In this episode I'm talking to Tiffany, a self-proclaimed "new" witch from the podcast "Get In Witches, We're Doing Witchcraft."
Tiffany tells us about the interesting way she copes with impostor syndrome, why plants are her favorite magical tool, and how she might have grown  up pagan without knowing it.

Join the Get In Loser subscription service! Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft
Get In Witches instagram
Get In Witches linktree

Tiffany of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.

Plants, animals, and... maybe pagan?

Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where every Tuesday we talk about witch life, witch stories and sometimes a little witchcraft. Your Average Witch is brought to you by Clever Kim's Curios. In this episode I'm talking to Tiffany, a self-proclaimed new witch from the podcast Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. Tiffany tells us about the interesting way she copes with imposter syndrome, why plants are her favorite magical tool, and how she might have grown up a pagan without knowing it. Now let's get to the stories. 

Kim: Hi Tiffany welcome to the show. 

Tiffany: Hi thank you for having me. 

Kim: Thank you for being here. 

Tiffany: Of course.

Kim: I want to apologize to my listeners. I have some stupid virus, so my voice sounds weird, but we're going to move past that. Tiffany, would you please introduce yourself and let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you?

Tiffany: Yeah, of course. So, as I said, my name is Tiffany and I co-host Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft with my friend Sam. We are a weekly podcast. We come out every Monday and we just talk about various witchy topics that we put a lot of time and research into. Even if it's things that we don't really know about, if somebody wants us to cover it, we do our best to really research it and get some information out there. So all of our socials are under @getinwitches, and then our email is weardoingwitchcraft at gmail.com if anyone has a topic that they're interested in us covering. And then I live in the St. Louis area, and my co-host actually lives in Japan, so our scheduling is a little on the crazy side.

Kim: I can't even imagine, because trying to get people just in the continental US, trying to get us situated is complicated.

Tiffany: Yeah, and we're both military families. 

Kim: Yay! 

Tiffany: Both of our husbands are in the Air Force. I did some time in the Air Force as well. So we move around a lot. And prior to this, she was in England for three years, I think, maybe four, I can't even keep up. But we had it scheduled, worked perfectly then, and now we've completely flip-flopped. So it's crazy.

Kim: Y'all Air Force people get the nice housing.

Tiffany: Sometimes. (laughs) Sometimes.

Kim: We got to live in Air Force housing for a little while as army people and we were like, holy shit.

Tiffany: What base was it?

Kim: It was the Air Force Academy actually.

Tiffany: Oh, okay. We tried to not live on base as much as possible. We did base housing when we were stationed in Oklahoma and it was not nice at all.

Kim: Yeah, most of the time that's how I was, but in Colorado Springs, housing is expensive. And the Air Force Academy is really gorgeous, so I loved it.

Tiffany: There you go.

Kim: And there was a bear. 

Tiffany: Awww! (laughs)

Kim: Now what does it mean to you when you call yourself a witch?

Tiffany: So I struggle with this, and I feel like this is because for me, I was doing a lot of stuff that I grew up doing with my grandparents that I didn't realize was witchy or pagan. And both of my grandparents have passed since I've learned about this whole world, so I can't even talk to them about it. And it wasn't even until I met Samantha, that she kept going, "Are you sure you're not pagan? Are you sure you're not a witch?" And I'm like, I don't know. Am I? So I struggle to answer this question. I feel like, you know, we look at the world a little bit differently, we try to do things with intention, but I'm still learning myself. So answering this question is really hard for me.

Kim: I mean hopefully we're all learning.

Tiffany: (laughs) Yeah, that's the hope.

Kim: Now you say you did, looking back, things that seemed witchy. What kind of things did you do?

Tiffany: So this is something that's really funny. Actually, I grew up in a Pentecostal household. My mother and my stepfather took us to a Pentecostal church. And that is a whole different like story that we don't have time for today. But my grandparents, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents because I wasn't my stepdad's child. So I remember being really young, and my grandparents always had a garden. And on the full moon, my grandpa would fill up huge jugs of water. We would get them, like get these big glass jugs that he kept in the garage, and we would fill them up and take them outside and make moon water with them. And he would tell me all the time, like, oh, we're just letting the moon charge the water so that we can water the plants with it and get more tomatoes and have a happier garden. And so this is just something that I've always done without realizing that it was like a witchy thing, you know?

Kim: I can't even imagine my grandparents doing that.

Tiffany: Right? 

