energetic wellness + why it matters (especially for creatives, like you)

We are in the absolute peak of the wellness era. But what doesn’t get mentioned enough is energetic wellness.

What I mean by that phrase is the practice of honoring you own unique energy, nurturing it, and working with it in harmony.

Energy is currency, and it’s important to spend it (and invest it) wisely to avoid burnout.

By better understanding and flowing with your personal energy, you can bring harmony into your relationships, maintain your boundaries confidently, create more freely, and invite more luck (and less resistance) into your personal + creative endeavors.

an easy way to envision an energetic wellness routine
is to think of it as a garden.

First, you’ve got the soil— think of it as your home base, or the foundation of your own personal energy. When you’re at home energetically, nobody can really fuck with you. It’s an internal safe space with fertile ground for creation, goal-setting, and mindful change.

You obviously know your energy pretty well, but there’s a couple of ways you can dig even deeper to get a better grasp on it. Your own birth chart and your human design chart are literal roadmaps from the cosmos to steer you toward understanding your energetic makeup. Human design is a system that I will ramble more about at a later time, but long story short, a simple, free online test using your birth date and time will let you know your energy type, and the most aligned “strategy” to work with it.

now that we’ve got the soil in our garden, let’s think about the seeds, or the intentions.

What do you want to plant and grow? What are you preparing your foundational inner soil to support? Whether it’s a personal habit, a business goal, or an art project, make sure that your intentions are clear and that you can visualize an end goal. In other words, know exactly what you want.

With your mindset intact and a good relationship with your energetic design, you’ve got your work cut out for you when it comes to setting goals that truly align with you. Everyone’s energy is different; it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Different things work for different people, so spend some time figuring out how you can best nurture yourself to make space for the new intentions you’re setting.

how do we bring those seeds to life?
with water , of course.

In this garden, the water is your energy + emotion— be very careful where you’re pouring it. Like I mentioned before, energy is currency. Thoughts and emotions have real power, so it’s a good practice to monitor them and be mindful of how you speak to yourself and about your projects.

Our minds don’t always make it easy for us to be kind to ourselves. Pop-up thoughts and hyper-fixating on the wrong shit can wreak havoc on your self-worth and creative flow if unchecked for too long. Be gentle with yourself. It’s natural to have negative thoughts and emotions, and it’s okay to feel those things. Keep in mind, though, that you have the power to redirect that flow into productive, supportive energy for yourself. Don’t spend too long watering weeds (the not-good kind).

People tend to get discouraged when setting intentions because they often think that’s all there is to it, but it’s not a, “set it and forget it!” kind of thing (showing my age). Once you’ve planted those seeds for the things you desire, you must water them with healthy, affirmative thinking that supports them.

after planting + watering those seeds,
you’ll need some sun to help them bloom.

I know, we like the darkness. But we do need a little light to balance things out. In our energetic wellness garden, the sun brings the fire element: passion, actions taken, and movement. It is the doing energy.

The actions you take towards your goals, whether small habits or big dreams, make a big impact towards your overall energetic wellness + self-actualization. You will see those intentions fully bloom with mindful thinking and the actions to match. Your natural passion for your art, your innate desire is pure solar energy fueling you towards realizing the best version of yourself and seeing your projects fully come to life.

Energetic wellness is especially important to creatives, one main reason being the dreaded burnout.

Learning + prioritizing your energy will help diffuse the symptoms of creative burnout and eventually show you how to avoid it. This is where your human design chart can really help you.

By knowing your energy type, you can use that information to restructure your creative habits in a way the supports you instead of tiring you out.

Another reason that energetic wellness is crucial to creatives is because many of us suffer from bouts of impostor syndrome from time-to-time.

Getting extremely comfortable with your energetic needs and respecting your unique vision will, over time, allow you to stop comparing, stop self-doubting, and start creating.

How would you describe your own energetic wellness routine, or what would you change about it? Please know that by “routine,” I’m not suggesting a tremendous amount of work. I’m a naturally low-energy person (a projector in human design; IYKYK), so trust me when I say I will never promote anything that requires intense, unrealistic commitment, like… you know, a gym membership.

Your personal energetic wellness routine is all yours, and you can make it what you want. Maybe it’s meditation and long walks, or maybe it’s journaling weekly to get those thoughts out and make sense of them. Maybe it’s a hot shower and time to yourself to think after a long night in the mosh pit.

