The Twelfth House

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thetwelfthhouse.substack.com📚 Resources and Links:* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here* Holisticism Resources 4 u:* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that’ll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what’s holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you’re never actually blocked* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeableI’ve been on a “talking about writing” kick lately (see here and here).Since 2020 I’ve stood ten toes down on the claim that copywriting is one of those recession-proof skills that anyone should try to hone. Maybe now I should start saying copywriting is an AI “revolution”-proof skill — because even though you can definitely get an AI tool to do your copywriting for you, it will never ever ever be as good as what you could have made yourself if you understand the core tenets of copywriting.Good copywriting (and I’d argue great writing of any kind) requires deeply understanding and empathizing with the person you’re trying to talk to. And, yes, using a catchy turn of phrase or $5 words can make your writing sound better, but those fixes are just superficial if you’re not thinking through the underlying motives of your reader.I guess what I’m saying is AI can certainly tzuzh a piece of writing for you, but if you rely on AI alone to spit out your copy it will always take longer and it will almost always be worse that anything you could’ve written yourself.Which is why I’m back on my b******t talking about writing and emails and today, About Pages.I knowwwww. You’ve been meaning to update it. Or write it. Or maybe it exists somewhere in the digital ether as a 404 error, haunting your website like a specter.Here’s why this matters enough for me to dedicate an hour and a half — yes, you read that right, an hour and a half — to talking about it: Your about page is the second most visited page on your website. Right after your homepage, it’s where people go to figure out if they actually want to work with you, buy from you, or even keep paying attention to you.And most of us? We’re absolutely shitting the bed on it.We’re either serving up nothing at all, a painfully short paragraph that says essentially nothing, or — and this is the one that really gets me — a weird CV-LinkedIn hybrid that makes visitors feel like they’re reviewing resumes instead of connecting with a human being who might actually be able to help them.Your about page is primo real estate. It’s where you can differentiate yourself, build trust, create that “know, like, and trust” factor, and actually sell your work. But we’re treating it like an afterthought. Like the headline you write in thirty seconds after spending hours on an article. And that’s a problem.Today I’m going over part one — exactly what’s inside of an About page. Keep your eyes peeled for part two, where I’ll give you a template for creating your About page.Before we dive in, I want to mention that if you’re new to thinking about copywriting or you want to go deeper on a lot of the concepts I’m going to touch on here—like specificity, the rule of one, and the stages of awareness—you should absolutely check out our book, The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading-Copy. It’s our digital book on copywriting and just generally writing better, and a lot of what I talk about in this episode is covered in much more detail there. Alright, let’s get into it.

Taylor Elyse Morrison, a prolific author, coach, and PhD student, shares her insights on crafting portfolio careers that thrive on experimentation. She emphasizes the joy of treating projects as time-bound experiments rather than chasing external validation. Taylor discusses the significance of intrinsic motivation and defines portfolio careers as diverse roles with multiple income streams. She also reveals her unique approach to launching her business quickly, using AI tools, and how she’s redefining traditional notions of career milestones.

📚 Resources and Links:* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here* Holisticism Resources 4 u:* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeableI think that most of you should stop sending a newsletter. Like, right now. Immediately. CLOSE THE SUBSTACK TAB!When you start learning about marketing a business outside of Instagram or social media, one of the first things that gets shoved into your brain is the idea that you NEED to send an email every week to your audience.This is both terrifying and daunting, because* The idea of reminding someone you exist every week means they can reject you EVERY WEEK, vs. sliding under the radar hoping they don’t unsubscribe from your email list simply because they don’t notice you. Yery Jurassic Park “T-rex can’t see you if you don’t move” vibes.* Writing — not putting together a bunch of pictures, not talking in a 15 second IG story, not recording an off-the-cuff podcast, but actually WRITING something — every week is time-consuming, even for people who don’t have to google where the apostrophe goes for its and it’s every time. (It’s me, I’m people)So a lot of us don’t do it, or pretend that this advice doesn’t apply to us, or stick our fingers in our ears and go LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU.And — pay attention, this is where I vindicate you and you get to forward this to everyone who’s ever made you feel bad about your inconsistent email schedule — the advice to send a newsletter every week is burning people out, keeping them stuck in content loops that don’t convert, and creating audiences who don’t actually know what you do.Not because you’re doing it wrong! But because a weekly newsletter might be the wrong tool for you entirely.I know you’re punching the air in celebration right now. But before you get ahead of your skies, I regret to inform you that there’s some solid logic to the Internet Person Commandment #1, “Thou shalt email your list every week.”Here’s what it gets right:* building your email list is important because it’s the only digital audience real estate you “own,” meaning it’s independent of a platform (like Instagram or Youtube), you can take it with you anywhere, and it’s not impacted by petty algorithm changes that hide