Kim: Well, and I found out- this is not news to anyone who, I mean, nobody cares about this, but it's shocking to me. My sister, over the past 2 weeks, told me that my mom's family was Catholic. And I always thought they were Presbyterian, so my whole life changed. 

Tiffany: My dad's mom, my grandma on my dad's side, is very Catholic. And she knows that my husband and I aren't, she knows that we're pagan and she knows that we won't ever go to church with her. And she knows about my childhood and experiences with church then. And she doesn't like it, but she will constantly remind us that she still loves us for who we are.

Kim: Oh, good, thanks.

Tiffany: Yeah, I'm like "Gee, thanks, Grandma."

Kim: That's wild about the moon water.

Tiffany: Yeah, yeah. So, and you know, this is one of those things that I wish my mom's parents were still around, because I know that we did a lot of things where they would tell me, like, you know, when I would go home to my mom, like, "Don't tell your mom that we did this." Because they knew that my mom would probably freak out. But I never, I was too young, I think, to understand what we were doing and why I couldn't tell my mom. So I wish that they were here for me to like talk to them about these things now. I don't know that they identified as pagan or witchy, but they definitely did a lot of things that fall in line with it, so.

Kim: Can you introduce us to your practice? Do you have any daily or consistent rituals that you'll share? 

Tiffany: You know, I am probably the most inconsistent person on the planet. And I really do think that this stems from, you know, my husband and I both have ADD. So it's a miracle if you could get either one of us to be consistent with anything. But I'd say probably something that I'm most consistent with would be anything herbalism. I spend a lot of time with herbs in my kitchen, blending teas and making salves, and so that's probably the most consistent part of my practice. But I still wouldn't say that it's like a daily thing or a ritual or anything like that.

Kim: I'm always impressed when I hear people say that they do daily things. I can't. I try, but I don't.

Tiffany: Right, and you know, I might try, like, I'll be like, "Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be really good about this one thing." and then it might last a little bit, but then I'm like, oh, something shiny over here, and then I forget completely about it. So I applaud people that can be so consistent and have that daily ritual, but I know that that is just not how my brain works.

Kim: You know how they, and my finger quotes are happening around they, they say that if you do something for three weeks it becomes a habit. I don't know who they are or what they are doing, but it does not work that way for me.

Tiffany: No. 

Kim : I've done something for years and then suddenly just stopped.

Tiffany: Yeah. 

Kim: Not on purpose, just because I forgot. 

Tiffany: Same. I just completely forget about it and then like, you know, six months later I'll be like, oh yeah, I used to do this one thing and then again just forget about it. (laughs)

Kim: So, I relate. (Tiffany laughs) How would you say witchcraft has changed your life?

Tiffany: I think for me, like, looking back now, like coming into this and looking back like I was saying, at stuff I used to do with my grandparents, it made me realize that not everything is as it seems, I guess. And like, we look at things differently. And I know for myself now, when I'm doing anything in my practice, I'm thinking more intentionally, like, what is it that I'm trying to see? What am I trying to get out of, you know, if I'm working with herbs, what am I trying to get out of that, versus just doing things like willy-nilly and, you know, or just, I don't know, like I just feel like I look at things differently. 

Kim: What would you say is the biggest motivator in your practice? I know, I feel like I keep saying this like over and over and over again, but I do so much in my kitchen and, you know, with herbs and plants and gardening. And I feel like the biggest motivator for me in that portion of my, like what I do is just like for us to be able to be self-reliant and, you know, be healthy and use things that are going to correspond to what we want out of life, what we want out of the day, whatever it is. So I feel like that's really the motivator. We spend a lot of time in a garden here, like in our yard. We are fortunate enough to have space to have a garden and grow our own food and our own herbs. We spend a lot of time drying those out and using them throughout the year. And I use a lot of them anytime I am able to find the time to do something in my practice, whether it's like a money bowl or a ritual bath or something like that. But again, I'm so inconsistent and spontaneous and sporadic in my in my craft that like, I don't know, there's just no consistency there, I guess. 

Kim: OK, point of curiosity and an incredible nosiness that I have. Do you consider yourself a homesteader or prepper?

Tiffany: I don't think I'm at that level at all. I would love to be. Like I we have always talked about it. Like my husband is very close to retirement when he, we have like two years left in the military and then when he gets out he wants to roll into a civilian job in his office. It's very likely that he'll be able to do that and work that for like, you know, three to five years. And then we just kind of want to go somewhere with a little piece of land in the middle of nowhere where we're not bothered by people, and we don't bother people, and you know, just grow our own garden and maybe have some chickens for some eggs, and just live our lives.

