Grief Magic: Rituals, Tarot & Creativity for Seasons of Loss

This is a gentle, slightly waffly episode on the last two years - the early stages of grief and shock, how I marked the anniversary this week, how I am shaping new family traditions and how I see the future.

I hope it gives you a space to reflect on your own grief <3

You are welcome to sign up for my newsletter here: https://griefmagic.com/free/

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode I'm joined by Bron Watson, a nurse, marketer, and entrepreneur living in New South Wales, Australia. After building a busy mentoring business, a breast cancer diagnosis in her late thirties forced her to stop and reassess everything. A second diagnosis, this time with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, led her to create the Serenity Project, a space where science and soul sit together rather than being treated as opposites.

We talk about what it means to be the CEO of your own care, choosing who belongs on your team of doctors, healers, and specialists, and why she's moved away from the word "cure" in favour of "healing." Bron shares how grief and gratitude can coexist, what it felt like to catch sight of herself mid chemo, and how naming an emotion can create just enough space to respond instead of react. We also touch on supporting carers and her idea of "the next play," focusing on one true step forward instead of trying to solve everything at once.

Bron's book, Be Where Your Feet Are, is out in October. Her podcast is Serenity Rising.

Bron Watson is a nurse, educator, entrepreneur, and founder of The SocialCoach and The Serenity Project. With decades of experience as a registered nurse and educator, Bron has long been drawn to spaces where care, communication, and connection matter. 

In 2012, she founded her first business empowering business owners to share their voice online with authenticity and purpose. Over the past decade, her work has supported thousands of people to show up in life and business with intention and impact. Bron’s journey took a profound shift in 2017 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Five years later, she received a second diagnosis—anincurable blood cancer. These experiences deepened her belief that healing isn’t just physical—it’s emotional, spiritual, and deeply personal. 

Rather than be defined by diagnosis, Bron created The Serenity Project to offer others what she wished she’d had: the space where science meets soul, with evidence and perspective, what she call the ‘third space’ a place to reconnect with yourself, navigate uncertainty with compassion,and find serenity in the midst of it all. 

Website https://serenityproject.com.au/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bronwatsonme

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bron_watson/

Thank you for listening!

Love,

Yarrow

This episode is a follow-up to one of the most popular episodes I've ever made, on queer friendship and romance. So many of you got in touch after that one, so I wanted to go deeper and talk more practically about how we can bring more intimacy and romance into all our relationships.

I start by thinking about where our expectations of relationships come from, because I think that's where it all begins. For me that means looking at growing up in Germany, the legacy of wartime survival in my family, and the very specific ideas about marriage and commitment that got passed down to me. When we can see where those expectations originated, we get more space to figure out what we actually want.

From there I talk about tracing your current relational landscape: who is in it, what different friendships offer, and how to get honest about where you want more. I share some of the questions I love asking friends across seasons, like what do you want from this season, and what relational landscape do you want to grow old in.

There's also a thread about the different dimensions of intimacy I've come to value: talking honestly about our bodies, being transparent about hard times, building a shared imagination for the world we want to live in, swapping skills, and normalizing the hard conversations that make the warm ones feel safe.

This one is for anyone who wants their friendships to feel a little more intentional, a little more tender, and a lot more real.

You can send me a question here: https://speakpipe.com/yarrowm

and you can sign up for our free July sessions here: https://wonderful-term-81242.myflodesk.com/tp3w2m72dc

Love,

Yarrow

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 Orlando, my dog of 15 years who passed away this winter.

I talk about how I adopted him at 25 and what those years together really taught me about love, responsibility, presence and care. I'm honest about the things I got right and the things I regret, because I think we need more truthful conversations about the relationships we have with animals and what we owe them.

I also share what the last months of his life looked like, how he came to my 40th birthday and seemed to hold on just for that, and how he died peacefully at home with me beside him.

In the second half I reflect on what grieving him has felt like, especially sitting alongside the loss of my mum in 2024. I think about the difference between anticipatory grief and sudden loss, why pet loss often goes unrecognised as a real grief, and some of the small rituals that have helped me carry him with me.

If you've lost an animal companion, I hope this gives you a little space to feel it.

You can send me a speakpipe question over here: https://speakpipe.com/yarrowm

and you can join the free soft grief space here: https://griefmagic.com/free/

Love,

Yarrow

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 experience without waiting for things to get easier and what it looks like to rest, play and receive lavish care inside the systems and responsibilities we're already carrying.

We also get into the slow, invisible labour of being a carer and a community holder, how embodiment practice builds responsiveness and intuition, the gifts that can come from difficult experiences, and what it means to create spaces where people can finally feel welcome and witnessed exactly as they are.

There's a beautiful thread running through our conversation about time travel, somatic practice, and what it means to become a good ancestor. 

If you've been looking for permission to simply show up and be present, this one is for you.

Resources mentioned:

• dia's website and newsletter: https://everydaywrites.com/

• Our first conversation on the Kind Business podcast: https://pinkwellstudio.com/2024/09/19/123-embodiment-integrity-business-joy-with-nadia-of-everyday-writes/

• Blue Nights by Joan Didion

• The work of Francis Weller

dia Karim is a Black queer embodiment practitioner, creative collaborator, parent & community-tender of Engish~Sudanese~Syrian~Scottish heritage. The kind of healing they’re interested in takes it beyond the edges of our own bodies, into our relationships with beings, land, systems, ancestors, time, cosmos and and and. They combine somatics, expressive arts, group gatherings & close partnership, and center the alchemy of queer, Black and BIPOC experiences… so we can be with what's present, act in alignment, root into the collective soil and become the ancestors we want to be.

Learn more about their work and get on their beautiful newsletter here: https://everydaywrites.com/

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, especially in a world shaped by burnout, climate anxiety, disability and uncertainty.

I also share parts of my own experience with distance learning through the The Open University, including how studying philosophy, mythology and creative writing became an anchor during years of illness, lockdown and isolation. At the same time, I explore the grief that can arise around inaccessible education, financial barriers, bullying, attention fragmentation and the gap between what we hoped learning would give us and the realities of adult life under capitalism.

Here is the link to the free Creative Grief Club, which includes monthly Zoom sessions and the book group on Fable: ⁠⁠⁠https://griefmagic.com/free/⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Yarrow

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 grounding moment, draw a card, and anyone who wants to can check in via the chat. Then we move into around 45 minutes of quiet time together. Some people draw or paint, some stitch or weave, some do tarot spreads, some just rest or read. There's no fixed schedule, no teaching, no pressure to be on video. Just a soft hour of doing something nourishing for yourself, alongside other people doing the same.

I find that slowing down with others helps me go so much deeper into my own practice. I often write more in my journal in that hour than I would alone.

In August I'm taking a break, and in September I'll be back with a fuller membership offering that builds on these sessions. But for now, July is completely free to try with no strings attached.

I'd love to see you there: https://wonderful-term-81242.myflodesk.com/tp3w2m72dc

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 perspective through ritual and embodiment
• grief, disability, chronic illness, and surrender
• what becomes possible when we stop forcing resolution

I also share simple ways to work with the Hanged Man over the summer through journaling, movement, tarot rituals, and paying attention to the changing light and rhythm of the season.

Here is the link to the free Creative Grief Club, which includes monthly Zoom sessions and the book group on Fable: ⁠⁠https://griefmagic.com/free/⁠⁠

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Yarrow

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’s exploration of uncertainty, loneliness, curiosity, resilience, and human connection.

In this episode, I explore:

• reading as a nervous system experience
• suspense and anxiety in fiction
• existential literature in approachable ways

• how imagining “the worst case scenario” can sometimes reduce fear
• the resilience of ritual, companionship, and curiosity

Here is the link to the free Creative Grief Club, which includes monthly Zoom sessions and the book group on Fable: ⁠https://griefmagic.com/free/⁠

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Yarrow

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 or menopause.

Together we talk about:

• gender expansive experiences of perimenopause and menopause
• self advocacy in medical systems

• grief and identity shifts in midlife
• hormones beyond binary thinking

• masking, neurodivergence, and authenticity

This episode contains discussion of:

• chronic illness
• suicidal ideation statistics during perimenopause
• medical neglect
• grief and loss

Lasara Firefox Allen, MSW (they/them/Mx.) is a certified Menopause Doula, gender-affirming Menopause Coach, and educator specializing in inclusive midlife care. As CEO and Founder of Genderqueer Futures and Founding Coach of The Genderqueer Menopause Coach, they train healthcare providers, therapists, doulas, coaches, and other menopause professionals through the Gender-Affirming Menopause Care Certification Course, and facilitate community programs for trans and gender-expansive individuals. Their trauma-informed, evidence-based approach bridges research, somatics, and lived experience to transform menopause care. Socials: Substack: @lasarafirefoxallen Instagram: @lasara_firefox_allen @genderqueer.menopause Facebook: /lasara.wakerobin.firefox.allen (personal) and /lasara.firefox.allen (professional) as well as /genderqueermenopause TikTok: @lasarafirefoxallen and @genderqueer.menopause

Here is the link to the free Creative Grief Club, which includes monthly Zoom sessions and the book group on Fable: ⁠⁠https://griefmagic.com/free/⁠⁠

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Yarrow