'Magic' & Self-Connection
Welcome to my first official 'newsletter'
I adore the astrologer Chani Nicholas and she told me to launch my newsletter today.
We’re not personal friends yet, so she told me through her app that it would be a great day to launch something that I want to see grow.
This is a time where I’m hoping you’re known for your ability to bring people together over a common hope or dream, over a common set of principles.
This is about wisdom and beauty meeting up.
This is about the potential of opportunity and sharing that opportunity, and therefore magnifying the potential of it with everybody.
Is this a great time to launch something? Yes. Is this a great time to do anything out in the spotlight, in the limelight, even if it’s only in front of 10 people that helps to promote whatever is important to you? Yes, yes, and yes. Please do it.
Astrology is one of the many tools I use to see myself.
It’s one of the earliest ways I remember being invited into possibility.
It’s one of those things that’s just a little bit magical. A portal to something more mystical than my day to day experience of life.
So naturally it’s one of those tools I revisit when I need to feel connected to myself and something greater. I explore it more in today’s Untangling.
Today’s newsletter recipe is a sprinkle of Magic for Self-Connection.
Creative Nuggs
“We are dealing in a magic realm. Nobody knows how or why it works.”
I am inspired by anything on the topic of Creativity.
Duh, it has its own section weekly.
We had an amazing Juicy Life Episode on Creativity with Autumn Skye Morrison, where we talk about tapping into this Universal Life Force (or “Cosmic Icing” as she calls it) that is the very source of all creativity.
I’ve been reminded of this episode as I’ve been slowly savouring Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act (quoted above). There is so much inspiration packed into this book that it’s hard to pull out just a few nuggs.
We are all Creative.
Some of us identify as such, maybe even stepping into the title of “Artist,” and some of us just inherently know ourselves best through our expression of creativity, or the way we express ourselves creatively.
Whatever camp you fall into - understanding yourself and what lights you up - is the key to joyful creation, self-connection and living a juicy life.
“The more we identify with ourself as it exists through the eyes of others, the more disconnected we become and the less energy we have to draw from.
The more time we spend being our weird and wonderful selves, the more energy we have!
Energy to invest doing whatever the heck feels deeply nourishing or yummy!
And we’re not alone in this.
We have community (you have one here) and we have a connection to something greater than ourselves; this universal life force.
If we’re scared, or we’re searching for answers, we can choose to surrender it to the Universe and…
Look for Clues.
“We receive these types of messages all the time, if we remain open to them. We might read a book and find a quote leaping off the page, or watch a movie and notice a line that moves us to pause and rewind. Sometimes it’s the exact answer we’ve been looking for. Or it could be an echo of an idea that keeps repeating in other places—begging for more attention or affirming the path we’re on.”
“An integral part of the artist’s work is deciphering these signals. The more open you are, the more clues you will find and the less effort you’ll need to exert. You may be able to think less and begin to rely on answers arising within you.”
This is abundance.
This is flow.
This isn’t forcing something to fit or work.
It’s about connecting to our authentic selves, taking some inspired action (maybe one baby step toward your goal, going outside, or asking for help) and then listening for guidance. That very next step.
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman
The Untangling
Astrology is one of those tools I use to connect to that feeling of Magic within me, otherwise known as a creative spark of Possibility.
Learning all the layers of my birth chart (Libra Sun, Leo Rising, Virgo Moon - hiiii) was a feeling of being seen.
I mean, the specificity of the way the sky was mapped out from your little corner of the world at exactly the time you were born that can give us insight with a little wink like I see you baby, let’s GROW.
Come on, it’s so cool!
Here’s the thing, I don’t live and die (anymore - a story for another day) by the guidance from people I admire.
But I listen to the ‘pings’ that evoke that sense of magic within me.
It feels like aligned inspiration.
Whether it’s an idea from someone, astrology, a class, a podcast, or a book, these are all super amazing tools for understanding yourself.
It’s up to you to check in and ask does this feel true for me?
And if not, throw that shit into a flaming pile of hot garbage!
We don’t need someone, or some thing, or in this case astrology, to predict or orchestrate our future.
But we can use it for a little push to take inspired action (like I did with this newsletter), or as a way to validate what we already intuitively feel is true.
You probably have a sense of what that feels like for you. You might call it…
An inner-knowing
‘Scited’ - the mix of Scared and Excited
Trust or Ease
‘Lit up’
a Fuck YES
Intuition
Whatever you call it…it’s pure magic.
It’s guidance.
Fill your world with whatever evokes this feeling within you.
Not only will you have CLARITY on your next steps, you’ll also start living a juicier life.
One note:
Building our muscle to trust this guidance might require a bit of patience, experimentation and self-compassion.
It certainly has for me, and I’m still practicing.
Our instinct is to second guess this guidance. We rationalize it. We invite our egos to evaluate. We generally rip the magic apart until we can make sense of it, and most often it stops us from taking action.
We have an amazing Juicy Life episode coming up with Spiritual Mentor, Heather Ivany where we get into this in great detail.
For now, simply notice the stories that start to creep in when you’re about to follow an inspiration.
Notice if there is an impulse to protect yourself.
Just notice.
Don’t beat yourself up. It’s 1000% natural.
From there you can breathe, connect back in with your body, tune back into that inspiration, and then ask yourself how you want to proceed.
What feels a little bit magical to you?
And can you find a few mins to connect with that today?
Abundance Aggregate
I have a friend who also happens to be a client, who has been abundantly guided and supported since she started taking inspired action.
This is often the case with many people I work with.
The energy of making a decision to pursue something - a dream, a change - and taking inspired action towards it is what sets the magic in motion.
My dear friend Carri just opened her own shop: CURIO Vintage
For years the people closest to her told her she was one of the most creative people they knew. That her eye for finding treasures was impeccable, that the things she could make were incredible, and that she could have her own shop.
We all saw the magic before she could see it herself.
In many ways, she might say she ran further in the opposite direction… away from her dreams and away from herself.
The inspiration needed to come from her, and it needed to come at a time where she could start entertaining the belief of what was possible for her.
It all started with the decision to ask for help.
To own that she might like more than the life she had settled for, as scary as that felt.
She always tells the story of one of our first coaching sessions together where she had a breakdown about maybe taking action on the desire to post something on social media.
It’s hilarious to the version of her that exists today, but that not-too-distant past version of herself was exactly where she needed to be to fulfil her dream…asking for help indulging this singular scary inspiration.
Then the next small inspiration came and she was a bit more brave then she was before, and so she indulged… and then doors began to open.
A person showed up at her little yard sale and complimented her and shared an idea that felt like a full-bodied YES, and she pursued.
The opportunity presented itself to rent space in someone else’s store, and she indulged until that no longer felt aligned. She trusted this decision.
And another door opened.
The compilation of many baby steps of inspired action helped build her confidence and trust in herself.
She took these small steps (that felt like leaps sometimes) and the Universe guided the way, opening doors and closing others that were no longer aligned to this powerful version of herself.
Our community came together to celebrate the opening of CURIO Vintage on April 4th!
We got to witness the culmination of months of passionate work; from full build-out & design of store and store front - including the floor she stripped to concrete and polished, and the shelves she built herself - to the curation and merchandising of all her fabulous treasures. Not to mention a whole bunch of social media marketing ;)
When you take inspired action in the direction of what lights you up, you earn so much more than the achievement of your goal - you gain a trust and connection to yourself that is next level.
And that is for certain, a little bit magical.
Give Carri a follow and let’s celebrate her wins as much as our own.
We are here to inspire each other to be more of ourselves - to follow the full-bodied Yes’s - and lift each other up when we forget the truth of how magical and abundant we all already are.
Would love to hear what’s lighting you up these days! You can comment or reply directly to this email.
Want to collaborate? Have some celebrating to do? Let me know - I’d love to feature you!
And if you’re looking for some extra support taking those little baby steps, let me know. I’d love to help.
