#64 - Leila Taylor, Mistress of the Dark

Leila Taylor is the author of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. She is a writer and designer whose work focuses on the gothic in Black culture, horror, and the aesthetics of melancholy. She’s been published in The Journal of Horror Studies, The New Urban Gothic: Global Gothic in the Age of the Anthropocene, Dispatches from the Institute of Incoherent Geography, and The Repeater Book of the Occult. She has given talks for the International Gothic Association in Mexico and the U.K. and at Morbid Anatomy in New York. Leila received a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University and an MA in Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research. She is also Creative Director for the Brooklyn Public Library.

On this episode, Leila discusses the intersections of gothic culture and Black America, the history of goth music and the ghosts of history, and why dark art can help us find joy.

Pam also talks about the Full Wolf Moon, and answers a listener question about leaning into Lilith.

Our sponsors for this episode are Amanda Bienko, Witch Baby Soap, BetterHelp and Zouz Incense.

#63 - Jeanna Kadlec, Cosmic Creator

Jeanna Kadlec is a writer and astrologer whose work has been featured in such places as O Magazine, Allure, and Autostraddle. She is a culture columnist at Longreads and the author of the forthcoming memoir HERETIC. Jeanna describes herself as “native Midwesterner, ex-evangelical, recovering academic,” and she is also the founder of the now-closed Bluestockings Boutique, the first-ever lingerie boutique geared to the LGBTQ+ community. She now creates the Astrology for Writers newsletter and teaches her workshop, Astrology for Writers: How to Make Your Writing Work for You.

On this episode, Jeanna speaks about radical astrology, her cosmic writing career, and the revolutionary energy we can expect in 2021.

Pam also talks about the need to stay present for this moment of transformative upheaval, and answers a listener question about troubling anti-science sentiments in the occult community.

Our sponsors for this episode are The Pretty Cult, BetterHelp, and Zouz Incense

#62 - Sarah Chavez, Death Adept and Winter Wizardress

Sarah Chavez has dedicated her adult life to examining death and dying through an intersectional-feminist and inclusive lens. She one of the founders of the Death Positive movement, through which she examines the relationship between ritual, decolonization, and death itself. She is the executive director of the Order of the Good Death, a founding member of The Collective for Radical Death Studies, and co-founder of feminist site Death & the Maiden. She weaves together the relationship between death and food, rituals, culture, and society, via her blog Nourishing Death. She is also a museum curator and a co-hosts the Death in the Afternoon podcast with Caitlin Doughty and Louise Hung. Sarah was the subject of a chapter in Caitlin Doughty’s NYT bestselling book, From Here to Eternity, and she has worked on the popular YouTube series, Ask a Mortician.

Sarah has also garnered a wide, devoted audience for her writing and posts on folklore, mythology, and rituals that surround death, including her vast knowledge about witches, vampires, saints, and other beguiling beings.

On this episode she discusses the importance of destigmatizing death, how both Hollywood and her Mexican-American neighborhood influenced her conceptions of the afterlife, and Yuletide myths and wintery New Year’s magic to help us celebrate what she calls “The Other Halloween.”

Pam also speaks about honoring winter darkness, and answers a listener question about taking spiritual workshops online.

Our sponsors for this episode are BetterHelp and Zouz Incense.

#61 - Sarah Faith Gottesdiener, Lunar Illuminator

Sarah Faith Gottesdiener is an artist, author, and business owner living in Los Angeles, California. She wrote the cult classic workbooks Many Moons from 2015-2018, and now creates the Many Moons Lunar Planners. She has sold over 80,000 copies of her limited edition publications, completely independent of any traditional publisher, and almost entirely through word-of-mouth. In addition, Sarah has created art, design, and apparel via her Modern Women line that have been seen in movies, television, and on the bodies of many magical babes, and for brands you have absolutely heard of. Since 2012, Sarah has worked as a psychic tarot reader, reading for nearly 1,000 clients. She is a teacher of the spiritual, the creative, and the magical, teaching classes on energy, the elements, magic, and more. She is also the host of the Moonbeaming podcast. Her new book, The Moon Book: Lunar Magic to Change Your Life is out next week.

