0:01Welcome to Demystify Magic with Molly and Madison.I'm Molly, a former skeptic turned full time energy healer and teacher.And I'm Madison, a born and raised witch running my family's crystal shop.And we're here to explore all things woo through the lens of both science and spirituality, so that you can find the moments of magic in your everyday life and create an intentional spiritual practice.0:20So if that's what you're into, find a cozy spot, take a deep breath, and let's demystify some magic.Howdy Doody, friend.Howdy Doody, We are yet again coming to you after having had an entire day, and it's only 11:00 AM.0:39Uh huh.There's a lot going on.Something something's in the in the air today that we both had chaotic mornings.I have to ask you if this gives you all any insight to how today is going for us.Molly.Is there still a bird inside your house?0:54I do not know.I OK, here's here's my truth.Here's what happened.I was, I have a back like 3 season porch on the back of my house and there was a bird out there this morning and there's like a glass door between my kitchen and this bird sanctuary.1:10And so I went out there to open the back door to let it out and it just kept dive bombing me.It just kept flying out my head and the door wouldn't stay open so I kept running in for cover and like Woody is like perked up on the couch like mom, are you OK?This bird is just, I don't know how it got in there but it I don't know if it will leave.1:30I literally just left the back door open and came upstairs and I was like, I'm out, I'm out.You might have a new pet.I'm so excited.No, it's scary.I don't like it.I think we should name it.1:47We should name it.What should we name it?I don't know, I just.I love the picture you sent me of it.It just looks like it is chilling.That was right after it was smacking against the window.A bird give no fucks.About I know.The chaos that it was wreaking.2:04The.Havoc, it was causing.I know, and I was trying to figure out what type of bird it was because you said to look up the spiritual meaning, which I remember from when you had termites in your house was very powerful for you.But I can't.I can't tell if it's a Northern Mockingbird or a Gray Warbler.2:22Yeah, I told Molly to do that and she goes, I don't know, I don't know anything about birds.I maybe came in too quickly with this, with the spiritual of like, let's turn this negative into a positive as you're like actively being diaphoned by a bird.I'm like, but what colour is it?2:44We're just all doing our best today.So we figured today would be a good day to do AQ and A.Sometimes we just need a minute, just we need a piddle podcast, which by the way, I've got.Podcast.So many DMS of people asking me if I know the other definition of the word piddle to pee.3:04Yes I do.I've just decided that I don't care.I think of OK here, here's here's how I conceptualize it.Because to me, piddle and pee are different.Pee is with intention, right?3:19You're sitting down.You're going, You're getting up.A piddle is you're sitting there and dribbling, drabbling for a little while.Like scrolling Instagram.That's a piddle while you.Scroll.Yeah, you don't scroll while you piddle.But not when I pee piddle.Don't lie.3:35You don't just sit there sometimes.Oh my God, I was completely misunderstanding.What did you think?I thought you were saying like, a piddle is when you accidentally pee a little bit.No.And so I thought you were saying, like, when you actively make the choice while you're scrolling because you don't want to go pee.3:52That makes a lot more sense.Yes, I do scroll while I piddle.I was like, no, I've never been like, oh, this Instagram is too juicy.Let me just let out a little bit of a piddle.We're off to a rip roar and start you guys.We are off to a rip roar and start.This is how you know it's going to be a good episode.4:10You all said this is your favorite part of the podcast.Don't come back on that now.I don't want to.I don't want to hear.It Madison what was your magic moment?My magic moment is a little bit of a combination of things.4:25So the other day we were doing some planning for a very exciting one year of Demystify magic little party that we're going to have going on a birthday party at Oh, we should plug that.Let's plug it right now.Here I go.I'm plugging.I'm sticking it in the socket.4:42I am plugging the fuck out of it.Sunday, May 19th.Molly and I will be at Spellcrafter from like 3:00 to 5:00, just hanging out.Whatever.We'll have some light refreshments, maybe a birthday cake with some for the Candles for Giants, AKA chime candles.5:00We'll be hanging out and then we're going to do right after the store closes at like 5:15, we're going to do a live recording.So if you'd like to grab tickets for that, the link will be in the show notes.We're very excited, but my magic moment was that in the brainstorming for that event, Molly posted asking everybody what their favorite inside joke was like from the podcast, and the responses actually had me cackling.5:24There were things that like, I forgot and we got to.We have some, like, really cool little fun surprises planned for those who come to the live recording.We're going to have a little present for you.I can't wait.We're going to see how it turns out.5:40I have to hand make this present, so we're going to see how it goes.But it was really, really fun to read everybody's responses.And we got some really nice messages of, like there's just a group of people out there that think we're funny in the same way that we think we're funny.5:56And it brought a lot of joy, 'cause I'm going to be so frill with you guys.Molly and I were just talking about this before we started recording.It has been what some might call a no good, very bad week.Monday, but yeah.And OK, since the last time we recorded, yeah, it's been a no good, very bad week.6:14And I just love you guys and it was so fun to, like, revisit so many old silly fun times that we've had together.I love it.I love that our silliness is preserved.Immortalized on the Internet forever, never to be, never to be deleted.6:32Can't wait?For better or for worse, what was your magic moment?My magic moment is, you know, You know those times when you are like, I really want to hang out with my friend, but I don't want to leave my house.I had one