AGECRAFT After Dark

Julia Granacki
  • 5.0 (60)
  • Sexuality
  • Updated Biweekly

AGECRAFT After Dark is what happens when the 3 a.m. thoughts stop being ignored and start being followed. Formerly Circling the Drain, this next iteration expands the conversation beyond menopause and midlife into something wider, weirder, and more alive—aging, identity, and reinvention for women, queer, and gender-expansive people who know there’s no neat box to fit into and no final version waiting on the other side. The “ghosts” here aren’t paranormal (usually). They’re inherited patterns, past selves, and memories that still have opinions. Instead of exorcising them, we get curious. Expect thoughtful conversations, sharp humor, and stories that are personal, cultural, and occasionally a little strange. If you’re listening at night, that tracks. Welcome to the circle.

  1. 9h ago

    Spiritual Work Is WORK With Aly Kravetz (Bronx Witch)

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when you stop treating spiritual work like a calling you’re supposed to suffer for—and start treating it like actual work? This week on AGECRAFT After Dark, I’m talking with Aly Kravetz, AKA Bronx Witch, founder of Witch Work and Better Witch Coaching. Aly has built her work around a message I can very much get behind: spiritual work is WORK, and you should be getting PAID. We talk about why spiritual and wellness practitioners—especially women—struggle to charge for their labor, and Aly offers one of my favorite reframes: instead of trying to figure out what you’re “worth,” figure out what it costs you to show up and do the work. But this conversation goes well beyond business. Aly is approaching 40 in the middle of a major life reinvention, having recently left New York for the U.S. Virgin Islands. We talk about rebirth, leaving a marriage, asking yourself whether you’re actually happy, ancestral practices, herbalism, magic and manifestation, and why neither of us feels particularly obligated to convince skeptics that witchcraft is real. We also dig into why Aly chose the name BetterWitch—because “best” implies you’ve arrived, while better leaves room to keep learning, changing, and becoming. It’s a conversation about money, magic, identity, agency, and building a life—and a livelihood—that actually reflects who you’re becoming. ---------------------------------------------- Bronx Witch website here. Better Witch YouTube here. Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    Spiritual Work Is WORK With Aly Kravetz (Bronx Witch)

  2. Aug 18

    SURPRISE EPISODE: Finding Real Perimenopause Care

    Send us Fan Mail A little surprise in your AGECRAFT After Dark feed. This time, I’m not asking the questions. I recently joined Dr. Rachel Pope on Our Womanity to talk about what it’s actually like to navigate perimenopause when the healthcare system isn’t particularly good at recognizing—or treating—it. We get into my own perimenopause story (including the grocery-store hot flash that made me think I was dying), being repeatedly told I was “fine,” why regular periods don’t mean you’re not in perimenopause, and the exhausting amount of self-advocacy often required to get appropriate care. We also talk about the bigger problem: gaps in menopause education for healthcare providers, insurance and access, the rise of private and telehealth care, and the increasingly complicated job of separating genuinely helpful resources from people trying to sell vulnerable patients another supplement, test, treatment, or doodad. And we get into something central to my work now: validate, educate, advocate. Because people shouldn’t have to become amateur medical researchers just to get someone to listen to them. Also? Being the guest is delightful. No research. No interview prep. No questions to write. I just showed up and talked. Highly recommend. Originally recorded for Our Womanity with Dr. Kameelah Phillips Pope and shared here as a special AGECRAFT After Dark feed drop. CRAFT THE LIFE YOU WANT Visit the Our Womanity website to hear more episodes here.  For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    SURPRISE EPISODE: Finding Real Perimenopause Care

  3. Aug 11

    Leaving the Light On -Grief, ghosts, animal companions, and the sacred work of helping others cross the threshold with Grey Liefer

    Send us Fan Mail This week, I’m joined by death doula Grey Liefer for a deeply compassionate conversation about grief, dementia, end-of-life care, and what it means to help someone feel safe when the world no longer does. Grey shares how early loss shaped their understanding of mortality, why grief asks us to stop striving for “better” and aim for neutrality instead, and how improvisation can become an unexpectedly powerful tool for caring for someone with dementia. We also discuss the unique end-of-life concerns facing queer and trans people, the practical importance of getting your paperwork in order, and the sacred bond between people and their animal companions. And because this is AGECRAFT After Dark, there’s also a haunted childhood bedroom, a mysterious light left on, and the possibility that not every ghost is trying to scare us. Some may simply be helping us find our way home. So light a candle, make a note of where you keep your important papers, and settle in. This one’s about mortality, meaning, and learning how to live more fully while we’re still here. Grey's website here.     Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    Leaving the Light On -Grief, ghosts, animal companions, and the sacred work of helping others cross the threshold with Grey Liefer

  4. Jul 28

    Break Your Face, Build an Empire – Seizures and Second Acts, With Alisa Kennedy Jones

    Send us Fan Mail Bestselling author. Brand strategist. Publisher. Founder of Empress Editions. Survivor of 14 facial surgeries and one extremely rude grocery store floor.  Alisa Kennedy Jones does not do anything halfway, and in this episode she explains why midlife women — who control 85% of household spending and keep being told their voices are "old" — are the most underestimated force in publishing and this economy, if we’re being honest. We cover: postmenopausal bliss (yes, really), the salary cliff nobody warns women about, banned-book drama, AI reader companions, taco-truck healthcare activism, and a ghost story involving a Victorian home and a child who was somehow in two places at once. Visibility is activism. This episode is proof. Empress website here.     Empress Substack here. Gotham Girl Substack here Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    Break Your Face, Build an Empire – Seizures and Second Acts, With Alisa Kennedy Jones

  5. Jul 14

    Zero Ukuleles to Three Ukuleles with Jen Kwok

    Send us Fan Mail What if midlife isn’t about reinventing yourself? What if it’s about finally becoming the person you were all along? In this episode, I sit down with writer, musician, actor, comedian, and multi-hyphenate Jen Kwok to talk about creativity, caregiving, intuition, visibility, and the strange process of reclaiming the parts of ourselves we were taught to tone down. We explore why sensitivity might actually be a superpower, how to hold the mundane and the magical at the same time, and why adulthood often feels like an endless stream of administrative tasks interrupting your actual life. Plus: energetic hygiene, neurodivergence, comedy as survival, and a wonderfully weird story involving three ukuleles, a keytar, and what may be the universe’s most specific form of communication. Jen's website here.     Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    Zero Ukuleles to Three Ukuleles with Jen Kwok

  6. Jun 30

    Hip Cat Fascist: The Best Band Name You'll Never Hear With Mike Dressel

    Send us Fan Mail This week I sat down with my oldest, most annoyingly-always-right friend, Mike Dressel — writer, plant dad, t-shirt auteur, and the reason I've seen approximately 400 things I wouldn't have otherwise seen. (He's almost always right. It's exhausting.) The man also accidentally coined what is objectively the greatest band name of all time, which you'll have to listen to find out — but I promise it involves a cat, a bad hip, and the creeping wave of fascism.  So, ya know. Relatable. We go everywhere: the disillusionment-to-essayist pipeline, why Gen X had the best music and also kind of raised itself on caffeine and neglect, what gay culture is finally leaving behind (and what it stubbornly won't), and why Mike is now, definitionally, a rave widow. We talk mental health, SSRIs, the specific shame of listening to Ryan Adams alone in your house, David Lynch on acid, and the mystifying persistence of algorithm pop stars who Mike is convinced are not real people. We also do Bibliomancy, which tells Mike his style evolution will be nothing short of messianic. Skinny jeans, apparently, are back. Candles optional. Bwain pills recommended. Mike's website here.     Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    Hip Cat Fascist: The Best Band Name You'll Never Hear With Mike Dressel

  7. Jun 16

    Touch, Trans-Affirming Movement, and Pilates for the Revolution With Sofia Engelman

    Send us Fan Mail You know that thing where a fitness instructor grabs your knee without asking? Yeah, we're done with that. Sofia Engelman — owner of Brooklyn's Queer Body Pilates and genuinely one of the most thoughtful humans working in movement today — joins me to talk about what consent actually looks like in a Pilates class, why the word "burn" is doing a lot of dirty work in so-called body-positive spaces, and how cueing into the posterior chain can quietly sidestep a whole lot of dysphoria. We get into trans-affirming movement, supporting clients through gender-affirming surgery, Sofia's upcoming book Pilates for the Revolution, and why your language IS your politics whether you meant it to be or not. Also: haunted speaker systems, leather jacket divination, and why I — a Gen Xer who got hit as a kid — am still unlearning a lot. Sofia is 28, deeply wise, and I'm taking notes. You should too. Sofia's website here.     Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    Touch, Trans-Affirming Movement, and Pilates for the Revolution With Sofia Engelman

  8. Jun 2

    If You Can't Find It, Make It With Lasara Firefox Allen

    Send us Fan Mail Surprise! The menopause industrial complex would like to pretend queer people don't go through menopause. So author, witch, activist, and certified gap-closer Lasara Firefox Allen did what any reasonable neurodivergent genderqueer person would do — if you can't find it, make it. They wrote the book, built the course, started the cohort, and showed up on this podcast to talk about all of it. In this episode, Lasara and I get into why your gyno's eyes glaze over the second you say "they/them," what perimenopause anxiety actually is (spoiler: it might be your future self screaming at you to get your life together), why loneliness in old age is somehow deadlier than a pack-a-day habit, and how jasmine flowers are apparently the universe's answer to everything. Grief rituals! Jailbroken goddesses! Intergenerational co-mentorship in the Netherlands! It's a lot. In the best way. Lasara's Linktree here.     To join the Magpie Circle workshop, click here.   Leave your message for the Speaker Box here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.   For more AGECRAFT content, join the Substack here.  To work with Julia and/or learn more about her, go here.   CBDMD website here. Use code julia_g_wellness to get 15% off  Episode Sponsor Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.

    If You Can't Find It, Make It With Lasara Firefox Allen
See All (82)

5
out of 5
60 Ratings

About

AGECRAFT After Dark is what happens when the 3 a.m. thoughts stop being ignored and start being followed. Formerly Circling the Drain, this next iteration expands the conversation beyond menopause and midlife into something wider, weirder, and more alive—aging, identity, and reinvention for women, queer, and gender-expansive people who know there’s no neat box to fit into and no final version waiting on the other side. The “ghosts” here aren’t paranormal (usually). They’re inherited patterns, past selves, and memories that still have opinions. Instead of exorcising them, we get curious. Expect thoughtful conversations, sharp humor, and stories that are personal, cultural, and occasionally a little strange. If you’re listening at night, that tracks. Welcome to the circle.

Information

  • Creator
    Julia Granacki
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    82
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 AGECRAFT After Dark
  • Show Website
    AGECRAFT After Dark

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