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1. Please allow us to introduce ourselves. image

1. Please allow us to introduce ourselves.

E1 · Soul Pod: The Podcast
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40 Plays3 months ago

What up, witches?!  We're finally here.

Join us as we introduce ourselves and our backgrounds in spirituality, and explain what it means to us to discover our Soul Pod. (Feel free to roll your eyes at our stupid jokes - we're used to it.)

We're grateful you're here! If you like what you're hearing, you can follow us on Instagram: @soulpodthepodcast. You can also email us directly at [email protected].

Hosts: Christina Bell & Molly Wilde

Music: The Confrontation, by Jonathan Boyle, licensed from Premium Beats by Shutterstock

Editing: Molly Wilde

Disclaimer: The purpose of this podcast is for entertainment and enjoyment. We are not professionals in any regard. We do not have professional knowledge, training, or education in physical health, mental health, or spiritual matters. Any suggestions or recommendations made during our episodes should be independently researched by the listener before considering implementation, or better yet, listeners should ignore everything we say. We cannot be held responsible or liable for anything we say, or any actions taken by any persons as a result of listening to our podcast episodes. Stay safe, stay informed, stay smart.

Transcript

Introducing Soul Pod

00:00:24
Speaker
good evening Good evening or morning or midday whatever is going on for you where you are as you're hearing this but for us it is a Monday evening and we are here very excited to start working on this and sharing what we've uh wanted to for so long to uh i guess to start it off i say welcome to the podcast welcome to uh soul pod the podcast my name is molly and uh i'm christina christina
00:01:09
Speaker
And ah we are so stoked to get started on this and so excited to see where it goes. We don't really have any expectations as of right now, ah like which I feel like is the best way to operate in these kinds of scenarios. But regardless, we're extremely excited to be here. And yeah, anything you want to add.
00:01:40
Speaker
I'm just smiling and it's really sad that you can't see me, but yeah but I'm smiling. Yeah. I mean, me too. And I can picture it. It's good.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yeah, we're

Concept of a Soul Pod

00:01:54
Speaker
here. We've decided to call this podcast the Soul Pod. Well, just Soul Pod, the podcast. I don't know why I feel so um particular about that, but regardless, the concept of a Soul Pod is something that Christina introduced to me, and I wanted to ask her to share the idea for this first episode just to sort of But in perspective, where we're coming from when we are referring to it, or or the fact that you know we've named our podcast the Soul Pod, aside from the obvious um pun there. um
00:02:37
Speaker
But you know just to give a a little bit of a context. So yeah, Christina, take it away. So it was something I had heard of on another podcast that I was listening to, incidentally. um Bear with me, I'm froggy because I'm kind of ill. um so And i I guess it's not a new concept. I looked it up again on Google. I was actually trying to figure out which podcast it was and maybe re-listen to the episode again to refresh myself. But when I Googled it, it was like there were so many things on Google that I went, oh, well,
00:03:15
Speaker
It can't be all that novel of a concept. So the whole thing is that there's a theory that people who are in each other's lives um in the current timeline or in their current lifetime have known each other in the past, like in previous lives, um that we are kind of like souls that made a pact.
00:03:42
Speaker
to kind of be in each other's lives in one way or another to help each other learn lessons through each lifetime. And the term pod actually comes from like dolphins that swim in pods in the ocean, I guess is the the correct terminology for you know groups of dolphins.
00:04:00
Speaker
yeah so soul pods. So we're all so swimming through the ether together in and out of lifetimes with each other. And I honestly love that visual like that imagery yeah with that naming. It's pretty beautiful.
00:04:18
Speaker
And so it like literally could mean that you know we could have been best friends in a previous life. um I could have been your son. you know like It could have been any combination, like Julie, my best friend. ah who's graciously allowing me to use her space to do a lot of my work lately. She could have been you know my mother in a previous life or who knows? You know what I mean? She's like my bestie, but um I got a few besties. you know As they say, you can choose your friends. You can't choose your family, but you know yeah friends in my case are more family than anything. And I think you could probably say the same thing.
00:05:03
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. i One of the things that I didn't plan on going into this, and it's not even that I need to go into it, but the thing that comes to mind when you say that is the year constantly misinterpreted phrase of blood is thicker than water, where the the full phrase is the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and really just flipping everybody's perception of what that what they think that phrase means on its head.
00:05:35
Speaker
So that's the actual, like, the real... The actual phrase, yeah. Original. Okay. Where did it come from? Do you know? No clue. Okay. Maybe that's something I should look up. But I remember, you know, finding that out that, like, that's the full phrase. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. And, you know, just being so relieved about it. Because I was like, oh my goodness. I totally, like, I... resonate with that so much more than the thing that people use that phrase and throw it in each other's faces all the time, and it's kind of ugly, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah, and like, I want to also say, like, and we're going to not get into this immediately, we're going to share this, or share further details down the line,
00:06:25
Speaker
um But in this context, or in this case, ah in this lifetime, Christina is actually my biological mother. ah So, you know, to to put that into perspective, like, we know each other in this lifetime as that to each other. I am her daughter. She is my mother.
00:06:46
Speaker
And yet we have a very different dynamic than most mother-daughter dynamics. And ah we've I feel like that's been the thing that's allowed us to see each other as so much more than just those roles in this current life and be able to then, you know, sort of understand the soul pod concept for ourselves.
00:07:08
Speaker
in that, like yes, this is what we literally are to each other in this life, but like we are so much more than that, and we have been so many other things than them to each other.
00:07:20
Speaker
so in this lifetime, and I'm sure in previous ones. exactly oh Exactly. And as I've like reflected on it, because it's not been a long, long time that I have fully believed in and invested in the concept of reincarnation um as my own personal belief, but same yeah it's not been that long in the grand scheme, but in the time that I have come to understand it, oh or tried to understand it. I have identified plenty of people that I do believe are in my soul pod. Christina, you'd be in one of them, ah obviously. um

Spirituality and Mental Health

00:07:58
Speaker
But, you know, my best friend, Tom, I believe also is one of them. One of my other best friends, my oldest best friend, Stephanie, another one.
00:08:07
Speaker
and you know this I just I love the concept and I think that it's uh really interesting and so that's that's soul pods um yes and we are soul pod the podcast we sure are we're here I wanted to say something else really quick. Yeah, absolutely. Circling back to your bringing up the phraseology of the the covenant of the blood. Yeah, blood of the covenant. Blood of the covenant. Sorry. I think it's funny because like you know in the belief system, I was raised in a covenant. you know That word was used quite frequently in various ways.
00:08:52
Speaker
And i I would think, in a way, if people are, or souls, are choosing to become pods in the pre-existence or whatever terminology you want to use. um that they've covenanted together to be a pod, in that sense, to be in each other's lives repeatedly. So that's kind of cool. That's kind of cool. I love that. Thank you. Thank you so much for pointing that out. I love that. I love thinking of it as if reincarnation is what we are doing, each of us, that a soul pod is basically just our forever friend group.
00:09:39
Speaker
you know It's so refreshing. It's so cool to think of it that way. It makes it feel a lot lot more like we have control. We have the kind of control that you know not off not many of us are brought up to believe we have in our grand scheme of our lives.
00:09:57
Speaker
so o I love it. but so bad but sir That's And that's only the beginning. We're a here to talk about spirituality in general. We're here to talk about our experiences with spirituality.
00:10:16
Speaker
And, you know, ah our experiences too with mental health and healing, um which at least for me, mental health and spirituality are like intrinsically intertwined. And so, you know, and I've always or not always felt that way, but for as long as I've taken spirituality seriously, I have held to that.
00:10:40
Speaker
And so ah to that end also I wanted to in this first episode ah have each of us introduce ourselves and basically give just an overview. Obviously in future episodes we'll get into the nitty gritty of a lot of the details of our spiritual paths, our spiritual journeys. But to give an overview, just a little bit of a context for where we are coming from in our lives, the two of us, and then where we're at currently.

Molly's Spiritual Journey

00:11:11
Speaker
Would you like me to go first, Christina? Sure. Okay, cool.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, so as I stated, my name is Molly. It feels weird to say I'm going to introduce myself and then not repeat that phrase even if I've said it before. um My name is Molly. I grew up in the Mormon church and did not feel like I vibe with it from about as early on as I can remember but didn't have the wherewithal to express that nor did I have the ah environmental safety to express it. It's hard when you're a child and you're raised in a certain belief system and the it's the kind of belief system where you're told ah you can't think differently than how the adults in your life think.
00:12:07
Speaker
And it's funny to me too that no matter how much the concept of free agency was, and what's the word I want here?
00:12:18
Speaker
not harped on. so but But, you know, it it always felt like a little asterisk that was being applied to like every lesson that we got when I was growing up was, remember, you have free agency, but the very, very clear subtext was always, but there's a very obvious correct choice and you better make it. You better make the correct choice. Yeah, yep, I nine i know what you mean. yeah If you questioned anything, then you were kind of like,
00:12:48
Speaker
um at best like looked at weird and like maybe given a red flag like you know yeah yeah i mean even if you just like dress differently or you know just we're trying to be a little yeah yeah 100 So, as they say, like when you're a child, you can't really do anything different than go along with what your parents tell you to do. um When you're five years old, you can't just stay home from church.
00:13:20
Speaker
You know, if your parents are going, you gotta go. But I wasn't into it. And, you know, it took me until I was 19 to really ah put words to it, the feeling, and understand and accept that that's how I felt. um Because it is a hard thing to um come out of that and understand that you actually really do have agency as a human being on planet Earth. You get to choose things.
00:13:48
Speaker
And i basically, as soon as I understood that I could choose something different, I i did. I was out. So I did, you know at this time, also go through some pretty severe mental health challenges and dropped out of college, which was Brigham Young University at the time. Took a year off, applied to other schools, but was still really struggling.
00:14:16
Speaker
and then was fortunate enough to go to college in Boston after that and you know felt like I had a fresh opportunity to be an atheist.
00:14:29
Speaker
in a city where no one knew me. It was extremely freeing and I really did consider myself an atheist at the time. You know, it was like a seemingly slow for me transition from like active member of the Mormon Church to fully decided atheist, but in reality it was like less than a year of of a period of time where i made that mental switch but yeah i just was like i'm comfortable with you know at at the very least stating that i do not know what's out there
00:15:07
Speaker
but also i kind of really didn't believe that anything was and i was fine with it i actually felt a lot happier despite the mental health challenges which which were not like totally unrelated but not directly related they were other things going on anxiety and depression and things like that. And despite that, I felt freer and more able to be myself and express myself. And obviously a lot of that had to do with living in a completely new environment. But I, over time, decided or sort of, I don't know, figured out that, well, two two different things. I figured out that meditation was really good for anxiety.
00:15:51
Speaker
And to this day, I have never kept up as good of a meditation practice as I did in the year 2015, thereabouts. i I was very diligent with it, mostly because it was my lifeline for staying out of panic mode. and at the same time, but in a different vein. I also just sort of had the thought, like, it's kind of cool to, like, worship, like, nature in the moon. Like, I think that's what I want to do. But I don't really understand what it means to do that. And I ah i had a friend from middle school who had identified as Wiccan.
00:16:34
Speaker
And I reached out to her and I asked, hey, if ah I have an interest in like nature worship and paganism.
00:16:45
Speaker
ah What should I read? Like, what would you recommend? And she recommended a book called The Inner Temple of Witchcraft by Christopher Penchock. I hope I'm pronouncing his name right. And I immediately ordered it. I immediately started to read it, but it did take me six years to read the whole thing.
00:17:05
Speaker
It sounds a lot like me. Another thing that we'll probably become apparent is the fact that we both have ADHD. So, you know, um anyway, six years. But I'm not fast forwarding that fast because it was a slow transition over almost that amount of time where I shifted into like actually wanting to deep dive.
00:17:32
Speaker
into that and I also in my meditation practice had an experience which effectively was my first evidence in my life at the age of 23 that there was a higher power and I did not panic about it as I had been told and you know as a Christian being told like oh if you become an atheist and you stop believing in God like as soon as you're proved wrong you're sure gonna feel silly or maybe very very guilty uh didn't feel any of that didn't feel guilt didn't feel shame didn't feel silly even I felt calm which I think is the whole point
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Calm and at peace and curious to understand more and because it's an absolutely wild thing to grow up in a church where everybody around you claims to feel the spirit a lot and in order to fit in you say you also do but you've really truly never felt anything.
00:18:41
Speaker
at all. And I mean, it probably that's why it was so easy for me to just flip a switch and can become an atheist. yeah But, uh, I mean, it had to be kind of a lonely feeling too. Oh, yeah. And, you know, but it's what I mean by that is, let me clarify, only need to be like the only one in church that you think didn't feel the spirit, you know, like being surrounded by all these people who, you know, have experienced a specific certain thing and you have, you know, right. I think I also.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah and I had that loneliness in that way and also in a lot of other like separate but similar ways of like and that's I think more to do with growing up undiagnosed ADHD where you just sort of go through life being like surely I can't possibly be the only one that feels the way that I feel and then you just watch everyone else be normal and be like why don't I feel like them?
00:19:37
Speaker
you know that's It's a very similar thing. I act like that. Yeah, like yeah exactly. And so it's it's it was a very similar thing. And I think I also, when it comes to growing up in an environment where I didn't really ever feel the same way that everybody else did, I think I didn't fully believe they were really feeling what they said they felt. And it's not that I thought they were lying.
00:20:01
Speaker
But again, I like wasn't in a position in my early life to question it. So I wasn't really thinking super hard about it. sure Um, it was very much like, uh, that is not a safe thought. Let's lock that away until a later date. and So yeah, but you know, having this experience of like, Oh, there's definitely a higher power.
00:20:26
Speaker
somewhere out there, and it is not a Christian God. I don't believe that, I still don't believe that, but it is something that cares about us. And that was, that changed everything. And it was basically after that, after that experience and then you know, leaving college and just sort of like diving in, you know, into calling myself a witch, into meditating with a candle a lot, worshipping the moon, like I said I wanted to. ah Really enjoying digging my toes into the grass and just sort of taking in like
00:21:04
Speaker
the beauty of the earth and uh you know just really just finding this really deep appreciation for everything around me that i didn't have access to before and so that is you know where i where i arrived at and it's been you know i've been digging deeper over time and uh still call myself a witch and don't call myself a wiccan we'll probably at some point get into the differences there but uh That's me. That's my history in a nutshell.

Christina's Spiritual Exploration

00:21:36
Speaker
Well, that's beautiful. And I want to say that the description you just gave of like your discovery of witchcraft and and how you felt and what you're doing with it, like, I don't know, that's like probably the most beautiful and peaceful and calm description of witchcraft I think I've ever heard. I love it. Well, I'm really glad we were recording because I don't remember what I said.
00:22:03
Speaker
Just saying, like, worshipping the moon and digging your toes into the grass and then then I'm like, oh, I love it. it's So peaceful. e Yeah. So my story is not crazily different, a little different, but ah started out the same way and in the Mormon church and I never had reason to question anything. I felt like I felt the spirit. I had a pretty good, as they would have called it, testimony of prayer and feeling like I was being heard and feeling like I was receiving.
00:22:44
Speaker
What do you call like ah personal revelation? That's not I would say. like Like most of the time if I was praying, i was I was asking for comfort in some way because of some issues. Your prayers are being answered.
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah, i felt I felt comforted afterward. like I would just be like, amen, and then immediately feel like a warm, fuzzy comfort kind of come over me and stuff like that. we you know All Mormon people were kind of like required to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to get personal confirmation of whether it was true. And I went and finally read it and in my teens. like when I was kind of forced to go to early morning seminary for one whole school year. And I'm sorry if you had to do that for four school years because that's that would have sucked and I hated it. the first I did. I had to do it for four school years. And I will admit right here and right now,
00:23:39
Speaker
even when I was required to read the Book of Mormon during that year of seminary, I really didn't. But I blame the ADHD more than anything else. Anyway, please continue. So I did read it, and I prayed about it, and like I don't remember feeling anything specific like about whether or not it was true.
00:24:00
Speaker
ah But that didn't really play any actual role in me believing or not believing the church. I pretty pretty much believed it and I would go as far as you know saying like i I actually um at two different points in my life converted friends. like I converted two friends of mine because I was so convinced and I was very convincing. I knew how to talk about it the right way. They teach you how to be convincing.
00:24:29
Speaker
Yeah. i mean and Plus, you really do got to have good communication skills and know how to portray things the right way, put things in the right light. you know and I kind of feel like I had a knack for that. but Anyway, so I turned 36 and got married to somebody who was Catholic.
00:24:53
Speaker
and they, he never really went. And so I kind of, in the back of my mind thought, well, maybe he'll come to church with me and you know maybe he will eventually go to the temple together and da, da, da. And um that's a whole other topic. But um he kind of was like, yeah, no.
00:25:14
Speaker
not going up And so really i don't I don't think that I tend to hold on to too many unrealistic expectations in general because I've been through a whole lot of crazy crap in my life and um I kind of know like when I'm allowed to dream about something and when I know there's no use to dream about something. And so when that kind of came around and I was kind of like, well Oh, well. and it And it made me kind of sad, but I kind of like let it go. But it was kind of funny because when Molly came into my life, and we'll have to clarify that later. We will. That her sharing with me, her experience with the church kind of made me question things a bit. And like you know I was kind of sad because I felt bad that she didn't have a good experience with church when I did.
00:26:05
Speaker
And, but then other things you would bring up about ah various publications and things that talked about aspects of the church, things that I'd never heard of before, because I wasn't like a really great student of the history of my church, but I started to kind of get my eyes opened to some of those things. And you know, more or less over the last, let me think, five years? Five and a half almost? Well, no. Let me back up. So between, say, 2015 and 2019, so for about four years, it was when I was really questioning and starting to, like, let go of certain concepts or let go of certain ideals, or ideas, whatever
00:26:54
Speaker
that I had had and realized that basically the whole thing was BS. For somebody who'd been in the church for a really long time, and like I wasn't super active like my whole life, especially when I became a teenager. um I did go when I had to go with my family and stuff, but when I got out on my own, I did not purposely go like on my own like when I lived alone and was independent. you know right and your your own mother wasn't like super super she was and she was left my dad yeah that's right i sometimes forget that timeline yeah but yeah when she left him in like 2003 she left my dad so
00:27:42
Speaker
But up until then, she was still pretty devout, but you know also not a really big student of the church doctrine and the church history and that kind of stuff. I just went through the motions and surface level, everything. That all seemed fine with me. like I didn't have any issues with any of it. So I wasn't like investigating different things deeply.
00:28:06
Speaker
But then when when my eyes were open to certain things and I kind of was like, and oh, okay, that's interesting. you know like But yeah, basically, it can be proven. Like now, there' like scientifically can be proven that everything in the Book of Mormon was a load of garbage. um And if anybody listening is Mormon, I'm sorry. Yeah. I mean, sorry, but not sorry. i mean Yeah.
00:28:34
Speaker
I'm not, we're not trying to be rude about it. This is literally our experience yeah and it's yeah the truth. So we're not going to candy coat it. I don't want to. Yeah, no. but you know and and God bless you and more power to you if you're there and you're still happy and your life is good. If it if it's working for you, like honestly, great. That's great. I'm glad. you know It didn't work for us. Right. um and like so Molly mentioned one day that she was going to study witchcraft and I almost shit my pants.
00:29:09
Speaker
I was like, what? I mean, that kind of freaked me out a little bit. So I was just like, uh. Yeah, you really were were flabbergasted and honestly like a little pearl clutchy, which I thought was hilarious, but also like I knew immediately. I was like, okay, clearly we have to rectify some preconceived notions here. Yeah.
00:29:37
Speaker
Yeah, because I mean, ah automatically, if you're not educated or you're not curious at all about anything, then you would think that witchcraft was evil just from the get-go. That's what, like, the, you know, general generic Christian family and Christian, like, culture teaches, literally. Yeah. So, yeah.
00:29:59
Speaker
But so, you know, it came to my attention, or you know, it was explained to me that witchcraft is just very peaceful and nature loving and da da da da. So some certain other circumstances were going on in my life that kind of opened my eyes to it in other ways. um I was learning about the concept of visualization and had run across a movie that I mentioned to Molly and she was like, yeah, you know, that's witchcraft, right? I was like, what? And so, yeah, she was just like, yeah, visualization and thedahda all that stuff. That's like witchcraft, basically. It's like a
00:30:42
Speaker
manifestation Manifestation is of yes what you have to do to manifest things in your life. so yeah I don't know if you wanted to specify or mention the um name of that movie.
00:30:54
Speaker
And it is based off of a book, right? so But it's worth dropping, even though I've heard a lot of criticism for various reasons that I don't totally take seriously. ah But it's called The Secret. um Yeah. Yeah, I think I had heard about it before you mentioned it, but I not had not read the book or watched the movie. But yeah, it was pretty easy.
00:31:18
Speaker
Yeah, so let me think about this for a second. I'm i'm trying to remember the year when I first... It was about 10 years prior to me bringing it up to you, so maybe 2009. Yeah, 2009 I think is when... it I don't know if that's when the movie came out or if the book came out before that. Yeah, I'm sure the book came out first, but um what I was gonna say is like I was a pretty um religious, for lack of a better word.
00:31:48
Speaker
viewer of Oprah Winfrey and ah she'd had somebody on her show that was talking about manifestation or mindset or something and they talked about making vision boards and I'm sure the movie The Secret or the book The Secret somehow was brought up during that episode because that's the only way I think I would have known about it. So I made a i made a vision board and I watched that movie and so that was 2009. So then when other things were happening in my life, 2018, 19, where I was learning more about the concept of visualization and mindset, um it reminded me about that movie and I rewatched it and I was just like,
00:32:34
Speaker
movie so cool and um And I was like, Molly, you got to watch this movie. And I don't remember if you did watch it. I did. I watched it with my now ex, who, you know, he did not take it seriously, but, you know, he was along for the ride.
00:32:50
Speaker
Okay. So yeah then yeah, then I remember you came back to me and you were just like, you know, that's witchcraft, right? Almost exactly like that. The exact way you said it, your tone and everything. I mean, like, there's no other way to put it other than like, this is literally what I'm talking about. Yeah. Literally. so And I will say too, and like, if you haven't, if you, the listener here has not heard or seen that movie or read that book, The Secret.

Witchcraft and Manifestation

00:33:21
Speaker
I will say, like you know as a bit of an asterisk, it is a bit dramatized. it is you know sort of the way The phraseology is a little like you know gives me pause ear eat it just with my own discernment.
00:33:35
Speaker
I'm like, you know, they're making it very sensational. They're making it seem like it's this big whole, like, cool new thing, when it's literally just, like, the power of the universe that has always existed and will always exist. And, I don't know, i I... you know i watched it because it was like she had told me to and that it you know it resonated with her so deeply and also you know because i was curious but at the same time i was like you know the concept the like theory there is like solid for sure but at the same time there is a bit of a hokiness here that like
00:34:13
Speaker
I can see a little cheese. look get Yeah, a little cheese. And i I don't usually go it not for that kind of cheese. I don't go in for cheese super often. um And so, you know, I just sort of was reserved about it. But I did it did, it clicked with me with the, you know, the underlying theory there. And, you know, I immediately connected it back to my understanding of manifestation in witchcraft, the law of attraction, literally in that story in that they call it what it is, the law of attraction. And yeah, they act like it's some big secret. We're here to tell you it's not. It ain't no secret. It's just not easy to do. yeah It's not nearly as easy as they make it sound. you know But I've seen examples of it for myself and by other people. And I think it's really fucking cool when it happens.
00:35:06
Speaker
So yeah, when you said that to me, I just kind of thought about it for a minute and maybe whatever else you mentioned along with that, you know, telling me a couple more little concepts or something. I probably marinated in that for a little while. And I think later that day I said, or maybe you said to me, I think, because I think it was a full moon that night or something. And you were like... I don't remember if it was that night specifically, but I do know it was around the same timeframe.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah. And you were like, I'm gonna do a full moon meditation or something, full moon ritual or something. And I was like, um, so what exactly do you do for that? And I don't feel like I ever really had an answer for you. I mean, I'm sure I, I, I must have given one, but I, like, I can tell you what you said. Okay. Yeah. Please tell me what I said.
00:35:59
Speaker
You basically were like, you get a candle and you anoint it with oil and you can like either etch something into the wax or stick some herbs on it or something and you light it and you meditate. yeah like you you You may have said set an intention or something, yeah but yeah that was basically it. And I was kind of like, well, that seems pretty benign.
00:36:21
Speaker
That's not real scary, is it? That's the really funny thing about witchcraft is the banality of it when you get right down to the core of like what you're actually doing.
00:36:33
Speaker
it's It's really so straightforward. it's all ah it What it is is all what's going on in your heart and in your head and in your soul. you know It's not anything to do with the physical world. It's not anything to do with the tools in front of you. And it's everything to do with what's going on and inside. But the tools in front of you helped.
00:36:55
Speaker
And in my case, fire really helps me with meditation and it helps me with getting into, what's the phrase? A trance state. That's the word. It really helps me with a trance state. And I don't need to go into a trance state for any particular reason, especially in a full moon ritual. It's just, you know, it's the way that I meditate, I guess. And I'm sure that that night and every other full moon night, I never actually carved anything into a candle. I'm pretty sure I didn't annoy to it with anything. I'm pretty sure I just stuck it in the holder and lit it and sat cross legged on the floor and stared at it for like yeah an hour. yeah yeah But it was a full moon outside. and yeah they those little After you you told me basically what you were going to do, I was like,
00:37:48
Speaker
I could for sure light a candle and try to meditate. That's it. I was like, I think I might try to do that. I might try to meditate you know because I knew there wasn't anything wrong with meditation in any kind of way. so um Yeah, and I did that and um that is the night that I call the awakening and I like put it in my calendar in my phone. so I love that so much. Every year, it's April 5th, every year, that that was the anniversary of my awakening, spiritual awakening, if you will. Yeah, that so ever since then, I've just been learning a little by little and Molly has taught me a lot and I've done
00:38:31
Speaker
a little bit of reading that a ton trying to remember that reading more than i mean like i buy a lot of books but like i do so much reading on the internet i think i think you do more reading on the internet and an internet than you uh might give yourself credit for Yes, because it's not a book. yeah Yeah, and I'm trying to remember any other sources besides, you know, you and maybe some reading, but I honestly am drawing a blank right now. We both did. We both did some online courses. I think I can't remember. I think I i must have started with them because I remember.
00:39:07
Speaker
Oh, yeah, you introduced me to Udemy. Udemy, yeah. Yeah, you introduced me to that. And then you were like, I'm taking the psychic course. And I was like, hmm. Yeah, I was taking a psychic development course and a tarot course, and a witchcraft course, which I was at that point realizing like, I can only re listen to or re consume the whole like beginner witchcraft spiel so many times before I realize that I'm not a beginner anymore.
00:39:43
Speaker
That makes perfect sense. Yeah, because at that point I had been like two, two or three years since I had like really delved into some like Scott Cunningham's books, and those were all like great introductory books for witchcraft, but while also simultaneously on the side reading Christopher Punchock's books, or the one book for six years. ah You know, because I think it was 2019 when I finally finished that book.
00:40:11
Speaker
That's awesome. And that's the year I bought it. Right, yeah. And now you're taking your six-year turn. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. ADHD. And it's literally like in the past month that I started feeling this urge to pick it up and read it again. and i'm Because I didn't get very far to begin with, I just kind of want to start over. like It's so hard. i will I fight that impulse constantly. When you put something down for too long and you're just like, I don't remember and he what I've already read.

Tarot, Astrology, and Self-Discovery

00:40:41
Speaker
yeah But yeah, that's where we're at. we I think, as I mentioned with that one course, I do also study tarot. um That's a big part of my practice. It's an extremely meaningful part of my practice. It helps me make sense of the world.
00:40:58
Speaker
in life. As a person who grew up really not feeling like it was possible to make sense of anything, it's been extremely refreshing. I don't know a whole lot about astrology, but I really do, I really enjoy it. I think, I mean, I say I don't know a whole lot, but then to my sister and brother-in-law the other weekend, I was blowing their minds with some of the information I was giving them.
00:41:20
Speaker
But yeah, ah and i butt but i don't while not an expert, I will never claim to be an expert. I don't consider myself a beginner anymore. And I think that to me, starting this podcast, even though we don't know where it's going, we don't know what are you know where we're going to end up with it, it feels like the the right next step in our spiritual evolution.

Podcast as a Spiritual Journey

00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's cool to like be able to talk about things with each other and and public be able to share our ideas and thoughts.
00:41:57
Speaker
yeah so yeah Yeah, and ah we're still getting started. We hope that we'll be able to share or hear people's thoughts and perspectives as well, other people's experiences. We would love to have people chime in on their you know their thoughts as we talk about things, but yeah, ands it's a cool thing. It's literally, like I said, we've wanted to do this for years and we have been talking for years.
00:42:29
Speaker
not just about doing a podcast. We've been literally talking for years to each other and just having fantastic conversations where I'm like, can we just like record a phone call? Come on.
00:42:41
Speaker
um I wish we had just recorded all of that. and That was amazing. yeah the like The lost information out there in the ether that we've like never gotten to record, but hey, we're starting now.

Fun and Playful Exchanges

00:42:55
Speaker
wait The world's in trouble. We're starting to record our stuff. Brace yourselves. Hey, I just remembered, did you say you had a question that you wanted to ask me? Oh yeah. A very, very serious, super, super important question that is so vital and I need you to take me so seriously when I ask you this question. I'm getting scared.
00:43:17
Speaker
um getting scared I need to know if you were an appetizer at your favorite restaurant or your all-time favorite restaurant, what would you be and why?
00:43:29
Speaker
it's That's amazing, oh my god. and So, first of all, i I have to say, I mean, you you do know I'm a Libra, right? um Yes. You know that it's almost impossible for Libras to like pick favorites on anything or make decisions, right? Libras and bisexuals, yes. Oh, God, I'm double whammy. So literally, okay, I was like, first of all, my favorite all-time restaurant doesn't really have appetizers.
00:44:07
Speaker
But what they do have that I eat all the time every single time is chips and salsa because they bring it to you and it's free. So there's my best is my favorite. So that being said, I don't know if I would say that I would be salsa, but generally speaking, my favorite appetizer in a lot of restaurants are mozzarella cheese sticks with marinara sauce and Why would that be my favorite? Because you're greasy and stretchy. Oh, God. No. But I'm fucking cheesy as hell. Oh, yes, you absolutely are. and I absolutely love my cheesiness. Love it. Oh, no. So I eat myself on a regular basis.
00:45:01
Speaker
That's the most nastiest thing I think I've ever seen. I'm not even doing anything to say to that.
00:45:08
Speaker
Oh my God. Okay. I just hope I don't smell like cheese. No, you don't. I don't think. Not last I checked. So there you go. like think I gotta ask you the same question, my lady. Oh, the same question. Okay. ah So because I came up with the question, I've had time to think about it long and hard. And I also still have not come to a solid decision because I'm also a bisexual, even though I'm not a Libra.
00:45:40
Speaker
um
00:45:44
Speaker
I, but i I was able to come up with my favorite restaurant, which is Glen Farmer in Franklin, Massachusetts. Boozy. You remember Glen Farmer, don't you? Oh, hell yes. You remember your birthday. yeah and I do, but I don't remember what you ate. I don't think I ate what I'm going to say on either of the times we went to Glen Farmer.
00:46:12
Speaker
Uh, what I, okay. Cause I couldn't make a decision. Here's my two choices. I am a charcuterie board because there are many different facets to me and not all of them are appealing. I'm talking to you, olives.
00:46:27
Speaker
ah you Oh my God. Okay. okay or the, ah I think they call it the farmer flatbread, ah which is this delightful, it's not technically an appetizer, but I eat it like an appetizer whenever I get it. It's delightful flatbread with bacon and blue cheese crumbles and arugula and a fig jam. And it's got that amazing salty and sweet thing going on, her which is so my bag.
00:47:02
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I love like not only a I will go in for salty and sweet combinations all day every day But that is me. I am salty and I'm sweet and if you can't accept both then fuck you.
00:47:14
Speaker
he yeah Oh My god, and I just want to say this I gotta put this out there right now because you brought it up. Okay, sure olives ah ah The devil's shit pellets
00:47:34
Speaker
That is what I was going to say. Thanks for stealing my thunder. hey It was my thunder first. Yes, it was. Okay. You got that right. This is going to be the one thing that you and I will never agree on.
00:47:47
Speaker
ever Oh, i don't yeah I'm not trying to make anybody agree with it. I just want to say I love olives. I love olives almost any kind. I don't love Greek olives. I love black olives. And I love green stuffed olives with almost anything. But my favorite right now are stuffed with a little teeny piece of jalapeno pepper and a whole clove of garlic.
00:48:10
Speaker
And oh my god, I could die. I could eat like half the jar at one setting. And this is a big jar. I mean, big jar. The Costco jars, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And see, that's really disappointing. I would love everything that those olives are stuffed with. I'm so on board with. But it's the encasing.
00:48:31
Speaker
that I cannot get past. So, you know, I'll just take my black up blue cheese and my cloves of garlic. Oh, I love blue cheese though. I love it. I'll go repel vampires in a corner.
00:48:44
Speaker
eight But like when Molly said to me that she didn't like black like olives, she didn't like olives, I was just like, what? And she goes, they are the devil's shit pellets. That is the funniest fucking thing I ever heard of my life. And I have told so many people about that.
00:49:05
Speaker
I thought the day that you found out I don't like olives is the one time in your life you've questioned whether I'm actually your child. I know. I was going to say that to you, but I just decided not to. But I picked up on it. No worries. I got there in the end. My other child, my youngest, he has said that he doesn't like pickles. I mean, when I was his age, I was asking for whole cups of sliced pickles at the McDonald's drive-thru. I kid you not. And I would eat them all.

Closing Remarks

00:49:37
Speaker
Wow. See, I always did love pickles too.
00:49:40
Speaker
ah And so he's, you know, he's like almost nine. And I think I remember doing that at like seven. oh So I'm like, he's not my child. Of course, I'm kidding. But yes. So I think we need to draw it to a close, Molly. yeah i yeah Unfortunately. No, it's, I mean, we are, we have gone on for quite a while now. I did want to mention We have an email address and we have an Instagram and you can write to us, tell us your thoughts. You can find our Instagram and you can leave us comments and tell us your thoughts. Tell us your opinions on olives.
00:50:27
Speaker
maybe on pickles olives and pickles of our gmail is our our email is gmail and our gmail is soul pod the podcast at gmail dot.com and our instagram is also at soul pod the podcast i was very nervous that we weren't going to be be able to make that work uh to make it as straightforward as we could and fortunately uh was able to snatch up those usernames uh so very stoked about it um but yeah that's where we'll be and uh we are greatly looking forward to hearing from everybody and greatly looking forward to our next episode we don't know yet what we're going to talk about
00:51:19
Speaker
Roger that. Roger that. Roger that. Roger that. Yeah. Yeah, thank you for coming along with us. And we hope you had a nice time. ah If it's possible to leave us a review, we'd appreciate it too. It apparently helps out new podcasts a lot when you review things.
00:51:39
Speaker
ah so Would that even include negative reviews, Molly? ah that Those generally tend to ah do some negative impact. Okay, so let me let me add a disclaimer. disclaer If you listened to us for this first episode and didn't find us hilarious or even entertaining in any way, then don't leave a review at all.
00:52:02
Speaker
Wait till the second. Wait till the second. And don't follow us yet. Like, maybe wait. Give us a couple episodes, or if we're not your, if we're not your jar of olives, then just leave us, leave us behind.
00:52:15
Speaker
i
00:52:18
Speaker
Move on, friend. But if you did have a good time listening to us, then a review would be the bee's knees. Yeah, thank you again, and we hope you have a great day, and we're looking forward to seeing you next time, virtually. Till then, bye.