J.P. DerBoghossian (he/they) is the founder of the Queer Armenian Library - the world's first library devoted to literature, film, and television by, about, and for Queer Armenians. He serves on the Board of the International Armenian Literary Alliance and is a past President of the Armenian Cultural Organization of Minnesota. He hosts the podcast This Queer Book Saved My LIfe which is a 2024 GLAAD Media Award nominee for Outstanding Podcast. He is a Lambda Literary Fellow and his essays have appeared in We Are All Armenian (University of Texas Press), The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough (Anamot Press), and Emerge (Lambda Literary). He started his career in television broadcasting and then transitioned to a ten-year career in higher education where he ultimately served as the Chief Diversity Officer for Normandale Community College and Saint Paul College. With This Queer Book Saved My Life he returns to his broadcasting roots, as he additionally hosts The Gaily Show for AM950-KTNF in Minneapolis. He holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Minnesota. He resides with his partners, splitting their time between Minneapolis, MN and Barronett, WI. Episode Highlights Season 7 premieres with our first cross-pollination episode, where we share space with other queer podcasters and creators. We start by floating into a round of: I will share mine (show you mine), if you share yours (if you show me yours) - a lovely space where we each share books/authors that have impacted our queerness. We reflect and share about the books and the aspects of our queerness that are awakened. TanyaMarck & Nick get into some queer spirit medicine and drop into some breathwork + movement + toning with the intentions of bringing and sharing all of theses beautifully awakened frequencies with our bodies and systems sprinkling it all with gratitude. Thank you to books and their authors: Home at the End of the World, by Michael Cunnigham; The Velvet Rage, by Alan Downs; The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, by Ann Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure; & Tales of The City, by Armistead Maupin. Web links Find J.P. online at ThisQueerBook.com You can also connect with them on Instagram @thisqueerbook Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for FREE meditation + chanting + breath work circles online. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Join us for our season finale: Nick (he>they) + TanyaMarck (they/them) share about their queer story and connection. Episode Highlights We flow into and explore the potency of cultivating queer connections. We take a dip into queer spirituality. And finally we are honored to share and announce upcoming queer spirit offerings in 2024. Web links Follow us on Instagram @thequeerspirit Find TanyaMarck online at TanyaMarck.com and on IG @tanyamarck Find Nick online at QueerHealingJourneys.com and on IG @holisticqueerhealing Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for First Saturday's FREE meditation & breath work circles online. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Ruth Camillia (they/she/ella) is a bilingual, bicultural, healing arts practitioner, reiki master, akashic records practitioner, and tarot reader. With maternal Indigenous roots from Los Altos de Jalisco, México, they integrate curanderismo and other ancestral practices into their daily life and work. As an intuitive and trauma-informed practitioner, Ruth believes healing is sacred. Episode Highlights Ruth shares their queer journey and story in the most delightful ways. And we explore aspects of Queerness alongside them. We get curious about and drop into the Akashic Records. Ruth collaborates on a reading for Nick. Ruth offers a Tarot reading for the queer collective - it’s cute + juicy. Thank you magic and animal medicines of: hawk + black phoebe + Akashic Records, Cosmic Tarot by Norbert Losche, Sanskrit tools and practices Queer spirit fingers to Leah Garza @crystalsofaltamira + Linda Howe @drlindahowe + Salva @salvatattoo. Web links Find Ruth online at RuthCamillia.com You can also connect with them on Instagram @ruth_camillia Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for First Saturday's FREE meditation & breath work circles online. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

*Audio Note: Volume and clarity varies during some parts of this interview. Rekara Gage (she/her) is an herbalist who focuses on the importance of ritual, safety and community when it comes to personal healing and growth. Her approach to wellness is based in food medicine and spirituality, emphasizing new ways to add plant medicine to the routines that you already have in place. She loves helping people reconnect with their intuition and do things with meaning, making everyday feel special. In her practice, it's important to provide access and information to the public so that they can make the best health choices for themselves. Rekara is a student of Traditional Western Herbalism with Julie James at Green Wisdom Apothecary and School of Herbal Studies in Long Beach. Episode Highlights Thank you to our grounding plant medicines and their energies: dandelion root (clarity), mullein (lung support + moisture), tulsi ( aids with stress + clear headed + relaxation) , and elecampane (breathwork). Rekara shares with us about her healing journey and how the medicines and magic of storytelling, food, movement, plants, family, community