thanks, babe.

 yes i love love my child anyway um so those like are very like keyed dna wise and also protection wise to like my are specific and that creates for me like a ward of protection around our house around us that's like very specific to our family but then also things just like

 protection spells like carrying a talisman or clearing before you like come back in your house i feel like i've been doing that even unconsciously more and more like that don't mean just like when you get home washing your hands i mean like really focusing and clearing people other people's energy off of you or i'll find myself if i'm

 You know, lost in the sauce of a news cycle for too long. I'd be like, I need to remove myself from the situation and ground myself or cleanse and then ground myself because otherwise I get lost in this and my brain becomes fuzzy with all of this other energy that I'm just like,

 This isn't healthy or good, and it's certainly not productive for what I'm trying to do. So, those are some things I've done. But, you know, wards and protection spells and things like that, I think, can get very...

 Like, very witchy in practice, so it depends on what you're comfortable with. I mean, you could just go the good old-fashioned Winchester route and pour salt in all of your, you know, just pour salt across your doorstep.

 and yes yeah i mean that's that shit works man i still do that so on my front door i have some bells yeah oh yeah me too and just a really small little broom when i bought it it was cinnamon scented and i doubt it has that scent anymore um but the purpose of that is like anyone who comes into my house it's kind of like

 Welcome to my lecture.

 This is protected, you know, any energies that are, you know, want to like harm us or is going to stay outside this boundary. Yeah, that was basically the intention. Yeah.

 And, you know, occasionally, like, I don't, I don't like think like, oh, it's been a week, I need to do this again. But it's kind of like, yeah, ever I think about it, if I'm doing an energetic clean cleanse of myself, and I feel like I have the energy for it, like,

 Welcome to my lecture.

 A lot of the stuff I do is very intention-based, and I'm learning to be totally fine with that. But beyond that, what I've also started doing, and this is, you know, I'm not saying everyone has to do this, but the world is kind of, it's not kind of, it's fucked up right now. Yeah, I don't think that's a stretch. Right. When I feel like I have the spoons to do it, I kind of,

 Expand that into my town, my state, the country, the world. If I feel like I have that energy, you know, because I have to make sure I have the energy for myself before I'm sending it out, you know, just trying to give some...

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Um, so it's like, depending on your witchy practice, work with the seasons. Like, do it on a new moon, do it on a full moon, do it on an equinox. Um, work with what Mother Nature is giving you because she's giving you a lot. Um, and...

 I always find that helps with energy levels. I don't have the energy to do that all the time. Hell no. Hell no. Yeah, that shit is exhausting. And then there are aids. You can do candle magic. I know that's a big thing. I do that on occasion, but that feels like what I have to prepare more for.

 Yeah, and you have to like wait for the candle to burn down and you can't leave. Don't leave a burning candle unattended. We all learned that. Stop, drop, and roll. Yeah, but like I carve like sigils into candles or words. You can just carve like

 Welcome to my lecture.

 So I created a sigil for myself. I love that. Um, dude, I love creating sigils, honestly. And there's been more than one time, like maybe people could just like pay me to create sigils. Um, I would totally love to have you make a sigil for me. Just saying. Okay. Um, so my sigils are usually very like loopy. Like I love a spiral. Okay. Um,

 and like other sigils that I see people make are very angular and stuff and I'm just like I don't like it doesn't vibe with me like yeah are always very there's lots of loops and curves anyway um so I created a sigil for myself um and what I do is I have some tea light candles and

 And I carved that sigil into the tea light candle as I'm saying, you know, it's I am safe and grounded. I am divinely loved, guided, and protected.

 Oh, I love that. Yeah, simple.

 And underneath I put some like rosemary and thyme and lavender and a few things with like specifically like as I'm adding them like this is for this and this is for that. Yeah. And then I stick it back in there and so then when it burns and the wax and it all kind of like melds together I've started also doing that but that is like every morning like I light that with the intention of like

 I am protected. Yeah. Um, so I love that. Yeah. It doesn't have to be anything like super complicated. I think there, there is time and space for complicated spell work. Um, like for sure. But, but I think, um,

 For the day-to-day rituals where you're just trying to keep going, the easiest thing to do is, you know, usually the best thing to do. So keep it simple for your day-to-day, and then when you have the energy, get fancy and complicated.

