Knitting Needles and Casting Spells with the Enchanting Katie Rempe

Have you ever felt the pull of the mystical in the rhythmic click of knitting needles or the swirl of a spoon in your morning brew? We're joined by Katie Rempe, the Knit Witch, a weaver of yarns and caster of spells, who embodies the magical intertwining of witchcraft and daily living. Together, we traverse her spellbinding path from questioning her abilities to fully embracing the witch within, and she unveils her enchanting knitting pattern brand, Light from Lantern. Our conversation unwraps the simple yet profound practices that can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, and reminds us that the magic we seek is often found in the familiar folds of our day-to-day lives.

Setting intentions isn't just for New Moon rituals—it's woven into the fabric of our creative endeavors and personal transformations.  We chat about the importance of maintaining a practice even when self-doubt attempts to cloud our personal skies, and discuss the unexpected gifts of imposter syndrome that can arise within the knitting community and beyond. Discover how a change in perspective can renew your passion, whether you're casting a spell or casting on stitches.

We round off our magical gathering by celebrating the tools that aid our craft, the rollercoaster of life choices that define our paths, and the paradox that is witchcraft. Katie reveals how a seemingly mundane item like a travel steamer can become an indispensable ally in her magical knitting practice, and how music, with its lyrical messages, often acts as an oracle. We also pay homage to those who guide us—be they podcast co-hosts, supportive families, or four-legged familiars. So, tune in and let’s cast a spell of inspiration and creativity together, for as we've learned, an average day can hold the most extraordinary magic.

Be sure to check out Katie's work at her website, Light From Lantern.

Transcript

Kim: 0:04

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 Crepuscular Conjuration. This week I'm talking to Katie Rempe, the knit witch. Katie and I talked about making everyday tasks part of your magical practice, giving yourself grace and how remembering the journey can help beat imposter syndrome. Now let's get to the stories.

Katie: 0:37

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Kim: 0:39

Thank you for being here. Can you please introduce yourself? Let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you.

Katie: 0:46

Absolutely. My name is Katie Rempe. I am a knit witch, a designer of magically minded brand of knitting patterns called Light from Lantern. I'm also the host of a podcast called Knit A Spell, which I co-host with my partner, the Divine Hand, or James Divine as he's better known. He's my professional pomace slash magical person, while I'm the maker person. On that, we talk all about the relationship of crafting small c versus the Craft big c. You can find all of our episodes video episodes on my YouTube channel at Light from Lantern, and streaming on any podcast platform that your heart desires.

Kim: 1:29

Links will be below in show notes. I know some of my listeners ears perked up about the knit witch part. They're always showing us well, usually it's crochet but some of them knit. I don't do either one because my hands hurt all the time. But I know Jayne, for example, will be super excited.

Katie: 1:52

Yay, yeah, it's really fun.

Kim: 1:55

Can you please tell me what it means to you when you call yourself a witch?

Katie: 2:02

I really had sort of a stigma or a hang up when it came to calling myself a witch. I've only recently really even embraced it. As a child I loved it. I thought I was a witch. I would dress up every Halloween as a witch, it seemed like. But then as I got older it sort of just seemed like a childish thing to call myself. Then I was lucky enough to have a course that I took from a friend and fellow witch, wendy Matta, who really helped me sort of reframe it in my mind, what it means. Now I'm like oh yeah, okay, there's more modern meaning to the word witch than just like all the stereotypes that might come to mind. I've only recently embraced it. For me it's all about practical magic. If I can do it while I'm doing tasks around the house, then I'm witching it up really well.

Kim: 3:01

Does that remind me that I have a candle burning in my living room right now?

Katie: 3:07

Watch out, you're with me and I intend to spark fire magic pretty well. If you smell anything along this interview.

Kim: 3:17

Yeah, luckily I cannot turn off the smoke detector, the fire detector, whatever it is. I can't turn that off because it's wired into the house, because I did try once when it went off at three o'clock in the morning, but it's fine. The cats will tell me that's the worst.

Katie: 3:35

Nothing like a three am wake up call out of a sound sleep that you think it's your alarm. It's not going off, it's coming from the house.

Kim: 3:41

That's what my husband thought. I was actually awake and burning a candle on purpose. But Oops, Surprise, honey Yay.

Katie: 3:52

Well, luckily it ended well.

Kim: 3:54

Yeah, do you have any family history with witchcraft? Like, were you raised in the practice or did they say, were you crazy for saying you're a witch, a little kid.

