In episode 10, we get primal, raw and real with midwife and priestess Aleks Evanguelidi. Aleks co-hosts the popular podcast Under the Hood - a show devoted to understanding the female body and experience. We learn about how Aleks found her path to midwifery after reading the bestselling feminist novel "The Red Tent."   Aleks walks us through the transformative experience of witnessing women find and claim their power during birth, teaches us how our menstrual blood can be a source of wisdom and shares her opinion on the adverse effects of the birth control pill.   You can find out more about Alek's midwifery services on her website: www.aleksevanguelidi.com. And, to learn more about the female body, birthing process and sisterhood, you have to check out her podcast Under the Hood.

Laura Ash, The Scarlet Sage Herb Co   In episode 9, we explore the deep connection between witchcraft and plant-based medicine with Laura Ash who runs The Scarlet Sage Herb Co in San Francisco, sometimes known as "The Lesbian Witch Store."  Laura has been scouring the globe studying herbs and indiginous cultures for nearly twenty years, from Africa to Sweden to her home state of California.  We talk to her about everything from cold & flu herbs to ingesting essential oils, from the explosion of Cannabis to the increased use of Ayahuasca. Through her travels and studies abroad and at home, Laura has cultivated a deep respect for indiginous cultures, the medicinal benefits of herbs and the boundaries around cultural appropriation of herbal medicine from the physical to the spiritual. You can learn more about Laura and her offerings on her website www.scarletsage.com.  Or, if you are in San Francisco, you can check out her brick and mortar shop at 1193 Valencia Street.

In this episode, medium and spirit guide coach Aja walks us through her journey of connecting deeply with her own spirit guides in a moment of depression and darkness. It was this tipping point that turned her from being simply open to guidance, to actively using guides to help herself and others.   We dig into the importance of ethics within the psychic, medium and spiritual guide communities, how to identify the ego versus the higher self, how much information is appropriate to share with a client and why she's very clear that she is not a fortune teller.    Subscribe to The World Needs a Witch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music or at your preferred podcast destination.  If you have a friend who could use some witchy goodness, please tell them about our podcast and remember to rate and review our show! Show Notes: To learn more about Aja, her offerings and her incredible tribe of spiritual leaders, check out her website www.thespiritguidecoach.com or find her on Instagram @thespiritguidecoach. Music Credits: Lobo Loco - Born Jardim Toussaint Morrison - I'm Bad Weather Gabl - Humm The Nighttime Adventure Society - LA

Griselda and Miguelina Rodriguez, identical Afro-Dominican twins, grew up in pre-gentrified Brooklyn around spells and magic while simultaneously going to Catholic church and watching the neighborhood around them change.  This changing Brooklyn inspired both sisters to become professors and activists. The hardships they have been through led them to spiritual awakenings and brought them a teacher of magic.   The two superpower sisters believe in transforming energy through movement, especially kundalini yoga.  They discuss the womb and why working with the womb is so important in healing trauma and creation.   To learn more about the Brujas of Brooklyn, visit their website:  www.brujasofbrooklyn.com.  There you can find out all about the two dynamic sisters and find out when and where their next yoni workshop and other offerings will be held.   Music Credits: Lobo Loco - Born Jardim Toussaint Morrison - I'm Bad Weather Gabl - Humm The Nighttime Adventure Society - LA

California native Amanda Yates Garcia, known as the Oracle of LA, gained media attention for taking part in the global binding spells put on Trump, but she's been practicing political, anti-capitalist witchcraft long before this administration.     In this interview we explore the different, unexpected forms magic can take, how we can take back the sacred in a culture where everything is up for exploitation AND learn about Amanda's fascinating journey being raised by a witch mother, rejecting the craft as a teen, and then through her own trauma and art, finding her way back home.  Amanda also breaks down the responsibilities an oracle has as a spiritual leader and the effects they can have on communities of seekers.  She gives us a little historical perspective on oracles and helps us understand. Subscribe to The World Needs a Witch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music or at your preferred podcast destination.  If you have a friend who could use some witchy goodness, please tell them about our podcast and remember to rate and review our show!