and curiosity play active roles in finding herself and herbalism. We learn about the medicines of ritual and practice that Rekara partakes in throughout her personal herbalism journey, and how they are connected to her culture. We learn what herbalism is: understanding plant medicine (the chemistry), how we can benefit from plants being here, how we can learn from them, and how they support us. Rekara reminds us that when working spiritually with herbs and plants, important aspects to explore and consider include: connection, intention and being open to answering the call to mindfully interact and work with them. Rekara drops an herbal tea recipe that will nourish our queer hearts, bodies, spirits , and souls. Thank you to these plants for sharing their medicine and energies: Rose (color + reminder of boundaries + protection + safety) Tulsi (aids with stress + clears the mind) Damiana (spicy + sassy + libido + reminds us who we are) Cinnamon (unsung hero that moistens us + grounding + supportive) Web links Find Rekara online at Re-ngage.com You can also connect with her on Instagram @rekaraneal & @rootedherbalcollective Find Green Wisdom Herbal Studies & Apothercary & IG @greenwisdom Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for First Saturday's FREE meditation & breath work circles online. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Crystal Mason (they/them) is an artist, activist, dreamer, consultant and coach. They believe in the power of community and necessity of hope. Jason Wyman (they/them) is Queerly Complex. Using appreciative inquiry, deep listening, and creative conjuring, Wyman taps the Cosmic Mysteries in all to reveal moments of Chaos Poetry. They live, love, and create on Yelamu / San Francisco, and share a home and family with their husband and pride of house and feral cats. Episode Highlights Crystal + Jason share their personal queer-stories and drop some queer wisdom nuggets Sweetness alert: We get cozy + comfy while Jason + Crystal take us for a saunter and share about how they met and their connection. We learn about the medicine + magic of dreaming in public and how sharing those dreams with others can lead to co creation and action. Crystal leads Nick + TanyaMarck through a dream practice that includes a share/reflection of what we experienced. Behind the scenes and during our shared time, Jason has been alchemizing some chaos poetry which they share with us; it’s very queer + yummy. We learn about the offerings and practices that both Jason + Crystal share with our collective. Jason's chaos poetry from our collective dreaming practice lead by Crystal: Take a deep breath... Take a deep breath & soften your gaze... Take a deep breath & flow... Flow like a river as it snakes its way through the jungles... through the forests... through the deserts... through the valleys... through the mountains... through the prairies... through the lands of your ancestors & ancestors of these lands, including those unnamed & unknown... Listen for the birds, the animals, the critters, the wind blowing from the Southwest, from the energies of dreams & wishes... Smell the flowers & the lush green flora thriving all over this world... Flow on this river & arrive in queer paradise... Where the water glistens & glitters... And queer beings of all bodies-- clothed & naked... serene & making love... joyous & free... alone & in community-- Celebrate completely... "I do not want to leave..." "Me neither..." Remember... This dream is within you always & in all ways... You can come back here... Take a deep breath... Lay in your hammock... Dream queer dreams... Here we will always be free. Web links Find Crystal online at CrystalMason.net & on Instagram @ham_job1 Find Jason at QueerlyComplex.com & on Instagram @queerlycomplex And their collective work at TreeOfChange.net Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for First Saturday's FREE meditation & breath work circles online. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Rae McDaniel (they/them) is a non-binary speaker, author, therapist, Certified Sex Therapist, coach and Transgender Diversity & Inclusion Educator. Rae helps audiences gain the sheer audacity to be themselves in the world through play, pleasure, and possibility. Their book Gender Magic is a first-of-its-kind practical guide to achieving gender freedom with joy, curiosity, and pleasure for transgender and non-binary individuals, gender explorers, and those who love them. Rae is also the founder and CEO of Practical Audacity, a Gender & Sex Therapy practice in Chicago, serving over 300 clients yearly. Episode Highlights During our shared time we explore what it means to be in flow with the unfolding journey of gender. Rae shares that coming out to their family took a couple of years - they were blessed and lucky to have built a supportive strong queer community prior to coming out. They share with us how pandemic quarantine removed a lot of the external barriers trans people navigate on the daily. During this time, Rae honored their trans identity by getting top surgery and working more deeply with testosterone injections. Rae drops some queer wisdom nuggets: How do we connect to ourselves, to each other? How do we bring more pleasure + joy + play into our lives right now even while holding all the heavy stuff? In their new book, Gender Magic, Rae poses that we position gender exploration and transition as just another part of self growth. Rae shares an excerpt from their book with us and it’s filled with such yummy nuggets of queer wisdom. Pleasure + Joy + Play remain integral ingredients of their growth. Web links Find Rae online at campsite.bio/theraemcdaniel Connect with Rae on Instagram Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for First Saturday's FREE meditation & breath work circles online. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram: - Nick Venegoni, he>they - TanyaMarck Oviedo, they/them Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Welcome to Season 6 of the show! Nicholas Pearson (he/him) has been immersed in all aspects of the mineral kingdom for nearly 30 years. As one of the leading voices in crystal healing today, he offers a unique blend of science and spirituality alongside a grounded, practical approach to working with crystals. The author of several books, including Crystal Basics, he lives in Orlando, Florida. Episode Highlights We learn about Nicholas’ journey and connections with science, stones, energy, folklore, animals. Nicholas shares about what stones he is currently drawn to and working with & how he is embodying them into his daily navigation, practices and work. We receive some medicine about how to choose, care for, sit with and let go of crystals. Nicholas shares with us how to explore, be curious and embody all the aspects of stones. We receive Nicholas’s recommendations of what stones could be included in our magic tool-kits that support our queer liberation. Thank you Tongva, Ohlone, Seminole lands; essences and energies of magnolia tree, limestone, moonstone, emerald, opal, aegirine & animals. Web links Find Nicholas online at linktr.ee/theLuminousPearl Connect with him on Instagram Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Join us for First Saturday's FREE meditation & breath work circles online. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram: - Nick Venegoni, he>they - TanyaMarck Oviedo, they/them Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Season 6 of the podcast will launch next week on Monday, March 27th, 2023. We're excited and grateful to share this season with TanyaMarck Oviedo (they/them) as a co-host on the show. You may remember them from the last episode of season 5 last year. We want to share about some of our online offerings… First Saturdays Online Meditation + Breath Work This is an opportunity and an invitation for us to be in and with queer community while we meditate + breathe together.
 And If you’re seeking queer community, we invite you to join us and others in our virtual and private Queer Spirit Community group. It’s a space where you can connect with like-minded queer beings, share and receive support, and build community 
Join us at queerspirit.mn.co
 We hope you enjoy this upcoming season!

TanyaMarck Oviedo (they/them) identifies as a non binary, queer, native indigenous person of color who resides on Tongva + Kizh + Chumash land (colonially known as Long Beach, Ca). They currently are of service to their communities as a mentor + wellness facilitator. They are creator of Vamonos a healing arts practice rooted in and with well + being + of service. Vamanos builds community to explore and embody wellness via breath work + energy + mindful movement + mentoring + space holding. Episode Highlights We discuss how TanyaMarck first learned about the power of connecting to the breath from their baseball coach as a child. We learn about their current breath work practice helping clients to release stuck energy and activating new insights. Nick and TanyaMarck share stories about discovering magic and spirituality through candles at church and connecting to the elements of nature, wind and fog. They talk about learning to be of service to family and community, and cultivating that service as a spiritual practice. They share about their connection with food as medicine and why they feel called to work with food magic. Web links Find TanyaMarck's offerings here - linktr.ee/tanyamarckvamonos Connect with them on Instagram Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Brandi Stanley (she/her) makes a living out of making connections—science and art, fermenting and theology, permaculture and social movements, neuroscience and dance. If creativity is the ability to connect the seemingly un-connectable, that’s the art she practices. In love with the space between things—the intersections and the paradoxes—she's constantly looking for what insights can be gained when we mash the unexpected together and the growth that happens when we learn to hold complexity. These days, she does that by running a podcast and writing a newsletter, both under the name This Plus That, where she's interviewed guests like authors David Epstein & Charles Eisenstein, and well-known artists like Ashley Eliza Williams and Tyler Thrasher. When she's not working on the pod, though, you can find her obsessing over great food and fermenting everything in sight. Episode Highlights Brandi shares how she left the world of marketing and branding, listened to her heart, and started her podcast and newsletter. We explore the practice of finding balance, connection, and opposites. She talks about her own healing journey of opposing forces in her body and how she cultivates balance in herself today. We discuss the gift of queerness in that we bridge the binaries and help others see connections between poles. We talk about the concept of holding opposites