Katie: 4:07

Not really. My folks didn't really think it was anything I was doing quote seriously and they didn't have. I mean, they were both Christian Catholic situation. But that never really resonated with me and so growing up it was just whatever I would consume from TV and culture and whatnot and so I had a very limited scope of what that was and definitely the family unit was not any help whatsoever, although as a child I do recall making a book of spells with a couple of my friends and we left off the word spell, so it was just the book of, and everyone else around us was like we know what that means, we know, and we were like we don't know what you're talking about. So I learned early that part of the allure is keeping some secrets to yourself. Oh yeah.

Kim: 5:04

Can you introduce us to your practice, Like do you have any regular things that you do throughout your day that you'll share?

Katie: 5:14

I wish I had this great list of all of these magical things that I do throughout the day to inspire people, but I don't. I would say the best, my most ritualistic practices that I do are involve cleaning and taking time before I go to bed to read for a little bit. So they may seem kind of mundane, but those are really like my me times, and so every Friday I have like tidy Friday, and so that's the time where I vacuum the floor and clean the toilets and air my grievances and sweep them out of the house. So I've sort of again made those tasks that I would have to do anyway into these more magical, mindful practices, since like why not have it stack? And then it becomes easy to think like, oh, I could also be doing the dishes this way, or I could also be doing this this way.

Katie: 6:13

So it's been more about making things that I'm already doing more magical than adding in new items, because I love to over complicate things. And once I get to think I'm like, okay, well, now I need to start making a list and like it needs to be on this day and this time and for this long and I need all of these things. And then I'm like, okay, well, I'm never going to do this because I'm just not going to make the time or it's too overwhelming now for a task I set for myself. It's crazy, so. So yeah, that's. That's where my routine comes in, is just keeping it simple and tacking it on to as many things as I'm already doing, and the reading I feel like is just my self reflection in the evening and my brain is always going. So if I don't do it, then I'll never get through all these books I want to read.

Kim: 7:05

So, yes, the ever growing to be read stack.

Katie: 7:12

To be read, to be knit, you know, we got them all yeah.

Kim: 7:17

How would you say witchcraft has changed your life.

Katie: 7:25

In terms of how I interact with it now. I think it really became the motivating factor for me to quit my old quote corporate job. It's motivated me to want to be more than just a cog in the wheel, which I had a pretty great job. I was the creative director at a place that sold yarn. So really, if that's not in my wheelhouse, I don't know what is, but it just it didn't allow me to infuse my personality into the projects, because they weren't. It wasn't my company. You know I'm working for the company, I'm representing the company, but it's not my company, and so if they don't want to go the way of having magically influenced patterns, then where am I at? So I just started to feel really unfulfilled. And then, you know, that whole thing happened in 2020.

Katie: 8:21

That made people like stop and think about their lives, and that's really when I was like wow, I don't think I even like I feel like I'm working so hard in this corporate job that's not really helping me, and I would turn to my tarot cards and be like oh yeah, I remember In times of stress, this is like always what I turn to and why don't I put this more into my life? I just didn't ever make the time. So I was like, okay, I guess this is my, my sign to make a big jump and I have no regrets. And here I am talking to you. So, hooray, welcome Back. You're gonna meet it, yeah.

Kim: 9:00

OK, what would you say is the biggest motivator in your practice, and has it changed since you first started?

Katie: 9:13

Oh yeah, are we going to call it a childhood? Yeah, I mean compared to like back then. You know, spells to me were poems that kind of, were like cursing people. I, you know, I read the or I watched the craft and Hocus Pocus and they weren't like witches blessing people necessarily. So that was just like. My history was like oh, they're not, they're not doing nice things to people. So I've changed from like trying to want to do things at people, for people, to just really putting it back on to me, because I'm the only one that I can really improve. And to others, my perception of improvement may not have been accurate, you know, for them living their lives, and so I've just been like OK, practice on me, be the example you want to see in the world, and that's the best way to influence people instead of just like telling them what to do. To just show them it could, there could be another way, and let them decide so hard. Awesome, yeah, just listen to me. Why won't you like I know all the answers right?

Kim: 10:24

Obviously, I'm, right.

Katie: 10:26

The Virgo. Ok, you'll find it out eventually. And then I've proven wrong, and so there you go.

Kim: 10:36

What is the biggest struggle in your practice?

