Personal FAQs

I was thinking the other day that anyone who is just reading my blog here probably doesn’t know a whole lot about me other than what you’ve read on my about page, which doesn’t even really talk about me at all. I suppose I did it that way on purpose because I don’t really like talking about myself, but, I also suppose part of the allure of becoming addicted to a blog is actually getting to know the person who’s writing it, yes?

With that in mind, here’s a few of the questions I’ve been asked on multiple occasions, which may be things that you’ve wondered yourself.

What’s your philosophy on spirituality?

I’m a nondualist. My spiritual philosophy adheres closely to that of Eastern religions such as Taoism and native spirituality in that I do not view the world in a black and white, good vs. evil sort of perspective that Abrahamic religions do. In the latter, good an evil are forces that exist outside of ourselves and attempt to exert influence upon us. Instead, I believe that “evil” doesn’t actually exist, humans merely perpetrate evil acts when they have unresolved trauma and don’t know how to cope with their pain.

As such, I don’t believe in some of the things that many spiritualists do, such as negative entity attachments, demonic forces, etc. In my experience, those things are actually internal turmoil caused by an individual’s trauma, not some sort of external entity exerting influence over them. Untreated mental illness is a huge issue in the spiritual community.

Modern spirituality is a shell of its former self. The commodification of spirituality has led to a merging of Eastern spiritual concepts with Western values which has completely bastardized what was once held sacred. Western influence on modern spirituality includes heavy individualism, monetization, and the merging of Judeo-Christian beliefs with spirituality.

Why is your website called In My Sacred Space?

When I originally started my blog in 2014, my intention was to create a lifestyle blog for the mind, body, spirit, and space. I was a bit like the metaphysical Martha Stewart, so to speak, and I wrote about how I was incorporating spirituality into my daily life. DIYs, homemade things, kitchen witchery, psychic development, creating my meditation/spirit room, etc.

What I soon discovered was that my content leaned heavily toward intuitive and personal development. I wrote a lot about metaphysics and the mechanics of psychic development, not because I considered myself an expert by any means, but because I seemed to be able to understand what I was learning and communicate it to other people in ways that they could more easily understand –– a gift that continues to this day. I can’t tell you how many people continuously message me to tell me that I am able to put into words things that they thought or felt but could never communicate, or that I explain things in ways that enables them to understand something plainly and clearly for the first time. I also spent years hammering away at fear-based beliefs in the spiritual community, conspiracy rhetoric, etc. and, as many of my followers would say, bringing a grounded and practical perspective.

For the next few years, that’s what this blog was about: me, my personal journey, metaphysics, and spiritual development. But as time went on, I became more and more disillusioned with what mainstream spirituality was becoming. From the beginning, I had watched newbs dive right into doing readings and exacting harm on their clients because they didn’t know what they were doing, which was problematic enough, but eventually spirituality became so commercialized that literally everyone was using it as a means to make a fortune. I got so fed up that I quit. I had a total loss of faith, and I had fully intended that to be the end of In My Sacred Space.

What brought you back?

When the pandemic hit, this little alarm bell went off inside me. It was sort of like, “Here it is. This is the thing you’ve been prepared for.” I sort of came out of retirement and started writing again, just offer people some perspective and coping skills. But something more sinister was brewing at the same time –– QAnon exploded during the pandemic. I had so many spiritual friends sending me conspiracy shit left and right immediately after it began, and it was obvious that people were afraid and being afraid made them vulnerable.

I took it upon myself to try to write about ways for people to be more discerning about spirituality.

Why did your content shift in the direction that it did?

I have found that as spirituality has become more popular over the last ten years, it has deviated from its original form. Modern spirituality, particularly the kind found in the social media sphere, is rife with ignorance, ego, narcissism, and misinformation. A lot of what is out there is incredibly harmful to trauma survivors in particular and, as we’ve seen with Qanon, dangerous to society as a whole.

I’d been watching the spiritual community making its slow descent into madness, and had been attempting to counter some of the misinformation indirectly. But after the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol by members of the QAnon cult and white supremacists using them as cover, I came to the conclusion that this shadow of spirituality needed to be exposed, explored, and addressed head-on by people within the spiritual community itself.

With that, I started tackling the most problematic aspects of mainstream spirituality. Things like toxic positivity, cultural appropriation, a lack of trauma-informed mindsets, its ignorance of systemic oppression, and that eventually led me into an all out war on commercialized spiritual industrial complex.

The thing that had always pissed me off was that I held spirituality as a sacred thing. I came up in it during a time when anyone outside of Southern California was completely ostracized for it. And now here we were, ten years later, and fucking West Elm is selling Lemurian seed crystals and Deepak Chopra has a line of home decor at ABC Carpet. The thing I held sacred and had to hide from people in my personal life had become a wildly popular marketing gimmick.

I’ve watched other, more materially-minded spiritualists dismiss a lot of very real lived experiences – intuition included – in their attempts to quell spiritual insanity, and I believe that, too, is incredibly harmful to people in the New Age community, in addition to pushing them further away from a more reasoned version of spirituality, because it dismisses and invalidates those lived experiences.