 Okay, so that reminded me of this book that I bought. I haven't had a chance to read all of it, but it's called Lazy Witchcraft for Crazy Shitty Days. I love everything about that.

 Easy spells and rituals for when you're stressed out, wiped out, or just have no more spoons to give. And protection and warding is like a whole ass chapter. Fuck yeah. Oh my god. What does that book look like? Can you show me? It looks like this. Oh my god. I love that. I'll link it in the notes, folks. I think it was just published like...

 last year it was published last year um but yeah so the table of contents is like there's an introduction saying like this is who i am um you know you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to but yeah i feel like that's a lot of spiritual like especially like us too we're like oh this is what works for us do what works for you yeah so chapter one is what the fuck do i need and how the fuck do i do this

 And then it's manifestation, and then protection and banishing, healing and self-love, focus and energy, money and abundance. So, yeah. I think I've read, like, the introduction in chapter one, but...

 yeah anyway it even has on for each of the spells it lists how many spoons it costs oh shit i love that so for instance i just turned this random page a general home cleansing ritual three spoons yeah all right and let's see but it has like um correspondences for manifestation work and substitutions and yeah

 So, Lunar Manifestation Incense and Herb Blend. One spoon. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway. I love that. Yes. I love that a lot. I found that. I was like, I need that. Because, uh, crazy shitty days. Ugh. Crazy shitty days. It's like, okay. Now, I feel like, unless you're specifically...

 Making your days not crazy or shitty, that is the default when you're dealing with the rest of the world. I think there's a big, you know, you have to purposefully and with intention. Like being informed is good, but not at the expense of your mental health. No.

 Like, you have to make a conscious choice of, like, I've seen enough for today. I'm going to disconnect. You know, the news is not going to change. Every day is going to be something new. Once you've read it once, then you've read it enough times. Yeah. I have, um...

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Um, but the, the one other thing I had on my list before tarot spread things was community spell work. Um, yeah, which I love the idea of, but I think is really difficult to put into practice, but yeah, especially, I mean, I, you live in Connecticut. I live in Kansas. I'm in the middle of the fucking Bible belts. Um,

 Welcome to my lecture.

 You know, and I would venture to say anyone that I know is, you know, we're solitary practitioners. Yeah. I would say, like, even around in Connecticut, which is a pretty blue state, and we live in a blue town in the blue state, I...

 It's not like there's like a coven or anything. I'm sure there would be if I looked, but like, I don't know that.

 It's weird. It's weird. Yeah. So when I think about like community spell work, I'm more think of like, I guess like online, like, okay, we're all gonna log in to this event at such and such a time. And we're going to set a community intention of this and do like a 10 minute meditation on it. Um, which I think can be really powerful if it's a lot of people, but even just getting people together is,

 My daughter's birthday party was just a birthday party, but it felt like such a community representation of who we had in our lives and there was so much joy happening. I was like, this feels like magic. It feels like spell work.

 You know, I feel like everyone here is their feelings of joy. It's like replenishing that because we're all together in a community supporting each other. And it's like, yeah, it's a kid's birthday party and we're all just eating pizza and they're running around trying to kill each other. But because that's what kids do at birthday parties. Yeah.

 That's just what kids do.

 This, like, community, it's not like we're not all holding hands and singing kumbaya around a bonfire naked and, you know, throwing men's hearts into fires, which, just for the record, I would do, but...

 Welcome to my lecture.

 So, it's just like, I feel like we need just more events where we feel held by our community and appreciated. And that felt like one of them and I was like, this is actually pretty fucking great. And it's not technically spell work, but I think it's pretty magical anyway. Yeah.

 Yeah. Going back to, like, home warding, I've been collecting incense ash and eggshells. Yup. Um...

 And so what my plan is, I haven't done it yet, and I probably could, I'm sure I have enough, but I'm just going to kind of grind them together. Yeah, you make your own black salt. And just kind of sprinkle. You can't use real salt because it'll kill the grass and everything, but eggshells and incense ash, I think that would suffice for some wording. Yeah.

 I think I have read a few instances of people not being explicit with their intention and it actually like no one feeling comfortable in their home.

 Oh no! Oh shit! I've read a few people online like, I did this, and then like, anytime anyone came to my house, like, they just felt really uncomfortable and really unsettled until they left. And I was like, is it your wording? Oh shit! Like, is it your wording or is it you? You? Is it a both? I mean, maybe. I don't know.

