The dregs of Mercury Retrograde worked against us in this episode—including putting our good mic out of commission. Fortunately, our special guests Aesha Fadeelah Rasheed and selma alamin join us to perform a powerful energetic clearing on Courtney’s computer. More importantly, they talk about how to find Magick in one’s religion of origin, sharing their experiences of finding their own Witch spiritualities and faith through Islam. We also discuss spiritual hygiene, Magick in the discipline of religious ritual, the importance of spiritual self care, creating Magick ritual in the routine moments of a person’s life and much, much more. We also discuss Courtney’s book tour and take a walk through memory lane, especially Hilary and Courtney’s antics in high school theater and how Hilary ended up as Courtney’s date to her high school reunion. Kanani talks about the upcoming Yule Bazaar. Oh! And did you hear we have an Etsy store? Email us your burning questions for us to answer on a future episode at thatwitchlifepodcast@gmail.com.
Our Guests Today
Aesha Fadeelah Rasheed (right) is a healer, organizer and hard femme based in New Orleans and of Oklahoma roots. Over two decades in New Orleans, She has co-created and lead numerous community support projects including ten years publishing the New Orleans Parents’ Guide to Public Schools and other efforts to support families and children in New Orleans. With gratitude to the city that nurtured her unfolding queerness, she’s worked to create spaces and celebrations of Queer BIPOC folks. She is a co-founder of Queer Cartography, a history-telling poster project (and ancestral propitiation effort) that centers untold stories of Queer folks made most invisible in history and she launched a meet up called Black Brown Queer (BBQ NOLA) and of QISM, a collective of southern queer Muslims. She is also a long-time member leader of Southerners on New Ground (SONG) – a regional movement organization focused on radical progressive organizing in the South for liberation from race, economic, gender oppression. Aesha currently uses her gifts as a body worker and ritual maker to find and build connection between traditional organizing and transformative healing and is a co-shaper of the Spirit Grove healing cooperative. Aesha moved to New Orleans in 2000 to work as an education reporter at The New Orleans Times Picayune.
selma alamin (left) is a New Orleans based, Sudanese American healer, stylist and spiritual organizer. She has lived and worked in the city for nine years as a crown healer and hairstylist for the queer and curly haired community. In addition to an undergraduate degree in Middle Eastern studies from the College of William and Mary and an MBA from Tulane University, she is apprenticing and practicing shamanic earth stewardship under the guidance and in the lineage of Dr. G. Love & Nana Sakara Kemilla, learning to deconstruct capitalism, interpret ancestral and planetary messages and use indigenous healing technologies for black love and liberation. She helped co-create QISM, a collective of southern queer Muslims and is a co-shaper of Spirit Grove healing cooperative, a group of black women healers based in New Orleans. She currently offers crown care services, specializing in transforming intergenerational hair trauma, and energy work services, especially spiritual container making, supporting the clearing and grounding of intentional gatherings and events.
Resource List
Spirit Grove is an emerging collective of Black intuitives based in New Orleans and who are are committed to healing for ourselves, our community and the planet. We are here to be your spiritual support team in this time of on-going crisis when spiritual care is vital. Our website is under development but you can sign up to stay informed here or contact us at spiritgrovehealing@gmail.com. More information about Soulshifting Retreats can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Soulshiftingretreats/ or at www.soulshiftingretreats.com.
Nana Sakara Kemilla
Dr. G. Love
How To Survive The End Of The World Podcast
That Witch Life Etsy Shop
Cellista
Phoenix Pagan Pride Day
OWOW Yule Bazaar
Q Meb (Portland, OR)
Wild Witches of Willamette
Utah Goddess Temple
Catland Books (Brooklyn, NY)
The Mystic Dream (Walnut Creek, CA) (Courtney’s book talk)
Esther’s Pantry
