The 12th season of The Skeptical Shaman podcast is here and it's all about our collective and individual Villain Eras: a unique moment in time in which we all have permission to embrace our alter egos, pursue our goals, and allow others to paint us as the villains in their stories...if that's what they need to get through the day;) In this episode, host Rachel White (of TOTEM Readings) is joined by the INCREDIBLE Malachas Ivernus, a magical maestro that lives in his own alter ego's identity as a writer, ritual magician, and occult academic. He is the creator of The Hollow Behind the Hearthstone multimedia project, which includes a website, Sub stack, social media profiles, YouTube channel, occult services, and publishing projects. Malachas' "magical persona" allows him to playfully embody a "darker" self than his day-to-day way of being. In the fiction he writes and shares, he can give full rein to darker aspects and impulses within him, in way that is "safe" and generative. As someone who suffers from bipolar disorder, it's also a way in which Malachas can speak of his "dark side", or other "persons", who both are and are not "himself": something deadly serious and potentially destructive that he has had to deal with all of his adult life. In the words of Malachas, "There's a fine line between the clinical and the mystical, and one must attempt to straddle it." This is a banger of an episode, and proof that the darker, more magical folks among us are more integrated, more self-aware, and genuinely more capable of being there than some of the performative, love and light folks that seem to dominate the Business of Woo! Rachel's LINKS: TOTEM Readings Website: https://www.totemreadings.comTOTEM Readings Substack: https://totemrach.substack.comRachel's Other Links: https://linktr.ee/totemrachPlease support the Sponsors of The Skeptical Shaman Podcast: Buy The Business of Woo book HERE: https://a.co/d/0g7EFJmMTOTEM + PUCK HCKY Merch Drop: https://puckhcky.com/collections/totemThe TOTEM Flower Essence Deck: https://a.co/d/gw16LsGThe TOTEM Flower Essences: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TotemReadingsATXTOTEM Spiritual Transformation Coaching: https://www.totemreadings.com/coachingTOTEM Business of Woo Mentoring: https://www.totemreadings.com/business-of-wooMalachas' LINKS: https://linktr.ee/malachasivernus Please note: The views and opinions expressed on The Skeptical Shaman do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, protected class, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. And remember: sticks and stones may break our bones, but words—or discussions of religious or spiritual topics-- will never hurt us.
