Healing The Spirit: Astrology, Archetypes & Artmaking

What does it mean to do a reading and to be a reader? What is the role of literacy in liberation? What role does faith play in reclaiming the truth of who we are?In this invigorating conversation, I’m joined by my friend and tarot-astrology scholar extraordinaire Christopher @the.red.read in discussing their take on what it means to do a reading and to be a reader. I’m inspired by Christopher’s cultivation of their embodied intuitive knowledge and the ways they translate that to their work.This conversation invited me into deeper contemplations of what it means to play the role of sharing our love of esoteric knowledge with others - be that in a reading or teaching capacity, which are so often intricately intertwined.We spoke about Christopher’s passion and dedication to helping others cultivate a practice of reading tarot for themselves and others, and how to weave a body of knowledge in a community of learners and seekers.Here’s Christopher’s bio:Christopher is an educator, astrologer, writer and tarot scholar. Their work interweaves knowledge of astrology, mythology, tarot, feminist, queer knowing and being to create a dynamic space of exalted spiritual regard. Their readings are a constellation of consciousness, a channel for healing, and a tool for decolonization. The classes, readings and writings work to give and facilitate new ways of reading the world and the self, to empower the writing of a new world and to revise worn out self-concepts. In Christopher’s tradition, literacy, in all its forms, is the legacy of liberation.Find Christopher on their website www.theredread.com to join their newsletter, to check out their classes, readings, and other offerings.  Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

What happens if we consciously allow narratives and evidence of levity, of being nourished and cared for, to also coexist with stories of pain and trauma? What can you release to access the joy of release from pressure? What can you amplify to nourish your awareness that danger is, in fact, no longer a part of your present-time reality?In this episode, I shared my notes for the current week - Nov. 14 - Nov. 20, 2022. Combining astrology, tarot, the Akashic & Cosmic Body perspectives, and guidance from my sacred ancestors, I hope these messages will serve you as walk your path.This week, the invitation is to remember that our capacity for feeling safety is something we always have access to, even if we still feel ourselves to be dancing in the dark. While Venus and Mercury exit the watery depths of Scorpio into the fiery adventures of Sagittarius, the Sun will still be in Scorpio. While we may still feel the grip of Scorpio’s fearless dive into the shadows, our bodies and our minds may actually have more access to expansiveness and levity, to the tangy flavor of possibilities.Just because we’re in the dark, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. Just because we’re in a tight spot, doesn’t mean we can’t let our animal bodies breathe a sigh of relief.I also pulled cards: Justice from Serpentfire Tarot and Dreaming / Lizard / 64th hexagram from Animal Totems & The I-Ching. You can check out the photo here.This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @nate_qi, my music, and click here to book an astrology reading with me. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com. Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

How do we show up in our full, authentic humanity at the portal of grief? How can we allow the grief of loss to co-exist with the pleasure of companionship? How does grief show up to teach us about our innate creativity? Right after recording this conversation with my dear friend and incredible artist-healer Rebecca Lopez Mullins, I knew that we were supposed to share it during Scorpio season.Centered around the grief of suddenly losing her mother earlier this year, Rebecca and I weaved a conversation that explored the expansion and deepening of her relationships with her own gifts, her husband, her son, her sisters, and her community.We also spoke about how Rebecca’s artistic practice became her spiritual practice, how tapping into the artist within and the larger ecosystem of relationality helped her channel her Altar Companions collection, and how her work connected her to ancestral wisdom.I feel so honored to share this conversation. Rebecca has shown up as a teacher, a conduit for the wisdom medicine of grief and creativity for me at a time when I needed it deeply. Rebecca’s willingness to show up so fully to this conversation is such a gift. I invite you to show up with an open heart to this profound conversation.Here’s Rebecca’s bio: Rebecca is a Multicultural & Multidimensional Creatress of small batch jewels, divination tools and art to activate, align and reconnect folks to their radiance. It is her belief that the pieces people choose to adorn themselves in and invite into their homes and sacred spaces reflect each individual’s kaleidoscopic inner landscape. She aspires to cultivate a timeless & powerful connection between people and her work; one that compels them to live a Soul-rich, deeply connected, rooted and meaningful life. Her body of work is a prayer infused with the highest good for those who welcome her pieces into their orbit. Her wish is for people to be emboldened to show up in their full expression. Rebecca’s creative process is ignited and guided by ancestral (human/non-human) wisdom, the natural, elemental & cosmic realms, textures, unique materials & colorways. Each piece is handmade and sculpted with heart + conscience in her home studio on unceded Anishinabewaki land in so-called Grand Rapids, Michigan.You can find out more about Rebecca's incredible work through her website and also follow her work on Instagram. Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

What is the correlation between your restlessness and expectations? What pleasure, grace, and vitality are available to us when we lower our expectations?I'm experimenting with a new format! In this offering, I'm sharing my personal notes and contemplations about the week ahead. Combining astrology, tarot, the Akashic & Cosmic Body perspectives, and guidance from my sacred ancestors, healing guides and my own spirit, I hope these messages  will serve you as you walk your path.This week, the invitation is to lower our expectations. Expectations can serve as barriers. They’re often derived from internalized standards, which we learn from conditioning. And as such, expectations can mask our true desires, impulses, and grief. They can also obscure the emergent truth about what *actually* brings us pleasure at this moment.I also pulled cards: Queen of Wands from The Somnia Tarot and Camouflage from Begin Oracle. You can check out the photo here.This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @nate_qi, my music, and click here to book an astrology reading with me. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com. Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

How do we work with astrology as a portal to deeper connections with the spirit world? How can we cultivate more easeful trust with our intuition and with our natural gifts? What role can expanding our framework for contemplations around gender and sexuality play in connecting us with our authentic selves? I feel honored to share this profound, grounded conversation with my friend, Martha Alter Hines.Recorded in late July 2022, I was deeply moved when I re-listened to this conversation this week because so much of what Martha shared here became seeds that have grown into gorgeous seedlings in my own path. It’s a conversation that’s taught me and helped me clarify my own path as an astrologer. I hope that you’ll allow it to also deepen your connection to yourself.We discussed how Martha’s astrological practice serves as a mirror to her connection to the spirit world and how to work with fears of the unknown through the lens of astrological transits. We also discussed her life journey as a clinical social worker who felt called to work with the spirit world and to be a channel for divine wisdom. We also discussed how devoting ourselves to investigating, expanding, and engaging with concepts and constructs around gender and sexuality can help us deepen into our authentic selves.Earlier in 2022, Martha organized an incredible free symposium, Re-Becoming The One, to promote the healing of gender, sexuality, and our relationship to Love and Life itself. Martha graciously invited me to be a part of this symposium and you can listen to our conversation on Mercury and the Non-binary experience here.Here’s Martha’s bio: First and foremost, I am a mom of two amazing kids, ages ten and fifteen. We live in BEAUTIFUL coastal California and feel so lucky to be here.I come from a big, international family.  I was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and grew up in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya, and northern Virginia.  I received my Masters in Social Work from Smith College in Massachusetts in 2001.  I then worked as a clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and body worker for most of the past twenty years. I specialized in prevention, treatment, and investigation of child abuse, attachment, and trauma.In 2018, the spirit world made it very clear that it was time for me to move on from that very important work to the calling of my soul – assisting people to navigate the beautiful and often challenging experience of awakening to their ultimate, cosmic selves and souls.For many years, since I was 21 years old, I have had an ability to see many things beyond the physical world – spirits of all kinds, past lives, the structure of people’s bodies and cells, and so on.In the work I do now, I bridge both the Earthly world and that of the spiritual and cosmic worlds to support us in coming into our personal and collective relationship with the spirit world and our own ways of living as conscious beings of both the Earth and the divine.I feel strongly that the world needs our wisdom, not only of our minds, but of our whole beings - our minds, hearts, bodies, spirits, and selves as beings of the Earth, cosmos, and infinity.I love this work that I do now and am honored and full of joy holding space for others to recognize their own beautiful, literally divine selves and to live the full life they are here to live.You can find Martha’s offerings on her website. She’s available for 1:1 sessions and has a beautiful membership community which hosts monthly gatherings.We also mentioned Joe G’s talk on the non-binary experience.Special thanks to Alex Lai for the editing help for this episode.  Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

How do we tend to the delicate balance of the ecosystem of roles we play as artists of our lives? What does it mean to be a singer and who gets to claim that title? How can healing practitioners benefit from exploring their physical voice as a medium to convey and translate their passion and life calling?My guest in conversation is NYC-based singer-songwriter extraordinaire who also happens to be  my voice teacher, Jamie Leonhart. Jamie and I have worked together on a weekly basis on exploring and cultivating my voice. The impact of our work together on my healing journey has been profound, and I'm deeply grateful for the safe space Jamie provided for these explorations.Our conversation revolved around Jamie's creative process of writing and recording her latest album The Illusion of Blue in the midst of the pandemic and the resulting closure of performance spaces - which propelled many performing artists to question their roles within society. Jamie and I also discussed tending to the delicate balance of holding the identity as an artist, a mother, and a teacher, working with creatives who are not professional singers on their voices, and the fear of claiming our right to explore our unique physical voices.This conversation means so much to me. Listening back, I was moved by the rapport and trust we've slowly built over time. I'm excited for you to get to know Jamie as an artist and her unique perspectives on her work.Here's Jamie's bio:Drawing comparisons to the likes of Norah Jones and Feist, the sharp-witted singer-songwriter Jamie Leonhart is an artist who is difficult to categorize, dynamic in emotional range and diverse in genre-crossing ability.Jamie Leonhart was born in New York City, the granddaughter of a cantor and the youngest of three musically-curious children.  She began studying the violin at age three and singing soon after.Jamie inhabits a hybrid of popular music that incorporates jazz, indie-pop, and quirky torch song cabaret.  Live, her audience becomes a collective co-conspirator as she intones her confessions, dissatisfactions and desires, supported by arrangements that move from somber to playfully bombastic in a moment. Jamie’s approachable demeanor belies powerhouse vocals and her ability to deliver intricate compositions, which she does with depth and clarity.As a songwriter, Jamie writes about vulnerability, patience, frustration, shifting perspectives and trust.Jamie is employed as both a commercial voiceover artist and vocalist and also works as a background and session singer (Steely Dan and St.Vincent among others) Jamie is a 2015 commissioned NEW YORK VOICES artist of The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, and created ESTUARY: an artist | mother story through this commission. Her second solo record, the illusion of blue, was released in February 2022 .You can find and connect with Jamie via her website, listen to her albums Illusion of Blue and The Truth About Suffering on Apple Music or Spotify.If you're ever curious about exploring how vocal explorations and training can unlock your unique expressions, I highly recommend reaching out to Jamie to see if working together will make sense for you.  Special thanks to Alex Lai for the editing help for this episode. Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

How can witchcraft help us participate in re-enchanting the world? How do we reclaim our strength and power to enable us to listen to the messages from the spirit of the earth? What is the danger in magic?To many in the magical world, my guest in conversation today, Amanda Yates Garcia, needs no introduction. Amanda is the author of Initiated: Memoir of a Witch - one of the most dearly beloved text in the community. Gorgeously written, Amanda's book has accompanied many, myself included, through powerful rites of passages - ones that our overculture and conventional education systems never prepared us for. Amanda is also the host of the incredible podcast Between The Worlds. In our conversation, we dove right into the deep end, discussing Amanda's creative process, what her witchcraft practice means to her, the connection between capitalism and depression, and what it means to re-enchant the world and to re-connect ourselves with the spirit of earth. The depth of Amanda's contemplation and the fullness of Amanda's presence are so deeply inspiring to me, and this whole conversation had me at the edge of my seat. This conversation is a must-listen. It's my deep honor to share this conversation and Amanda's brilliance with you.Here’s Amanda’s bio:Amanda Yates Garcia is a writer, witch, and the Oracle of Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The LA Times, The SF Chronicle, The London Times, CNN, BRAVO, as well as a viral appearance on FOX. She has led rituals, classes and workshops on magic and witchcraft at UCLA, UC Irvine, MOCA Los Angeles, Cal Arts, The Hammer Museum, LACMA, The Getty, Human Resources, MOCA Tucson and many other venues. Amanda hosts monthly moon rituals online, and the Between the Worlds podcast, which looks at the Western Mystery traditions through a mythopoetic lens. Her book, Initiated: Memoir of a Witch, received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus and has been translated into six languages.You can find her:On Instagram: @oracleoflaBuy her book: Initiated: Memoir of a WitchBook an appointment with her: www.oracleoflosangeles.comSubscribe to her newsletter.Listen to her podcast: Between the WorldsJoin me and Britten LaRue in a year-long astrological learning container, Astrology as Praxis! Our curriculum explores various portals to approaching and integrating astrology into our lives - as a practice for unlocking creativity, questioning consensus reality, and remembering our participation in the cosmic body. We begin our journey on Sep 10, 2022, and registration will open on Aug 26-28, 2022. Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

How should we respond to naysayers of astrology? How can astrology help us honor our unique humanity and our interconnectedness as cosmic beings? I'm trying something new! Episodes 26-31 will be me answering some of the most juicy questions I received from my Instagram community. I had so much fun answering these questions, and I hope you'll find something useful from my answers, too. (PS - In the intro to the episode, I mentioned the wrong sequence of the episodes. Oops! Episode 26 will actually cover Lion's Gate, Housing Contract, and Chiron in Cancer. Meanwhile, Episode 31 covers questions on working with naysayers of astrology and the contradiction of astrology.)In this episode, I answered the following questions: [08:12] "How do I deal with the naysayers of astrology? I feel so discouraged."[26:42] "How does one juggle the concept of each individual being completely unique AND categorizable through astrology?"Feel free to jump around within & between episodes to listen to the answers to the questions you're interested in! Use the timestamps to help you out :)If you resonate with my approach to astrology, join me and Britten LaRue in our upcoming year-long astrological learning container, Astrology as Praxis! Our curriculum explores various portals to approaching and integrating astrology into our lives - as a practice for unlocking creativity, questioning consensus reality, and remembering our participation in the cosmic body. We begin our journey on Sep 10, 2022, and registration will open on Aug 26-28, 2022.EXPLORATORY CALLS: If you are interested in exploring whether you will be a good fit for Astrology as Praxis and vice versa, I will be offering a limited number of 1:1 calls! These calls will be 30 mins - and they're geared to serve you in feeling into your own resonance. As someone who's taken a ton of courses in my life as an adult learner, I understand the level of commitment necessary for a 1-year container, and if you're considering this transformative experience, I want you to feel 100% excited and aligned. Schedule your exploratory call here.  Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

How can we expand our ideas of practices and rituals through deeper engagement with astrology? What is Pluto and what's my relationship with Pluto transiting through my 5th house?I'm trying something new! Episodes 26-31 will be me answering some of the most juicy questions I received from my Instagram community. I had so much fun answering these questions, and I hope you'll find something useful from my answers, too. (PS - In the intro to the episode, I mentioned the wrong sequence of the episodes. Oops! Episode 26 will actually cover Lion's Gate, Housing Contract, and Chiron in Cancer. Meanwhile, Episode 31 covers questions on working with naysayers of astrology and the contradiction of astrology.)In this episode, I answered the following questions: [08:13] "What are your daily / weekly astrology practices and rituals?"[29:50] "Can you share reflections and lessons from Pluto transiting your 5th house?"Resources I mentioned: Diana Rose Harper's a primer on planetary prayers, or, how to start praying to the planetsRichard Tarnas's Cosmos and PsycheJeffrey Wolf Green's Pluto Volume 1Feel free to jump around within & between episodes to listen to the answers to the questions you're interested in! Use the timestamps to help you out :)If you resonate with my approach to astrology, join me and Britten LaRue in our upcoming year-long astrological learning container, Astrology as Praxis! Our curriculum explores various portals to approaching and integrating astrology into our lives - as a practice for unlocking creativity, questioning consensus reality, and remembering our participation in the cosmic body. We begin our journey on Sep 10, 2022, and registration will open on Aug 26-28, 2022.EXPLORATORY CALLS: If you are interested in exploring whether you will be a good fit for Astrology as Praxis and vice versa, I will be offering a limited number of 1:1 calls! These calls will be 30 mins - and they're geared to serve you in feeling into your own resonance. As someone who's taken a ton of courses in my life as an adult learner, I understand the level of commitment necessary for a 1-year container, and if you're considering this transformative experience, I want you to feel 100% excited and aligned. Schedule your exploratory call here.  Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.

What's my process in preparing for first-time readings? Where do I most stray from astrological traditions?I'm trying something new! Episodes 26-31 will be me answering some of the most juicy questions I received from my Instagram community. I had so much fun answering these questions, and I hope you'll find something useful from my answers, too. (PS - In the intro to the episode, I mentioned the wrong sequence of the episodes. Oops! Episode 26 will actually cover Lion's Gate, Housing Contract, and Chiron in Cancer. Meanwhile, Episode 31 covers questions on working with naysayers of astrology and the contradiction of astrology.)In this episode, I answered the following questions: [08:12] "What is your current approach to interpreting a natal chart for a new client?"[27:06] "Where do you find yourself most straying from tradition in your astro practice and why?" | "What is a piece of commonly believed astrology wisdom that you strongly disagree with?"Feel free to jump around within & between episodes to listen to the answers to the questions you're interested in! Use the timestamps to help you out :)If you resonate with my approach to astrology, join me and Britten LaRue in our upcoming year-long astrological learning container, Astrology as Praxis! Our curriculum explores various portals to approaching and integrating astrology into our lives - as a practice for unlocking creativity, questioning consensus reality, and remembering our participation in the cosmic body. We begin our journey on Sep 10, 2022, and registration will open on Aug 26-28, 2022.EXPLORATORY CALLS: If you are interested in exploring whether you will be a good fit for Astrology as Praxis and vice versa, I will be offering a limited number of 1:1 calls! These calls will be 30 mins - and they're geared to serve you in feeling into your own resonance. As someone who's taken a ton of courses in my life as an adult learner, I understand the level of commitment necessary for a 1-year container, and if you're considering this transformative experience, I want you to feel 100% excited and aligned. Schedule your exploratory call here.  Sign up for my newsletter to read my essays and be the first to hear about new offerings here.If you've enjoyed and benefited from the podcast, I invite you to apply for private mentorship and coaching with me. This is an intensive container, designed to support you in refining your self-leadership skills, moving through important life thresholds with grace, and expanding your capacity for creative expansions.Try the incredible breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free using this special link. This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jonathan Koe. Theme music is also composed by me! Connect with me through my newsletter, my Instagram @jonathankoeofficial, and my music. For podcast-related inquiries, email me at healingthespiritpodcast@gmail.com.