within ourselves and being capable of holding one side without having to jettison the other. Brandi shares her insight that the root of many emotional and physical ailments is inflammation, both in a material and immaterial sense. Web links Find Brandi online at ThisPlusThat.com Connect with him on Instagram, Twitter & YouTube Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Kenji Oshima is an Intrerfaith Spiritual Director, Community Dharma Teacher and Life Coach specializing in high functioning adults with ADHD. When not geeking out over Sci-Fi you’ll find him volunteering for QTAPI groups, reading at the beach, or finding ease in alternative health care. Episode Highlights Kenji shares how his diagnosis of adult ADHD started him on the path to becoming a life coach. He talks about his philosophies of bringing shift and ease to his own clients. We discuss how mindfulness and spiritual practice has supported his own journey which led to him becoming a spiritual guide and companion. Kenji describes what “co-active” coaching is and how he works with it. We explore the concept of epigenetics and what we inherit from our ancestors. Web links Find him online at CoachKenji.com Connect with him on Instagram & Twitter Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

David Weissman is a documentary filmmaker, public speaker and longtime activist. He is best known as producer of the films THE COCKETTES, WE WERE HERE, and CONVERSATIONS WITH GAY ELDERS. David was also co-founder of QDoc—The Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival. Episode Highlights David shares about how he became an accidental filmmaker while he followed his path of activism. We discuss how his style of interviewing to elicit personal story colors the depth of his documentaries on queer history. David talks about his Gay Elders Project and value of including queer elders in his documentary work. He also talks about using younger folks to edit Gay Elders Project, and the importance of intergenerational collaboration. David provides insights into his connection between activism and filmmaking. Web links Find him online at DavidWeissmanFilms.com Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Bonnie Violet is a trans femme genderqueer spiritual drag artist, identity doula and digital chaplain; YouTuber, Twitcher & Host of A Queer Chaplain podcast with such series as Drag & Spirituality, TranSpirit & Faith Leaders. Co-host of Splintered Grace with her conservative christian aunt, and At the Castro Country Club recovery podcast. Director of 1st Annual Drag & Spirituality Summit to take place in Chicago in October 2022. Bonnie Violet shares her experience of strength and hope with HIV, recovering from drugs, alcohol, and sexual assault in classrooms, community centers, churches, online and anywhere else she is invited. As a queer chaplain she is present with people in death and dying to self by helping to lace one’s narrative with a spiritual thread to remind them of their resilience, strengthen faith in self and create serenity in the now. Episode Highlights Bonnie shares about her personal journey with drag and her trans identity being a result of a spiritual awakening. She talks about her work as a queer chaplain and identity doula to helps others through all transitions of life. We learn about Bonnie’s connection to her spirituality through sobriety. Bonnie talks about their work with death and dying. Web links Find Bonnie online at www.aqueerchaplain.org And follow her on Instagram, TikTok & YouTube Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Seth Eisen is a San Francisco-based artist, writer, director, dramaturg, archivist, and educator who engages LGBTQIA+ history as a living, breathing dialogue by researching lost legacies. His transdisciplinary aesthetic combines physical theater, dance, ritual, puppetry, drag, circus, installation, and video art. Blurring the edge between art, research, and activism, the work is a hybrid of visual art and immersive live theater. For 25 years Seth has staged performance pieces, original plays, street spectacles and installations and has curated and appeared in numerous collaborative projects created with other Bay Area artists. In 2007, he founded the ensemble-based theater company Eye Zen Presents that unearths and elevates the lost and hidden histories of queer ancestors so that we can better understand our lineages and ourselves. The company’s mission is to share queer cultural legacies with the general public and provides space for our local QTBIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities to gather and be in creative relationship with each other. Eye Zen creates multidisciplinary community-building events in traditional and alternative theater spaces, private homes, gardens, schools and community centers. Eye Zen’s most recent multi-year project OUT of Site, is a series of performance-driven queer history tours make the connection between the people and the sites where histories took place, bringing them to life in immersive, educational, and entertaining events around San Francisco. FabLab queer history program provides community members opportunities to learn queer history while developing creative interdisciplinary projects specifically focused on queer ancestors of color. Episode Highlights Seth shares his path of creativity through his youth to becoming a performer and producer. We talk about why he began focusing his work on queer ancestors and how he brings these histories alive in the present day. We explore Seth’s simultaneous connection with spirit and his creative work, beginning in childhood. Seth talks about the art of puppetry and his work through that medium. He shares about the experience of caring for his brother, who passed from cancer, and how it transformed and inspired his life & work. We discuss the power of place when bringing queer history alive, in particular queer BIPOC ancestors Web links Find Seth online at www.eyezen.org And follow him on Instagram & Facebook Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

For nearly a decade, Mike Iamele has helped hundreds of GBTQ+ men to integrate shame and figure out what they subconsciously do every time they’re successful –– through a process called Sacred Branding®. In 2014, Mike accidentally came out to millions when he wrote an article about falling in love with a man after identifying as straight––and 100,000 people shared it overnight. He's also the author of Enough Already: Create Success on Your Own Terms (Conari Press 2015). Mike's shared his provocative and vulnerable take on sexuality + shame in hundreds of magazines and podcasts, including NPR, CBS, and Huffington Post. Episode Highlights Mikes shares about his unique work with clients with mapping sensitivities and performs a live demonstration with Nick. We talk about how this practice can help you discover your superpowers in all aspects of your life from sex and relationships to having a better experience on the job. We explore the meaning of “sensitive” and how that connects to being alive. Mike illustrates how his work is about reclaiming who we are and releasing the shame around stamping out who we’re supposed to be. Mike shares about his own journey to find his purpose. Web links Find him online at MikeIamele.com And follow him on Instagram @mikeiamele Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Kalyela J (she/her) is a Queer Spirituality Coach whose desire is to help the LGBTQ community experience love and peace with their spirituality and sexuality. She is considered a “Soulspeaker'' helping people heal their limiting beliefs so they can live into their purpose. Through first-hand experience she knows the journey and challenges that a Queer person faces. For over 20 years as a gay woman she struggled with religious trauma, lack of acceptance from family, and internalized homophobia. As she encountered a spiritual awakening she found peace and inner knowing that being LGBTQ is a divine gift. Her soul purpose is to help you receive the same so that you can live a life of purpose love and freedom. Kalyela resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, where in her free time she loves to read, spend time with her family and her fur baby. Her life’s mantra "Live Life with Intentionality.” Episode Highlights Coach K shares her story of struggling with her queer identity while growing up in a conservative Christian community and how she eventually reconciled her faith and identity. We learn how she shares her work with her clients and how she became a soul speaker. We discuss religious trauma and its impact. Coach K describes her spiritual coaching work and its empowering effect on her clients’ lives. Coach K describes her definition of Soul Speaker. Web links Find Coach K online at Kalyelaj.com And follow her on Instagram @queeronpurpose Sign up for the "Needs, Boundaries & Self-care" virtual workshop, June 11 & 12. Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Anna Renée Winget (they/them - currently living on Tongva land) is an artist, activist, scholar and educator. They currently serve as Affiliated Scholar at the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) where they are collaborating on Crossing Pride: a transnational digital healing storytelling project and archive by/ for/ with queer and trans refugees. They hold a doctorate in drama and theatre from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) and at San Diego (UCSD) where they completed their dissertation, "Performing Possibilities: Trans-Healing in Activist Performance" and received their MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. Anna teaches theatre and writing in communities and universities and develops new collaborative performances with communities toward decolonizing and healing. They have developed the Newcomers Performance Project which focuses this work on empowerment for queer and trans refugees. With Tina Rosenberg and Sandra D'Urso, they are co-editor and contributor in the newly published textbook, "Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Feminisms in Contemporary Performance." Episode Highlights We learn about how Anna found a place in theater to express and find their true identity. Anna shares how they explored the therapeutic and social justice aspects of theater and how they traveled internationally helping queer refugees tell their own stories. Anna talks about how theater and film can be tools for conscious raising and healing. They talk about their journey towards becoming a drama therapist. We discuss the healing power of sharing stories with each other. Web links Find them online at AnnaWinget.com And follow them on Instagram @2queernheal Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Mahrs Schoppman, born and raised in California, is a queer & trans somatic psychotherapist with a private practice based out of his home office in