Lera S, Artist Witch

 In this episode I talk to my dear and delightful friend Lera. If the sound of my laughter irritates you, probably skip this one, because when I am around Lera it's all lols all the time. Lera talked to me about growing up in another country, how mental health needs to become part of everyday conversation, and she surprises me with a micro-interview about Anahatas- complete with Louis Griffin impersonation. 


https://www.instagram.com/valeriyan_root/

Transcript

Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where we talk about witch life, witch stories, and sometimes a little witchcraft on the full and new moon every month. In this episode, I talk to my dear and delightful friend Lera. If the sound of my laughter irritates you, probably skip this one because when I'm around Lera it's all lolz all the time. Lera talked to me about growing up in another country, how mental health needs to become part of everyday conversation, and she surprises me with a micro interview about Anahatas, complete with Lois Griffin impersonation. Now let's get to the stories. 

Kim: Hi, Lera, welcome to the show.

Lera: Hi, Kim, glad to be here. I'm Lera. 

Kim: Would you please introduce yourself? Let everybody know who you are and where they can find you on the internet. 

Lera: Well, it is the internet. So yeah, my name is Lera Street. I don't know, I illustrate for the Witch Bitch Amateur Hour podcast Some of you may know me from there. Other than that, I lead a relatively quiet life in east Texas and I illustrate for other things sometimes. And if you're interested in following along either my life or my illustrations, or just If you want to tell me something cool, I can be found on Instagram and my name is ValerianRoot. Because Valeria is the name on my birth certificate. And I make everything into a pun. 

Kim: But can't they also ask you, like, randomly one night, say, hey, can you draw this logo for me? And then they tell you about it and you do it. It's awesome. Like I did. And that's where my logo came from. 

Lera: Well, yes, they can. Except not right now. Commissions are closed for a couple months. I'm a little overloaded. If creativity strikes, you know, and you need help expressing that creativity, I do assist in such creative endeavors. 

Kim: What does it mean to you when you call yourself a witch? 

Lera: *makes strange sound* Can't ever recreate that sound again.  I think my definition of what it means to be a witch has evolved over the years. At first it was a, a new spiritual practice for me. I was a long-time practicing Christian and kind of distanced myself as I got older, and witchcraft was one of the things that I was very curious about all my life. And so originally it was just a new means of looking into a spiritual practice that I have long felt drawn to. But now it's still a practice, but more so of a learning my own unique internal wisdom and learning my own unique internal wisdom, and how to express it in the world around me in its highest form. Yeah.

Kim:  Do you have any witches in your family that you, or- whether they call themselves or not, are there things that you look back on? Because you grew up somewhere else, right? 

Lera: I did. So I was born in the Ukraine and I was... there I was raised very strictly Eastern Orthodox and I still have grandparents over there who are very strictly Eastern Orthodox and I'm glad they're not listening to this right now, because they would faint. But my grandmother probably kind of instilled my curiosity about witchcraft at a very young age. She was very, very superstitious. There were things that she would always tell me to do or not to do. Things like, don't hand things over a threshold, and don't whistle in the house. You'll lose all your money. 

Kim: Is that what my problem is? 

Lera: It's what my problem is. My favorite one is when you brush your hair, and you know how hair accumulates in a brush because it's hair. Don't just throw your hair away into a trash can, try to burn it or flush it, because if someone were to get ahold of your hair, you know, and that's kind of common knowledge in the witch community, people getting ahold of your hair or, you know, other things could be used against you. So grandma was real big about getting rid of hair. If it was anywhere. But yeah, she was... as devout as she was in her own religion, she was always very superstitious and those superstitions started popping up along my very early journey into witchcraft and I was like, oh, well this is familiar. And so it's this. And grandma was huge into herbal medicine. She was a medical doctor, you know, just as a career, but she would start with a herbal remedy and then proceed straight to antibiotics. But she would start with the herbal remedy. So a lot of the things that I grew up just kind of watching her do were very witchy in their essence. And I recalled them very quickly when I started dipping my toes in. 

Kim: That is so neat. Do you have any daily practices that or if not daily regular practices? 

Lera: Daily practices are a bit of a stretch for me. I am not a very consistent person. What I will usually do on a month-to-month is some sort of full moon and new moon work. And then everything else I just kind of do as needed. I would say that I probably struggle with moods a lot because I'm a water sign, and that's just our life. So a lot of my practice revolves around mood stabilization, and the calming of the daily anxieties of living in the modern world. That's pretty much what I do for myself. 

Kim: Would you say that witchcraft has changed your life? 

Lera: Absolutely. Absolutely! I... it has been a very healing path for me. Not always a pleasant form of healing, you know, a lot of healing comes from shadow work and shadow work is not comfortable, but I've healed with needing a spiritual outlet. When I drifted away from being a practicing Christian, originally, I thought that I was possibly an atheist or an agnostic, but that didn't quite feel right. I always felt drawn to some sort of spiritual component and I didn't really know how to express what I needed. And then the more I learned about practicing witchcraft, the more some of that spiritual void got filled for me. And I think that's probably the biggest thing that changed about my life. But then it also grew into a personal empowerment that I had sorely been lacking in my life. And that grew into my becoming more acquainted with the concept of manifestation and how to use it in my day-to-day life. And so I've really been able to attribute a lot of very deep and also kind of very surface level personal growth to practicing. 

Kim: This part can get cut out if you want, but I'm nosy and curious. Did it happen before or after Macy and Charlye started doing their show? 

