Andi of Every Light Wellness. Growing up conservative, astrology, and junkyard alligator gods
This week I'm talking to Andi of Every Light Wellness. I have to tell you, this was one of my favorite episodes to record. MY FRIEND, Andi, is a delight to talk to. She tells us about growing up conservative (no, think even more conservative than that), why she loves astrology, and about building a relationship with the land. We also unknowingly discussed the creation of her amazing Patreon, Junkyard Alligator Gods.
https://everylightwellness.squarespace.com/
everylightwellness on ig
JUNKYARD ALLIGATOR GODS!!!
I also have some gratitude to give out. YAW is brought to you by so many supporters. Kacie's Corner, Corey's Cauldron, Andrea of Appalachia, Flora & Function, Green Space Readings, The Farm Wife Witch, Wild Leaf Teas, Fantasy Core Creations, A is for Agrimony, the Hearth & Hedge, 2 Geminis and a Leo, Ambling Witchcraft, plus Julie, Alisha, Stephen, Amy, Dee, Angela, Carlee, Karen, Kari, Kat, Kristin, Michelle, Ember, Adoree, Jess, and of course, Charlye and Macy of WBAH. Whether it's as a HiveHouse member or just offering support as a friend, I appreciate you all very much!
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 to Andi of Every Light Wellness. I have to tell you, this is one of my favorite episodes to record. My friend, Andi, is a delight to talk to. She tells us about growing up conservative (no, even more conservative than you're thinking), why she loves astrology, and about building a relationship with the land. We also unknowingly discuss the creation of her amazing Patreon, Junkyard Alligator Gods. It's a fascinating look into the strange, and I even have a story about it. See, I joined her Patreon as soon as she created it, and as I'm sure you know, I also create on Patreon and one of my complaints about the platform is the weird way it tracks and informs creators of patron payments. It's part of the reason I left. I ended up missing a quarterly box member who, rightfully, stopped being a patron since they didn't get anything. When I realized my mistake, I sent her the box she was owed, plus a couple extra things because I felt bad. A couple weeks later, I got the box back. I figured she was that mad at me that she refused it, and so I opened it up and got ready to put everything away. As I rifled through it, I found a bunch of ephemera and other weird things inside. I started to get a little bit worried. There was a little poem that was kind of threatening if you're a paranoiac like me. Did I, a seasoned witch, piss someone off enough that they sent me a boxed curse to my house? And then I opened it with my bare hands? Well, no. It was my box from Junkyard Alligator Gods. I wrote to Andy and I told her the story and we both laughed about it. The box was actually perfect for me once I realized it wasn't an angry message from someone. So if you want to be fascinated and maybe a little bit scared, go join Junkyard Alligator Gods now. Before we go much further, I just have some gratitude to give out. Your Average Witch is brought to you by so many supporters! Kacie's Corner, Corey's Cauldron, Andrea of Appalachia, Flora and Function, Greenspace Readings, The Farmwife Witch, Wild Leaf Teas, The Ninth House Shop, Fantasycore Creations, A is for Agrimony, The Hearth and Hedge, Two Geminis and a Leo, Ambling Witchcraft, plus Julie, Alisha, Stephen, Amy, Dee, Angela, Carlee, Karen, Kari, Kat, Kristen, Michelle, Ember, Adorée, Jess, my multitude of other patrons and Hive House members, and of course, Charlye and Macy of the Witch Bitch Amateur Hour. Whether it's as a HiveHouse member or just offering support as a friend, I appreciate you all very much. Now let's get to the stories!
Kim: Hi, Andi, welcome to the show.
Andi: Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Kim: Thank you so much for being here. And for...dealing with computers with me.
Andi: No, of course, I'm glad I didn't, like, cause any permanent damage.
Kim: I don't believe it was you, I think it was just the day.
Andi: Oh, yeah.
Kim: Would you please introduce yourself and let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you?
Andi: Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Andi, and I'm a divergent astro herbalist in Augusta, Maine. My practice is called Every Light Wellness and that's like my universal handle on Instagram, Facebook, email, website, all of that, Every Light Wellness. And yeah, like I said, I'm in Augusta, Maine, where it's much colder than where you are. (laughs)
Kim: Yes.
Andi: Currently, but spring is getting here. It's about here.
Kim: Oh, it's... (sighs) It's going to be 90 this week.
Andi: Oh no shit! That's amazing, that's amazing!
Kim: I really enjoy it, but it's... I don't know. I don't, I have mixed feelings.
Andi: Yeah that's fair.
Kim: What does it mea- do you, first, do you call yourself a witch?
Andi: I get called a witch a lot. To, to like my close acquaintances, like I'm the witchy type, but it's it's been more of like a title offered than something I came up with, if that makes sense.
Kim: Do you practice what I'm gonna call witchcraft?
Andi: I do, yeah.
Kim: Okay, so what does it mean- First, if you want to tell us what- if you have a label for yourself, what it is, and explain how... what it means to you to practice it.
Andi: Hmmm. More and more I'm becoming comfortable with the designation of "witch". I usually put something like before it, like swamp witch, or hedge witch, or ditch witch, something like that. But to me, witchcraft, and in my practice... It's kind of like having a willingness and an ability to engage with energy, right? And different people have different ways of going about that. I tend to use, or I shouldn't say use, work with like plants and astrology, but it's, you know, energy manipulation, right? Being able to kind of put your hands on something that's unseen, and work with it, and engage with it for a desired outcome. So yeah, in that sense, I guess I do kind of fit my own description. (laughs)
Kim: Do- what- when you were growing up, did your family do anything like that? Or was it just something you came on recently? Or more recently?
Andi: (laughs) Kind of. So I have a grandmother, my father's mother, is a Santeria practitioner from the Dominican Republic. So when I was really young, I remembered hearing about her like being a witch and it was this very like kind of scary thing. But then I was raised-
Kim: Did they use that term?
Andi: A witch?
Kim: Yeah.
Andi: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And like a very, very, very negative, like incredibly negative. And then I was raised in a like excessively conservative, like religious sect. And so there was absolutely no, nothing of that, not even like astrology. But when I became an adult and like left that group and left that culture, it was like moth to flame. (laughs) Like it was immediately, I've always been really, really intrigued by witchcraft, and energy, and healing, and like could see it all through the Bible, Even being, when I was being raised, and I would get like in a lot of trouble for saying things like "Was Jesus a witch?" and like that that kind of thing. So it's a very like mixed, I think there was probably more exposure to spirituality and witchcraft but it was in like a very negative context.
Kim: Hmmm.
Andi: Yeah.
Kim: Do you think that's why you hesitate to use the term? For yourself?
Andi: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, my mother, even just like a few, oh my goodness, just recently it was like, "A witch is, that's the worst word you can use to describe someone." I mean, my people are like, suffer not a witch to live people. (laughs) They're super intense about it.
Kim: That is baffling to me. I mean, I would think pedophile would be worse, but...
Andi: (laughs) Oh, nope. Not in my, not in my group. Or I shouldn't, I shouldn't say my group because like I said, I've, I've been out of that group for, ooh, going on seven years now. So.
Kim: That's unnerving.
Andi: But they were the group that raised me. Yeah, it is unnerving and fascinating at the same time.
Kim: I'm glad I live in the sticks with a bunch of dogs.
Andi: Well, so do they, so. (laughs)
Kim: Well should anything ever happen, I'm glad I got defenses. (both laugh)
Kim: Wow. That's... wow.
Andi: Oh yeah. The group that I was like raised in, like doesn't exist anymore. It was that kind of a, that kind of a community.
Kim: Yeah, but the people still do.
Andi: They do. Yes, they do.
Kim: So can you introduce us to your your own practice? And do you have any regular, or at least consistent, rituals or practices that you do?
Andi: Hmmm, yeah. Oh, goodness. So I work with astrology quite a bit professionally and personally, and I'm much more of a witch than an astrologer, if I'm being honest. The language I use is astrological to describe the energy work. I do a lot with planetary energies. I have a set of bones that I work with and like anytime I'm going to work with a chart with a client, I have a little ritual or honestly even if I'm like just sitting down, like to do this, right? I have a little like traveling altar set with some of each of the elements. So like a candle for fire, and my bones and stones for the earth, and a little cup of water, and then I like to burn yarrow as like the air smoke element. And it just kind of like sets that container. And I do that whenever I need to like sit down and focus. That's like my sit down and focus ritual. It's really, yeah, it like gives me the container and the space to just kind of let everything go and dive in, you know?
Kim: I meant to... (laughs) I meant just to have burned some incense or spray some Florida water over here this morning and I got distracted and did not.
Andi: Oh well that's why the computer was being a problem.
Kim: probably and it's like hey yeah thanks for forgetting about me.
Andi: Way to go. And then obviously my shit wasn't strong enough.
Kim: It was actually my fault! (both laugh)
Andi: My bones are taking a break. So... (laughs)
Kim: Do you, do you like divine with them? Do you cast them? I'm just curious.
Andi: Yeah, no, of course. I don't call it casting, they're more like support. They have a very active part in my reading process. Like they have their own kind of like personalities and presence, so they're almost like a counsel, or witness, or something like that. I don't actually, and I'm making like little bunny ears, like use them, they're just with me. (laughs)
Kim: Hmm. Neat! Okay realistically curiosity is the nice word. I'm just being nosy.
Andi: Oh god I love it.
Kim: I just like bones.
Andi: Yes. I do too and so I have like some And then I received a gift of like a bird foot, that- like a grouse foot. And it is the angriest, most ominous... They do not like to be a part of readings. They are on my altar. So they really do like they bring a real energy. So yes, I'm right there. I love bones.
Kim: I wonder if i was a male in mating season.
Andi: It's just like so intense! and I call it the ominous bird foot.
Kim: Would you say that witchcraft changed your life?
Andi: Oh my god, yes. Absolutely.
Kim: (pauses) ...The end. (both burst into laughter)
Andi: Oh, I didn't know if you had another question!
Kim: No, I thought you were thinking! (both laugh) and we were both waiting for the other one to finish the thought. Also, sorry to anyone who just heard my elbow pop. That was awful.
Andi: That was your elbow?!
Kim: Yes!
Andi: Wow, that's impressive! That's amazing! Nothing on me pops like that.
Kim: Good for you. Don't join the Army, kids.
Andi: Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a whole thing. Okay, I'm not going to start interviewing you. I'm going to go back to my space here.
Kim: April Fools! It's still April. Surprise! We flipped it and I didn't even know.
Andi: So tell us about... (laughs) Yes, Witchcraft absolutely changed my life. First of all, it felt like something that was always calling me, and always drawing me, that I was kind of just... like longing, right? I was longing for it. And then I really, really resisted. Like you have no idea how hard I resisted. Even after leaving my origin space. But then when it finally was like, UGH. okay, alright, okay, and it just... And that's it. It's like the piece I had been missing my whole life and had been looking for, like rummaging around in a drawer my whole life, and then finally found that piece. And it's still kind of a new thing to acknowledge it, but yeah. Absolutely changed me.
Kim: Oh, my heart hurt when you were describing the struggle though! But I'm glad it's good now.
Andi: Yeah, yeah, I mean you can't spend like 28 years being told that you're going to hell for something and then all of a sudden be like...
Kim: I'm gonna do it!
Andi: Oh, I'm okay with that. I know! Even though that's absolutely what I did. Like, fine! I guess that's what's gonna happen then! Like, I started my journey into, like, what I now know as witchcraft completely convinced that it was gonna send me to hell. It just was, like, to the point where I didn't care anymore. Like, I just, I needed to know. So, imagine my surprise when I have yet to feel the sizzle of hellfire. (laughs)
Kim: I can only imagine how someone who believes witchcraft is going to send you to hell would take that statement that you just said.
Andi: I know. Not very well, my friend. I've been shunned several times, so.
Kim: Whoa!
Andi: They don't take it... (laughs) they don't think it's very funny.
Kim: I've never met anyone who's like, I've never spoken to anyone, like actually spoken to them, that's actually been shunned.
Andi: Oh, really?
Kim: Yeah. I don't get out a lot.
Andi: I've been shunned like two times.
Kim: I mean like the official, capital S kind.
Andi: Oh, god yeah. Yeah, like your family's, you have to leave, your family is not allowed to talk to you. Yeah, that sort of thing. There's somebody in the corner trying to cast the demons out. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I was like head covering, long dress, no media, conservative. Like stricter than Amish conservative. (both are silent for a moment) We'll just let that sink in.
Kim: I was actually for a fraction of a moment, minus the conservative part, thinking, oh that might actually be nice.
Andi: Oh!
Kim: It sounds peaceful, other than the constant fear.
Andi: Yes! Oh it really is. It's so simple and like you know exactly what you're supposed to do and...
Kim: That sounds like a dream.
Andi: You have like, you're surrounded by people who all kind of think and feel very similarly and the expectations are very clear and you don't, yeah. It's it's so simple and so like easy and also very destructive and in a lot of ways.
Kim: I think I would like it for a week. Because also I hate being told what to do.
Andi: Yeah, see, you wouldn't... I don't know, last a week there. That's kind of the thing, especially like as a girl, so, you know, or you know, socialized as a girl. And, you know, I was like stealing textbooks.
Kim: Good for you.
Andi: Yeah, like that kind of, I was-
Kim: And us. And everyone around you.
Andi: I was in always in trouble. Yeah, yeah. But, anyway.
Kim: The good kind of trouble.
Andi: The good kind of trouble, the asking too many hard questions trouble.
Kim: It's like everybody comes on here and says that. They were always the kid who asked too many questions. I'm proud of us for doing that.
Andi: Yeah.
Kim: Keep asking those questions kids. I hope you're not listening to my podcast because I cuss a lot, but keep asking those questions! (both laugh)
Andi: Yes, ask those big hard questions, absolutely! Yes.
Kim: What would you say is your biggest motivator in your practice? And has it changed since you first started practicing?
Andi: It has absolutely changed. My practice started out very utilitarian. I like to think of, I'm kind of like a sawed-off shotgun herbalist, and...
Kim: That's amazing. (laughing)
Andi: And flavor the flavor of my craft and everything I do is very, it is, it's like Prohibition era in the mountains. So very like need-based, down and dirty, left-hand path, like all of that. And as time has gone on, and I've... I guess matured is the word, and it's it's become much more about relationship and relationship with the land, community with, and you know, and plants and my being of service to them, the planetary beings, like it's become, I still, I don't know that I would like qualify it as being quote-unquote spiritual, it's still very sawed-off shotgun but it's like in a much more like relational way, it's a a little bit... (both laugh) a little bit out of like, a little bit out of survival mode, but we're still there. Like we're still there most, most days.
Kim: I might, I might borrow that term. (laughs)
Andi: Yeah, absolutely. That is literally my tagline. It's just this, I'm this sawed off being.
Kim: Do you feel like you deal with imposter syndrome? And if you do, do you try to beat it?
Andi: I would say I deal with imposter syndrome every five to ten minutes throughout my life. I am almost crippled with, if I'm being perfectly honest, crippled with imposter syndrome just every day. And I don't know that beating it is the word. Like I, I think I would die if I stopped. And so it really is... I know I'm like so intense. (laughs)
Kim: I, that's... I relate. Everything is the most all the time.
Andi: I'm hearing this. Yeah. And so it really is, it's that the need to engage, and the need to do this, and the need to teach, and the need to offer, and the... outweighs the voice in my head that's like, what the actual fuck are you doing? What are you doing? So yeah, I've got a louder voice telling me I have to, than the one telling me that I don't deserve to or, you know, I can't.
Kim: Well, I need that. Someone give me a loud voice. That is nice. Or Or even if it's not nice. That isn't full of shit.
Andi: (laughs) That isn't full of shit.I have several you could have.
Kim: Well I mean the one telling you no is full of shit. I don't want that one. I don't want a loud one of those. Give me a loud... It can be a loud bossy one, or a loud kind one, just not one that's full of feeding me bullshit. I have enough of those.
Andi: Oh. Yes. Yes.
Kim: What would you say is your biggest struggle when it comes to witchcraft?
Andi: I have a visceral terror of being presumptuous. I... and it's not like that I'm scared of getting things wrong, because I'm not afraid to be wrong. I don't like it, but I'm not afraid of being wrong. But I am afraid of being either perceived as, or in actuality, becoming presumptuous. And to me, like I think it's because I take it so seriously, even though I make jokes and it's that's kind of how I deal with all of my uncomfortable feelings is like stand-up routine, but like I I take it so seriously. And I have this like whole thing about like, I don't fuck with ghosts, I don't do like spirit work, like all of this stuff. And it's, again it's it's not because I don't think it's real or I don't think it's really... it's so real to me. And so like thinking about practices and and working and I just, sometimes that's an obstacle I can't seem to, like, overcome gracefully. It's like I'm just so afraid of presuming upon something, I guess.
Kim: Hmmm. I've never heard that before that's neat. Not for you. (Andi laughs) Not for you. I just like hearing different views and different...
Andi: Yeah.
Kim: I like that. Hmm hopefully somebody out there that hadn't heard themselves here yet did just now.
Andi: Hmmm. Yes, yes.
Kim: What brings you the most joy in your practice?
Andi: The knowledge. The knowing, the having a space where I can ask impossible questions and like that, that is that is my love language, information. And so when I sit down with my cards or my bones or a birth chart, right? And the, or the plants and like, every time I receive a bit of understanding, a bit of knowing, a piece of information, it's just like, I mean orgasmic. But like on a soul level. I was so starved of that for so many years, and just like in this little box. And so to not, to be able to explore. And and it's so funny because that's like the complete opposite end of the whole being afraid of being presumptuous, right? And again, I think it's because I take it so seriously. It's like that, oh, that is like the best thing, learning something from these beings that are in, you know, like deigning to be in relationship, and like offering me a piece of, like, thread to pull. It's amazing, I love it.
Kim: I love that thread to pull thing. That was a good visualization for me.
Andi: Yeah. The unraveling, always.
Kim: Would you say you are fearful about anything in your practice?
Andi: I am an oddly powerful creature and sometimes unintentionally. So I think I'm still learning how to channel and work with that. is very intimidating to me. It's like I don't know what to do with this fire hose energy I have. And so that I think is is fearful. And then again, kind of going back to the, you know, like I'm afraid of asking something, or trying something that someone's like whoa, you know, you're really stepping over the line. You're too, too presumptuous. You're out of your, out of your league, kid. That kind of thing.
Kim: Keep doing it though.
Andi: Okay.
Kim: Tell them to shut up. (laughs) If you don't reach further than you think you can, how you gonna know?
Andi: Yes, exactly. Oh my god, exactly.
Kim:What is something that you did early on in your practice that you don't do anymore and why don't you do it?
Andi: I tried to be a lot more ceremonial at first. Like in your first like, okay, you have to set up your altar, and you have to do this, and I... you know. I learned by practicing with what others very generously shared. So I'm not knocking that, but definitely what has changed is, my process and my work is becoming stranger and stranger and more unique to myself, which I think is progress, right? Like getting a real feel for that. So I definitely listen to the rocks on my desk a little more than the people on instagram now. (laughs)
Kim: I think that's probably great.
Andi: Yes. That's an amazing idea. I don't want to – I don't know if I want to say everyone should do that, but I kind of, at this moment, think it.
Andi: Yeah, yes.
Kim: And also, yeah. ceremony just is too much. It was fun at first, but then it's a chore. It's a chore and I don't want to do that. And I don't need to do that, so I don't. I agree.
Do you have a favorite tool that you use and if so how do you use it? It doesn't have to be a physical thing.
Andi: I would have to say astrology, like the birth chart. Absolutely. Yeah, that was where I really first felt some inklings of power. I would like be working with a birth chart, and I could hear things and see things. And so now like working with those planetary energies, I, a lot of times if I have like a working I'm trying to do, or something that I'm trying to work out in myself, I'll draw like a chart to kind of like, it's almost become a little like, almost like an altar space, right? And then you can work with the planets in different arrangements with each other, and then kind of like, and then I create a like a glyph or a sigil from that pattern, and that's that's my big, that's my big thing. (laughs)
Kim: That's cool!
Andi: It's so cool. Not to sound like a dork but I, like my palms are all sweaty thinking about it. I get really, I get like super excited. I love, oh I love doing that!
Kim: I don't think it's necessarily something that it would become my thing, but I would like to watch someone do it.
Andi: Oh I'll do yours sometime.
Kim: (squeals) That would be amazing.
Andi: Yes! It's a date.
Kim: If you could only recommend one source of info like a book or a podcast or like a YouTube channel, whatever, to a new witch, what would it be and why?
Andi: I have two that immediately came to mind. Okay, so the first, the one, okay, the one I'm gonna say, final answer, hit the buzzer, is actually the Invoking Witchcraft podcast, um, with Britton Boyd and J. Allen Cross. They, they just did it for like a year and a half. It was not a long run podcast, but it's, it's really really good and they they make the information very accessible. They share a lot of their personal story, and journey, and it just is very encouraging to me when I was first, like I don't know. I don't know going on in my life. And yeah, it just, it was, it was it was very encouraging. And sometimes I feel like people need encouragement. With just like, it's like we sometimes give too much instruction. And then we have like all of this information. And sometimes we just need like the encouragement to put our hands in. Like it's, it's doing. It's engaging with energy, it's craft, right? Practice makes progress. And so if you don't have, like if you can't get up the gumption to practice your craft, whether it's knitting socks or, you know, casting astrological spells, like I think that's important, and they were very encouraging to that end.
Kim: I like that idea of getting into it.
Andi: Yes.
Kim: So you live up north, would you say that environment has shaped your practice? And if you lived somewhere else, like in the desert or on another continent do you think your practice would be different?
Andi: 1000% yes. Yes. I consider myself a land-based astrologer, and a land-based herbalist, and a witch of place. Like it's it's very... the land is and the environment and the seasons where I am are the like the lifeblood of all aspects of my practice. And I was raised in a different environment, and it was the same... even though I I don't think I practiced anything, I was very much into herbs as a kid and that was like our main form of health care. And there was a slightly different set of plants there. But I was very, as they say, bioregional even then. So if I moved somewhere else, I would absolutely, that's the first thing I would do, is establish my relationship with that environment. Because otherwise I don't have a practice. (laughs) Nothing's happening without that.
Kim: I need to talk to more people who live in cities, because I just wonder now, after listening to the way you were saying that, do witches who live in cities consider themselves land-based? That their practice is land-based, I wonder?
Andi: I bet they would.
Kim: This might come out as just so stupid to everyone else. In my head it makes sense.
Andi: Yeah, I totally get it.
Kim: I wonder if they do.
Andi: I would be really curious to hear that as well because, you know, that's also weather and seasonal patterns and, you know, bodies are the land. We are just moving, talking earth, right? Like with our, we have a unique type of animacy that's different than like the ground or trees, but, in cities, that's like the land there is, is bodies. So maybe, I don't know, I'd be like really interested to, I'd like to talk to somebody like that. Get information from them.
Kim: Well, I've talked to people like in New York City, but I don't recall them using that term specifically.
Andi: Fascinating.
Kim: I mean, they may have. I'm a flake, but I don't remember it. (laughs)
Andi: Yeah, no, that's, I would be so interested.
Kim: I'm going to speak for myself and say that I periodically will get into a slump for whatever reason. I have low periods.
Andi: Hmm. Yeah.
Kim: If you do, how do you pull yourself out of it? Or do you? Pull yourself out of it, I mean.
Andi: With much angst. I'm like an, I'm an angsty slumper. (both laugh)
Kim: We need a t-shirt with that on it.
Andi: (excitedly) I need that on a t-shirt! That's exactly what I was just gonna say! I'm an angsty slumper.
Kim: It's gonna be two different fonts.
Andi: Oh my god, yes. This is going on. Yes. So, I need to like, listen to really, really, really loud music. Like I'll go in the car or put headphones on and listen to, like, I honestly have a playlist that I listen to with like really aggressive, not necessarily violent, but aggressive, like driving, music. And if I can like get that into my body, it will break up. It's like, I need to like get that smoldering into a fire.
Kim: Like sound waves, or sonar?
Andi: Yes!
Kim: Not sonar, it's ultrasound.
Andi: Yeah, like sound therapy, but not in like the peaceful singing bowl way. It's much more like, I need to like get, I need to get inside the music and it needs to be inside me and then like that will I have my my angsty slump trained to respond to that. (both laugh)
Kim: Is there anything you wish was discussed more in the witch community?
Andi: I Have to be real honest and say that I'm not really in the witch community. (laughs) So I don't really know the kinds of things they're discussing. I don't know that it would be fair for me to answer that question. If that makes sense.
Kim: It does.
Andi: Okay.
Kim: I've had several people who feel like they aren't actually part of that.
Andi: Yeah.
Kim: But also there are people who question that there even is a an overarching witch community. Like if I say the Christian community, you have a mental picture of who I'm talking about.
Andi: Right.
Kim: And they – and sometimes I agree with them that there's actually a bunch of like, little cliques, and there is no overarching witch community.
Andi: (gasps) Cliques, yes! Yes. It's fascinating because, you know, like I said, I'm a clinical herbalist. That's what I do full-time. And, you know, I have so many spicy takes about that community. (both laugh) That I'll save for some other platform. That's for my mem, for my memoirs, um ,but yeah the witch...
Kim: You need to get a patreon and just put all the dirt there. (both laugh)
Andi: Yes! Oh my gosh, there we, there we go, it would be a filthy patreon account. (Kim laughs) But yeah the witch community scares me. Like i feel it is very, it's like it's like the herbalist community on fucking steroids. With magic.
Kim: That sounds safe.
Andi: I'm like... right? I'm like, I have enough people mad at me about (laughs) you know, the way I practice herbalism. I don't think I'm ready to have like people with wands against me. (laughs)
Kim: Yeah, there's a lot of mad.
Andi: Woo, yes. Yes.
Kim: Do you ever work with other witches? (laughs) After that.
Andi: (laughs) There's one person that I have collaborated with. I, honest to god, don't know if they identify as a witch. They are a brilliant tarot reader and I did a like herbal ritual kit and they did a tarot spread to go with it. But that's, that's it. I'm not really a "play with others" type.
Kim: Me neither. But that sounds cool. I'm also baffled by people- I consider tarot to be witchcraft. So it's it's hard for me to fathom that people do tarot and don't consider themselves doing witchcraft.
Andi: Yeah, and and they probably do- again, I feel kind of weird about, or I should say-
Kim: Yeah, this is me presuming like whoa.
Andi: Well and I'm I'm just, exactly. That's, that's exactly right. And I'm a very awkward person socially anyway.
Kim: Eyyyyyy.
Andi: I'll be like "Oh yeah, my witch friend..."
Kim: And then they're like "Who the fuck are you talking about??
Andi: "We're we're not friends! Like I don't even know who this person is!" like that's what I'm always expecting. When I have like an actual friend, it's so funny, and I'll be like describing them to someone else And they're like yeah, oh you mean that person you talked to several times a week for three years? Yeah, I think, I think you guys are friends. I think it's I think it's safe to say you're friends. I'm like oh, no. I don't I don't want to like presume anything. (laughs) I'm not going to like pressure them with a label. (laughs)
Kim: Aww!
Andi: No, don't. Oh, it's okay. I'm just fucking weird. (laughs)
Kim: I mean, yeah, sometimes it feels lonely and you actually do have friends, but I'm so dumb, I don't know. (laughs)
Andi: Oh my god! It's... yes. It's, that's... that's very real. So yeah, that was my witch collaboration.
Kim: Consider the three biggest influences on your practice, whether they be people or not, experiences, books, whatever, and thank them. What are you thanking them for?
Andi: I would like to thank Britton Boyd, who's Archaic Honey, and a ditch witch in the northwest part of the U.S. And I am thanking them for being very real, and kind of helping me to feel comfortable in my sawed-off shotgun ways. I would like to thank Penelope from Prairie Fire Herbals, who was on this podcast actually. And I am thanking them for just, oh, the highest quality work, that just speaks to me, and the first like witchy items I ever really like worked with in my own practice, and so forgiving me like feeling like it was very real and something I was able to and I've put my hands on. And then I'd like to thank L, the god of the Old Testament, because they too have a surprisingly big influence on my practice in a lot of strange ways. It kind of was the gateway to a lot of my spiritual and witchy explorations.
Kim: Neat. Also I do love Penelope.
Andi: Ugh, aren't they just... Everything. Everything. I'm just, I can't love it hard enough. I'm very, it's a gift, for sure.
Kim: I'm anxiously anticipating my shipping notice of the stuff that I ordered from the last drop.
Andi: Yes! I just got my notice this morning and I was so excited. I, ah, new, new things! Yes, absolutely.
Kim: Do you have any advice for new witches?
Andi: Um, don't be presumptuous, okay? (both laugh) No, I'm joking. I'm totally joking. I feel like the answers to a lot of your questions are going to be, like, in those childhood memories, like the questions you were asking as a kid. And, you know, like what direction should I go? What's really going to, you know, just that look back to when you were a kid and what what was clicking and what were you, you know, were you wanting a piano so badly that one showed up? And then yeah, finding finding really, really decent teachers is important, too.
Kim: Who do you think I should have on the show?
Andi: Okay, they're gonna hate me, but I've already warned them. So, Samantha from Samantha Reads Good or Hedge Reader is her official business. She is the tarot reader who does these like absolutely amazing like underworld journeys. And I've never known someone with such an incredible connection to like the land. And she is truly a being of place. And she has a relationship with the spirits of her place. And she is as legit as they get. And she's hilarious. She's an Aquarius rising. She's some of my absolute favorite people and I think she would be, I think you would like, she's very unique and a brilliant way. I think you would like talking to her a lot.
Kim: Okay, yay, yay. Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about that I didn't ask or did you have any questions for me? Promote yourself here. Promote yourself.
Kim: Oh, oh, oh, I was going to say, I don't know you hit all the high spots there.
We talked, you know, we've got most of my bullshit sorted. Oh, so yeah, plug myself. Okay. I do astrological counsel if you've been listening to me kind of ramble about and think, yeah, that's my kind of astrologer, then hit me up because my bones would love to see your chart. That sounds like something that should be on like a Tinder bio. And yeah, and I also do like herbal work in that capacity, like helping folks to connect with the plant community through their birth charts, kind of like a matchmaking energy. But I truly do, I absolutely love reading for folks and sitting with them is, in all that I'm always just absolutely blown away that someone like me does this work. So, yeah.
Kim: Cool. The last two things, thing number one, please recommend something to the listeners.
Andi: Oh my goodness. I love this. When I was coming out of that culture, folks were always telling me, you gotta watch this movie, you gotta listen to this song, you gotta read this book and I kept a notebook with me with all of their, the lists of things.
Kim: Oh neat!
Andi: Yeah that I had to like experience. And it was one of the most beautiful things I could possibly imagine, all of these humans coming to me and saying like "This is what's making my existence something special that I want to share with you," and it was it was incredibly powerful. I think folks should really experience, it's called Serenade in Blue. It's a song by Glenn Miller from that I'm guessing most people aren't gonna be familiar with, but Serenade in Blue, absolutely gorgeous. It would be great if you could find like an old recording of it even like on Spotify, like maybe a live recording, and just at sunset in June, play that song and just, just feel it. And all the people who have like listened to that and loved, loved that song. It's my favorite song.
Kim: I love that you also set it up and didn't just say the song. I love that you set up the experience.
Andi: It is an experience! That's that's absolutely, yeah that's like...
Kim: Oh I like it!
Andi: It really is, like there has to be fireflies... You know. Ah, yes, yes.
Kim: Okay, the last, the final thing. Please tell me a story.
Andi: Once upon a time, when I was a child, I lived in the projects. My father was a fearsome drug dealer. My mother is the daughter of a country doctor. And somehow they landed in low-income housing, the Midwest. Very very rough neighborhood. And it abutted a junkyard, and kind of a ravine. And this deep, deep ravine always had like a little bit of water in it that was really like scuzzy and gross. And the junkyard, every once in a while, would kind of like vomit up car parts and stuff after a big rain. And my three younger brothers and I spent our summers in the ravine building things with these junkyard parts, and kind of ignoring the absolute horror of project life. And we would play pretend. We built a little city down there out of trash and we called it Gumbo Limbo, and...
Kim: Oh, that's amazing.
Andi: I know! There was a fake alligator that lived in the water that we used to have to like do these really elaborate sacrificial ceremonies to...
Kim: You were making a God.
Andi: I think I was a witch back then. Yes. And so we would like, and we didn't have a lot. I mean, we were like broke ass little kids, but we would throw, we would do these elaborate, like, I don't even remember what the thing's name was, but we would like throw stuff into this swampy bit in the ravine and like pray that it wouldn't eat us. (laughs) Even though it was completely made up. And we would we had these like very elaborate stories and lives and everybody had like a little trash house that they had built. And the rest of the children who lived in this neighborhood would come and just stand and watch us play. And they would periodically get upset, and like throw rocks at us because we were being weird. And, but yeah, until we left, that was our big thing, was living in Gumbo Limbo and serving this crocodile god that we had invented. That's kind of like a metaphor for my entire life in so many ways. (laughs) Like building little trash houses and serving weird gods. The end. That's all you need to know. (laughs)
Kim: That's amazing. I love that.
Andi: It's one of my favorite. And then, you know, there's a whole chronicles of Gumbo Limbo and the little stories.
Kim: Please write it. Please write that.
Andi: Okay. I will.
Kim: That's amazing. That's what else you put on your Patreon. Every, a chapter a month or something.
Andi: Oh. I love that. I love that idea. You've almost got me talked into Patreon.
Kim: DO IT.
Andi: (laughs) Okay.
Kim: You can send out an envelope of leaves. (both laugh) Every quarter.
Andi: Like, everybody's getting weird shit in the mail now.
Kim: Yes!
Andi: And even stranger stories.
Kim: Weird crap you pick up on the farm.
Andi: Yes... oh my gosh.
Kim: That's like the deluxe tier.
Andi: I love that. It's like bespoke trash.
Kim: Yes!
Andi: That's the name of the religion I'm starting. (Kim laughs) We're now accepting applications for priests and deacons.
Kim: I love everything about that. Yes, please sign me up.
Andi: All right, good. Look at that.
Kim: Send me an invite when it happens. When there's an invite, when it's up, send me an invite.
Andi: Perfect. Perfect. That's, you got it.
Kim: Thank you again so much for being on the show. And shout out to Penelope for connecting us. But thank you for coming on the show.
Andi: Oh thank you so much. This was such a joy, I truly truly loved it, thank you.
Kim: Yay, me too!
Andi: Yeah, good! Good.
Kim: Okay, I'll see you over on instagram.
Andi: Yeah, that you will!
Kim: Okay bye!
Andi: Bye. (fade in) Some people have ADHD, some people have, you know, OCD. We're alphabet people, you know, letter people. I got all sorts of letters, I can spell anything you want. That's what makes me such a good fucking witch, all these goddamn letters I have! Right?
Kim: (laughing) Oh my god, I can spell anything you want... I want this on a tshirt so bad... (fades out)
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