Katie: 10:40

Oh, probably just your face. And see Me, I'm the biggest. Your face, just yeah, you know when you're faced with a hard truth. That was my face of hard truth. Yeah, it's a. I don't like it either. Yeah, being regular, it's a struggle with my witchcraft Not to let my own thoughts constipate me or stop me.

Kim: 11:08

I would say just oh my gosh, this is me today.

Katie: 11:11

There you go, yeah, and then you know giving yourself some grace on the other side of it. Sometimes shit happens and you just got to deal with the moment. But eventually you got to like get get out of the constant churning because you'll just die. Exhaust. Reach for the life jacket yes, float.

Kim: 11:33

Yes.

Katie: 11:34

Mm, hmm, but it's again. So easier said than done.

Kim: 11:39

Speaking of all the super fun stuff, how do you deal with imposter syndrome?

Katie: 11:46

Oh, okay. So I recently read an article that completely changed my whole perception on imposter syndrome. It talks about how, at a certain point in our practice, our craft, our skill, whatever we reach a point of education where we have just sort of forgotten the journey of getting there and all the work we've put in there. So it'll be like 10 years later, after you've really started working on whatever the thing is. Let's just use knitting as an example.

Katie: 12:19

I, as a knitter who has been knitting for decades, like really need help being reminded about the beginner steps, the easy things that people get tripped up on, and and so what really is happening is you're not, you're not really an imposter, you're just sort of forgetting all of the work that you've put in and so, reflecting back to be like, oh, this is like a real beginner.

Katie: 12:46

They don't even know what the needles are called right, let alone how to do the knitting and do a design and all of that stuff, which is where my mind would go like so further away.

Katie: 12:57

So so for me, imposter syndrome is a great thing to have, because it's a sign that you have really progressed more than you're even aware of in your craft, and so for me, I find the best way to sort of counteract, that is, to find a new aspect of whatever the thing is to bring into it, to re excite you about whatever it is. So like, if you have always wanted to embroider a little bit, guess what you can bring that into your knitting. And now all of a sudden you're like, oh, I could be embroidering things around the hems or a cute little design here, and I never thought about that before because I didn't have the skill to apply it to this. You know big medium that I already know so much about. So so for me, imposter syndrome is a good thing. You just need to recognize that it's helping you and just reflect back a little bit on how far you've come.

Kim: 13:58

That's so good, holy crap.

Katie: 14:04

Because you clearly know what you're talking about. You're listing all the things that you should know and do know, and also you'll never know at all, so don't worry about it. You'll get there or you won't.

Kim: 14:23

Wow! Holy shit, That's so good. Yay, thanks, oh, ok, maybe I'll have a better day today. Yeah, put this on that.

Katie: 14:31

There you go. You're just too cool for school. You're so cool You've you've forgotten to recognize it. It's hard to see when it's been there this whole time. It's like putting on a little weight over a couple of months. You're like what happened? You didn't see it happen, but you have a weight of knowledge. So there you go. Ok, great, Well, you said bring knowing.

Kim: 14:56

That's exactly what the heaviness is. It's all this stuff. I know Mm hmm, that's it. What brings you the most joy in your practice.

Katie: 15:09

Helping others. I think For me, I've always really enjoyed teaching, just in general. So to Show people how I've really embraced and just love the connection between magic and knitting and how, again, you can make the same things that you're doing into a magical act just by reframing how you're, how you're doing it and when you're doing it. So like, if you want to knit a scarf for healing, then you only knit it while you're thinking healing thoughts. You know a lot of people might say it's like a prayer shawl or something like that. And really what's the difference? You're just infusing the actual action, like that, and really what's the difference? You're just infusing the energy into each stitch.

Katie: 15:56

And so my patterns are all about like, oh, here's a way to do it with color magic, here's a way to do it with stitch magic. You know, maybe every bobble has a wish, that kind of a thing. So when I can see that like aha moment in my students eyes, like oh, okay, you know, part of it is oh, this is way less magical, mystical than I anticipated. It's a lot more like oh, okay, these are more practical ideas and magics and I'm like yeah, that's, that's all where I'm at, so probably not going to help you be a medium, like the medium scarf or something. But you know what, maybe if you're super sensitive, maybe it'll get you there.

Kim: 16:42

I don't know so what is something that you did early on in your practice that you don't do anymore, and why don't you do it?

Katie: 16:52

Okay, so, as I alluded to before, a lot of my early spell casting was all hexes and curses in my eyes, and so over time I've realized, you know, not not building the most goodwill perhaps doing something like that, and so I really have embraced, trying to sort of like not curse someone in a way that I want misfortune to happen upon them, but instead to bless them in a way that will get the end product that I was really thinking of to begin with. So, for example, and when you're driving down the road and some tool you know speeds past you, going in all the lanes, and you're like, oh you know, instead of telling them to have misfortune, I always tell them to drive safe. Drive safe Because for you I'm really thinking about all the other people, including me, around this person who's driving like nobody else exists. So instead of telling them to hit a tree, I tell them to drive safe because good for you, good for us.

Kim: 18:08

Yeah, yeah.

Katie: 18:11

Good for Ruben D and everybody around you. It's not like the most satisfying in the moment, but you know, later you feel better about it. I do anyway.

Kim: 18:23

Speaking of tools, I was down and saw the next question. I was like brilliant segue. You know I try.

Katie: 18:36

What can I say?

Kim: 18:38

What's your favorite tool in your practice? Not necessarily a physical object, it can be an idea or a song. What is your favorite tool and how do you use it?

Katie: 18:50

Oh, you know, you said song and probably music is one of my most influential magical tools. I do like sort of like a bibliomancy in a way, but it'll be like oh, now I'm hearing this song with the specific line that I've never heard before and then suddenly that's like the message answer or whatever that I've been sort of looking for, searching for, waiting for. But in terms of like physical tools, that would be my amazing travel steamer. As a knitter I'm always having to block projects. So, like, just like a physical garment steamer it's little, you can travel with it anywhere.

Katie: 19:31

It also is a great way to use magical waters as a way to like purify the final project or reset the energy or cleanse the energy or infuse it with energy, whatever. That's a way that you can use it without messing up your iron. So maybe you don't put in like essential oils or stuff like that that might clog up your actual machine. But just being able to apply intentional water in a way that just reignites, washes out and resets the project itself, I find that to be one of my best unintentional magical tools. That's cool.

Kim: 20:13

I love individual stuff, like I love that Yay. Can you pick out one decision that you've made that changed the direction of your life, and what was it?

Katie: 20:29

So I ended up with my dream job of sorts, the creative director at this year in place Only by way of making a decision that I almost didn't do because I thought it was silly. And so that's a sign for everyone If you think it's silly, just do it, because you never know what will happen. And it all was involving a project runway style knitting competition that I had done many years ago. It was a whole thing. It was much harder to knit garments in a quick amount of time than it turns out.

Katie: 21:13

And, as a person who also went to school for fashion design, I was like this is crazy. But we didn't. Yeah, yeah, it was fiber, the fiber factor, that's what it was called, instead of project runway, the fiber factor now defunct, but it was fun for a minute, but yeah, so because of that, I had all of these knitting patterns I had done for this event. It was many years later. We were promised like, oh yeah, five years later, you'll get all these patterns back and can sell them if you want. And so I was the person like oh, you know, I wonder if they've kind of forgotten about that. I'm going to just kind of like ring their bell and I'm going to copy the other people who were involved in the event so they are also, you know, updated on what's happening.

Katie: 22:03

Well, that ended up causing a whole drama for all the people who were part of it, who thought this company was like holding out on their patterns, when in actuality, they're just like 12 people that work there and they just kind of forgot about it. So so I ended up being like the mediary between these two groups of people. Ultimately, we're like OK, just relax, nobody even cared about this event. Ok, check your ego at the door. But but one ended up happening was I was chatting with the person who was involved in the side of the company and they were like well, what do you went up to? And I said, well, I'm working at an REI and it's really nice and maybe one day I'll be the designer. It's in Kent Washington, you're also in Kent Washington, will be neighbors. And then he was like huh, hold on. And so the next email I got was from the president of the company asking if I would just move there and work there instead.

Katie: 23:02

So I was like yeah, absolutely, I want to work for the knitting place and not the outdoor place that I don't ever go outside. I was a great employee because I was always willing to take other people's shifts because I didn't want to go out and do any of the stuff we were selling there's like bugs and things there and I was like I can't, my bed is at home. Where do you be, oh my gosh yes, yeah, I didn't know about glamping at that point, so maybe that would have changed my mind.

Kim: 23:32

I don't think they sell glamping stuff at REI. It's nice camping stuff, but it's not glamping stuff.

Katie: 23:37

That's true. Yeah, you need like a tiny trailer and the whole whole shebam, yeah, so that's my just go for it. Just go for it moment. I think it's silly just trying to mediate over a bunch of knitters who think they're designers, but you know that's cool, though, that's really cool. What a good story. Don't lose your head, it's not worth it.

