Grief Magic: Rituals, Stories & Gentle Conversations about Loss

Content note: this episode discusses pet loss, including the death of my dog Orlando and some details about how he died. There are also brief mentions of losing my mum and a friend. Please take care of yourself and choose another episode if today isn't the right day for this one. This week I'm answering a listener question about grief and pet loss, and I'm sharing the full story of Orl...

In this episode I'm in conversation with dia of everyday writes, a queer Black embodiment practitioner, creative collaborator, and community tender of English, Sudanese, Syrian and Scottish heritage. This is actually our second conversation on the podcast, and returning to this space two years on felt like its own kind of ritual. We talk about what it means to live inside the fullness of our e...

In this episode, I reflect on books, learning, attention spans and the complicated grief that can live inside our educational journeys. After falling down a StudyTube rabbit hole on YouTube, I found myself thinking deeply about desire, class, ambition and the longing many of us carry around reading and intellectual life. I talk about why “studious” aesthetics can feel so comforting right now, espe...

A short and sweet episode this week: I'm inviting you to join me for free Monday sessions throughout July. These sessions have been running for a year now, and to mark that I'm opening them up to everyone at no cost for the whole month. They run every Monday evening, 7 to 8pm UK time, and they are honestly one of the highlights of my week. The structure is really simple. We open with a gro...

In this episode, I explore the Hanged Man tarot card as a companion for summer and for liminal seasons in general. Even if you do not usually work with tarot, I hope this conversation offers something gentle and spacious around perspective, rest, uncertainty, and slowing down. I talk about: the symbolism and history of the Hanged Man summer as a threshold season sacred unproductivity changing pers...

In this first “Read With Me” episode, I’m sharing reflections on I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, a haunting, deeply philosophical dystopian novel that unexpectedly became one of the most meaningful books I’ve read recently. I read this during the winter solstice season on the Isle of Lewis, and despite rarely reading dystopian fiction, I found myself profoundly moved by the novel...

In this episode, I’m speaking with Lasara Firefox Allen, writer, educator, menopause coach, and author of the beautiful book  Genderqueer Menopause . This conversation meant so much to me personally. Lasara’s work has genuinely helped me feel more hopeful, affirmed, and curious about aging, changing hormones, and living in a body that does not always fit dominant cultural narratives around gender...

In this episode I'm sharing one of my favourite quiet practices: using tarot as a companion for journaling, especially through grief and times of transition. This is not about reading the cards correctly or having the right tools. It's about giving yourself a gentle structure for self-reflection, a way to move past the blank page, and permission to make your inner life feel beautiful and w...

In this episode, I talk about how to approach the summer season with intention, especially if you're living with grief or chronic illness. Winter often gives us permission to slow down and rest. Summer asks something different of us. So how do we create a summer that feels nourishing rather than demanding? I explore practical rituals for seasonal transition, from organizing your home and wardr...

In this episode I'm reflecting on my relationship with screens, rest, and the quiet ritual of reading. I open with an honest look at my own winter screen habits and what it felt like to step back from Netflix and return to books. From there I explore why reading matters so much right now, and why fiction, romance, and healing stories in particular are having such a significant cultural moment....

In this episode, I am in conversation with boundary coach and author Kami Orange, whose book  Say the Thing  offers practical scripts and phrases for communicating clearly and setting boundaries with kindness. We talk about what it really means to advocate for yourself and others, especially in moments when words feel hard to find. Kami shares how her work began, how her background shaped her rela...

In this solo episode, I share ten things I have bought or invested in to support myself through grief and chronic illness. For a long time, I hesitated to make recommendations because what we need is so personal, and we all have different budgets. This podcast is also ad free, and I want to keep it that way. But over the past few years, I have become more intentional about what I bring into my hom...

In this episode, I’m sharing my experience of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia in early 2024 and reflecting on what it means to live with an invisible chronic illness. So much of modern life is built around visibility,  sharing images, documenting our lives online, and yet the most profound experiences often happen in places no one else can see. Living with chronic pain, brain fog and fatigue has...

In this episode of the Grief Magic podcast, I reflect on the relationship between grief and the changing seasons. As spring returns, we explore what happens in nature during winter dormancy and how the quiet preparation of plants and trees mirrors many human emotional processes. The episode introduces gentle practices for connecting with nature, including seasonal observation, small acts of ecolog...

In this episode, I explore the idea of romantic friendship and the many ways humans create intimacy outside traditional relationship structures. I talk about how the nuclear family seems to lose its hold as a primary way of relating and about the ways in which not being able to form a traditional family can still feel like a loss.  Whether you are queer or not, as always I hope that this episode f...

In this beautiful conversation with Skylar Rose we talk about aging, identity shifts, and the quiet, often unacknowledged grief that can accompany transitions like career changes, menopause, empty nests, or letting go of versions of ourselves that no longer fit. Skylar speaks beautifully about what it means to cross these thresholds with intention, and about the importance of feeling held as we mo...

In this episode of the Grief Magic podcast, I reflect on what it means to live with limited capacity in a culture that constantly demands more. Looking at historical shifts in work patterns, the rise of the 24 hour information cycle, and the impact of recent UK policies around disability and employment, this episode explores how feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm are often structural rather than...

In this episode, I’m exploring journaling, narrative psychology, and the idea of romanticising everyday life. This winter I returned to journaling in a more visual way and began noticing how colour, collage and imagery can reveal emotional patterns that text alone sometimes hides. From there I became curious about narrative psychology, the idea that we understand our lives through the stories we t...

In this episode, I’m sharing more practical reflections on making friends as an adult after a more waffly episode last week. Friendships or the lack of feeling really known can bring up grief, awkwardness, hope, and so much longing. I wanted to offer a few grounded ideas for building connection in ways that feel sustainable, especially if you’re neurodivergent, sensitive, queer, living with disabi...

In this episode, I’m talking about loneliness, the lingering impact of lockdown, and what it can feel like to make friends as an adult. So many of us experience loneliness at least sometimes, especially in a world shaped by social media, remote work, changing friendships, and the long imprint of the pandemic. I reflect on how disability, chronic illness, and neurodivergence can make conventional s...

In this episode, I’m in conversation with trauma-informed somatic practitioner and educator Darshana Avila about the relationship between grief, pleasure, and aliveness. We explore how pain and joy are not opposites, but part of the same spectrum of being human. Darshana shares how her work has evolved from sacred sexuality and body-based healing into a broader exploration of what she calls “eroti...

In this gentle solo episode, I’m sharing some thoughts about how I’ve slowly shaped my home into a place that feels like a cocoon, somewhere to truly rest. I talk about why cocooning begins with decluttering rather than buying more, how choosing a simple colour landscape (for me, green and pink) creates visual calm, and why I love filling my space with natural textures like cotton, linen, and velv...

In this short solo episode, I’m inviting you to join a soft, companionable decluttering workshop we’ll be doing together on  March 8th from 4–6pm (UK time). Making space can be emotional as much as practical and doing it alone can feel overwhelming, so this workshop is a gentle spring reset. We’ll begin with a short pep talk and a simple, kind approach to decluttering, then spend time quietly clea...

In this Ask Me Anything episode, I’m answering some personal questions about my life, my history, and what feels meaningful to me right now. I talk about what I was like at school, my relationship with work, gratitude, grief, and the quieter rhythms that support me. If this episode sparks questions of your own, you’re very welcome to send them in for future Ask Me Anything episodes: https://speakp...

In this episode of Grief Magic, I explore scent as a gentle companion during slow, tender, or inward seasons of life. We talk about how smell can support emotional regulation, memory, and meaning making, and how working with scent can become a quiet ritual rather than another thing to get right. I share a simple introduction to aromatherapy, including what it is and what it is not, and how to appr...