your content from you audience at the exact moment you’re really trying to reach them* but an email list full of people who don’t know who the hell you are or WHY they signed up for you email list in the first place is another type of hell, and definitely not a hell that you can make money in (more like a hell that makes you feel like a unwelcome guest in your own home, like you’re interrupting a party that you organized… yuck)* so you should email your list regularly to create trust and recognition — this creates a relationship between you and your audience members, especially when you provide them value* and putting out regular content is a great way to test your ideas and gauge general audience interestBasically, help people remember who you are and what you do and give ‘em a little somethin’ somethin’ that makes them happy to see your name in their inbox instead of feeling dread or annoyance when your name pops up next to a subject line.It’s easy to reduce all that logic down to a quick and dirty bottom line — I’ve gotta email my audience every week OR ELSE — and forget the very important why and to what end behind the action.In the past, when my students or clients have inquired about the Weekly Email Problem I’ve recommended a few solutions.PROBLEM:I don’t know what to send, and so I send nothing. Or it takes me a really long time to write an email every week because I spiral into an existential crisis about whether anyone cares about my thoughts on Wednesday mornings, so I just... don’t do it.SOLUTIONS:Create a template you can easily replicate every week and fill in with content, like a newsletter.Figure out what you’re actively selling or promoting, and using the stages of awareness reverse engineer what you’ll talk about each week in your weekly email.Use your weekly email to promote your other content (like a podcast, or a Youtube video, or a blog post) and have that be the “focus” of the email.But I have to amend my advice — because not everyone should send out a weekly newsletter instead of an original piece of content to their audience.And for some of you, a dedicated weekly newsletter might be doing the opposite of what you want it to.Think of it this way: content educates, a newsletter informs.It’s a great format for showing your audience a ton of information. You can easily include links to events, information about upcoming offers, quick updates about what’s up in your world and what you’re enjoying or inspired by.That’s perfect for a product aware audience — an audience who knows what you do, who you are, and what the value of your product or service is.But most people who subscribe to your email list are not product aware. They’re still figuring out what you do, and if it can help them, and if they can even trust you.While they might enjoy the link you share to that chic shower lamp you’ve been using for low-sensory night showers, they’re probably not frothing at the bit to work with you or buy your product. Confused people don’t buy things.I could argue that confused people also don’t stay subscribed to a Substack publication long-term, but perhaps that’s a discussion for another day.This is how the weekly newsletter trap creates Void States:The Uninspired State: You’re on autopilot, filling a template with links week after week. You’re not teaching your actual perspective or expanding anyone’s thinking—including your own.The Burnt Out State: You’re exhausted by the hamster wheel of it. Another week, another newsletter to cobble together. You’re prioritizing consistency over clarity, and it’s draining you.The Overwhelmed by Possibility State: You’re throwing everything at the wall — links, personal stories, half-formed ideas, updates — hoping something sticks. But you have no idea what’s actually working or who’s paying attention.Sound familiar?When you’re trying to decide what to send email-wise to your audience, remember it all goes back to what you’re trying to do — what’s the most important point for you?Trying to grow your audience?Trying to teach or sell?Trying to build brand identity?Trying to test your ideas?Trying to gauge audience interests?Decide what you’re trying to do FIRST, then design what your regular email missive could look like… not the other way around.And here’s where I get to the good news: You don’t have to publish on the same day at the same time every week with military-like precision.You can skip a week, you can publish on different dates, you can change it up! I personally believe that done is better than perfect, but I don’t think you should shortchange quality just to hit an imaginary deadline that no one else really cares about. Your subscribers aren’t sitting there with a calendar and a sharpie marking off the days since your last email, grumbling to themselves if you don’t hit ‘em with a freshie at exactly 9a on Wednesday morning.Here’s what I believe: there’s always a more creative way to get what you want. Including with email.The weekly newsletter is one tool. Not the only tool! And definitely not the right tool for everyone at every stage of their business.Over this next few emails, I’m going to show you how to think about your email strategy differently:* What to send when you’re building an audience vs. converting sales* How to structure content that actually moves people through your world* How to design an email rhythm that serves your goals instead of someone else’s rulesBecause the point isn’t to email your list every week. The point is to build a relationship with your audience that converts them into paying clients.And there are a lot of ways to do that that don’t involve scrambling to send a link roundup every Tuesday at 9am :) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thetwelfthhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Explore the trend of self-learning syllabi and why they often lead to knowledge hoarding instead of true growth. Discover the shift from superficial understanding to deep reflection, and how genuine engagement with personal beliefs is crucial. Learn how creating 'artifacts' from knowledge can enhance understanding and reduce burnout. Embrace curiosity as a key driver for personal growth and share your unique insights to foster community learning. It's about evolving from mere accumulation to transformative action!

Delve into the evolving perceptions of channeling, where personal skepticism meets intriguing discoveries. Explore the pivotal role of the body in accessing trance states and the necessary fluency in creative mediums to enhance channeling experiences. Reflect on the impact of self-trust and how life changes can shift personal goals and desires. Lastly, uncover the importance of curiosity over rage as a sustainable fuel for creativity through iterative experiments.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thetwelfthhouse.substack.com📚 Resources and Links:* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here* Mentioned in today’s episode: * Channeling a Manifesto Class — happening on 8/28! * Trance mediumship and channeling spirits (and the uncomfortable questions no one's asking) with medium Hannah Macintyre* can an AI tool “channel” messages?* Holisticism Resources 4 u:* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeableI almost didn't record this episode because, honestly, I think we’re all a bit AI'd out. Or maybe it’s just me, IDK. But since we're deep in a series about channeling, creativity, and the importance of wielding your consciousness, I figured it was time to address the elephant in the Substack server room.Here's the thing: I'm not anti-AI, but I'm also not about to let a computer do my thinking for me. Like???? Have you guys even read a sci-fi novel before? That’s an obvious recipe for disaster-slash-technological apocalypse.I can have empathy for why someone might be tempted to outsource writing, thinking, creating, innovating, designing, etc. to a non-sentient algorithm. But I believe using your brain and wrestling with ideas and concepts and art and reality and consciousness and self-concept is like… a biological imperative. Is that not kind of the point of living? Anyway, I’m by no means the first person to point this out.After spending weeks talking about why the wrestling and way-finding process of creativity is so essential to our humanity, I've got some thoughts on how to use these tools without, you know, completely atrophying your gorgeous brain.My Personal AI Commandments* I don't use AI for anything I can't do myself * I don't use AI “just for funsies” — it’s a waste of resources, like leaving the water running or turning your AC on full blast at noon in the middle of August. Also AI is boring! Why would I talk to a chatbot when I can just talk to a smart person. Or even a dumb person, at least that would be entertaining. * I always ask: What am I going to do with the extra time? It better be thinking, reading, creating, playing with my kid, channeling spirits, or touching grass… otherwise I fear I have lost the plot. Actual brain rot — “use it or lose it”I grew up in the 90s and have an irrational fear of contracting something like Mad Cow disease and my brain turning into Swiss cheese. If you also fear brain rot, let me introduce you to a concept that will either help you sleep like a big brained baby or keep you up at night staring into the black hole of your ceiling — “use it or lose it.”Scientists studying dementia found that individuals who started to use a hearing aid as soon as they lost some of their hearing — vs. those who did not use hearing aids once they become audio impaired — had lower rates of dementia later in life. Why? Because the anti-hearing aid group stopped using the part of their brain that processes listening and language comprehension, resulting in neurological atrophy.Spooky. I think about the “use it or lose it” principle when it comes to my physical muscles, my creative muscles, my intuitive muscles, and I can’t help but feel it’s totally true.So here's my first rule: If I can use my own brain to do it without emotionally thrashing myself, I'm going to try. Basically, I don’t want to run to AI first if I’m feeling lazy. Feels like a slippery slope that ultimately robs me of my abilities, which leaves me totally reliant on AI.Before you automate anything, ask yourself: What are you going to do with that extra time?If your answer is "make more mediocre content faster," please stop. The world doesn't need more AI-generated blog posts. But if your answer is "think deeper thoughts, read more books, have actual conversations, or create something genuinely meaningful," then yes—let AI handle your grocery lists and email sorting.Think of it like the nutrition concept of "crowding out." Instead of just removing the bad stuff, you add so many good things that there's no room for the junk. Use AI to clear mental clutter so you can fill that space with the stuff that makes you more human, not less.What AI kind of sucks at as of right now* Good writing: There are tell-tale signs (the “It’s not *** — it’s ***” formula…) and honestly, the majority of the writing that LLMs are pulling from is mediocre at best.* Original ideas: Once again, LLMs use large data sets to predict the probable next word in a sentence, and then the probable next idea in a paragraph. This predictive nature means that even if you really work the platform to help you come up with new ideas, you’re still probably reheating someone’s nachos.* Working reliably: A few weeks ago I spent 30+ minutes trying to get ChatGPT to make a simple grocery list based on five recipes I’d uploaded to the chat. It kept forgetting ingredients, miscalculating numbers, hallucinating recipes. It would’ve taken me less time to just grab a pen and paper and write out what I needed.The Tools That Actually Make My Life Better

Explore the intriguing complexities of Kundalini Yoga and its controversial figures, including allegations of misconduct and the blurred lines of spirituality and cult dynamics. The discussion delves into personal healing journeys and the ethical dilemmas between power and vulnerability in spiritual guidance. With a focus on generational engagement and cultural appropriations, the speakers highlight the importance of skepticism in spiritual practices. A compelling examination of documentary integrity rounds out a cautionary tale about seeking authenticity in a world rife with deception.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thetwelfthhouse.substack.com📚 Resources and Links:* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here* Holisticism Resources 4 u:* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeableWeek two of our "Divine Downloads" series and we're diving into the big question: what's actually happening when someone says they're "channeling" something?Today I'm talking to Hannah Macintyre, practicing medium and host of Mediumship Matters. While most people in the mediumship world just repeat the same old talking points, Hannah's out here asking the questions we all have — even the slightly (very) uncomfortable ones. I really love listening to Hannah’s show, and I’m delighted to chat with her on The Twelfth House today. In this episode we talk about...The "special gift" myth. Turns out most mediums don't have some dramatic spiritual awakening.

📚 Resources and Links:* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here* Holisticism Resources 4 u:* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeableWe’re officially in week two of our “Divine Downloads” series — and buckle up, y’all, because we’re talking about spiritual possession, but in a cool way? Today novelist, poet, astrologer, and the cohost of COSMIC VALLEY GIRL (season two starts in Sept!) Emmalea Russo joins me to explore the murky, magical territory between creative flow and spiritual channeling.In this episode we talk about… The weaponized use of "channeling." We get into why the word can make our hackles rise — is it a cop-out from creative responsibility, or are we all just vessels for something larger than ourselves? Spoiler: it's complicated.Characters as atmospheric spirits. Emmalea describes how her novel characters literally inhabit her while writing, shifting her mood and language almost automatically. Haters will say she’s possessed! The alchemical writing process. From chaos to gold, we explore how the vessel (aka you, the writer/creator/maker) is the most important part of the creative work. Plus why strategic silence beats oversharing your works-in-progress every time.Editing is channeling, too. Through repetition and that delicious friction of working with a human editor who challenges you, something transcendent emerges.We somehow manage to connect medieval mystics to modern publishing, discuss why your natal chart isn't for public consumption, and explore what it really means to be a "pure channel" (hint: we're all too human for that). Plus, Emmalea spills on her Book Sherpa accelerator program that, in my opinion and the opinions of many of her students, is more valuable than getting an MFA. If you’re ready to finally write the book that’s been haunting you for years, Em hooked us up with a special discount code for the sherpa-curious — use EARLYBOOK for $330 off! Fair warning: we end on some cancellable opinions so… forge ahead to the end at your own discretion. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thetwelfthhouse.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thetwelfthhouse.substack.comFound ObjectsWelcome to Found Objects, where we give you a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re thinking about, haunted by, reading, making, and what's generally floating around the spiderweb of our etheric minds. These are the building blocks — some directly, some indirectly — that contribute to what we’re focusing on for the next six weeks in our series, The Divine Download: What is Called Channeling?This is the second post in the series. If you want access to the full curriculum for this series, subscribe to The Twelfth House.Private PortalsThe beginning of the summer felt like being shot out of a cannon — two weeks on X-Games mode (studying / parenting / entrepreneuring) in Ann Arbor, during a particularly busy season at Holisticism (doors opened to the North Node and we welcomed so! many! amazing new members; Ruthless Clarity hit hard and fast for eight full weeks and whooooweeee did it pack a punch) followed by family time on the east coast for a few weeks.In between all that, the quotidian details: doctors appointments and test results and exercising and being present and hugging friends and making bad art and annotating books and watching movies and finally (finally!!!) getting eight hours of childcare a week. My brain felt deliciously rung out by mid-July.As I write this, it feels like the dust has momentarily settled in my personal life. I love backstroking through the long, thick days of high summer — no need to rush. The pools of my mind have time to replenish themselves. It’s nice to feel ideas gently bubbling to the surface but free of the urgency to pursue them immediately (rare for me, I’ve gotta enjoy it while I can).Over the past few months my deepest conversations have circled back around to the genocide and man-made famine in Palestine, the presence of ICE terrorizing our neighborhood and kidnapping our community members, and the general existential helplessness one feels watching fascism consume our government — what do we do? What can we do, when it seems like nothing we try makes a difference?Well, here’s how I think of it:If I do nothing, it won’t make a difference to the cause.If I do something, it won’t make a difference to the cause — but at least I’ll sort of feel better. So why not do something, even if it’s small?In my mind Chef José Andrés is a Roma Downey “Touched by An Angel”-level earth angel and deserving of the goddamn Nobel Peace Prize for his work at World Central Kitchen. WCK is on the ground in Gaza baking loaves of bread and handing them out daily. They’re a great organization you can donate to here.8 Ideas Floating In My Psychic Field