of those moments and I had a really good time.6:49My friend and I, we notoriously get very over stimulated in crowds and crowded environments and loud environments, so we decided to go to the local arcade naturally.Uh huh.As one does.As one does, we got really fixated on playing Bubble Blaster.7:07We played it for like a full hour straight.We ended up with OK, this is a place that you know you you swipe your card to play the game, you have like a game card and then it gives you tickets on your game card.We checked our game card after we had over 3500 tickets.7:25We we were a third of the way to the Insta pot that gives you any frame of reference.Can you explain to me what Bubble Blaster is?Oh my.You've never played Bubble Blaster?Please.OK, Like at an arcade?7:41Yeah, big screen in front of you.We literally just.Talked about this, yes.Or last time like when we recorded with Anthony how you've never been to a Dave and Buster's.Yeah, we don't have those up.Here that's I think that's like I think what you're describing where you have a card and you swipe it, I think that's just a Dave and Buster's.No, it's a round one up here.7:57It's in our mall.I'm just saying it's the same concept.I mean, so is Chuck e That's like saying McDonald's and Wendy's are the same.I'm just saying you acted as if me never playing the niche game that's at your version of the Dave and Buster's was wild.8:15No, I know that.You know, a bubble blaster is because we've talked about iPad games and it's originally an iPad.Game.Oh, OK.It's an OK, OK, OK, OK.It's.That game where you shoot the bubbles at the similar color bubbles and they pop.Except got a 2.Player at my arcade.OK, Dave and Buster's has Candy Crush, so I understand I'm caught up.8:33OK, I don't have a Dave and buster's.We don't have that name.Stop rubbing your Florida privilege all over my face.I just was.I was.I was reaching acceptance of what you were saying.I was, I was catching up.I was catching up because arcade to me, does not give Chuck E Cheese arcade.8:50I'm thinking pinball.Yeah, they also have pinball and they have billiards and they have bowling and they used to have churros before the pandemic.I still haven't forgiven them for that.They were a dollar, Madison.A dollar?It's not going well over here.9:06Anyways, we had a lot of fun.I really enjoyed it.I just texted her asking when we can play Bubble Blaster again and I'm really just made me happy that I have friends who also hyper fixate on one game and just don't want to leave it until literally our eyes were blurring the purple and the blue together and we're like, we should stop.9:23That's the best way to be.I love that you have your iPad game. iPad, baby.But in real life, like on the big.Screen with tickets we we walked around the the ticket room for like 1/2 an hour and we're like this is we don't want any of these things.9:38It was like we had we had too many tickets to get like you know just a candy, but not enough tickets to get like anything useful.So it was like, and we can get like like a really flimsy stuffed toy or like 15 key chains.9:56Can you save them?Oh yeah, we're going back.We are saving up for that Instapod.We're going to share it.We're going to have shared custody.Shared custody of the Instapod.I like it.Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.So anyways, that's, that's what we're up to.If you need me, I'll be playing Bubble Blaster at round one.10:13Come say hi, bring me Churro.Not one from Subway, though.Those are gross.I don't think we've ever had an intro this long.Sorry, my sorry.Sorry everyone.I'm sorry everyone.So back to more serious business of our Q&A.Our first question is, what are your witchy starter packs like the meme?10:31Going with the hard hitters today, so I have to go first on this one because I specifically told Molly that I wanted to include this question and she goes, I don't know what they mean.So I had Molly had to look up what the meme was before we started recording.10:46I still don't understand how to make the meme.Like I understand the concept of the meme, but I feel like I'm going to do it wrong, so I need you to go as example.So for those who don't know, the starter pack meme is like a you'd see like a crystal girly starter pack and it would be like a rose Quartz tumble and amethyst tumble.11:05Like a a pair of tie dye pants and, I don't know, like a crochet top.What?Like it's the things that you put them together and they make that kind of archetype of.That's not the archetype I would give, OK?My crystal girly starter pack is like a clear quartz point, a rose quartz tumble and then like an an incense bag of incense.11:30OK?And like she can also have jeans with her leggings.OK, rainbow pants.All right, whatever.What's your starter pack?It didn't.It didn't have to be rainbow tie dye.Didn't you say rainbow tie dye?Did I just superimpose that?11:45I said tie dye.I said.I said tie dye.Pants.Wow, I saw like bright rainbow.Yeah no, that makes more sense.Like a one colored tie dye.Yeah, I was like, why?What does she have against tie dye?Why are we fighting this morning?12:01In my head, I'm seeing like these two bright clown pants.I'm like, I don't see it.Anyways, what's your witchy starter pack?That's good.My Witchy starter pack, the Madison Witchy Starter Pack is OK Hear me out.12:19I am going to include my cat.Of course I was going.To include that?Great.OK, Because you can't tell me that.Like, critters aren't witchy.Critters are witchy.My dogs are witches.The way that my cat will come lay right nestled into like the crook of my shoulder when I'm doing Reiki, and the way they, like congregate when I'm doing spell work, I'm like y'all are participants.12:47Participants.I say I'm a solitary practitioner, but then I've got this whole covenant critters.Covenant critters that will be, that will be our our animal sanctuary Sanctuary one day, the coven of critters.The coven of critters that is so good.Yep.13:02All right, so I've got my cat, my garden court statement piece that feels like an extension of my personality.Yep.At least 82 plants.All half dead.All half dead.They're doing a lot better.13:18Actually.I had to get rid of a lot of plants.I've said it before on the podcast that my the state of my plants is like an excellent marker for like the state of the union