Venus 3x3: June

ICYMI: There are a wealth of wonderful new episodes over on Moonbeaming:
A deep dive into the 9 of Swords Tarot card where I discuss the power of a good rock bottom, as well as a really important listen about the realities of pregnancies with the wonderful Natasha June from Rare Breed.

Over at the studio, we’ve had an incredible line-up of offerings as well; catch our workshop for the Highly Sensitive in Relationships, and am gearing up for events in London in August! Yes, London! You sign up for Intuition for Right Now with myself and the one and only Natalie Miles, or an Archetypal Deep Dive around the gifts of your soul! I’m also doing a gathering for the 8/8 Full Moon, what!
Get wild, and spend the entire weekend with me, when you sign up for all 3!

Welcome to the Venus 3x3: a monthly collection of arts, culture, commerce, and practices that have brought me love, joy, glimmers, inspiration and/or a mild rabbit hole obsession. This is a way for me to keep track of all the love in my life.

Read on for 3 things, 3 practices, 3 moments: all orienting around love, pleasure, and eroticism. This is Collection 4. For Collection 1, go here. For Collection 2, go here. And so on! ;)

JUNE: You were…another blur? I feel like I need the world to slow down, and so I’m intentionally taking deep breaths. The theme for June was Mirrors of Belonging, and interestingly, I felt quite lonely for much of June, ruminating on lost friendships and certain estrangements. June showed me how much I gave up, relationally, to choose myself more fully. Grief is so complex, missing people who treated you so poorly is such an odd psychic space to exist in.

I’ve been working on a larger piece around limerence and trauma, (stay tuned here for that). Experiencing compounded nostalgia for relationships that looked good on paper, or that were full of unfulfilled promises, or with people who chose popularity or comfort over authentic friendship, is a particular kind of pain. But altogether, when I look back at this month, there was also lot of joy, a ton of integration, a lot of connection, a lot of growth. You, too? Comment below.

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3 Things

Vintage scarves on DePop.

I told y’all it was going to be a Baby Yaga Summer, so you know I had to get some headscarves! I’m having the most intentional purchase year of my life, and so have only been clothing shopping on DePop. (Save shoes, for full transparency.)
I’m obsessed with these 2 headscarves I scored on DePop. No, this isn’t sponsored, yes, they are Celine, and yes, I’m cackling all the way to my savings account.

Having A Baby Yaga Summer

Listen: it’s puttering in the garden and flirting with the flowers summer. It’s mainlining iced mugwort and blue pea tonics summer. It’s focusing on creativity summer. It’s clearing and cleaning Summer. It’s a mortar and pestle for pesto pasta Summer. It’s muttering to myself on walks, trying to read my dogs’ minds, and making ugly magic…but…in Summer! It’s talking to the crows and eating fermented foods and berries and casting spells to collapse fascism Summer! It’s very much a summer of returning to my roots of witchery, but I’m not quite an elder, and sometimes need to be Baby, hence the moniker mash-up.

You feeling it? It feels like a return to reclaim our witchiest, weirdest, dirtiest parts that are also our most powerful.

The Shell House

Finished in 2003, from a dream that Architect Eduardo Ocampo envisioned ever since he first arrived on Isla Mujeres in 1967, this house is the Cancerian abode of my dreams.

The best news is, it is bookable! Legitimately figuring out how to make a stay here possible in the next few years.

3 Practices

Quantum Listening. A practice we are doing together in our intuition class, by way of the groundbreaking work of Pauline Oliveros, quantum listening has been changing the game for me. It’s listening to the field. It’s listening to listening. It’s listening to how other people listen. It’s listening to the spaces in between the inhale and exhale, the silence in between notes. It is a precursor to any psychic work, IMHO. Get the missive here.

Bullying the Bullies. As you know, ICE has swept through the community of Los Angeles, kidnapping innocent people and traumatizing entire communities. The trauma and devastation is overwhelming. I have been calling hotels telling them that ICE are not welcome here, and went to actions. We can’t back down. We must bully the bullies, and let complicit parties by disrupted. As an aside, while he’s no one who actually lives in California’s favorite, Gavin Newsom’s social team needs a raise. His trolling of the fascists has been…chef’s kiss.

The Spectrum of Gratitude. I’ve currently got the very best team I’ve ever had, and am realizing how important that is! Grateful. Feeling it, but also, expressing it. I’m grateful to Alex Padilla for speaking up. Calling him, letting him know. Grateful to Mamdani and allll the beautiful working people of NYC who got him primaried. I’m also doing reverse gratitude: when someone trolls me on the Internets, I’m SO grateful that I have NOBODY like that in my personal life. When I feel people’s projections on me, I am SO GRATEFUL that I don’t (usually) project onto other people. While I shared in the introduction about missing folks, in truth, I am incredibly grateful that there is no drama, no triangulation, no jealousy, no envy,
no shady energy, and no guilt or shame in any of my relationships. Grateful for the quiet, grateful for the present moment.

3 Moments

The Solstice Ritual with Screech Owls and Sound bowls. My favorite is playing sound bowls at sunset on the day of the Solstice for screech owls. My favorite is a particular kind of spell work, I need to coin a term for, because it’s when you know the spell is working while you’re doing the spell, because all of a sudden the energy shifts, owls gather around you, and you know you’re making magic that will reverberate for years to come. Meta magic? Metta Magic? Maybe!

Anni Retreat. It was my partner and I’s 14th anniversary! We are, essentially only together because of Pride! We met at a Gay Bar, and disco’ed and danced our way into a first date. To commemorate, we went to an incredible spa a few hours away. We lounged, soaked in natural mineral pools, listened to Solfeggio frequencies in a Himalayan salt room, got mud treatments and massages, ate amazing Vietnamese food, and celebrated our love.

Blue Velvet At Hollywood Forever. Slowly revisiting Lynch’s work, and watching it at Hollywood Forever with sweetheart and a beautiful, out-of-town friend, did not disappoint. Night Blooming Jasmine, forever.

Once again, thanks so much for being here.
Hopefully, these Venus 3 x 3’s, sent on Venus’ day, will help you collect your moments, loves, memories and growth too. What were some of yours? Comment below.