Episode 12 // Mercury Magic & the Origins of Aeolian Heart

Welcome to the first episode of the second season of STARGAZER, a podcast about astrology, alchemy, and magic.

This begins a series of interviews with magical and creative entrepreneurs who have courageously forged a path for themselves, finding unique ways to share their gifts with the world. This series is timed to coincide with the upcoming transit of Mercury through Virgo, which is the astrological influence that I used to launch my creative business five years ago!

If you want to learn about how I used the transit of Mercury in Virgo to launch and support the growth of Aeolian Heart, be sure to sign up for August 19th event, ELEMENTAL: Business Alchemy with Mercury in Virgo.

Those who are a part of this Renaissance work because they have a passion, not merely for material acquisition. They work to find freedom for their creative spirit and in the way they use their time. And they work because it gives them purpose, creating vital connection and community.

My first guests are the perfect embodiment of the 21st Century Renaissance that is blossoming.

Beatrice Kalmar and Meredith Allen run a business called Psychic Stitch, a high-art embroidery business dedicated to up-cycling and customizing clothes to create one-of-a-kind wearable art. They are such beautiful women, old souls with loving hands who are completely inspired by their work to make clothes truly meaningful again.

Since they live right here in Los Angeles, I went to their studio to chat with them and record our conversation. Beatrice and Meredith are great artists, painters with thread. They can reproduce any image or style from the past. But they also create their own original effervescent psychedelic tapestries which are a worthy contribution to the ancient art of embroidery.

Amidst the rainbow of threads, the antique embroidery machines, and the works of art in progress, I felt like I was in another time and place. A time when people did not take so much for granted and had more reverence for the hours, labor and skill that go into creating any kind of clothing.

In this conversation, we talk about how Psychic Stitch got started and what inspired its beginnings. We also talk about the major issues caused by the mass-produced corporate fashion industry, which is obscenely wasteful, environmentally hazardous, and shamelessly employs slave labor.

As an answer to this, Psychic Stitch seeks to make clothing precious again, by enchanting them with a story and purpose. This honors the people who made these clothes and the people who own them now. With conscience and art, clothes become imbued with love. This philosophy is a great departure from the values that have spawned so much spiritual and economic crisis in the world.

Whether you love fashion or not, clothes are an expression of who you are: what your values are, what your trade is, and what your aesthetics are. It blows my mind to think of how awful it is to clothe ourselves in the products of slave labor. Not only do I mourn for the people in the sweatshops, but it is terrible how much we struggle and compete to be able to afford these loveless products. The whole experience is born from pain and injustice. And it fosters no appreciation for what we own.

I believe that most humans don’t really want to live like this anymore. And the Information Age is inviting a massive paradigm shift. Artisans with a vision, like the women at Psychic Stitch, are making small but important steps towards creating another way to live.

I loved talking to Beatrice and Meredith so much. I learned a LOT from them and I hope yo

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