Samantha, Hedgereader

This week I talked to Samantha, a tarot reader and plant witch. Samantha told us about what makes her a witch (if she is one), talking to plants, and vulnerability. 
If the intro sounds different, it just means your ears are working- Macy of the Witch Bitch Amateur Hour recorded the intro for me. If you don't already listen to WBAH you're missing out, so go remedy that immediately. I'll wait.

I lost a family member this week and am taking a couple of weeks off- luckily, I record and edit ahead of time, so you still have an episode this week.  I'll be back on December 12th, where we'll meet Wish, the Whimsy Witch.

Find Samantha here:
instagram.com/samanthareadsgood
hedgereader.com

Transcript

Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where every Tuesday we talk about witch life, witch stories, and sometimes a little witchcraft. Your Average Witch is brought to you by Clever Kim's Curios and if you have listened at all, if you have listened at all ever once, you're realizing this is not Kim. No, it is not. This is Macy. Hi. So unfortunately, Kim lost a family member this week. A fur family member. The one and only treasure known as Chuck. So she's going to be taking a couple of weeks off, naturally. And I just have to say, as someone who did have the esteemed pleasure of meeting Chuck, I would just love to have a moment of howling, if we may, for this creature that used his voice with such bravado and skill. Let us all take a nice deep breath in, and if you're in a space to do so, let's point that snoot up, breathe in, and let you out a good old howl.  Here we go... (howling) RIP sweet, sweet Chuck. However, since Kim records and edits episodes ahead of time, honestly remarkable. What is that like, Kim? You still have an episode this week, guys. Kim talked to Samantha this week, a tarot reader and plant witch. Samantha talks about what makes her a witch, if she is one, talking to plants, and vulnerability. Your average witch is, again, taking some time off over the next two weeks. It'll be back on December 12th, where we'll meet Wish, the whimsy witch. Now let's get to the stories.

Kim: Hi, Samantha. Welcome to the show.

Samantha: Thank you.

Kim: Would you please let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you?

Samantha: I will. I'm Samantha. You can call me well, some of you can call me Sam. You can choose. I am a tarot reader, movement practitioner, and plant potion maker. I am on Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Nakota Sioux territory.

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

Samantha: I've been thinking about this since, well, since I heard my friend on the podcast and then since the questions that I was sent. Like, do I call myself a witch? I don't know. If I ask myself questions like, is a witch someone who interacts with the unseen world, then yes, is a witch, somebody who is, alone, not necessarily in the physical aspect, then yes. Is a witch somebody who is, I don't know what's the word, not, well, yes, antiestablishment in a way but anti most things, I hope that makes sense, then yes. Is a witch somebody who is insecure, who doesn't know what they're doing half the time. Then no, yes, I could go on. I'll stop. 

Kim:  Do you do witchcraft? 

Samantha: (laughs) Witchcraft does me. 

Kim: Okay. 

Samantha: In a way. So what I'm finding is it's a natural thing, and I'm realizing how much I do it quote-unquote I'll leave it at that. 

Kim: (laughs) Okay.

Samantha: Just laugh, please. (laughs)

Kim: Would you say that you have any family history which with witchcraft? Or even if your family would not use that term, do you feel like they did witchy things when you were a kid? 

Samantha:  I have a really funny story and please take this as like the ignorance of a teenager. All of it. Just it's funny. I think I was 14 and I was reading the Spiral Dance. That's what it's called, right? Starhawk. And I swear this was in there. Maybe it even wasn't. But half of my family was American. So we go back very far. And so we were related to John Adams. He's one of the presidents of the United States. 

Kim: We might be related then! 

Samantha: Call me Sam then! (both laugh) And I, so she mentioned in that book, I swear, that he was associated with witchcraft. And this is like, you know, the 80s and 90s idea of witchcraft. Yeah, and that... something about a dragon too. I know this sounds weird. So anyway I saw that and I thought oooo, lineage! That's ridiculous. There was no direct talk about witchcraft. I lost my parents in my teens, and so I didn't have much time to talk about those things. But my mother was a artist, a watercolour artist, and just the way she interacted with nature, the green world. I mean, all the signs were there. There was an article of her in one of the papers in a city nearby. She was on the front page of the art section and she was hugging a tree. So, I mean, yeah.

Kim: That's sweet.

Samantha: Yeah. 

Kim: Do you have a practice?

Samantha: And if you do, can you introduce us to it and maybe introduce us to any consistent things that you do that you consider part of your practice?

