The Aether

Dear The Aether listeners, I’ll be pausing weekly broadcasts to bank episodes, line up some exciting new guests, and build the foundation of the show more intentionally, subrosa & under the cover of winter. The Aether returns in conjunction with the Wheel, just before the Spring Equinox on Thursday, March 19, with all-new episodes, bonus content, elevated production, and a host who has properly recalibrated after a season of major personal & psychic transformation. In the meantime, I’ll be focused on expansion, outreach, social media, short-form content, and sharing more of my history, my lore, and my day-to-day process with all of you. IMPORTANT: The Aether is still actively looking for stories and guests for the 2026 season. If you’ve had paranormal, psychic, unexplained, or anomalous experiences—or if you’re a practitioner or experiencer with a unique story—I would love to hear from you. You can reach me directly at nick@theaetherpod.com, or leave a message on our listener line, The Void, which remains open at 323-332-1190. Thank you so much for listening, and for joining me in The Aether, brought to you, as always, by SpectreVision Radio. I’ll see you here March 19 on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the SpectreVision YouTube channel, and wherever you get your podcasts. Socials: Instagram.com/nick.thegirl | Tiktok.com/nick.thegirl Instagram.com/aetherpod | Tiktok.com/aetherpod Patreon.com/theaetherpod SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🥂✨ Happy New Year to all The Aether listeners & thank you for an incredible 2025 January 1 marks a turning point In this episode, I reflect on the movement from the inward work of the Hermit year into the embodied sovereignty of the Magician. We began with Ep. 0 | The Spirit of Aether: zero, breath, potential held. We leapt with The Fool’s energy & moved through silence, incubation, and the slow organization of will. An initiatory episode for a new season: The year of The Magician, granting us agency, as the tools are now laid out before us.  🗡️🪙🍷🪄 The Aether: giving form to the formless Episode Art by Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While this week's episode uploads, here's the full video of my Testimonial from my Psychic & Mediumship confirmation event. Happy New Year | 1/1/1 | The Year of The Magician ✨ nissaretreats.com SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Content warning: This episode includes discussion of depression and suicide. Please take care while listening, and give yourself some extra grace this holiday season. In this episode, I mark a significant chapter of The Aether. Punta Monterrey, Mexico | November 4, 2025 My most potent & undeniable psychic confirmation event. Included is my emotional, real-time testimonial as I reflect on the three-week pause which allowed me sufficient time for real processing and somatic integration following such a jarring & life altering experience. I speak candidly about moving through a dark, extended period of depression, attachment, unresolved grief, and the quieter aftereffects of this mediumistic work, even when supplemented by daily ritual. At the center of the episode is a recorded conversation with the woman I was paired with during the exercise that became this confirmation event. The Aether: giving form to the formless. Episode Art By Lex Lee Mental Health Support: 988lifeline.org befrienders.org My Ketamine Therapy Program: 5-sessions: https://checkout.betterucare.com/introduction 9-sessions: https://checkout.betterucare.com/2141 Use Code NICK50 at checkout for $50 off your first treatment after the necessary intake process. Want to Travel with me in 2026? Start here: https://trovatrip.com/trip/survey?hostId=66c980e6a6d47b6b62b14591&host=Nicole+Johnstone&listId=66c980e6a6d47b6b62b145a2 Join us LIVE on Christmas Day! (Info TBD) SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professional witch, psychic medium, and founder of Olde Ways, Michael Cardenas joins me for a candid conversation. We talk about the defining childhood moments that revealed his gifts, the ways ancestry, lineage, and brujería shape his work, and what it means to grow a genuine magical practice with integrity over time. We explore the challenges that come with awakening, and how spirit communication stabilizes as your senses sharpen. Michael shares the intricacies of his custom spellwork and group services, and the potency of his namesake, Archangel Michael. It’s a grounded, free-flowing exchange: two practitioners comparing notes on magic, life, and the lifelong arc of becoming. One of my favorite episodes yet. The Aether: giving form to the formless. More of Michael's work: linktr.ee/oldeways Episode Art by Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solo Episode. A recalibration. Episode Art By: Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychic medium Heidi Jaffe joins The Aether to share the story behind her work and the evolution of her retreats in psychic and mediumship development. In this conversation, we explore her transition from working one-on-one with clients to leading immersive group experiences designed to help others awaken, refine, and trust their own intuitive abilities. Heidi opens up about the nature of psychic perception, the process of attunement, and what it means to hold space for deep transformation. This episode sets the stage for Part 2—host Nicole’s personal integration and firsthand account of Heidi’s mediumship retreat in Mexico. If you’re drawn to topics like psychic development, energy healing, intuition, grief as initiation, or the modern mystic path, this episode offers grounded insight into the real-world practice behind intuitive mastery. Part 2 Recounting my profound experience & my own confirmation event drops next week. Heidi's work: nissaretreats.com SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and researcher Mike Clelland returns to The Aether to share with me the story of his “confirmation event,” a night sleeping out under the desert stars that set in motion a phenomenal chain of deeply anomalous experiences, marking the moments when his life changed forever. This is a multi-layered account that left me fascinated. What begins in quiet awe, with what could be UFO contact and a psychic flash of a map marked by three precise points, unfolds into a pattern of synchronicities, each later aligning with a distinct, reality-altering event. The map, the owls (of course), a foreign stranger turned friend who would not only bear witness but share with Mike an unforgettable experience, a set of hypnotic regression sessions, and the unseen intelligence weaving through it all converge here in one of the most extraordinary accounts of synchronicity, alien intelligence, and modern high strangeness I’ve encountered. Someone asked me what has changed in my life after all my research and writing. I thought for a moment and said, "I now live in a magical universe." -Mike Clelland More of Mike's work: https://mikeclelland.com Hidden Experience Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/389xS095h0og3tr80pst7c The Messengers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733980814 The Unseen (Novel): https://www.amazon.com/Unseen-Mike-Clelland/dp/B0C5G9NGWZ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this deep dive episode of The Aether, author, illustrator, and researcher Mike Clelland joins Nicole to explore the enduring mystery of owls, synchronicity, and UFO contact experiences. Drawing from his influential book The Messengers, the conversation moves through questions of symbolism, archetype, memory, and transformation, as well as Nick’s own encounters—owl sightings, hypnagogic visions, and strange timing that blurs the line between coincidence and communication. It’s a deep, expansive exchange on how meaning forms in the margins of the unexplained—and what happens when myth, psyche, and the paranormal overlap. Topics: owls, synchronicity, UFOs, contact phenomena, archetypes, dream states, screen memories, death symbolism, spiritual transformation Guest: Mike Clelland — author of The Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity, and the UFO Abductee Part Two drops October 30th More of Mike's work: https://mikeclelland.com Hidden Experience Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/389xS095h0og3tr80pst7c The Messengers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733980814 The Unseen (Novel): https://www.amazon.com/Unseen-Mike-Clelland/dp/B0C5G9NGWZ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this follow-up conversation, filmmaker Ivan Nevesenko returns to The Aether to discuss the evolution of his upcoming feature film, inspired by the mythic descent into the underworld.  Together we discuss art as an alchemical process, what it means to choose the descent consciously, to hold faith in the process of becoming, and to move forward through the unknown with trust. More of Ivan's work: katascopefilms.com Episode Art by Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Aether, I sit down with The Death Alchemist, a death doula who works as a transitional usher between our world and the departed. Adriana enlightens us about her Indigenous Chicana ancestry and provides a humble introduction to one of her most personal and reverential guides: Santa Muerte. Her work invites us to consider continuity — how ritual restores coherence to what grief can fracture. Through her story, we learn to tend to life’s endings and refine the unseen art of returning the soul to wholeness. The Aether: giving form to the formless. Episode art by Lex Lee Connect with The Death Alchemist: https://tidycal.com/thedeathalchemist?fbclid=PAVERFWANUPMNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABp2Z0mH0iNesO33Ac6xY3c-MlsZzshD4Xflk9pNAE1ALr3JZjXvDQAtrFrdvO_aem_KTKg-urTiq8I7_ivnFV00Q https://tidycal.com/thedeathalchemist/reimagining-relational-grief-workshop-ritual?fbclid=PARlRTSANUPQpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABp4MMGISmQeSF5xALe2bJW42-JLo5RFcGQWCqpcUioEDTVai5AtYffAK5eQ0h_aem_vnIQid7aoi6l7S5pkJggrQ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ho6I7pBjmhlMLR14TYGiG?si=dA8Bd9j1RhuXVkLZoEA2eQ SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Aether, I sit down with psychic practitioner Madison Lang (@liminalpsychic) to explore the mechanics of subtle perception. We discuss clairsentience, psychic anatomy, and how focused energy work can deepen our awareness of unseen dimensions. Madison shares how their training at the Boulder Psychic Institute helped them move from overwhelm into discernment and clarity, and why treating psychic sensitivity as a system rather than an abstraction transforms it into a tool for healing and integration. This conversation is for anyone interested in psychic development, intuitive healing, subtle body work, or the intersection of spirituality and nervous system regulation. Welcome to The Aether: giving form to the formless. More of Madison's work: liminalpsychic.com Boulder Psychic Institute boulderpsychicinstitute.com Episode Art by Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this deep-dive episode of The Aether, nick welcomes Jo’el Adifon, a spiritual practitioner with Beninese heritage whose unique work bridges spirit work, animism, and mediumship. Born in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, Jo’el’s practice is deeply rooted in his heritage and unfolds through a modern form of thaumaturgy — the art of miracle-working — which he’s coined as Catholicostal Folk Magic. With humor, insight, and depth, Jo’el shares how this path has shaped his life and how his practice continues to evolve.  Links, contact information & resources: For session work email: admin@joeladifon.com  Resources: https://strategicsorcery.net/courses/the-sorcery-of-cyprian-a-5-month-course/ https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Could-Fly-Levitation/dp/1442256729 Episode Art by Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first installment of Transmissions — our listener-submitted storytelling series — nick welcomes Ivory, a recording artist raised in a devout Christian household and shaped by a lifetime of unusual experiences. From an angel’s embrace to a haunted house to hearing her name called by unseen voices, Ivory reflects on how these moments continue to guide her sense of reality and connection to spirit. Find more of Ivory's work here: https://bio.site/poisonivory Episode art by Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this solo episode of The Aether, nick explores the shadowed terrain between sleep and waking. She shares recurring childhood dreams, prophetic visions, and harrowing encounters with sleep paralysis — tracing how these nocturnal experiences shape the course of life’s most pivotal stages. From labyrinthine premonitions of loss to fiery symbols of transformation, the episode reflects on fear, initiation, and the many ways dreams can foreshadow what is still to come. Episode Art by Lex Lee Bonus Track: "Sleep Paralysis" (unreleased) - nick. the girl | prod. by Brandon Deener SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Aether, host Nicole Johnstone is joined by multidisciplinary artist and educator Peter Bussigel to explore the phenomenon of spoon bending — also known as psychokinesis. Nicole and Peter recount their firsthand experience at Lily Dale, where ordinary spoons bent effortlessly in their hands, blurring the boundary between matter and mind. In a shared exploration, the conversation shifts into Peter’s creative practice, where art, sound, and form intersect with the unseen forces of intention and embodied consciousness. Together, they examine the role of intention, creativity, and the mind’s miraculous ability to influence the physical world.  This is The Aether — giving form to the formless Find Peter’s work at triangleline.com Episode Art By Lex Lee SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first journey into The Aether, host Nicole Johnstone and filmmaker Ivan Nevesenko explore the archetypal gate of Death — not as an ending, but as a corporeal threshold. Ivan shares his experiences with thanatophobia (fear of death), chronophobia (fear of time), and the life-altering presence of sleep paralysis, revealing how these states became catalysts for transformation. Together, they reflect on the ancient motif of katabasis the descent into the underworld (and the title of Ivan's newest film), the paradox of non-duality, and the initiatory power of grief, loss and acceptance. Episode Art by Lex Lee Find Ivan & his work: ⁠www.katascopefilms.com⁠ ⁠Instagram.com/soda_9000⁠ ⁠Instagram.com/miracles.short.film⁠ SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. ⁠spectrevisionradio.com⁠ ⁠linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Aether Giving form to the formless. A podcast exploring consciousness, esotericism, and the paranormal through storytelling, research, and sound. From ghost encounters and psychic mediumship to death, ritual, and symbolism, host Nicole Johnstone — a lifelong experiencer, woman of color, and dedicated student of High Magic — synthesizes direct encounters with the unseen and immersive guest deep-dives to uncover what moves through the subtle realms. SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. ⁠spectrevisionradio.com⁠ ⁠linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The AetherGiving form to the formless. A podcast exploring consciousness, esotericism, and the paranormal through storytelling, research, and sound. From ghost encounters and psychic mediumship to death, ritual, and symbolism, host Nicole Johnstone — a lifelong experiencer, woman of color, and dedicated student of High Magic — synthesizes direct encounters with the unseen and immersive guest deep-dives to uncover what moves through the subtle realms. SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices