Guess what? Despite the self-important activists thumping around on social media, virtue signalling in every which direction, you are absolutely NOT a narcissistic and self indulgent spiritual bypasser if your witchcraft is undoubtedly local instead of global. A lot of witchcraft - including the kind I practice - has always been rooted (literally and figuratively) in the unabashedly local: healing ourselves, undoing inter generational traumas, protecting our homes and families, and cultivating deeper connection with heritage, land, and environment. If you wanna do global political witchcraft, go for it - but stop shaming any witches who are keeping their practice closer to home.
Read MoreHi friends! I hope you’ve enjoyed these first few days of March. It’s sunny as hell here in Toronto, and I’ve begun by doing a complete reset and reorganization of my space. In this episode I talk about spring cleaning as a form of magic and energetic refresh and reset, and I also get into a little of what disturbed me so much last week that I couldn’t do my weekly tarot over on YouTube. The TLDR, radicalism and the celebration of hurting one self has disturbed me so much, and I share some thoughts on that as well.
Read MoreSince I was 17, I was pro-Palestine, largely due to the work of my still-comics-hero, Joe Sacco and the graphic novels he made about that region and that conflict. However, with what has come to light around Hamas, tunnels, UNWRA, and the vitriol and hatred on the left, the ignoring of mass rapes and extreme violence against women - and learning more about what’s been happening on the ground now - my opinion has shifted, become more nuanced and complicated. Back in the first few months of this conflict, back when I was still pro-P, a 5 years long friendship ended because I wasn’t in the streets rabble rousing and waving flags. Since then, I’ve seen the most insane vitriol online, and insanely hateful things thrown about by leftists. What the hell is that about? What is with this mass excuse making for bullying and hatred? In this episode I discuss not only my own shift in perspective but how the left has come to treat the Palestine topic/issue as a “rage room” of sorts - smashing everything and everyone around them, with no regard for complexity, reality, or other people.
Read MoreHello hello friends!! You may have noticed that this podcast has changed its name… more on that soon! Anyway - happy 2024! In this episode I talk a bit about the new year and the energy of 2024 that I’ve felt bubbling up, the challenges this year will bring us energetically, and how to make the best of it. I also talk about quiet quitting in friendships, ghosting, increasing divisiveness and tribalism, rejection of multiplicity and diversity, and how we can choose spiritual integration instead of the two extremes of spiritual bypassing and getting sucked into the internet outrage machine and soapbox echo chamber politics. There is a middle path, and we can choose it. Why do people choose outrage? I get into that a bit too, and address the addiction to excitement many people with trauma don’t overcome. Overall it is a jam packed episode that covers a ton of diverse topics - food for thought as we release the old and welcome the new.
Read MoreIn this episode I talk a bit about the impact the current Middle East conflict has had on discourse in the west, political and otherwise. We have become a people who have a low tolerance for difference of opinion. In this episode, I explain why this isn’t in our best interest.
Read MoreWe are in an era of war. The violent images are endless and, in this episode, I argue that none of it does any good at this point. I’m sure my political opinions are no surprise to folks who have been here for a while, but whatever your political stance, it’s important to consider what the point is of sharing violent imagery. Is it really to raise awareness about the conflict at hand, or is it to raise awareness of ourselves as highly woke and moral?
Read MoreI hate to be that person who is like, “but LOGIC!” I feel like I sound like a 13 year old boy who just took his first philosophy class, lol. But alas, I am someone who is finishing up my PhD in Philosophy of Science, and who found myself shifting over the years from politically far left to being more conservative and on the right. I noticed a left steeped in identitarianism and tribalism, who mobilize emotions like shame, embarrassment, and fear: fear of being wrong, fear of being called this or that, fear of being contaminated by perspectives that are framed as evil or bad, just because the left says it is. In this episode I share my experience of attending last night’s Munk Debate on the Crisis of Liberalism, held at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto. I talk about my impression of the speakers, what they had to say, their rhetorical style, as well as who “won” the debate by swaying more people in the vote, as well as my troubled reflections and observations on why I think they won, and how the winning rhetorical style is, unfortunately, becoming more and more common. A reflective and political discussion.
Read MoreGuess what! It’s election day in my home city of Toronto: Yes, we are electing a new mayor. In this episode I talk a bit about my own political journey over the last 10 years, how I turned from a leftist social justice warrior to a normal (Canadian) conservative, and why I think it’s important to read multiple books by people you assume you’re going to disagree with. Today’s North American political climate is very bizarre, full of thought police and cancel culture, and in this episode I outline what I hope we can all be and do for ourselves and each other instead: to move from curiosity and openness, and to be responsive to the current situation and present moment. Your politics may not be what you think they are, but you will never know that if you don’t give yourself permission to explore.
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