📚 Resources and Links:

* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Mentioned in today’s episode:

* Channeling a Manifesto Class — happening on 8/28!

* Trance mediumship and channeling spirits (and the uncomfortable questions no one's asking) with medium Hannah Macintyre

* can an AI tool “channel” messages?

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

I almost didn't record this episode because, honestly, I think we’re all a bit AI'd out. Or maybe it’s just me, IDK.

But since we're deep in a series about channeling, creativity, and the importance of wielding your consciousness, I figured it was time to address the elephant in the Substack server room.

Here's the thing: I'm not anti-AI, but I'm also not about to let a computer do my thinking for me. Like???? Have you guys even read a sci-fi novel before? That’s an obvious recipe for disaster-slash-technological apocalypse.

I can have empathy for why someone might be tempted to outsource writing, thinking, creating, innovating, designing, etc. to a non-sentient algorithm. But I believe using your brain and wrestling with ideas and concepts and art and reality and consciousness and self-concept is like… a biological imperative. Is that not kind of the point of living? Anyway, I’m by no means the first person to point this out.

After spending weeks talking about why the wrestling and way-finding process of creativity is so essential to our humanity, I've got some thoughts on how to use these tools without, you know, completely atrophying your gorgeous brain.

My Personal AI Commandments

* I don't use AI for anything I can't do myself

* I don't use AI “just for funsies” — it’s a waste of resources, like leaving the water running or turning your AC on full blast at noon in the middle of August. Also AI is boring! Why would I talk to a chatbot when I can just talk to a smart person. Or even a dumb person, at least that would be entertaining.

* I always ask: What am I going to do with the extra time? It better be thinking, reading, creating, playing with my kid, channeling spirits, or touching grass… otherwise I fear I have lost the plot.

Actual brain rot — “use it or lose it”

I grew up in the 90s and have an irrational fear of contracting something like Mad Cow disease and my brain turning into Swiss cheese. If you also fear brain rot, let me introduce you to a concept that will either help you sleep like a big brained baby or keep you up at night staring into the black hole of your ceiling — “use it or lose it.”

Scientists studying dementia found that individuals who started to use a hearing aid as soon as they lost some of their hearing — vs. those who did not use hearing aids once they become audio impaired — had lower rates of dementia later in life. Why? Because the anti-hearing aid group stopped using the part of their brain that processes listening and language comprehension, resulting in neurological atrophy.

Spooky. I think about the “use it or lose it” principle when it comes to my physical muscles, my creative muscles, my intuitive muscles, and I can’t help but feel it’s totally true.

So here's my first rule: If I can use my own brain to do it without emotionally thrashing myself, I'm going to try. Basically, I don’t want to run to AI first if I’m feeling lazy. Feels like a slippery slope that ultimately robs me of my abilities, which leaves me totally reliant on AI.

Before you automate anything, ask yourself: What are you going to do with that extra time?

If your answer is "make more mediocre content faster," please stop. The world doesn't need more AI-generated blog posts. But if your answer is "think deeper thoughts, read more books, have actual conversations, or create something genuinely meaningful," then yes—let AI handle your grocery lists and email sorting.

Think of it like the nutrition concept of "crowding out." Instead of just removing the bad stuff, you add so many good things that there's no room for the junk. Use AI to clear mental clutter so you can fill that space with the stuff that makes you more human, not less.

What AI kind of sucks at as of right now

* Good writing: There are tell-tale signs (the “It’s not *** — it’s ***” formula…) and honestly, the majority of the writing that LLMs are pulling from is mediocre at best.

* Original ideas: Once again, LLMs use large data sets to predict the probable next word in a sentence, and then the probable next idea in a paragraph. This predictive nature means that even if you really work the platform to help you come up with new ideas, you’re still probably reheating someone’s nachos.

* Working reliably: A few weeks ago I spent 30+ minutes trying to get ChatGPT to make a simple grocery list based on five recipes I’d uploaded to the chat. It kept forgetting ingredients, miscalculating numbers, hallucinating recipes. It would’ve taken me less time to just grab a pen and paper and write out what I needed.

The Tools That Actually Make My Life Better

📚 Resources and Links:

* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

Week four of our "Divine Downloads" series and we're asking: what happens when "channeling" becomes a convenient shield for questionable authority?

Today KP and I are diving into Breath of Fire, the HBO docuseries about Guru Jagat and the Ra Ma Institute. The series, “chronicl[es] the shocking secret history of Kundalini yoga and the evolution of one of its most prominent leaders,” and is based on a 2021 Vanity Fair article by Hayley Phelan titled, The Second Coming of Guru Jagat. (I recommend at least reading the article before tuning into this ep.)

Kundalini is a tough topic to broach — there are so many well-meaning people who practice it and who’ve found it incredibly supportive who know close to nothing about founder Yogi Bhajan. (Who was problematic at best, allegedly criminal and abusive at worst.)

It’s hard to square how a “technology” that connects its practitioners to the otherwordly could come from such darkness.

Breath of Fire does a decent job at explaining the sordid background of Kundalini yoga and Yogi Bhajan while detailing the story of Guru Jagat, an equally complex figure. The Vanity Fair article doesn’t mince words: “Depending on whom you ask, Jagat was a bona fide spiritual leader—or a fraud; a controversial thought leader; a bigot; a feminist; a rape apologist.”

It’s tragic that Guru Jagat, neé Katie Griggs, passed away at such a young age under such strange circumstances. And this documentary series does an excellent job investigating some of the questions we’ve been asking about the role of channelling or “divine downloads” in illustrating spiritual authority.

On today’s episode, we're talking cults, frauds, the racism that built Western yoga, and why you might want to take a beat if your spiritual teacher is shooting fake money out of guns on Instagram.

In this episode we talk about...

We somehow connect startup culture to cult behavior, discuss why Venice Beach should come with a warning label, and explore the uncomfortable truth that you can have genuine spiritual experiences in fundamentally dishonest containers.

The perfect cult storm. Anti-structure times + low-boundary people + extreme charisma = Venice Beach spiritual empire. It's a formula, people!

Why breathwork actually works (and why maybe that's the problem). When the practices are genuinely helpful but the authority structure is complete b******t, what do you do with that?

The trickster necessity. Maybe we need spiritual frauds to keep us sane? This theory will hurt your brain in the best way.

Plus: why you should never give anyone your credit card information after breathwork.

📚 Resources and Links:

* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

Week two of our "Divine Downloads" series and we're diving into the big question: what's actually happening when someone says they're "channeling" something?

Today I'm talking to Hannah Macintyre, practicing medium and host of Mediumship Matters. While most people in the mediumship world just repeat the same old talking points, Hannah's out here asking the questions we all have — even the slightly (very) uncomfortable ones. I really love listening to Hannah’s show, and I’m delighted to chat with her on The Twelfth House today.

In this episode we talk about...

The "special gift" myth. Turns out most mediums don't have some dramatic spiritual awakening.

📚 Resources and Links:

* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

We’re officially in week two of our “Divine Downloads” series — and buckle up, y’all, because we’re talking about spiritual possession, but in a cool way?

Today novelist, poet, astrologer, and the cohost of COSMIC VALLEY GIRL (season two starts in Sept!) Emmalea Russo joins me to explore the murky, magical territory between creative flow and spiritual channeling.

In this episode we talk about…

The weaponized use of "channeling." We get into why the word can make our hackles rise — is it a cop-out from creative responsibility, or are we all just vessels for something larger than ourselves? Spoiler: it's complicated.

Characters as atmospheric spirits. Emmalea describes how her novel characters literally inhabit her while writing, shifting her mood and language almost automatically. Haters will say she’s possessed!

The alchemical writing process. From chaos to gold, we explore how the vessel (aka you, the writer/creator/maker) is the most important part of the creative work. Plus why strategic silence beats oversharing your works-in-progress every time.

Editing is channeling, too. Through repetition and that delicious friction of working with a human editor who challenges you, something transcendent emerges.

We somehow manage to connect medieval mystics to modern publishing, discuss why your natal chart isn't for public consumption, and explore what it really means to be a "pure channel" (hint: we're all too human for that).

Plus, Emmalea spills on her Book Sherpa accelerator program that, in my opinion and the opinions of many of her students, is more valuable than getting an MFA.

If you’re ready to finally write the book that’s been haunting you for years, Em hooked us up with a special discount code for the sherpa-curious — use EARLYBOOK for $330 off!

Fair warning: we end on some cancellable opinions so… forge ahead to the end at your own discretion.

Found Objects

Welcome to Found Objects, where we give you a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re thinking about, haunted by, reading, making, and what's generally floating around the spiderweb of our etheric minds. These are the building blocks — some directly, some indirectly — that contribute to what we’re focusing on for the next six weeks in our series, The Divine Download: What is Called Channeling?

This is the second post in the series. If you want access to the full curriculum for this series, subscribe to The Twelfth House.

Private Portals

The beginning of the summer felt like being shot out of a cannon — two weeks on X-Games mode (studying / parenting / entrepreneuring) in Ann Arbor, during a particularly busy season at Holisticism (doors opened to the North Node and we welcomed so! many! amazing new members; Ruthless Clarity hit hard and fast for eight full weeks and whooooweeee did it pack a punch) followed by family time on the east coast for a few weeks.

In between all that, the quotidian details: doctors appointments and test results and exercising and being present and hugging friends and making bad art and annotating books and watching movies and finally (finally!!!) getting eight hours of childcare a week. My brain felt deliciously rung out by mid-July.

As I write this, it feels like the dust has momentarily settled in my personal life. I love backstroking through the long, thick days of high summer — no need to rush. The pools of my mind have time to replenish themselves. It’s nice to feel ideas gently bubbling to the surface but free of the urgency to pursue them immediately (rare for me, I’ve gotta enjoy it while I can).

Over the past few months my deepest conversations have circled back around to the genocide and man-made famine in Palestine, the presence of ICE terrorizing our neighborhood and kidnapping our community members, and the general existential helplessness one feels watching fascism consume our government — what do we do? What can we do, when it seems like nothing we try makes a difference?

Well, here’s how I think of it:

If I do nothing, it won’t make a difference to the cause.

If I do something, it won’t make a difference to the cause — but at least I’ll sort of feel better. So why not do something, even if it’s small?

In my mind Chef José Andrés is a Roma Downey “Touched by An Angel”-level earth angel and deserving of the goddamn Nobel Peace Prize for his work at World Central Kitchen. WCK is on the ground in Gaza baking loaves of bread and handing them out daily. They’re a great organization you can donate to here.

8 Ideas Floating In My Psychic Field

📚 Resources and Links:

* 📩 Connect with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michelle Pellizzon-Lipsitz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠team Holisticism⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

A practical guide to reclaiming your time and mental energy without compromising your professional integrity

Something interesting is afoot.

I’ve had no fewer than six conversations over the past two weeks about a very particular problem: what to do about having an unproblematic day job.

“What kind of problem is that,” you’re thinking.

It’s kind of a golden handcuffs demi-fine handcuffs situation — you’ve got a gig that pays well, provides health insurance, and isn't soul-sucking. It’s probably time-consuming, but in an average 9-to-5 way. You might even kind of enjoy it! You have fun slacking weird memes to your coworkers, and whomst amongst us could say “no” to the free snacks that litter the team kitchen? You probably appreciate knowing you’re good at what you do, and being a valuable member of the team makes you feel good.

But here's the thing: it's not your passion.

It's not how you want to spend your one wild and precious life. You have a gnawing desire to get something else brewing — a creative project, a business idea, a calling that feels more aligned with who you really are.

While you’re not pulling 80-hour weeks, you’ve found that you don’t have enough space (mental, temporal, emotional) to really work on your other project. You’re not interested in pulling bleary-eyed all-nighters to work on your side project. But you can’t seem to get enough momentum while working in sporadic, clandestine spurts of free time.

Honestly, it’s not about trying harder or having more discipline or drinking more energy drinks so you don’t need as many honk-shoos a night. If that worked, you wouldn’t have this problem.

You’re stuck between two paths: stay in the realm of financial stability and accept that your side thing will remain a side thing, or quit to make space for what truly matters to you?

📚 Resources and Links:

* Sign up for the North Node waitlist here

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

In our latest Spiritual Text episode, Jonathan Koe joins me to explore how The Psychology Of Money became an unexpected teacher in the art of being human under capitalism… And THAT’S what I call a spiritual text!

In this episode we talk about…

Money as spiritual practice. Our relationship with money becomes this incredibly revealing lens for understanding our subconscious wiring and inherited family patterns.

The “enough” question. Housel writes that "the hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving" — and damn if that ain’t just the skill of life in general? We explore what it means to know when enough is enough.

The compound interest of resilience. Warren Buffett made 99% of his wealth after age 65 — not because he became an exponentially more effective investor, but because compounding interest really started to hit its stride and he didn’t interfere even when things got scary. We talk about not quitting right before the magic happens.

Optimism as strategy. Honestly, you’re just gonna have to listen to the ep to get this one :)

We somehow manage to connect Warren Buffett to the alchemical process, discuss why spiraling on the internet isn't a wealth-building strategy, and explore what your money patterns might be trying to teach you about your next level of growth. And listen, we read the book so you don’t have to (if you don’t want to…) — enjoy!

📚 Resources and Links:

* THE DOORS ARE OPEN TO THE NORTH NODE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

* Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

* Holisticism Resources 4 u:

* Ruthless Clarity — an 8-week email course designed to help you achieve crystal-clear certainty about your goals, desires, and energy allocation

* How to Begin: A Project Planning Class — a 90-m on-demand class that teaches you exactly how to sketch a effervescent project plan that'll fill you with glee and inspiration and instantly banish procrastination and overwhelm, so your brilliant ideas can finally come to life.

* The Subconscious Audit — an 11-day diagnostic framework that helps you identify what's holding you back and making you *feel* blocked. Because you're never actually blocked

* The New Age Playbook for Spellbinding, Can’t-Stop-Reading Copy — a 35-page downloadable workbook to take your writing from blah to bingeable

Short one today — admittedly, I had something totally different locked and loaded in the editorial calendar, but felt compelled by something (a spirit? the Muse? Lucifer? Who’s to say?) to share this instead.

These are the 11 ideas that I feel have changed my brain, my luck, and my life more than anything else. (I mean, the combo of Notion + Are.na is a close second)

Here are the 11 phrases from the podcast that "rewired my brain chemistry and changed the odds on my luck":

* "It's more fun to have fun."

Make anything more enjoyable for yourself; you might as well have fun with whatever you're doing.

* "If you're not having a good time, it's your fault."

This was a huge one for me during a time of my life where I had paralyzing social anxiety. When I take 100% responsibility for my experience, I’m not longer a victim to my circumstances.

* "If you couldn't tell anyone you got it, would you still want it?"

A test to distinguish between genuine desires and people-pleasing/external validation seeking.

* "It's not failure until the game is over/until the story's over"

You get to decide what the last chapter looks like; failure isn't final until you decide it is.

* "That's none of my business" / "That's Future Me's business"

What are you going to do in five years? What are you going to do with that degree? How are you going to make money with that skill? What will you do if XYZ happens?

Hi, that’s none of my business. I cannot be bothered to worry about things outside my control, including what happens in the future. Also, I trust that Future Me is a brilliant super freak witch who will know what to do when we get there — I have confidence that she’ll figure it out.

* "You have a 100% track record of figuring it out."

Trust that you'll handle whatever comes because you always have before.

* "Your perfect day is always in front of you because perfection is a mindset."

You can always turn your day around; perfection is about mindset, not circumstances.

* "You look stupid doing nothing. You look stupid doing things. You might as well get something out of looking stupid."

Since you'll look dumb either way, you might as well do what you want and enjoy it.

* "Sometimes you just have to admit that we're selling you yoga pants."

It ain’t that deep. Not everything has to be achingly meaningful; it's okay for things to just be fun or simple.

* "The worst thing that can happen is that someone says no."

Ok… they said no… Did you die? No! Time for the next thing.

* "We are all on a journey of ecstasy and bewilderment"

Embrace the mystery and wonder of life! Stop trying to predict everything. You’re stealing the fun and whimsy!

Take what you like, disregard what you don’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Giving you an etheric hug from here — we need your light in the world.

x michelle

The doors are open to The North Node until July 6th.

Welcome to my gorgeous group of secret Jason Bournes minus the murder (probably!)

No, it’s not because you look like Matt Damon (that’s a compliment).

It’s because you’re walking around using your valuable knowledge and skills in casual conversations, solving problems for people, giving advice that others would pay consultants thousands for... but you’ve completely forgotten that these abilities are extraordinary (and monetizable, but we’ll get there later)

Quick poll: How many of you have ever said 'Oh that? That's just common sense' while someone frantically took notes? Or maybe, “Oh, that’s easy, I’m happy to do that for you. I could do that in my sleep, I can’t charge you!”

If yes, you’re in the right spot.

And, you’re probably someone who has a LOT of confusion about what to spend your one wild and precious life doing … because you enjoy a LOT of things.

Maybe you’re secretly hoping that one day your alarm clock will go off, and you’ll rise out of bed knowing exactly what it is you want to do when you grow up.

Or that some mysterious billionaire will message you on LinkedIn with a job offer that allows you to work from home 3-days a week doing [insert something you love doing here] for a cool $500k salary a year.

I mean, me too. But while we’re waiting for that golden LinkedIn notification, we might as well save ourselves and start getting paid to do the things we enjoy and are good at.

Here’s my perspective:

Your career isn't a destination — it's a living, breathing, ever-changing organism. We're not looking for THE answer, but understanding the dynamic assemblage of experiences, skills, and gifts that make up your unique expertise.

My goal for this session

You'll leave knowing you have expertise. Slay.

You’ll have a good high-level map to start figuring out your packaging / pricing / format to bring your offer or business or project into the world.

… and while I’m confident you can figure that all out on your own through study and experimentation, The North Node helps you get there faster with less wasted resources.