Leni Zumas This week, we get deeper into the idea of the witch as the original feminist and how she ties into the politics of now. From Trump as the self proclaimed victim of a "witch hunt," to the crop of states working towards  criminalizing abortion.  Katie and Megan talk to Leni Zumas, professor of creative writing at Portland State University and author of the novel, Red Clocks, which takes place in a society where abortion and IVF are illegal. Leni helps us see the witch as central to the fight for reproductive freedom, walks us through the deep impact that historic social norms have had on the female psyche and gets fired up about how we as women can we can push those old limitations right the f**k out!  Subscribe to The World Needs a Witch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music or at your preferred podcast destination.  If you have a friend who could use some witchy goodness, please tell them about our podcast and remember to rate and review our show! Learn more about Leni on her website: www.lenizumas.com .  Definitely check out her National Bestselling novel, Red Clocks as well as her book The Listeners amongst others. Music Credits: Lobo Loco - Born Jardim Toussaint Morrison - I'm Bad Weather Gabl - Humm The Nighttime Adventure Society - LA

This week we ask some tough questions about the business of spirituality. How do you make a business out of your beliefs and manage the ethics of it all, plus make a profit? We meet the incredible Alex Naranjo and Marlene Vargas, the couple who started the successful chain of House of Intuition metaphysical stores and centers in Los Angeles. In this interview, Alex and Marlene reveal their journey from losing it all in the financial crisis of 2007, to following their intuition towards building their dream business. They discuss the shops' offerings from crystals, to classes and how they would like each customer to ultimately be able to create their own personal guidance system. They've got some incredible advice and insights on how to move towards success by being authentic, open and even using your darkest moments as the starting point for future success and happiness. 

In this episode, we dig into what it means to be a witch in the age of social media, with Gabriela Herstik, a fashion blogger, writer and Millennial witch. Raised by a Mexican American mother and Jewish Rabbi father, Gabriela talks to us about her evolution from Judaism to Wicca and finally to her own version of being a witch.  Gaby is big on the importance of shadow work in witchcraft and her own life and how the absence of shadow work in the wiccan religion ultimately determined her leaving the faith. Hear about how she uses fashion as resistance and beauty as ritual, about how she believes the witch world needs to be more inclusionary of trans indivuduals and she explains how she uses sex magic to manifest! Subscribe to The World Needs a Witch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music or at your preferred podcast destination.  If you have a friend who could use some witchy goodness, please tell them about our podcast and remember to rate and review our show! To learn more about Gaby, check out her website:  > www.gabrielaherstik.com or on instagram @gabyherstik.  Her book, A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft Inner Witch in the USA or Craft How to be a Modern Witch in the UK is a fantastic practical guide to getting your witch on. Music Credits: Lobo Loco - Born Jardim Toussaint Morrison - I'm Bad Weather Gabl - Humm The Nighttime Adventure Society - LA

Explore the evolution of witches as Megan and Katie talk with author Skye Alexander about the history of witches from pre-christian time until now.  She's written over 30 fiction and non-fiction books on the subject, lived in Salem, MA which was home to the witch trials. and now is a practicing witch in conservative Texas. Through Skye we begin to understand how christianity and formal medicine impacted the role of "witch" in early communities.  Also, we begin to see how the rise of these two important institutions uplifted the patriarchy, while repressing not just witches but, all women. Get Skye's perspective on how the treatment of witches in the past has influenced our natural intuitive inclinations and psychic abilities. Skye also shares her experience of living in Texas and whether she thinks witchcraft can help bring people from different political sides together.  

Sarah Faith Gottesdiener talks about what being a witch means to her and how she'd like to bring back the word psychic. Sarah discusses trusting and cultivating our own intuitive nature.  She also gives us step by step tips on maintaining physical and emotional boundaries.  Katie and Megan, two women who are fascinated by the female archetype witch and big believers in all things witchy. These two friends hope to help push equality for women forward by exploring witchcraft in the past and present. Subscribe to The World Needs a Witch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music or at your preferred podcast destination.  If you have a friend who could use some witchy goodness, please tell them about our podcast and remember to rate and review our show! Check out Sarah's book "The Many Moons Workbook" and her websites, www.modernwomen.bigcartel.com and www.visualmagic.info.  She has her own witchy podcast, Strange Magic.  Well worth the listen.