Missing Witches - Sarah Potter - Sober Magic

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00:00:48.240 You aren't being a proper woman, therefore you must be a witch. 1.00

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00:00:56.200 the book is called sober magic the guest is sarah potter hello we're already on the podcast

00:01:04.320 welcome it's called in medias res in a book you're in it you're here you're with us welcome

00:01:11.180 we're just surviving i feel like that's a multi-dimensional multi-faceted place to be

00:01:24.720 i mean i'm super thankful to be surviving right and that's what i was thinking too i was like

00:01:31.080 surviving a lot of stuff but thankful that i'm on the journey i'm really thankful to get to hang

00:01:40.740 out again me too it's been like three years wow that's wild it doesn't feel that long and also

00:01:50.980 feels like an eon which is maybe part of being internet friends totally totally that makes sense

00:01:57.320 yeah exactly we've touched each other's lives in multiple braided internet wave ways many times

00:02:05.760 I went to look back because I was like I have this memory of talking about color especially

00:02:11.340 and feeling like wave of your brightness and your vulnerability and your strength and I just

00:02:17.860 you have like the feeling to me of a butterfly so delicate so bright and then this like really

00:02:22.320 deep strength I was like when was that what did we talk about because reading your book now I

00:02:27.420 feel like a lot closer to you which is that sort of weird parasocial thing of reading each other's

00:02:32.500 books but it's lovely it is it is thank you that everything you said just meant so much to me

00:02:39.200 and it is it's really fun like I've joked around with some friends I'm like hey like if you have

00:02:45.520 $18 you want to spend you can hear about the hardest year of my life and it's like really

00:02:52.240 it's really wild to contend with I think it was shock or something because I had this like

00:02:59.760 dissociation from my book it's like wild to hear like a complete stranger speak to me about

00:03:07.520 something in my book and I was like oh yeah it's not like I don't understand it's out there but

00:03:14.420 it's like a really it's really surreal it's really surreal yes I completely relate and I thought

00:03:24.380 about it a lot while reading your book I think to a certain degree I hold that you are a person who

00:03:33.640 has come through that all the way and like integrated what you went through to be able to

00:03:39.380 tell it but I think also like we go into kind of a fugue state when we write and we yeah I don't

00:03:46.640 remember a lot of what's in my books because when I'm writing it's it just translates into language

00:03:55.580 and story and sharing and then when people reach out about it I'm like oh yeah this very intimate

00:04:02.000 part of my psyche I feel like there were some days when I was writing where I would just write

00:04:10.600 for maybe an hour and then there were some days where I write for 10 hours and it was just like

00:04:16.240 a channel and it was really funny this the timing I don't believe in any coincidences but

00:04:23.660 I'm trying to remember when it was maybe like two three months before my book was due

00:04:29.260 hbo put this tv show on streaming an older tv show where courtney cox plays an author and

00:04:41.260 basically like she gets possessed by a demon who writes her book for her and so and i was like

00:04:49.420 that is awesome i was like that i really i like what's happening here any beings that want to

00:04:55.000 come through and help me write this book i just i kept talking about i was like i just love this

00:04:59.920 this is like the greatest ever and and so i i could really relate to that like channeling

00:05:05.700 and that's part of what you talk about in the book and i guess i'll pull back for two seconds

00:05:11.360 and say the book is called sober magic the guest is sarah potter hello we're already on the podcast

00:05:18.460 welcome we'll link to the past episode that's your homework no yeah i mean what one thing you

00:05:24.920 talk about in sober magic right off the bat is that part of why you were drinking was how intensely

00:05:37.200 sensitive you were to the information and spirits and the vibes yes yeah and I want to talk about

00:05:46.500 that so much I think so many people in our coven relate to having to navigate that maybe

00:05:54.820 through alcohol or maybe different ways of masking and numbing that we're like how do we live this

00:06:01.860 it's hard I really something that there's so many things I'm grateful for about recovery

00:06:09.060 and shadow work and healing but to really gain that understanding of I think whatever you're

00:06:18.320 doing. For me, the drinking was not good for me, but to really not just remove the substance,

00:06:25.980 but understand why I was drinking. And one of the reasons was just not having the tools to

00:06:33.320 be a sensitive being in this world. And that's what I started really thinking about when I was

00:06:39.660 writing this book is, I absolutely want this to be something for people who have turned to

00:06:47.220 substances and see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, there's another way to live,

00:06:53.520 there's tools to access. But I was really thinking, I'm like, I'm writing this book for

00:06:59.020 anyone who feels really sensitive, who feels really deeply. And I think that so many people

00:07:07.280 can relate to that. I think so many witches can relate to that. And I do think that the world is

00:07:14.280 getting to be more understanding but I think we still have work to do and just think like this