of my mental brain space.It wasn't going so hot for for a little while, so we had to do a little bit of a of a plant room clean out, but everybody's doing much better.13:36Everybody that's made it to see this new era of my plant room, I would say we're at like 75% happiness.Wow.So a gaggle of plants that are at 75% happiness and my grandpa's cigarettes.OK.13:53All right.Mine is the dogs, of course.They're witches, I'm pretty sure.They're in the coven of critters.The coven of critters.Yeah, that'll be AT shirt.Definitely like my clear quartz wand.Any of them, because I have one in every room.A giant container of salt full of protection, protection, and probably a pair of black leggings.14:20Color, magic and comfort, yeah.Did I do it right?Yeah, you did a great job, OK.Thanks remember.When you yelled at me on the podcast.I'm sorry.All right.14:36Next question, If you put a sigil on something like makeup or anything that you use every day, do you need to actively think of the sigil each time you use the product?Here's my take on it is whenever you are using sigils or intentions in general, they become stronger each time you tune into them, right?14:58So like, if I just think, OK, let's take a Taylor Swift song for instance.The first time you listen to it, powerful.But the more you marinate in the lyrics, the more you listen to the nuances, the more emotional it becomes.15:15The more it creates that reaction in you, the more it becomes like your favorite song.Sigils are kind of the same way.Like you could draw them once and put a lot of intention to it and then not connect with them again.But each time you connect with them, you're going to develop that relationship more and more and more.15:31So it's going to get deeper and deeper and deeper.I started to laugh, but I can't even because that is such a good analogy.Thank you and pretty much exactly what I was going to say.Do you have to actively think of that intention that is behind that sigil every time?No.15:46You put intention to it the first time that you did it, but I don't think that that means that you shouldn't.And I think that it's the kind of thing that also really happens without you even really actively doing it.You know, like you see a sigil and it takes your mind back to, oh, I made that sigil that means XYZ.16:08It can be that easy.It doesn't have to be as as in depth as the first time you made the sigil aura when you, you know, put it on that item.It can just be like an acknowledgement of the sigil and remembering what it felt like and bringing forth that feeling that you're trying to create happens pretty naturally in like day-to-day when you're using things that are infused with that intention.16:31Yeah, I was gonna say, like when you make the sigil, especially if you use the tutorial in the episode that we have, you make a statement with it.And so for me, I just repeat that statement when I see the sigil, and then eventually it becomes like I have some sigils that I've used so often that I don't even like.16:49Like the feeling of the sigil is more encompassing than the statement is now, so I just go with that.Oh, I love that.OK, next question, what are your magical must haves when you travel?Those who have listened to some of our past episodes where I've talked about travel know the saga of the travel Sigil.17:12Travel Sigil.That the sticker still has not made it onto my suitcase.I've gone on like I've been on a plane like three or four times since then.Still has not made it, has not done it.But I'm still going to include it in my must haves, because even if the sticker has not made it onto the suitcase, I draw the sigil on the suitcase every time.17:29I drew one on my luggage tag.Oh, I love that.That is a great.Idea.I have one of those that slides open and then slides close, so I drew one on the inside where it slides so you can't see it.That is so smart.I have mine just like drawn on.I have a whiteboard in my office, and my office is also where my luggage lives.17:47And so the sigil is just like literally sitting above where.The.Suitcases sit and so I just always can remember to draw it there.So that's my like #1 must have.I love that it's so easy.It's like I don't even have to physically carry anything with me.My second must have is I don't know if this really counts because it's like not one specific object, but a must do is incorporating color magic into my outfits that I plan and take with me when I travel.18:15So like, if I am going, for example, when I like, go crystal shopping for the stores, I will pack a lot of black because I want to stay really grounded, 'cause it's super easy to, you know, like fly away with all the energy of the stones.If I'm going on vacation and I want to channel a lot of peace and calm and tranquility, I'll pack a lot of Blues and greens.18:38So that's my next must have.And then I almost always bring a piece of black Tourmaline with me.What about you?OK mine my 3 crystals that I bring with me.No I have 4:00.I have three that are tumbles and then one that is a bracelet.18:53I always wear my jet bracelet when I travel and then I always bring Selenite Black Tourmaline Clear Quartz.I have learned to bring tumbles instead of wands because wands will get you double checked by the TSA just as a heads up.19:12So those are my must haves.I have my sigil on my luggage tag.I have started keeping a tiny little spray bottle.It's like a little perfume spray bottle of Florida Water in my purse and so I spray that.I've been spraying it in my car mostly, but whenever I feel like, you know when the I just feel like the energy in my car gets so stale so quickly.19:35I think because I live in Maine and we have like a one week period where we can have the windows open and it be comfortable and we're sort of like waffling in between that period now.So I've been spraying my rugs with the Florida Water spray and it just lifts, yeah, it just lifts the energy and then when I get back in my car it still kind of smells like it.19:52It's very, very nice.So I have that And then my serenity oil from healing hedge, which in case you haven't tried it, that's my go to for all things travel and then and then my Kindle.I have been incorporating sticker magic into my Kindle.20:10So love that, love this.I've become the girly with the clear Kindle case and the stickers.And I always infuse one of them with a protection sigil and then one of them with like AI.Don't know if I have like one word to describe it, but like kind of that sense of, you know, when you get in a real good reading flow and you just don't like, you can tune everything out.20:31I infuse one of the stickers with that energy and then I put them on the back of my I put them on a piece of paper inside the clear case so that I'm not committed to them.That is so smart I need an anti reading slump sigil.20:48Stacked.Yeah, yeah, yeah.And so that's been really fun.And then I have like, about these colored papers that are the same size as my Kindle, and I use color magic with the papers.So I have like a blue one in my Kindle now because I'm like trying to read in like a calming state.21:04I'm reading before bed and stuff but when I go on, when I go to Florida, I'm going to put the black one in for protection and change my my sigils and stickers up I.Love that.I'm stealing that.Kindle Magic.I have not gotten quite to the clear case with the stickers part of Kindle ownership yet.21:24I because I very early on bought a case that I hate, but I feel committed to it because I bought it.It was like $10.I have 3 cases now.OK, here's me, here's me.I'm someone that I buy a cell phone.I have the cell phone for like 3 or 4 years.21:40I never changed the case.Ever.Me too.I'm not a girly who changes the case.My Kindle.I now have three cases.I have the one that I bought at the start, which I don't like 'cause I can't put stickers in it.I have the clear one that's just the clear back.And now I got a clear one with a colored front that closes.21:57That's what I need because I bought one.I'll drop a link when I got my Kindle.When I got my Kindle a couple years ago, I just immediately bought one That, like, does the thing where when you close it, it, it like turns off.You know, it makes it go to sleep.Yeah.And it's so ugly.22:13It looked so much better on the Internet.Here we go.I can't put stickers on it.It's just brown.It's bad.Drop in that link for you.We'll put it in the show notes.Here you go.We're here to provide resources of all kinds, Kindle resources.22:33And oh, and it has that same like, OK, so that's what I like about mine kind or that's what I wanted with what I ordered is that it like kind of looks leathery.And so it looks a little bit like a book.I like this brown one.OK.Yeah, yeah, yeah.I will say we're back in boys.It has the sleep wake cover but I saw a tutorial of someone put like magnets on the inside so they could put their pop socket and hold it like that and now the sleep weight cover doesn't work with the magnets so just a heads up.22:59Also the the pop socket doesn't really work with it because like the cover like sides a little bit when you flip it behind it.So highly recommend not doing that.You don't really need it anyway, so I might take the magnets off mine, but it does have a sleep weight cover and I do love it.23:15Well, I know what I'm doing later.Yeah.All right.Next question.What do you do when you feel disconnected to your spirituality?Should I keep trying?Short answer, no.You shouldn't keep pushing it when you feel disconnected.I know that sounds counterintuitive and I think that that's like very much how we are all trained to participate in things.23:33Is like, I hear this a lot with people who want to get into like exercising and going to the gym, that it's not about motivation, it's about discipline.And I think that that kind of like leeches out into day-to-day life for a lot of people.Like, I think people have that mindset about a lot of things where even if it doesn't feel right, I should just keep going.23:52I should just keep doing it.And I don't think that that's helpful with a spiritual practice.I think that all things in life are in ebb and flow.We were even talking about this with, like, reading the other day, where when I'm in a reading slump, I think, like, oh God, I've lost my passion for reading.24:09I'm never going to enjoy a book again.Like, what's wrong with me?I need to force myself to read because I'm a person who reads and that's what be like.People who read don't have reading slumps.Like, what's wrong with me?And I think that can really easily be applied to a spiritual practice as well of like, Oh no, I'm not feeling drawn to this anymore.24:25Like, was this just a phase of life that's now over?Am I not gonna have this anymore?Am I never gonna feel drawn to this again?And no, that's not the truth.Yeah, it's all gonna be fine.Everything in life is in ebb and flow.And the less you resist that ebb and flow, I think the more powerful your spiritual practice is going to be, because it's less about what you're doing and more about who you are.24:50Mm hmm.Can I share with you something cool I learned once that just came to me.Please that helped me with this.So I I'm, I'm not gonna remember all the specific facts, but in general you have two types of motivation right, Intrinsic and extrinsic.25:05Intrinsic is the motivation within you to do something.Like I love to read, so I'm gonna read.Extrinsic is the motivation outside of you.People know me as a reader, so I have to read or I have to read to get this book report done or have to read because Madison's going to catch up to me and Crescent City, by the way.25:24She hasn't yet.I'm so behind because I am in a reading slump.I'm struggling really hard to.Read It's OK.It's OK.I'm providing extrinsic motivation.But here's The thing is, a lot of times people think extrinsic motivation.It's what's going to help them create habits.25:41But what happens is when we rely on extrinsic motivation and it goes away, we lose intrinsic motivation.So if you loved reading and then you got external pressure to read like you.If this happens sometimes when, like, people join book clubs and they, they love to read, they join a book club and then they're like, I just can't seem to pick the book up, it's because that intrinsic motivation was overrided by the extrinsic motivation, and then it went away.26:07And now you don't have any motivation to do the thing.So I think a lot of times that can happen with our spiritual practice.I know that happened to me with my yoga practice.I went to the same yoga class twice a week, every single week.I knew everyone in the class.I knew the teacher really well.I had friends that I set up next to, like it was a party twice a week, every single week.26:27And then my teacher moved and all of us disbanded and I could not get back into yoga.I was like, I'd all of a sudden, like, lost that connection to why I was internally motivated to do it because there was so much external motivation clouding me and it took me a while to like, crawl back to like, Oh yeah, I do it because it makes my body feel good, it makes my brain feel quiet and whatever.26:49So I think a lot of times when we're trying to push, push, push, push, push, it's because there's an external motivation we think we should keep up with, right?Like my spiritual practice needs to look a certain way because I'm this or that or whatever, when in reality if you feel disconnected, you need to come back to that internal motivation.27:06Why are you doing this?What is calling you to this practice?And how can you create a practice that is low pressure enough that you are meeting that intrinsic motivation while also serving your intention?Oh, I love that.27:22When I was in college, one of my favorite writers of all time was a PhD candidate at my university when I was an undergrad, and his name is Kava Akbar.Highly recommend his debut, his debut novel Martyr.27:37It's like the best book I've ever read, but he is what's the word I'm looking for him like most of his work is poetry.And so he came into a poetry class that I was in and he talked about this idea of the ox poet versus the cat poet.27:53And the ox poet comes in every day, sits down and writes, just because that's what he does, is every day he writes.And the cat poet goes with the ebb and flow of inspiration and writes when they feel called to.And I think both of those archetypes envy the other.28:14And I'm.I come back to that idea of of the ox and the cat in all aspects of my life, because there are some areas where I'm an ox and there are some areas where I am a cat.And almost always I wish I was the other way.28:30I wish that inspiration just struck me to do spell work, for example.Or I wish that I could just sit down every day and write for 15 minutes.You know, there's no moral winner in that scenario.28:47It's just two different ways of like existing in the world.In both of those, archetypes create things that are worthwhile and beautiful no matter what area of life you're an ox or a cat in.Yeah, I love that.And I also think, like, it comes back to what we always say, which is that your spiritual practice is meant to reduce the stress in your life, or at least help you manage stress in your life, not create more of it.29:11So if you're finding that you're constantly putting it at the bottom of your To Do List, adjust it.That's one of the reasons why I started doing the Mundane Magic series.Because truth be told, I could not motivate myself to clean my house and I needed to make it more fun for me.29:28So I was like, well, I guess this is my practice now.Yep.Right.So, like, some days my spiritual practice is legitimately like like later it's going to be folding affirmations into my laundry.And that's OK.29:44Yeah, I think that that feeling of disconnect, specifically in something as personal and vulnerable as spirituality can feel like can feel scary.And I just want to remind you that if you're having that experience, that just means that you're like a human being having a human experience.30:05Nobody feels perfectly spiritually connected at all times.No one is constantly connected to the divine.No one is constantly in communication with spirit.That is not an experience that we're meant to have and not one that I don't even think I want to have.Yeah, yeah.And I was gonna say, too, sometimes when we feel disconnected to our spiritual practice, it's because we've outgrown some aspect of it.30:26Kind of like a hermit crab outgrows its shell.There's a discomfort before that shell breaks free, and then there's a vulnerability until they find a new shell.So you're just a hermit crab.You're just a hermit crab right now.Find your new shell experiment.It's like it's it's an opportunity to experiment, to get curious, to play, to not take it so seriously to.30:45It's like, I don't know, maybe you go learn a new skill.You play with your dead mouse pendulum, or you, you know, read a book about runes, or you take a yoga class.Or, I don't know, maybe you just explore some some facet of spirituality that you've always been interested in but never quite understood.31:04I love that, except for the part where you brought the dead mouse back into it.Would you rather have a dead mouse pendulum or a wet sock pendulum?You know, some days I'm a dead mouse, some days I'm a wet sock.Aren't we all?I just need you guys to know that that the pendulum has so much entered the the vocabulary of our friendship that the other day I was making Molly a voice note and I was telling her this thing that had happened to me and I said to her, I saw a bird and that bird had a pendulum in its mouth.31:37It's replaced the word mouths for me.There are no more mice, just pendulums and waiting.Anyone who finds this episode as their first episode is gonna be like, what the fuck?Who are these girls and what are they talking about?31:54I promise we used to have some level of seriousness.My favorite part about this podcast is we have like real serious moment, like the real silly moments, and then we just drop into like, so intrinsic motivation and sometimes you're an ox, you're a cat, and then we pop back out.32:10Yep.And we're like, and by the way, that bird had a pendulum in its mouth back into that real serious.We're going to hit him with, can you explain spiritual bypassing?I can't quite understand what it means.Yes.So I I'm going to look up the actual definition, but I'm going to explain to you kind of how I think of it.32:31So the the definition is to spiritually bypass or spiritual bypassing is a tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks.32:47So that comes from Wikipedia, by the way.You're welcome to look that up if you want to, but I see it as trying to love and light your way out of the shit of life.So it's kind of like if someone, if someone is in pain and a person's like, oh, you just have to think higher vibration thoughts, right?33:07Or like if someone is sick and someone says like if you just repeat affirmations to yourself, the cancer will go away.Or if someone tries to like I I almost think like sometimes the everything happens for a reason can be a little a form of spiritual bypassing.33:24Because I don't agree with that.And maybe it's because I worked with trauma survivors for nine years.But I think it's kind of a fucked up thing to say like, oh, this is a teacher, Everything is a teacher.No, no, no, no, no, no.It's to spiritual bypass basically means like to assume that spirituality can fix everything.33:43And if something is broken, if something is painful, if something creates an emotional wound, it's because it's for the betterment of your soul.And I think it's like a complicated thing, because if the belief that everything happens for a reason is something that gives you hope and helps you find healing, then that doesn't necessarily mean that you're spiritually bypassing yourself.34:08I think it becomes spiritual bypassing when you are pushing it on another person.And so you'll most often see people talk about spiritual bypassing when it's someone trying to tell another person, yeah, how to move through something.The type of spiritual bypassing that grinds my gears the most is the people who say that taking your medication blocks your access to spirit that grosses me out so hard.34:32Gross.Also not true.Deeply untrue.Deeply untrue.I I say this all the time on my Instagram.I the time that I felt most intuitive in my entire life is when my Prozac dosage was corrected.Like I literally last summer I had, I struggled to tap into spirit and you could see it.34:52Like, if if you've followed me for a while, you know that I've had like this big awakening of connection to spirit and like really stepped into my own as a teacher and really have seen like attracted a lot of people to to my my energy field and my my space, my business over the last eight months.35:11Guess what happened right before that Your girl got medicated like my OCD got quiet and all of a sudden spirit could speak through me again.I don't think I had a true spiritual practice until I was diagnosed with ADHD.That's so interesting.35:28Because I couldn't?Yeah, because my ADHD was mostly showing up.The symptoms mostly looked like anxiety and depression.I couldn't have a spiritual practice because I like, didn't want to get out of bed.Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.And so it's so interesting, 'cause I I see people sometimes talk about, like, medication is definitely a hot button in the spiritual community, 'cause they're like, it'll calcify your pineal gland and then you won't be able to connect with your intuition.35:54And I'm like, you know what, You know what makes intuition really hard to to connect with?Anxiety, depression, OCD.Panic attacks.Like don't fucking tell me to call in the light of the universe when I'm panicking in my car.36:12It's just not feasible.Yeah.So I think spiritual bypassing shows up a lot when we're talking about like other people's experience, like trying to prescribe how someone should feel or how they should look at their situation.But I also think it can show up in your own when you are avoiding deeper issues.36:29I saw this the other day when someone came to me and they said I think I'm having a spiritual awakening and I was like, OK, what's happening?And they described a panic attack.And I was like, my friend, it it could be a spiritual awakening.36:45And.And it could also be like a panic attack.Have you talked to a therapist about this?Right.Like, and then thinking like, oh, I just need the right crystal to get through this.When in reality it's like, yeah, like crystals are great, but how about holding it while you're in therapy?37:03And I get that therapy's not, like accessible to everyone.But I think spiritual bypassing comes in when we start to avoid the fact that we have emotional, psychological and mental health needs that go beyond what we can responsibly and ethically solve through spiritual practices.37:22It's something that I see a lot in the shops, especially like people who are experiencing medical problems, who feel either not listened to by doctors or who don't subscribe to the ideas of Western medicine looking for answers.37:40In a shop like mine, it just isn't going to get you where you want to go, where you need to go.And there are a lot of times where my mom and I talk about this a lot of like having to tell someone that they shouldn't be buying something right now.37:56Yeah.Of like this is not what you need to solve the problem that you have.And it feels disingenuous of me to like, sell this thing to you right now.When you think it's going to do something that it's not going to do, when you think it's going to solve something that it physically cannot like that either.38:15Your needs are greater than what what I can give you right now.Yeah, and I think that's really where the line is drawn between, in my opinions, true spiritual guidance and manipulation because there are a lot of people who will prey on that vulnerability and use spiritual bypassing as a tool to grow their business to make money.38:39Something that really grinds my gear in the Reiki community is those of you who listen to the pod.You know, I worked with trauma survivors for nine years professionally before I ever even started in the Reiki world.So I call myself a trauma informed Reiki practitioner.I've over 1000 hours of training in trauma informed care, so and tons of experience.38:58So I feel really comfortable with that phrase but I make it really clear that I don't provide trauma healing.That is not what I am certified to do.That is not what I am educated to do.That is not what I'm comfortable doing.That's also not what Reiki is designed to do.I see so many Reiki practitioners call themselves trauma informed and then their sales pages are like heal your trauma with Reiki.39:21And I'm like that is not trauma informed.Like that is setting people up for their expectations in a way that is completely beyond the scope of practice for a Reiki practitioner, is completely beyond the scope of practice for what Reiki can do, should do ethically.39:40And it's just setting someone up for failure that is not trauma informed.So