Whatever it is that allows you to think clearly, honor your energy, and take mindful action towards being your best, badass self, that is true wellness.

love + magick,
— krisztina

meet the most magickal you: 3 books for self-exploration

It might not sound like fun to dive into the subconscious (most of us have some unpleasant, sketchy shit lurking around in there), but that’s where the gold truly lies. Diving into the depths of the unseen, be it in our dreams, the zodiac, or the collective unconscious, is a quest that yields the most invaluable loot: think untamed creativity, better relationships to self + others, and a deepened awareness.

Uncovering your strengths and weaknesses, identifying limiting beliefs, recognizing your natural gifts, and making peace with your shadow self are just a few of the transformative benefits that you can enjoy as you spend some time untangling the once-unknown to get to know the real you.

A little disclaimer before I get into it here: you do not have to be any of the following to explore the books/practices that I mention in this post:

• a practicing witch, or even remotely into witchcraft

• a regular tarot reader, or familiar with every single card

• an expert astrologer who doesn’t need to Google every transit

If you are any of those things, that’s obviously awesome. I encourage all curious spirits who feel called to do so to enjoy these books, comfortably explore each practice, and hopefully benefit as much as I have from the self-exploration tools they each provide.

Now, let’s venture in between the stars and the shadows.

Astrology is a topic that I am deeply passionate about, and I realize it can be a polarizing subject. You either think it’s total bullshit, or you eat it up. I’m in the second camp, and eating well. Astrology has very observable legitimacy, and studying it has pulled me out of some very scary mental places through self-understanding.

WHY THIS BOOK?

The Complete Guide to Astrology: Understanding Yourself, Your Signs, and Your Birth Chart by Louise Edington is on my list for many reasons. For one, it’s a great foundational book to begin your exploration into astrology (or brush up if you’re more adept). The keyword here is foundational; there are countless resources on this topic, as well as variations of astrology, and I encourage you to research what works best for you.

Edington’s book was my first on western astrology, and it has been a valuable resource ever since. I appreciate the inclusive, modern language, and the approachable explanations of the basics. The first portion of the book will get you acclimated to the planets and their meanings, the nature of each of the 12 signs, and the houses. These basics alone will grant you rewarding insight into your personality and how you naturally connect with the world around you.

Though The Complete Guide to Astrology does creep into more advanced ideas, you only need to jump into that if you want to. If you want the bare-bones introductions to the planets, the signs, houses, and modalities, you'll find it in this book— and that's enough to get you started.

HOW IT CAN HELP YOU

Learning and studying your birth chart—a snapshot of the planetary positions at the time of your birth—can serve as a roadmap for navigating your cosmic configuration and discovering why you are the way you are. Knowing which planets govern which areas of life and personality, you can learn how to better flow with yourself and others.

For example, Venus is the planet of love, relationships, beauty, material wealth, and values. Looking at Venus' placement at the time of your birth can tell you a lot about how you operate in relationships, depending on the sign of the zodiac it occupies. Sticking with the example, if Venus was in the sign of Aquarius (air sign) when you were born, you may have a more detached, airy attitude regarding relationships (of any kind) and crave a more cerebral connection above all else.

There's a reason most people don't identify with the horoscope they find in the newspaper or on Instagram. Most general horoscopes focus only on the sun's placement, but that's just one part of the puzzle! Discovering how each planetary placement makes you uniquely you can be a healing experience, especially when you identify and make peace with any"negative" aspects in your chart.

Edington's book is an approachable, great resource that can help you better understand how the signs, planets, and luminaries influence your day-to-day life and how you respond to it.

While we’re still in the realm of the stars, let’s talk about dreams. Sometimes, dreams don’t seem to make sense. “Why did I dream about making out with that dumb bitch?” or “Why do I keep dreaming about the ocean when I am afraid of water?” are questions many have asked.

But the symbolism and feelings involved with your dreams can spill gallons of tea about your true desires, inhibitions, and patterns, opening up new pathways to personal healing.

Example: You most likely didn’t dream of sleeping with your obnoxious boss because you secretly find them attractive. There’s a more significant chance that you had this dream because you're being called to find your power and become more assertive in a healthy way.

Dreams occur more often than not to steer our attention to matters that need to be addressed on the physical plane. Through their imagery and the emotions they conjure, dreams are a valuable resource for understanding our unconscious and transforming our waking lives.

WHY THIS BOOK?

Decode Your Dreams by Ian Wallace is a book I keep in my nightstand drawer. It is a fantastic reference for deciphering some of the more common dreams you might have to make sense of things in your day-to-day life.

Wallace does a beautiful job of gently explaining what dreams are, why we have them, and how the art of deciphering them can contribute to real change and possibility in the waking world. This book illustrates how you can learn to recall, analyze, and even engage with your dreams so that even the “pointless” ones become informational gold mines supporting your personal growth.

In Decode Your Dreams, Wallace unravels some core meanings of several dream types, including death and birth, love and romance, familial, wealth, recurring, and more (yes, the teeth-falling out one is covered, and the meaning will surprise you). Within each section, you'll find examples of each type of dream, along with meanings and suggested actions you can take to process or carry out what the dream is urging you to confront.

HOW IT CAN HELP YOU

Working with your dreams is a healthy practice that can bring you into harmony with your whole self, as you'll discover your true, unrushed feelings, find the "why" behind any conflicts or roadblocks you're experiencing, and open up the potential of deep healing on so many levels.

If you have trouble remembering your dreams, fear not— there are many ways to improve your dream recall, the main one being journaling. When you wake up, just be for a moment. Allow yourself some time to let any fragments of your dreams come to your waking mind. No detail is too small. Write down or voice record what you saw, felt, heard, tasted, or otherwise experienced in the dream.

The more often you write or voice record them, the easier it will be to recall your dreams and the more information you will remember. By creating a record of your dreams, you're gifting yourself with a guidebook to your subconscious; you'll be able to go back at any time to really dissect the visuals and emotions of your dreams and learn their correlations to events in your daily life.

Dreamwork benefits everyone, but it is truly invaluable for artists, writers, creators, and makers. Studying our dreams while being open to the wisdom they reveal amplifies our creativity by identifying fears (are you a member of the impostor syndrome club?), showing us the blockages we need to clear, revealing glimpses of our true potential, and, of course, being a deep, nourishing well of cosmic inspiration.

Let us shift from the stars to a different realm of the subconscious and discuss tarot as a practice for self-exploration (and care). I was once told by a teacher years ago that, "tarot is, first, a mirror." Hearing that phrase changed my relationship with the tarot forever, and it encouraged me to continue my practice without being afraid of "doing it wrong." While, yes, the cards can help you navigate future events, working with the tarot can reveal creative solutions to your everyday challenges and gift you with a deep awareness of yourself, shadow and all.

WHY THIS BOOK?

Learning to read tarot can be intimidating as fuck. Have you ever tried to memorize all 78 cards? It's not fun, or very effective to just cram it into your skull like exam material (glances over at my unfinished pile of flashcards). There are much easier ways to learn + connect with your deck, and Tarot by Numbers shows us one such method.

Don't let the title make you nervous; there's no major math involved. Rather, this book by Liz Dean actually simplifies the act of learning the tarot by revealing what the numbers have to say, as opposed to the main focus being on the imagery. That is of course not to say that the images on each card aren't important, because they are. But, especially if you are just starting out and getting reacquainted with your intuition, it helps to have the guidance of the number systems that show up throughout the deck.

Tarot by Numbers demystifies the deck by teaching you how to approach a card by looking at the number on it, and explains how the symbolism of each number can help you make connections with the imagery for clearer answers. As for the unnumbered cards such as Pages and Knights, Dean provides a super-approachable guide for deciphering these cards in your personal readings.

But, getting back to the numbers aspect, please believe me when I tell you that it helps tremendously in learning the deck for yourself, and in the process, sharpening your intuition and trusting yourself even more. This book was a game-changer for me when I started to take tarot more seriously, and I still regularly reference it as a guide. By knowing the meanings and associations with each number, you can combine this insight with the other elements and bring an immediate awareness to what the cards are trying to tell you.

HOW IT CAN HELP YOU

Whether you are completely new to tarot or you're a seasoned reader for others, reading cards for yourself can deepen your relationship with your true self and help you make sense of your own thoughts. And if you are quite new, Tarot by Numbers is a great place to start so that you can learn the deck with ease and incorporate a tarot practice into your energetic wellness routine.