 Yeah, but if you're setting your intention like, I want no one in my house, it's like, okay. But then also, no one's gonna have a good time. Right, yeah. It's like, yeah, you have to be careful. Words have meaning. They do. You know, anyone who wishes me harm shouldn't feel comfortable in my home. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, so either you have shitty friends...

 That's valid, oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, or you yourself are not a very good friend. That is interesting. I hadn't considered it from that perspective. Yeah. Bitches be crazy, man. Bitches be crazy.

 Is it us? Are we bitches? Are we bitches? We are bitches. Is it us? Are we bitches? Yes. Except it's witches be crazy. And we is. We is those witches. I love it so much. Oh man. Okay. Ow.

 What else you got? That's about all I had. Grounding, energy protection. So much grounding. Really? Yeah. So I've done Reiki on three total people. Congrats! Thank you. And one thing that I've noticed is like

 I've been trying to send a lot of energy just back into Gaia, but then also pulling up a lot of grounding energy for all three of those people. So I don't know if that's a me personally, my vibe thing, because three people is not really...

 A case study. It's not a good sample size. Yeah. Maybe get like three more. Or if it's just, we all just need to ground more because things are so unstable. Yeah. Yes. And also recognizing what is within our realm of control.

 Oh yeah, that's huge. Because so, so, so many things are not. But one thing that is, is we can ground. We can protect our energy. We can protect the energy of people that we love.

 Yes, we can. We can foster a sense of foster a community, you know, whether it's a witchy community or a friend community or an art community or whatever. I just feel like.

 Welcome to my lecture.

 And the answer is, one, I take care of myself. Two, I take care of those closest to me. And I think that includes, you know, the community that I build around myself. Yeah. Oh, I would agree. And if that's all you can do, then that's all you can do because so many things are so far outside of your realm of control.

 Yeah, they really are. It's like we can't, there are things we cannot change, but we can focus on what we can do. Yeah. I, and sometimes, you know, I get stuck in that, you know, looking at so many things that I have no control over and then I feel powerless and hopeless and I lose, I lose sight of the smaller picture, I guess. Yeah.

 Yeah, I know. It's hard, I think, when you're a big picture person, which, like, I am, and I have to constantly remind myself to focus on the smaller picture. Because, like, even just education as a whole, you know, as a teacher, what a fucking shit show.

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Welcome to my lecture.

 Those are within my control. Yep. And so just focusing on those things. And it's just like, for right now, it's gonna have to be enough. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's totally valid. Mm-hmm. Oh my god. Big, big, big, big topic. Big topic, I know. I had...

 Tarot things written down, but mostly, and I mentioned to you, I made my own tarot spread.

 Yes. Yeah, which I'm super excited about. Yes, I would love to see it. Okay, it's just a list. Or tell me about it. Yeah, it's just a list, which is lame. I'm gonna make a graphic for it and make it all pretty. I, you know, okay, so, sorry to interrupt. No, no, no. So, there's, um, there's a, I follow her on Instagram.

 her them i think i think it's she they um i follow them on instagram they go by 3am tarot on instagram oh yeah their first name's meg anyway so i purchased she recently released a book called like on tarot spreads and like

 Welcome to my lecture.

 one of the points I keep yeah I think it's they um they make in their book is you don't have to have like a fancy here's where everything goes if you just have a list and you can just like lay the cards out as long as you yeah as long as you keep track of the numbers of what card goes with what question and that's all that really matters at the end of the day that's true anyway I know the designer in me is like bitch make a graphic but you know

 The, the other part of the lazy witch part is like, you have a list. What are you worried about? Yeah. Don't, don't put extra, don't put extra work on yourself if you don't need to. Exactly. So we'll link to that book also.

 yeah yeah you can send me those um so i call the spread the flame that doesn't burn out um because i like it um because i like it because i like it it doesn't guys it doesn't have to be more complicated than that

 Um, yeah, so just, uh, like a quick overview. There's, it's six cards, um, and goes over, okay, the weight I carry. So what am I currently carrying with me? That's a problem for me. Uh-huh. And then the root of my strength. Oh.

 Where does my inner power come from? What must be released? Which I think any good spread has a release. Yes. Yep. What am I holding on to? What am I holding on to? What must be protected?

 So, for me, this could be like a value, it could be a boundary I'm holding, it could be a physical location, it could be people, anything. What has to be protected? And then, what is my role in collective healing, like in the bigger picture? And then, what's the light ahead?

 I love that. I love that. Thank you. Like, I love that. Makes me feel so good.

 Anyways, so that was my fake pantomime hair flip because my hair is up. But I do fake hair flips all the time. Well, you know, whatever. Hair flip. Yeah. So I have found this really helpful. This is like a bigger card drawing that I'm not doing this every day. That's right. This is like I'm doing it like on a new or full moon. Have you used the spread yet? No.

 No. I am really... I'm saving it for the full moon coming up. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or maybe I'm not going to be able to wait that long, so I'll probably do it on the quarter. I think the quarter was Friday. Shit! That's okay. I have to look at my calendar. It's all good. Halvesies. We'll just go halvesies. So... Whatever's happening. Um...

 So I haven't done it yet, but, uh, I am very excited to, but I think, you know, all of your card drawings don't have to be that. I don't want to say complicated, but you can just be like, what's, you know, what's going to give, what's, what's giving me hope today and pull one card, you know, like I still do a daily card pull. I have a pile that I shuffle and I pull one card off of it every day. So I rotate through it every 78 days. Um,

 I love that.

 Yeah. I mean, say you're autistic queen without saying it, but how old is she? She turned 10. Yeah. Yeah. So, so she's doing that. And, um, so it's like, you know, daily pulls are great for just like keeping hope alive. Um, well, and that's that, you know, to that point, I was going to say with the, in, with a tarot practice, um,

 What I feel is my daily tarot draw just kind of keeps me grounded in the present, in my current, you know, circumstance. Yes. It helps me kind of focus on what I can control. Yeah, I would agree, 100%. I'm like, okay, what's today going to be like in my house, in my life? Yeah. You know?

 I get that. My one this morning was Nine of Coins. It was Nine of Pentacles. Oh, nice. I know. I was like, oh, hell yeah. Yeah. I haven't drawn any yet today, so. That's okay. That's all right. Do we want to do a card for the episode, or should we share what's bringing us joy first?

 Let's share what's bringing us joy first. Okay, hey Neva, what's bringing you joy? Okay, I have two things. Yay! So, the first one, I kind of already said, I got my Reiki level 2 certificate and attunement yesterday. Yay!

 Clapping, clapping. So, that's exciting. And I did positive work towards my thesis on three days this week. Hell yeah! And I have, what I decided to do, I was like, I will make a ta-da list of

 I love that. Every day that I work on it, like, here's what I did. Because I feel like sometimes I get so lost in everything that I feel like I'm not making any progress. Mm-hmm. And I, like, I didn't care how small of a thing it was. Like, if I...

 I read the thesis manual. I wrote it down. Like, the thesis manual is like five pages. Like, I fucking did it, okay? Yes! And that deserves to be celebrated. Yes, it does. But, okay, so, like...

 The day after I had my Reiki 1 attunement, I think you saw this, I posted this on my Instagram story. I wrote this down because basically it just feels like spirit's been like, it's been like, bitch, the fuck are you doing? Like...

 Finish your damn crap! So, this might be useful for other people in other areas. The quote perfect conditions don't exist.

 Slow and steady progress is better than no progress. Do it bad, do it ugly, finish what you started. The magic you're seeking is in the work you're avoiding. Ooh, boy. Yep. So that sort of helped kick me in the pants a little bit. Yeah, nothing is ever going to be perfect.

 You just have to start. Start anywhere. Yep. Start anywhere. So, that's what's bringing me joy. I'm just, like, really proud of myself. That's awesome. I'm also really proud of you. Thank you. Especially since that was something I roasted you for. I know. I know. And it was so funny.

 Oh no! Two weeks ago, when I was in Kansas City, Missouri for work stuff, part of it was like a small group discussion thing and I don't remember how the topic arose, but it was basically like,

 Yeah, I've kind of been stalled working on my thesis for like three years, and the three other ones were like, girl, you gotta get that done. Bitch, I know. And the little voice in my head was like, have you been told enough yet? And I'm like, okay, I'm sorry.