like I make that so clear to my, my, my Reiki 2 students is like you're going through a trauma informed Reiki training.You are not healing trauma.You will never say that you are healing trauma, period.39:56Here's why.Yeah, we talk a lot on the podcast about your toolbox, and I think that if you really want to break it down, spiritual bypassing is telling someone or convincing yourself that the spiritual tools in the toolbox are the only ones that you need and that anything else should be tossed out.40:20It's like tossing out all of the other facets of the toolbox and creating a toolbox.To gaslight yourself or others.Yeah.And I also want to recognize that, like, easy, it's easy to do inadvertently to ourselves, right?40:36Because like, especially now with social media, your algorithms cater to what you watch.And so they almost like, create this like field where all you're seeing is like, Oh my God, the answer to my problem is like my liver chi is out of whack.40:52Like the other day I I I literally was scrolling and someone was like, have you been this, this, this, this and this?I'm like, yes, yes I have.And then they're like, it's your liver.And I was like, no, it's not.No, it's just because I'm really fucking tired.41:09I get those all the time, but it's like trying to sell me magnesium.Yeah, yeah, It's all it was a magnesium.It was a magnesium.I was like, I take.Magnesium was it?Is it?It's like, oh, you're tired and you're bloated and you have.Your cranky and you can't sleep and your body hurts and yeah, take.41:26Magnesium can't sleep.Uh, huh.Yeah, yeah.Spy Mag magnesium cream.It's like, no, it might just be because, you know, my dog fell off the bed at 2:00 in the morning and it woke the entire house up, 'cause it sounded like a bowling ball hitting the floor and it took a while to fall back asleep.So yes, I'm tired.41:42I don't think it's because I need magnesium.I love that we're both getting sold the same thing on.TikTok shop.I mean, that makes sense because we do send each other a lot of videos.Yeah, that does.OK, next question, How does yoga or other types of movement intersect with your witchiness?42:00So for me, this is in a couple different ways that have kind of become unexpected over the last few years.For me, exercise has always kind of as like a as a through line been a way for me to release excess energy.42:18As I've always I've always been an anxious person.I was diagnosed with ADHD I guess three years ago now.And that's the this is the first time in my life that I've had like real relief from that constant spinning feeling inside of me that I feel like I had for 23 years before then.42:39And when there is an excess of energy in my body, movement has been a really great way for me to release that energy and move through it.And that's been like the healthiest relationship I've ever had with exercise is like seeing it as almost like a means to an end spiritually, of like, getting in my body this way and bringing me back down to earth through.43:03Like, it'll oftentimes just be like walking on the treadmill or walking outside.In the past couple years, that has translated into more like lifting, which I think has really connected me with a sense of power that feels both physical and spiritual, that I haven't talked about a ton.43:22Because I still kind of feel like I'm like, navigating what it feels like and what it is.Yeah.But being able to have a relationship with fitness that is based in strength has also connected me to a spiritual strength.Like as women, we are taught to like that small, small is the best way to be.43:43And it's like how to build lean muscle and tone.How to, you know, yes, how to tone without bulking and whatever, whatever.And I don't think I realized how much of that was like connecting to my energetic field in a weird way.44:02And I don't know, I don't even know if I'm really explaining this right.But when smallness is your goal and when smallness, when like smallness is all that you hear of, I think that that really does extend to my energy field of like I I want to contract in all ways.And so releasing that desire to be small physically also release.44:20You're bouncing up and down like you have something to say and I can't wait to hear it.But it's allowed me to expand energetically as well, to the point where I was getting Reiki the other day.And my friend Linda, who you've heard about on the podcast before, if you listened before, you know Linda, she was doing Reiki and she said to me she was like your energy field is expanding.44:42You need to learn how to shield all.Like, you have to learn how to shield and protect a larger form of energy.You have to, like, protect, you know how to protect how you have been.You need to learn to protect who you are now.And I do really think that that's like connected to strength training in a weird way.44:59Tell me what you're smiling about.OK, so when you were a kid, whenever you took pictures, did you hear the female adults in your life tell you to suck it in?Or did they mention sucking it in?Obviously.Obviously.Right.So the place that you suck in, right, your stomach is connected to your solar plexus chakra, which is literally the home of your confidence, your power, your willpower, your personal power, your strength, your fire, right.45:29And so we're trained from a very young age to shrink that part of our body, shrink the part of our body that is literally connected to our power.And So what happens is because your body remembers that then all of a sudden we have this fear of being seen, right?We get in front of cameras and we instinctively go make ourselves smaller.45:49And So what I'm hearing from you is that when you started to let go of that need to be smaller, your power expanded.Of course it did.Because you're physically, like, able to breathe.Uh, huh, into that part of the body.46:07You're so right.I hadn't even thought about that or like made that connection, that is.Oh, that is so good.Yeah.And you want to know the cool part?OK, All right.I'm gonna.I'm gonna continue geeking out down this road.So it's it's right where your diaphragm is.And so we always say, like, there's a connection between excitement and anxiety, right?46:27The difference is in how we breathe.So when you're breathing, when your breath is stuck above the diaphragm, it becomes anxious.When your breath is below the diaphragm, it becomes excitement.The difference is in an empowered solar plexus, being able to expand in that personal power can shift that anxiety into excitement.46:47Holy shit, yeah, yeah.And so when you're even like on a physiological level, if you're constantly sucking in, that breath can never go into excitement.Yeah, yeah.Holy shit.Yeah.Wow.47:04I know, I know.OK.So how is yoga?I know that's like something that you do all the time, obviously.How is that something that's more connected?You would think I do it all the time.I I feel very disconnected to my yoga practice right now.I'm not going to lie to you.Yeah, I will tell you my relationship to movement is, well, complete. 