00:07:21.920 I hate to say it I just don't think this world is really built for deeply sensitive people who

00:07:29.280 are feeling so much I don't think we as humans have fully caught up to the evolution of technology

00:07:34.740 so we're just getting all of this stimulation and information and there's something really

00:07:41.220 beautiful about how expansive our world is I mean even when you mentioned earlier in this

00:07:46.500 conversation like we're internet friends and we have this connection and that's something I love

00:07:50.720 about technology is the wider network of bringing people together how you can create a coven all

00:07:57.940 over the world that's beautiful but it is a loud world and I think that being so sensitive it's a

00:08:06.860 lot to contend with it's just a lot it's a lot yeah there's like being so sensitive and then

00:08:15.160 there's like the cognitive dissonance of the things that you know or sense versus what the

00:08:26.720 world is telling you is possible for you to know or sense i'm like starting to laugh because it

00:08:33.140 cracks me up, but I think that it's my Virgo sun. I want to understand things and I want to know

00:08:39.560 how things work. And I want to present the astral in a welcoming, practical way that makes sense

00:08:47.780 so that people feel invited into it and welcomed. But something I've learned in sobriety is there's

00:08:56.120 a lot I don't know. And there's something I think really wonderful to admit. Like,

00:09:01.800 I don't know how my brain works. And I don't know why I can do what I do. But there are other people

00:09:12.080 in my family who have had the same experiences. There are other people that I speak with who

00:09:19.340 can relate. And there's so much that we don't understand yet. And I think that's okay. I think

00:09:29.240 there's so much that's unseen that I think is very valid and true. And I feel like something

00:09:38.720 I love about being a witch is being tuned into the cycles of nature and animals and children

00:09:47.940 and just valuing every being as important and getting to learn from nature and others.

00:09:57.280 And I think about how animals and children don't need to see something physically, tangibly

00:10:06.320 to know it's there.

00:10:07.840 And I think that if you really think about it with others, we have these, we have our

00:10:17.560 intuitive sense.

00:10:18.860 We have feelings that are giving us information.

00:10:21.600 so I think it's okay not it's okay not to understand it to know that it's real yeah

00:10:30.220 but dancing with that especially like in early development years I think leads a lot of us to

00:10:40.520 masking or addictive or protective behaviors right because it's like how can I tell you 0.95

00:10:49.060 I don't know why when I met when I was 14 and I met a 17 year old cool girl with black eyeliner who was so tough at the Moonbeam Cafe and she was smoking and she was pissed at everyone.

00:11:03.660 Like, I don't know why I knew the things to say to her that I knew about her or why she suddenly knew me or I never understood why those things would happen.

00:11:16.000 And I ran from that a lot. And that's just like a tiny version. And you describe so many, so many really clear ones of I know I need to ask this person about their first love or I know this person's grandparent needs to tell them this. And that's a fucking lot to carry in a world that wants things to be very clear cut.

00:11:37.320 I appreciate the acknowledgement and how you see me that feels really lovely and I also feel like 0.97

00:11:46.980 I don't know any other way through this world sometimes I and I think finding that self-acceptance

00:11:54.880 and love for who I am because there was for a very long time I was like I don't want this

00:11:59.780 I want to be normal. Whatever normal is, I laugh thinking about how I defined normal at different

00:12:07.740 times in my life. And it's just that's not those aren't the cards I was dealt. This is what it is

00:12:15.760 trying to stop it down or kill that aspect of myself. That's not working. So what if I just

00:12:25.680 embrace it and understand boundaries understand that I can talk about these things I feel like now

00:12:36.080 there's no one in my life who's not going to be accepting of who I am and I can have conversations

00:12:47.140 with people I love just this is a lot for me here like this space is a lot I'm I gotta go

00:12:54.560 and usually my friends are like I want to go too or the people I love are with me and or it's really

00:13:00.060 funny that my my closest loved ones they can see it in my face when we're somewhere and they're

00:13:06.520 like and they're like how are you doing and why don't we get out of here which is sometimes it's

00:13:12.340 nice to have someone see that and offer that to me and just working with it instead of being like

00:13:19.200 oh there's something wrong with me and there's nothing wrong with me it's just I'm moving

00:13:24.700 through the world in a different way and I think a lot of us can relate to that just this is the

00:13:30.840 perspective I have and I understand not everyone's sharing that with me but it's real for me so

00:13:38.820 deal with it everybody yeah that's what it is that they feel and I do think there's something

00:13:46.300 that when we accept these parts of ourselves that feel I mean so wide-ranging like inconvenient

00:13:54.440 there's times when that feels very inconvenient to me there's other times it's felt shameful

00:13:59.240 and embarrassing and and just like such a wide range of emotions I was like well now it's I feel

00:14:06.520 like it really gives me my dream life and I really I just love helping people and this

00:14:13.300 allows me to help people and working within. And I really feel so incredibly grateful

00:14:22.020 to be in a place where something that I just hated about myself, I can now celebrate. And

00:14:28.340 it's still tough sometimes. I mean, I think I understand why people fear things they don't

00:14:34.880 understand and sometimes something about you shows people that they have to question a story

00:14:44.740 they've told themselves and that can be really scary and maybe the first instinct is to push it

00:14:51.560 away or act like it's not happening or say it's not true and whatever it is there's something

00:14:57.520 I don't know to me I'm like I'm okay with being wrong I'm okay with not understanding something

00:15:02.600 I'm okay with, I like having these new experiences.

00:15:05.220 I like hearing new perspectives and tell me how you move through the world.

00:15:09.820 But I understand that.

00:15:12.180 And like fear is, oh, it can really do damage.

00:15:17.680 But so, and all that to say, it's like, I don't love it when people speak from that fear

00:15:25.140 and say things that honestly, I mean, still make me feel bad about myself sometimes, but

00:15:30.980 it's all right.

00:15:31.960 it just doesn't have the effect it used to and i just feel like it's okay if you don't understand

00:15:37.820 this but maybe keep it to yourself like that's all i'm not coming into your job and demanding

00:15:46.800 to know how i don't know the spaghetti is made i don't think that's the phrase but like i mean

00:15:53.300 it's a good one how is the spaghetti i want to ask you about i want to get more into this

00:16:02.360 knot of like fear and intuition and so i'll tell you a story that this is where i'm coming from

00:16:10.220 with this question right now so i i think you know this but shortly after you and i met for

00:16:17.080 the first time i was diagnosed with cancer i spent the last couple years like in in mad treatment

00:16:21.680 stuff. And I have a kiddo who now is seven. And that has been like, obviously really traumatic

00:16:28.280 for her. These like constant waves, infection again, mom's back in the ER, like this whole

00:16:34.660 thing is really so hard on her nervous system. And it adds complexity to a message that I want

00:16:45.560 to give her about listening to her intuition so the other day me and her dad went for like a hike

00:16:54.680 near us and we're walking and the snow is really high and it's formed like a because there was rain

00:17:00.960 and then it froze there's like a crispy ice layer so there's these huge boulder rocks out over this

00:17:07.360 wetland but there's this crispy ice layer so normally we have to be very careful we know

00:17:11.000 there's like crevices and holes but we're walking above it on the ice literally walking floating in

00:17:17.160 the air on this ice but we know it's safe like we can tell it's hard it's safe mark and i are like

00:17:23.120 this is okay and little seven-year-old kiddo suddenly freezes and doesn't want to go any

00:17:30.740 further and says my intuition is telling me something bad is going to happen something bad

00:17:35.620 is going to happen and I thought about this coven maid of ours who said once in a circle

00:17:43.460 when we're talking about trying to piece out what is intuition versus what is

00:17:48.860 screaming anxiety like what is telling us and she said urgency is a trauma response 0.93

00:17:56.280 if you feel like it's fucking has to happen right fucking now then that might not be your intuition 0.96

00:18:00.440 talking. I couldn't really explain that to a seven-year-old, but wanted her to feel safe 0.98

00:18:05.520 and didn't want to override her intuition at the same time. We navigated our way through it,

00:18:11.160 ended up playing on the ice and stuff. But I just wonder your thoughts about that

00:18:15.300 tangle and how we can unpack it as people who carry fear and trauma, but also know that our

00:18:20.780 intuition is in there. I think what you're speaking to is so complicated and something

00:18:27.680 that like I really agree with what I believe you said it was a coven mate who said that the urgency

00:18:33.240 be related to a trauma response and gosh like trauma just the way it affects our brains the

00:18:41.360 way it affects everything oh so complicated I can't even properly verbalize how I feel about

00:18:51.400 that, but it's like all of this compassion comes up. And I think that when you're in that heightened

00:18:59.320 state, what I'm about to say is challenging, but I think it's observing the feeling. And something

00:19:07.960 that I like to think of strengthening your intuition as a form of play and being able to,

00:19:16.800 and when I say play with the feelings it's be in it and experience it but I don't think that's

00:19:24.380 something that can be done in a state of urgency something that's helped me when I'm in that

00:19:30.260 heightened state is to is to stop and breathe and check in with all of my senses and observe the

00:19:41.160 feeling. And honestly, I mean, I'm just gonna tell you what I do is that when I'm feeling that I

00:19:49.140 don't always act on the feeling. And I have to say, like, I've done a lot of work on my own

00:19:58.520 trauma that's helped me discern that in ways where I don't feel like I get that feeling as much. So

00:20:07.600 But I really understand how that fear that comes up with that urgency.