Kim: Where are you looking to settle?

Tiffany: You know, this changes daily. 

Kim: Yeah, I get it. 

Tiffany: We have a lot of family in Arizona and originally we were like-

Kim: YAY come here!

Tiffany: Is that where you're at? So we were originally saying Arizona, but then we were like, you know, we go back every year to visit family and it's just like the family drama has become too much for us. So then we were like, maybe Tennessee, but honestly, I don't know. I really don't know. My husband's like obsessed with the Smoky Mountains and all the little creeks and streams in Tennessee. So he's like, we should buy some land with a little stream on it. And I'm like, good luck. Good luck finding it. Who knows? Who knows? 

Kim: We were actually looking in that area. 

Tiffany: Were you? It's beautiful.

Kim: Yeah, I miss, I miss Appalachia.

Tiffany: Yeah, we didn't get to go down that way, but we did take a trip to Nashville for a weekend. We had like two days just to like experience city life in Tennessee. And I can tell you right now, Nashville is not for me. 

Kim: Did you get hot chicken? 

Tiffany: We did. We did. And this was right before I actually, my body does this weird thing where every few years it cycles through where it'll just reject me being able to eat meat. And so that was probably my last hoorah before it was like, yeah, we're not doing that anymore, so.

Kim: I'm glad you got that in there.

Tiffany: Yeah, it was actually really good. We went to Hattie B's and got some delicious food. went out to the Loveless Cafe and also got delicious chicken and pie. So good.

Kim: Let's talk about imposter syndrome. Everyone's favorite thing. Everybody feels so good when we talk about this. Do you have it? How do you beat it? 

Tiffany: Um, does anyone beat it? Because if you have those tips and tricks, just let me know. (both laugh) Because I need them. And like, honestly, I know we all have it. I feel like my biggest thing is that like, I didn't realize the things that I was doing were witchy or pagan or you know, like, whatever they fell under. And so now that like, I've come to this realization, and I'm doing so much research and learning so much, I feel like, you know, when I do do things, I'm like, is that, did I do that right? Was I supposed to do it, you know, that way? Or am I the one that should be doing this? Because do I even know what I'm doing? So imposter syndrome is real with me and I really don't know how you get over that.

Kim: What do you tell yourself? What do you tell yourself personally? 

Tiffany: Um. I don't. I just push it out of my mind. (laughs) I'm like "We're not gonna talk about THAT thing." 

Kim: Okay, that's fair. Avoidance, everyone. 

Tiffany: Yes, I'm really good at that when it comes to like feelings or... (laughs) imposter syndrome.

Kim: Avoidance and denial. All right. I'll write that down.

Tiffany: Yeah, it's great. It's great, it works. It works for me.

Kim: Me too, frankly.

Tiffany: If I don't think about this, it's not real!

Kim: Yeah. I don't even know what you're talking about.

Tiffany: (laughing) Yeah, yeah.

Kim: What did I just ask you? Who knows?

Tiffany: Who knows? In one ear, out the other.

Kim: What would you say is your biggest struggle when it comes to witchcraft? 

Tiffany: Honestly, consistency and just not having the time. I am a pretty busy person. I work, I have the podcast with Sam. My house is a zoo at any given time. And then on top of it, my husband's schedule is so crazy. He travels a lot for work. So he's gone at least one week out of every month. He's currently gone. He left this morning. And when he is home, he's in flight school and flight training. So he's either in class or flying a helicopter somewhere. And so I have to kind of cover everything within the house. So when it comes time to like the end of the day, when I'm like, oh, let me sit down and do something, it's usually I fall asleep or I mindlessly like scroll through social media or tech talk because my brain just can't even for the day. So I'm so inconsistent because I don't have the time, but I, it's not, you know, not for like a lack of wanting to do things, it's just, where do you find that time sometimes?

Kim: So please fill me in on the zoo. 

Tiffany: Oh, so we, we lost our, my husband and I had two dogs that we lost last year, like within a few months of each other.

Kim: Oh no, I'm sorry.

Tiffany: Yeah, our oldest girl, she was 16 and she went through all of our big life changes with us. We got her shortly after we got married. We were 19 years old and we had a Rottweiler who was just shy of 13 who passed away just like a few months after her. And before that he got super depressed. So we were like, maybe he just needs a friend. So we went and rescued a little puppy from a local rescue out here. And we have her, but we also had a munchkin cat. Well, had. We have a munchkin cat, our little wiener cat named Nike. And then we have never, ever wanted to be a multiple cat household. But, you know, sometimes the universe has different things. 