Shadow work is a key component to overall energetic wellness, and reading tarot for yourself is a safe way to dig a little deeper into your subconscious and discover any self-sabotaging habits/thoughts, unhealthy obsessions, destructive behaviors, and the like. As an example, let's look at what the Devil card could mean in a personal reading.

Numbered 15, the traditional Devil card shows two people (or demons, depending on your interpretation) chained to a stone pedestal, upon which the horned Devil sits. They appear to be prisoners, until you notice how loose the chains really are.

Using the guidance of Dean's book, we can first consider the number of the card. Five on its own symbolizes imbalance, but 6 represents love and harmony. The Devil's 15 reduces down to 6, but in this case, it is the reversed energy of the Lovers card (6). So instead of peace and healthy love, we find the possibility of disharmony, obsession, addiction, or feeling entrapped.

Following our example, if you pulled the Devil in a reading while asking the deck for insight into why you've been feeling creatively blocked, this card would be majorly suggesting self-sabotage, being tied to old ideas and bad habits, or potentially being tied to greedy motives for your creative business. Or, perhaps you are holding yourself back by trying to “perfect” your work. The Devil can pop up to remind you to free yourself from your own mental chains and create freely, from a place of love and pure expression.

Aside from highlighting unseen, self-made obstacles, a personal tarot practice can truly help you keep in touch with yourself, regain your own trust, and discover creative solutions to everyday issues.

TL;DR: Getting a little more familiar with basic astrology, working with your own dreams, and developing a self-care tarot practice are a few ways that you can get to know the real authentic you, while learning to see yourself (and your obstacles) in a different light. What I’m not saying is that tarot, dreamwork, or astrology will magically erase all of your problems. But these practices can 100% help you embrace your authentic energy, make peace with your shadowy side, and work through creative blocks by learning more about how you operate and why.

Are you feeling inspired to untangle the unknown with any of these books, or do you already incorporate these practices into your own personal rituals? If you care to share, I invite you to chime into the comments on my Instagram post about these beautiful books.

love + magick,
— krisztina

small-batch wellness goods to warm your home (+spirit) this winter

Handcrafted, intentionally-designed goods make excellent gifts— even more so, when it’s your self that you’re gifting. These three beautiful products were my holiday gifts to myself, and I feel like their magick (and the amazing, creative minds that brought them to life) must be shared. Winter can be brutal, but these mindfully-made creations can help the fire stay lit.

fashioned for the fire within.

My first self-gift of winter came from a beloved local maker whose wellness wares are known for their legitimate quality, potency, + yes, gorgeous packaging (which varies by collection; how amazing is that?). A powerful potion packed carefully into a little bottle, Fire Cider is part of the seasonal Mysterium Oculi collection crafted by Alysha of Seven Dreams Ceremony, based out of Baltimore, Maryland.

If you’re a local, you’ll probably recognize that name, as Alysha Davila is the founder and orchestrator of the well-known Bazaar Esoterica events that many mystical, cosmically-curious Marylanders (and visitors) look forward to during spring + fall. And if you’ve ever been to one of the Bazaars, you know that Alysha is an amazing spirit who provides immaculate vibes to the community through nature-infused wellness products, workshops, and events.

An immune-supportive blend crafted with apple cider vinegar, turmeric, cinnamon, burdock, lemon, and other herbs, this Fire Cider has been keeping me healthy (and warm!) this season. There’s many ways to use it; I love to enjoy it in soda water or tonic as a little mid-winter “mocktail”— served in a wine glass, of course.

Alternatively, to really warm up, the Fire Cider makes a beautiful addition to a hot cup of tea. My preference is a nice, spicy ginger tea, with a bit of honey to further complement the herbs and plants that bring this cider to life. I haven’t tried it yet, but I think aside from enjoying this potion in food or drink, Fire Cider could be immensely useful in personal magick or offerings that honor the properties and intentions of the ingredients it contains.

The plants + herbs that fuel each seasonal release from Seven Dreams Ceremony are homegrown by Alysha or otherwise locally-sourced. The love / intention can be felt in this cider, and in every one of their products that I’ve tried before (the incense cones + herbal pre-rolls are highly recommended).

a retreat into nature, in a single spritz.

While visiting an out-of-state makers’ market a couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to find myself in front of the Singe Studios table. The sleek, minimal packaging is what pulled me in, but it’s the kindness of the creator, and the quality of the offerings that transformed me into a repeat customer.

Founded by Angela DeBruhl-Kale and based in Asheville, North Carolina, Singe brings a special kind of magick to home + body goods. My first purchase was a perfume roller in the scent of Blossom, which I was absolutely addicted to for months. My next self-treat from Singe was this room spray, called Woodlands. This spray has made its way into my weekend micro-rituals; I tend to spritz it around the house after cleaning, namely in my room once the bed is made with fresh sheets.

Combining sensual wild violet, earthy oakmoss, and uplifting bergamot, this scent of this spray is not what I was expecting— and that’s a good thing. I expected it to smell like dampened earth (which would’ve been fine), and while there’s an unmistakable, grounding energy to it, the scent is more vibrant than I thought it would be. Imagine mother earth showering in fresh rain, adorning herself in flowers, and preparing for a date night with the sky. That’s what this smells like.

Singe offers indulgent, natural gifts that are clearly crafted with a ton of care + a deep connection to nature that you can feel. I’ve enjoyed every product I’ve been able to buy from them, and I have to add that my mom adored the perfume that she was gifted (she got the scent called Rarity).

If you weren’t already convinced to go ahead and treat yourself to your new favorite perfume or room spray, you should know that when shopping from Singe Studios, you are supporting a beautiful creative business that was adversely affected by the hurricane that ravaged Asheville and much of the Southeast in September of 2024.

a passport to a world between pages.

Wrapping up this list is one of my favorite candles from one of my favorite makers. While vending at my first Bazaar Esoterica in 2023, my table neighbor was none other than Woodland Magic. I was immediately drawn to their candles not just by the stunning vessels and memorable labels, but by the unique scents they housed.

The first candle I experienced from Woodland Magic is called Forest Floor, which had me in a trance for months. After mourning its last hour of burning, I graduated to the mossiest offering, the famous Bog Witch candle. Finally, at the start of this winter, I knew it was time to get cozy with the scent I was dying to experience: Volumes of Forgotten Lore.

It truly is a haunting scent, in the best way. Picture yourself in a barely-lit library, where that nostalgic “old book” smell envelopes the space, and there’s a fireplace crackling in the main reading room. This is the atmosphere that one can escape to with this candle, which was inspired by “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. In their description of this book-lover’s favorite, Woodland Magic describes Volumes of Forgotten Lore as the perfect winter night, featuring “the scent of old books, embers, and wood.”

Included in their official description of the library that inspires this scent, there are lush, velvet cushions involved, which makes this scenario even better in my book (I am a certified velvet fiend). Having this candle burn safely on the mantle while I cocoon in my giant, velvet blanket, enjoy some lavender-chamomile tea, and get lost in a book (…one of the several books I’m trying to get through) is my idea of a nourishing night.

I am lucky in that Woodland Magic is based out of Maryland, and their candles can be found at several locations throughout the area, including countless makers’ markets (they stay busy!). But if you’re a long-distance candle lover, fear not: you can shop Woodland Magic online via their shop any time. Their candles are non-toxic, handpoured, and infused with love + lore.

These three beautiful offerings have made my winter a little less frigid and a lot more comforting. It is incredible to me the way these respective makers craft their wares; you can sense the soul, heart, and passion in each of the products mentioned in this post. And as an added bonus for myself, they were all a joy to photograph.

how will you
nourish your spirit
this winter?

elemental metal; vol. 1: fire

This is the first playlist in a series of four; a musical journey throughout which we’ll be exploring the essence of each natural element through variegated genres of metal.

The star of this playlist is fire, the element of passion, rage, and creation. Each song has a place here, chosen carefully to represent the multitude of emotions and experiences that one might relate to the element of fire:

Newness, and the light of life. Environmental destruction. Uncontrollable change. Detrimental loss. Necessary and natural alterations of self and planet. Anger, for a cause. Personal transformation, through the most extreme circumstances— unavoidable change that paves the way for new growth.

Featuring an oldie-but-goodie from the heavy kings of Black Tongue, a brand new collaboration track from the Maryland-based experimental masterminds in Full of Hell, and a doom-heavy offering from the almighty, often extraterrestrial YOB, this playlist will guide you through the full range of every fiery feeling.

self-love ritual: 9 songs to romance your spirit

Each song on this alternative + metal-infused playlist has one thing in common: passion. These are songs that would normally be dedicated to another; but your spirit deserves that love first, don’t you think?