These first few Season 2 episodes have pretty bad sound quality. We'll forgive you if you can't take it.

We tackle values, even though we say at first we won't.

These first few Season 2 episodes have pretty bad sound quality. We'll forgive you if you can't take it. But check that new intro and outro, huh?! 

In this episode, we tackle fears, new love, attraction dynamics, and so much more. Wham, Bam, thank you ma'am!

Many thanks to Gabe Marihugh for lending his wizards voice to our podcast. You can find more about him at www.enteringdiscovery.com

Kat and Ginger talk about creating space for each other, sabbaticals, and the eventual dissolution of their business partnership, and other unexpected obligations, as well as how they ritually ended things.

Geminis often work long and hard, which can result in malaise, tiredness or even burnout. Gems also love shedding skins and reinventing themselves, but they don't always take time to incorporate and fully settle in to a big shift. Ginger has been observing this in Kat since her big move last November in the midst of holiday retail season, and the shifts have piled on with letting go of her jewelry identity and entering into a new romantic relationship.

Kat's been on a quest for spaciousness ever since doing The Desire Map earlier this year. Ginger's had to ponder how she's been "holding on" to many aspects of the business they have together or even ideas and expectations. Once she fully let go while on vacation, she started wondering how to support Kat in doing the same. Enter the idea of The Sabbatical.

In this episode the Gems challenge ideas about how a small business needs to be run, especially one the crosses friendship lines as well. What's good for you? The business? Your friend? And can these ideas morph into core values that support and inspire everyone involved?

This episode culminates in the official decision that Kat will start a sabbatical from Cult of Gemini beginning on her birthday, June 17. She's filled with doubts and questioning but is willing to trust in the mystery to see what arises. This episode is anything but that as Kat is in full Gemini/Vata mode of scattered overstimulation... but she's gotta start somewhere.

Only a few links are mentioned in this episode:

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte

Magdalena Curtis : : Radical Embodiment

Amazing photo of the Gems by Darling Dear Photography

Ginger shares a recap of her 2-week trip to England and Scotland from whence she just returned. She and Kat touch on expectations and unmet desires and how sometimes you just gotta go with the flow of how everything is unfolding. The Gems discuss the idea of being adaptable versus being empathic, especially as it pertains to traveling.

Ginger also talks about feeling disconnected from everything: the shop, Kat, her guy, her garden, her dog, her life overall. She came back from travels super relaxed but did hope the distance and time away would wake up that desired connection so she would feel dropped in and grounded in her life again. The convo turns to ideas of generating that connection internally rather than pushing for it or chasing it.

Kat had some major shifts while Ginger was gone. After wild Beltane festivities in the shop (and many other subtle factors that had been building subconsciously over time), Kat woke up and decided she needed to cut her hair (a whole foot removed!) and quit Facebook. She wanted to really SEE herself in the mirror and be more in the present rather than always looking outside herself and wondering if she needed to be sharing what was happening. Ginger and Kat discuss the ruse of social media; at first it seems like connection but it really isn't.

The Gems wrap by talking about creating a small biz culture based around support; how can they get everyone in the shop to feel supported? What does that look like? They ponder many other questions including the doozy... asking for your 100%. Sometimes that's the hardest place to go because you don't even know what it is until retrospection.

Here are links to a few things mentioned in this episode:

The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte

Jeff Brown, Writing Your Way Home class

Darling Dear Photography

Magdalena Curtis : : Radical Embodiment and hair transformations

Chameli Ardagh, Awakening Women

YouTube piques Ginger's interest by suggesting Abraham Hicks' videos. She jumps right in and gets inspired, especially about the idea that it's our thought patterns that either point our canoe upstream or downstream so to speak. The Gems talk about being in the flow, when they've felt it, and how to cultivate it. What are we feeding? What are we paying attention to? We can leave the stories behind and focus on where we want to go. Putting this vibration out into the world helps us cultivate what we want.

Ginger and Kat do a quick Psychic Fair recap since they hadn't even discussed doing 2 full days of individual Tarot readings with a few breaks for 3 Fates Bone Throwing with Amalia Scott and a couple TwinStar Throwdowns. The experience certainly put them each in the flow. Kat's new relationship is giving her the experience of having her energy at the end of the day be reflected back to her — in this case someone else felt the flow, the fun, the lightness and buoyant energy. The Gems set their sites on more of that!

Click below to link to resources mentioned in this episode:

Abraham Hicks website

Video: When You Care Less, They Care More

Danielle LaPorte

The Mystery School video series by Frater Xavier

See Jane Do by Elisa Parker: Everyday Women Doing Extraordinary Things

Kat's been studying Tantra, and it's shaking up her ideas of self care. The ultimate self care focuses on you, your own feelings and caring for your own needs. It's a path of learning about self in a caring, non-manipulative way. If we can get below the stories and actually listen to the messages of our bodies, we're paving the way to intimacy and deep connection.

Surprisingly, this is a vulnerable place where we get below the triggering and are in a place of witnessing. Bringing things back to our feelings gets us to stop stirring up the dramas. This type of deep inner knowing also lays the foundation of trust in ourselves; no longer will we concede pieces of ourselves. The story is what allows a person to not be 100% of themselves.

Stories get us to jump to conclusions, end points or possible solutions whereas acknowledging feelings and desired feelings opens up possibilities without assumptions. Ginger and Kat dive into some of their stories and self-limiting beliefs, touching on flow, work ethic, allowing joy, and comfort.

Here are links to various sources mentioned in this episode:

TwinStar Podcast Episode 029: Angela + Cacao

The Heart of Tantric Sex: A Unique Guide to Love and Sexual Fulfillment by Diana Richardson   Danielle LaPorte   Caroline Myss   The Work by Byron Katie "I'm not living up to my full potential" video   Photo of the Geminati by the fabulous Darling Dear Photography

Every couple of months the Geminis paper over the windows of their brick and mortar shop in Grass Valley, California and close for 48 hours. In that time they dismantle their current window displays and install new ones based on a new theme. These themes are actually ritual magick that they have either knowingly or unknowingly called in. They feel the effects as the theme gets closer and throughout the months that it's active.

This podcast episode is recorded 8 hours before one of these transformations takes place. The theme is changing from Siren's Call to Emerging, and the Gems are realizing that Emerging isn't always a beautiful, comfortable experience. They discuss the awareness that everything is rising up from the dark to the light of day, not just flowers but also weeds like feelings of inadequacy, jealousy and judgement.

Kat shares a lot about her discomfort with the shift from "making things" (such as jewelry) to residing more with ephemeral creation like exploring dance, performance and environment building. This is challenging her ingrained notions of creativity and how living a creative life looks and feels.

Ginger shares her concerns around diverging paths and the tension that rises within when she doesn't know how those paths will work together. This mirrors the general unease the Gems are holding about the windows and store transformation because several artists are contributing, and they won't know how it all comes together or works until somewhere in the midst of the 48-hour transformation.

Kat and Ginger peel back their own stories about how light emerging should be and how this theme will be an easy one. It's all about stepping into the unknown. The Emerging theme and window installation is active in the store through May 13, 2017.

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

TwinStar Podcast Episode 029: Angela + Cacao

Cult of Gemini newsletter about the discomfort of emerging

The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

TwinStar Podcast Episode 025: Choices + Triggers touches on gaslighting

Whatever you are going through, whatever comes up… that is your GOLD. It's there, waiting for you to alchemize it. This is your medicine.

This powerful episode features Angela Economakis, a cacao shaman from The Luminaries Academy in Cyprus. Angela, Ginger and Kat are all drinking cacao during this recording, so it's a deeply dropped-in and heart opening conversation between these ladies. Angela shares how she evolved from being a medical doctor to doing her own deeply healing work with cacao that paved the way for her to hold space for others to do their work.

Her passion is in working with the unconscious mind to address the social programming we aren't aware of. The conversation delves into beliefs, judgements, labels, archetypes and consciousnesses. By uncovering and working through this programming, she's found fun, freedom, joy, and love. She gently helps others do the same. Ginger shares about some sessions she's had with Angela while she was visiting Grass Valley so we can hear how gentle yet paradigm shifting a session can be (transcending the "mental masturbation" that often happens if we loop through talk therapy rather than dropping into the wisdom of our bodies and emotions. What are we holding onto?). Kat shares about her journey of releasing the victim identity she had from a young age.

An intense heart connection brought Angela to Grass Valley, so the conversation turns to talk of love and relationship. The bravery, depth, honesty and willingness to see and be seen in relationship with someone who will call you out on your shit and hold space for you to move through it. It's very different to face your own shadow side in relationship... so many layers get peeled back and you continue to work through and let go of story.

Here are links to some sources mentioned in this episode:

Keith Wilson, "The Chocolate Shaman" in Guatemala is Angela's cacao teacher

Bruce Lipton for his work on emotions and beliefs

Magdalena Curtis :: Radical Embodiment womb wisdom embodiment work with women

Access to Power book

Oscar Pérez for his work with men, grief, processing and initiation; includes his blog posts

Byron Katie: do you know how I know you don't really want that? because you don't have it

Oscar Pérez public Facebook profile

Angela Economakis public Facebook profile

Ginger and Kat open up about some of the challenges they are having in their relationship. As with all relationships, they know they need to be talking openly and spending time together outside of work where they can tend their personal connection. They realize they haven't been doing that much since the holiday intensity of Christmas, which put them in the mode of "get things done" rather than teamwork.

The other thing that has changed their dynamic is that Kat is in a new relationship! Ginger also feels like she's in a new relationship since she has rekindled with David. Both Geminis are spending extra time building those new partnerships. It's a good lesson in balance, and one that we get reminded of throughout life.

This is a raw episode that has both Geminis crying. There are lots of deep lessons about relationships. The Gems do talk about the magick of cacao, tarot, setting intentions and creating boundaries although there aren't any specific links for this episode. It's the Gems at their realest.