Samantha: Yes. You've caught me at a really strange time in my life. It probably has to do with midlife. I think that's a big kind of initiatory journey in itself. But I'm very, I'm becoming just very aware of how much I do the, like I do these things naturally, these things, whatever we're talking about, witchiness. And so I thought before, like, oh, I need some sort of practice that looks like what a practice looks like in a book. And I went through that, which I think is an essential, probably, phase. But yeah, and now I'm like, oh, I've been doing it all along. My practice is I'm lucky enough to be by some woods and I walk in those woods almost every day. And I acknowledge them, and  I always kind of talk to the beings, the non-human persons there. I pick up garbage. I leave offerings. I'm just starting to ask for support or help. And I think that's actually a practice in itself. I've just never... I'm going to be vulnerable here because, you know, the world's ending. What else do I have to lose? But I never felt good enough to ask for help in a way. Partially that goes back to just childhood shit, right? Bit also being very aware of my privilege, and also being very aware of how much, like the idea of witchcraft, and how do I put it? Like big C Christianity, like the, you know, Christianity as a corporation has...

Kim: Hmmm, what a good phrase!

Samantha: Yeah, because, I mean, there's something to be said for, I mean, Christianity as a root of witchcraft or something that's like they're co-joined in a lot of European cultures. I don't want to sound like an asshole. Oh, am I allowed to swear? 

Kim: Hell yes. 

Samantha: Okay, good. I know more than asshole, so that's good. (Kim laughs) So I'll try to put some more in there. But yeah, just very aware of how spirituality has been this kind of like human-centered, how can you help me, do this for me. So all that kind of insecurity and then understanding that me asking for support or help in relationship as a sort of partnership and bond instead of some kind of narcissistic ask, that's becoming my practice. I hope I'm making sense. I feel like I'm rambling. And then also it's just the practice of like, I've  always noticed and acknowledged the trees and the birds and the stones, always. So that's my practice. I've come back to that slowly. Maybe that's another normal thing of realizing, I just, like, this stuff, stuff meaning practice, shouldn't be hard, in the way of hard to keep up with.  I think practice is hard when it needs to be hard, but this should live with like within us and inside of us. I hope I'm not, I hope I'm making sense and not not making sense. Oh my gosh. (laughs) So yeah, it's being aware of the relationshiops I'm in constantly. That's my practice. And then maybe sometimes I'll light a candle and give some water and pull some cards.

Kim: That sounds very familiar to me.

Samantha: Good.

Kim: That's how I roll too. Can I just say, by the way, everyone who has trees near you, be thankful. I miss trees a lot.

Samantha: I can't imagine not having trees around.

Kim: We have some. There are like four, five trees on my property, but I miss a forest, let me tell you.

Samantha: Mhmmm. I and I wonder, then, like what... How much influence those tree beings have, if that makes sense, and like what... Because I assume you're in kind of a more desert climate.

Kim: Mhmmm.

Samantha: So yeah. It's just interesting then, what plants are the forest in respect of like, the kind of mycelial underneath. Like what does mycelial network look like in a desert, I wonder.

Kim: Rugged.

Samantha: Rugged, dry.

Kim: For being a thing that I think of when I think of moisture, the mold here is wild. If it gets, if it's, if there's any moisture, you immediately, something will immediately get covered in mold because the mold is like, oh shit, we better get on it now. It's going to be gone.

Samantha: Wow.

Kim: It goes crazy.

Samantha: That's really cool because I would associate mold more with like West Coast kind of climates near an ocean. Who knew? Not me.

Kim: It's not just like out. You don't see it unless it's like monsoon, which means I have not seen it in a very long time because we have had crap monsoon for basically since I've lived here. Sorry that I brought a drought. It's pretty crazy. Would you say that witchcraft has changed your life?

Samantha: Of course, and not in the ways I necessarily agreed to.

Kim: That's an interesting way to phrase it.

Samantha: Yeah, it's not like... I've really dove deep the last three, four years. I mean, previously, I like had kids. I had to kind of learn to live in the, how do you call it, not real world, material world, I don't even know, that world. So I naturally moved away from it. So the last three years, three, four years, reading tons, becoming more and more aware or reconnecting with my awareness. And then diving deep into tarot and eventually reading with others. And it's just the influence that all of these things have on a body, on a person, is I'm finding quite, for me personally, of course, astounding. And looking back, it's just, I, you know, okay, I'll read cards for other people. And I believe that when I read tarot, it's within relationship with that other person and all the beings. So that process, it changes that person, but it also changes me. And then I started doing these underworld readings that I developed. (echoing) **Underworld readings.** Is that good?

Kim: (hootlaughs) That's going to be perfect!

Samantha: (laughs) Please leave it.

Kim: (laughing)  Oh, that is delightful.

Samantha: That's all I care about, is delight and food and a good TV show.

Kim: Wait, are you a Taurus?

Samanth: No, I am Pisces Sun, Gemini Moon, Aquarius Rising.

Kim: You did just say that. I(laughing) Sorry.

Samantha: I have no Earth. No, I have only... I have...

