Casual Temple

TRANSCRIPT

(Transcript is auto-generated; errors are unintentional.)

00:00:03 Merrily

Welcome to your listeners, to Casual Temple podcast, episode 34, and I'm your host, Merrily Duffy at Casual Temple, our mission is to discover our connection to the unseen world of spirit and how that empowers us to know our true selves. But before we start a little favor, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Today, our guest is Ry, otherwise known as the Mestizo Mystic.

00:00:24 Merrily

Who is a folk Catholic, Mystic terror reader and Co host of the Red Text Podcast.

00:00:29 Merrily

Right. Spiritual journey begins with his childhood experiences with spirits while being raised in a Catholic household, we learn about Rise returned to Catholicism, which was influenced by his reading of the way of the Rose, which led to a reconnection with Mother Mary. This journey also led ride to an ancestral veneration practice from different areas like the Philippines and Mexico, so stay tuned to the Casual Temple podcast where the mystical.

00:00:50 Merrily

Meets the everyday.

00:00:52 Merrily

Welcome to casual temple. Our guest today is Rai, who's also known as the Mestizo Mystic Ry Hills from the Bay Area and is a folk Catholic Mystic, a devotee of Santa Muerte, terror reader, Diviner and Co, host of the Red Text Podcast.

00:01:10 Merrily

Ry, welcome to the casual temple. I'm really looking forward to talk about and talk about all these cool things with you.

00:01:16 Ry

Yeah. Hi. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

00:01:18 Ry

To be here.

00:01:19 Merrily

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I found you. I was kind of, you know, found you on Instagram and like, you have a lot of really cool interests and things to say.

00:01:28 Merrily

So I'm really excited about today.

00:01:33 Merrily

All right. So usually just kind of.

00:01:35 Merrily

Start at the beginning. So can you tell us how the story of how you ended up on your current spiritual path?

00:01:43 Ry

Totally. It's a bit long winded, so buckle up everybody. I've had spiritual experiences and paranormal experiences since I was a kid. They're not.

00:01:52 Ry

As explicit in my memory, because it was so long ago, but I remember my mom telling me how like I would cry because I would see spirits and she and my godmother would just tell me to, like, pRy them away. And I guess it worked at the time. And so, you know, I grew up with these encounters and feelings. I remember times growing up in my parents house too, of, like, hearing them Call My Name, and I would go to them and be like.

00:02:13 Ry

What do you want? Like, we didn't even say anything and like looking back on it now with my experience, I'm like ohh ****. Was that like a trickster spirit or some **** or like just something trying to get my attention. Which.

00:02:21 Ry

Is even just creepier thinking about it now.

00:02:26 Ry

But really, my journey began, I'd say like.

00:02:29 Ry

Early college years, so this is about like 2014, 2015. A brief background about myself as I was born and raised Catholic, but my family was never super like ******** Orthodox traditional Catholic. It was very much like we go to church on Christmas and Easter, and that was pretty much the only times we would go to mass. Otherwise, my mom, excuse me otherwise.

00:02:49 Ry

My mom would be like, you know, you don't need to go to church to pRy you can, you know, talk to God from the comfort of your own bedroom. So even that was kind of like already, like a folk sense of Catholicism because the, you know, church may dictate that you have to, like, go to church to do that, and you're mandatorily required to go to church every Sunday to receive.

00:03:06 Ry

Communion. So my family wasn't as strict about that, but definitely both sides of my family. I'm the Filipino side and the other side that's Mexican and and and white.

00:03:18 Ry

Whole pretty firmly in their Catholic identities. And so it was always something that surrounded me, you know, statues of Guadalupe and Mary in my house, crucifixes on the wall. Those like cheap looking Ross home decors of like, you know, this is, you know, we love God and **** like that you'd find.

00:03:34 Merrily

Right.

00:03:37 Ry

And so yeah, it was always important to me at the time. And then as I started to come more into back then, I identified it, identified more as gay in high school. And I identify as queer. But as I was coming into my gay identity, I was experiencing this cognitive dissonance of being gay and also being Catholic because, you know, evangelical.

00:03:56 Ry

Catholicism or Christianity really at the time was promoting this idea that all, you know, gays and queers are going to hell just because of who we are and who we experience attraction to.

00:04:07 Ry

And excuse me. Mm-hmm.

00:04:09

M.

00:04:11 Ry

And so.

00:04:13 Ry

I was struggling so much with like can I hold this faith be a part of this faith while also maintaining truth to my my inherent identity of coming into gayness and queerness and so it just felt unable to be held like I couldn't hold both at the same time back then. And so I started to experience this dissonance where I distanced myself.

00:04:33 Ry

From Catholicism and Christianity, and in college, I began to kind of just explore, like, very new age practices. It's when I like found, like, you know, got more into like crystals. And like, you know, manifest manifestation and all those things that are like, very new agey. And that was my more, like, deeper intro to spirituality.

00:04:48 Merrily

MHM.

00:04:53 Ry

Use spirituality loosely there, but that was veering from Catholicism into new territory, and then throughout college I also found began to find interest in like Eastern philosophy and religion. So I started to learn a little bit more about like Buddhism and Hinduism. That's when I started a meditation practice, which I

00:05:11 Ry

Very inconsistent with today, but it is still very integral to my practice, just as a self-care practice and so yeah, it was the new agness and then Eastern philosophy definitely leaned more towards the Buddhist side than Hindu, especially as I was getting a lot more into meditation.

00:05:30 Ry

But every year, like around the same time, I can't remember the specific times of year. I want to say, ironically, it was Easter, but I'm unsure where I would find myself.

00:05:37 Ry

Like not feeling empty per se, but like something was missing. It was like no matter how much I was into these new age practices or or trying to integrate Buddhism and meditation like it always felt at some point like something was missing like that inherent connection to something greater than myself. And so I always try to like dip my toes back into the waters athleticism, but again start to feel.

00:05:58 Ry

Excluded because of the anti queer you know proper.

00:06:02 Ry

And and eventually.

00:06:06 Ry

Like right after I graduated or around the time I graduated College in 2019.

00:06:11 Ry

I stumbled upon this book called the Way of the Rose and it's all about using the rosary.

00:06:17 Ry

To connect to the divine feminine, however, that shows up in one's life and in the book they they elaborate more specifically on Mary.

00:06:25 Ry

And it was really groundbreaking for me because I hadn't picked up my rosary or pRyd rosary and God knows how many years until I got that book started pRying the rosary. Mary started to show up, like, significantly more in my life, just so explicitly that I knew it was, you know, meant to be. I was meant to have a connection with her. And I think shortly before I.

00:06:45 Ry

Read the way of the rows to rewind a little bit is when I had discovered something which they threw a person's Instagram, who I no longer affiliate myself with. But when I discovered something more than how she she had these roots in, you know, in Catholic Mexico.

00:07:00 Ry

And how she was the patron St. of like the marginalized and oppressed, including queer folks, and that not want to turn anyone away because death comes first. All I she was my foot in the door of like stepping back into Catholic territory without feeling like excluded. Since she is so accepting. And then it was shortly after I began to devote myself to hers.

00:07:21 Ry

Then when I found way of the Rose and then found myself back to pRying the rosary and and Mary and then at the.

00:07:28 Ry

Later end of that same years when I started my ancestral veneration practice, forgive my cat, she's choosing to be noisy all of a sudden.

00:07:35 Ry

Too. And so yeah. So it kind of went like something. What did they? And then Mary, more specifically Guadalupe.

00:07:44 Ry

And then my ancestral generation practice and.

00:07:48 Ry

Those just kind of.

00:07:50 Ry

Became scaffolding for my practices today. I I definitely felt more connected to Catholicism, but in my own.

00:07:57 Ry

Personal sense. Once I discovered something. What they marry in my ancestral practice and was be able to reintegrate it into my life, but from my own worldview and my own perspective and cosmology kind of integrating all that I had previously learned, both new age and Eastern and.

00:08:16 Ry

A little bit of indigenous philosophy as well. And so Catholicism just slowly and slowly made its way back into my life. And then my goodness, come here.

00:08:27

Hello.

00:08:30 Ry

And yeah, it just became.

00:08:31 Ry

A part of my life again and then.

00:08:33 Ry

I I discovered like the term folk Catholicism, I believe 1st through.

00:08:40 Ry

Jay Allen Cross's book, American Bulgaria and.

00:08:44 Ry

That was like a real turning point for me, because then I realized ohh like what? I'm kind of stumbling back into like has a has a terminology like. There is a A A history behind this so I knew it wasn't just like me figuring **** out on my own. It really gave me that footing I needed to to learn more about kind of.

00:09:00 Ry

The path I was embarking on for myself and then, you know, over the course of the years I've taken courses both like on witchcraft, whether that's traditional folkloric, which I always found interesting, and I don't use the term to identify as a witch anymore. But it was also fascinating stuff. But where was it going with?

00:09:15 Merrily

Hmm.

00:09:22 Ry

Yeah, just teachers in the full Catholic practices of different areas such as like, you know, full Catholic Filipinos and and Mexicans and just really learning what that meant for me and my practice. And it just slowly became what it is today, which is just a, like I said, I identify as a Mystic rather than a a witch because I really don't do too much.

