Grief Magic: Rituals, Tarot & Gentle Conversations about Loss

I loved the chance to talk to Alexis Cunningfolk again - we did an interview back in 2019 for episode #82 (in the before times!) and now got to catch up about their new book and expansive, beautiful and inspiring magic. Here is some of what we covered:Building a collective library of plants, magic & spellsEconomic justice & supporting access to community education Slowing down and setting a place for grief at the tableBuilding sustainable and magical creative practicesAlexis J. Cunningfolk is creating plant-led spaces of healing because none of us are meant to do this work alone. Practicing as an intersectional herbalist for over fifteen years and as a witch for nearly three decades, her work has led her around the country, presenting at various magickal, herbal, and academic conferences, as well as facilitating rituals for groups ranging from a handful of folks to hundreds. Alexis focuses on evidence-based and embodied plant healing while drawing on her experiences as a lesbian, a woman of mixed ancestry, and a third culture kid to create practices that help folks re-enchant their world and call themselves back home to their bodies. In addition to working with plants, she has been reading tarot since she was twelve, teaching since she was nineteen, and sneaking off to places in-between since she could walk. Alexis offers much of her work for free or low-cost, wild seeding wisdom as an act of gratitude and a spell of collective liberation.Find her work at www.wortsandcunning.com.Join my virtual winter solstice tarot retreat over here: https://glimmerportal.com/tarot-for-grief-winter-solstice-retreat/Thank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

I am so honoured to share a beautiful conversation with Gabriela de Golia, who was also on episode #158. This time, we had a chance to go deeper and check back in on how the last few years have shaped us. Here is some of what we talked about:Discerning our unique relationship with the divineGrief and mortality as a gateway to understanding the mysteryThe politics of spiritual careRitual practice for tending, resilience and resistanceGabriela De Golia is the amalgamation of many beings, experiences, and possibilities. Weaving from a wide range of ancestral, spiritual, intellectual, political, and creative lineages, she serves as a spiritual care provider, ritualist, artist, writer, and a devotee of the mystery from which all things emerge and to which all things return. They support people in accessing the holy depths within and beyond us, to help co-create a world where all beings can be truly and deeply free.https://gabrieladegolia.com/Join us for weekly sessions here: https://glimmerportal.com/blessings/Receive a grief blessings tarot reading: https://glimmerportal.com/grief-blessings/Thank you so much for listening!

I am falling back in love with the tarot at the moment, as is custom each fall, and wanted to share some ideas and inspiration. These practices are sweet and simple to easily fit into your life and hopefully bring you some comfort and insight as we go deeper into the cozy season. Here are the spreads I mentioned:Daily CardsDrawing Closer - intentionally choosing a card and then drawing cards to explore what to release or invite in order to bring more of this energy in Past, Present, Future on specific areas of lifeA relationship spread: 1. How to stay grounded in my centre? 2. What do I have to offer? 3. What do I really want? 4. What might come up?The deck I told you about is the Nova Witch deck by Suki Ferguson and Ana Novaes and the two books I mentioned are She is Sitting in the Night by Oliver Pickle and All of our Stories by Beth Maiden. If you'd like space to practice, come join us for weekly Fall Blessing sessions: https://glimmerportal.com/blessings/or request a reading here: https://glimmerportal.com/grief-blessings/Thank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

Welcome to October! This is a beautiful interview with Charlene Lam, a creative and thoughtful voice whose work weaves together storytelling, curation, and deep personal reflection.Charlene speaks with honesty about the sudden loss of her mother and the early days of navigating grief and shock. We talk about how she approached the emotionally complex process of going through her mom’s belongings, and how her background as a creator shaped the way she honoured her mother’s memory. She offers practical, meaningful tools that can help anyone who is navigating grief to move forward with more ease and gentleness. Charlene Lam is a certified grief coach, TEDx speaker and the founder of The Grief Gallery. After her mother died suddenly in 2013, Charlene leaned into her creativity and instincts as a curator to guide herself through grief. Her Curating Grief® framework is a creative, accessible way grievers can navigate dealing with the physical stuff and the emotional stuff. Her first book, Curating Grief: A Creative Guide to Choosing What to Keep After a Loved One Dies, is out now. Website www.charlenelam.comLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/charclam/Instagram ​​https://www.instagram.com/curating_griefYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@thegriefgalleryJoin Fall Blessings: https://glimmerportal.com/blessings/Get on the waitlist for ROOTED: https://pinkwellstudio.com/rooted/

Friends, I am so happy to share this beautiful conversation with Uma Girish with you. We talked about loss as a portal, honouring all kinds of grief, letting relationships evolve and transform and finding ourselves in a steady and loving way in the process. Uma Girish is a Grief Companion for women who feel lost as they’re grieving a loss. She serves as a loving witness and companions them on their journey so they can feel seen, heard, and supported as they heal.Her Substack publication is called “Light After Loss.”Uma is also the author of four books, the latest being “Sacred Fire: Memoir of A Marriage” which speaks to the grief in a long-term partnership when two people who love and respect each other deeply choose to walk different soul paths.You can learn more about Uma and her work at https://umagirish.comJoin us for Fall Blessings sessions here: https://glimmerportal.com/blessings/Thank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

This episode is an invitation to join me for supportive, affordable sessions every Monday this fall. We continue on from the summer blessings series, every Monday from 7-8pm UK time, with gentle space to write, make art, do rituals or dream. No pressure, come as you are and use the code FRIENDS to join for free if you can't afford the normal price of 60 GBP. Sign up here: https://glimmerportal.com/blessings/and join the branding & canva fundraiser workshop over here: https://pinkwellstudio.com/fundraiser-workshops/Love,Yarrow

What happens to the poetry, the paintings, the sketches and songs of our loved ones when they pass? In this beautiful conversation with Sarah Sawyer we talked about her friend and award-winning poet, Andrea Werblin Reid, who left us a stunning collections of poems called To See Yourself As You Vanish. It gave me so much precious food for thought about final wishes, the things we leave behind and what we can do for those we love as we say goodbye. In the last 3 years of her life, Andi 150 fierce, frank, witty poems on living with ovarian cancer and end of life. Before she died she asked a group of friends to do what we could to get it into the world. Sarah Sawyer is of those friends and is thrilled to share that this, her 3rd and strongest book yet--To See Yourself As You Vanish--is being represented by Rob McQuilken and will be published by Wesleyan Press September 9th. The book: https://www.weslpress.org/9780819502070/to-see-yourself-as-you-vanish/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrea_werblin_reid_poetry/ Sarah Sawyer is a writer and a chaplain specializing in psychedelics and end of life. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and is proud to be helping to shepherd Andi's work to publication. Sarah's work: https://www.sarahksawyer.com/ You can join Fall Blessings over here: https://glimmerportal.com/blessings/Thank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

Last week was the first anniversary of my mum's passing, so I wanted to share an episode on what surprised me, what I needed, how I changed and what we did to mark the day. I hope this episode will offer you some space to reflect on your own grief and feel less alone in the process <3If you have a question, you can send me a voice note here: https://speakpipe.com/yarrowmMuch love,Yarrow

This is a little waffle about who I used to be when I was younger and what it was like to slowly but surely slow down to honour my health and be honest about who I actually am (not a super charged over achiever). I hope it helps you make space for your own grief around abilities, health and past versions of self. You can join my free monthly Spark sessions via Substack: https://yarrow.substack.com/This is the sign up for Summer Blessings, which starts tomorrow: https://glimmerportal.com/summer-blessings/And this is the sign up for my next fundraiser workshop on July 17th: https://pinkwellstudio.com/money-workshop/Thank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

I have two invitations for you:1. Please join me for a fundraiser workshop on money, shame & pricing: ⁠https://pinkwellstudio.com/money-workshop/⁠2. Come make weird & beautiful art with me in weekly creative sessions every Monday in July & August. Come as you are, work on your own project and enjoy gentle togetherness. GBP 40, no one turned away for lack of funds: ⁠https://glimmerportal.com/summer-blessings/⁠Hopefully see you soon!Love,Yarrow

In this episode I am sharing a few ideas to help us remember loved ones we have lost. It was my mum's birthday last week, so this is fresh on my mind and I hope that some of these ideas will feel sweet for you to try. If you'd like to send me a question, you can do so here: https://speakpipe.com/yarrowmHere is the sign up to the fundraiser workshop on money, pricing & shame: https://pinkwellstudio.com/money-workshop/and here is more info about grief companionship: https://glimmerportal.com/companionship/Thank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

Firstly, thank you so much for the warm reception, support and encouragement for this new podcast chapter and business adventure. I appreciate all the feedback and reviews so much! In today's episode I am offering five ways to connect in grief, organised in an introvert-friendly way by amount of social energy required. Here is the link to send me a voice note question: https://www.speakpipe.com/yarrowmHere is my Substack (which includes free monthly Spark sessions): https://yarrow.substack.com/and here is the link to my new Grief Glimmers course, on pre-sale until June 11th: https://glimmerportal.com/courses/The books I mentioned were The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Frances Weller and Bright Hour by Nina RiggsThank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

This episode is a reflection on how grief moves through the body with a guided meditation practice at the end. All you need is a quiet space to sit or lie down. Enjoy!More episodes are over here: https://glimmerportal.com/and you can send me a question over here: speakpipe.com/yarrowmThank you for listening!Love,Yarrow

I'm so happy to share my first interview in this new podcast chapter with you! I spoke to the wonderful Lynn of Full Circle of Love, who has also been touched by grief and shared lots of her insights & magic. Here is some of what we talked about: Navigating the depth of grief & letting it change us Building community in which we can fully be ourselves Slow stitching and art practices that gently slow us downBeing sensitive and living a creative, resilient & connected life Lynn Salmon-Easter is a Reiki practitioner and artist living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA. Lynn finds deep purpose in guiding individuals home to their heart and body using energy work and art making. She finds slow stitching to be magical in bringing mindfulness and awareness alive through its practice, and she vows to bring this experience to life for others through her artwork and classes. Lynn has trained in the Usui lineage with David Kaley of Minnesota. Her website: https://www.fullcircleoflove.cominstagram: @fullcircleofloveFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullcircleofloveRest advocate Octavia Raheem mentioned in the episode: https://www.octaviaraheem.com/And her books: Pause, Rest, Be https://www.pauserestbe.com/Rest Is Sacred https://www.octaviaraheem.com/rest-is-sacred Thanks so much for listening!Love,Yarrow

Today is the new moon in Taurus, international grieving in public day and time to launch a new chapter on the podcast. This space is called Grief Glimmers now and I have a whole new website over at GlimmerPortal.com that you can check out. In this episode I am re-introducing myself, telling you more about how this project came to be and what to expect. You can send me a question over here: https://speakpipe.com/yarrowmand join my Substack & Spark sessions over here: https://yarrow.substack.com/Grief Companionship: https://glimmerportal.com/companionship/Grief Glimmers course: https://glimmerportal.com/courses/Custom grief quilts: https://glimmerportal.com/custom-grief-quilts/Thank you so much for listening!Love,Yarrow

I am finally back with an interview for you! This was a real balm to my sore heart -  lots of textile explorations, community arts magic and just true delight with Cordy of Transmissions Quilts. Tune in for encouragement, giggles and a gentle restoration of faith in humanity. Cordy says - I am a white trans quilter living in the East Bay. Alongside my quilts, I work as an arts educator and childcare worker primarily with trans teens and queer families. I hope to exist in a lineage that sees quilts as radical objects that not only represent our collective hunger for freedom but also, through making them, allow us to take active steps towards that freedom. I come from a bloodline that has largely forgotten its creativity and I am interested in resuscitating that, starting in myself. I’m trying to move slower and talk less. One current poetic guide is Chessy Normile.https://transquilts.net/https://www.instagram.com/coanofsilence/

Welcome back, I'm still here and still grieving, thank you for joining me in this weird and wonderful process. For this episode I had a beautiful listener question about finding balance and seeking simplicity when you're also kind of a maximalist in some areas of your life. You can send me a question over here: https://www.speakpipe.com/YarrowMAnd you can join my Substack and Spark sessions over here: https://yarrow.substack.com/Love,Yarrow

I received a really good question about how creativity can heal or harm from a listener and am answering the best I can! I talk about how being creative makes me feel, key creative experiences and also ways in which structural problems show up in creative practice. I would love to hear from you if you have a question for me too: https://www.speakpipe.com/YarrowMand you can join my Substack and Spark Sessions over here: https://yarrow.substack.com/Love,Yarrow

In this episode I am talking about craving even more simplicity in my life, decluttering really hard and planning for a low buy year. I pulled everything out of my wardrobe again, sold a whole bunch and made a few well considered purchases. I feel peaceful in my commitment to buy very little next year and really hopeful to grow as a maker and learn more about why I buy for comfort and how I might shift that. You can join my Substack and the free Spark sessions over here: https://yarrow.substack.com/Love,Yarrow

In this episode I am catching up with you, fellow grievers or curious podcast listeners, about entering a new phase of grief, preparing for the holidays and imagining a new kind of future. I hope that it makes you feel gotten, even if not everyone gets it. You're welcome to join our Spark sessions here: https://yarrow.substack.com/Love,Yarrow