This is wonderful and exciting news! I wish you so much luck with it. I have a PH.D. in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and haven't figured out how to make it work for me within academia yet. My area of expertise was witchcraft and magic, and so I'm going to be observing you closely to see how you're working those edges--I have a feeling much has changed in the academy since I got my degree 15 years ago. In the meantime, just the fact of having a Ph.D. secured me a job as the principal of a school in a jail, so I'm deeply engaged in social and personal transformation on many levels, and through independent study with wise guides such as you, I'm learning how to turn my academic knowledge of magic into actual practice. I support you in this and am eager to keep learning with you!
Wow! Jenny! What a delicious degree!! Do you have to make it work in academia? Have you ever thought of writing a non-academic book? I would love so much to read about the experience of working with medieval studies and witchcraft in the criminal justice system. Thank you so much for your support!
I definitely have thought of writing non-academic books--I'm shopping for an agent for my novel at the moment (tips about this daunting process from the coven welcome...), and I'm using much of the ritual you're showing us to re-ignite my writing practice and creativity. Administrative work, maybe especially in a carceral environment wch is designed in every way to suppress freedom, is a creativity killer for me--though I also love the work!--so I'm deep in the struggle, and intensely appreciate the help I'm getting from magical allies. <3
Amanda this is SO inspiring and I also 100% relate to your fears. It is also my dream to one day go back and get my PhD. The machine of acdemia needs some witches to break the mold and the gears that are only serving to crush and not liberate!
High five to this! I like to imagine the Wild Hunt, with all of us witches riding our broomsticks through the night, chasing down the climate deniers, wielding our PhD's as swords and medicine!
Amanda, I am so proud of you!! I started my PhD last year, and it's been super intense, really hard, and I haven't quit. I think you'll have a huge advantage because you have an income stream— that's not something I had (or have yet) but it's a HUGE help if you do have it. I love that you've waited until it feels right for you. And lmk if you'd like to chat about it. <3
Yay! Congrats, Anastasia! You're getting yours up in Seattle, aren't you? In literature? Yes, I was broke during my years in under grad and in my masters program, and so I always had to work (doing things that had nothing to do with my interests), and stress about money takes up so much real estate in the brain. I feel very grateful that this time around I have more financial stability so I can focus on my studies. Sending blessings that a financial windfall come to you this year, and admiration for your bravery and perspicacity!
Thank you Amanda!! I actually moved across the country for mine, so I’m in Florida now. The two benefits are sunshine and a less expensive housing market. That’s all (lol). I am excited to follow your journey and you’re also inspiring me to write more about the ins and outs of doing a PhD.
You’ve done TONS of work building a wonderful and vibrant community; your success is well-deserved. My hope is that once my book comes out I won’t be as strapped financially. May we all have that freedom. Idk if I told you, but I read your book right before leaving Seattle (finally!) and I loved it so much. It’s all hard work.
Ahhh! What part of Florida? I was in Miami for the Book Fair when my book came out and I loved it there. Such an interesting cultural melange. And yes, I would read the fuck out of some posts on the ins and outs of doing a PhD! Sending blessings for your financial abundance and stability. But so much yes to what you say below. What I've learned from creating this business is that every bit of focused effort I put into it eventually does pay off. IF the focused effort leads to tangible results. Like, if you redesign then publish your website, it WILL pay off. If you write a blog post, it WILL pay off. If you hold ceremonies in your back yard, it WILL pay off. As long as you actually DO it and don't just think about (and worry about, hello ADHD) it, as long as you actually put something out there, your business will grow. It took me SO LONG to figure that out. I had so many project miscarriages that never came to term. Looking forward to reading YOUR book, Anastasia!
Aww thank you Amanda!! I’m in Tallahassee so very diff than Miami- but it is beautiful here, especially the nature. Spanish moss and oak trees and the coast two hours away. I do like it!
(sorry, cont!!) and every bit of focused energy we put towards something brings something our way. It’s taken me and my adhd brain a long time to learn that lol
Amanda! What excellent news! I'm so excited for you. Personally (as an academic librarian in the biz for 15 years), 46 is the perfect time to do a PhD. In a lot of ways, the pressure is off and you know who you are and what you want and what your boundaries are. The way new knowledge gets to be part of the lexicon (or, ancient knowledge that has been kyriarchically hidden) is by exactly what you are doing! I can't wait to read your dissertation!