00:09:41 Ry

Like actual witchcraft? I can. If I want to, but I feel like Mystic is more.

00:09:43 Merrily

Right.

00:09:48 Ry

True to what? Like my practice is in terms of like pRyr, contemplation, devotion, and I don't do like too much magic here and there mainly just cause.

00:09:56 Ry

Of.

00:09:56 Ry

Life grad school and work, but uh, but it's it's still there. It's I haven't gotten rid of it completely. It's just more of my practice has shifted more to more of devotion and and contemplation, especially after discovering.

00:10:09 Ry

What contemplative Christianity was and what that looks like and.

00:10:14 Ry

It's just emphasis on connection with the divine through through pRyr and embodiment of, you know, the true Christian values and not what the institutional church has made it out to be. So that's kind of a summary of of where I come from and where I am.

00:10:23 Merrily

Yeah.

00:10:27 Merrily

Today, so meaty, so much there. My goodness. Oh, I have some follow-ups questions because there's like.

00:10:33 Ry

Yeah.

00:10:34 Merrily

Cool things that I was like trying to tag in my brain, so I'm going to roll all the way back to. I'm curious about when you were a child. Did you see those spirits or just hear them?

00:10:46 Ry

I I think it's both. I I I have more distinct memories of hearing them like say my say my name but the I don't have distinct memories of seeing them that was more so just what I heard from my mom of like Oh yeah, you would cry because you'd be seeing, you know, shadows and spirits and stuff. Or she said as a baby I'd like sit in the hallway and like, like laughing like talk to someone as if they were like.

00:11:05 Ry

Planning there? So, and of course, you know, children are so much more sensitive to those things than you know, when we lose the capacity for that as.

00:11:07 Merrily

And.

00:11:12 Ry

We get older.

00:11:13 Ry

But umm, but yeah, so I I don't remember seeing them, but I was told that I I did.

00:11:14 Merrily

MHM.

00:11:19 Merrily

Interesting. Yeah, because I have the same. Well, I don't know. I've not been told that I've seen them, but I definitely heard spirit.

00:11:25 Merrily

And the one that was connecting with me because you said, trickster spirits. I was like, 100% was a trickster spirit.

00:11:29 Merrily

Because it was.

00:11:30 Merrily

Just all up into some shenanigans all the time.

00:11:36 Ry

Yeah, I'm. I'm glad it didn't end up being anything like uh, you know, demonic or or whatever. And I'm sure it was just ******* with me because I don't remember, like, bad stuff happening. Uh, from hearing them or anything, but it was definitely like, what was your intentions? Yeah.

00:11:52 Merrily

What? What do?

00:11:53 Merrily

You do just to mess with me, yes.

00:11:54 Ry

Yeah, you don't pay the mortgage.

00:11:56 Ry

Here.

00:11:56 Merrily

I know like get out of here.

00:11:59 Merrily

And so the other question I thought of was an interesting one, because you mentioned sort of having like a I think you said cognitive dissonance sort of, yeah, like with your like sexuality. And then like having to figure out the the Catholicism thing. But I'm wondering what your thoughts are because the.

00:12:08 Ry

Hmm.

00:12:19 Merrily

Think that brought this up and I was like, that's interesting because she said, you know, because she suffered some childhood trauma, as you know, a lot of us have. But she feels that.

00:12:28 Merrily

Like that ability to have that or she even call it disassociation, really kind of she feels like that is something that kind of makes you more open in a like to like the spiritual sense. I don't know if that's making any sense and what your thoughts are on that.

00:12:33 Ry

MHM.

00:12:47 Ry

Yeah, I I.

00:12:48 Ry

I may not know exactly what they were trying to convey, but from my perspective, like I really think that distance was needed so I was able to learn more about different traditions because I mean, for me, I see like all religions as like I always use this metaphor of a diamond, right, like the diva.

00:13:03 Ry

Dying if we picture the divine as a diamond, but all these different facets are how all these different cultures and societies have viewed that same diamond throughout time. So maybe different cosmologies, maybe different names. But for me the belief is that at the root of it all, it's still that same that same spirit, that same divine source. Right. And so I think for me that time.

00:13:23 Ry

Dissonance and exploring like Eastern philosophies and religions and even new age, which is, you know, it can be into a very.

00:13:29 Ry

Alt right you.

00:13:30 Ry

Know conspiracy theorist territory.

00:13:33 Ry

We're gateways into like getting these new world views and perspectives of like, oh, like all I've known was Catholicism and Christianity. And here these things have been, you know, here for however long. And so it allowed me when I came back to Catholicism to now see it through this new view that I had that was influenced through studying my God.

00:13:53 Ry

We'll stop from learning about those different traditions like like.

00:14:00 Ry

Like one comparison, I like to make is like how in Buddhism there's the bodhisattvas and these are these are the people who forgo Nirvana until they help attain enlightenment for all living beings. And in Catholicism we have the Saints who like they do die and go to heaven, but they're also working on behalf of, you know, our pRyrs and interceding on our behalf.

00:14:21 Ry

By, you know, helping our pRyrs reach heaven, or even just physically interceding on our behalf, like in the material.

00:14:27 Ry

Realm.

00:14:28 Ry

And so I see a big, huge parallel between bodhisattvas and Saints, or even went to a workshop once, where they compared bodhisattvas to angels themselves. And so getting to learn about these different traditions and world views and cosmologies helped provide more clarity for me in ways that I never saw things within like my Catholic.

00:14:37 Merrily

Hmm.

00:14:49 Ry

Upbringing.

00:14:51 Merrily

Very cool.

00:14:54 Merrily

Yeah, it's really interesting about all those comparisons and I like your metaphor of the diamond is, you know, very cool. So I like that. So did you have any, uh support on your path or inspiration guidance individuals that?

00:15:14 Ry

I think at the very beginning of it, especially before I ever started creating a platform on Instagram, it was very much on my own, which was also daunting because like you know, when you're trying to learn about stuff, especially if you're not like going to school for these things, you're very much doing all of this research. And and I even use the term research loosely.

00:15:32 Ry

'Cause I was just Googling **** at the time, but yeah, I didn't have any support at the big beginning, but once I started getting on Instagram and again it did start with my foot in the door in the new age community before extending to more like actual like witchcraft and folk folk practitioners.

00:15:49 Ry

It was kind of a solo journey and then J Allen Cross, who is Oregon Wood which, who just recently actually came back on to Instagram after like a two year hiatus, was a big support in that I was taking a lot of workshops through them and their book helped me a lot.

00:16:05 Ry

I think there was a Daphne, like, etcetera. Someone else who was also a folk Catholic Mexican practitioner.

00:16:12 Ry

The the question that Erika Buenaflor was a huge support for me as well, I got to go to some workshops of hers in person and her books on put on the dismal were absolutely phenomenal and in giving me this new aspect of my practice as well, because although I have Mexican answers from my mom's side, it's very I don't like to go based off percentages.

00:16:32 Ry

You know, cause blood quantum ship, but like ohh my goodness she won't stop.

00:16:39 Ry

I'm more uh.

00:16:40 Ry

My mom said it's definitely more white than it is Mexican and and Hispanic as well. And then my dad's side just full Filipino. So I tried to slowly.

00:16:48 Ry

Network, or at least follow accounts of those different backgrounds. So I could try to like learn more about my different ancestral connections and like how they were influenced or, you know, influenced through colonization by by Catholicism. But at the same time, like that's what leads to them becoming full practices of like, how do these indigenous practices survive through?

00:17:08 Ry

Syncretism. When forced to adapt to like the colonizers beliefs right, but like if you look at the Philippines today, like Catholicism is still very much inherent part of it. Even you know, hundreds of years past colonialism and so.

00:17:23 Ry

Yeah, I'm trying to. I could. I could name so many people so I won't do that. But like I later down the road as I was learning more and diving deeper more into especially ancestral connections to Catholicism, I began to find more and more accounts that definitely again became a scaffolding of support. And then it was really.

00:17:42 Ry

When Vogan I started the Red Text Podcast back in late.

00:17:47 Ry

May I want to.

00:17:47 Ry

Say it was late Jesus Christ.

00:17:51 Ry

This is a little terrorist.

00:17:54 Ry

When we started the Red Text Podcast in late 2021, I want to say 2021-2022 that community is naturally unfolded like we we really just started the podcast as like to have a space to share our own lived experiences and growing experiences as as Catholic witches and practitioners.

00:18:14 Ry

And over the years that we've had the podcast like it just it grew and grew and people would reach out of like, Oh my God. Like, this was so supportive because it finally puts a name to what I've been feeling or what I've been experiencing. And so.

00:18:25 Ry

So even though our intention originally wasn't to, like, create a community, it's what happened. And that's also just been very inspirational and supportive for both voga and I, and it's what motivates us to keep going with the podcasts and to keep networking with folks and meeting really amazing practitioners from various different spiritual and religious traditions. And yeah, I went from just being someone who.

00:18:46 Ry

Help dissent with Catholicism and diving into new age stuff to now. Like knowing so many people, so many different backgrounds and and traditions that have like even influenced my practice. So went from being solo to having and being a part of this huge mainly online community, but community nonetheless.

00:19:04 Merrily

Oh, cool. Yeah, I like. I like that. Yeah. And usually I'm kind of. I kind of do things like you were talking about. I kind of dive into things by myself and then, like, figure it out for a while and then uh, then might seek some additional guidance, but I'm definitely more solo in that.

00:19:24

Right.

00:19:24 Ry

It can be hard to find teachers too if you don't have them readily available, like in your actual physical community or local community rather than like, you know, discernment I me. And they always talk about how important discernment is, no matter what you're learning or who you're learning from, because there's teachers out there who are greedy and just are out there for profit and will take advantage of you versus teachers.

00:19:28 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:19:44 Ry

So you know, I never thought I'd discover such a great quote on data through Instagram, but I did. And she's been a great teacher and mentor, so.

00:19:54 Ry

Yeah. Yeah. It's just about discernment. But yeah, Instagram is as much as a cesspool as it can be at times. It's definitely gotten me to where I am.

00:19:57

And.

00:20:01

Right.

00:20:03 Merrily

Today. Yeah, there's definitely some jewels in Instagram, I think, and it's great that you can kind of get a sense of somebody, at least, you know what they put out there. You can kind of get a sense of who they are as a person.

00:20:14 Merrily

And then your discernment can kind of.

00:20:17 Merrily

Figure that out from there, so I like that.

00:20:18 Ry

Totally.

00:20:21 Merrily

So I know you mentioned we talked about some books like some of your favorite books. You mentioned the way of the Rose for sure. That was very influential for you. Were there any other books that you were like?

00:20:26 Ry

MHM.

00:20:30 Merrily

Want to mention.

00:20:31 Merrily

I know probably a whole stack of them, but like.

00:20:32 Ry

Yeah. There's so many thing commit looks just not in front of me in my bedroom and in the.

00:20:36 Ry

Living room cause.

00:20:37 Ry

I yeah, I just made each one. Yeah. So American criteria by Jay Allen Cross, Mexican sorcery by.

00:20:44 Ry

A Laura, Laura davila. She's definitely, she said on Instagram. But her author name is Laura Davila. What else? A a good intro to something where they is. I think it's just called the something worth day and then like a subtitle. But it's by Tomas Prower. I wouldn't say it's like the Holy Grail.

00:21:04 Ry

Sent them what they books, but for people just seeking out information about her, it is a great intro.

00:21:10 Ry

Ohh Mahia mahia. Invoking Mexican magic and blood of brujeria, both by city alchemists. The authors are Alexis Arredondo and Eric Labrado. They're the Co founders and of city alchemist in based in. I want to say Austin, TX.

00:21:26 Ry

They've been wonderful teachers of mine as well, and those books are fantastic. Trying to think of some other, like really, really influential ones.

00:21:34 Ry

Uh.

00:21:36 Ry

Yeah, no, I'm blanking. Those are those have been some of the most integral ones. I'm trying to think of like any like, non magical ones that were also very influential. But I'm I'm trying to blink if I run to my bookshelf right now, I won't be back for like 30 minutes as I'm like, jotting down all the ones I want to share.

00:21:53 Merrily

Yeah.

00:21:55 Ry

If I I may just tell you after the show and and so you can and put them in the show notes, but uh, those are some of the main ones that I would say we're pretty, pretty influential.

00:22:06 Merrily

Cool. Yeah, that's.

00:22:07 Ry

Oh, I'm sorry. One more. I I just I remember any of the books by Erica Buenaflor and Curran. The Reese more fantastic. Because even if you're not of, you know, metal American or Mexican, Latino ancestry, as long as you're approaching it with respect and incorporating into your practice and not proclaiming yourself with Coronado those books.

00:22:26 Ry

I believe holds great, great practices that one can incorporate into their own practice for for healing themselves and helping to heal others too. So any books by Erica Buena fluid. But if I had to recommend one specifically, it would be not veneration rights, it's a.

00:22:43 Ry

I think it's healing rights of curanderismo that could be screwing with the title a little bit, but it's her book that focuses on limpias, which are the spiritual cleansings then one more book I'm remembering that was also very good was not by her, but that influenced my practice, was honoring the ancestors by Mallory. I don't know how to pronounce her last name property. It's like vad wise or something like that.

00:23:03 Ry

But honoring the ancestors was a great intro to.

00:23:07 Ry

Building an ancestral practice and and also providing some like different spiritual workings and stuff that you could do to connect with them. So I highly recommend that book for anyone looking to start an ancestral veneration practice.

00:23:20 Merrily

Oh, cool. Yeah, great recommendations there making this. Thank you for going through those books. I I can't believe you remembered all those.

00:23:28 Merrily

Off the top of your head.

00:23:28 Merrily

That's pretty great.

00:23:32 Merrily

And so kind of what you kind of touched a little bit about like your sort of the aspects of your current spiritual practice today. But can you kind of walk us through either what a day-to-day kind of looks like for you in in that?

00:23:44 Merrily

Of you know how you connect.

00:23:48 Merrily

The spirit, I guess.

00:23:49 Merrily

So I need to know.

00:23:50 Ry

One second.

00:23:50 Merrily

Your cat's name for sure.

00:23:52 Ry

Mariposa Mariposa.

00:23:55 Ry

Yeah, that's Spanish for butterfly. Ohh so.

00:23:59 Ry

I'm gonna open my door, cause maybe she'll.

00:24:00 Merrily

Leave. OK. Yeah, no problem.

00:24:06 Ry

Leave me alone. I guess not. OK, a little bit. She was, like, hanging by the door and then decided to flee under a chair. I'm so sorry. What?

00:24:15 Merrily

Of course.

00:24:17 Ry

Was the question.

00:24:17 Ry

You just asked me.

00:24:17 Merrily

Ohh sure, what is your sort of day-to-day connection with spirit look like? Yeah.

00:24:23 Ry

Yeah, I so my time management over the last like six months plus have been absolute ****. But when I when I was making time for my spiritual practice, I'm also in grad school. So like that? Yeah. I don't want to use that as an excuse, but like my time management has just been so focused on that that I haven't focused enough as much as I would like to on my spiritual practice, but.

00:24:42 Merrily

Yeah.

00:24:43 Ry

Back in the day when I had made a lot of time for it, it was a lot of smoke cleansing and burning incense. I love Burning resins specifically.

00:24:52 Ry

Copal and frankincense. And then, really, I use a lot of spiritual oils, like, even if it's not for sale or just, like, anointing it on my skin before I leave for the day. Erica Blender floor has her own little blends that she makes. And this one I put on almost every single day. It's spiritual, intelligent outcome.

00:25:12 Ry

OK, whatever. It's spiritual intelligence. You can get it at realize your bliss.com is your website. I have oils that like sent them with the Archangel Michael. I have an ancestor oil on my altar. So like all of these, all kind of rotate, which ones I use throughout the day or if I'm like, studying or about to go out and do something, I'll, I'll.

00:25:31 Ry

Could we kind of just pick a oil and anoint it like on my palms and do like a little spiritual past where I'm just like sweeping my hands over my body? One thing I used to do every single day in the evening that I'm a little bit inconsistent with now, but.

00:25:38 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:25:45 Ry

One of my teachers taught me how to do a spiritual pass with Florida Water, which is the spiritual colon where you just put them in your hands and you rub it and you take a take a whiff and the same thing kind of just go over your entire, like, aura and etheric body and dust off any energy first thing in the morning, cause your soul's coming back from traveling the astral realm and then in the evening or afternoon, whenever you come home from.

00:26:05 Ry

You know, work or being out and about because of all that energy you could pick up.

00:26:07 Ry

While while out there.

00:26:10 Ry

And they're all, like, very simple things too. Or like, I used to carry a little something like the statues in my pocket all the time. And I don't do it. Any statues as much I have, like, this little something. What they tells them that I carry instead I have my microphones blocking it, but I have my something like they necklace that I wear 24/7. Ohh. And talismans.

00:26:30 Ry

The big thing? I have a Talisman that I got from this one, which her name on Instagram is aconite. Conjure. She's based in the I wanna say in the UK Her Dark Star line of talismans or chefs?

00:26:44 Ry

This and then I have like acoustic caravaca a Kabaka cross that I wear pretty frequently that also has an Archangel Michael metal on there. So yeah, like it's it's simple because again, I don't do as many elaborate and big workings as I used to in the past just because time and energy. But I definitely try to incorporate these.

00:27:04 Ry

I don't want to say smaller because they're still very meaningful, but these very more convenient forms of of cleansings and just reinforcing my connection to spirit, to my ancestors, to my spiritual court, you know? Yeah, just through the anointing of oils and burning incense. And there's.

00:27:21 Ry

Excuse me? There's research that actually shows that frankincense has a multitude of beneficial properties when burn and some of those include, like relief or promotion of stress and even helping to relieve symptoms of depression. And so. But you know, like indigenous cultures have burnt these things for.

00:27:40 Ry

You know, ages and knew about the properties of and benefits that they held and.

00:27:45 Ry

You.

00:27:45 Ry

Know Western science is just only reinforced the.

00:27:48 Ry

The multitude of benefits that that brings. So yeah, I my entire birth chart is ruled by fire and air. So like burning **** and incense like I feel like this is naturally my thing, right? I used to be really into sigils. I used to be really into sigils and one way that I kind of reconstructed my Filipino folk faith is.

00:28:08 Ry

And there's this pre colonial script in the Philippines called the Buy in and I took a workshop through some mentors of mine in the Philippines of how to use the buy in for divination. But they also showed us how to.

00:28:20 Ry

I don't know if they showed us how to make signals or if I just chose to do that, but uh, making signals out of the Babayan characters like translating a word from English to Tagalog and then from Tagalog into babying, and then just messing around to make a sigil that used to be something I did pretty frequently, which I really enjoyed, because to me they just made way cooler residuals than just using like English letters.

00:28:41 Ry

To try to form something but, but yeah, that's kind of what my practice still looks like today. More so just a lot of reading and research and it's the simple practices of incense burning and devotion, lots of pRyr. I'm slowly getting back into pRying the rosary a lot more.

00:28:57 Ry

I think that I think that pretty much sums it up for.

00:28:59 Ry

Where I'm at at the moment though.

00:29:01 Merrily

Yeah, I mean that's pretty solid. You know, stuff that you're doing. I'm also very curious about the because you use a lot of incense and oils and like scents and things. I I've heard you know, because if you think about what like smells and scents are, they're very spiritual because it's like you can't see it.

00:29:18 Ry

MHM.

00:29:20 Merrily

And you can see the oil, but you can't see the smell. So I think that's like a really good connection point for, like your spiritual self.

00:29:20 Ry

Mm-hmm.

00:29:24 Merrily

Yeah.

00:29:31 Merrily

And I like the kind of tip about the Florida Water cause. I love Florida Water, but I was like, oh, yeah, I like that.

00:29:38 Merrily

Sort of like doing that.

00:29:40 Ry

Yeah, yeah, I I recently, I don't remember where I heard it, but oh, it was actually from a professor of mine, from my trauma class. I just finished. Uh, one of the rituals she had us do. I go to a very spiritual graduate program. And I that's why I love it so much. That's why I chose it. But my professor.

00:30:00 Ry

For our closing out of the semester of our trauma class, she brought little vials of water and then a selection of essential oils, and we were talking about boundaries. And So what her intention was to close out the semester with us as we would get to make a blend of different essential oils into our own little vial of water. And it was to remind us of boundaries. So like.

00:30:18 Ry

Kind of actually.

00:30:19 Ry

Basically doing a spiritual path she showed us to just put some drops of it in our hands and then smell it and go over our body in my head. I'm like now wait a minute. Do you do you know what this is? Do you know what you're doing right now, Shane?

00:30:29 Merrily

Umm.

00:30:30 Merrily

Yeah.

00:30:31 Ry

And so I, yeah, I have my own little blend of water. I prefer blending essential oils into like a base an oil base rather than a water base because I feel like it lasts longer. And you could use it on candles and whatnot. But anyways, I got to carry that from school and I forgot where my train of thought was going with that. But just how just how that to another little spiritual.

00:30:39 Merrily

Great.

00:30:50 Merrily

Yeah.

00:30:51 Ry

Thing I carry too.

00:30:52 Merrily

What a cool program, though. That's awesome that, that, you know, they're having you do that for like, the end of.

00:30:58 Merrily

Your semester. That's cool.

00:30:59

Yeah.

00:31:01 Merrily

OK. And so you definitely touched on sort of the Catholic a little bit you mentioned kind of Catholic folk practices, but can you tell us what is a Catholic folk witch, what does that entail?

00:31:14 Ry

Yeah, I mean like the sparknote version is just someone who simultaneously holds both of those identities and beliefs. Like Voga is definitely a full Catholic witch. Like they heavily are into full Catholicism and Catholicism as a whole, but also like very much are, you know, full foot in the bag when it comes to practicing witchcraft.

00:31:34 Ry

Like they they do witchcraft for sure.

00:31:38 Ry

Like I said, I kind of over the years went from identifying as a folk Catholic witch to more as just either a folk practitioner or spiritual practitioner and not so much the witch. But yeah, a folk Catholic witch in short, is just someone who holds both uh witchcraft and folk Catholicism as integral parts of their identity, but also engages in the two of those. So not just, you know, there's lots of people out there who might call themselves.

00:31:59 Ry

Or which or a folk this or whatever, you know, a chaos magician, whatever it is, but might just be more of an armchair version of that. Or you're reading more about it and not doing it. I'm guilty of having done that for quite a while, but.

00:32:11 Ry

Really claiming those titles also involves, you know, doing the *******, doing the doing the work. Yeah. So, yeah, full Catholic, which is someone who embodies both of those identities as well as the practices that those entail.

00:32:15 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:32:25 Ry

Is my definition. There's no hard and fast definition, I'd say.

00:32:28 Merrily

Yeah, yeah, that's a good sort of insight into what your perspective is on that. That's very cool.

00:32:35 Merrily

And sort of the lakes you mentioned, that was one thing I wanted to have a little more chat about is like the contemplative Christian mysticism, because it's something I just recently learned from one of my guests. And I was like, oh, I guess I was kind of just doing that myself. Like, just on, you know, when I meditate with my.

00:32:53 Merrily

When I meditate or I meditate on the cause, I study the Kabbalah. So I meditate on the tree of life quite a bit.

00:32:59 Ry

M.

00:33:00 Merrily

And so I was like, oh, I didn't know. That was like a practice in in a practice, in Christian spirituality. Right. Can you tell us, you mentioned a little bit about what that looks like, but can you tell us, like, what, what does that mean, like, contemplative?

00:33:14 Ry

Yeah, I don't have the the definite like the actual definition off the top of my head, but for personal definition.

00:33:20 Ry

It's like, yeah.

00:33:21 Ry

Contemplative mysticism and contemplative Catholicism is like to me what the Saints did back in the day. Like, really.

00:33:28 Ry

Just, just adherent. Devotion to wanting to further their connection as much as possible to the divine. However, that showed up for them. So nature is sacred in and of itself. But for me, like when I'm in nature like and whether I'm meditating in nature, reading in nature or just like mindfully taking in nature through sight, smell and sound like.

00:33:49 Ry

That for me is contemplation because it reminds me so deeply and easily of my connection to things greater than myself and and really just reminding me of that awareness that like, I'm so insignificant in the larger grand scheme of things.

00:34:03 Ry

Like the other night, my partner and I were chasing the lower borealis because we live in the Bay Area and it was supposedly really, really strong and we didn't know about it Friday night when it was so clear. And so Saturday night. We're like ******* going into Mount Tamalpais, which is a bit north of San Francisco, and we're, like, seeking the the lower borealis. So we didn't end up seeing it.

00:34:23 Ry

Which was sad because it's a thing on my bucket list to see the Northern Lights, but I saw two shooting stars and then we got to a cliffside where like it was just such an expansive, beautiful view of so many constellations because we were so far from light.

00:34:28

What?

00:34:36 Ry

Yeah. And also because we were going up a hill, there was really dense fog. So once we got above a certain elevation, you could kind of just see like this sea of fog, although it was super dark at night. But I got a picture on my my Lumix of like, with with the brighter exposure. And you could just see this like sea of fog, which was so gorgeous that we're just standing above and then.

00:34:56 Ry

The constellations and the shooting stars, and like all of that.

00:35:00 Ry

I knew I was going to cry if I saw the Aurora borealis. I didn't. I was just hardened a little bit, but it's still it's still, it's still embody this just sense of like grandiosity and and insignificance at the same time. And for me that's that's contemplative Ness contemplation, contemplatives scism cuz it's just.

00:35:16 Merrily

Yeah, for sure.

00:35:20 Ry

When I'm exposed to those things, I create this sense of awe and just reminds me of that inherent connection to the divine and how it's within and around us like that to me.

00:35:28 Ry

Is what contemplative mysticism is, and maybe I'm wrong. I makes me want to do a little the definition to see what it actually is, but one Christian or Catholic person I follow who I would recommend for any contemplative mysticism relating to Catholicism. His name is Richard Rohr. That's ROHR.

00:35:50 Ry

I think I read. I read one of his.

00:35:52

Looks.

00:35:53 Ry

I may have read one of his books, but I stumbled upon him and his his e-mail lists every day. Like comes out with something for retaining to a pertaining to a specific theme of the week and it's it's related to Catholicism. So there's like, you know, mention of Jesus and whatnot. But it's just the way he talks about Christ and God is just in such a universal sense.

00:36:14

Mm-hmm.

00:36:15 Ry

That, like I feel like anyone could benefit from reading about it. Yeah, and contextualize it to their own cosmology, but uh, his his takes on contemplative Catholicism is really what kind of.

00:36:27 Ry

Drew me in and and like you mentioned merely too. It's like, yeah, I read about it and just kind of like, wait a minute. This is kind of like how I've just been how I've been experiencing this. And so it was again, like a nice. Like, when I first discovered the term folk Catholicism, it was just like a nice reinforcement of, like, oh, like, this is clearly like, just you're meant to be or just what my ancestors did because.

00:36:35 Merrily

Yes.

00:36:46 Ry

There I am doing the same damn thing and just only now finding like words for it.

00:36:50 Merrily

Yeah.

00:36:52 Merrily

Ohh yeah, that's so cool.

00:36:55 Merrily

Gosh, there's something you said. So many cool things, but yeah, definitely. When you were describing the the, you know, chasing the world, borealis, you couldn't see it, but then you saw this other a lot of this cool view and this, this and like my scalp was like anytime I get all like like my scalp started to like, you know, my hair started stand.

00:37:14 Merrily

Up on my scalp.

00:37:15 Merrily

And so it was such a cool image and I'm glad you got to see it. I'm, you know, I I I know you're going to see the Aurora borealis though for sure one day. One day. Oh, gosh. Yeah. One day. Yes.

00:37:28 Merrily

So we'll kind of talk to you because you were or also talked about being a devotee of Santo Marte. So can you tell us what your experience with that? I think you touched on it, but because I think a lot of like me, I'm very I'll just straight up say I'm very ignorant about necessarily means and you know you only hear things you know.

00:37:48 Merrily

How I only heard about it from watching Breaking Bad.

00:37:51 Merrily

So that's my.

00:37:52 Ry

Ohh no, so that's why.

00:37:55 Merrily

Sort of like. OK, I guess that's part of it. I don't know. But so if you can give us a little more insight.

00:38:00 Ry

Onto that would be great. Yeah, 100% by no means I might have sent them with the expert, but I definitely have knowledge I'm willing or not willing. I mean willing to share, but like able to share. I'm not gatekeeping, although I could if I wanted to, but I.

00:38:05

Sure.

00:38:16 Ry

Yeah. So something worth they that Spanish that directly translates into holy Death or how their titles include some decimal which they which is the most holy death. She is death personified. Like she's not this like grim Reaper. She looks like a grim Reaper type figure is like we would see depicted in like you know Western media and culture.

00:38:35 Ry

She's like she is death personified. She is the act of death. She is death and.

00:38:42 Ry

Because she has roots in Catholic Mexico, you'll often see her depicted as part of, like the Holy Trinity, because in my beliefs and what resonates with others, I've noticed as well is that, you know, Christ had to die on the cross in order to become resurrected and become like, you know, the foundation.

00:38:56 Ry

Of of Christianity, the whole belief is that we believe in his resurrection and other people say that he conquered death. But I see death in Christ as as Co creators like he could not have died on the cross without dying. And so in that moment sent them what they was with him and you know, guided him to the afterlife.

00:39:19 Ry

And then yes, he was resurrected, but I don't see that as conquering death. I just see that as collaborating with death, really. And so that's how I feel. Something. What if they fits into my cosmology, which probably resonates with many of those many of those, something like the devotees in Mexico who are firm to their Catholic beliefs but also feel or are marginalized or oppressed.

00:39:33 Merrily

Hmm.

00:39:38 Ry

In a way in which they feel also heavily connected to less than.

00:39:42 Ry

With it and so like I mentioned, she is the patron St. of the marginalized and oppressed, but sadly, through the majority of media that she's represented in, it's it's very much in a negative connotation because yes, you know, people that work within the drug cartels turned to her because they work in a in a field that you may not be coming home.

00:40:03 Ry

That day, you know, like you are not not guaranteed to live one day to the next one. You're working in something like the cartel.

00:40:08 Ry

Industry and she also protects those of marginalized and oppressed identities, such as the queer folks, trans folks, sex workers, anyone who finds themselves in any culture in any society, like in the margins of those areas. And so she doesn't turn away anyone because at the end of the day, like we're all going to die.

00:40:30 Ry

Whether it's sooner or later, we don't know, but.

00:40:33 Ry

She, you know, she comes for assault. That doesn't necessarily mean everyone is able to become a devotee because that's a very lifelong title that you take on. And I I kind of jumped head first into the waters of, like, when I discovered her, I immediately started identifying as a devotee. I do not recommend doing that because again, it is a lifelong title and a lifelong.

00:40:53 Ry

Role that you take on when you when you claim that title, so if anyone's interested in her, I would.

00:40:59 Ry

Recommend bare minimum six months before you even consider claiming the title of the OT, but at least give it one to two years to do your research and to give her offerings and to you know, maybe work on a few petitions with her to see how it shows up in your life. But uh, when you invite death, when you invite something life into your life like because death.

00:41:17 Ry

Also involves, you know.

00:41:19 Ry

Deaths such as in like endings and not just physical death.

00:41:23 Ry

You may notice you lose relationships. You may lose your job, you may lose friends. You may lose this, that, and the third, because when you invite her into your life, like things may die naturally, like plants or or, you know, in some cases I've heard pets as well. But mainly like she's going to remove from your life what you no longer need.

00:41:42 Ry

Because she's bringing an end to the an end or a death to those things. So just.

00:41:46 Ry

It's kind of like when TikTok had the whole trend over. What was it moldavite of like? Oh my God, moldavite ruined my life like I lost my job. I lost my long term partner, Da da da. And it's because, you know, when I used the new terms like it is a very high vibrational stone. You know, it comes from ******* outer space or outer space meteor.

00:42:06 Ry

Or whatever. You know, if we're not ready to take those things into our lives, and yet we're inviting them like we have to be prepared for us to lose things that no longer align with what we're, you know what, what serves us or what's meant to be a part of our our life at the time. So I always recommend the same thing with something like that for you, really.

00:42:07 Merrily

MHM.

00:42:25 Ry

Call yourself the devotee and invite her in as a companion and as a guide. Be prepared to to she's like the tower card of tarot like the IT it shakes you up and you're gonna be shaken up. But after the towel comes to star in which there's hope and rest and renewal and new things are able to come into your life. Once you are have those unstable.

00:42:45 Ry

Foundations taken out.

00:42:48 Ry

So she's she's like a reset of sorts, too. But she's also been a great teacher of, just like, reminding me, like, you know, be grateful for each day that you have. Be grateful for each interaction. You have. Some of my friends still cringe sometimes when, like, we're saying goodbye. And I'm just like me and my friends openly expressed saying, I love you to one another.

00:43:08 Ry

But sometimes I'll remind us, like you know, like we might not see each other in a day or so. We never know what's going to happen, and some of them, like, still get taken aback by that. But for me, it's just a reminder of, like, it's true. Like, I'm treasuring this moment because I don't know.

00:43:19 Ry

When or if I'll see you again and it's because of my constant connection with something. What if they in reminder that death could be around the corner for any of us at any time, to just really treasure each moment like it could be your last cause? It very well could be.

00:43:21 Merrily

MHM.

00:43:34 Merrily

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Thanks for walking us through that. And as you're talking and thinking of like, you know, gangs, I do the Kabbalah, and you talked about the Trinity. And so.

00:43:46 Merrily

In the Kabbalah, the highest Supernal triangle is Keter Hochma and Dinah Bina is the my cat just stormed in the door. My is Bina is like the one that's the feminine of the Supernal Triangle, and is also associated with Saturn.

00:44:06 Merrily

Right. And so there's that and definitely like the maternal figure in, in our reality, you know, women we carry life, but we also carry death, you know, right. So everybody has to.

00:44:17 Ry

Mm-hmm.

00:44:18 Merrily

But beneath Bina is another sphere called Debra, and to me, I've been trying to figure out where colleague, because, like, I kind of look at the Hindu deities too. I'm like, where does collie fit? She's definitely kind of venom, but not really. She's an emanation of Genoa and gather, and it sounds very similar to how you're talking about like Santa Marta.

00:44:37 Merrily

To me anyway, where I'm trying to figure out correspondences.

00:44:39 Ry

Yeah.

00:44:41

Hope.

00:44:41 Merrily

See, so that's very cool.

00:44:44 Ry

No. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that in, cause I I barely have even general knowledge of of Kabbalah. So I I love getting to hear a connection like that because it's really fascinating.

00:44:52 Merrily

Yeah, it's cool. I mean I it's my framework that I use because it my it helps my brain to understand things. Yeah, totally.

00:44:59 Merrily

Yeah, but cool. And so can you walk us through sort of, could you have a diverse ancestry? I also have a diverse ancestry, but I don't think, yeah, other than my cat again.

00:45:09

Thanks.

00:45:09 Ry

Normalization.

00:45:17 Merrily

So how do you incorporate your?

00:45:21 Merrily

That's my goodness. Your cat going now? My cat's going. How do you incorporate your diverse ancestry into your practice? Or how does it look for you today? Today, in a spiritual sense.

00:45:32 Ry

Yeah, absolutely. So even though like on my mom's side, like the Mexican answer, she for me is is much smaller compared to the rest. Like I have a more deeper connection to that than I do like my Italian or Portuguese ancestries, because even though I've like, tried to reset.

00:45:41 Merrily

Hmm.

00:45:48 Ry

****, especially because there's so much history and like Italian folk Catholicism and and magic and whatnot. Like I've always just felt a deeper connection to my Mexican ancestry, no matter how my new that is. So like Guadalupe has always been an inherent part of my family, who you'll also find very apparent in the Philippines as well. But it was really through Erica.

00:46:09 Ry

And the flow. When I started studying a lot more about curanderismo that I just felt this in this inherent connection like it just felt natural when I started practicing it and incorporating it into my my, you know, day-to-day magical routines with, especially with lymph.

00:46:23 Ry

This, even though it has like Mesoamerican roots. So despite only having like you know, so and so much amount of Mexican ancestry, this just felt inherently natural to me. And like, I know there's many multiracial mixed folks out there who might feel impostor syndrome when it comes to connecting with that part of your ancestry that you might not. I'm using air quotes here that.

00:46:43 Ry

You might not feel enough of which I want to name is ********, cause it's in your blood. That's who you are.

00:46:50 Ry

That just for me, was such an empowering sense because I too, went through that phase of not feeling again air quotes enough of like this particular race or ethnicity, but like being able to inherently naturally connect with that ancestry through these spiritual practices was also reaffirming in my racial identity. And then same thing with being.

00:46:59 Merrily

OK.

00:47:10 Ry

Filipino I'm often coated and perceived as as Latino. Every time I meet a Filipino person, they're just like you don't look Filipino. I'm like, what the **** do you want me to look like? Like.

00:47:19 Ry

Let me go grab a barong out of my closet and like, start doing a ******* dance for you. I.

00:47:23 Ry

Guess but so.

00:47:24 Ry

That also causes cognitive dissonance and imposter syndrome of like am I allowed to claim this Filipino identity despite it being the majority of what consists of my blood and being more? When I grew up and surrounded by my Filipino family? And so again.

00:47:27 Merrily

Yeah.

00:47:30 Merrily

Right.

00:47:38 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:47:39 Ry

Diving into those practices, another fantastic book I haven't finished is.

00:47:44 Ry

Way I think it's called a way of the ancient healer by Virgil Mayor, Apostle. Fantastic book with such a fantastic amount of well done research, but also Virgil Mayar Apostal who's based, I want to say in Southern California somewhere down there he teaches like these in indigenous Filipino traditions such as like.

00:48:05 Ry

I think he teaches a blown which is like a seated form of kind of like massage therapy. But it has spiritual elements to it and he teaches.

00:48:14 Ry

God, what is it?

00:48:16 Ry

I can't remember it's it's this martial art that incorporates.

00:48:21 Ry

Weapons and I am blanking on the *******. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think it's is it Khalis or something.

00:48:24 Merrily

Ischemia or not, a screen, OK?

00:48:30 Merrily

Oh, Holly excrement. Yeah.

00:48:31 Ry

Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, yeah. On the right track. Yeah. So he teaches classes of that. And, yeah, reading the way of the ancient human was also just, uh, there's actually a really cool amount of parallels between curanderismo and and like indigenous Filipino spirituality and folk spirituality, because again, you know, we were colonized by the same, you know, Spaniards. So you're going to see.

00:48:46

Hmm.

00:48:51 Ry

Blends there. But uh.

00:48:52 Merrily

Yeah.

00:48:54 Ry

Yeah. So just reading about the histories and also like noting own like personal noses that would arise like at one point I felt a connection to the Tagalog deity of the stars, tala and I was noticing a lot of parallels between her and the only I forgot to mention. The only bodhisattva from Buddhism that I ever felt really, really connected with this.

00:49:13 Ry

One in and then. Of course, there's Mary in my life and through PG I found like the three of them are almost one in the same, but also again, like the diamond metaphor, like completely different facets, even though they have a lot of overlap in you know, whether that's appearance or devotion and things of that nature. And so not only was I getting to.

00:49:21 Merrily

Oh.

00:49:24 Merrily

Right.

00:49:33 Ry

To discover history of these spiritual traditions of my different ancestral backgrounds, it was also reaffirming of my own ethnic and and racial identity, which I found that wasn't something I anticipated, but it was a byproduct of getting to learn about and explore these traditions.

00:49:54 Ry

So I always recommend to people like I know some people are very like anti ancestral practices because they assume that like that it carries them having to work with certain like.

00:50:03 Ry

Ancestors who are like maybe abusers or like people, maybe who are adopted or part of the foster care system who don't know their backgrounds, are hesitant to approach it. But anyone can approach an ancestral practice and it doesn't have to be just the ancestors that you're like, like blood related to we have our ancestors of.

00:50:11 Merrily

Right.

00:50:21 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:50:23 Ry

Spiritual connections. Vocational. If you are queer, you can just connect to those other queer ancestors and it's So what I was trying to say is like I always.

00:50:33 Ry

Highly recommend like.

00:50:35 Ry

Learning about your ancestry, if you have access to that information and feel comfortable doing so and then diving into the history of those ancestries and and practices, and then just really just trying it out because just because you may be like 80% Filipino and 20% white, it doesn't mean you have to only practice those Filipino traditions. You might find that you you are attracted to and more.

00:50:56 Ry

Easily connect with those practices from your light ancestry. So really it's just it's a lot of dabbling and and discovering what works for you and what you're connected to cause.

00:50:59 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:51:06 Ry

Part of like looking back at my new age practice, I'm like that had nothing to do with like any of my ancestry of any part of my racial identity, which I feel like is why it didn't stick. You know, it was a newly just, very also, very culturally appropriate, and cherry picking of what it, you know, adapts and popularizes. So that's another, you know, critique but.

00:51:14 Merrily

Right.

00:51:26 Merrily

Yeah.

00:51:26 Ry

But yeah, like, look into your ancestry and see what lies behind there, because all of us have such a vast amount of inherent knowledge and wisdom in our ancestral DNA that's just waiting for us to tap into it.

00:51:37 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:51:39 Merrily

Oh, so beautifully said.

00:51:42 Merrily

Yeah, I definitely want to chit chat a little bit about some, a little bit of spice around the new Age spiritual feel, just a little bit. OK, good. But I do. I do want to connect on these sort of like I I think you know, growing up because I'm my dad is Irish American and my mom is a Filipino and that.

00:51:47 Ry

Ohh please, I love hot cakes.

00:52:01 Merrily

I would often have people tell me how much I was of one or the other, and like ohh you're like 65% this or 30. And I was like, what are you even talking about?

00:52:12 Merrily

Right. Just, you know, and I would never, I would never do that to any other person cause it was so like it was so weird to me and, like, made me feel terrible. And I was.

00:52:22 Merrily

Like what? So weird.

00:52:25 Ry

Yeah, it's like you you consist of this like diverse background and yet like people are still trying to put us in.

00:52:30 Ry

A particular box.

00:52:31 Merrily

Yes, exactly. Yes. Oh, gosh, yeah. Everybody's always trying to put everybody else in a box. Like, God, just chill out.

00:52:38 Ry

I know. Go stay in your own.

00:52:41 Merrily

Box box and like like be cool anyway.

00:52:47 Merrily

So yeah, thank you for telling, reminding me of that how little PTSD come up about that. So it was pretty funny.

00:52:53 Merrily

OK. Yeah. Let's talk about a little bit about, you mentioned like new age spirituality and sort of sort of the appropriation around that. And yeah, we talked a little bit about that before, but you know, let's talk a little bit about.

00:53:01

Mm-hmm.

00:53:05 Merrily

That.

00:53:06 Ry

Yeah.

00:53:08 Ry

What part we can? I don't even know where to start.

00:53:09 Merrily

Oh gosh, so many kind of like, maybe when you first know, you know, cause I, you know, obviously dip my toes into new age stuff too. So I'm of a certain age and yeah, there's some of it just didn't hit and some of it it just felt kind.

00:53:23 Merrily

Of.

00:53:24 Merrily

I don't know fluffy and not very deep. You know, that's kind of.

00:53:25 Ry

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

00:53:28 Ry

Yeah, I I can't even remember what exactly was like the first, like Luigi thing.

00:53:33 Ry

Like what sparked it, it's just I just remember getting into it and definitely was through crystals. Crystals was like a huge entryway, and that's not to deny like, the inherent spirituality of, like, these stones and minerals. It's just like, how are you connecting with them? You know, like, from which way are you approaching working with these these?

00:53:36

Yeah.

00:53:51 Ry

These parts of the Earth, these parts of nature rather than just like assuming that you're going to get this one crystal and that's going to heal every aspect of your life, right? Yeah.

00:54:00 Ry

And then, uh, yeah, like manifestation of it's been so Co opted into this idea that like, oh, you only have to think a certain way to attain what you want, which is so just dismissive of again, like sociocultural economic oppressive institutionalism or institutionalized oppression and systemic racism because, like.

00:54:15 Merrily

Right.

00:54:21 Ry

At the other day, just like. No, no, you're just. You just gotta think hard enough and about what you want, and it'll come to you. And it's just it's a very spiritual bypass. See, which is like, a huge aspect of at least what I've encountered with new age spirituality is, you know, it's all love and light, and it doesn't really.

00:54:37 Ry

Dive in like I feel like it's very surface level when it talks about shadow work like like Shadow work is so much deeper and dirtier and darker than what new age spirituality makes it out to be. And so it's just A and like I said, it's very culturally appropriate and that it like takes a lot from like Eastern spiritualities and indigenous spiritualities and it just cherry picks what?

00:54:47 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

00:54:56 Ry

It wants to use.

00:54:57 Ry

And just says like ohh no. But like we're all the same like this is all the same spirituality and that's again just inherently dismissive to those different cultures and contextual backgrounds of those cultures. But yeah, it's just.

00:55:09 Merrily

Yeah.

00:55:13 Ry

I mean, there's elements of new spirituality that I think hold they're worth, I don't know which ones of those I would name right now. But I think overall it can be just very dangerous because I've noticed a lot of overlap and bleeding of new age spirituality. Like I mentioned earlier into like all right beliefs and like, you know, anti vaccine and and you know flat Earthers.

00:55:28 Merrily

Hmm.

00:55:32 Ry

Like often, you'll see like those type of beliefs help within a new age spirituality space because it's just so open to ******* adapting and inheriting whatever beliefs they really want.

00:55:42 Ry

At that point, right?

00:55:45 Ry

But yeah, that's.

00:55:47 Ry

That's my take on that. Like I think new age spirituality can serve as like a a gateway into learning more about alternative spiritualities. But it's not like the end all be all and definitely has I feel much more critiques than it does benefits at times.

00:56:02 Merrily

Yeah, really well said. Yeah, I'm thinking of because you mentioned early on about the sermon. And to me, I feel like that's a lot of that is missing. At least when I was looking at new age stuff because.

00:56:12 Merrily

It's.

00:56:12 Merrily

Like it's not. I don't know if it's not encouraged, it's just definitely not talked about. So it's like, meaning like, oh, just here's the information, you know, and that's what you do.

00:56:22

Yeah.

00:56:23 Merrily

And then like OK, but.

00:56:25 Merrily

But why, you know, explain to me. I need to know like my brain. I need to know. Like, how does this really fit in? You're just telling me.

00:56:27 Ry

MHM.

00:56:31 Merrily

And I need.

00:56:32 Merrily

To know like what cult you know, cause like when you're talking about like, look at your own ancestry and culture. Like that makes sense. There's like foundation there, right. But when it's like this new age, like, where are you getting?

00:56:40 Ry

MHM.

00:56:43 Merrily

This.

00:56:44 Merrily

Right. Just making it up, I mean, you know, you can make an argument about some of that, but.

00:56:50 Ry

Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to like, cause when you're searching for a new meaning, especially like when you're leaving something like Christianity or even if you just got out of like a cult or something, right. Like you're very or you can be. People can be very open.

00:56:57 Merrily

Yeah.

00:57:02 Ry

Into whatever is going to bring meaning back into their lives and connection to spirituality and however they conceptualize the divine. And so if new age is your foot in the door to that, that's great. But then if you're just diving into nothing but new age, you can find yourself spiraling into again, conspiracy theories and falling into the wrong groups of people who often will just utilize new age spirituality as a means of spiritual bypassing.

00:57:24 Ry

And really not doing the actual work that's necessary on oneself.

00:57:26 Merrily

Right.

00:57:30 Ry

And it's very despite like preaching community. I feel like it's also very hyper individualistic because it's all focusing on like you and yourself and manifesting your desires and like, you know, love and like negative people out and it's really bypassing of like conflict and and discourse and anything that goes against like the whole love and light.

00:57:35

Hmm.

00:57:41 Merrily

Right.

00:57:51 Ry

Trim, at least from what I've witnessed.

00:57:54 Merrily

Oh yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, there's not that. Yeah, the discourse is missing in a lot of it, and it's.

00:57:59 Merrily

Like.

00:58:00 Merrily

Yeah, you don't really get to the root of sort of the things. And I do like sort ceremonial. Well, I want you to say it's necessarily do ceremonial magic anymore, but more magical practices and a lot of that is changing yourself, right. Like instead of saying, oh, all that out there is all the wrong things. But really, it's like, how am I, like, reacting to all those wrong things? And you?

00:58:21 Merrily

Can't get passed into that if you're like in the new age sense because you're like, oh, I'm just putting out all this positivity and I'm only thinking and like, it's all outwardly facing and it's never like looking on the inside of, like, where am I actually reacting in a way that's harmful for me and the community like.

00:58:32 Ry

MHM.

00:58:39 Ry

Right. And then it pinpoints all the blame on the individual like, oh, you're not manifesting this, it's because you're not. You know, you're not thinking hard enough. You're not feeling it hard enough and.

00:58:42 Merrily

Right.

00:58:46

You should have.

00:58:47 Ry

Again, bypassing and overlooking all the different systemic factors that affect someone's access to whatever it is they might be wanting to try to manifest.

00:58:54 Merrily

Yeah, exactly. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. All right, new age spirituality.

00:58:59 Merrily

What's? What's that?

00:59:00 Merrily

Figure it out, guys. Well, cool. Thanks for walking through that. So can you tell us, like, about your podcast read text podcast and you know, with your co-host voga.

00:59:06 Ry

Totally.

00:59:14 Merrily

And so you guys get up to there, yeah.

00:59:14 Ry

Yeah.

00:59:16 Ry

Yeah. Oh, my God. It's also full of a lot of hot, spicy takes. Voga pointed it out to me, but they were listening to previous episodes of our first season and, like, juxtaposing it against how we sound in our second season. And they were telling me, like, we both sound so ******* jaded. Like we just sound. So we sound so hurt, like we sounded so, like, naive.

00:59:25 Merrily

Hmm.

00:59:36 Ry

Right eye in the first season of the second season. Just like ******* not dismal and depressed. Although half the season I was depressed.

00:59:37

Ry.

00:59:46 Ry

Yeah, just like I think again, it comes from that place of like we just gathered so much more discernment and experience that like a lot of the things we may have talked about or hold views as in the first season, just naturally, you know, shifted along as our practice did into what we hold now. And even as we're coming back from our hiatus and starting to record again, we might even sound even more different than we did.

01:00:06 Ry

In the beginning of the second season, cause. Yeah, you know, again as you're doing work on yourself and building community and learning more and growing more, you're going to have, I'm hoping that you have different beliefs and and and they shift and change just as much as.

01:00:19 Ry

Anyone does along their journey but yeah, so the podcast we have so many different guests from so many different backgrounds we've had, who do practitioners we've had folkloric and traditional witchcraft, witches on there we've had.

01:00:33 Ry

I'm trying to think we had like, a a Livia, the Witch of Wanderlust on there.

01:00:38 Merrily

Hmm.

01:00:39 Ry

Yeah, we've had so many people on our show, we we actually have an episode with our friend Franny. I forgot what their new Instagram handle is, but at the time they went by.

01:00:49 Ry

The liquid, which are wicked, which of LA or something like that, but we have a whole episode on something like that with Franny as our guest, cause they're also very dedicated devotee of something like that. And so not only do we try to bring a bunch of people in from different backgrounds with different knowledge of different areas because we want to.

01:01:08 Ry

Talk about things that even vogue and I are unaware of and and hold space for and then like usually every other episode is just us shooting the **** about a topic that we came up with. Whether it's something like, you know, color magic or the different days of the week or protection magic and things of that nature. So really just going into sharing.

01:01:28 Ry

What we know and have learned about whatever topic that we're covering. And oftentimes we'll start each episode just checking in with one another to see how we're doing, which ends up being like anywhere from 10 to 20 minute long conversations that are not related to the episode at all. So for a warning for new listeners who want to explore the red text, just be prepared for our our band here. That's anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.

01:01:48 Ry

For the actual episode starts, but I like our witty banter. I I feel it. It adds a little personable aspect to it all.

01:01:56 Ry

UM, sometimes it can get out of hand, but I I like it. But yeah, just just a lot of talking about what we've learned and continue to learn and how we're growing is both individuals and practitioners of whatever it is that we are practicing and then bringing on new folks from different areas to enlighten us about things that we either had little or no knowledge of.

01:02:16 Ry

Previously and getting to Hamilton interrogate, but getting to interview them about their practices to to learn more about it for ourselves, as well As for anyone who decides to listen.

01:02:26 Merrily

Well, yeah, I love it. Yeah, I personally love, like, chitchat before the podcast because I'm always about ohh, you know what are they up to you? You know, I'm big on that, so.

01:02:37 Merrily

And.

01:02:37 Merrily

Cool. So I know that you also have you do some client work with Taro and the Venetian meetings. Can you tell us how you work with folks on that?

01:02:45 Ry

Mm-hmm.

01:02:48 Ry

Yeah. At the moment, it's still just divination via Taro, but I I I took down my square calendar thing from our square appointments from my linktree calendar. At least I hope I did, but when I am available, yeah, I provide Terra readings either deliverable through e-mail. If you don't feel like doing a face to face.

01:03:09 Ry

In reading, or if you just my my zoom readings cost slightly more than just what an e-mail based reading would.

01:03:15 Ry

Since I have to schedule a block to sit with someone, but yeah, so I do readings over zoom or whatever, you know, virtual meeting space is most accessible for me and the client and then emailed readings occasionally. I'll do like flash readings on my Instagram story that are like usually donation based for as low as like 3 to $5 for.

01:03:35 Ry

Like a one to three card reading, so you can kind of get like a sample of what that looks like for me.

01:03:42 Ry

But yeah, I love tarot. It's it's my main form of divination, I'd say still, although like there's other forms that I'm always trying to learn, but I I haven't really dove into any other form of divination as deep as I have with with Tara at this point in my life. But like I've dabbled with corn divination, I've been feeling like I want to learn like divination with, like, dice.

01:03:56 Merrily

Yeah.

01:04:02 Ry

Or some form of like number system. But yeah, tarot. I love tarot. I eventually want to, like, practice offering dream work with people because I think dream interpretation and dream work is really fascinating.

01:04:17 Ry

But that's that's really been the main service ioffer I don't really offer. I don't think I've really ever offered spell work like that. I don't know.

01:04:22 Merrily

Hmm.

01:04:24 Ry

If I will.

01:04:25 Ry

Just out of time, resources and energy that it takes.

01:04:31 Ry

Other things, yeah, that's mainly what ioffer I I don't know what else I'll add to the repertoire quite yet, but but that's what I have and and do offer with Tara. So I used to have a link that you could schedule appointments through on my bio on Instagram.

01:04:44 Ry

But you can also just hit me up through DMS and and let me know if you're interested in reading and we can set something up.

01:04:51 Merrily

Oh, and do you have a favorite client story that you're like? Oh yeah, that one was pretty interesting that you want to share.

01:05:01 Ry

Yeah, I did a year ahead reading for one of my close friends and one of the biggest themes my year ahead. Readings are probably like the most detailed reading you could ever get from me because it covers like both the whole year as well as each individual month and like elements within each month. And so I've done one for a friend of mine and.

01:05:19 Ry

I didn't think it was necessarily talking about her and her ex breaking up, but that ended up being what was happening. But like I remember the theme of the reading just being like, oh, yeah, like it's going to be a really intense period of, like discovering who you want to keep in your life and who's really, like, lifting.

01:05:32 Ry

You up and.

01:05:32 Ry

Bringing you down and sorting through that, but uh. Then she ended up going through a break up with her, her ex who was a.

01:05:34

Hmm.

01:05:38 Ry

I mean, it was the break up was needed but it just I didn't. I didn't say they're gonna break up. But like in the back of my head, I'm just like ohh. I wonder if this is what it's talking about. And it just ended up.

01:05:40 Merrily

Yeah.

01:05:48 Ry

Being that I also say like I'm a I'm a great territory because I will forget whatever I gave you a reading on, so you don't need to be worried about me, like gossiping about whatever was said or brought up in the reading because the moment it's done in the moment, it's just like out of my head and out of my awareness. So anytime someone reaches me and they're like oh.

01:05:59 Merrily

Yeah.

01:06:06 Ry

My God, everything you said was so accurate.

01:06:08 Ry

Thing came true. I'm just.

01:06:09 Ry

Like what did I say?

01:06:10 Merrily

Yeah. What did I say?

01:06:13 Ry

So I'm great with confidentiality if that means anything, but I'm trying to think of any like other intense stories. No, I'm drawing a blank. But but the one with my friends break up was definitely one that stuck out for me.

01:06:15

Yeah.

01:06:17 Merrily

Well.

01:06:26 Merrily

Yeah, that's pretty, pretty intense on all levels. Cool. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. So where can folks find out more about you and all the cool things that you?

01:06:37 Merrily

Do.

01:06:39 Ry

My main page and source of information is my Instagram which is TI.

01:06:46 Ry

Zero.

01:06:48 Ry

I don't plan on changing my handle anytime soon and I haven't been super active with making posts. I've mainly just been interacting with folks that have.

01:06:56 Ry

Our followers of the channel that I have on Instagram, as well as just posting stuff to my story, mainly just in relation to Palestine and the ongoing genocide there and around the world, but I haven't been to active making like actual posts, but I'm definitely like a creep and just, you know, scroll the mic and you'll see me comment here and there. So I'm I'm definitely.

01:07:17 Ry

There. And if you send me a DM, I'll always get to.

01:07:19 Ry

It at some point.

01:07:22 Ry

So I'm definitely like not standoffish by any means. My I think my mercury is in Leo and I'm a Leo's son, so I just I naturally don't shut the **** **. So you want.

01:07:30 Ry

To talk, I'm here.

01:07:32 Merrily

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:07:32 Ry

Yeah, I eventually will have a YouTube. I I've said that for years now and I will continue to say that for years until.

01:07:39 Ry

It happens but.

01:07:40 Ry

There there will be a YouTube eventually.

01:07:43

Hmm.

01:07:44 Ry

My friend Flo the trans folk, which has helped me set up a discord. I just I need to finalize some things with the discord, but I wanted a space where people can interact more with one another and not just like one-on-one with me and like really make an online community so that should hopefully be up and running.

01:07:52 Merrily

Yeah.

01:07:59 Ry

In a few.

01:07:59 Ry

Weeks and so if you subscribe to my channel.

01:08:03 Ry

I don't know if you subscribe. It's like those channels on Instagram. You can have now those broadcast.

01:08:07 Ry

Channels if you.

01:08:07 Merrily

That's right, yes, the broadcast.

01:08:09 Ry

Mine is called cop. I think it's a yeah, kapua mahika.

01:08:13 Ry

And if you follow that you will get to know when that discord is up and running, because I told them they would have first dibs on invitation. So if you want to be invited to this core join.

01:08:22 Ry

My little channel there.

01:08:23 Merrily

Yeah, everybody get on it. That's me. Cool. Yeah, I'll have to look for that. Definitely. And because I want to get in there too. That sounds awesome. OK, So what words of wisdom do you want to leave us with today?

01:08:36

Yeah.

01:08:37 Ry

Ohh man she's I know small questions.

01:08:38 Merrily

Small questions, yeah.

01:08:43 Ry

Ohh let me think on that. I have many words of wisdom. At least I like to.

01:08:48 Merrily

Think I do? Yeah. Take your time. No worries.

01:08:52 Ry

Just know that like you are enough in however you show up like no one gets to define what enough looks like for you except for yourself. You know, do the work. Don't be afraid of it. The more you put it off, the more you're just stagnating your own growth. And when you do that, you also.

01:09:10 Ry

Slow stagnate the amount of authentic connections that you can build with other people. So for me, like the more I've seen myself grow, the more I've been able to grow.

01:09:20 Ry

My relationships with loved ones, with friends, with family, and so just just know that if you're scared of stepping into the power that you hold, you're also keeping yourself from getting to explore so many opportunities that are probably the ones that you've been, you know, wishing for or desiring. So only know that by holding yourself back, you're holding growth in all the other.

01:09:41 Ry

There is of your life.

01:09:41 Ry

Back and also just take it step by step, day by day.

01:09:44 Ry

They don't. If you want to lay out a whole plan of how you want to grow over the next few years, by all means do that. For me. That's overwhelming. My mentors have told me that, like a lot of the stagnation through periods of my practice is because I've just grown.

01:09:51 Ry

Hmm.

01:09:59 Ry

Either tired or overwhelmed from what I used to do, like I used to have a a very elaborate morning spiritual routine and it has become so minimized. Compare what it compared to what it used to, but that's what allows me to still feel like I can access it because when I think of, oh, I want to do the stuff that I used to do 2-3 years ago, I get so overwhelmed with.

01:10:19 Ry

Like.

01:10:20 Ry

The amount of what I would do as well as, like, shame and guilt that I no longer do that, and my teachers were just like just start with waking up and thinking, you know, whoever for blessing you with another day or like, you know, think the sun or like, make your water like like do the smallest steps possible until you feel that you can work your way up to something that's.

01:10:24 Merrily

Mm-hmm.

01:10:40 Ry

You know, not necessarily intricate or elaborate, but like.

01:10:43 Ry

Is a good stage for you that you know is maintainable, so don't be. Don't be so hard on yourself. Is is what I think.

01:10:47 Merrily

Yeah.

01:10:50 Merrily

I'm trying to say, yeah, I love it. That's great advice for sure. Well, thanks. Right. It's such a pleasure. It's so great to get to know you and all your cool stuff.

01:10:59

Yeah.

01:11:01 Ry

Yeah. Thank you for having me. I always, I always love getting to be on other people's podcasts and.

01:11:05 Ry

Just never stop talking.

01:11:07 Merrily

Right. I know that's like the wonderful benefit of it. Thank you.

01:11:13 Merrily

Brian is such an amazing font of information and I'm really looking forward to what he does next. So do check out Ry and his co-host Volga on the Red Text Podcast and do see the show notes on where to learn more about Ry and his tarot card readings. Do you remember to like, follow and subscribe on YouTube? Are your favorite podcast platform. It really helps us grow. Thank you for listening.

01:11:32 Merrily

Being an important part of the Casual Temple.

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EPISODE 34 - Ry

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