Kim: They're lol, guess what? Here's 40 more cats. 

Tiffany: I mean, almost, you know, like we, we had this cat show up in our backyard and he was living under the cover to our grill. And he would come out, you know, I would sit out there in the mornings and drink coffee and check my emails because I work from home. And so he would come and snuggle with me. And finally we were like, this is our cat. Obviously we brought him in. We had been feeding him outside. And so we brought him in and he got along great with our other cat, which is weird. She hates everyone. And then within a week we had another cat on the patio and we tried so hard to find this cat a home and nobody would take her, so now we are a three cat household. And we have a dog, and we foster puppies for the rescue that we got our dog from. So right now we have two six week old little puppies that we're trying to get you know through all of their clinic stuff so that they can be adopted out.

Kim: Good for you!

Tiffany: Yeah, lots of animals. (laughs)

Kim: And for them. 

Tiffany: We're softies when it comes to animals, so.

Kim: I get that. (laughs) What brings you the most joy in your practice?

Tiffany: Honestly, being in my kitchen and getting to be creative, and playing in my herbs, and blending teas, and making things that you get to, you know, see other people use. Like I sometimes I'll make salves or tinctures and one of my friends will come over and be like, "Oh my gosh!" Like this is actually something that happened recently. I made a skin salve and one of my friends came over and she was like, "Oh my gosh, I have this dry spot on my skin. I can't get rid of it. Nothing's working." And I was like "Here try this," and she came back and was like "Do you have any more? I'll buy it," and I'm like "You can just have it, it's fine." but like getting to see that something that I created with intention and purpose, like seeing someone else use it and love it and it work for them, that... that makes me so happy. 

Kim: Isn't that cool? I freaking love that. 

Tiffany: Right? That's one of my favorite things. Absolutely love it. I love it. Or like, you know, blending a tea. I blend a tea and one of my friends will come over and they're like, "Well, what tea are you drinking? I want to drink it." And I make them some. They're like, "Can I have some to take home with me?" And I'm like, absolutely.

Kim: Oh, that would be neat!

Tiffany: Yeah, I love it. I love doing it.

Kim: Would you call yourself a kitchen witch? Do you label yourself? 

Tiffany: I would say probably somewhere between kitchen and green.

Kim: What would you say is your biggest fear in witchcraft?

Tiffany: Hateful people. (laughs)

Kim: Yeah.

Tiffany: Can we just be honest, there? We...

Kim: Not the devil. Not the devil, everyone.

Tiffany: Yeah, yeah. Weird, right?

Kim: That's me being facetious by the way, universe. 

Tiffany: Yeah, so Sam and I have actually, and it's happened more so with my friends than it has hers, but like, I can't, I don't even remember what was said, but something, I had posted something on social media and immediately I had a girl that I didn't even know her and I was only like friends with her on social media because I grew up with her husband, and she added me. So I was like, okay.

Kim: So like tangential people?

Tiffany: Yeah, yeah. So she of course had something to say about what I posted, and it like, it was very much so like kind of just assuming that I was Christian and I was like, "Well, I'm not Christian, so those aren't my beliefs." And when she asked what I was and I told her I was pagan, she had a lot to say about that. And it was like a back and forth until I just had to like shut off comments to just and it was just a silly post too. So I feel like hateful people, or just people that don't understand, and don't want to.

Kim: Yeah, so everybody's favorite.

Tiffany: Yeah. 

Kim: Judgmental, nosy people.

Tiffany: Yeah. Yeah. It's great.

Kim: Except for me, because I'm cool, but everyone else...

Tiffany: Look sometimes I'm nosy too, but I'm not gonna be judgmental about people's beliefs and practices.

Kim: I am an INFJ. I do try to control it. Also, I'm a troll, so if I say something that seems kind of trolly, it probably is. And you can call me on it. Feel free, everyone. Say, are you full of shit? And I'll be like, yeah.

Tiffany: Absolutely. I have, and this is something my brother and I are both the same. We're very dark and sarcastic in our humor, especially when it comes to our childhood. People don't understand that. We get a lot of any, especially if me and my brother are in the same room as each other, we will constantly get asked, what is wrong with you? And we're like, so sorry. That's not normal? I thought that was normal behavior. (laughs)

Kim: What is something you did early in your practice that you no longer do?

Tiffany: Trying to do it all. Like...

Kim: Oh, yeah.

Tiffany:  Yeah. Being not, I guess, not having, I don't know if I would say guidance, but not like knowing everything when you're new. I feel like you try to jump into all of it, right? Like you're like, Ooh, maybe I want to do this, and maybe I want to do that. And maybe I want to do this. And I fell victim to that pretty quickly. And I, again, attribute that to ADD, right? I want those like quick things that I can jump into and like really be obsessed about it and then I'm like, oh I don't want to do that, I don't like this, and then I'm like already doing 10 other things. So that is something that I have reined myself in on where it's like let me pick one thing, one thing that I know I love, one thing that I'm good at and let me just work on that. 

Kim: Yeah but how are you going to know unless you try everything? 

Tiffany: Right? (both laugh) I've learned that I don't need to do that.

Kim: Teach me that way.

Tiffany: I just constantly tell myself, no, no, not going to do it.

Kim: I'm real bad at telling myself no. I'm real bad at it. 

Tiffany: I'm getting better. 

Kim: I like stuff. I like telling myself yes. "Absolutely you should have that other cookie!"

Tiffany: Do it.

Kim: You've had four already. You should absolutely have another one, you deserve it! (both laugh)

Tiffany: You earned it.

Kim: What would you say is your favorite tool in your practice? And it does not have to be a physical object.

Tiffany: I was going to say, I'm going to be like a broken record here. Plants, plants, herbs, plants. I, that's pretty much my, that's just my jam. I, I like to cook with my herbs. I like to make things with herbs, salves, teas, everything like that. Um, pretty much anything herbal or plants. I have so many plants in my house. My husband's like, "Where are you going to put this plant?" every time I bring one home. And then I guess maybe incense, if we want like a physical thing. We grew up with incense being burned in the house, both my husband and I, and so incense is like a daily thing for us. In the morning we light some incense, sit there and have our coffee and just have like, you know, the smoke kind of cleanse the room and smell delightful. 

Kim: So you do kind of have a daily practice, sort of. 

Tiffany: Yeah, I guess that would count as one, right?

Kim:  How do you keep plants with cats? I can't keep anything in this house. You know, maybe I just let my cats do whatever they want and I'm a bad pet cat parent. 

Tiffany: Honestly, I feel like maybe I'm just lucky, my cats don't really mess with my plants. The only thing we have to worry about with our cats is plastic. If there is any... 

Kim: What is that?

Tiffany:  I don't understand it. 

Kim: I need to lick that and rattle it around and chase it around and eat it. 

Tiffany: I would like to try and eat it and then vomit it up on the floor for you later. 

Kim: Love it. Thank you. 

Tiffany: Great. 

Kim: Thank you for that. 

Tiffany: Thank you for your contribution.

Kim: I also encourage my cats to climb though, because we have like a cat wall.

Tiffany: Oh, yeah. We have a giant, like probably the biggest cat tower that we could find on Amazon. We bought it and I don't know why because it takes up so much room and we have it in our bedroom and our cats will climb on that but for the most part like our cats are just lazy and they like to sleep on furniture and that's about it. 

Kim: Good for you. 

Tiffany: It's rare with cats, I hear. Like our cats don't knock glasses over, they will rarely get on the counter, because they know they're not supposed to. So.

Kim: Huh, what's that like.

Tiffany: Right? They pretty much only get on the counter or get into something if they want attention and we're not paying attention to them.

Kim: Granted, our cats, two of them are old. Like teens.

Tiffany: Yeah.

Kim: But all the other ones are two or younger, so they're all batshit crazy.

Tiffany: How many do you have?

Kim: Why. Why. Why. Six inside and then one random outside cat that the neighbors abandoned and we feed.

Tiffany: Oh, our neighborhood is actually pretty good. We have a lot of feral cats in this area and we have a couple people in our neighborhood that trap, spay, neuter, and then release. 

Kim: Oh good. 

Tiffany: And our whole neighborhood is like, oh, we saw each cat has a name in the neighborhood, and everyone feeds them. It's really cute.

Kim: I approve of that. 

Tiffany: Right? I saw them posting that they were doing this. I was like, this is great. I absolutely love this. And we get so many. We have a catnip bush out front. So we get lots of frequent visitors... 

Kim: Party cats.

Tiffany: Yeah, on our Ring doorbell. It'll go off in the middle of the night and we check it and it's just little cats hanging out at the catnip bush. It's great. I love it. 

Kim: If you could only recommend one book to a new witch, what would it be and why?

Tiffany:  How does one choose one book? This is like when people are like, what is your one favorite book? I'm like, how do you do that? I, so I sat and went back and forth on this one quite a bit because initially I was going to say the Grimoire For a Green Witch, but then I was like, you know, not everybody's a green witch. So I landed on Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer. It is, not only is it just like an absolutely beautiful book but it's beautifully written. It has so much great information, and for my little plant loving heart, she has a lot in there on gardening with intention, and gardening in your craft. So that would be my choice.

Kim: Cool. Now you say you've moved around a lot. A lot. Would you say environment has shaped your practice and do you think it's changed as you've lived in different places?

Tiffany: I absolutely do think that. And I think that would be true for pretty much anyone that moves around a lot. Just because, you know, what is the climate, what's available to you, you know, seasonal items that you might not be able to get year round if you live somewhere, you know, where it's cold all the time. Or, you know, some people work with the ocean, and if you don't live, like if you end up being moved somewhere where there's no ocean around you, how do you implement that in your craft still? So I absolutely feel like environment shapes your practice. 

Kim: What have you taken from the different places you've lived? 

Tiffany: You know, not really anything. (both laugh) We are really good about trying to be... shopping with the local economy, or through local farms and farmers. And when we have the space being able to, well, and the correct climate, being able to like grow our own food and stuff like that. But as far as like taking things from the environment, I can't think of anything that I've like kept along the way.

Kim: I mean more like practices, or thought.

Tiffany: Oh, well, I, I don't, I don't know, I guess maybe just being more conscious about like what's available, what I can get and like seasonal items. Like I said, like being more aware of those things when it's something that I use regularly.

Kim: I'm also trying to think what I've done.

Tiffany: Yeah.

Kim: For myself.

Tiffany: That's a hard question. (laughs)

Kim: (pauses) Huh. I need to think about that for myself. Now we all go through highs and lows in life and in our magical practice. How do you pull yourself out of a slump or a low period?

Tiffany: I am just hard on myself. 

Kim: (laughs) Oh, good, that's healthy.

Tiffany: And I know that is not for everyone. But you know, sometimes when you're having one of those days, you just have to be like, stop being a whiny B and get up and do what you need to do. And I'm really good at like bullying myself, I guess, out of those feelings. 

Kim: Good, good. That's great.

Tiffany: I think this podcast is learning a lot about me.

Kim: Would you call yourself a solitary practitioner?

Tiffany: Absolutely.

Kim: Do you ever work with other witches though? 

Tiffany: No, no, no. Not that I'm not open to it, but again, I didn't even realize some of the stuff that I was doing was considered witchy or pagan. And Sam is the one that was like, you need to start reading some books because you are definitely doing some witchcraft in your home. And so for me, I've just always done these things on my own just because that's what I would do with my grandparents when I was younger, and I've never really thought of working with other people, but I also don't know a lot of other pagans or witchy people in our area.

Kim: That makes sense. Okay, so I'm going to go back to that first question. Do you consider yourself to be a witch?

Tiffany: I think I do.

Kim: Okay. 

Tiffany: I, like, I definitely didn't realize it, you know, but I, like, through meeting Sam, I think the universe was like, hello, you need to wake up. And she was very like, yeah, you need to do some research because here's a book you should read. And it's like, this was, this is just our whole friendship, you know, especially early on, she'd be like, read this book, please. Thank you. And it's just kind of morphed from there. So I definitely do consider a lot of what I do to be like witchcraft. And my husband and I definitely in the past, you know, I'd say five years, have backed away. Like we've been very adamant with our family that we aren't Christian. We're not going to go to church with them. We're not Catholic. We're not going to go to church with you, you know, like over and over and over again. And a few years ago, we finally were just like, we are pagan and our beliefs aren't, you know, in a church, our beliefs are out in nature. And they, for the most part, have been really good about it. Um, but like I said, they will, they will make comments like, oh, we still love you.

Kim: Okay, great? 

Tiffany: We appreciate that.

Kim: Were you not going to?

Tiffany: I know, maybe, who knows.

Kim: What a weird thing to tell someone that you do love.

Tiffany: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, this is something...

Kim: ...who hasn't murdered someone.

Tiffany: Right? Like this is something that one of my brothers and I actually talk about because my brother, who I always kind of, I kind of knew, but I, you know, I wasn't ever going to like bring it up to him unless he wanted to talk about it. But my brother came out, I'm trying to think, probably like six years ago. And he was very worried about telling our grandparents because they are very, you know, they're old. They come from a different time, things, you know, different beliefs, and they are also very Catholic. And so finally, he just decided to tell them. He was like, you know, we're just going to have to rip this band-aid off because I can't necessarily hide this from them when I'm married to a man. So he told them, and they were very good about it. You know, they invited him and his husband at the time out to dinner and bought them dinner and just let them know like, you know, we love you no matter what. But again, it comes down to like a lot of times it's like, well, I still love you. And we're like, OK, like, is what we're doing bad. And like, that's why you possibly would not love us. Like, it's very confusing.

Kim: So weird.

Tiffany: It really is. It really is.

Kim: Who or what would you say are the three biggest influences on your practice?

Tiffany: You know, this one I couldn't come up with an answer to. And I feel like it is because I am so new and I am still learning. So maybe Sam.

Kim: That's a fair answer. If people work regularly with somebody kind of outside witchcraft, I think it's fair, especially if it's sort of witchcraft adjacent, like a podcast about witchcraft. I think it super makes sense that they would influence you in other things.

Tiffany: And that or, you know, just as I'm learning, I'm learning a lot of the things that my grandparents taught me as a kid. I'm, you know, so maybe they could be considered also a big influence. 

Kim: That makes sense to me. What would you tell somebody just starting out? Advice. Advise them.

Tiffany: I would say, like, pick your path and just, like I said earlier, just pick one thing that you really want to try and work on. And if you don't like it, don't force it, you know, maybe try something else after you've tried a couple of times. You just really, you don't have to do it all when you first start out. And don't overthink it, of course. I feel like that's also another thing. I know for me, a lot of times, especially if I'm trying something new, I tend to overthink what I'm doing and will read through something multiple times before I'll even jump into something. And sometimes, just jumping in is where you're going to learn. And then, like I said earlier, you also don't have to have all the expensive items. If you only have what's available to you in nature, use what's in nature. If you only can afford, you know, herbs from the dollar store, that's perfectly fine too. Like, you don't have to buy all the expensive things.

Kim: Yeah, don't spend $75 on a cauldron.

Tiffany: Yeah, no, don't do that.

Kim: Go to the park and pick out pine needles.

Tiffany: Mm-hmm. Yep, or pine cones, or, you know, dandelions are a great thing to use and they're abundant all over the world.

Kim: I love them so much.

Tiffany: Me too. 

Kim: I think that's my favorite plant. 

Tiffany: Last year we made dandelion wine.

Kim: Nice.

Tiffany: And it was delightful. I have one bottle left that I've been saving. It's so good.

Kim: Okay, now if you could ask somebody like Laura Tempest-Zakroff or Matt Auryn or like Selena Fox, what would you ask them? People who are well above my fucking skill level.

Tiffany: Maybe like what their biggest lesson was? Like what came to them that they feel like they learned the most from or you know, something like that.

Kim: Am I stealing that to ask people in the future? Maybe, probably.

Tiffany: (laughs) Do it.

Kim: Who do you think I should ask to be on the show?

Tiffany:  I am the wrong person to ask this because again, I have very little time, so I don't get to listen to a whole lot of podcasts.

Kim: What if it's just some random witch person? 

Tiffany:  Hmm. I, you know, Sam, Sam's like the only witch I know. I, yeah, I am not very good at this one. 

Kim: Brian's wife. 

Tiffany: Yeah, Brian's wife. Damn it, Brian. 

Kim: Oh my gosh, okay. Is there anything else you wanted to bring up that I didn't ask or anything you wanted to ask me?

Tiffany: So, I know I said it at the beginning, but you know, I'm from Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft, and we come out weekly. We cover all sorts of topics, all sorts of backgrounds, and we hope to be like inclusive of everyone, so if you want to listen to us that would be great. We also have a merch store through Bonfire, and all of the links for any of our stuff is on our social media. And our handles are getinwitches.

Kim: Nice.

Tiffany:  Yeah.

Kim: Now, at the end, I ask two things of my guests. The first thing is, please recommend something to the listeners. It doesn't have to be witch-related at all. It can be anything in your life that you think other people should check out.

Tiffany: I am going to go with, this is something that my husband and I actually just started, and if anyone is an adult animation person, like if you like watching adult cartoons, we started watching Vox Machina on Amazon Prime, and it is hilarious. It doubles if you like to play D&D, which is something that I've recently gotten into. So it is the first Critical Role, like it's their game turned into a series, and it's, and they voice all of the characters too so it's great. 

Kim: Cool, I have heard of that. 

Tiffany: It's hilarious. We absolutely love it we're like, I want to say six episodes into the first season and it's it's so funny.

Kim:  Awesome. Now the second thing is please tell me a story that you love to tell. Something that you get around people, that you are comfortable with, and it's something that if you were sitting around a campfire or around a table in the backyard at night with like a candle or whatever, you just tell the story.

Tiffany: You know, I, my husband is the storyteller of the two of us. I am not.

Kim: Steal one from him.

Tiffany: I know, right? I can't even think of one. This is a terrible question for me. I am like the super introverted, and like... it takes me a while to warm up to people usually. And my husband is like the social butterfly who loves everyone, and he's super animated. And I just, I am not. (laughs)

Kim: What about something weird your brother did? 

Tiffany: Oh, my brother does a lot of weird things. Let me think on this one. Actually, I just told this story to my husband last night. When we were little, we had this, it was like an arcade type place, kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese, but not really. They had bumper boats and little go-carts and stuff. And so we used to love to go, my mom would take us usually for like our birthdays or something, you know. So we loved to go and ride the bumper boats, and they had little water guns on the front of them. And my youngest brother of my mom's children was probably like eight or nine at the time, and it was for his birthday that we went. And we went on the bumper boats, and it's timed, and you're supposed to like go around this little course. And once you get back, you get off the boat and you can get back on, like, after you get back in line. Well, he was just like, screw it. He refused to get off the boat. And every time the employees would try to grab the boat to pull him in, he would squirt them with the gun on the front and just zoom away. And we were just, I don't know why that memory came to me yesterday, but we were just cracking up about the stuff that my, like, he's just a wild child. I absolutely love him.

Kim: I like that kid. Good for him.

Tiffany: Yeah. 

Kim: Fight the man. "I'm staying in this goddamn boat, sir!"

Tiffany: Yeah, he's in his 30s and he's actually coming out at the end of March, him and his wife, for a margarita and taco fest.

Kim: Oh neat! Holy crap, that sounds amazing! 

Tiffany: It's going to be great. We're so excited. We're doing it for his wife's birthday. But every time my brother and I get together, it's like we're children again.

Kim: Shenanigans? (laughs)

Tiffany: Yeah, my husband and his wife are just like, oh my God, there's two of them. Like, how did this happen?

Kim: But also as a, as an adult, I would never take a child somewhere that had water.

Tiffany: (laughs) Um, it, it was great. We, you know, it had arcades and skeeball and all of like the normal stuff, but the bump, I feel like the bumper boats was like what set it apart from like Chuck E. Cheese or any of those other kinds like that and it we used to have a blast there. And I honestly I cannot remember what this place was called, either. Like I don't think I think it was just a one-off place, not like a chain place.

Kim:  It sounds like someplace that adults would take their children and when they want to punish themselves.

Tiffany:  I mean I feel like as an adult if I had children I would hate being there. 

Kim: Exactly. 

Tiffany: But as a kid we had a blast.

Kim: You know what, that's what she gave herself for letting you watch "It".

Tiffany: It was great. Great time.

Kim: Well thank you for being on the show. 

Tiffany: Yeah thanks for having me!

Kim: Then I'll see you on the internet. Bye!

Tiffany: Bye. (fades out)

Kim: (fades in) Tiffany, welcome to patreon.

Tiffany: (laughs) This is gonna be my first time on patreon, we use... (fades out) (fades in) I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna see, you know, how I feel when I do it. And so I made my own little money bowl, and you know, did a sigil, and I put it under my candle, and I was pretty consistent with this for about a month. And in this time, I would say like three weeks after creating it... (fade out)

To hear more of the Patreon episode, head over to crepuscularconjuration.com. The monthly magic tier will give you access to the monthly magic Marco Polo group, the private Patreon Facebook group, access to the written monthly spells and more. There are also tiers with just digital content or you can get spell boxes, intentional handcrafted jewelry that I make especially for witches, and there's even a crystal tier. Check it out at crepuscularconjuration.com. Thanks for listening to this episode of Your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet on Instagram at your average which podcast, Facebook at facebook.com/groups/hivehouse, at your average witch.com, and at your favorite podcast service. Want to help the podcast grow? Leave a review! You can review us on Amazon and Apple podcasts. And now you can rate us on Spotify. If you'd like to recommend someone for the podcast, like to be on it yourself, or if you'd like to advertise on the podcast, send an email to youraveragewitchpodcast at gmail.com.  Thanks for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday.