Exploring the Harmony of Creativity, Witchcraft, and Community with Monica Bodirsky

What happens when creativity meets spirituality? On this episode, we welcome the remarkable Monica Bodirsky, a witch artist and the creative force behind the Obsidian community. Monica opens up about her intriguing life journey, shaped by her mixed heritage and the eerie experiences of growing up in a haunted house. She shares how these elements have deeply influenced her as an artist, author, and tarot consultant. We also explore the vibrant offerings of the Obsidian Academy of Esoteric Arts and what members can look forward to, such as the Inner Sanctuary and Coven online space.

Embark on a journey of spiritual discovery as we delve into the integration of daily rituals with everyday tasks. Monica shares her personal experience of embracing her witchcraft identity, blending family heritage with personal practices. From sweeping to cooking, learn how these activities become rituals that cleanse and connect with ancestors. We also tackle the challenges of finding a supportive community, manage self-doubt, and emphasize the importance of maintaining a grimoire, all while highlighting the grounding peace that a witchcraft practice can bring.

Nature and community are powerful forces in magical practice, and this episode celebrates their influence. Monica talks about the rejuvenating power of nature, from the scent of Tunisian frankincense to the calming sound of wind through leaves. Learn strategies for overcoming burnout and fostering resilience, including self-awareness and communal support. We wrap up with  a mysterious story from her childhood that adds a mystical touch to our conversation. Tune in for a blend of personal stories, community insights, and the enchanting allure of the natural world.

Follow Monica here! monicabodirsky.com

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• 9:31 (Cont.) Exploring the Harmony of Creativity, Witchcraft, and Community with Monica Bodirsky

Transcript

Kimothy: 0:04

Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where every Tuesday we talk about witch life, witch stories, and sometimes a little witchcraft. This week I'm talking with Monica Bodirsky, witch, artist and creator of Obsidian, a new online space for students of the occult and esoteric arts to meet, share and create community. We talked about ageism in witchcraft,  Lenormand, and about her artist residency witch camp happening this summer. Now let's get to the stories. Monica, hello, welcome to the show. 

Monica: 0:34

Hi, Kim, thanks for having me here. 

Kimothy: 0:35

Can you please introduce yourself and let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you?

Monica: 0:46

Sure, I'll try to keep that relatively brief, because I've had lots of different experiences. My name is Monica Bodirsky, my pronouns are she and her. I'm coming to you from Takaronto, also known as Toronto that's a Haudenosaunee or Iroquoian word for Toronto and I am on the lands of the Anishinaabe, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, Huron, Wendat, Métis and many, many other Indigenous groups that have called Takaranto home and still do so. I am an artist, author and professional consultant whose specialty is tarot. I've created tarot decks and oracle decks, as well as Lenormand decks and the guidebooks that accompany fairly hefty ones sometimes accompany fairly hefty ones sometimes. I have a bachelor's degree in design and I taught at OCAD University for 10 years and I offer programmed art and witchery residencies. I'm an advocate of community and capacity building and I've done a great deal of volunteer work. I founded the Witchfest North Arts and Culture Festival here, which ran for five years, two of them online due to COVID, and also I recently founded the Obsidian Academy of Esoteric Arts, which is an online space where people can register to learn for quite a wide variety of topics. To learn for quite a wide variety of topics, anything from witchcraft to divination and writing. I tend to put creativity and spirituality together, because most of the magical practitioners I've known over the years tend to be artists and artistic. Also, there's going to be the Inner Sanctuary and Coven online, which is going to be a member space for people, and there will be all sorts of great downloadable information and online Zooms there. I'm of mixed Scandinavian, Germanic, Slavic and Romani ancestry and grew up in a haunted house- why not? I call myself a walker between the worlds as well as a witch, and I create drawings and paintings and writings that come from that liminal space where the subconscious meets the external spirits of time and place, and I do that because I feel it's vital for our survival to ensure we live a balanced life by integrating spiritual and practical, and through my work I encourage and inspire viewers to examine those crucial and critical intersections between the spiritual and, I suppose, mundane. So that's pretty much it for me. My website is monicabodirsky.com, and you can also reach me on Instagram at Monica Bodirsky. The trick there is to spell the name correctly M-O-N-I-C-A-B-O-D-I-R-S-K-Y. And also I have a YouTube channel with my name, if you look that up.

Kimothy: 4:12

As someone with a Polish last name, I get the spelling. Thank you.

Monica: 4:19

Thank you. This is the, you're a cousin, I'm, the Y ending is Czech and Ukrainian, and I'm sure, though, being on the border, we've had relatives in Poland as well. 

Kimothy: 4:36

Well, actually my husband's Polish.

My family did come from Czech, so that's interesting. 

Monica: 4:41

Oh my goodness! Whereabouts in the Czech Republic?

Kimothy: 4:43

 I don't remember, it's on Ancestry. I haven't looked at that for a couple of years. We'll be cousins.

Monica: 4:51

Absolutely, I was correct, then we are cousins.

Kimothy: 4:56

Also thanks for being here. I forgot to say that at the beginning of the intro.

Monica: 5:02

That's not a problem. Thank you for having me here. You know I really appreciate it and I enjoy the title of your podcast, Your Average Witch, and I'm very happy to be on your show.

Kimothy: 5:16

Oh good! Thanks. So I looked at your art when I was looking over your website. I really like your style, which, by the way, is going to be linked in the show notes, so jump down there and look at it for yourself. But I have never worked with Lenormand. Can you talk about it a little bit?

Monica: 5:39

For sure, for sure. It's one of those unusual things. I think the Lenormand decks are getting picked up now and are becoming more popular. But when I was young, my dad used to travel in Europe a fair bit and there were a lot of reprints of tarot divination. Kipper decks is another one and so was Lenormand. They were reprints from the 20s and 30s as far as Lenormand, and in the 70s tarot was just becoming popular and being reprinted from the original decks in the early 1900s. So he brought home a Lenormand deck and I took to it right away. The symbols are much more, I guess, simplistic and straightforward than you would find in tarot and there are fewer cards. So there are 36 Lenormand cards in the idea it is called the Petit Lenormand. The Grand Lenormand has 54 cards, but I work with the Petit Lenormand and those 36 cards are generally put, shuffled and put out at the same time. It's called a grand tableau. You lay out all 36 cards in rows, I know, and what you're reading is by proximity, so you can get an overview of everything from that layout, from finances, career relationships, your health, and you do that by reading lines, so you connect, you make simple sentences out of each of the cards and then you'll read an entire line as a sentence. So it's a very interesting. It sounds a little more complex than it is. Sometimes I use a simple nine card spread because nine cards for me have told me everything I've ever needed to know. I do the ground tableau spread too, but in that nine card configuration, which is the three by three box for tarot or Lenormand or even Oracle cards, you can simply look at the card in the center and then start to read top to bottom or left to right, and you pretty much sum up everything you need to know At least I have Over the years. You start to see layers of meaning and, just to say, the symbols on Lenormand cards being simple, I mean, like one is book. So all the things that come with the idea of book as opposed to a tarot card that has action elements, numerical correspondences, astrological correspondences With Lenormand it is book and it's very straightforward relative to the imagery tarot well, now I kind of want to go do the the larger.

Kimothy: 9:26

I think I have a Lenormand back in my room, my studio. I pick things up at random and then buy them. It’s fine. I don't recommend that people-  don't– don't necessarily do what I do, but anyway, I have this deck. Cool, so maybe I'll finally use it. Finally, I've gotten it out and looked at it, but I never tried to use it. Do you have any classes for the Lenormand? Because I know it's not as popular as tarot, but I don't hear about people teaching that.

Monica: 10:06

Yeah, I teach Lenormand at least once a year and I also had a guest instructor who is Obsidian faculty. I have hired faculty named Erica Robinson, who also teaches Lenormand regularly. So between myself and Erica, there will always be classes available through my website. 

Kimothy: 10:29

Nice, so what does it mean to you when you call yourself a witch?

Monica: 10:35

Well, let's see, I think it means mostly. It means so many things, but I think mostly that I practice ancestral veneration and honor my inherited gifts, which are oniromancy or dreaming true something we call dead talking, or being a medium and talking to the dead, and spiritual advising and herbalism, and absolutely being close to nature and all of its elements, spirits and creatures. It's also a reclaiming of feminine power. We know that the word witch can carry some very negative connotations and I think by saying I am a witch, you know we're taking that power away from others who wish to use it in a negative sense. It's an acknowledgement that, as practical as I am and skeptical, I also feel that we can shift and manipulate energy to alter outcomes known as magical thinking. I'm also a Hecatean devotee and a polytheist and an animist, so all of those things kind of come together in my definition of witch.

Kimothy: 11:56

Cool. So you mentioned that your dad got you a Lenormand deck when you were a kid. What kind of spiritual upbringing did you have?

Monica: 12:09

Well, that was interesting. It was kind of what I would refer to as I'm a first generation Canadian. My parents left a war-torn Europe and, as such, they wanted to leave their religions behind. My dad was raised as a Catholic and my mom as a Protestant and they just thought you know what? Let's not raise our kids with any religion. Let's just tell them that there are spirits, there are things that we understand and that we don't. There are gifts we have, which my dad used to refer to as a problem. And he for many reasons and said you know, go examine other religions and spiritualities and explore those. But we didn't go to church and I don't mean we were the kind of people who just went to church at Easter and Christmas. I mean we never actually went to church. My dad found it a bit of a hypocrisy, quite frankly. He thought that too many people just went to be absolved and then lived the rest of the week is not the best people and he didn't really want part of that. So we were free to explore and I think I went to every temple, synagogue, church and, you know, got horrified by some of them and certainly I never joined any of them, but I wanted to learn about all things religious and spiritual, and I already started to be my little witchy self very early on in life. I just didn't label it at that point, and my parents were very open-minded. I mean, hey, they still had Christmas or Yule and would say here have your, what are you 10, 11? Now have a Ouija board, go, you know, stir up some demons, go ahead, or you know, just have fun. You know. They didn't feel threatened by those things very much, so it was pretty open that way. I can tell you honestly, though, it did frighten my mom at times. Some of the familial abilities were pretty potent and she preferred not to talk about these things because they made her very nervous and we grew up in a haunted house oh hey, why not. And so we experienced some very unusual things, but they still kind of like yep, that's just the way it is, let's not talk about it.

Kimothy: 14:57

Can you introduce us to your practice? Do you have any consistent, maybe even daily things that you do?

Monica: 15:04

Yeah, my practice is based on my heritage and so I tend to refer to it as a syncretic familial witchcraft practice. It does have herbalism, divination involved, and every day it's so integrated. Everything I do is part of my practice. So you know, when I sweep, I am removing negativity. When I'm doing laundry, I throw in a couple of herbs or essential oils and I'm cleansing any negativity. Everyday rituals. Every time I'm making food, there's some kitchen witchery involved of good intention and health in food. I certainly I don't know if that's inherited, but I like to light a lot of candles. Despite not growing up as a Catholic. I think those are daily rituals. I'm grateful. Every day I say a few things, I acknowledge my ancestors every day. It's very integrated into everything I do. I would say.

Kimothy: 16:26

Would you say witchcraft has changed your life?

Monica: 16:30

Gosh, it's hard to say if you've always been a witch, but I know I couldn't live without my practice because it's just part of me. It keeps me grounded and supported, I think, balanced and at peace. I know that because if, for some reason, I'm ill or I'm taken away from being able to be as involved in the practice, because sometimes we have more time than others, it makes me quite crabby. So I'm going to say it does keep me at peace, it's fully integrated and it's just such an important part of my identity I think.

Kimothy: 17:12

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

Monica: 17:20

I think the biggest motivator would be connecting to my ancestry in the spirit world. It does help me feel very, very. You know, moon, that my relatives and ancestors have always seen and I find it very comforting because it makes me feel as though I'm part of a long line of devoted spiritual practitioners. It's a very nice feeling. I think that connection is the biggest motivator.

Kimothy: 18:05

What's your biggest struggle when it comes to your practice?

Monica: 18:11

I think the biggest struggle I have, you know, is this with my practice or with witchcraft in general. I think it's finding like-minded and equally enthusiastic community that shares my ethics and values. I mean, witches are strong-willed and independent thinkers, thank goodness. But it is like herding cats and finding people who are as loose or organic, or finding people who commit, or finding those who are respectful of age differences. I'm getting older and I find a lot of younger practitioners can be quite ageist and make assumptions about me being horribly, horribly outdated, and that's not true at all. I keep up to speed on things that are happening because I'm very invested in social advocacy. So I don't know. I think that's a bit of a struggle. Even the witches, I think you need to stay open-minded right so you can navigate global change. And even the witch who repeats the same rituals to a T from 40 years ago has wisdom to share and should be listened to. And even though I don't tend to repeat things like that because they're evolving constantly, I would prefer not to be labeled as a relic from the past because of my age. So I think community it boils down to finding like-minded and enthusiastic community is amongst very independent thinkers is tricky.

Kimothy: 19:50

Yeah, but it's so good when you do.

Monica: 19:55

Right, hyphos, it is. It is when you do, though. It's true it's harder to find folks like that, but I think it is. It's really satisfying when you find other people's. It's true it's it's harder to find folks like that, but I think it is it's really satisfying when you find other people who really get you.

Kimothy: 20:14

Would you say that you have any issues with self-doubt or imposter syndrome about your practice and if so, how do you beat it?

Monica: 20:21

Not about my practice, but it does crop up with creativity now and then. I think imposter syndrome has come up for me as far as artwork or writing. But I think when I review all of the things that I've done and I stop for a moment which is not that often and I actually look at where I've come from and where I am now and I see actual, verifiable proof that I am not an imposter because I've done all of these things, it vanishes. I mean, there is no standardization or certificate that proves you're a witch. So reviewing how much you've studied and what you've accomplished and I think that helps, I think keeping a grimoire or a journal, a book of mirrors, which is reflections for me I think looking at that you can see that you've changed a great deal and you've evolved and that usually gets rid of any kind of doubts that I have.

Kimothy: 21:41

I agree, I do not journal. I've tried. I have lots of books with the first three pages but the rest is blank. But a bunch of my social group they journal and they talk about oh well, I see that for the past three years I have felt XYZ during ABC part of the year and I always think, man, that's so good that you can go back and see how you change and how your your cycles shift. I need, I know that that would be beneficial, but I don't do it.

Monica: 22:27

No, I get that. I mean, I have a lot of books with the first few pages too. I just read them all together. I can't say that I'm really great in regular journaling, but yeah, you do what you're talking about. I mean I had a coven that I was the elder in a coven for 11 years. It was a teaching coven, and that is what I used to ask people to do was, to the best of their ability, keep entries at certain times of year at least, and compare them over the years, because you'll see patterns emerging and through those patterns you have the ability to get to a deeper self-awareness and understanding and then assess objectively where those patterns have emerged, why and if they're good or if you'd like to change them. It just gives you a better understanding of yourself and that also, I think, really helps getting rid of any kind of imposter syndrome self-awareness.

Kimothy: 23:44

I will say that you don't just have to write because I don't know of anything. I haven't looked. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I just that I haven't found anything like it. But do you remember LiveJournal? Yeah, I loved and still love LiveJournal and I used it like a journal and I like that they have the calendar so I can go back and look at times. I can go back and look at the month of November of 2002 and see how I was doing and what I was doing, and I can't find anything like that. Now I know LiveJournal still exists, but it isn't the same. No, but I really I really I do that, but I am unable to commit to writing, but I think I might do it. Why don't I just go back to LiveJournal? This is a me issue. Anyway, what brings the most joy in your practice?

Monica: 24:50

You know what, Kim? I really doubt it's just a you issue. I think there's a whole pile of people out there going yeah, yeah, Kim.

Kimothy: 25:00

Well, anyway, let's all go back to LiveJournal, because I really did use it like that.

Monica: 25:05

You know, because I taught people to and had to keep accessibility very much top of mind, the audio tools are just better for some people, and even visual journaling some of the people I taught were very big into that just like draw your feelings, and you know it's all good Whatever works for you. So yeah, let's all go live journal now.

Kimothy: 25:36

What brings you the most joy in your practice?

Monica: 25:42

The most joy, oh, I think I think it is it's kind of a repetition of what I said before, but it brings me the most joy to connect with ancestors, but but also to share, I think, to share the experience that I've had and the knowledge and the research and help people who are just starting out or don't know where to begin and they're confused because, let's face it, there's so much out there that is perhaps in an echo chamber of repetition from a source that may or may not be accurate. How's that for diplomacy. 

Kimothy: 26:30

Could you be talking about Meta.

Monica: 26:33

Perhaps, perhaps you know, there's so much stuff out there, so it does give me a great deal of joy when people are asking me it. I'm very happy to direct people to areas that they're looking for and, being a Hecatean devotee, I kind of have always been in those liminal spaces and at the crossroads assisting people with direction, and that gives me a great deal of joy, because I think that's part of my destiny is to ensure that people are, you know, finding the information they need or going to the right areas. Whether or not that has anything to do with me giving the information, that does make me feel very happy.

Kimothy: 27:34

I really love that visual of you at the crossroads. I really like that.

Monica: 27:39

It’s very fitting. I set up camp there. Yeah, that liminal space. That's part of the family too. You speak to the living, you speak to the dead, like maybe even in childhood.

Kimothy: 27:57

Since you've basically been doing that, this for a while, forever, Is there anything that you don't do anymore? And why don't you?

Monica: 28:15

Well, I don't tend to whip out the Ouija board and see what's out there anymore. No, not that I'm terrified of it, it's just there's so many better ways to connect and know who you're connecting to. I think, though, the thing that has changed probably the most that I don't do anymore is I don't follow rituals or instructions, not that I ever could, but in a linear fashion. I used to try to force myself to follow things by rote, in a linear fashion, and, being a circular thinker and perhaps a little divergent in my thought processes, I think allowing myself to approach ritual and practice in a way that works for me is something that just took a few years to, because, you know, I think a lot of us feel like we're doing it wrong. Such an abstraction, anyway, when you're young, of what energy is and intention that I thought I had to follow things in that very strict and structured manner, but I don't anymore. Through, you know, experience, I can see how pulling things together organically and really coming from the heart is just 10 times more powerful than trying to follow instructions.

Kimothy: 29:43

I think I'm. You said you're a circular thinker. I think I'm a koosh ball in a box.

Monica: 29:54

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Kimothy: 29:55

So all these, million different little ways of getting to it, but it's still probably in the box.

Monica: 30:20

Right, I think the circular, yeah, I can see that I can relate. I think the circular portion is no matter where I go and how many millions of directions. I come back to the original point, so perhaps I'm just stretching the definition, definition of circle. It makes me think of a border collie. Well, if you walk with one, they like go out, but then they come back. Yep. 

Kimothy: 30:37

I also may not even know what circular thinking is. It's fine, it's cool. I can admit I don't know stuff. 

Monica: 30:41

Yeah, well, you just go. My very loose definition is you wander off into the woods. You know you stop for lunch, you talk to squirrels, you forget why you went into the woods. Then you collect a few things, come back and somehow you've got an answer to something that's probably more accurate.

Kimothy: 31:01

Did you know there was a question when you went in there? Maybe not?

Monica: 31:05

Maybe not.

Kimothy: 31:08

I relate to that. Do you have a favorite tool? It does not have to be a physical object. It can be like a scent or a song or a theory.

Monica: 31:25

Ah, interesting. Do I have a favorite tool? I am so used to picking up tools as I need them, and sometimes I need them at certain times and other times I don't. If there's anything I tend to come back to, it's interesting. You said scent. It would be Tunisian frankincense. You know, frankincense is just something that, no matter where I am in my practice or what I'm trying to do, as long as I have frankincense somewhere around it, brings me right back to myself, if that makes sense, yeah.

Kimothy: 32:13

Well, the reason I changed the way I used to just say favorite tool, but then the reason I changed the way I used to just say favorite tool but then, like mine, is my mortar and pestle. But then I've interviewed some perfumers and that is their favorite specific smells.

Monica: 32:33

I have a lot of different senses working and for me, scent, because I am very sensitive. That way, a bit of a super taster and scent is through the roof and that is something that seems to cut through nonsense quicker than anything or just brings me right back to where I need to be. So, as far as favorite, I guess I guess I would. I would say it's, it's frankincense, whether that's, you know, and I do have different types. I mean, I have a really fine Ethiopian, Tunisian, and they all have their own differences, but they're all beautiful for me and I sometimes use it in the way that some Romani ancestry and friends have used it, which is to put a chunk just in the old spoon and put it over a candle and heat it up, not to the point of melting, but it just gives off this wonderful light fumes and it's just gorgeous.

Kimothy: 33:46

I'm a big pine person, ooh.

Monica: 33:51

That's cool. Pine makes me itch.

Kimothy: 33:54

But it smells so good!

Monica: 33:55

It does. It's clean, yeah, and fresh. I do like tree scents too. I have spruces, I have cypress and pine. I think I've got all the different tree scents as well.

Kimothy: 34:11

It makes me think of dirt.

Monica: 34:12

Sorry, go ahead. Dirt no, that's cool. I have a dirt scent as well.

Kimothy: 34:15

Well, when I was a kid, we had pine trees and I would climb them, but you get filthy because of pine sap.

Monica: 34:26

That's true.

Kimothy: 34:28

And so there's that dirt and bark and piney resin smell all over my hands. My mom loved it.

Monica: 34:38

That is nice, that is nice. I don't know if you go through forests when pine needles like going through pine forests on a hot day and you can just smell the forest floor covered in pine needles and and sap is just heavenly.

Kimothy: 35:00

This is hurting my feelings, there are no forests here. I mean there might be forests here, but they're far. I live in Arizona and I have to travel to get to a forest. 

Monica: 35:17

I’ll bring one to you. Hey, it's magic, right?

Kimothy: 35:20

I miss that. I do miss the smell and the feel of the sound. I miss the sound of wind in the leaves. 

Monica: 35:31

Oh, yeah, that, that- you know, that is one of my absolute favorite sounds of all time. Oh my, oh, my God, we are related. It's so good, isn't it? It's like this gentle watery, I don't know, it's just so beautiful.

Kimothy: 35:50

One of my friends who also lives in the desert, although they live in the Texas desert and not here, went back east for only the second time in their life. We went to this spiritual retreat called Anahata's Purpose, which I'd like to invite you to, but she calls it nature's applause.

Monica: 36:13

Oh, that's beautiful. That's lovely. Yeah, it used to put me to sleep when I was a kid and I had the window open at home and we had some poplar trees and other trees in the yard and I would just hear the leaves and it was such a gentle whispering I don't know. It was just beautiful. It was like tree people talking to you and putting you to sleep. It was beautiful.

Kimothy: 36:47

How do you pull yourself out of a magical slump?

Monica: 36:52

Talk to the trees. Just stand under it and listen to it. I just stand under it and listen to it. 

Just go hug a tree. Honestly, it is. It is. The first thing I do is if I have a real magical slump and I I storm around the house declaring there is no such thing as magic and we've all been duped. I, you know, occasionally I get into these foul moods because I have a lot of deadlines and deadline pressure and it's not about the magic, it's about being overworked and exhausted. So the first thing I do if I'm feeling that kind of negativity is to stop what I'm doing, just completely stop. Sit down, don't have any noise, don't have any of my million distractions going so I can focus. I always have sound and other things but just sit, be with yourself and ask yourself what, what is it? Are you low energy? Is it sleep, food, how are you feeling? Do a check-in, make sure you're connected to your body, because sometimes we just get so busy we're disconnected and then ask myself am I unmotivated? Why Does it feel like work? Is it the repetition? Do I need to change something? What is it I'm experiencing and be objective about that. A lot of times people don't bother to sit and try to be objective about how they're feeling. They just are so caught up in their feels they can't be objective. I don't have a problem being objective, so it might vary from person to person, but I would just suggest barely enough energy to get up. Do you know what I mean? And if getting up, showering and getting dressed and just going through the bare minimum survival is the best I can do, that's okay. You know, I let myself off the hook there and go. You know what magic is? I'm alive today. You know, that's it. That's it and it's okay. There's always going to be periods, I think, where we're more enthused and engaged, and then periods that are a little less exciting or we're just not really motivated for a variety of reasons. That's okay. These things pass. They go through their own cycles and I guess I don't get terribly worried about it. I never think something's gone forever. I blow things out of my system and sit with it, let it go, go for a walk, and it just seeps right back in again, you know, and I just start to feel enthused again.

Kimothy: 39:58

I'm ready for that part. I'm in burnout right now. 

Monica: 40:01

Well, that's overwork, probably.

Kimothy: 40:06

It is, I know, but you got to make hay while the sun shines.

Monica: 40:12

That is true. That is true, but you don't want to make so much hay. You can't experience any sunshine.

Kimothy: 40:24

What is something you wish was discussed more in the witch community.

Monica: 40:29

You know what I'd really like to talk about. In the witch community, we need to stand up and be counted. You know we need to make our presence known. Community commitment is not just a self, but it is like community commitment. It doesn't matter if we have different beliefs about witchcraft or not, or what you call yourself magical worker, wiccan, pagan you know, furry animal, I don't care. You know, furry animal, I don't care. You know we need to unite because every marginalized social group has understood that. You know, witches, everyone is for themselves. Sometimes everyone kind of forgets that by our differences we can form a united, strong community. Do you know? And I feel discouraged sometimes when people think that following influencers is community. That's not what I mean. I mean really meeting people, talking to them, accepting their differences of opinion and practices, not seeing it as conflict but as conversation, and that underneath it all. Yeah, so we're all different, but we're all similar in many ways as well. We all. I think it will come down to a very similar ethical stance for witchcraft practitioners, you know, and I think it's important. It's important that we put aside the tradition that we're following and find those similarities, because times can be very ambiguous and every other community that has ever formed or gotten anywhere, it's been because they have done this. They've united enough to be a solid front and a recognizable community that others might be accountable to or answer to. There's strength in numbers. That's what I wish we would talk about more, yeah.

Kimothy: 42:46

Think about the three biggest influences on your practice. Whether it is a person or a book you read once, or a song you heard, or even like a scientific theory whatever, how do they influence your practice and can you thank them for what they do?

Monica: 43:08

I think I can. Some of these are going to be maybe a bit abstract in the thanking department.

Kimothy: 43:41

Good, good, good Blow my mind.

Monica: 43:45

But an absolute survival. I come from a mixed family of people who've been through about seven different consecutive wars and also family members who've been kicked out of pretty much every country they've lived in and they kept going. Their resilience is something that is a huge influence for me. When I feel down that I have to say thank you for. An influence also when I was younger would have been a book I picked up. I was a very precocious reader, voracious little reader, and I picked up a book when I was about 10 from a mobile library in our neighborhood called a bookmobile.

Kimothy: 44:22

I miss bookmobiles, so much!

Monica: 44:26

Right, they were tremendous. You know I used to ride my bike over there and you know, take out the 10 that you were allowed to take out at a time and load up my bike and I was so happy we got those for two weeks. And the book that made a huge impact in my practice was a black hardcover book. I wish I remembered the title. It was Missing a Dust Jacket and that's why I don't remember what the title was. But it was a very thick black hardcover book and probably by today's standards it seemed really kind of outdated because of the topics of ESP and you know, other being psychic and astrology and witchcraft practices, but in a very roundabout way covering all of these esoteric topics. And the book looked like somebody had accidentally poured about half a cup of patchouli oil into it. So the smell of this book because I'm very scent sensitive. So when I opened it and this waft of patchouli came out and I was reading about magic, you know it was like whoa.

Kimothy: 45:49

So that's what magic smells like to you now?

Monica: 46:02

Sorry to those who are a little patchouli averse, but it is magic and that was where I started and it had such a huge impact on tying together all of these things I was experiencing and giving it a name and putting it all in the same place and saying, hey, there's other people like this and this is what it's called. I didn't feel quite cut off from it, nor did I need to badger my poor parents about things they really didn't wish to discuss. So that was you know. If I could say thank you, Black Book, whatever your title and whoever your author may have been, thank you.

Kimothy: 46:36

And the person who spilled the oil in it.

Monica: 46:40

And the person who spilled the oil, Thank you, patchouli soaked book for influencing my practice and making me feel that it was a thing and that I was not unusual, you know, because once it's in print you know it's real. It had a big effect on me. Is there any other influences? Oh, so many different people, so many elders within a variety of spiritual communities that had a huge influence in just offering me counterpoint to, I think, the standard Wiccan traditions or suggestions, the standard Wiccan traditions or suggestions. I never was a Wiccan, so all of these other spiritual beliefs really helped me focus on who I was and what I did believe in. I think those are the strongest influences and I thank all of them.

Kimothy: 47:44

What advice do you have for new practitioners?

Monica: 47:49

Don't believe everything you see on social media, do not follow everything you see on social media, first and foremost because there's a lot of reductive um, I think things so pulled out of context like just light a candle and there you go, it's done, and it's not that simple and this isn't gatekeeping that I'm talking to. I don't think there should be gatekeeping on information that you can't have access. But the other extreme to that is basically light a candle and everything's taken care of. So I would say, really look at the history of witchcraft, Look at your ancestry and their witchcraft practices. Be very mindful to look inward and look to your ancestry. Often there is a discussion about paying homage to others by stealing their culture. Oh yeah, You've heard of that. Wow, thanks, and yes, I feel so honored. So I would say you know, every culture has had witchcraft and magical practices. Just take a look at them. Take a look at yours. If, for some reason I mean, we're all free to practice what we want If you feel compelled to practice something out of your heritage I'm not the witch police go by all means, but do it from a very mindful, respectful place that you've already researched so you're well aware of what is going on there. It's the lack of context, I think that is is creating a lot of maybe shallowing the pool of witchcraft a little bit. Shallowing the pool of witchcraft a little bit. We are going to forget those traditions if we keep lowering the bar. You can call yourself a witch, I have no problem with that. But I always encourage newbies and new witches to read and research and listen to as many people. Listen to a 90-year-old who's practiced, Listen to a 10-year-old who practices. Make sure you widen that net before you decide what is acceptable and what isn't. There are a lot of very contemporary witch practitioners of very specific ages who will immediately shut you down. I think if you're not, uh, like if you're boring, like I am in the cisgender hetero department, uh, you might not listen to me immediately and shut me down. That's- that shouldn't be. You know, we should all listen to one another, one another, regardless of what stage we're at.

Kimothy: 51:00

I agree, I don't necessarily love the term crone, though y'all, please don't crone.

Monica: 51:06

Crone, crone, oh, okay, oh, crone, oh, good Lord, lord, no, crone, it's. It sounds could be not. No, it's kind of I don't like it. It sounds crunchy. Yeah, it sounds brittle. I okay, maybe I'm sensitive to onomatopoeia, which is how words feel and taste, because I'm that way, but crone has never sat well with me. Elder, on the other hand, I know some people don't like that. You're self-appointed in that regard, but I mean it in the sense of old, you know. I just don't like saying older witch.

Kimothy: 51:59

Now that you've seen what it's like to talk to me, who would you like to hear me interview on this show?

Monica: 52:09

Oh well, I'd like to come back any day. I think you know we've only scratched the surface myself, I think I would like to see you've had so many people. I've looked at who you've had on your podcast and several of them are the people that I was going to recommend. Somebody maybe is Kris Gurky. She takes care of the Witch City Tarot Gathering and she's a very fascinating person and I would like to see her on your show.

Kimothy: 52:43

Is there anything else you wanted to bring up? Anything going on with you? Any questions you had for me?

Monica: 52:58

I think I would like to tell people to go to my website if they'd like the newsletter and information about upcoming decks or books or the Obsidian Academy of Esoteric Arts. I tend to put most things on my website, but you could also find me on Instagram, at Monica Bodirsky, and on YouTube, and I think that's about it. I do have a newsletter that comes out once a month just as reminders and any application for residencies upcoming, which would be next summer on Toronto Island. I do a week long creativity and spirituality residency. It's called Awakening and it is in the framework of the elements and we call it Witch Camp. So, if you're interested in that, the applications are now open for summer 2025 as well. And do I have questions for you? Sure, here's a really basic one, but why did you start your podcast?

Kimothy: 54:09

Because I'm nosy and people will answer these questions when I ask them if it's a podcast.

Monica: 54:16

Very cool. What do you get out of being nosy?

Kimothy: 54:21

I just like knowing stuff. It's just like, just in case I need something. It's tucked away.

Monica: 54:30

Oh cool so information.

Kimothy: 54:32

Yeah, I'm an information hoarder And a story hoarder. 

Monica: 54:38

Oh, you too? That's so cool, so am I. Very interesting. Also, how did you learn electroforming?

Kimothy: 54:49

How did I? I looked on facebook. There's a few,  like there are a few facebook groups about it, and I joined them and tried it and it worked. Oh, okay, there are some, you just, but they're pretty. I don't. I'm not, I haven't taken chemistry, and there are some books you can get if you, if you understand chemistry and you understand those science words. I did not. So while I have books, I can't recommend any because I don't know if they're good or not.  

Monica: 55:33

Was it just something you wanted to try? Because you make such wonderful jewelry.

You thought, hey, this looks like an interesting technique. Or if there was something else behind that, if it was something more about the materials or just the look of it? Was it the aesthetic? I guess I was curious as to what attracted you.

Kimothy: 55:47

Well, I wanted to use bone and bone is pretty fragile and I can't solder it. But if I cover it in copper I can!

Monica: 55:57

Oh, very interesting. Okay, well, thank you for that.

Kimothy: 56:06

Thanks for asking me and making me remember, because I like thinking about that stuff. Well, we are at the last two questions, and question number one is please recommend something to the listeners. It doesn't have to be witchy, it doesn't have to be magical. Whatever you are into this week, recommend it.

Monica: 56:25

I recommend everyone take a deep breath and ground yourself. We are in a change of seasons and that can feel a little bit bumpy, so just take a moment to look after yourself, have a cup of coffee or tea, take a walk somewhere and stop running for a moment, at least long enough to see where you actually are and where you want to go and what your goals are. So everyone, just hold positions for a moment and breathe. That's my recommendation.

Kimothy: 57:10

Oh gosh, I'll do my best. And thing number two is tell me a story. It can be something from your life, or it can just be a story that you were told as a kid. I just like stories.

Monica: 57:27

You like stories? Okay, all right, here's a story. Stories Okay, all right, here's a story. So once upon a time there was this average suburban family who went out for a drive one beautiful summer's day and they got into their car and they drove around for a while, had a great time, went to parks oh, it was so sunny and gorgeous out. I remember it well, why it might even be about my family. We enjoyed the day so much. We had a lovely wolf dog in the back of our station wagon and everything was just. I couldn't say it could get any more perfect. You know, mom and dad were relaxed, my brother wasn't picking on me for a moment, everything seemed fine. And when we got home we pulled into the driveway and walked up to our front door and put the key in the door and the door wouldn't open. Wait a minute, I don't think my dad even got the key in the door because the screen door was locked. Well, you can't lock this. We didn't have a key for that front screen door, for those of you who have them. So he went to the back door actually and tried that wooden door and stuck the key in and turned that and it didn't unlock. And well, that was kind of unusual, because the key turned but we couldn't get in, and my dad because you know I'm old enough that we didn't need tight security back then and he'd left one of the windows in the basement open, except for the screen, and the screen you could unscrew. So he unscrewed that little screen and got me to go into the basement window, step down on his workbench and go, let everybody in and see what the problem was. Well, the problem was that the back door was locked from the inside with a lock that could only be locked from the inside, that there was no key to. So that was just something he left as an added security, but there was no key for that and I unlocked that. And then I went to the front door, unlocked the wooden door and then unlocked the screen door, which would have been impossible to lock because the wooden door was locked and you cannot lock that screen door from the outside. So that's just a little tale of our little haunted home and one of the things that we experienced. Nobody could ever figure that out because there was nobody in the home and that was neither of those locks could have jiggled into place to go into the lock position. So, you know, we just kind of looked at one another. My mom and dad were very quiet about it, had that worried look on their face, exchanged a lot of eye movements that probably they were saying, oh God, don't frighten the children. But they could not figure that out and it was very disturbing and it was kind of that thing where, you know, we shall never speak of this again. And it left a lot of unrest though, and went into the giant bucket in our home of that's just another thing that we can't figure out and we can't explain. They weren't the kind of people to run around and cleanse the space. They weren't the kind of people to start praying. They just were very careful about listening for things and trying to keep us safe and, I'm sure, said their own things in private and had their own ways of hanging up things on the doorknob and cleansing and blocking. A few things got shifted around, but they did it very quietly and I think, because they did not want to frighten us, they didn't like the theatrics of, you know, people who engaged in. You know they were very quiet people. They didn't want to do the arm waving and incense burning. They were just very. Let's just calm down and shift the energy in the home. It only happened that once, but that was just one of many, many things, so I hope you enjoyed that little tale.

Kimothy: 1:02:17

That was not where I was expecting the story to go. I thought you were going to say you were at the wrong house and that you crawled into someone else's house. 

Monica: 1:02:29

Oh my goodness no, no it it was. It was just one of many unexplained things that occurred. Huh, yeah, right, little head scratcher there for y'all. Well, thank you so much for inviting me. I had a lovely time sharing and speaking with you, Kim, and I enjoy your work and your jewelry and your podcast and certainly wish you loads and loads of success moving forward. So thank you again.

Kimothy: 1:03:06

Thank you, I wish you the same and everybody, make sure you go down and click the links. Go visit the website, sign up for that. Sign up for Obsidian. Maybe apply for the artist residency at Art Witch Camp. That would be cool. Go do it. I'm commanding you. Okay, I will see you on Instagram. Bye! 

Monica, welcome to Hive House. I have cards in my hand. Thank you, I have cards in my hand. All right, please, please, say when.

Monica: 1:03:48

When.

Kimothy: 1:03:49

 Does your family have any cool heirlooms?

Monica: 1:03:51

Cool heirlooms. I have to be honest, they lost pretty much everything they owned in several wars. So, rather than [fades out]  [fades in]I suppose, what people would consider a strange place? So, yeah, probably, probably disgruntled biker is coming to mind.

Kimothy: 1:04:17

Good, good, I'd hang out with that person. [fades out]

 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, spellcrafting 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. You can even listen to the full Your Average Witch podcast library, including show notes and transcripts. Check it out at crepuscularconjuration.com. Thanks for listening to this episode of Your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet on Instagram, @youraveragewitchpodcast, 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 gmail.com. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday.