Mind Witchery

Ever felt like you're going through a growth spurt, but for your soul? You might feel tired all the time, hungry for more in life, and even a bit awkward. Whether initiated by ourselves or by the events in our lives, our personal growth spurt challenges us to shed old identities and embrace new possibilities. It urges us to invest in what truly aligns with our evolving selves. We can see ourselves through these changes with extra care, understanding, and nourishment. Mentioned: The scene from Dirty Dancing https://youtu.be/GIphXCg3CyE?si=9CJ1t2oGSQ30Q1Cw Make Magic: Embrace your personal growth spurt with compassion and curiosity. Recognize the signs, prioritize self-care, and invest in what resonates with your evolving self to navigate this transformative period with grace, love, and intention.

The most empowered doings come from the place where we feel most integrated. And while society prioritizes productivity and doings above all else, I believe our sense of being is just as important. When we take time to honor our needs, we attune to our most aligned selves for our most potent doings. Mentioned: Time Witchery is a great way to integrate a whole self honoring practice into your day. This anti-planner comes with an audio course and invitations to group gatherings. Our next gathering is the upcoming Spring Equinox on March 19, 2024. Get your anti-planner and join us. https://timewitchery.com/ Witchy Business is my weekly group coaching container for established entrepreneurs moving their lives and businesses in a whole-self-honoring direction. Get support around evolving your marketing and offers while also cultivating the courage and openness to do business in a more countercultural and sustainable way. Make Magic: To nourish our most aligned, potent actions, embrace the countercultural practice of pausing human doing to honor human being. Trust that whole-self honoring will lead to more evolutionary actions and a more integrous way of living.

I'm excited to welcome Ashley Trabue — artist and stellar human all around — for a soul-nourishing conversation about the transformative power of embracing our body through art. We journey from self-criticism to self-appreciation to reclaim our own narrative. Get ready for a delightful blend of wisdom, humor, and raw authenticity that will leave you inspired and ready to embrace your own luminosity. Mentioned: Ashley Trabue is a queer, multi-disciplinary artist and educator. You can find their work here, on IG @ashleytrabue, and at Luminous In Taos as our guest retreat co-host where you can become a work of art. Join Natalie Miller and Ashley Trabue for a week of soulful exploration and connection at this summer’s Luminous In Taos in New Mexico. Embrace your luminosity and reclaim your narrative – it's time to shine! Make Magic: Through artist self-appreciation, we can experience a profound personal transformation, a shift in our self-perception, and foster healing and connection to our inherent beauty.

Cultural norms encourage us to diminish our light, to hide it, and filter it into its most benign form. But like a diamond, we are sparkly and multi-faceted contributing to our luminosity. We shine most brightly when we own and love and show all of the different parts of ourselves. This spell will help you nurture and embrace all facets of yourself for deeper levels of fulfillment and authenticity. Mentioned: No Bad Parts book: https://ifs-institute.com/nobadparts Walt Whitman, Song of Myself: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version SoulCollage: https://soulcollage.com/about/soulcollage-method/ Ani DiFranco Overlap: https://anidifranco.bandcamp.com/track/overlap-7 Reconnect with, and feed, and reveal your inner glow at this summer’s Luminous In Taos https://www.nataliekmiller.com/lit Get coaching, mentorship, and community for Sorcerous Entrepreneurs in Witchy Business https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g7cJjP6HvZe4YHRTQEhzGbIqDVhjv0j6rZ1xBqDjXCY/edit?usp=sharing Make Magic: To reconnect to your luminous glow, step into your wholeness by exploring the different aspects of yourself and embracing your contradictions. Support your journey of self-discovery and empowerment through intentional communities and experiences. Shine brightly as you honor and express all facets of your beautiful, complex self.