Occidental, California. He specializes in working with the queer community and with those who live with the embodied traumatic impacts of growing up in an oppressive religious environment. He is passionate about walking with people on their journeys of reclaiming embodied knowing, sensation, emotional range, and vitality. Currently, he is launching a series of religious trauma therapy groups with an understanding that group-based trauma needs group based healing. Born queer and raised orthodox Mormon, Scott Sessions knows about navigating worlds that seem like polar opposites. Scott, who now identifies as an agnostic post-Mormon mystic, is developing a career as a spiritual life coach. He helps those who have left restrictive religions to cultivate new spiritual practices that bring healing and inner peace. In addition to coaching, Scott runs monthly reading events (both online and in-person) called Queer Bedtime Stories, where folks come together to share and be moved by the words of LGBTQ authors. With a commitment to help meet the spiritual needs of this particular moment, standing firm in both Mormon and queer identities, Scott proudly carries the pioneer tradition into the 21st century. Episode Highlights Mahrs shares about his upbringing in the Evangelical Christian church, and how that effected him as a queer and trans person. Scott shares about his childhood growing up queer in a Mormon community, and struggled with his queer identity and coming out in that space. They both share how they found their path out of the dysfunction of those religious sects, and discovered their new spiritual practices. Mahrs shares how his relationship with the sensations of his body deeply impacted his ability to reconstruct his spiritual self. Scott talks about how he felt numb when he left his church and reconnected to spiritual sensation through writing and poetry. He also shares that learning about the spiritual practice of other queer folks informs his practices as well. Mahrs shares how his work as a psychotherapist is expanding to offer groups for folks recovering from religious trauma. He explains more about what somatic psychology therapy practices look like in practice. Scott shares about his new life coaching groups for queer folks who have left restrictive religions. He also talks about his Queer Bedtime Stories for folks to gather in a soft space to connect online and in-person. They both share their struggle to stay present in groups generally as a result of religious trauma, and how they stay grounded in their bodies in those moments. Web links Find Mahrs online at TherapyWithMahrs.com Find Scott on Instagram @scott-strolls & @queerbedtime Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Ni’Ja Whitson is a multi award-winning Queer Trans NB artist and futurist, a wound and medicine worker, noted by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. They are a United States Artist Fellow, Creative Capital and two-time "Bessie" Awardee who engages transdisciplinarity through a critical intersection of the sacred and conceptual in Black, Queer, and Transembodiedness. Episode Highlights Ni’Ja shares about their artistic and spiritual origins, as well as their emergence from a lineage of dreamers. They discuss their current project, The Illumination Catalogue, a ceremony project honoring Black, trans, and gender nonconforming lives and communities across Turtle Island (U.S.). We learn about their transformative experience in Tanzania and the meaning of their name. Ni’Ja talks about what they call a Black Trans Cosmic Map, an aspect of the Illumination Catalogue that is a compilation of life stories, cosmology, and ancestral connection of Black trans people across the country. We explore the astrological connections between the movement of laws in the United States and how they affect the lives of the queer community. Nick & Ni'Ja discuss the importance of creating sacred, intimate space in which to share stories and the journeys of people in the Black trans and gender nonconforming community. Web links Find them online at NijaWhitson.com And follow them on Instagram @illuminationcatalogue & @thenwaproject, and on Twitter Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.

Eli Ramer, who writes under the name Andrew Ramer, is the author of several books of interest to gay/queer readers, including "Queering the Text" and "Two Flutes Playing," which author and journalist Mark Thompson (who interviewed Ramer in his book "Gay Soul") called "a gay classic." Ramer will be talking about his new book, "Two Hearts Dancing." He lives in Oakland, California. Episode Highlights Eli talks about his new book, Two Hearts Dancing, which is a companion piece to his classic, Two Flutes Playing. We explore the value of poems and stories in our increasingly complicated and wobbly world. We also discuss the role of queer folx in engaging and dealing with climate change. Eli shares three of his pieces from Two Hearts Dancing. We reflect on the world changes since the first conversation with Eli on this podcast. Eli draws comparisons between the unification of the queer community during the AIDS crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Web links Find Eli online at AndrewRamer.com Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners. Grab your FREE Guide: The Self-Confident Queer - Download it here. And follow us on Instagram! Join our mailing list to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.