On this episode, Sarah discusses the power of lunar magic, how to work with the phases of the moon, and why the divine feminine is not necessarily female.

Pam also speaks about her lifelong love of the moon, and answers a listener question about how to find non-gender-essentialist, LGBTQ+ friendly witchcraft.

Our sponsors for this episode are Lunalux Botanicals, BetterHelp, Mithras Candle, Seasonal Steep, & Zouz Incense

#60 - Susan L. Aberth, Occult Art Doyenne

Susan L. Aberth is the Edith C. Blum Professor of the Art History and Visual Culture Program at Bard College, and a world-renowned expert on occult art and surrealism. Her 2004 book, Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art (Lund Humphries) helped introduce Carrington’s magical work to the masses. She also recently co-authored The Tarot of Leonora Carrington (Fulgur Press, 2020) with Mexican curator Tere Arcq, which is an analysis of Carrington’s tarot paintings and original major arcana deck.

Susan has also contributed to Surrealism and Magic, Guggenheim Venice (2021); Not Without My Ghosts (2020, Traveling exhibition in England); Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist (Phoenix Art Museum, 2019), Juanita Guccione: Otherwhere (Napa Valley Museum, 2019), Surrealism, Occultism and Politics: In Search of the Marvelous (Routledge Press, 2018), Leonora Carrington: Cuentos Magicos (Museo de Arte Moderno & INBA, Mexico City, 2018), Unpacking: The Marciano Collection (Delmonico Books, Prestel, 2017), and Leonora Carrington and the International Avant-Garde (Manchester University Press, 2017), as well as to Abraxas: International Journal of Esoteric Studies, Black Mirror, and Journal of Surrealism and the Americas. She received her B.A. from UCLA, M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and her Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

On this episode, Susan discusses her groundbreaking scholarship on Leonora Carrington’s occult art oeuvre, the newly discovered Carrington Tarot, and how bewitching women change the world.

Pam also speaks about gratitude magic, and answers a listener question about how to give thanks for a priceless gift.

Our sponsors for this episode are Luna Lux Botanicals, BetterHelp, Clarissa Eck Ceramics, Mithras Candle, Zouz Incense

#59 - Tayannah Lee McQuillar, Historical Oracle

Tayannah Lee McQuillar is a writer and researcher who focuses on shining a light on Black and Indigenous American spiritual and cultural history. She is the author of Rootwork: Using the Folk Magic of Black America for Love, Money, and Success, Astrology for Mystics, and the poetic novella Creole Fire, which imagines a relationship between historical occult figures Marie Laveau and Paschal Beverly Randolph. She is also the creator of two divination decks: The Sibyls Oraculum: Oracles of the Black Doves of Africa, and The Hoodoo Tarot, both illustrated by Katelan Foisy. Tayannah also does ancestor readings and comes from a long line of Hoodoo practitioners.

On this episode, Tayannah discusses mindful ancestor work, Black American occultism, and how poetry and history can go hand in hand.

Pam also speaks about pairing magic with material action, and answers a listener question about how specific to get in one’s spells.

Our sponsors for this episode are Crystals of Quartz, Kismet Berlin, BetterHelp, Wishcraft Goods, and Zouz Incense

#58 - Clown of Slipknot, Masked Metal Magician

Clown is the percussionist, creative director, and co-founding member of Slipknot, one of the world’s biggest, most beloved bands, metal or otherwise.

Slipknot has released 6 studio albums including their most recent, critically acclaimed, WE ARE NOT YOUR KIND, as well as 2 live albums, 1 compilation album, and 5 live DVDs. The band formed in 1995 and have since gone on to sell upwards of 30 million albums, receive 10 Grammy nominations, and win a Grammy in 2006 for Best Metal Performance with their song “Before I Forget.”

Today Clown is the band’s only original founding member, and as such he’s worn many hats - and clown masks - over the years. He is also an accomplished photographer and filmmaker, collaborator on numerous side projects, and host of his own podcast, The Electric Theater.

On this episode, Clown discusses the magical exchange that happens between performer and audience, the transformative power of masks, and the illusory nature of fame.

Pam also speaks about Samhain and ritualized disguise, and answers a listener question about how to grieve and honor the passing of a beloved.

Our sponsors for this episode are Mithras Candle, BetterHelp, and Zouz Incense

#57 - Phyllis Curott, Pagan Pioneer

Phyllis Curott is one of America’s first “out” Witches, an activist attorney for the rights of Witches, and author of four internationally bestselling books including the groundbreaking Book of Shadows: A Modern Woman's Journey into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess. Her newest project, The Witches' Wisdom Tarot, is releasing in late October 2020.

Phyllis was named one of the Ten Gutsiest Women of the Year by Jane Magazine, and in 2014 was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Clergy and Scholars. Her Awaken the Witch Within online course and Youtube series Wicca have more than 2,000,000 views.

Widely profiled in the media, Time published her call for religious equality as one of “America’s leading voices.” She is Vice Chair Emerita of the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions, creator of the historic Inaugural Women’s Assembly, and founder of the Temple of Ara, the first Wiccan tradition to integrate core shamanism in the early 1980s. Curott received her BA in philosophy from Brown University and her Juris Doctor from New York University.

On this episode, Phyllis discusses her incredible journey as a pioneering public witch, her legal career as a defender of Pagan rights, and her enthusiastic embrace of elderhood.

Pam also speaks about why witchcraft is inherently political, and answers a listener question about how to feel the magic.

Our sponsors for this episode are Mithras Candle, The Many Moons 2021 Planner, BetterHelp, and Clarissa Eck Ceramics

#56 - Camille Rose Garcia, Dark Artist of Refracted Fairy Tales

Welcome to Season 4! Camille Rose Garcia is a world renowned painter, illustrator, and author whose work is steeped in warped fairy tales and (super)natural magic. The child of a Mexican activist filmmaker father and a muralist/painter mother, she apprenticed at age 14 working on murals with her mother while growing up in the suburbs of Orange County, visiting Disneyland, and going to punk shows with the other disenchanted youth of that era.

Her fine art has been displayed internationally and featured in numerous magazines including Juxtapoz, Rolling Stone, and Modern Painter, and is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Resnick Collection, and the San Jose Museum of Art, which held a retrospective of her work, entitled Tragic Kingdom, accompanied by a catalog of the same name. Garcia’s book, The Illustrated Alice in Wonderland (Harper Collins) was a New York Times Bestseller, and she has also illustrated such classics as Snow White and Cinderella. Her latest book, The Cabinet of Dr. Deekay, a surrealist fairy tale she wrote and illustrated, is out now from Sympathetic Press. She currently lives in woods of the Pacific Northwest. 

On this episode, Camille discusses how she came to be a painter of the dark feminine, the power of subverting fairy tales, and the vivid magic that comes with being an art witch in the woods.

Pam also speaks about the autumn and underworld stories, and answers a listener question about how to engage in shadow work.

Our sponsors for this episode are Clarissa Eck Ceramics, The Modern Witches Confluence, and BetterHelp.

#55 - Rachel Pollack, Tarot Titan and Radical Writer

Season Finale! Rachel Pollack is a legend who is perhaps best known as one of the world’s foremost tarot experts, having written such classics as Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom and The New Tarot Handbook. She’s also the creator of The Shining Tribe Tarot and co-creator with Robert Place of The Burning Serpent Oracle and the Raziel Deck.

But tarot is just of tip of the iceberg, as she is the author of 43 books of fiction and non-fiction, many of them in the speculative or sci-fi genres, including Unquenchable Fire which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and Godmother Night, which won the World Fantasy Award. She is also an accomplished comic book writer and pioneer, and during her run for DC Comics’ Doom Patrol in the 1990s, she introduced one of the world’s first transgender superheroes - and is now considered by many to be a transgender superhero herself.

Rachel’s work has been translated into 16 languages, and she has taught and lectured on tarot, creative writing, gender, and innumerable other topics in the U.S. Canada, Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and China. And until her retirement, she was a senior faculty member of Goddard College’s MFA in Writing program. 

Rachel’s most recent book is The Beatrix Gates, a volume which collects several of her most visionary stories as well as a brand new essay on magic and transgender living. This year it was nominated for a Lambda Award.

One can see why poet Cat Fitzpatrick called Rachel “a living national treasure.”

On this episode, Rachel discusses the relationship between tarot and comic books, the importance of visionary transgender storytelling, and why her religion is Heresy.

Pam also speaks about following magical clues long term, and answers a listener question about practicing fire magic in the home. 

Our sponsors for this episode are Clarissa Eck Pottery, Max Razdow’s Mage Cards on Kickstarter, BetterHelp, and Clever Kim’s Curios

#54 - Brooklynn, Sonic Spellcaster

Brooklynn is an Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, and producer who makes magical pop music. Her latest album, My Shadow and I, is an introspective excavation of her multidimensional identity as a queer, black woman and witch.

She is also an accomplished visual artist and designer, who runs the online shop Bébé Vaudou, which carries her jewelry and clothing line and other mystical merch, including her viral WITCHES AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY t-shirts, posters, and stickers. And she is donating 100% of the profits of the WITCHES AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY collection to Buy From A Black Woman, a non-profit which supports black woman business owners. Brooklynn also hosts the Witches of Atlanta podcast, where she speaks with local witches about spiritual practice, economics, and culture.

On this episode, Brooklynn speaks about art as activism, music as spellcraft, and how we can best support the black community during the current protests and beyond.

Pam also speaks about antiracism as spiritual work (including reading Anchor & Star’s zines about whiteness, cultural appropriation, and paganism) and answers a listener question about techno witches.

Our sponsors for this episode are the Magic And Realism Jungian Archetypal Dream Journal and BetterHelp

BONUS Episode: Introducing Matthew Freeman's PREDICTIONS

Bonus episode! The Witch Wave is thrilled to introduce Predictions, a new daily episodic story told over 30 days, written and performed by Matthew Freeman. Listen to Predictions to discover what the signs portend, what the stars reveal, and what the cards foretell.

Predictions is an audio drama produced by Theater Accident. Subscribe now to start the story from the beginning on June 1st.

#53 - Kim Krans, Creatrix of The Wild Unknown & Blossoms and Bones

Kim Krans is a visionary artist, author, and creator of the New York Times bestseller, The Wild Unknown Tarot, The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit deck, The Wild Unknown Journal, and The Wild Unknown Archetypes Deck and Guidebook, as well as several children’s books including ABC DREAM and Whose Moon Is That? Her new book for adults, Blossoms and Bones: Drawing a Life Back Together, was recently published by HarperOne, and is a graphic memoir about using art and ritual as tools of shadow excavation and spiritual transformation. Kim received her BFA in drawing at Cooper Union in NYC, her MFA in mixed media at Hunter College, and an MA in depth psychology and creativity at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. She has also studied in-depth practices of yoga and shamanism in India, Africa, Europe, and the UK. Kim teaches events and workshops that activate the forces of creativity and radical transformation through art, meditation, mysticism, and movement.

On this episode, Kim discusses how her creative practice supported her through a time of great grief, the deep magic of archetypes and symbols, and why we must resist flattening our myriad selves both on and offline.

Pam also discusses the symbolism of flowers, and answers a listener question about a magic skull.

Content warning: this episode contains some discussion about disordered eating, addiction, and miscarriage.

Our sponsors for this episode are Cat Coven, Lunalux Botanicals, and BetterHelp

#52 - Robin Rose Bennett, Green Witch Supreme

Robin Rose Bennett is a writer, green witch, and wisewoman who has been practicing herbalism for over 30 years - and Pam’s teacher. As a practitioner of WiseWoman Healing Ways of Herbal Medicine and EarthSpirit teachings, she offers her knowledge in many formats from in-person classes and conference workshops all over the world, to online videos, and via her herbal apprenticeship circles.

Robin is the author of Healing Magic: A Green Witch Guidebook to Conscious Living and The Gift of Healing Herbs: Plant Medicines and Home Remedies for a Vibrantly Healthy Life. She is also a repeat guest lecturer at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, St John's Hospital, Beth Israel's Nursing program, and Brown University Medical School, and a faculty member of the New York Open Center. In addition to that, Robin has a private consultation practice in New Jersey, offered on a sliding-scale, and an herbalist-in-residence teaching practice at a family medical practice in Bronx, NY.

On this episode, Robin discusses the divine magic of nature, specific plants that can help support our bodies and spirits during this pandemic, the world-shifting power of community, and why joy is medicine.

Pam also discusses the importance of magical elders, and answers a listener question about facing a natural fear.

Our sponsors for this episode are The Pretty Cult, Lunalux Botanicals, and Mithras Candle

#51 - Edgar Fabián Frías, Prismatic Sorcerexx

Edgar Fabián Frías is a nonbinary, queer, indigenous and Latinx multidisciplinary artist, curator, educator, and psychotherapist. They work in a variety of media including photography, video art, installations, printed textiles, GIFs, performance, and other emergent genres, and they incorporate magical practice into their artwork - and vice versa. They also conduct ceremonial, divinatory, and healing services through their offering called Our Sacred Web.

For 2019/2020, Frías is a visual arts fellow at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Tulsa, Oklahoma and a Research Fellow for the Oklahoma Center for Humanities’ Research Seminar on Play. Their work has been exhibited throughout North and South American, with recent exhibitions at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center in Portland, Oregon and the Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles, California.

On this episode, Edgar discusses how art can be a sanctuary, the potency of colorful magic, and how they use witchcraft to celebrate their expansive, ever-changing self.

Pam also discusses the spirituality of style, and answers a lister question about sharing joy in times of crisis.

Our sponsors for this episode are Magic Monday Podcast, Cat Coven, BetterHelp, and Mithras Candle

#50 - Lisa Marie Basile, Word Witch

Lisa Marie Basile is a poet, essayist and editor who focuses on witchcraft, shadow work, and using the power of language to heal from trauma. She's author of the non-fiction book Light Magic for Dark Times: More Than 100 Spells, Rituals, and Practices for Coping in a Crisis and The Magical Writing Grimoire: Use the Word as Your Wand, for Magic, Manifestation, and Ritual which is out this month. She is also the founder and creative director of Luna Luna Magazine, an editor at Ingram’s poetry site Little Infinite, and co-host of the podcast, AstroLushes, which intersects astrology, literature, wellness, and culture. She’s written several books of a poetry, and the collection, NYMPHOLEPSY, which she co-authored was a finalist in the 2017 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards. She’s also been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes, and her essays and other work can be found in such places as The New York Times, Bust, Self, Refinery 29 and many more.

On this episode, Lisa discusses how to work with the shadow, rituals for crisis, and why poetry is in fact magic.

Pam also discusses the power of poetry in dark times, and answers a listener question about how to boost communication confidence.

Our sponsors for this episode are Tarot For the Wild Soul, Foxglove Pharm, and Mithras Candle

#49 - Christina Oakley Harrington of Treadwell's Books

Christina Oakley Harrington is the founder and presiding spirit of Treadwell’s, an esoteric bookshop in London with a feverishly devoted following. As both a former academic with a doctorate in Medieval History and a decades-long pagan, she also happens to be a rare example of a scholar practitioner, which is a combination we happen to find utterly irresistible. Christina is a respected author, consultant and authority on paganism and witchcraft, and her media appearances have included Channel Four TV, BBCTV, BBC Radio and BBC World Service. 

On this episode, Christina discusses the magic of language, her favorite trailblazing women in occult history, and the ways that witchcraft can set us free during trying times. 

Pam also speaks about the wisdom of The Fool for April Fool’s Day, and answers a listener question about kitchen witchery.

Our sponsors for this episode are Altar New Orleans, BetterHelp, and Mithras Candle

#48 - Yugen Blakrok, Supernatural Rapper

Yugen Blakrok is a critically-acclaimed hip-hop artist who hails from the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Her occult-flavored rhymes draw from world mythology and an eclectic blend of various spiritual systems, while sounding entirely unique and future-forward. Her 2013 album, Return of the Astro-Goth caught the attention of musical maestros such as Chuck D, who makes a cameo appearance on her newest album, Anima Mysterium (2019). Many might recognize her from her blazing performance on the Black Panther soundtrack via the song “Opps” which she did in collaboration with Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples. Yugen has toured throughout South Africa and Europe, and has opened for hip-hop icons such as MC Lyte and performed alongside such legends as Public Enemy. Her music is a mix of sci-fi soundscapes, meditative melodies, and trip-hop beats thanks in large part to her collaborator, Kanif the Jhatmaster, who also makes an appearance during the interview.

On this episode, Yugen discusses the occult elements of her songs, her lifelong quest to balance shadow and light, and how she’s used music as medicine during tumultuous times.

Pam also speaks about the sacred practice of reconciling opposite forces for Spring Equinox, and answers a listener question about participating in a ritual to help with the coronavirus.

Our sponsors for this episode are Ethereal Visions Publishing, Foxglove Pharm, BetterHelp, and Mithras Candle

#47 - Jessica Dore, Psychospiritual Tarot Guide

Jessica Dore is a licensed social worker and tarot practitioner, teacher, and writer who is interested in using tarot cards to, as she puts it, “help people understand the interplay between internal and external life, and to behave flexibly and in alignment with what is most precious.” In other words, she uses tarot as a means for helping the mind and the spirit work in more interconnected ways. Jessica’s hugely popular Twitter and Instagram accounts and beautifully written newsletter all delve into both the psychological and magical meanings of the tarot, and in her tarot sessions, she seeks to support people during times of transition and stagnation. Her insightful, integrated approach to tarot as a therapeutic tool has been featured in such places as The New York Times, New York Magazine‘s The Cut, Teen Vogue, and on NPR’s Weekend Edition. And her writing has been featured in O Magazine, VICE, and Psych Central.

On this episode, Jessica discusses how tarot can offer psychological revelations, the importance of synchronicity, and why spirituality is a crucial component to maintaining one’s mental wellbeing.

Pam also talks about mystical methods that help settle the mind during anxious times, and answers a listener question about witchcraft and mental health.

Content warning: While we don’t go into graphic detail, we do discuss mental health struggles and therapies, including very brief mentions of suicidal ideation and self-harm. Again, it’s not extensive, but if even reading those words is distressing for you, then you may want to skip this episode.

Disclaimer: As stated throughout the episode, tarot is not therapy, nor is it a replacement for therapy. If you are struggling with your mental wellness, please consult your doctor or seek support from an official mental health resource such as the National Aliiance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Our sponsors for this episode are Altar New Orleans, Ethereal Visions Publishing, and Mithras Candle

#46 - Staci Ivori, Coven Cultivator

Staci Ivori is an extraordinary circle leader and ritual facilitator for women and feminine folks throughout the world. Her mission has been to create brave and sacred spaces that foster growth and re-connection with one’s true essence of self. She teaches and leads workshops, moon ceremonies, and other magical gatherings, and she also an intuitive guide, tarot reader, reiki practitioner, and herbalist. In addition to all that she is a representative for the nonprofit organization Woman Within International. Though many of her circles and workshops take place in Brooklyn where she’s based, she can also be found teaching and holding space at such renowned gatherings as Spirit Weavers, Origins, and many many more.

On this episode, Staci discusses how to cultivate magical community, the importance of shadow work, and how white witches can be better allies for witches of color.

Pam also talks about Mercury retrograde, and answers a listener question about smoke cleansing rituals and appropriation.

Our sponsors for this episode are Blessed Be Magick, Foxglove Pharm, and BetterHelp.