Kim: That's one of the Taurusest things I've heard anyone say. (laughs)

Samantha: I want to be a Taurus. Who knows? But yeah, no. Maybe it's the Chiron in Taurus in the fourth house. Just wanting to feel my body.

Kim: (laughs) That sounded Aquarius.

Samantha: Yeah, somebody please.

Kim: I'm sorry, I interrupted you. That was just, made me really laugh to think about it just suddenly being like, UNDERWORLD. (laughs)

Samanyha:  But it's true. It is echoey. Those readings, like, they're about two hours and going with the person into the underworld, and they're going through their stuff. Stupid me.

Kim: Do you have chickens?!

Samantha: (laughs and whispers) Yes, sorry. Can you hear them? LEAVE 'EM IN.

Kim: (laughing) I am.

Samantha: Okay.  Yes, I have chickens who are very vocal about all of their problems. Yeah, so What am I trying to say? Yes, it changed me and it changed my body and it, These things that I'm doing have changed me in ways that have been I guess like shadow like. This idea of shadow work, where I don't necessarily agree with, I think it's more you can, you do not know your shadow until you go through facing it, if that makes sense. So that's how it's changed me. Obviously, I know a lot of people, if they can understand what I'm saying, are like, duh. Like witchcraft has been peeling back these layers of protection around me. Protection of like my ego self. Protection of like me wanting just to be a normal person, quote/unquote, that way. And never how I thought it would. And it's not fair. And the chickens agree. 

Kim: That's gonna be one of the soundbites that I use because what you just said is super cool. 

Samantha: Okay.

Kim: Even with the chicken. (laughs)

Samantha: Accentuation. No, that's not a word. (laughs) They're the, the uh... the emoji.

Kim: (laughs) Ooo, audio emojis!

Samantha: Yes. Huh. I don't know what I'm talking about. (laughs)

Kim: Me neither, but it made sense at the time.

Samantha: Thank you. And then she leaves.

Kim: (laughing) The end! Thanks, everyone. (both laugh) What would you say is the biggest motivator in your practice and has it changed since you first started out?

Samantha: The core of it, which is being more aware of my relationship with spirits has not changed. But my own response to it, or how I thought it should be, or how I should be, has changed, of course. Like, I'm a people pleaser, by nature. Again, another survival instinct from childhood. And I don't have to be like a spirit pleaser, I guess. It's not like, "Hey guys, like me." So now it's just trying to notice my part in the ecosystem of spirits around me, instead of being like, thinking I'm like the central part of it. Does that make sense?

Kim: Yeah. I'm thinking about it. (laughs)

Samantha: You think about things? (laughs)

Kim: Sometimes.

Samantha: I don't.

Kim:  Often it's not what you would be expecting me to think about during an interview, but yes. (laughs)

Samantha: Oh, I'm not surprised.

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

Samantha: Trusting that I have my own way, and that my own way is right and good. Yeah, and I guess it's the relationship with myself. Yeah, and understanding my own sovereignty and my own individuality amidst humans and other non-human persons.

Kim: Would you call that impostor syndrome?

Samantha: (laughs) Yes.

Kim: How do you beat it? What do you do? Do you just deal with it and just be like, oh, this sucks, but slog through it, or do you actually do anything?

Samantha: I've come to understand, and this is through one of my tarot teachers and then my own experience, that when that voice, those voices are there saying whatever they say, however they say it in your brain. For me it's like you're full of shit, or who do you think you are? All of that, then that means I'm on the right track. Because there's a part of me, call it ego, but I don't mean it in the more, I don't know, white light, all white sense. Oh my god. (laughs) more of ego, nervous system, brain as the part of us that wants, thinks it's supposed to keep us safe and the same, and that growth and change are the antithesis of safety. And that's not true. And so it's more of just saying like, we got this, this is not threatening, there's no physical threat. This change will be good and maybe yes, brain part of you, your story, the way you interact with the world will die, but then you'll just have more room to do what you need to do, which is do what you're good at. Like, you know, think. Be creative. Communicate. Problem-solve instead of being an asshole. Oh no, maybe that is my only swear word. Instead of being an asshole and trying to tell me that I don't know what I'm doing.

Kim: Huh.

Samantha: Yeah. Huh. Can I say...

Kim: I had something I was going to say and then it just went away from my brain because I was listening so intently.

Samantha: Oh, that's nice. I will say that huh is very American. You know, Canadians say eh, but Americans, well, the ones that I'm around when I go visit my family, is huh. Just saying.

Kim: That's interesting. I love weird little linguistic quirks. Huh. See? I can't control it. (laughs)

Samantha: Yes. That's eh. I find eh offensive. I never say it. I probably do.

Kim: Holy crap. I just want to keep doing it because I'm keeping, I keep having that feeling where you say, huh.

Samantha: Yes, don't think of a white elephant, and don't say huh.

Kim: Yep. And I can't say, I can't, that's... I can't. (laughing) Okay we have to move on because I will think about this forever.

Samantha: Just mute and huh huh huh it out.

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

Samantha: It's,it's.. this is cheesy, but...

Kim: Good.

Samantha: Iit's the wind, the leaves, the trees, the birds. It's really about the birds for me. Then noticing the plant just there and I've walked that same path for years and all of a sudden it's there. It's like, oh my gosh, okay, you're talking to me. This is exciting. And then the next day I find a whole patch of the plant. It's being invited into relationship by different beings, especially in the green world or the real world, I guess. That's joy.

Kim: I love that. Oh, being invited in. Oh, my heart.

Samantha: I just TM'd it. (both laugh)

Kim: What's something you did early on in your practice that you don't do anymore? And why don't you do it?

Samantha: I am very much an airy person, so I do many things and never stick to much. I used to really be like aware of how people said to give offerings to nature. And I was, like I'm very aware of the practices of the peoples that were here before me. I've went through a time of really knowing that that's like, not my culture, of course, not my practices, and how do I honor the green world here in my own way, but knowing that they've had a relationship with humans in certain ways, if that makes sense. So it's like, okay, tobacco, I used to be like, okay, I'll just give tobacco all the time. And then, and some would say booze, whiskey, then I would do that. And then I thought about it, like, I just don't... First of all I need to find my way because I have no culture to really connect to. And I don't think alcohol is necessarily good for the earth, or how I was doing it. And it probably pisses off some spirits. And granted, some spirits are just pissed off. That's just natural. And then somebody told me cornmeal and I was like, that doesn't grow around here, and even the tobacco. So yeah, I don't... now it's water, or some of my hair, honey. I think honey might be a universal. So yeah, I don't do that anymore.

Kim: That's a good one. I've switched to water since moving here, actually.

Samantha: That makes sense.

Kim: It has a much higher value here than it did, like in Virginia.

Samantha: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that's why- it's like leaving room for those beings to tell you. Also, I was bringing eggs to the spring that I go to. And okay, I was just being Sam, so I wasn't thinking it through. And I was like, oh, there's these eggs that have been in the chicken coop for a while. I'll just give those ones. So I left them. And then I came back, I think it was two days later, and the eggs were gone. I was like, oh, cool, like thinking I'm cool. And then so I walked further, and my dogs were up, up higher by some trees, and they were rolling in something. (Kim gasps and laughs)

It smelled so bad. Like what are you- was that shit? Is that a corpse?

Kim: Oh no. 

Samantha: It was the freaking eggs. And first of all, some moved it from those springs and dropped it and said, do not do that again. And here, here have these dogs in your house that smell like rotten eggs. 

Kim: It's the damn eggs you left us. 

Samantha: Yeah. So it was like, okay, please. I am going to say sorry. I know I might get in trouble for saying sorry, but actually I'm sorry and I'll try better next time. Please don't be mad.

Kim: Hmm I've left eggs.

Samantha: Just don't leave old eggs.

Kim: You've got crows too? You got all the nature there! Or was that still a chicken?

Samantha: Oh no, oh, no. They are legion. I have, there's crows. I feed the crows and I feed the ravens and everybody likes to party. The blue jays and the magpies and the sparrows. Yeah.

Kim: The only familiar bird here is sparrows. Everything else is new. So I haven't developed a relationship with any of them. So I'm envious.

Samantha: That's my dream. New birds.Sparrows are funny.

Kim: They live in my saguaro.

Samantha: What's that?

Kim: The big, like, you know how in cartoons there's the cactus that has the arms?

Samantha: Mhmmm.

Kim: That.

Samantha: Wow. That's so cool. I want to come there.

Kim: Okay! come in for Gem Show in February. First week of February, everyone.

Samantha:  Okay. I'll have to find some money. Why am I talking so slow? I think it's the microphone echo in my ears. I just sound so great.

Kim: (laughs) What's your favorite tool in your practice? Does not have to be a physical object, and why, and how do you use it?

Samantha: It's my body, even though it's not necessarily a tool.

Kim: If you use it, it is.

Samantha: Yes. The crow agrees.  I, because I'm able to communicate and sense and feel everything around me through it, and I mean, it's a gift. And it's just one body, it's this physical body that contains like many different bodies/spirits inside of me, but I think that's... yeah. I think I'm very lucky to have this tool.

Kim: That's cool. I like when people use, like I like seeing how people interpret that question. So we all get into low periods in life and I feel in their practice. If you experience that, how do you pull yourself out of it?