180 from yours, but also exactly the same.47:28Because I had a very I was spiritually bypassing myself, thinking that the amount of exercise I was doing was really healthy.And it was actually, like, not good for me.I was like the girly that was in the gym 8 * a week.47:43You know, I was canceling plans to go to the gym at 11:00 on Friday night.You know, like, I I was the one who was like, I was obsessed, you know?I used to make jokes about like, protein shakes in the shower.And like, I carried a gallon of water around everywhere, even though I was, like throwing my shoulder out because of it, Like, because it was just an extension of my personality.48:02I was like, I'm the gym girl.I'm the girl.I'm the girl who lifts the weights.I was the first person in my gym to wear gym shark.Like, I'm that girl.And I was also doing yoga all the time, and I wasn't eating enough.And so I literally like, I think my intersection of movement and witchiness has been untangling that and rewiring that.48:22Because for me, so much of movement was always tied to external validation, right?As we just talked about, it was like, I have to look a certain way or I have to be healthy or I have to, you know, run a half marathon or have to beat my time or whatever.And that really started to break for me around the time that I like around 2018 when I left my job as an advocate.48:42And I really started to lean into my spiritual practice and make it a big, bigger part of my life is I realized I don't like going to the gym every single day.I was like, I actually really hate running in like 90° heat.48:58Like I actually really don't like running half marathon.Like it hurts my body.I don't like it.I really hate eating tofu and rice for every meal.Like I started to recognize like what my body needed and I started to gain weight and be OK with it.49:17And it's so interesting because like, I my size has changed so much over the last 10 years.I'm like about the same size I was in college now, but I was significantly smaller when I was in like my gym rat phase.And I'm so much happier in my body now than I was in any of those other phases, Like so much happier.49:36And I feel like my intersection with my witchiness is has been like a self love journey of like now I have intrinsic motivation again.I go to the gym every week.I have a trainer.He's great.What's up Zach?You're not listening.But hi.And I literally like some weeks I'm like, yeah, I want to I want to lift a bunch of weight.49:54And some weeks I'm like, I just want to hang out.I haven't seen another human outside of my family in like 4 days.Like, I just want to like kick it and talk shit, you know?And like maybe do like one exercise, like like that's sometimes that's my only exercise.Sometimes it's, you know, I want to walk every single day because it's nice out.50:11But I don't have that like external pressure on myself to look a certain way to, you know, check a certain box for the day.And I feel like that has that that has come from my my spiritual practice.50:29Being so strong like that has been an extension of my spiritual practice.And also it's like, you know, I'm still still getting the hang of like, how do I motivate myself, you know, I'm like the other day I was like, my body hurts, I should probably do yoga.And then yesterday I was like, rather read.50:46I'm like, I know I'll feel better if I go, but I'd rather not.So still navigating those waters.But I think like overall, my spiritual practice has helped my movement practice become a lot healthier.Yeah, and I think that especially like as my spiritual practice has become so much of A like conversation with myself in day-to-day life and you know, like Monday Magic and things like that, I have started to see movement as a time where I'm like fully insulated and doing something that is just for me.51:22Yeah.And it almost becomes like an act of meditation in a way.Yeah, like adjacent to it.Because it's that really is like for a lot of people, the only time that is socially acceptable to really be focused on yourself and not be available for something else.51:41Yeah, you know what?I learned recently that cleaning your house for 1/2 an hour is like roughly the same amount of like exercise as like walking for 1/2 an hour.Really.I guess.Yeah, just 'cause you're like doing a lot of moving.Yeah.And so I and I I'm like, I get so sweaty when I clean my house, 'cause I just have like a podcast on it and I'm just like hyper focused on it.52:03And so I used to like, I used to say like, oh, I have to clean my whole house.And then I have to go for a walk, and I have to walk both dogs.And then we have to play tennis.We have to do all these things.And now I'm just like, I'm just gonna clean my house for 1/2 an hour.I'm just gonna do 1/2 hour Monday in Magic and that's my movement for the day.I love that.Maybe that's how I'll start getting better at cleaning my house.52:22Maybe.Maybe two birds, one stone.Yep, Yep.Two birds, one pendulum.And on that note, we'll leave it here for now.We hope to see you at the anniversary party.52:39If you are in the Florida area, Come hang, come hang.Spellcrafter in St.Petersburg, FL.All the deets are down below.Okay until next time.Bye.Thanks for listening to Demystify Magic with Molly and Madison.52:54If you want to learn more about us, you can find all our links in the show notes.We'd love to know what you think of today's episode, so drop us a review or give us a shout out on social media and don't forget to let us know you are magical moment of the week.OK, love you.Bye.