 Like, these people don't even fucking know you. They haven't. They don't even know you. None. None. And they're like, you might want to think about finishing. Don't rush me. So. So, that's, yeah, it's bringing me joy. Maria, what is bringing you joy? Wow. Other than, like, talking to me. I mean, always. It always brings me an immense amount of joy, honestly.

 Um, incalculable. So other than talking to you and doing our podcast, which we have been inconsistent at best this summer, um, shout out to our listeners. Holla. Um, a couple of things brought me joy this week. So one, I cleaned up my office and I'm currently like looking around it because it was a shit show. It was like,

 The room no one went into because it was the room we shoved everything in and it was awful and you like couldn't even walk in it because it was like just like one tiny path to where the dog food was and like that was it. That was the only part that was walkable. I'm laughing because I've been there. Yeah. Yeah. And then like I'd be hard pressed to find a person who hasn't been there.

 You know, except for maybe, I don't know, other people who are really organized, but that is not me. So, I was like, fuck this. It needs to get done. And a couple days ago, just started ripping shit apart and throwing things out, and I put up some shelves and organized things, and I'm currently sitting in my office doing the podcast.

 So that feels, yeah, really awesome and fun and good. And also a thing that brought me joy, like so much joy, and I really hope she hears this, is a former student of mine reached out and told me that she listens to our podcast.

 I love that so much.

 I know! And I was like, I can't even believe that. It made my whole fucking week. I definitely didn't cry when I read that message. And... Lies. Lies! Lies! And it's just so cute. Like, I love getting texts like that from former students. But, you know, to be so specific in, like, about this project that has nothing to do with, you know, who I am as a teacher, really. Mm-hmm.

 It just meant so much. So that brought me so much joy. And I hope that, you know, she hears the shout out. I love that. I love that so much. Yeah.

 Yeah, when people who I know personally, they're like, I listen to your podcast. I'm like, oh my God, really? Oh my God, really? Yeah. Like, my friends will tell me that. I'm like, oh my God, you actually listen to it? And they're like, yeah, Maria. I'm like, oh. I mean, thanks. That's awesome. More people who don't know us should listen. That would be honestly so nice.

 So, you know, people who know us tell people who don't know us. Right, who you know, that you know that they know that they should listen to our podcast. Oh man, spread the word. Because we are delightful. I think we're delightful. I am sure.

 Welcome to my lecture. Welcome to my lecture. Welcome to my lecture.

 I think it was like the Wild Oak Tarot. What is the artwork? I guess I'm going to see when you pull a card. Yeah. Okay. So I got five of bows, which I think is like wands. Empowerment. Okay. I love that. Yeah. This person, it's got to be a dude because that's straight up a peen. Okay.

 It is what it is. Pretty nice. Did you see, I think it was Lori's Facebook post with the glow-in-the-dark condom? And then the caption was like, I was hoping it would look like a lightsaber, but I look like a firefly. And I commented like, a lightsaber is so optimistic. So optimistic! Are you kidding me? It hurts.

 Aim for like a glow-in-the-dark water bottle. A lightsaber? Goddamn.

 Anyway, yeah, so I found this deck when I cleaned out the office and I was like, oh, thanks for coming back to me. And man, did it ever with five of bows, wands. So it's all about empowerment and empowering ourselves. Which I feel like that's what we have to do, you know? Yeah, fitting. Just rock out with your cock out. Rock out with your cock out!

 Here's me actively trying to decide if Buzzsprout will let me make that the title of the episode. It could be rock out with your C, asterisk, asterisk, asterisk, out, out, out. I could probably do that. Anyway.

 We'll see. Oh, my God. This has been good. It really has. Final thoughts. Shit is heavy, but you don't have to carry all of it. I love that. Yeah. And go outside and touch grass.

 Go touch some grass. Hug a tree. Seriously. It feels great. It does. Like, I love hugging my tree. I love hugging my tree. You just have like one tree that you go to and hug.

 I live in the woods, so that sentiment is so fucking funny to me. I have, I technically have four trees on my property, but one's a Bradford pear and it needs cut the fuck down, but... Gross, yeah. Yeah, and every day I walk by, I'm like, your time is coming when we have the energy. Yeah. And it's just like... I'll get there eventually. Yeah.

 Maybe nature will kill it first. Oh, God. All right. Okay. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Yes. And download, like, share. Tell your friends about us. Yes. And as always, trick your dog into listening. Bye, friends. Bye, friends. Bye, friends.

 Thank you.