As an alternative, I adhere to a grounded, no-nonsense version of spirituality that is based in science, is socially responsible, and trauma-informed, without diluting the magic of mysticism. I offer nuanced perspective on astrology, psychic development, and other spiritual topics that helps people separate the bullshit from the cool shit.

What’s your background?

I have a degree in journalism from the world’s foremost and oldest journalism school. “Ahah!” You may be thinking, “That’s why you’re a good writer!” Well, maybe… but I’m horrible at English, I can’t diagram a sentence to save my life and I’m lucky I can remember the difference between a noun and an adjective. What’s a predicate? (Seriously… I don’t remember.)

The mechanics of writing, for me, have always been based on, “This sounds correct.” That’s how I passed the grammar test to get into Journalism school and that’s how I live my life. lol

I did, however, receive training in several required journalism areas such as the basics of journalism and journalistic principles (you know, how to fact check and find sources, investigative journalism, how the industry works, and photography).

In addition to that bachelors degree, I also minored in sociology, which may not surprise you given my fascination with the way humans behave with one another. I also dabbled a bit in psychology, but aside from required courses, most of that was self-taught through reading after I graduated. Yes, my idea of entertaining books to read from age 22-25 were non-fiction psychology books.

I have worked in marketing, advertising, public relations, business, and branding in some iteration for nearly two decades and am currently a science editor for a private research university on the East Coast.

Okay but what are you, really?

I always think it’s weird when people want to know this kind of thing. I guess, for some reason, people in the spiritual community want to look to others with special labels like they’re somehow more “in the know” than anyone else, like, “I’m a channeler.” “I’m an empath.” “I’m a lightworker.” “I’m a starseed, an indigo, an incarnate angel….” blah blah blah.

None of these labels really mean anything to me, I’m still going to be who I am and do what I do regardless of whether or not I am aware that I am a starseed or the 333rd incarnation of an ancient Atlantian priest named Subadabah…or whatever. It feels unimportant in the grand scheme of what I’m doing in the here and now. And none of it makes me better than anyone else, or any more connected to universal knowledge than anyone else. You’ve all been these things at some point in your past or your future. We’re all pieces of the same whole. You don’t need to be an incarnate angel to feel good about yourself and neither do I. You’re special just the way you are. Believe me, you are.

What are your abilities?

I always think it’s funny when people ask me this question, because most of the time they are asking it with a hint of suspicion. I often want to reply, “What? I can’t just be intelligent and speak from my own experience? It has to be channeled from some woo woo guru spirit guide with an unpronounceable name or some alien collective in another dimension in order for you to trust it?” Don’t even get me started on the irony in that shit…

But if you must know, I suppose you could say I’m mixed-media intuitive. I experience hearing words and phrases, seeing still images or moving visions, intuitive downloads, gut feelings and physical sensations, and even occasionally a phantom smell. I also dabble in energy work, read tarot cards, astrology charts, and am fairly well-versed in numerology as well as dream symbolism.

Are you a medium?

I have had mediumistic experience but I have absolutely no desire to run around chatting with rando spirits or channel someone’s dead aunt Ida. It’s just not my schtick. So no, I don’t call myself a medium.

Do you channel?

Somewhat, I suppose. A lot of the things that I write some would consider to be channeled or intuitively downloaded. Things just drop into my head while I’m in the shower, or when I’m high. lol

What is your background and approach to Astrology?

I’m a self-taught astrologer and I would consider myself to be “intermediate” level. Astrology is a DEEP spiritual tool and there is so much to learn, it could be a lifelong study. For my purposes, I’m mostly interested in astropsychology, which looks at your astrology chart as a map of your psyche and life experiences as well as the keys to your personal growth. It’s very indicative of themes around trauma, relational patterns, and your personal growth trajectory.

I find that I focus a lot on Chiron, Lilith, and the Nodes. Lilith is the shadow work we’ve brought into this life from past lives, and Chiron is the key to her integration. Once Lilith has been reclaimed, she becomes a source of personal power instead of a projection of our deepest wounds. The South Node tells us a lot about where and how that shadow was on display in past lives and the North Node tells us where we are meant to go as we focus on our Chirotic wounding. The transiting nodes activate various things in our lives as they move through the houses which push us toward that healing.

Do you do readings?

I currently offer astrology readings –– individual natal chart or relationship relationship readings –– that have a heavy focus on personal development and an overview of how we can begin the trauma-healing process, as well as helping folks discover their most authentic selves and how that connects with their purpose. If you’re interested in booking a reading, you can visit my readings page.

Thanks for being here,

Ash

 

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7 Comments

  1. I feel the same way about my gifts as you do! Nice to get to know you, but I already kinda felt I did, lol..

    Reply
  2. No wonder I enjoy your writings so much! I just don’t have the ability to write down what I think so you do that….lol. I can’t diagram a sentence either and had no interest in doing that. I have no gifts to speak of and have no idea why I chose to do that, but it won’t happen again. So keep on doing your thing and I’ll keep on reading! Thanks….LLL

    Reply
    • Awe thanks Lauretta! But you do have gifts. We all do 🙂

      Reply
  3. We are so sympatico. Probs from the same planet!

    Reply
  4. Do you know Jesus?

    Reply
    • Better than most, unfortunately.

      Reply

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