Like so many people, the pandemic broke me. By December, 2020, I was ugly crying on the floor of my basement office, not sure of what to do but knowing I needed to make a change. 

My goal for 2021 was to find my soul’s work and begin to pursue it. 

Six weeks later, I was enrolled in Martha Beck’s Wayfinder Life Coach Training Program. By the time I reviewed the welcome materials, I knew this was it. Every class and practice session affirmed that this is my calling. 

At the same time, I also began exploring and dabbling in magic. Working with the moon, buying crystals I found pretty. Then I started exploring tarot. Ceremony. Feng shui. Celebrating the quarter and cross-quarter holidays. Digging into my natal chart with an astrologer. 

What may have looked like a swan dive into woo-woo (if I shared it with anyone, that is, but I mostly kept it hidden) felt like a homecoming.

Like the winding path of my life brought me right back to myself. 

As a kid, I loved building fairylands. I would pluck the blooms off my dad’s rose bushes to make rose water and mix up “potions” with whatever I found in the kitchen. 

Later, at the University of Pennsylvania, I majored in art history and was particularly taken with the layers of meaning found in early Christian art. When I studied in Rome, my favorite sites were the basements and crypts of early churches, where the symbols and customs were so clearly borrowed from pagan and polytheistic traditions. 

When I graduated, I worked in arts institutions and schools before making my way to a leading public health organization on the cutting edge of life-saving science. I love science. Neuroscience and ecopsychology are bedrocks of my coaching approach.

Together with magic, of course. 

Because there’s so much we don’t yet know how to test and measure. There is rich traditional wisdom from across the globe that deserves deep honor and respect even if we haven’t devised the right double blind trials yet. 

That, my dear, is where the magic comes in. 

For me, magic is a big tent for all the wonder-full, mysterious, beautiful, tender practices that work with incredible power, even if we don’t yet understand how. 

I love working with magic because it’s fun, effective, and something that I can easily and joyfully share with my kids. 

Above all else, working with magic has strengthened my intuition and my self-trust. 

• Working with the moon helps me tune into my own natural energy cycles, trusting my internal waxing and waning. 

• Selecting crystals honors my longings and acts as reminders of where to focus my energy. 

• Pulling tarot cards acts like an intuition hotline, helping me tune into what wisdom I need to call in. 

The list goes on and on. 

By reclaiming the magic within us, we can heal deep, generations-old wounds.

By sharing these practices with the children in our lives, we can ensure future generations protect their sacred trusting.

That, dear one, is how we change the world.