00:20:14.220 And so what I was going to say when I was like, okay, this is what I do is that

00:20:17.200 there have been times where I've left situations like that where I've just been like, okay,

00:20:24.340 like I don't need to stick around and see what, how this unfolds, but then unpack it

00:20:31.400 later in a safe place.

00:20:34.460 The other thing is, there's something too that I feel like getting older and having more time on

00:20:41.200 this planet and more of the wisdom of experience that has helped me to discern what feelings are

00:20:47.600 telling me. And that's been really helpful. I think that's something that is really challenging

00:20:53.320 for younger people is there's something that I think that our intuition grows with us.

00:20:58.880 i would really encourage a sense of play with your intuition in a space where you feel safe and

00:21:07.380 i think about there's a lot of exercises i like to do i mean when i was a kid i grew up on the

00:21:15.220 jersey shore and i love going to the ocean and going to the boardwalk i would sit there and

00:21:22.420 predict who was winning boardwalk games and i would do it over and over and over again and i

00:21:27.760 Like when I was a teenager, I'd go to the horse track with my friend and do the same thing and just recognizing the feelings I would get.

00:21:39.180 And that I think is helpful, too.

00:21:41.140 I think there's so many different sensory ways to recognize your intuition, to understand what you're drawn to.

00:21:51.180 Like I think about through music and listening to songs and seeing how they make you feel

00:21:56.720 on a song, you really, if it lights you up, there's something about that feeling that

00:22:01.780 reminds me of an intuitive hit.

00:22:03.860 I just feel like, I think it's really challenging to untangle the anxiety and fear that can

00:22:14.680 come in with intuition and survival mode and discerning that. And that's why I think it's

00:22:24.600 also good if you are a really sensitive person to understand how to settle your nervous system

00:22:31.620 and to add those kind of tools to your metaphorical toolkit. But also understanding,

00:22:39.620 I just think really showing yourself compassion because, oh, I just, for myself, being in

00:22:49.800 a trauma response, like it felt like I was in such extreme danger when it's coming over

00:22:58.620 me and not understanding it.

00:23:01.720 Now, I don't have those feelings as often as I used to.

00:23:06.660 but when I do have it I feel like I can recognize it and understand okay I think this is happening

00:23:15.720 right now and to me it becomes this heart versus head a battle of honoring the feelings but then

00:23:25.720 also coming in and being like okay like actually I am safe but I also feel like even speaking

00:23:36.420 to that experience of being outside of one's comfort zone i just feel like there's so many

00:23:45.780 reasons why people might be on high alert right now have a lot of compassion for yourself because

00:23:52.100 it's a lot to move through and to oh to discern that feeling that's so primal related to survival

00:24:00.860 and safety. One has that for reasons. And I think finding ways to soothe yourself, but also feel

00:24:10.760 empowered. And it's just, it's, I feel like it's a lot to, there's a lot of layers here to go

00:24:18.960 through. But I do feel like if you're looking for a practical approach to it, in a space that feels

00:24:25.480 spacious and comfortable and safe I invite you to play with your intuition in the low stakes

00:24:32.040 environment and let it be a practice let it just become like we're not doing it just today

00:24:37.880 it's ongoing I think that's really delicious and fun and she'll really love that and it was so

00:24:45.020 layered that's why I bring it up not to get a diagnosis for that one moment but because it

00:24:50.980 reflected a lot of the things I'm thinking about as a parent and in my own practice like

00:24:56.720 how do we notice the feeling check in are there people here I trust who have assessed is this

00:25:06.180 safe especially as a kid like you have to do trust your parents sometimes and then she relaxed and

00:25:12.640 played and we slid on the ice like penguins and she could see that I was okay I was in the hospital

00:25:20.440 like a week ago she needed to see me play and she saw us go out ahead so she knew the ice could

00:25:25.980 hold because we're bigger than her and she moved through it and she played and we had a blast and

00:25:31.340 then on the way back it was like the exhaustion hit of having to go through that whole feeling

00:25:38.000 and you could see it was connected to a million other things it was a really short walk and

00:25:42.060 suddenly all the energy drained and yeah caring for someone who's going through that reflects

00:25:50.160 back to me on what my own inner child is going through in this time and I really felt a lot

00:25:56.620 there's so many resources in Sober Magic by Sarah Potter magical witch resources for doing that work

00:26:05.780 like it's so beautifully framed the 12 steps against the major arcana and through the entire

00:26:13.080 deck that not just for dealing with addiction, although that's the focus, but for any underworld

00:26:20.520 journey to have a lot of witchcraft resources, a lot of spreads, a lot of spells for every part

00:26:27.500 of the journey to be held. It's a really super rich offering offered in such, as you say,

00:26:32.820 practical, like friendly, practical way. Thank you. I just think that one thing I did want to

00:26:40.360 add is I just love how you validated your child's feelings. Because that I think is so healing,

00:26:47.260 especially, I still thank my mom for validating my feelings when I was a child. So healing to feel

00:26:55.180 like it's okay to feel what you're feeling. And then we discern how to act upon those feelings.

00:27:01.960 And I think about that a lot through recovery and 12 steps. And I tried to write a book that I

00:27:08.120 wished was there for me when I was feeling so lonely and at the depths of the deepest darkest

00:27:17.080 hole and thinking I don't know how I'm gonna get out of here but I can't live at the bottom of

00:27:23.360 this hole so I'm gonna claw my way out and I really feel like witchcraft and caro were such

00:27:32.660 allies to me at that time. And I tried to just think of who did I need at that time? And I'm

00:27:41.680 going to embody that and put it into this book. And I think that, I don't know, there's just

00:27:47.180 something I think that's so lovely about 12 Steps providing a framework of how to

00:27:53.860 peel back the onion of pain and growth and provide steps that you don't come in and do

00:28:06.180 step 12. You'd come in and you do step one. And then you don't even need to think about

00:28:11.320 step two until step one is done. There's no reason to jump ahead. And this kind of framework

00:28:17.600 that helps you get to where you're going. And that reminder, being able to slow down and take

00:28:22.940 things step by step I just found that to be so supportive and helpful and I wanted to reframe it

00:28:31.460 in language that I understood and specifically the pagan lens and because I know that

00:28:42.040 I mean this was not my first rodeo of getting sober I've had many rounds of getting sober and

00:28:50.560 relapses and but there was something like I think there's so many ways I could tell myself like oh

00:28:58.860 this isn't for me even though it's something I so desperately needed there's a lot of fear and

00:29:02.920 vulnerability around stepping into that and changing my identity changing who I was changing

00:29:10.260 how I coped with things there's a lot of change I was looking at I think whether it was conscious

00:29:16.460 or unconscious and I felt like all right I understand for us witches there's so many

00:29:22.700 reasons why going into a room where the language isn't appearing to be our pagan language so

00:29:32.580 there's something I've been really lucky I haven't been ostracized for being a witch

00:29:37.900 in a recovery room but other people have shared that they have I feel like most people don't know

00:29:43.240 I'm a witch like I don't I but I feel like in a space where I need help and you have to be

00:29:51.040 vulnerable just everyone should be welcome and so I wanted to just if that's what's if the language

00:29:59.120 is what's keeping you out of there and I was like well I'm gonna offer you another way to

00:30:04.360 look at these steps so I hope you feel like it's for you because if you think it is it absolutely

00:30:11.840 is yeah I think it offers such a way in for me it was something that I I like debated internally

00:30:24.200 for a long time whether my relationship to alcohol and marijuana was on the addiction side

00:30:34.080 of the I wouldn't have used the word party girl but I related to that phrasing of it in your book

00:30:40.780 The way that I lived my life, it was so core to all of what I did.

00:30:47.620 Like I was always at shows or at restaurant openings or at galleries.

00:30:53.520 And there was always wine and beer.

00:30:57.500 And I was always biking through the streets of Montreal with glorious girlfriends slightly high.

00:31:02.980 And I don't regret any of those years.

00:31:04.880 Yeah, it was fun.

00:31:06.800 yeah but it was hard to have a day go by where I didn't do it and I would feel the like the part

00:31:16.820 of me that is a community organizer turned towards like where are we going for drinks instead of how

00:31:21.960 are we coming together to do something delicious and I navigated that for a long time even moving

00:31:30.220 out to the woods where that wasn't an option my partner and I navigated it together and then had

00:31:35.900 quit drinking and then was diagnosed and so I had to reconcile the fact that I think

00:31:44.820 one of the biggest contributors to my cancer was that I didn't catch it earlier that the drinking

00:31:51.480 and the weed and smoking and stuff I mean those are like really big factors not everybody

00:31:57.020 obviously but so I had to I still have to do the I still have to do all the exercises in the book

00:32:02.740 because do you know what i mean i understand yeah i still have to like go through that part

00:32:09.100 of the journey because i was forced to do it in pieces i think healing can be so exhausting

00:32:14.700 unpacking everything is so exhausting i feel like i did a lot of healing before i wrote this book i

00:32:23.840 did a lot of recovery yeah did a lot of rounds of the steps and something that i came to understand

00:32:30.680 through writing this book was like I was having these experiences of dredging up these memories

00:32:38.880 and I thought I could look at them as just I don't know if clinical is the right word but just

00:32:43.800 I was getting so upset I was so sad I was feeling all these feelings I was exhausted yes I would

00:32:51.020 like and I would have to sometimes spend like a day or two resting and I was like I don't

00:32:57.300 understand this. I thought I healed this. Like, why am I feeling all these feelings? And I came

00:33:02.600 to understand that it's just, it's still, it's work and it's exhausting. And it's just because

00:33:07.820 you heal something doesn't mean it's gone. And I think the feelings shift and change. But

00:33:14.700 what I'm really trying to say is that I think it's always helpful to show yourself love and

00:33:20.660 compassion and kindness through these journeys. Healing can look different every day. And even

00:33:26.420 doing a little something is something and you have the book it's not going anywhere

00:33:33.560 go around it's fine that's part of why I really love the framing of the 12 steps

00:33:40.060 into the wheel of the tarot and that this isn't linear this is something that witches know we

00:33:48.880 don't go from a to b and check it off and we've fucking knocked it off and we've resolved it

00:33:54.000 We live in spirals, and it's all in your body. 0.88

00:33:57.540 There's spinning helixes of your experience, and you just aren't going to escape them.

00:34:01.440 But maybe you can learn something on each round.

00:34:04.660 Exactly.

00:34:05.940 Exactly.

00:34:06.940 Yeah, try to not be so knocked out by it this time around.

00:34:11.040 Writing my way through what these last two years have been like,

00:34:15.440 and things that I thought I had really moved through, just telling the story of it.

00:34:19.620 I feel it in my body all again.

00:34:21.740 and so wild the relationship between words memory body oh yeah it's really I mean I do

00:34:29.480 I find it fascinating the way these experiences exist oh being a human is so hard no it's tough

00:34:37.960 it's really cool that it's tough and we do so much to ourselves sometimes I'm like oh

00:34:44.400 That is not helping.

00:34:46.620 It helps me understand, though, what I think is happening when someone like yourself, you use the phrase intuitive hit or psychic hit, or when you feel the presence of an ancestor or relative and you feel like a message coming through.

00:35:03.160 I feel like when we talk about the intensity of story, like as an energy, as a wave that is something we tap back into and it moves through our bodies again, that kind of helps my rational brain understand what's happening in those moments somehow.

00:35:20.520 Do you understand it that way?

00:35:21.960 yeah I think that makes a lot of sense and what's funny too is it makes me think of I'm almost like

00:35:28.460 I think I've all put it down that it's like like I'm just maybe I'm not gonna understand how it

00:35:34.620 got here but the experience is very real and I understand that and and I feel like because I feel

00:35:41.960 like I had just I had so much I think it's like existential angst especially as a teenager and

00:35:50.980 young adult of like, why are these experiences happening? What is this telling me? Why? Just so

00:35:59.140 much question of like, why? And I had this mentor that I learned so much about energy and metaphysics

00:36:08.400 from. And I would just say, I'd go to his house and be like, oh, like I'd have all of my questions

00:36:13.360 of like my existential angst of the week. I'd be like, why? And then he would just be like,

00:36:19.560 it just is and I'm like no I'd be like reading these I don't know like like this like complex

00:36:27.320 philosophical theory like the answers in here and like I wasn't finding these answers and then

00:36:33.280 it's just okay it just is yeah just is it's not maybe for I wonder if it's not for somebody who

00:36:43.600 experiences it so strongly to have to do the work of understanding the the physics of it

00:36:49.380 that's two things thank you that actually sounds really freeing to hear very freeing oh my gosh

00:36:55.880 that's not my responsibility maybe people who like don't feel it so much can do the objective

00:37:03.240 said you found it or something thank you we gotta get we gotta get together with those people but

00:37:11.080 i agree i'm gonna let them do their job and why they're here share their gifts with us

00:37:17.500 you know exactly you have other things to do you have a lot of people talking to you

00:37:21.920 thank you i really do sounds like it it's really fun to i think especially because your book isn't

00:37:31.240 framed as let me sell my psychic abilities hotline book do you know what i mean i do yeah

00:37:39.660 it's not really what you're trying to do in that book you're just like incidentally this is what 0.53

00:37:46.520 fucking dragged me through the underworld and how i got back out and here's some bits of how it is

00:37:52.240 for me deal with it yeah for a refreshing way to hear those stories because i don't feel like i'm 0.98

00:37:58.320 being sold than that anything really oh that feels really good to hear i feel like there was

00:38:05.420 something i think it was like my journey through the underworld and recovery and work where i

00:38:13.160 realized i was like oh it's not my job to convince people right that's what it feels like yeah you

00:38:19.720 nailed that thank you there was something i was like i'm not gonna i'm actually i'm done i'm not

00:38:26.900 going to convince anyone I'm psychic I've I've done events and I really I've done so many about