Samantha: Last four months, what? I actually think, even though what I think isn't necessarily how I feel, like take my own advice, but I think that it's a natural thing that happens, obviously, but I think everything reflects the laws of nature, so there are generative times and there are times of decay and of being, you know, stuck or held. And I think it's essential. So now it's more about trust and knowing sometimes that period of time is for a good reason. Maybe the spirit... (sounds of crows cawing) (laughs) Why is everybody so loud? (Kim laughs) Maybe the spirits that are with me, that I'm a part of, are keeping me there, keeping my head down, so to speak, to keep me safe. And so things just don't work. And I feel like, shit, I'm really sorry for myself. But that's a time of change, transformation. It's the squeeze, I guess, before the release. That sounds, don't anybody think too hard on that one because it didn't sound very good.

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

Samantha: Please, sorry, tell me if I need to shut my window, because...

Kim:  I like it. 

Samantha: Me too. 

Kim: If you don't like it, then go ahead. But I don't get to hear many crows. 

Samantha: Well, they're yelling at me, I think to feed them or who knows. But I noticed the crows migrate here. So they leave in the winter, they go somewhere, maybe they just go to the dump, like I don't know. But then the ravens come. And ravens are really quiet. And they're just their, their vibe... I refuse to say energy, I now say vibe. is just a sweet, strong presence. And then when the crows come back in the Spring I just really noticed how intense they are, and how demanding and...

Kim: Teenagers? 

Samantha: Yes, yes, but in a great way. Like they challenge, they take risks, they're assholes. That's number three, I think. Yeah. So anyway, what was the question? 

Kim: I have no idea. Oh. What is something you wish was discussed more in the witch community? 

Samantha: (pauses) Hmmm. That's a hard one. I mean, like the witch community, I guess, let's be honest, it's very much a social kind of media thing. That's how I think of the witch community. Like within it, there's these like pockets of, you know, I listen to a podcast and somebody talks about, because one of the things I want to say is vulnerability, but somebody talks about that. Just speaking on how, you know, where to be vulnerable is important, I think. It should be talked more how, and this is what I feel like I'm going through, but how much we, how much our, like the everyday experiences we go through, are initiatory ones. And Lee Morgan, who's a wonderful author, said this, that it's the shitty everyday or, you know, once in a lifetime, like those really crappy experiences, those are the things that change us and that are associated with what it is to be a witch. Because we're so aware of it, I hope this makes sense. I think the mundane should be talked about more through a magical lens, like turning it into magical thinking, like some sort of like dream. I'm sure you've noticed in our in Western culture right now, this this big kind of theme of like the matrix and that this world, which I know can be traced back to different religious beliefs or different practices in a way, Eastern practices, but you know that it's like, it's not reality, this world right now. That makes sense. But it is. And this is where we're interacting. And so, you know, like, talking about how our bodies and our emotions and our thoughts aid us in our growth, but also not witchcraft as like self-growth either. I don't know. I have to think about that more too, to maybe make more sense. But I guess it's the vulnerability of being human. That's where some of our greatest power comes.

Kim: That is a beautiful answer.

Samantha: Well, I don't remember what I said, so...

Kim: The vulnerability of being human, just... that is beautiful. It also hurts my feelings a little bit.

Samantha: Yeah, well, I mean, I could go on a tangent about, I really think that it's through our feelings, our emotional responses, that there's keys there. It's our experience with futility. So coming up against things we cannot change and grieving over that and feeling that, I think that's a window into being a human magical person. And also experiencing joy, which I think is on the same spectrum of grief, where they're one in the same thing. You can't have one without the other. Anyway, I could ramble about that. But it is through our emotional experience. I'm not even saying psychological. I'm saying our emotions need to be talked about more, I think. And I know some people are saying like, not like that's psychology, or that I'm not even saying that I'm saying that that's where our interface is with spirits. I think also it's really hard to talk about these things and make them make sense for me. I feel it in my body and so I, to articulate it is really hard.

Kim: That makes sense. It's frustrating, but it makes sense.

Samantha: When I die, I want somebody, like, I don't know what I want, do I wanna be burned? I don't know, anyway, but maybe on a plaque or something, it'll say, Sam, she made sense.

Kim: I think I want an ellipsis. And then what in lowercase letters, and then period.

Samantha: That is, I'm jealous. Oh, that's really great. I also think laughter is another key to like connection with other and connection to like one's own power. I'm onto something there.

Kim: Somebody complained that I laughed too much on this podcast.

Samantha: Good for them. Great.

Kim: I have not gotten over it. But also, HA HA.

Samantha: Well, maybe you can say...

Kim: (laughing) I ain't stoppin'!

Samantha: Well, and I don't remember asking. Like...

Kim: Yeah. I guess you should find a different podcast because this is what this one is.

Samantha:  I, yeah, I don't understand how people feel like they need to share those things. Like it's, I don't know, it's not productive.

Kim: Well, I don't think they listen anymore because I never quit. Do you ever work with other witches?

Samantha: For me, I'm noticing now, it's just through like a natural friendship relationship that I work with others physically where I am. I'm in central Alberta, which is very fundamentalist Christian. Yeah, like just... there's a billboard on the side of the highway on the way to our capital city in this province. And the billboard has, it has the Alberta flag and the American flag and then two hands shaking. Like this province wants to become part of the United States.

Kim: Ew.

Samantha: It's... it's weird. It's like one of the biggest oil producers in our country. A lot of... also rural farming here. And some of the biggest, largest atrocities, is that, did I say that right? Whatever atrocities, yeah? To Indigenous people here. So, with that said, there's a lot of blood in this land, a lot of ignorance, a lot of very much colonial values. So there's not a lot of people who, especially rural, would identify as witch or magical. There is a lot of, like, and pumpkin lattes.

Kim: Oh, so you have Han Solo women.

Samantha: Yeah. (laughs) Yeah. Two, you know, they're very...

Kim: But is it good vibes only type?

Samantha:  Yes. Buns, vibes. I wear one all the time.

Kim: Messy buns though.

Samantha: Messy buns, vibes, tattoos. And just I mean, I think that kind of New Age spirituality is just a new kind of born-again Christianity, but more even more capitalistic. And it's making, so there's no, that I know, not many people around here. And I'm so private about what I do in a way, like I am myself, but, and I'm a snob a bit, because people have a certain idea of what being a witch, or witchiness, is. And I'm not in a city where I'm sure there's a lot, but yeah, they just, it's all learned from TV or social media. So through friendship, online, but in just a natural friendship way that things begin to change, that unbeknownst to us at the time, our conversation creates some sort of magic.

Kim: That's sort of what happens with the people I run around with. And by run around, I mean talk to you on the internet. (laughs)

Samantha: Yes.

Kim: I do not have a a real social group locally. There's one person from my internet group who lives close by, but by close by, I mean within two hours, so.

Samantha: Mhmmm.  And I don't know what it's like to be with like in a group of like, I think of it like a magical tradition, you know, or a coven. I can't separate it for me from that, like, 90s co-opted kind of Wiccan. And I'm not, this is not me judging, this is just for me. Yeah, that kind of circle casting and dancing naked, which is cool, but dancing naked according to a book, you know? Just not my thing.

Kim: I have experienced it, but it's only been at Anahata's Purpose, really, which I recommend if you have not heard of it, consider coming next year. Super great.

Samantha: Cool. That's why I don't want to sound like an asshole, it's more of just how I feel about it. So I think I'm bettera lone in those respects, maybe.

Kim: Consider-

Samantha: Nobody wants to see me naked. (both laugh)

Kim: I have thought that, but then I thought I don't give a shit what other people want, this is what I want. But still, most of the time I don't want that, because... bugs.

Samantha: Yeah. Yeah, maybe a better way is like I don't want to see me-

Kim: With bugbites later. Or dirt in my crotch.

Samantha: Or feel myself being so insecure about being naked around other people, you know? It's just like, okay.

Kim: Oh, and now you have to come to Anahata's.

Samantha: And be naked? Just arrive.

Kim: Yeah. (laughing) It's just on your way in...

Samantha: Yeah, I got a problem.

Kim: Ope, I see the sign! Lemme take my pants off.

Samantha: Yeah, customs was weird, but I told them... (Kim laughs)

Kim:  Okay, here's an example. It's taken me three years, but I finally just wore a sports bra around. That's basically what I wore the whole time this year, because Anahata's was like three weeks ago. I just wore a sports bra the entire time.

Samantha: That's amazing.

Kim: I am not what you would call shapely. I mean, there are some shapes... but it's not an hourglass. (both laugh) It's like if you put a can of peas (Samantha laughs) into a hydraulic press and then squished it... a quarter inch.

Samantha: And then it's "What?" (both laugh) I'm at a place, too, where it's like separating my own vanity from, like, I know a lot of it is kind of just insecurity mixed with vanity. And that, like, that's another, it's probably initiation of getting closer to the other is stripping, being stripped of, like said, vanity, of worry. And I just, I know these past three years I'm just like slowly being stripped of these layers that prevent me from interacting with these beings. So I'm just not there yet with the naked stripping. Oooh, that's so... yeah, maybe I'll just start stripping.

Kim: I will say, 90 degree weather and like higher than 50% humidyt changes your outlook on clothing.

Samantha: Yeah, I guess it's a privilege to  care about those things.

Kim: Think of your three, the three biggest influences on your practice. It doesn't have to be people, it can be anything. It can be an object, it could be a thought. What would you thank them for?

Samantha: Okay. It's the living beings around me. So, trees, animals, my own, like little tiny yard. I would thank them for being patient, and like just continuing. And I know they're not there for me, but they're, the feeling of them and has never gone away. It just took me a long time to realize that the things that I've always wanted are right here, and that's relationship. And, I think, books. I mean, without them I wouldn't be able to connect to my own knowing. And my relationships with people, too. And my family. Oh, I could go on and on. But it is, I guess... it's relationship.

Kim: That's cool. Do you have any advice for anybody just starting out?

Samantha: ...To be easy on yourself. And to trust...well, I would say this is personal experience. That's all I know really is the things that you're naturally good at. You'll probably maybe not think they're good enough, or maybe think, who knows, the opposite. They're like everything, but you'll probably move away from them trying to do something else or something quote unquote better. And then you'll come back to them and realize those were the things, the ways of being, the skills that you have. Those were all you needed in the first place, just as they are. 

Kim: I like that one. Who do you think I should have on the show?

Samantha: I think you should have Selene on your show. She is at Mantodea Dream. And I hope I'm saying that right. She's a sorceress, a sound weaver. She plays a theremin and other instruments. And she is an astrolater. So she's somebody who works with fixed stars. And I would love to hear, just to hear her speak is a wonderful thing. But I am very curious about star, fixed star work and astrology, but more traditional astrology. She is, her instagram is just a beautiful thing to look at, and her website is exceptional. I thought I wrote it down, but I didn't. You'll have to see via her Instagram. But I had a fixed stars reading from her, and if you've never experienced fixed star reading, I highly recommend it.

Kim: I've never even heard of it, so that'll be interesting to look up.

Samantha: Yes. Rabbit hole alert. I'm just finding, like I've made a lot of connections with people in their 20s, magical people over the internet, and they are, there's this confidence, and I'm talking, I'm including Selene in this. There's this confidence that- and this like knowing that they have, that is really admirable, and I love how they're taking the old things, the ancient things, and giving them life again. I don't know, they've taught me so much and I'm in awe of these like next generation, oh my god I'm old, but of people. Like you've had David of Porous Palms, the dirt sorcerer, on. He's another person who's just exceptionally talented, and so young, and I mean that in the best way.

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

Samantha: I would like to know what the question, what's the three things that influence you? I think that was the question, something like that. And what would you tell them? I want to know that for you.

Kim: (whispers) Oh no.

Samantha: Oh, yes!

Kim: It's changed since the last time I asked. I mean, I answered.

Samantha: That's great!

Kim:  I think maybe it has. I'm not sure. OK, one of the big influences that I don't know if I've said or not is my bees, my hive, my people. They have influenced me a lot in the past year. Because I do the spell boxes, and to do the spell boxes, I have to think of the theme. And once I think of the theme, I have to craft a spell for it. And then so I'm investigating and reading about and researching things that I would never have done otherwise. This past month was a inner child box. I would never- the things that I bought for that box, I would never have purchased for myself. Just because it seems frivolous. So in shopping for this box for other people I got to play a little bit for myself, so that was really fun. And they, they're just inspiring. They ask questions and they tell us about their interests and what they're working on and how they're doing it. And we're all so different and I love it and I love them. And that's one huge influence. The other one is... it's still Witch Bitch Amateur Hour. Charlye and Macy just give me new things to think about all the time. Plus, they're just hilarious and good friends. So I love them. They make me a better person. And in that, okay Corey from Corey's Cauldron. He is probably a bigger influence than he realizes, but he's very grounding for me so I turn to him a lot if... I'm getting more into spirit stuff, which I've never done before, and I feel like he has a better handle on it than I do. So I ask him all kinds of stuff. Those right now are the three biggest influences on my practice currently.

Samantha: I think it's all about relationship and where would we be if we didn't have that, or acknowledge that. Bees, that's wonderful.

Kim: It's easier to think up a name of the group than to just randomly say a bunch of words that means all of it.

Samantha: Yes, I understand.

Kim: And I like the hive because we're super friendly and cute like little bees, but also if you fuck with us, we will fuck you up. We all got stingers.

Samantha: Yeah. I really enjoy reading for people. So on my website, I have some different options. And I'm currently, it's taking way longer than I thought, but I'm currently developing a reading. And I've done some kind of guinea pig practice readings where the person tells me about their creative interests, or in a magical way, their or way they practice magic. And so let's say I did a reading for somebody who made mead and it was as also an act of spirit relationship, worship, I guess, in a way. So I researched reading around it, that the spirit, there's a lot involved, ancestors, spirits, but I also created a visual, it's like an art piece that went along with the reading. So I'm in development with that, I'm working on someone's right now. So it's strange and wonderful where I send you questions about, you know, asking about your creativity, what childhood creativity looked like for you, lots of different questions. And then I take those questions and I formulate a tailored reading to that person and also create an art piece out of it, meaning like a collage art, I guess. So yeah.

Kim: That sounds super cool!

Samantha:  Thank you.

Kim: That sounds amazingly cool.

Samantha: My youngest child told me just to say thank you and not say I know because it's rude.

Kim: Whatever.

Samantha: So thank you.

Kim: But we're also trained not to say that.

Samantha: Yeah.

Kim: "Oh, no, I couldn't!" Whatever. Thank you is good.

Samantha: Thank you is great.

Kim: And finally, there are two things that I ask of every guest. The first thing being, please recommend something to the listeners.

Samantha: There's so many things. I will recommend the Emerald podcast if you're somebody who really enjoys listening and through listening, that's how you connect with your imagination, The Emerald Podcast is, I don't know how to even explain it. One of the episodes was called something like, uh, Shapeshifter Skin. Anyway, it's animistic, lore... I don't know, just listen to it. And for the readers, any books by Josephine McCarthy, she is an exceptional magician and teacher. And for the feelers out there, there's something to be said for just lying on the ground and breathing. I tell you, it's pretty great 

Kim: There's an interesting way... nobody's ever broken it down into three parts like that. Huh, that's cool. I said huh again. I can't not.

Samantha:  I mean the world would crumble if you didn't.

Kim: Okay, I better keep it up then.

Samantha: Yes.

Kim: Finally, would you please tell me a story? It doesn't have to be witchcraft related. It doesn't have to be anything, I just like stories.

Samantha: Okay. Let me think of a good one. I forgot to plan one. Okay, the one that comes to mind, we had a leopard gecko lizard in our family. We purchased said lizard for our oldest son, who is now 22, and I didn't know that they lived for 30 years. And like with every animal that we get, I want to name it, so I named her Mab after-

Kim: Oooo!

Samantha: Yes, associated with the others. Anyway, so Magnus, my son, passed her on to my youngest child. And she was only six at the time, and so we didn't really leave her alone very often with the lizard. I was doing something, she was in her room, and I hear this yelling, Mom, Mom! So I came into the bedroom and there is my child. And I stopped at the doorway, because what I was seeing didn't make sense. And she had the lizard in her hand, Mab, but there was something bouncing up and down on the mattress and leaving like- you know, potato printing when you're a kid?

Kim: Okay...

Samantha: Where you do the, yeah. This thing was like leaving red marks as it was bouncing, like to me it was like bouncing like a foot in the air, probably not. And it took me a minute. I was like, oh, the tail of the leopard gecko had come off. (Kim gasped) Or, yeah, yes.

Kim: (laughing) Oh no...

Samantha:  I was like, oh, ew, ew, ew. And I was in my freeze mode. And so I called my partner, get in here. I don't know what to do. And my little child sitting there, so cute, just looking at us. And he also stopped at the doorway and he was like, oh, oh, oh! He didn't know what to do. And so my child said, don't worry, I'll get it. And she passed us the lizard. And she went and got tweezers and picked up the tail, and it was still wiggling. And she went into the bathroom. And she dropped it in the toilet. And she yelled, it's still moving! And then she flushed it. It's funny that this is the only story I can think of. And it took, so it took Mab a year to grow her tail back, but she was fine. But just don't leave a young child alone with an animal, because as she said, she was just playing and she wanted to hang, just hold the lizard by its tail. So I felt bad about that. Everybody's fine. The only thing that didn't survive, I guess, was a tail, the stump, or no, the end of it. It's somewhere in the water somewhere. There you go. It's a great story. It was gross.

Kim: (laughing) Yeah, I accidentally made a lizard drop its tail because it got out of its container. And then I found it under the couch. But when I moved the couch, I accidentally like grabbed its tail, like pinched its tail. And so she dropped the tail and ran out from under the couch. And so I had to do something similar, just under the couch.

Samantha: One of my good friends as a teenager had a leopard gecko and it got out. And she looked and looked and looked for it. Couldn't find it. Three years later, it was living in the basement underneath the furnace.

Kim: She must have a lot of prey living in her house.

Samantha: Yeah, never thought of that, but I guess so.

Kim: And their tails, if they have a big old fat tail they can live off that for a good while.

Kim: That's disgusting.

Samantha:  I mean that's my just my fat stores are under my guts. I don't have a tail,  but...

Samantha: Oh my gosh that's great.

Kim: Well thanks for being on the show!

Samantha: Thank you so much, I really enjoyed it.

Kim: Okay then I willl see you on instagram, bye!

Samantha: ... bye.

Kim: And now, Sam- welcome to Hive House!

Samantha: (echoes) Hello.

Kim: (laughing) Can you please tell me your favorite quote? (fades out)

Samantha: (fades in) ...vulnerable and poured my heart out a bit, and then I was walking back, and a raven, and ravens are one of my animals. Not mine, but maybe I'm one of theirs. It flew over, but it not only like flew over, because usually they just fly by and talk, but it circled about four or five times right over me. And then sat in a tree and talked for a while. (fades out)

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