Lera: I would say that it happened close to that time. Macy started talking about some of the things that her family had practiced and told me some of the stories, and that led into a conversation of, well, you know, my grandma was kind of witchy and it's always been something I've been curious about. So I would kind of say that I jumped on the train with Macy. I kind of envisioned us just like, I don't know, a couple of hobos chasing a train car and jumping into it. Kim: Do you believe, do you work with deity, or is it just whoever? 

Lera: I work with the Baba Yaga somewhat often. I've had a dance or two with Hecate. Other than that, nobody's really come calling. Oh my god, I hope she doesn't strike me down for this. I have done a little bit of work with Lilith in the past as well, and I can't believe I forgot that. 

Kim: She gon' gitchu. 

Lera: Zoinks, I need to build an altar. 

Kim: What would you say is your biggest motivator in your practice? The more I practice and the more I learn, the better I feel. I don't know how to explain that. 

Kim: That makes sense to me. 

Lera: Okay, then it's, I feel good. I feel good about it. I really love to learn. I really love new information. I'm also someone that's a little resistant to change, so I'm a little slow on the uptake. But once I get it, I get it. And it's every new piece of information or every new piece to my practice I discover and especially every new season of shadow work that I come through and come out the other side and I think Wow, this is exciting, you know? It doesn't feel grueling. It feels developmental for both myself and for how I view and treat the world around me, which is very important. 

Kim: It still feels grueling for me, because I'm not done.

Lera:  It blows sometimes. 

Kim: I don't like it. 

Lera: It's not for the faint of heart. 

Kim: I'm doing it, but I don't like it. 

Lera: We're doing it. We're doing it. 

Kim: What do you most want out of your practice? 

Lera: So this is, I feel like this is a little bit of a cliche answer, but I've been practicing, I don't know, consistently. I feel like consistently is a little generous, but I've been practicing for close to five years now and I think that it is about time for me to start using it to help some people. Right now that looks like me dipping my toes into the water of becoming a Reiki practitioner. 

Kim: Oh!

Lera: And there's been some talk of my learning sigil design a little bit more intently. 

Kim: That would be a good idea. That's exciting. Holy crap. 

Lera: So I feel like my two big driving forces are my practice right now, and also my creativity, and I feel like there is this sweet spot that I have yet to find. But when I do, I am really excited to jump on finding a means of giving this back to others. Through this community, I've met an incredible bunch of people. Very kind, very incredibly generous, and people who just seem to understand you at your core and meet you where you are. And I think I'm ready to be able to offer some of myself back in that capacity.

Kim: My heart!

Lera: Yeah, stop it. 

Kim: Do you ever have imposter syndrome and if so, how do you deal with it?

Lera: All the time. I'm sitting here thinking, you know, as I talk, "Man, this is a bunch of, what am I spewing out right now, is any of this true? Am I even a witch?! "No, I have it every day.  I struggle with imposter sys... system. SYNdrome in just about every area of life that you can think of. And that's very candid, but that's what it is. Imposter syndrome is one of my biggest enemies. If the follow up question is "How do you combat it"... I don't know. I rely on other people to... *pauses and sighs*

Kim: Remind you?

Lera: Well not even remind me, more so call me out on my bullshit. You know, it's...

Kim: Hmmm. I'll remind you. I don't ever see your bullshit, so I'll remind you.

Lera: Well, yeah. And you do serve very good, very necessary, very timely reminders, so they are much appreciated. But more so, I just, I have been fortunate enough to have a circle of people that I trust to tell me, you know, "Great job" when I'm doing a great job, and " Hey check yourself" when I'm not, and that has really helped to combat it until I come to a place with reckoning with my own impostor syndrome.
 Kim: Hmm. Why has that never occurred to me? *laughs*

Lera:  I don't know, to me it feels like-

Kim: Community. Why has community never occurred to me as a way to combat that? 

Lera: Because it's very hard to be vulnerable with people. You know, it's very hard to tell a friend a thing of "Hey, I feel like I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy. I don't deserve this opportunity. I don't know what I'm doing here." And I'll just I'll be very candid about saying this. My therapist called me out on it in a way of saying, well, "What if your friends came to you and said these things about themselves?" My response was "I'd be all over it, I'd correct them immediately. I would tell them how great they are, how worthy they are, how much they deserve to be in the positions that they are,  and you know, to cut the shit. You're not an imposter, you're here, you're doing these things and you're learning how to do them and perfection is not the goal." If I can say that to friends who would, you know, approach me with such a... I don't know, internal struggle, then why can't I say these things to myself? 

Kim: Do you think that it's your inner child who feels like the imposter and we have to heal that? Is this inner child work? 

Lera: Damn. 

Kim: That frustrates the shit out of me. *laughs*

Lera:  Damn! 

Kim: I don't want that. Because it's not like I've been working on this forever. I only thought of it while you were speaking.

Lera:  It's a very interesting question. Over the last year I've been working with my inner child to heal a lot of other things, but it never occurred to me that imposter syndrome could stem from a dysregulated inner child. So the answer now is: I don't know how much of it is correlated, but the follow-up is: that's a very interesting thing for me to explore. And I could definitely report back. 

Kim: Yeah, now I know what I'm going to say to my therapist. Next week. *both laugh*

Lera: Nice. Excellent. 

Kim: What would you say is your biggest struggle when it comes to witchcraft? 

Lera: Consistency. I just... life. I am not a very graceful dancer when life is on the floor. 

Kim: *laughs* I didn't know where you were going with that and I thought "Hmm, okay... I'm not asking you about *that*."

*both laugh vigorously*

Lera: So, I don't know. The day-to-day, just... Save it for the DMs. Did that even make any sense? I don't know. I don't know.  (laughing) I, okay, I am a bull in a china shop when it comes to maintaining a consistent schedule of any sort. Ever. So yeah consistency is definitely my biggest enemy. There have been times where I have fallen so far out of my practice that it's I look up and it's been a couple months and I'm like "Huh. I feel disconnected from my craft I wonder why. Am I the problem? Am I the villain? Did I do this?" And the answer is yes. More than likely.

Kim: Tadaa. Yep, me too. 

Lera: 10 out of 10. 

Kim: What brings you the most joy in your practice? 

Lera: Candle magic. It's my favorite thing to do. I just love to dress up a beautiful candle. I love to make a candle. I love to make an altar, I make a whole thing of it. Like when I actually have the time and bandwidth to do a good candle spell, I go balls to the walls. That's it.

Kim:  I would not have expected that. 

Lera: The people are cool too. I like the people that I've met along the way a lot. 

Kim: What witchy thing do you geek out about?

Lera:  Lately, I have been accumulating as much literature about Slavic witchcraft and folklore as possible. So that would probably be the number one thing right now. A WBAH listener actually sent me a copy of Bathhouse at Midnight, which is like a very large book concerning all things Slavic witchcraft. I've really enjoyed this journey. 

Kim: Do you follow hearth_and_besom on Instagram? 

Lera: I think so. That sounds very familiar. 

Kim: Look her up, look her up.

Lera: Hang on, hang on, hang on. Hearth. You said hearth_ and...

Kim:  the word and. 

Lera: I don't but that's a follow right now. 

Kim: Yeah, I like her She's gonna be on the show eventually. 

Lera: Incredible!

Kim:  I don't remember if I've asked her but (laughs)...

Lera: That's so cool.  That is... I feel very much powerhouse energy just from looking at her Instagram.

Kim:  I Like her very much.

Lera:  Excellent. 

Kim: Do you have any thoughts on familiars? 

Lera: Well... You didn't hear it here first because it's been heard in other places, but in eight weeks, I'm bringing a puppy home.

Kim: Baby!!

Lera:  Yes. 

Kim: Oh, I did hear it here first!

Lera:  well, okay, so  Puppy was born... Let's see. This coming Saturday makes two weeks ago. One of Macy's co-workers at her yoga studio, Lizzie, she's a masseuse and an excellent person and masseuse, has a litter of Aussie collie mixes and one of them is coming home with me. 

Kim: Right before Anahata's? 

Lera: No, no, definitely not. Let's see if... 

Kim: Oh, I thought you said two weeks. Okay. 

Lera: No, no, no, they'll be two weeks old this coming Saturday. 

Kim: You said a couple and my brain said "That's two!"

Lera:  No, no, no, no. Gosh, they're tiny. I don't think their eyes have opened yet. 

Kim: Babies!

Lera:  Yeah, a little, kind of a blue merle baby. 

Kim: You've gonna be a mom! You have to have a puppy... What are they called? A baby... You have to have a puppy shower. 

Lera: Is that a thing? Can I throw one?

Kim: Yes! Yes. Macy should throw it for you. But make an Amazon wishlist. 

Lera: Oh my god. That's... That's so much. 

Kim: Think of how many people you've sent baby gifts to. 

Lera: Not a lot. *laughs*

Kim: And wedding gifts. Well, think of how many times they've asked you to. 

Lera: Okay, I've sent a fair few wedding gifts, but not a fair many baby gifts. Not a lot of my close friends have had children. 

Kim: Good for them. A puppy shower. I'm dead serious. Puppy shower. At least Amazon list. 

Lera: You'll have to twist my arm about that some more. I don't know.

Kim:  Okay, I have one for my every time I get a pet. Fair enough. Has anyone used it? No, but I'm not having any damn babies. 

Lera: Hey, those pets are your babies. 

Kim: Give me some chew toys. 

Lera: Man. The bandanas I'm gonna make her wear. I'm gonna be a total like a hair bow mom. Instead of a hair bow it's gonna be a bandana. 

Kim: Okay, that's acceptable.

Lera:  I feel like an Aussie in a hair bow is a little silly looking.

Kim:  It would probably hurt because it has to be so short and tight. 

Lera: True, true. Yeah, bandanas are probably just better. So anyway, I'm getting a dog and I will get back to you on the question of familiars. 

Kim: Okay. (both laugh)

Lera:  I haven't really had a whole lot of connection with it, is the thing. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this changes my perspective on it. 

Kim: Me too. If you could only recommend one book to a new witch, what would it be? 

Lera: Ooh. Wow. It kind of depends on the path that you're taking. But what I would do is get yourself a good astrology book, if you want to get to know your astrology. And if not, let me... here I'm within sitting distance of my bookshelf, let me look at the one... because I forgot the name of it. Magical Symbols and Alphabets is a good one, or really just any sort of variation thereof. I think the way that I really first entered witchcraft was through runes, and learning what they mean, and kind of studying the energy that they could produce. So like with any new language, knowing the symbols and the alphabet and what they communicate is important, whether it be because you're interested in learning more about a certain aspect of it, or learning what symbols in other cultures and other practices that may be more closed off. Whether just to learn out of curiosity and respect, or to make sure that you don't appropriate somehow, I think is very important. 

Kim: What would you say has been the most surprising thing about being a witch?

Lera: Um...surprising. (pauses) I'm stumped. 

Kim: We can skip it.

 Lera: Yeah, I, well, I don't, I want to, I want to be able to give an answer, but... I would just have to say that it's opened my heart in a lot of very unexpected ways that I never thought possible. That seems very cheesy. You know, I wish I had- 

Kim: You're hurting my heart this whole time you're saying this stuff. 

Lera: I wish I had like some kind of funny anecdote, you know, like... like a thing full of cayenne pepper blew up in my face. I wish I had some sort of, that kind of surprising, but no. I think the community that I found along the way, and how naturally a lot of this came, and how interconnected it was all to my childhood, I really do think that on some level I was predestined to have this walk of life. 

Kim: Since you've moved around some in your life, would you say that environment has shaped or changed your practice at all? 

Lera: Yes. One million, trillion percent yes. So, I don't know, I feel a little weird naming off where I used to live. Not you know because I care about people knowing, but just because I don't want to be like "Man that place was a dump." But when I moved from the Ukraine to the United States I basically lived in one same tiny town for, let's see, if I was 26 when I moved to Texas. So yeah, just, you know, about 20 years I lived in the same town, went to college there, just everything there. The best I did was move like 30 miles up the road to a slightly larger town with better bars. And that whole area was very energetically draining. It was very hard to cultivate any kind of, I don't know, like positive energetic exchange between just yourself and the land and generally others, but it just seemed like any sort of, I don't know. I'm calling that place a dump. 

Kim: Well, I don't... for me, El Paso was like that. And it might not be like that for everyone, and I know it's not, but for me, I am hearing you describe the way El Paso was for me. 

Lera: It was a very draining place to live, and I appreciate you saying that because I feel a little bit less alone in saying that, but maybe it was just that it was not the right energy for me to thrive. 

Kim: Yeah.

Lera: And I even did a lot of Googling around that area. I was like, you know, did something happen? Did like some great tragedy happen here specifically? Like what's the deal? I haven't really found anything of merit, but I did notice that once I moved away from my hometown, my practice and my energy grew a lot stronger. 

Kim: You just didn't belong there.

Lera: I just didn't belong there. And you know, some listeners know, some listeners don't. I live relatively close to Macy. I live about three hours away from my parents and you know, just a couple of hours here and there from other close friends in my life. And so I feel like the proximity to a lot of people that I love and care about has really helped me thrive, but also having a little bit of distance and being in a different place where I have a little bit more of personal control and how I put down my roots as an adult has really made a big difference in my practice. 

Kim: Speaking of community, do you feel that there is an overarching witch community? Like when people say the Christian community, they mean all Christians. Do you think there's a big witch community or do you think there's a bunch of small ones? 

Lera: I think there are a bunch of small ones and I think that's the way it's meant to be. Because no two practitioners, even if they're following the same... I don't know, guidelines, or the same you know practices. I feel like everyone practices a little bit differently, and that again goes back to just drawing on what's inside of you. You know there are plenty of practicing witches I know who do and don't follow Wicca. You know, a lot of practice is incredibly cultural in nature. So, I definitely don't think that it's a conglomerate. Or maybe it is, because conglomerate means different pieces of different things. So yeah, that's what I would call it as more of a conglomerate.

Kim:  Hmm. I may start using that term. What do you dislike about the witch conglomerate? 

Lera: I would say, excluding like- being closed off to, you know, practices that are very specific to their culture or to a certain people, but I would say unnecessary gatekeeping. Like the gatekeeping that's like "Oh you're too new to understand this," or "Oh, well you're using Great Value salt for your spell work, it's not going to work," that kind of gatekeeping. I feel like this is such an open-minded, free-form community that thrives on its members teaching each other in one way or another. And I feel like when you close off your practice because you feel like the person that might receive this information is beneath you in some way, you're doing both yourself and them a really great disservice. 

Kim: What do you love about the witch conglomerate? 

Lera: How readily everyone is to connect, to help, to show you a better way to do something, to send you some love and support and encouragement when you need it. I mean, really, we do just have all these walks of life in one place. And I've been hard pressed to find any sort of similar community to that, you know? Through my practice, I have met friends from all over the country and somewhat even, you know, other parts of the world. It's incredible. That's been my favorite part. And this is coming from someone who was too shy to speak in middle and high school. I ran into a guy that I went to college with, or not to college with, went to high school with in college, and he saw me and he said, I didn't even know you could talk. Which this was before I even started practicing witchcraft, but that comment always stuck with me and it was always like a reflection of my shyness back then. And just how open and social I've become since. And even since I've started practicing, I've just opened up so much and it's been wonderful. 

Kim: Yeah I would have never thought you would describe yourself as shy at any point, based on having met you last year. 

Lera: I was absolutely that kid in middle school who was head down reading Twilight. 

Kim: Me too except for the Twilight part. 

Lera: Man, Twilight... 

Kim: I was pre-Twilight. 

Lera: Had me in a chokehold! I think I was probably 12 or 13 when the first book was just like really picking up steam on the bestseller list. And I remember I had a friend that was a couple years older than me, let's see if I was 12 or 13, she was probably like 16 and she's like yeah I just finished reading Twilight. You know, I was a very avid reader like I was reading any book I could get my hands on and she's like I think you'd probably enjoy this, and I think you could probably dig it, so yeah. I read Twilight in a night. 

Kim: That's cool that somebody introduced you to it. 

Lera: Thanks Carrie.

Kim: What is something you wish was discussed more in the witch community? 

Lera: What do I wish was more discussed in the witch community? I feel like I've been able to have very frank discussions about a lot of things. I, in my own personal perspective, I have not gone wanting for a place to communicate just about anything. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. So I think I'll just use this question as a testament to my personal experience being is that I've been able to talk about any damn thing. Mental health, both in spiritual and magical and mundane ways. But I think now that we are in a time in society where discussing your mental health has become such a prevalent thing, I really hope that that kind of conversation stays relevant in everyone's minds. Because, you know, practicing witchcraft is very much tied to mental hygiene. For me, for a lot of people I know, and I think we need to keep that line of conversation open to see how much further we can take it. 

Kim: How do you feel social media affects your practice? 

Lera: Hmmm... I mean, other than communicating with, you know, people in the community that I don't have driving access to... not a whole lot. I say that, but then again I've, well I guess that goes back to communicating with people who I would not have otherwise had a chance to communicate with. You know, I met Amber from Amber Energy Services and she has become a fixture in my life and Macy and Charlie's and quite a few WBAH listeners. She's absolutely and utterly fabulous and congratulations to her. She just became a mom. 

Kim: Yeah! 

Lera: But she is just one example of meeting someone on social media and incorporating them into my life and the lives of others in a very unexpected but very beautiful way. Other than that, I try to consume social media content regarding witchcraft with a little bit of a grain of salt. Especially TikTok. Witchtok can be hit or miss. I found some really great practitioners to follow but at the same time I feel like with anything, you have to be very very careful. You know, what kind of content you're consuming, how it's making you feel, the correctness of it. So yeah unless it's interpersonal I try to keep my social media consumption kind of, not to a minimum, but regulated. 

Kim: Do you feel like you use social media to affect others?

Lera: Nah. *pauses* I don't know. I feel like I'm on social media talking to people a lot, but I don't really use my platform. You know, for all the things I just said about not being as shy as I used to be, I get very shy about having an online presence. I don't know how big of an online presence I truly want. 

Kim: That shit's forever, so it's best not. 

Lera: Well, and you know, more than I've... I feel like every other moment and fact about our life and has been recorded so that doesn't so much concern me as much as it's very rigorous upkeep I feel like. An online presence, I think there's a new term that's been coined, it's like parasocial relationships? Something like that? I feel like I butchered it. 

Kim: That means the internet? 

Lera: So I'm trying to think of where I heard it first. I think I heard a tik-tok creator use it, but there is now a term for the relationship that a content creator has with their fans and vice versa. 

Kim: Ohhhh, okay.

 Lera: Yeah. And so it's officially been recognized as a type of interpersonal relationship that you can have. You know, you may not know this person personally, but most content creators share such a large chunk of their life that you do kind of start feeling like you do have some sort of relationship with them. 

Kim: Oh, like when I cry about Jenna Marbles. 

Lera: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Like, you kind of can't help it. It's human nature to root for people or, you know, maybe not be a certain, you know, a fan of certain creators. I think that just kind of evolves as you get to know people. So, you know, I think that's a way of getting to know people that's very valid. Albeit perhaps a bit unusual, you know, in my wildest dreams I never would have thought that a term would be coined for, you know, people who actively create content every day to connect with others and have a social media relationship with thousands and thousands of people. If you would have told me that when I was like 10 years old, I would have been like, huh? 

Kim: Yeah, that's weird. Yeah. 

Lera: So there's a little weird. 

Kim: : When you actually put it in words, it's super weird. 

Lera: Yeah.

Kim:  Yeah. 

Lera: A lot of mixed feelings there. Yeah. 

Kim: Do you have a coming out story? 

Lera: I'm out to most people, I would say, and I feel like the people I'm not out to it's if they straight-up asked me I would be like yeah but you know. My family except my grandparents, please don't tell my grandparents, my family knows that I practice most of my friends do or if they haven't heard it explicitly from my mouth, they can probably tell. So yeah, I'm pretty out there. When I meet new people or date and my religious views get asked, I let them know I'm a witch, probably like 95% of the time. Kim: People ask about religious views on a date?!

Lera:  Yeeeeaaaaah. *sighs deeply* 

Kim: I haven't been on a date in a very long time. But I don't remember that coming up. 

Lera: It... man... it's hard online.

Kim: But also, I met Ken, Ken was online and his thingamajig said what his religious whatever was. So, never mind. 

Lera: Yeah, I... if I have the option to list my religious views in a dating app, I do, just to get any of the mystery out of the way. Because it's a part of me, you know, I don't really like to hide it or, you know, skirt the question. 

Kim: Then it looks like you're hiding, which is... 

Lera: Hm? 

Kim: If it looks like you're hiding it, it looks like it's something bad. 

Lera: Exactly. And I will say that I live in a fairly conservative area, so there are times where I don't feel super comfortable just flat out saying I'm a practicing witch. And in that case, I just say that I am more drawn to spiritual practices. And that usually kind of gets the question answered and steers the conversation. 

Kim: Do you celebrate any Sabbats? 

Lera: That goes back to the consistency thing. It's hit or miss. 

Kim: Do you have any faves? 

Lera: Samhain, definitely. And then, I'm going to butcher it, Imbolc?

Kim: No, that's right. 

Lera:  I'm very drawn to that particular one because for as long as I remember, for whatever reason, I've been drawn to snowdrops, the flower. And that's one of the flowers that symbolizes Imbolg. And in the Ukraine, when the snowdrops appear, that means like winter is kind of coming to a close. So I definitely have a very particular fondness for that one. But you know, I'm a Beltane girl. I like to party. 

Kim: *laughs* That's what you need to put in your dating profile. 

Lera: *laughs* That'll do the job of both describing me and also telling people that I practice. Right now I think my bio on Tinder is I put copious amounts of hot sauce on everything just to feel something. 

Kim: Aww. What would you say is your best or worst witchcraft experience? 

Lera: My best? I had this one ritual bath where I connected to, I'm not entirely sure if they're like ancestor spirits or if they're like, maybe iterations of me in different in different lives? That's kind of what it feels more like is just like a few of my past lives. But I've met one of them and had a very thorough communication with her. And that was a very, very, very special ritual bath for me. It was one of the first ones I ever did. kind of hammered home the importance of my practice. Because it was one of those things. It was like that scene in Harry Potter where he gets his first wand and the thing starts glowing in his hand and he's like, whoa, damn, I'm in this. Yeah, it was that. 
So I that's possibly one of the most special moments in my practice.  Another one, I won't go into too much detail about this, just for personal information's sake, but me and a fellow witch did a distance protection spell together, and it was one of the most meaningful things that I've had another person do for me and with me, especially considering the situation. That protection spell, I really felt like I was more than just my regular old self for a second. I really felt like I had some sort of power, and that power stemmed from, you know, my love and desire to protect the, you know, people that the spell concerned. And while, you know, in a more skeptical sense, I can just say that that's, you know, the power of love, the power of family, the power of, you know, wanting something it made me realize just how potent intention can be. Especially when you work together. And then... 

Kim: I think that is a really cool feeling. 

Lera: It is. I wish I had a better way to describe it. I'm a little, like, lost for words. I'm getting kind of emotional about it. So let me think about the worst. I have a tendency to attract basically blobs of negative energy. Just like stagnant negative bully energy that just like makes things go awry for me. There was this one spell last year where within the course of a week I had a medical situation that was kind of gnarly, then I got into a car accident, then I was walking barefoot through my living room and somehow got a needle jammed most of the way through my foot

Kim:  *gasps* Oh my god.

Lera: ...and that was, I remember that was the last straw. I called Macy, she's like you need to like just, I mean spitfire cleanse your place.

Kim: You and Charlye, what the hell was on you guys? Remember? Was it the same time?

Lera: No, months apart, definitely a while apart. But like it's just for me things happen in clusters, and you know. Or if we want to use the old words of things happen in threes. In that instance, things really did happen in threes. But usually when I have like little strokes of bad luck, and I've had some that are, that was probably the worst one, I've had some that have come kind of close and mostly I just have like, you know, two or three relatively mundane, very inconvenient things happen and that's how I know that something's probably messing with me. 

Kim: What do you do? Just, what, like, cleanse and protect? 

Lera: For me that's, that would be a reason for a candle spell. I really like a black candle for that kind of situation or, and this is a shameless plug, Prairie Fire Herbal. Yay, Penelope! Love, love, love Penelope. If the wares in the Prairie Fire Herbal shop aren't enough, and they are, the Greek salad recipe that I have been given by Penelope is one of the best things in the world. 

Kim: Um, hi friend. I'm gonna have to ask for that. From one of you. Either from her or you. One of you. 

Lera: You might, no, I like the Baba Yaga candles for that reason specifically.  Yeah, they're great. They burn forever. 

Kim: Is there a witch that you envy?

Lera: No. I can honestly say this. I have spent my life as not a very envious or jealous person. So I mean there are people that I admire and look up to, but there isn't really anyone out there that I'm like, damn I wish I had their life.

Kim:  I don't want anybody's life but I do want to see more shit. 

Lera: That's fair.

Kim: Actually there are probably someone, there's probably somebody's life I would want, but I'm alright with mine. Who or what would you say are the three biggest influences on your practice? 

Lera: Wow. (long pause) I'm trying to... I don't... picking three is hard. Where I come from, being Ukrainian, and you know, learning more and more every day about practices that are specific to me and where I come from...  I'm gonna give a little shout out to Macy and Charlye. Because I feel like I hopped on this train with them and I don't feel like I would be... no, actually, I know I wouldn't be anywhere of where I am without going on this journey with them. And then the third and final thing. I guess probably seeing all those superstitions as a little girl that my grandma practiced. 

Kim: That's so cool. 

Lera: Thank you. 

Kim: What would you tell somebody starting out? 

Lera: Be willing to ask questions. And if they don't get answered, be willing to ask some more, perhaps in other places. Don't just think you know everything. You don't. 

Kim: Now go in the other direction of experience. What do you want to hear from that person? More experienced than you? 

Lera: Whoa. Like if I were asking a more experienced person, if I were just like back starting out? 

Kim: Like in the same in the same way that you're in a room full of new witches and you're sort of just saying, hey, this is what it's like. What do you want to hear from the, what do you want to hear where you are now, not as a new witch, but as a five year practicing witch. What do you want to hear from somebody who's been doing it for 50 years?

Lera: That's a very intense question. I mean I feel like the... I feel like this is a little bit of a cop-out of an answer but I would want to have the conversation of how aging has influenced their practice. Because I feel like aging is a very polarizing topic in society, especially for individuals who present as women. And I would just want to hear how age has influenced a very seasoned practitioner because I know there's got to be so much information to that. You know, I'm just in my late 20s. And I know that my practice will evolve into something completely different in my 30s and 40s and onward and outward.

Kim: Hmm. (long pause) I'm having thoughts. 

Lera: Good thoughts, bad thoughts, I'm sorry. 

Kim: Well, because I'm 50 and I'm like, oh, I guess that kind of could be me. What would I tell you? 

Lera: What would you tell me? 

Kim: Don't worry so much about ritual. Don't worry about rules. Also, you'll give, you'll just give, you'll care less... about some things...that society tells you that you should care about... and you will find out what's really important to you. Worry about that. 

Lera: I'm very, very excited for that. 

Kim: It's great!

Lera:  I believe that. I really do. It was a very difficult question when you first asked it, but now I'm really loving where this has taken us.

Kim:  Who do you think I should have on the show next? You can't say Amber because I already have asked her and she's agreed to come on the show. 

Lera: Well that's not who I was going to say. I was going to say Sean Astin. 

Kim: *squeals* He has to be a witch. 

Lera: He's totally a witch.

Kim:  *laughs* Do you know three, I've written to two authors and one musician who have witchy stuff, witchy things out, and none of them are witches?They were very kind in their responses, but they're not witches. I was very disappointed.

 Lera: Really. That's Interesting I wonder if... Do you know Liz, ETX goat witch?

Kim: No.

Lera: Okay, Liz...

Kim: Oh I know who you're talking about though, the goat lady.

Lera: Okay Liz, absolutely yes. God she's fabulous, and you will have the best time interviewing her. She is a ball of fun, a barrel of laughs, and a wealth of knowledge. 

Kim: Cool. 

Lera: And you can air that, like I would, I am shamelessly plugging my very good friend Liz. 

Kim: Okay. 

Lera: And the thing is if she needs a mic I have one and she's just up the highway about 40 minutes away so I could pass this along and she can hold it next. But no I think, she's,she's actually got a podcast of her own I don't know how active it's been in the last couple of months. She's been pretty busy but she's got a homesteading podcast. 

Kim: Oh!

Lera: That I believe is called the Lone Stead Podcast. 

Kim: Cool. 

Lera: So, yeah, a lot of very cool corners to explore. 

Kim: Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about that I didn't ask you, or did you have any questions for me? 

Lera: So 14 days, right? 14? 

Kim: About, somewhere in there. 

Lera: It's in the teens, that's for sure. What are you most excited about? 

Kim: Thursday. Oh my god. It's, there's no most. I mean, okay, I'll name you like the top few things. The pita that was served on Saturday. Rachel talked John into having that every day.

Lera:  Do you want to hear my Lois Griffin impersonation? 

Kim: Okay. 

Lera: Oh Petah. 

Kim: Oh, no.

Lera:  Is that gonna be you in a couple weeks? 

Kim: Oh my god, yes. 

Lera: Are you gonna walk into the cafeteria and be like, I'm gonna "Oh Petah". Every lunchtime, every lunch. I'm gonna be sure, I am going to be so damn sure to be in the cafeteria at the same time as you are, so every time you get your food, I will be there. I will be there, and I will "Oh Petah" you. 

Kim: Oh my god. 

Lera: Hell yeah I will. 

Kim: Okay then, okay. This is payback for the cock blocks. *laughs* 

Lera: You know... Truly, truly, signing the card you sent me, Cock Block Supreme, is the... 

Kim: *laughs* I forgot I did that! *laughs*

Lera: You sure did, pal. You sure did. It was a delight. I screeched laughed.

Kim: (still laughing) Oh my god.

Lera:  I hope my mom never finds that card. 

Kim: Oh my GOD.

Lera:  You sounded like Sally Field in Mrs. Doubtfire. 

Kim: Okay, so pita, sitting in the river, the bean fire, meeting my patrons.

Lera: Hell yeah!

Kim: I'm excited for that, because they're like my little family. I talk to them every day. I Love them.

Lera:  Mama Kim has a following. As intended.

Kim:  That's fucking weird, dude. Fucking weird.

Lera: You deserve it.

Kim:  And seeing you guys! and just... I'm excited to see everybody.

Lera:  I am too. Really and truly, Anahata's has been one of the main reasons that I have met so many incredible people in this community. And you know, once a year is just not enough.

Kim: I know. That's why I'm trying to talk people into coming to the gem show because it's like the exact perfect timing. And there's a bunch of crystals and it's warm. 

Lera: It's perfect. It doesn't get any better than that. 

Kim: What are you looking forward to? 

Lera: Seeing all of you. And I just know that this year I will meet a lot of new people that I will fall completely in love with, and walk away knowing that I now know more cool people. So that's a main thing. I have a cafeteria favorite as well. I really hope that Rachel brings back the lemon danishes. The lemon danishes and I had a torrid love affair last year, that I am very much looking forward to rekindling. And if anyone accumulates a surplus of lemon danish at any point during Anahata's, I will be available for... 

Kim: I don't even know what you're talking about. So I'm excited to experience them for the first time. 

Lera: Are you a big fan of like lemon bars or anything lemon related? 

Kim: YES. 

Lera: You will love these. 

Kim: Oh man.

Lera:  They are flaky and lemon curdy and just the right amount of sweet and sour. And you know, they were put on this planet to, you know, enjoy life. 

Kim: Torture us. 

Lera: Yeah. Oh, hell yeah. 

Kim: Okay, yay. 

Lera: I'm getting hungry. 

Kim: Okay, at the end... Okay, sorry, no, go, go, go. Tell me more Anahata's goodness. 

Lera: Just one, well, yeah,  archery. That's the other thing. Archery. I was so drawn to archery, the last time I was there, I think I only got to do like two lessons so I will probably be out there as much as I possibly can this year. Just, yeah. It'll be great.

Kim: Cool.

Lera: That's it.

Kim: Now at the end there's two surprise things. Basically everybody knows what they are at this point if they've listened to the podcast before ever. So please recommend something to the listeners. 

Lera: Recommend something. Anything? 

Kim: Yep. 

Lera: If you ever get stung by anything and you can't seem to make the swelling go down, put an onion on it. 

Kim: Hmm. Cut? 

Lera: You know, take a Benadryl of course if you can. Mundane remedies apply but particularly for, you know, swelling in the immediate area around the sting, slap an onion on that baby. 

Kim: Cut? A cut onion? 

Lera: Yeah cut one in half. Do it. 

Kim: Huh. I... see, that's the kind of thing I want, weird weird shit like that. 

Lera: That is my best off-the-wall recommendation. I've only been stung by a bee once in my life. It was very early in my childhood. I screamed my head off and then my grandpa cut an onion and put it on there and I was fine in about 20 minutes. 

Kim: Huh. Second question, please tell me a story that you love to tell. 

Lera: *takes deep breath and blows it out* Okay. Okay. So a few years ago, just after I graduated college, I was renting a house with a couple of friends that I went to college with. And one of my roommates/friends and I were at Walmart, probably preparing for a night out, or maybe like staying in and drinking. Either way, we were buying wine, like a lot of wine. And we were at the self-checkout at Walmart. And I didn't have my glasses on. That's a very important element to this story. And so, you know, when you buy alcohol at Walmart, the associates come and card you. So, this girl walks up to check my ID and I don't have my glasses on and she's got a t-shirt under her blue Walmart vest which is zipped up so I don't see the person on the shirt very clearly but for some reason I think it's Danny DeVito. 

Kim: (whispering) Oh no...

Lera: And so me being me I ask her "Is that Danny DeVito on your shirt?" I was thinking, oh cool, it's always Sunny in Philadelphia shirt or something. And, she looks at me and says, "No, that's my sister." 

Kim: *wheezing* And all I can say is "Oh." And my roommate has watched all this happen. She has been carded, rang up her shit, paid, has a bag in her hand, and she didn't stay for the fallout of this conversation. She was already half way out the door, because she heard every word and she wanted NO part of the consequence of my mistake.

Kim: *continues to wheeze* Oh my god! Oh my god! 

Lera: Yeah.

Kim:  Bravo. 

Lera:  Yeah. 

Kim: Oh Jesus. 

Lera: So that's a thing. 

Kim: I applaud you. And your bad vision. Having... being very close to being blind myself, I relate so hard. *wheezing* 

Lera: I felt so bad. I felt so bad because you know... 

Kim: I hope she wasn't dead. I hope her sister wasn't dead and it wasn't a memoriam shirt. 

Lera: I think about that all the damn time. (Kim continues to laugh) I think about it all the fucking time. I hope so too. I hope wherever this person is, I... the thing is, she was very nonchalant about all of this. (Kim continues to laugh) There was no like visceral reaction. It was a very matter of fact attack on her end. "No, that's my sister."

Kim: Maybe it really does look like Danny DeVito. 

Lera: Maybe. I'm not, I, that's okay. Maybe, maybe she's heard it before. Maybe this is not the first time she's been asked if that was Danny DeVito on her shirt. 

Kim: (still wheeze-laughing) Oh my god, I can't. 

Lera: I know there's a movie that somebody yells, "Danny DeVito, is that you?" Is that Mean Girls? 

Kim: Probably. Oh my god, yeah. The kid, yeah. 

Lera: Damien? 

Kim: It sounds like that's something he would yell. Yes, it sounds like a Damien line. 

Lera: Wasn it Danny DeVito? It was someone. I feel like he yells, "Oh my god, Danny DeVito, I love your work." I feel like if that's the right movie and the right character and the right actor that thinking of, I had my mundane version that embarrassed the absolute shit out of me.

Kim:  To the point that it's still mortifying, I guess.

Lera:  Oh my god. But I love to tell this story.

Kim: But it's an amazing story. 

Lera: I love telling this story. This is my favorite story to tell. 

Kim: Well, thanks for being on the show.

Lera:  Well, thanks for having me.

Kim:  Okay, I'll see you in two weeks.

 Lera: No, you hang up first. 

Kim: *laughing* I am!

Lera:  Okay. See you in two weeks. Thank you.

Kim:  It is, once again, love letter time. This one says, Kim's interviews are fantastic. I always hear a bit of myself in them. It feels like having a shared history with someone I've never met. Thank you. Although it's almost kind of creepy, but I still appreciate you. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet on Instagram at YourAverageWitchPodcast, Twitter at AverageWitchPod, Facebook at Facebook.com/YourAverageWitchPodcast, at YourAverageWitch.com and at your favorite podcast service. Want to help the podcast grow? Leave a review. You can review us on Amazon and Apple podcasts and now you can rate us on Spotify. You just might hear your review read at the end of the next episode. To rate Your Average Witch on Spotify, click the home key, click on Your Average Witch podcast, and then leave a rating. You can also support the show by going to patreon.com/cleverkimscurios. If you'd like to recommend someone for the podcast, like to be on it yourself, or if you'd like to advertise on the podcast, send an email to youraveragewitchpodcast at gmail.com. Thanks for listening and I'll see you when the moon changes. 

Lera: For the listeners, I just need to make everyone aware of the special bond that Kim and I have. And that is that she always seems to message me right when I have a date. 

Kim: *laughs* All the time. 

Both simultaneously: Every time. 

Lera: A very, very singular connection Kim and I have.

Kim:  It's the sixth sense no one ever wanted. And it's useless to everyone. In fact, no one wants me to have it.

Lera: If I ever have a wedding, you will already be invited to it. But now I just want you to know that I am doubly inviting you to my wedding, just so it guarantees that you don't DM me on my wedding night. 

Kim: Oh. Lera: And you still will. 

Kim: I will. 

Lera: You will. 

Kim: Because there will be something that I think of that's really funny that I have to tell you right at that moment. It'll be great. It'll probably be about a snack. Yo, look at this cheeseburger. Doesn't it look great? 

Lera: Yeah, the caterer really went all out for this uh, fictional wedding.