00:38:33.640 so many people and I noticed the patterns I've had people be like this isn't real I'll have to

00:38:40.640 share their opinions of me and I'm like okay I mean I don't behave like that like where I go in

00:38:47.040 and tell people what I think of them and how they make a living that's not my business and there was

00:38:53.180 just something like I used to feel like I had to prove myself and I didn't look how psychic I am

00:38:59.280 accurate I am and I was like actually I was like you know what that's not my job my job is to give

00:39:05.680 the best reading I can for people who want to be here with me and if you don't want to be here that

00:39:11.780 is so fine but like I've I've done events where and it's so rare this happens but every once in

00:39:18.320 while or someone be like I don't believe in this so prove me wrong and I'll just like giggle and

00:39:23.440 just be like you know what it's fine if you don't believe in this but there's someone behind you who

00:39:29.340 does so I'm gonna see them thank you and that and what I've come to notice is I actually feel that

00:39:36.060 a lot of these people who take that have that mindset they want to believe in magic more than

00:39:42.300 anything they want to believe in the astral they want to believe in this and and I've sometimes

00:39:47.160 feel like they're like come on witch put on a show razzle dazzle me and and i'm just like oh

00:39:51.580 no thanks i mean and i just i've realized like i am not here to convince anyone that this is real

00:40:00.200 it is real it's real for me and when i let go of that part i could really focus on what i'm here

00:40:06.740 to do and i'm just i'm not gonna convince anyone that they have to work with me and i just think

00:40:15.000 it's i feel like i've i do feel like i've shown the evidence of what i'm capable of doing and not

00:40:23.280 and i know what i can't do and that's it so it's people want to read you that's totally fine that's

00:40:29.840 fine and a witch isn't for everyone i don't want to be pressured into something i don't want to do

00:40:34.140 so like why would i do that for anyone else if you need a reading i'm here but i'm not doing a

00:40:39.900 hard so it's so antithetical to witchcraft like we're the whole thing is like we're not trying

00:40:46.180 to convert anybody right please please go do your own thing that is what's cool we want to see

00:40:52.680 everyone do their thing and tap into their unique universe and share their universes with us and

00:40:59.140 show their unique beautiful power please go do that I will do my thing over here and that will

00:41:05.500 be great absolutely we don't believe the same things anyway go make your own relationship

00:41:11.360 with something or somebody okay what are you working on these days what is exciting and

00:41:19.760 fruitful in the universe to you i love this question interpreted broadly well so i have

00:41:28.580 things that are like sparkling in the ether but this is the first time I think in my life that I

00:41:39.480 don't have a clearly delineated goal that I'm striving towards which was a little terrifying

00:41:51.140 but also pretty freeing and cool and exciting and like I'm like what a cool place to be in

00:41:58.200 and I am I have been working on what's going to be my next book I love writing books it was so

00:42:06.940 funny like I thought like writing this book was a spiritual initiation I was like wow I

00:42:12.600 sacrificed for this book I lost things that I loved and wanted but I also gained so much and

00:42:22.360 it was so hard. But then I was like, Oh my gosh, I can't wait to do it again. I like how I am when

00:42:28.620 I'm writing a book. And when I'm inspired, I feel like the closest to my truest self. I love being

00:42:35.960 inspired. And so like, I have an idea and a vision of what my next book will be, but I'm enjoying

00:42:45.380 playing with it and I'm really excited to I'm always excited when I see the ocean and that

00:42:57.980 just always makes me feel like lit up and connected to the divine so I'm always excited

00:43:05.560 to be there and honestly like just having some human experiences and spending time with some

00:43:14.300 friends and I'm enjoying leaving my home and traveling, promoting silver magic and finding

00:43:22.980 new ways to stay inspired through it. And I feel like that's like what I'm feeling really excited

00:43:31.020 about. And I'm very inspired by my inner teen. And I feel that, I don't know, I call it Y2K

00:43:40.300 witchcraft and playing with what that is and thinking about how I can bring that energy of

00:43:48.740 my earliest witchcraft practices into the present so that's been feeling really fun to play with

00:43:55.960 and I always love thinking of how to bring enchantment and ritual into

00:44:06.780 spaces where it might not be thought of to be and working with my clients and brands and

00:44:14.600 collaborators in that way. So that's been feeling really inspiring and exciting. And I think that's

00:44:21.520 that's what I'm thinking about. I'm really excited to see flowers blooming soon. I feel like this

00:44:27.640 was such a long, dark, cold winter. And now there's signs of spring in my neighborhood. I feel

00:44:34.340 like i emerged yesterday and noticed that the forsythia was blooming in my courtyard and that

00:44:41.240 always makes me really excited because that means spring really is here and that just feels

00:44:49.620 really good went out a lot last week and enjoyed art and music and things that i really love and

00:44:58.660 I want some more of that and just like doing some like little trips I'm gonna go to the

00:45:06.840 I never go to the Hamptons but I'm gonna go to the Hamptons next month twice which is once for

00:45:12.080 work and once for fun and that feels really silly and I'm going to Montana and San Francisco so I

00:45:23.220 Just feel inspired by having some human experiences.

00:45:28.640 That's delicious.

00:45:30.020 My forsythia is under a solid six feet of snow.

00:45:33.180 You just can't see the bushes at all.

00:45:35.380 Yeah, and it's exciting to hear.

00:45:38.140 I mean, from here, looking into America, it feels so deeply shell-shocked.

00:45:48.900 Terrorized.

00:45:50.000 Oh, yes.

00:45:50.980 And shell-shocked.

00:45:51.880 So it's exciting to feel that people are still weaving their magic and living delicious lives in resistance.

00:46:04.780 And we were so thrilled and excited when we reached out to Sarah about our reparations fundraiser.

00:46:15.000 Yes.

00:46:16.260 And so we're so excited.

00:46:18.080 do you want to share like why that felt like good for you to participate in would that be okay

00:46:23.480 oh absolutely well i feel like when people i believe in ask me for help and to support i want

00:46:31.180 to say yes and i was honored you asked me i believe in what you guys do and i believe in

00:46:38.240 this cause and i'm so happy to donate a reading and to donate a copy of sober magic and you know

00:46:47.240 something that's really helped me in that when I was talking about existential angst I feel like

00:46:54.540 since I was a child I felt like sometimes I just kind of felt like the weight of the world and the

00:47:00.120 weight of pain and fear and I remember just being so little and asking my mom ask Elisa like why do

00:47:07.140 bad things happen to good people and like all of the atrocities of the world and how overwhelming

00:47:12.640 and paralyzing it can feel but then it's I mean maybe this is like a recovery thing too it's well

00:47:20.400 step by step we can make changes and sometimes I think when the world feels really overwhelming

00:47:26.520 and things are so much is out of our control what is it that I can control I feel like I can be kind

00:47:32.920 and I can put my time and energy and efforts into what I believe in and I really believe in the power

00:47:40.640 of community and something. So I'm happy to donate my time to causes. And I really think

00:47:49.360 doing what you can without burning yourself out. I feel like I know for me, if I burn myself out,

00:47:57.420 then I can't help and helping is really important to me. So feeling like doing what you can with

00:48:04.300 what you have is powerful and putting your energy into the things you believe in it might and all

00:48:13.100 those little things add up and add up and that's when we make change so I try to think about what

00:48:19.500 I can do and I can absolutely do this so I'm happy to participate it's so exciting some whoever wins

00:48:28.500 that prize one-on-one with the Sarah Potter will be so thrilled and lucky I'm so thrilled

00:48:36.020 it's gonna be so rad to get to share that with people I think that'll really help us spread the

00:48:41.440 word about our reparations work too because people will be excited to get to connect with

00:48:46.600 you so that's so nice I love the framing of reparations is so important to me because I

00:48:53.800 think it goes back to what we were talking about with the fear and trauma at the core of things

00:48:57.580 you know that there is this sort of like original trauma wound and that's colonialism and so we can't

00:49:04.900 fix everything but there's something about directing witch love right at that heart with

00:49:10.840 repair that feels really loving and potent to me so I'm excited to do that with other witches

00:49:17.700 oh I completely agree and I love how you framed it I think that's really so true let's do it 0.99

00:49:24.900 together yeah thank you and thanks listeners and blessed fucking be you must be a witch 0.93

00:49:35.240 hi it's risa and amy from missing which is here to invite you to join a reparations movement 0.97

00:49:45.720 every year we pay forward our coven membership dues to the native women's shelter of montreal

00:49:50.220 and invite you to join us in raising funds for indigenous-led organizations

00:49:54.560 Getting involved is easy. Make a contribution of $10 or more to your local Indigenous-led org, land protectors, water protectors, housing, justice, rematriation. Take a screenshot of your receipt and email it to witchreparations at gmail.com.

00:50:14.540 For every $10, you get one entry into a draw for fabulous witchy prizes. So $50 is five entries, $100 is 10, so on.

00:50:24.180 Plus, everyone who joins the fundraiser will automatically get a discount code from Housewitch in Salem, so you literally can't lose.

00:50:32.760 The Missing Witches Reparations fundraiser runs through the month of May.

00:50:36.600 Go to missingwitches.com slash reparations for all of the juicy details.

00:50:41.940 Because it's not a gift, it's a debt.

00:50:44.360 And it's not a donation, it's a reparation.

Missing Witches - April 02, 2026

Sarah Potter - Sober Magic

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