Soror Mystica

The unicorn is one of the most potent, and mysterious, mythical beasts the imaginal wilderness has to offer us. These creatures carry fascinating symbolic weight with them, and are present in the texts of cultures the world over. Join Cristina and Mariana as they explore the history of the unicorn, the magical unicorn tapestries from the late Medieval period, the unicorn's relationship to alc...

As the veil thins and the days darken, many are inspired to turn toward a magical practice for reflection, inspiration, and spiritual support. Magic is a powerful tool with a deep historical context, but living in our technologized, modern world can make approaching ritual and magic feel strange, even intimidating. Join us in this conversation where we explore what it means to be in relationship w...

The Great Mother is one of the most primordial archetypes, and one today that has lost some of her original potency. We either tend to wash away her intensity by reducing her to "creativity" or "nurture" or project her power outwards, turning it into the witch, the monster, the devourer. In this episode, Mariana is joined again by Alyssa Polizzi to explore the true potency of t...

Alchemy is an ancient practice that continues to enchant and mystify us today. There are so many symbols to explore, paths to follow, and often our investigation of alchemy is quickly derailed by the intimidation of it all. In this episode, Mariana is joined by alchemical expert Alyssa Polizzi to break down the major themes and symbols of alchemy, including the prima materia, the philosopher'...

The tower, a symbol of ascent to the heavens, and eventual destruction. In the practice of pulling tarot, drawing this card can inspire anxiety, as we gaze upon the image of the figures falling from a great height, struck by lightning from the heavens above.  In this episode, we explore this complex symbol, weaving tarot, the story of the Tower of Babel, the tower in fairytales, and the modern day...

To be eclipsed is to fall into shadow. Astronomical eclipses occur about four times a year, when one of the luminaries is cast into darkness. We too can be cast into darkness, thrown into life experiences that bring us down into the depths of our personal underworlds. Just as the Sun and Moon go dark, so can we.  Eclipses were seen as a malefic omen to ancient people, but we know that we need the...

One of the most archetypal experiences we undergo in this lifetime is the search for the "other." We move through the world as individuals, learning and growing on our own path of development, but eventually, we begin to yearn for another to share space and time with. Enter the symbol of the lover.  Is the beloved a mirror? A focal point of projections that teaches us something about our...

The collective unconscious lives and breathes between us all, a mysterious web of connectivity, sign, and symbol. Join us in this fresh episode where we contemplate the origins of the concept of the collective unconscious, and how it’s functioning in its highly activated state, in our present moment.  The primordial forms of the archetypes are activated, and emerge into the world. We’re currently...

We're back! After a break (and by the way, how fitting that our previous episode was about retrogrades and reversals), we've returned to the pod, to explore the symbol of alchemical marriage.  This discussion is inspired by the fact that Cristina got married in late September, with, of course, Mariana as her maid-of-honor :) Together we explore common conceptions around marriage, sexist...

What does it mean to be forced to reverse course? How do we contend with the moments in our lives where we cannot push forward, as expected? In this episode, we explore the concept of reversals, retrogrades, and what it means to embrace moments of inversion, or opposition. In Mariana's modality, tarot, reversed cards are often frustrating to querents, and can bring anxiety about thwarted goal...

The ocean is our primordial origin, the place from which all life emerges. Symbolically, the ocean represents the waters of the unconscious, which shape and give form to the solid earth on which we live.  Join us in this episode where we explore the magic and mythos of the sea! From the stories of the great mother, Tiamat, Oceanus, and the anima mundi, the ocean has much to offer us in terms of ex...

"As above so below, as within so without," is one of the most famous maxims of the occult world, a phrase shared and repeated by those who explore the wonders of the mythic and the magical, the symbolic and the unknown. This phrase comes to us from the Emerald Tablet, a Hellenistic text by Hermes Trismegistus. The meaning, though sounding like a riddle, is that what happens in the greate...

In this special episode, we had the rare opportunity to be in the same place at the same time! And so we sat on Mariana's couch, and answered questions submitted by our dear listeners. Tune into our thirty-eighth show, where we explore topics both personal and magical, chatting about the story of our friendship, building spiritual businesses, contending with family reactions to interest in wi...

While it's typical to, after a dream, turn to a dream symbol dictionary to puzzle out the meaning of what we saw while we were asleep, dream experts urge us to connect with the symbols and images of our dreams in a personal, particular manner. But how can we do that, when we feel we have no foundation for understanding the strange images of our dreams?  Join us in this special episode, where...

The Star: a beloved major arcana card in the tarot, and a beautiful feature of the natural world. Stars glitter in the dark, reminding us of the vastness of the cosmos, and our smallness within it. But the star is never solitary - it is grouped in clusters of its fellow stars, forming constellations that tell cultural stories, encouraging us to find a sense of place within the wild reaches of the...

As the season of spring unfurls before us, we contemplate the symbol of the garden. Different from the lush vitality of wild nature, the garden tends to be protected by a fortress, guarded by angels, with something sacred and special at its very center. Join us as we explore the meaning of the garden and its occulted fertility, moving through famous gardens like Eden and the Garden of the Hesperid...

This episode offers a conversation a bit more personal, and more candid, about our experiences of working in our fields of tarot and astrology. Both of our disciplines can be considered healing modalities, but what does it really mean to be a healer in the modern age? How can we keep our work grounded and human, yet still invite in a connection with something more numinous? We chat about the ways...

The egg, or the cosmic egg, is a primal symbol of creation. In honor of spring truly getting underway, episode 33 of Soror Mystica explores the egg in all its procreative glory. Eggs are present in mythologies the world over, often coming up in explanations of the birth of the world, which usually is figured by the bifurcation of an egg which splits into sky and earth. Join us as we explore the my...

In honor of the Vernal Equinox, this episode is dedicated to the shimmering, gently unfurling symbol of Spring! With winter behind us, the Sun and his warmth grows wilder and more golden with each passing day. But there is more to this season than the warming of the world. Spring is associated with the themes of resurrection, fertility, and the reclamation of the sovereign path.  Our listener symb...

Oracles and prophetic vision were paramount to life in the ancient world. Along with astrology and haruspicy, consultation of the oracle was recognized as an important way of connecting with the will and vision of the divine. We live in a world that has stripped away the importance of the oracle and her voice, and so in this episode, we explore stories of the Oracle at Delphi, Apollo, Python, and...

The ouroboros is one of our most mysterious and powerful symbols, denoting the simultaneity of life, subsequent endings and beginnings, death and rebirth, completion and totality, solar power and bravery, an encircling of the world...  As an alchemical concept the ouroboros represented the circular nature of the alchemist's work, or what Jung interpreted as the integration of shadow, an evoca...

When it comes to romantic love, the heart is the symbol that most immediately comes to mind. When we're passionate, we move from the heart, and when we're disappointed, our hearts can break. The heart is central, literally, to our functioning, and so in this episode, we explore different ways of understanding and holding the heart, letting it be messy, complex, and expansive.  Join us as...

What does it mean to approach a threshold? Prevalent in myths, fairy tales, sagas, ancient hymns, thresholds represent a point of departure from the profane to the sacred. Thresholds demarcate the space between realms, and our passage through them is transformative. But how do we know when we’re at a “threshold moment”? And what do we do when we find ourselves navigating the difficulty of said pas...

The lion! A symbol of sovereignty, regality, solar power, and bravery, associated with kings of all kinds. These are the primary associations we call up, when asked to contemplate the lion in all his golden glory, but upon a closer look, the lion holds more than meets the eye. At the beginning of a new calendar year, there is as much potential for hope as there is exhaustion. We can connect with t...

We enter into the depths of December and are immersed in a maelstrom of commercialized holiday ~cheer~. This time of year can be exceptionally stressful, with its emphasis on the weight of our purchases. Looking back in pre-Christian history, the winter solstice was frequently celebrated as a returning of longer days, a re-birth of the “Sun King,” a celebration of hope in the dark and cold of the...