Feminist Leadership Coach and Mentor, Elijah Selby, joins me in a candid conversation on navigating the complexities of the coaching and marketing world. Through collaboration, trust, and shared responsibility, we can break free from conventional coaching and marketing norms that rely on the matrix of control, manipulation, and fear. Our collective growth and empowerment depends on meaningful transformation where vulnerability, curiosity, and mutual respect thrive. Mentioned: Elijah Shannon Selby is a Feminist Leadership Coach and Mentor and the host of Business as Activism Podcast. She works with people who want to make a difference in the world and understand that when they dismantle internalized paradigms of oppression, they are impacting external paradigms of oppression. You can find her on IG @elijahshannonselby or work with her one on one to disrupt the way you do business. Adrienne Maree Brown Emergent Strategy: https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/emergent-strategy/ Make Magic: To reshape the coaching and marketing world (and the world around us), we must unplug from the matrix. Empower yourself to discern authenticity and integrity. Challenge conventional narratives. And, embody your values to foster genuine, authentic connections.

Contrary to popular belief, being in the process of figuring things out yourself can make you an even more effective teacher or coach. Many assume that teaching implies mastery, but often it's those still navigating challenges who offer the most valuable insights. And by embracing your ongoing journey of growth, you gain a deeper understanding, connect more authentically with others, and continuously innovate. Mentioned: Emily Nagoski, Ph.D., author of Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life https://www.emilynagoski.com/ Make Magic: Embrace your journey of growth and share it authentically with others. By teaching what you're still learning, you not only deepen your understanding but also foster meaningful connections and inspire continuous evolution.

As creative humans—entrepreneurs and leaders alike—we find ourselves coming around to the pressures of productivity again and again. The more you progress in your career and express your talent, the more challenges you may encounter. I hope today’s episode expands your thinking again and reminds you to embrace self-care, honor your creative instincts, and model a holistic approach to productivity for a more fulfilling and sustainable way of being. Make Magic: To honor our own creative journey and contribute to a sustainable, respectful way of being in this world, we must prioritize activities that nourish our creativity and well-being, trusting that productivity thrives in an environment of self-care and natural rhythms.

As growth-oriented individuals, you're here to heal, usher in better, and, just like plants need fertilizer and light, you need more support, time, space, rest, connection, and pleasure. Embrace the idea that growth demands receiving more than giving, fostering a net gain in energy. It's time to let yourself need more. Mentioned: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, by Amelia and Emily Nagoski https://www.burnoutbook.net/ Bestselling author and podcaster Gretchen Rubin: https://gretchenrubin.com/ Make Magic: Allow yourself to need more. Take a moment to reflect on what you're craving—whether it's rest, connection, or support—and actively open up to receiving it.

As we usher in this new year, I want to explore trust. It's a silent power—like the glowing embers of a fire. And it's cultivated through action and experience. Each experience, whether successful or challenging, contributes to the embers of trust. May this spell light a spark in you, inspire you to embrace experiences, and take steps, no matter how small, towards building the trust that sustains you and propels your growth. Mentioned: Episode 139: A Spell for Making a Big Change https://www.nataliekmiller.com/mindwitchery/139 Make Magic: Believing in our ability to grow through experiences, trusting in resilience, and embracing change incrementally are the sparks that feed our trust embers.

Real talk. Letting things be easy is actually incredibly hard. Patriarchy, hustle culture, late stage capitalism. All of these dominating systems benefit when we act as though hard work and sacrifice are the only ways we can prosper in the world. Here’s a spell to help you build more ease into your life, and to remind you how much you deserve it. Mentioned: timewitchery.com/planner, where you can get a Time Witchery anti-planner to help you be intentional about cultivating ease. Make Magic: In order to let things be easy for yourself, you have to remind yourself of two things. First, that ease is possible. And second, allowing yourself ease enables your generosity.

Brains are amazing things, and one of their most fascinating features is the way their two halves process and evaluate the things we experience. Left brain plans and analyzes, it develops systems and structures, while right brain attunes to its surroundings and experiences the here and now without trying to impose order on it. They’re both vital to our experience of the world. And yet. One of these approaches is very much favored and encouraged by our dominating culture. Let’s talk about why we need right brain magic, and how to nurture its influence in our lives. Mentioned: timewitchery.com/planner, where you can get a Time Witchery anti-planner to help you invoke your right brain magic. The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World https://channelmcgilchrist.com/master-and-his-emissary/ Make Magic: Right brain magic is nurtured and supported when you find ways to help yourself focus on presence over planning, and responsiveness over pre-determination.

Creativity is hard AF, and sharing it with the world can be terrifying. That’s just one reason why I’m so in awe of my guest this week, Dr. Giavanni Washington. She had the passion and persistence to develop a stunning oracle deck that honors African Goddesses with photography of amazing black women. She’s here to talk about why she felt required to birth this project into the world, and how she sustained the belief in herself that was necessary to make it a reality. Mentioned: Dr. Giavanni Washington is the creator of the Black Goddess Within Oracle Deck, which is available to pre-order at https://www.drgiavanniwashington.com/deck. She is also an intuitive healer, mother, speaker, and spiritual guide. She holds a doctorate from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and was recently selected for the California Creative Creative Corps Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship by the California Arts Council. The African Goddess Rising Oracle card deck by Abiola Abrams https://womanifesting.com/goddess-oracle-cards/ Make Magic: So much of cultivating the courage to create is about honoring yourself and your vision. Allowing yourself to feel the desire for things that mainstream culture tells you aren’t appealing, and investing the time and energy that you and your creations truly deserve.

Creating a new thing can be pretty messy. Learning how to do something requires us to start by screwing up, making mistakes, and being kind of bad at it. If you’ve developed an attachment to succeeding, planning to be less than great at anything can sound like a nightmare. Here’s a spell to help you embrace the glorious imperfection of making something new. Mentioned: timewitchery.com/planner, where you can get a Time Witchery anti-planner to help you keep track of your experiments. Make Magic: To keep your perfectionism from overwhelming your creative impulse, don’t think about it as doing a thing (which means doing it superbly). Instead, try imagining yourself as a scientist, and whatever endeavor you’re embarking on as a creative laboratory, where success is all about gathering information and learning by doing.

It has been a minute since I recorded a new spell, but the break did exactly what I hoped it would. It allowed my creative brain to rest and recharge, and now it’s ready to share with you once more. This spell will help you take the big idea you have in your head and turn it, bit by bit, into real, sustainable, effective change. Mentioned: The Sunday Letter in which I discuss the decision to break my streak of publishing Mind Witchery episodes: https://view.flodesk.com/emails/65429f1de484ef9e19790990 timewitchery.com/planner, where you can get a Time Witchery anti-planner to help you revolutionize your definition of success. Make Magic: Big changes happen tiny step by tiny step. Whenever change is impeded, it’s ALWAYS because the step you think you need to make is Just. Too. Big.

My love, I have for you today the most inspiring, powerful conjuring. Bernardine Watson is a poet, writer, and author of an award-winning memoir. She is a force of nature. She is glamorous. She is grounded. I just pinch myself to tell you that Dine is also a friend of mine. I asked Dine if she'd be willing to talk about what I think she does so well, which is conjuring the fullest self-expression. I hope you find this conversation as inspiring and motivating as I did. Mentioned: Bernardine (Dine) Watson is a nonfiction writer and poet who lives in Washington. Her memoir Transplant won the 2023 Washington Writers’ Publishing House prize for nonfiction. Dine was selected by Poets and Writers as one of their “5 over 50” for 2023 and will be featured in the magazine’s November/December issue. My Build Your Trust (in) Funds group coaching starts TONIGHT! https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qdOCopjkiGdEgQpyeLRQwvQwunriaDCHc Make Magic: If you are not your whole full self, the world will not know you, and you will not know yourself. It’s time to start treating yourself like the main character in your own story. Like you are the most important person in the world.

I chose to rekindle this spell because it felt appropriate for the uncomfortable, uncertain times we find ourselves in. Clear, deep, whole self-honoring boundaries are challenging to build and to hold. I hope this spell helps you to create and fortify some boundaries, and to protect your peace and integrity. Mentioned: The very insightful book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, by Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA Make Magic: Self-honoring boundaries have clearly defined terms and consequences, and they’re enforced when the boundary is crossed. When you draw and hold these boundaries for yourself, you’re setting an example for all of us who aren’t sure we deserve to have our integrity respected.

This week I’m resharing an episode that I truly believe will help you make the most of your one wild and precious life. Paying attention to the values underneath our choices (our own values, the values of our dominating culture, and all the ways in which those values conflict) is so valuable when we’re trying to understand why we make decisions that don’t feel right. Mentioned: Mind Witchery Ep. 135 - Conjuring Integrity feat. Emma Gannon timewitchery.com/planner, where you can get a Time Witchery anti-planner to help you focus on the moments that wake you up. The fantastic, insightful book Values in Therapy, by Jenna LeJeune and Jason B. Luoma. Make Magic: If you feel that you’re falling short of a standard, or that you’re doing shit you do not want to do in order to meet a standard, the problem is not you. The problem is a mismatch between the values you cherish and the values you’ve been conditioned to prioritize. Look at your life, and ask yourself: “What values am I living as I move through the world, and are they truly my own?”

When I read The Success Myth by bestselling author Emma Gannon, I knew she really got what integrity was all about. It sounds wonderful. But, like most things that serve our whole selves, it’s Really. Fucking. Hard. It’s a lifelong practice that’s constantly evolving, with tons of ups and down, victories and setbacks. Emma Gannon joins us to talk about her relationship with integrity, and how putting her values first has changed her life. Mentioned: Emma Gannon is a Sunday Times bestselling non-fiction author and award-winning novelist. Her most recent book, The Success Myth, was chosen as a “best book of the month” by Apple. She runs the popular newsletter The Hyphen on Substack at http://thehyphen.substack.com, and she’s on Instagram @emmagannonuk. No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model, by Dr. Richard Schwartz Make Magic: Living in integrity isn’t a straight line. It’s a living process. It expands and contracts, ebbs and flows, grows and sheds. It requires us to embrace all the parts of ourselves, and listen closely to the messages they're sending us.

While I nurture and care for my creative spark, I’m resharing episodes that just might be right on time for you. This week’s spell was originally prompted by a listener, who was struggling to be generous with herself when her perfectionist tendencies were urging her to Do More, Better, Faster, Now. How can she (and we) we honor our very high standards in a way that doesn’t become self-punishing? Mentioned: If you haven’t already, click on over to nataliekmiller.com and sign up for my Sunday Letter! It’s full of magic just for you. While you’re there, visit nataliekmiller.com/contact and let me know what spells would add sparkle to your life. Make Magic: Your inner perfectionist is a part of you, and she deserves love and engagement. If you send her on the right missions and gently orient her away from worrying about other people’s standards, you can work with her in an incredibly constructive way.

This week I’m continuing my creative adjustment, giving myself time to let my brain and heart rest and recharge. I’m resharing an episode of Mind Witchery all about replenishing the self. If you’re out here with big dreams and a big heart in the not-so-golden Age of Burnout, this is the spell for you. Press play to learn all about Treats: what they are, when to use them, and how they will completely charm your life. Mentioned: Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin Subscribe to the Mind Witchery Sunday Letter, for sparks of inspiration in your Inbox each weekend. Make Magic: Create a Treats Menu - a whole bunch of ways large and small you can love on yourself. Notice how your days go when you practice Treats as fuel. What happens to your mood? Your to-do list? Remember: Treats Practice is likely going to unearth limiting beliefs. Get curious about how else they might be messing with you, and use Treats Practice to gently challenge them.