Tina! So much yes to this. When I was getting my masters degrees in my mid-20s I loved the subject matter but I was so stressed with worry that I'd never "make it in life" and, if I'm honest, so obsessed with my love life, that I wasn't able to focus to the same degree I know I'll be able to now. Also, now I know what a graduate degree is for! Making those contacts and finishing a body of work. Unfortunately for me, during grad school I just thought it was to experiment in my practice, and I didn't know you were supposed to try to build strong relationships with faculty (since the world of arts and culture is all about those nepo-babies!). Ah well, live and learn. I'm so excited to have you by my side for this journey!
Wow! Congrats to your Mom! What a huge accomplishment, and an inspiration! And I'm so glad to hear you love that episode as much as I do! Those deer songs make me melt every time!
I am THRILLED for you and excited! The fear is just fear, you’ll get through it! The excitement will help!! Love the signs helping you find the way. And 100% solidarity, little sis on going for depth and eschewing commodity witchery. Your work is so important. I’m so glad you’re going bing it the time and space it deserves to depend. And here’s to planting bombs in systems!! When I did my therapy internship at a children’s hospital, I said I was a grain of sand in the underwear of the medical industrial complex! May you ever be an irritant in academia. Sending gratitude for you and your work and your embracing your path and continuing studies! HUZZAH in all directions and Goddexx bless and keep you!!! 🎉🎉🎉🥳❤️💜💖🥰🎊🎊🎊
I LOVE THE IDEA OF BEING A GRAIN OF SAND IN UNDERWEAR!! LOLZ. Thank you so much for your encouragement, AND for the incredible work YOU do. I'm feeling so lucky to be surrounded by such a brilliant and positive community. xo
How exciting and inspirational! Congratulations! 🥳 Ironically this comes as such a huge hope for what the future may hold for me academically. I’ve always struggled in formal education and with my specific flavor of neurodivergence (the PDA part) I’ve recently had to come to terms that with the fact that as it stands the institutions of education do not work for my style of learning and being. I hope your experience is rich and joyful! I’ll be living vicariously through you.
I hear you, Marietha. I can imagine PDA would make academic opportunities feel out of reach. As soon as you mentioned it I was imagining you at a place like Black Mountain College (which no longer exists, unfortunately), but I wonder if there is something similar to it out there for you. In any case, once I get my Mystery School up and running you will always be welcome. Thank you so much for being here, and being the bad ass neurodivergent witch that you are!
I’m so excited for you!!! And so excited for US to get to receive and participate in all the juicy goodness that you are going to channel from this experience! And feeling a bit awestruck at witnessing the way you are shaping your life to change the world -- not to make change within the capitalist, colonialist ontology but to create birthing vortexes to help bring forth different ones: this is literally doing the impossible (according to the former) and it is exactly what needs to be done. I have so much coming up for me right now with regard to this subject and my own academic path but need to keep that all simmering in the cauldron for a while. Last but not least: No matter what happens -- even if the worst of those fears come true (which i don’t think they will 😉) this IS your path. Even if you take only one step in this direction before being guided elsewhere it is because this is exactly the step you need to take and you WILL receive EXACTLY the medicine and experiences you need to continue on your larger path and work of witching the world. Thank you for you, Amanda!
Thank you so much for all this encouragement, Alex!! It's so gratifying to know you get what I'm doing/trying to do. The vortexes. The refuges. The birthing pools for new life to come through. Artemis and Hecate are both midwives, and the goddesses of witchcraft. Thank you for joining me here in this work!
Amanda, I can feel the stardust emanating off of you as you walk your path...and the holy invitation you are sharing with us. Blessed be your way. My heart aches as I feel your desire, love and generosity. Thank you.
Applause! In 2014 I was getting my graduate degree in writing after recovering from a major illness. Arriving home at the conclusion of the first on-campus residency, I had an intense dream where a massive book fell into my hands from the sky. A disembodied voice said, "Read the Pathos." I woke and scoured the internet for a book called "Pathos." Of course, I found nothing. It was more than a year into my masters when the meaning of the dream came to me like a flood-- I had to read my OWN pathos in order to write about it. The biggest lesson from the realization was how often I was looking outside my intuition for answers. Amazon can't deliver everything.
I'm a new paying member of Mystery Cult and came here because I want less surface magic and more investigatory magic. I raise my iced coffee to everything you are doing and look forward to learning as you do.
I raise my hot autumn flavored TJs coffee back to you, dear Christine! Thank you so much for joining us here in Mystery Cult. I love what you say about your dream, it reminds me of the story I told in the essay. Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out what those signals of the dreaming mean! And often, they mean more than one thing! I love the idea of reading your own pathos -- are you a poet? I feel like that would be such a lovely title for a book of poetry!
That's the cutest/coolest thing ever. Latin does indeed come in helpful for poets! When I was in High School I took latin too, but I was a bad, disaffected student and would cheat on my exams so I hardly learned anything. If I was to go back to my past self, to her I would say: congredere tuas excrementum.
i have full body chills reading this whole post. your invitation to embrace the dream that doesn’t let go feels electric. this path feels so exciting and so you! thank you for saying yes to your life and saying yes to being you.
Jonathan!! ILYSM. Thank you for this. I feel like I have some insight into your dreams and I hope that we can encourage each other in our not letting go of them. 7th house suns are all about that commitment!
Yes x100! This is THE BEST NEWS. You have taught me/us so much and been such an anchor for the community you're talking about. The idea of you being able to go even more deeply into that and make your work more profound is so exciting.
Congrats, Amanda!!! That sounds like an amazing program. I did my PhD at UCLA too, and even tho I’m thinking about a different path now, I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. So excited for you!!
Thank you so much, Emily! I always remind myself of this when I'm feeling insecure about showing up in my true form. The people in my community WANT the depth, and don't need me to tell them witchcraft will solve all their problems and make them a married millionaire. Your encouragement means everything! Thank you!
Congratulations! I feel like we've been getting PhD level teachings from you all along.
Thanks, Ankh! I'm excited!
What if you succeed? what if you maximize the potential of your dream? Thank you for being so brave and choosing us to ride along during this journey!
Adore you, Uma! Thank you so much for always being my champion!
This is wonderful and exciting news! I wish you so much luck with it. I have a PH.D. in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and haven't figured out how to make it work for me within academia yet. My area of expertise was witchcraft and magic, and so I'm going to be observing you closely to see how you're working those edges--I have a feeling much has changed in the academy since I got my degree 15 years ago. In the meantime, just the fact of having a Ph.D. secured me a job as the principal of a school in a jail, so I'm deeply engaged in social and personal transformation on many levels, and through independent study with wise guides such as you, I'm learning how to turn my academic knowledge of magic into actual practice. I support you in this and am eager to keep learning with you!
Wow! Jenny! What a delicious degree!! Do you have to make it work in academia? Have you ever thought of writing a non-academic book? I would love so much to read about the experience of working with medieval studies and witchcraft in the criminal justice system. Thank you so much for your support!
I definitely have thought of writing non-academic books--I'm shopping for an agent for my novel at the moment (tips about this daunting process from the coven welcome...), and I'm using much of the ritual you're showing us to re-ignite my writing practice and creativity. Administrative work, maybe especially in a carceral environment wch is designed in every way to suppress freedom, is a creativity killer for me--though I also love the work!--so I'm deep in the struggle, and intensely appreciate the help I'm getting from magical allies. <3
Amanda this is SO inspiring and I also 100% relate to your fears. It is also my dream to one day go back and get my PhD. The machine of acdemia needs some witches to break the mold and the gears that are only serving to crush and not liberate!
High five to this! I like to imagine the Wild Hunt, with all of us witches riding our broomsticks through the night, chasing down the climate deniers, wielding our PhD's as swords and medicine!
Adding my PhD to the posse for sure 😉Overeducated Witches Unite!
Amanda, I am so proud of you!! I started my PhD last year, and it's been super intense, really hard, and I haven't quit. I think you'll have a huge advantage because you have an income stream— that's not something I had (or have yet) but it's a HUGE help if you do have it. I love that you've waited until it feels right for you. And lmk if you'd like to chat about it. <3
Yay! Congrats, Anastasia! You're getting yours up in Seattle, aren't you? In literature? Yes, I was broke during my years in under grad and in my masters program, and so I always had to work (doing things that had nothing to do with my interests), and stress about money takes up so much real estate in the brain. I feel very grateful that this time around I have more financial stability so I can focus on my studies. Sending blessings that a financial windfall come to you this year, and admiration for your bravery and perspicacity!
Thank you Amanda!! I actually moved across the country for mine, so I’m in Florida now. The two benefits are sunshine and a less expensive housing market. That’s all (lol). I am excited to follow your journey and you’re also inspiring me to write more about the ins and outs of doing a PhD.
You’ve done TONS of work building a wonderful and vibrant community; your success is well-deserved. My hope is that once my book comes out I won’t be as strapped financially. May we all have that freedom. Idk if I told you, but I read your book right before leaving Seattle (finally!) and I loved it so much. It’s all hard work.
Ahhh! What part of Florida? I was in Miami for the Book Fair when my book came out and I loved it there. Such an interesting cultural melange. And yes, I would read the fuck out of some posts on the ins and outs of doing a PhD! Sending blessings for your financial abundance and stability. But so much yes to what you say below. What I've learned from creating this business is that every bit of focused effort I put into it eventually does pay off. IF the focused effort leads to tangible results. Like, if you redesign then publish your website, it WILL pay off. If you write a blog post, it WILL pay off. If you hold ceremonies in your back yard, it WILL pay off. As long as you actually DO it and don't just think about (and worry about, hello ADHD) it, as long as you actually put something out there, your business will grow. It took me SO LONG to figure that out. I had so many project miscarriages that never came to term. Looking forward to reading YOUR book, Anastasia!
Aww thank you Amanda!! I’m in Tallahassee so very diff than Miami- but it is beautiful here, especially the nature. Spanish moss and oak trees and the coast two hours away. I do like it!
Oh, I really am a sucker for spanish moss. Why is it so romantic??
I don’t know but I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. 😍
(sorry, cont!!) and every bit of focused energy we put towards something brings something our way. It’s taken me and my adhd brain a long time to learn that lol
Also, I'm 43! And I started my undergrad when I was 32. You're never too old!!!!
Amanda! What excellent news! I'm so excited for you. Personally (as an academic librarian in the biz for 15 years), 46 is the perfect time to do a PhD. In a lot of ways, the pressure is off and you know who you are and what you want and what your boundaries are. The way new knowledge gets to be part of the lexicon (or, ancient knowledge that has been kyriarchically hidden) is by exactly what you are doing! I can't wait to read your dissertation!
Tina! So much yes to this. When I was getting my masters degrees in my mid-20s I loved the subject matter but I was so stressed with worry that I'd never "make it in life" and, if I'm honest, so obsessed with my love life, that I wasn't able to focus to the same degree I know I'll be able to now. Also, now I know what a graduate degree is for! Making those contacts and finishing a body of work. Unfortunately for me, during grad school I just thought it was to experiment in my practice, and I didn't know you were supposed to try to build strong relationships with faculty (since the world of arts and culture is all about those nepo-babies!). Ah well, live and learn. I'm so excited to have you by my side for this journey!
I know UCLA has excellent librarians, but this one on the other side of the country is also here to help!
You're the best, Tina! Thank you. xx
This is amazing! Congrats Amanda! I return to that episode of BTW again and again and again--it’s my favorite.
My mom received her PhD last year (at 58) after no less than a pandemic and a bone marrow transplant!
This journey will rock your world but you have such a support network! Sending you strength! 💗✨
Wow! Congrats to your Mom! What a huge accomplishment, and an inspiration! And I'm so glad to hear you love that episode as much as I do! Those deer songs make me melt every time!
I am THRILLED for you and excited! The fear is just fear, you’ll get through it! The excitement will help!! Love the signs helping you find the way. And 100% solidarity, little sis on going for depth and eschewing commodity witchery. Your work is so important. I’m so glad you’re going bing it the time and space it deserves to depend. And here’s to planting bombs in systems!! When I did my therapy internship at a children’s hospital, I said I was a grain of sand in the underwear of the medical industrial complex! May you ever be an irritant in academia. Sending gratitude for you and your work and your embracing your path and continuing studies! HUZZAH in all directions and Goddexx bless and keep you!!! 🎉🎉🎉🥳❤️💜💖🥰🎊🎊🎊
I LOVE THE IDEA OF BEING A GRAIN OF SAND IN UNDERWEAR!! LOLZ. Thank you so much for your encouragement, AND for the incredible work YOU do. I'm feeling so lucky to be surrounded by such a brilliant and positive community. xo
How exciting and inspirational! Congratulations! 🥳 Ironically this comes as such a huge hope for what the future may hold for me academically. I’ve always struggled in formal education and with my specific flavor of neurodivergence (the PDA part) I’ve recently had to come to terms that with the fact that as it stands the institutions of education do not work for my style of learning and being. I hope your experience is rich and joyful! I’ll be living vicariously through you.
I hear you, Marietha. I can imagine PDA would make academic opportunities feel out of reach. As soon as you mentioned it I was imagining you at a place like Black Mountain College (which no longer exists, unfortunately), but I wonder if there is something similar to it out there for you. In any case, once I get my Mystery School up and running you will always be welcome. Thank you so much for being here, and being the bad ass neurodivergent witch that you are!
I’m so excited for you!!! And so excited for US to get to receive and participate in all the juicy goodness that you are going to channel from this experience! And feeling a bit awestruck at witnessing the way you are shaping your life to change the world -- not to make change within the capitalist, colonialist ontology but to create birthing vortexes to help bring forth different ones: this is literally doing the impossible (according to the former) and it is exactly what needs to be done. I have so much coming up for me right now with regard to this subject and my own academic path but need to keep that all simmering in the cauldron for a while. Last but not least: No matter what happens -- even if the worst of those fears come true (which i don’t think they will 😉) this IS your path. Even if you take only one step in this direction before being guided elsewhere it is because this is exactly the step you need to take and you WILL receive EXACTLY the medicine and experiences you need to continue on your larger path and work of witching the world. Thank you for you, Amanda!
Thank you so much for all this encouragement, Alex!! It's so gratifying to know you get what I'm doing/trying to do. The vortexes. The refuges. The birthing pools for new life to come through. Artemis and Hecate are both midwives, and the goddesses of witchcraft. Thank you for joining me here in this work!
This is alex btw 😋
Amanda, I can feel the stardust emanating off of you as you walk your path...and the holy invitation you are sharing with us. Blessed be your way. My heart aches as I feel your desire, love and generosity. Thank you.
😭😭😭😭 You make me cry tears of joy, Michelle!! Thank you so much for being here and for all your blessings. xo
Applause! In 2014 I was getting my graduate degree in writing after recovering from a major illness. Arriving home at the conclusion of the first on-campus residency, I had an intense dream where a massive book fell into my hands from the sky. A disembodied voice said, "Read the Pathos." I woke and scoured the internet for a book called "Pathos." Of course, I found nothing. It was more than a year into my masters when the meaning of the dream came to me like a flood-- I had to read my OWN pathos in order to write about it. The biggest lesson from the realization was how often I was looking outside my intuition for answers. Amazon can't deliver everything.
I'm a new paying member of Mystery Cult and came here because I want less surface magic and more investigatory magic. I raise my iced coffee to everything you are doing and look forward to learning as you do.
I raise my hot autumn flavored TJs coffee back to you, dear Christine! Thank you so much for joining us here in Mystery Cult. I love what you say about your dream, it reminds me of the story I told in the essay. Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out what those signals of the dreaming mean! And often, they mean more than one thing! I love the idea of reading your own pathos -- are you a poet? I feel like that would be such a lovely title for a book of poetry!
How generous you are - and yes, I am a poet. :)
For a brief moment in high school I wanted to be a nurse, so I took latin.
If I had known what strange directions life had in store, I would have said "gratias tibi valde, future self."
That's the cutest/coolest thing ever. Latin does indeed come in helpful for poets! When I was in High School I took latin too, but I was a bad, disaffected student and would cheat on my exams so I hardly learned anything. If I was to go back to my past self, to her I would say: congredere tuas excrementum.
i have full body chills reading this whole post. your invitation to embrace the dream that doesn’t let go feels electric. this path feels so exciting and so you! thank you for saying yes to your life and saying yes to being you.
Jonathan!! ILYSM. Thank you for this. I feel like I have some insight into your dreams and I hope that we can encourage each other in our not letting go of them. 7th house suns are all about that commitment!
Yes x100! This is THE BEST NEWS. You have taught me/us so much and been such an anchor for the community you're talking about. The idea of you being able to go even more deeply into that and make your work more profound is so exciting.
Yay! Your support means everything. Thank you so much!
Congrats, Amanda!!! That sounds like an amazing program. I did my PhD at UCLA too, and even tho I’m thinking about a different path now, I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. So excited for you!!
Wow! That's so cool, Taylor! What program were you in? Thanks so much for your vote of confidence! xo
English! Can’t wait to hear all about this journey 😊
Congratulations, (Future) Dr. Amanda!
I've learned so much from you and am drawn to your teachings BECAUSE what you share is so deep vs "wellness witchcraft"
Thank you so much, Emily! I always remind myself of this when I'm feeling insecure about showing up in my true form. The people in my community WANT the depth, and don't need me to tell them witchcraft will solve all their problems and make them a married millionaire. Your encouragement means everything! Thank you!