Kim: 24:04

How do you pull yourself out of a magical slump?

Katie: 24:11

I tend to find that my magical slumps, my crafting slumps, and, and just like they're all tied to any time I'm just generally depressed or overwhelmed All of those extra things just so quickly fall by the wayside, which I don't know. What is up with us humans that? That's how we react to things, when really if we just made more of an effort to go towards those things when we find that happening, it would pull us back out. But you know what? I'm a glutton for pain personally, so I guess that's my burden to bear.

Katie: 24:46

But generally over the years I have found the best way to get out of these slumps are really to change your setting and change your routine, whether that's like just one day going going out and just doing something, even if you don't have plans.

Katie: 25:04

Just get out of the space you're always in and just let the life that's happening around you and not caring about your problems sort of remind you that it's not all about you, like there are other things out there and maybe you'll be reminded of something that will bring you some joy. So just getting out of where you are is really inspiring. Maybe you can take a short vacation, visit a friend. That's another thing. I always fall out of touch with my friends whenever I get in these slumps, and so I know like, oh, I need to call so and so I need to call this person. And so I'll just make like, okay, saturday is catch up with all your friends, because you've let everyone go again for a while. But luckily, all my friends and I have an understanding that this stuff happens. It happens to them, and so whenever we get back, no one holds a grudge.

Kim: 25:55

So that's a bonus. Yep, what is something you wish was discussed more in the witch community?

Katie: 26:06

I once read a book called Psychic Skills for Magic and Witchcraft by Kat Cole and she had a chapter in it that at the time I was like oh, this is great. And then later came to find out this isn't really commonly talked about and that is the paradox of magic. Magic is a paradox Like, for example, she has this example that says it's knowing that you know the truth and then something happens to realize you were wrong, but then later you actually realize you were right to begin with. So something doesn't seem right and yet there it is. There's the paradox Like you have to want it less for it to be attracted to you, kind of a thing Like it doesn't make any sense. It seems like it should be the opposite. If I say I'm not going to do something, that opportunity should never happen. Not slap its face, slap myself in the face with it in two months. That's what always happens to me. I'll never live in Seattle, something I actually said within that year I was here.

Katie: 27:17

Don't, don't say that, don't challenge the universe. I try sense of humor, so it will bring it right back for you.

Kim: 27:27

I try not to say never or always, hmm, although I constantly do, but I I try not to mean it. I try that I, like you know, I don't really go but, I never gonna do that.

Katie: 27:43

I agree that. That stresses me out, yeah most of us, I would say yes.

Kim: 27:55

Yep, think of the three biggest influences on your practice, whether it's a person or kind of like the tool thing. It's a person, an idea, a pet, something that has influenced you and your practice, and thank them for what they bring to your practice.

Katie: 28:19

Oh, I love this. Hmm, three biggest influences so well, number one absolutely is gonna be my podcast co-host, James Divine, the man who basically has taught me so much about magic and connected me with so many amazing magicians and authors and ideas, concepts. The whole reason that he and I met was just because I wanted to see if the way knitters knit would say anything about them through their hands, and so just by having one question, I've had this whole now friendship and career with him, and so I am eternally grateful and continue to be grateful for him in how he has helped me in so many ways. My folks are my biggest support system.

Katie: 29:17

I have come to realize early in life, by way of having many friends who are not so lucky, that they are the coolest, always supporting me, even in my craziest times where I locked myself in my room for years because I was just not ready to deal with life and was not going to go to high school to deal with those children, and they always had a creative way of making it work for me without just being like go and be part of the norm. So that is huge, because I'm sure that has a big part of why I'm not able to, or willing to, just accept things the way they're laid out, without having some autonomy over it or really thinking about it.

Kim: 30:01

I want more parents to do that. Yes, I agree.

Katie: 30:05

More families. I want more families to do that.

Katie: 30:08

Yes, whoever in the family you can be, that person it is. It's huge, and luckily they're still with me so I get to enjoy more time with them however long that is. So it's wonderful. And then probably you say pet, and that's probably true I would say my Chihuahua. She really is like my spirit friend, a being that I feel like I called to when I really needed the company and it was like oh, I had a couple of people say like, oh, you know, you look great with a Chihuahua, look great like it's an accessory or like, oh, yeah, I could see with like a little small dog of some sort, and so I thought, yeah, let's, let's just do it, even though I was always a cat person, never wanted a dog, and then I pet sat one dog for a month and I was as soon as she left I thought, oh no, I'm alone, and so to have her there and just again, it's a great tool to keep me grounded, because I'm not always thinking about myself and she's just funny, so she'll just do something silly, it's nothing, just be in herself, and it'll just make me laugh and laugh, and I'm so, so grateful for her just just being her and inspiring me to just be myself too.

Kim: 31:32

I don't understand people who don't have, who don't want pets. I mean, I mean a tiny bit of me.

Katie: 31:39

Yeah, a tiny bit of me. Okay, but if you're allergic, I think you still want one.

Kim: 31:43

You just can't understand that. But if you want one, I can't. It's telling. We are different people.

Katie: 31:52

That's right. Thank you for letting me know. We have a big value difference.

Kim: 31:57

Also, I can't keep plants alive, so plant people probably don't know what the hill is going on with me in that way and all my friends are talking about their gardens and getting ready for it and I'm like I don't know. Okay, that's another one. I hope the stuff helps. I don't die.

Katie: 32:19

I once took a class from a master gardener and the best piece of advice that she gave me was yeah, even my stuff dies. Like don't worry about it. Stuff dies, it just dies. And so I'm like, well, if again, if you person who's been doing it for 30 years and teaching classes and you're just going to be like, yeah, it's just part of the learning experience, or sometimes they just die, I hate that. It's a great way to be faced with mortality. I don't think that's my issue with it. It's not your fault.

Kim: 32:46

Okay, Kim, it's not your fault.

Katie: 32:48

Sometimes they just want to go. Sorry, also, I really like death. Is that a thing we should have talked about earlier? Oh well, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I'm terrified of that.

Kim: 33:04

Yeah, it's just the other side of this.

Katie: 33:06

It's probably better I hope I'm not saying I'm in a rush to leave. Here I have.

Kim: 33:12

OCD, which kind of makes me a control?

Katie: 33:14

freak and I don't know what that is. I can't, I don't have any control over it and I hate it.

Kim: 33:20

I don't have any control over it. I don't have any control over it. I don't have any control over it. I don't have any control over it and nobody does. It's not like there's something I could learn to fix. I hate that.

Katie: 33:34

Oh, here's your thing to learn to fix Stop worrying about it. Just don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, hey, hey. Don't do anything about it, just don't worry about it.

Kim: 33:49

Okay, I'll just quit that thing.

Katie: 33:54

Think about rainbows and butterflies and how they all die at some point too, yay. Oh sorry Too much, just kidding.

Kim: 34:07

Okay, besides the scary stuff, what advice do you have for someone just starting out?

Katie: 34:16

Oh, just take things one step at a time and, like I was saying before, give yourself grace at anything you're new at. Don't compare yourself to people writing the books. They are dealing with imposter syndrome, because they've had all of this thing. You don't even know enough to have imposter syndrome yet. So just enjoy the process of learning, be the fool you know, really enjoy finding what. It's a huge scope, magic and all of this stuff. And it has many, many facets and many, many practices and all of this stuff. You don't have to belong to any of them. You can mix them up whatever you like. I say, just go towards the things that you're really excited about and as soon as you find something that kind of rubs you the wrong way and this is part of, like, getting to know your preferences, your intuition Just don't waste your time on that, knowing that maybe later that will come back, because you might just not have enough experience to know that this is a helpful thing. Right now it's just scary, overwhelming, whatever, because we don't know about it. So, oh, and if it's scary to you, do a little research about it. Like, don't just jump into the pool if you can't swim. Just do a little bit of research, like what is this about that is making me scared Death, or some practice or whatever Tarot cards, whatever the thing might be and see like, oh, okay, now that you get a little bit of education.

Katie: 35:54

That's typically at least when I find that the fear starts to leave, because the fear is usually just the unknown. It's the opposite of excitement. So if you can get into feeling excited about your fear, you'll have it made pretty much. You know if you're going to die in two minutes you should do something about it. But generally, like you know, most things aren't that severe. You've seen people get really worked up over knitting, which is something you just pull out and do again. So, like you know, it's okay, it's not going to kill you, probably. Again, I'm not trying to challenge the universe here. I'm sure it'll find a way if it wants to.

Kim: 36:41

Maybe don't ask that part of the question. How can knitting kill me? Don't ask that one.

Katie: 36:48

I'm just trying to prove it. Good call yes.

Kim: 36:54

Who do you think I should have on the show?

Katie: 36:57

Oh, oh, my gosh. Talk about a difficult question to answer because I, again through my podcast, have had the pleasure of meeting so many awesome people magical practitioners and makers and authors and Isn't it wild how they just say sure, I'll talk to you for an hour.

Kim: 37:16

That's insane.

Katie: 37:18

I'm always like, okay, great yeah, let's do that, great yeah. But I also assume that everybody wants to talk to me until they prove me wrong, and then I'm like that's fine, there's other people. I have a crazy amount of confidence slash a disillusion or whatever it is, I don't know, but it works. It's a bit of a bull if I think you have to have it. Okay, so who? So I've enjoyed, I mean, everyone that we've had on and you've actually had on many guests that we have also interviewed Nicholas Pearson, rachel Henderson so many awesome people.

Katie: 37:59

I don't think who I didn't see on your list was Lilith Dorsey or Brandy Williams. Is that ringing any bells for you? I've not had them. Yep, so Lilith Dorsey is an amazing author. One of her more recent books was Water Magic, which was so great to hear her talking about water magic. And then Brandy Williams is our resident expert on all things chord magic. She literally wrote the book on it, and so, talking to her, we always have an amazing time being like, oh, how can we make yarn and string more magical and what applications can we use for it?

Kim: 38:38

And so I think you can go so into depth. I am getting more into growing the thing and then the actual fabrication process of a pen. That starts when I my chickens hatch an egg and I'm going to use one of their feathers, so their entire life cycle until they molt. I'm feeding all this magic into it and I know you can do it with cotton and wool, that's so cool to me.

Katie: 39:06

I love that. Ooh, and have your own localized feathers.

Kim: 39:10

Yes, I'm getting the chickens right now because I just hatched five new babies. I'm excited and I was almost. I was coming in to email you a picture because I knew I was going to talk. I was going to be like, look how freaking cute these things are.

Katie: 39:26

Oh my God, baby chicks, baby chicks.

Kim: 39:28

Yes, I'll email you a picture after this.

Katie: 39:32

Well, maybe you also want to talk to Pamela Chen. She's another magical maker that she did a tarot deck and a bunch of books, I think. But she also has a bunch of chickens. She lives in Las Vegas and she's always got her chickens out that she's talking about and strutting around with in Las Vegas. So that's funny, so cute. I love a chicken.

Kim: 39:59

I will write them down. That's right.

Katie: 40:02

Yeah, I have, like you know, another list of 10 if you want.

Kim: 40:05

but you know Email me a list of 10 people Perfect.

Katie: 40:09

Yeah, no problem.

Kim: 40:11

Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? Anything, I didn't ask you that you wanted to bring up, or any questions you had for me.

Katie: 40:20

Ooh, what inspired you to start this podcast?

Kim: 40:24

I am nosy and also I have a business and I initially thought, oh, this is going to be totally about my business, I'm going to mention my business every 20 seconds on this podcast and it just turned out to be really fun. So now that's kind of an aside. Oh, by the way, it's brought to you by blah blah blah, which I didn't even do until like the past three months. Six months Time doesn't stick in my head very well. I didn't even start doing that until recently because it's just fun. I like, like we said earlier, people will come talk to you and you can just ask them questions and they just tell you the answer, and that's insane to me.

Katie: 41:10

Yes, I very much sympathize with that. I have the same need to ask people questions and I'm just curious. I always say it's not like I don't care, but I really don't care, I'm just curious, I just want to know. Whatever it is.

Kim: 41:26

Yeah, I like knowing stuff. Yeah, and I'm nosy, that's great. Yeah Well, you're good at hearing, so I want to hear all the weird stories of how you got in trouble for hiding cats in your closet as a child. Whatever, I want to hear those stories. I love that.

Katie: 41:48

I didn't do that, but I wish I did. I would have been genius. I really wanted cats as a kid and I just never was able to get one.

Kim: 41:55

I did it with mice oh.

Katie: 41:59

Mice in the closet.

Kim: 42:00

I mean they were in a tank, but yeah.

Katie: 42:04

I see and guess what they were in an enclosure. Don't buy a male in a female mouse when you're 12. Sometimes they tell you it's two females or whatever. And then the next morning you're like what are these little erasers moving around in here? Yep, they're family erasers now.

Kim: 42:19

Mom was not thrilled at all.

Katie: 42:22

No, yeah, you know unintended babies of any kind Not usually. Yay, generally, yeah, I find. Okay, well, that's cool. Yeah, outside of that, just if anyone is interested, you can always sign up for my newsletter at lightfromlanterncom. I have a free knitting pattern that you get when you sign up. It's a tarot cozy little sack. If you're not into tarot, it's also great for housing anything, including a bunch of random cords or just like a deck of cards of any kind. So if you have one of those old boxes that's just sort of degrading over time, you can just put it right in there and it'll be have a soft little magical home. So it's fun, fun, quick. That's cool. That's really cool, thanks.

Kim: 43:18

The last two things that I asked some ask of guests. Thing number one is please recommend something to listeners. It does not have to be witchcraft related or magical or anything. It can be whatever you're into this week.

Katie: 43:37

I would say don't believe everything you think. That's always one that I kind of go back to like just because you think something is true, it might not be whether that's from just your self perception of yourself, like oh I'm feeling fat, lazy, whatever you know, that's usually not true. If you just think about again, if you think about it from you helping your friend as opposed to yourself, you would never stand for the things that you let yourself do to yourself. So I think don't believe everything you think kind of falls in line with that.

Kim: 44:26

That's a good one.

Katie: 44:31

Again, that's another area where life will prove you wrong, so don't tempt it.

Kim: 44:39

Don't call it in by thinking about it all the time. That's right.

Katie: 44:43

Say what you do want, not what you don't want.

Kim: 44:45

That's a hard one to manifest that shit as they say Indeed, yes. The last thing is please tell me a story. It can be anything it doesn't have to be witchy, it doesn't have to be a story about you, although those are what I prefer because it's funner.

Katie: 45:08

Yeah, yeah, I get it. So I don't have a lot of crazy metaphysical experiences or anything, but I have one where I was in my senior year of college and it was fashion school. So I was there at all hours of the night, all weekend long, doing all of this amount of work. That probably didn't pay off in the end, but my dedication at the time seemed worth it, so whatever. And so it was a three-story building, this fashion building, and it was founded by two gentlemen who, we used to joke, were buried in the basement where all the fancy clothes were kept in the vault, and so there were like metal busts of them out in the corridor area.

Katie: 46:00

And I remember coming down one night ready to put my stuff away, leave for the evening. I was in the lockerers, I was the only one there, only one on the floor, and I put my stuff away and I just hear my name whispered out on the side of my ear. I look over and I'm like, oh, there's someone messing with me or there's someone coming down the stairs or whatever. There was nobody there.

Katie: 46:30

nobody there, and I thought okay well, it's time to go to bed. That's what's happening here. You're sleep deprived, don't worry about it. And so I go home. The next day, I happen to chat with a friend of mine who's also in the fashion school and I said ha, crazy thing happened last night. I thought I heard one of the guys whispering my name at me and ha ha, ha, as she goes, I thought I was the only one that happened to Hate it, and I was like, okay, well, either we've made a thing happen by thinking that these people haunt this place, or I don't know what's going on. But that's my favorite story. Yeah, this thing, that probably didn't happen. Oh yeah, no, that happens to me all the time here. Oh great, huh, hey. So if you think you want to talk to ghosts, really consider, do you, though? Do you though? Yeah, it was creepy, yeah.

Kim: 47:37

Well, thank you so much for being on the show and for the stories. It was really nice talking to you. I really had a good time. Yes, me too. Thank you for having me on and I will see you on Instagram. Okay, bye! K atie. Welcome to Hive House. We're going to pick a card. Say when, when. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received?

Katie: 48:13

(fades in) I know right, Huge mistake. Definitely. At least do like one lesson or one practice run on your friendly local mountain before you just go throw yourself off of the Olympic...

Kim: 48:24

To hear more of the members only episode, head over to crepuscularconjuration. com. The Monthly Magic tier will give you access to the Monthly Magic Marco Polo group, the private Facebook group, and access to the written monthly spells. There's also Crepuscular Conjurations, giving you bonus podcast episodes, coloring pages, guided meditations, spell crafting videos, printable downloads and a lot more. The free Witchy Wonderment level will give you a little sample of everything I just mentioned. You can also visit my shop, Clever Kim's Curios, to get spell boxes, one at a time or by monthly subscription, intentional handcrafted jewelry that I make especially for witches and handmade altar tools.

Kim: 49:07

You can even listen to the full Your Average Witch podcast library, including show notes and transcripts. Check it out at creposcularconjuration. com. Thanks for listening to this episode of Your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet on Instagram @Your Average Witch podcast, facebook. com/ groups/hivehouse, at www. youraveragewitch. com and at your favorite podcast service. 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 gmailcom. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday.