The Algorithm Is Not Your Spirit Guide

WEBVTT
00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.919
Welcome to Blooming Wand, your home for grounded spiritual content.
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.400
I'm Emily O'Neill, Evidential Psychic Medium, Intuitive Healer and Mentor.
00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:18.320
And on today's episode, I want to talk about spiritual content, passive consumption, and finding your way into a spiritual practice that truly nourishes you.
00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:33.759
Have you ever found yourself on your phone or computer an hour deep into tarot readings, astrology updates, or channeled messages, nodding along, feeling genuinely seen, maybe even taking notes, thinking, yep, this is exactly what's happening for me right now.
00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:39.280
I know I have, and I know that there's something that feels like recognition when the right message lands.
00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:41.520
And for a while it's truly comforting.
00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:43.520
You believe it and you carry it with you.
00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:48.320
And then slowly, quietly, whatever was supposed to happen doesn't.
00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:58.479
The shift doesn't come, the person doesn't return, the breakthrough stays just around the corner, and you're back to watching another video, looking for the next message, you know the drill.
00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:07.439
And over time you start to realize that what the content pointed toward and what showed up in your life don't match, and in most cases never will.
00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.640
And that gap is what I want to explore today.
00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:13.920
Now, how do we even get pulled into this loop?
00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.239
It usually starts somewhere pretty real.
00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:25.359
You're going through something, a relationship that's uncertain, a transformation that you didn't choose, a loss, a period where the future feels unclear.
00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:27.760
Maybe you're just anxious at 11 p.m.
00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.159
and you pick up your phone, you find a video.
00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:42.239
A tarot reader who seems warm and grounded looks into the camera and says something like, This reading is for whoever needs to hear it, or if this message landed on your feed, it's for you.
00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:46.400
And then they proceed to describe something that feels close to your life.
00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.400
You feel seen and you feel like maybe the universe is paying attention.
00:01:50.640 --> 00:02:02.079
The algorithm, which is now clocked that you watched that video, starts filling your feed with more, more readings, more energy updates, more the collective is going through massive shifts right now.
00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:06.000
And for a while, it's comforting, interesting, and engaging.
00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:09.919
And there's a community of people in the comments who feel what you feel.
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.400
There's a language for your experiences, and there's something telling you that you matter and that things are going to be okay.
00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.360
The need underneath all of this is very real.
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:26.319
The longing to be seen, to find pattern and meaning in hard times, to feel connected to something larger than yourself.
00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:31.120
That is not a flaw and it's something that we all go through.
00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:34.800
And research from Columbia University psychologist Dr.
00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:42.960
Lisa Miller, who has spent decades studying neuroscience, the neuroscience of spirituality, that is, what an interesting topic.
00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:48.159
And her research shows that humans are neurologically hardwired for this kind of connection.
00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:52.080
We are seeking connection to something bigger than ourselves.
00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.000
Our brains are looking for that.
00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:00.479
Our brains are literally built to seek relationship with something that's bigger than ourselves.
00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:05.439
So the poll is not a weakness or a flaw, it's our biology.
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:12.240
But is the content we're consuming feeding our hunger in a way that is truly nourishing?
00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.919
At some point, for a lot of us, something shifts.
00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.719
We watch the videos, we consume the content, and we actively look for guidance.
00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:28.240
But instead of feeling more grounded, connected, or spiritually alive, we find ourselves feeling the same as we always did.
00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:38.639
Maybe that predictive reading from six months ago didn't pan out, or maybe we start noticing that every single week promises a massive energy shift designed to keep us tuned in.
00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:45.199
If you have felt a quiet sense of disillusionment lately, please know that you haven't failed your spiritual practice.
00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.560
You've just run into a very sophisticated machine.
00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:56.479
And when ancient tools and ancient wisdom meet modern algorithms, it creates a powerful psychological loop.
00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:01.599
And looking behind the curtain can help us understand what's actually happening.
00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:10.080
The first layer of the loop relies on a psychological phenomenon that I have mentioned many times before, known as the Barnum effect.
00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:18.800
In 1949, researcher Bertram Fauer gave students what they believed were highly personalized personality assessments.
00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:22.240
And the students rated them as highly accurate.
00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:32.639
The catch was that everyone received the exact same vague description, filled with universal statements about having doubts or wanting to be liked.
00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:37.360
Collective tarot readings and energy updates work the exact same way.
00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:44.480
They're structured to feel deeply personal while remaining broad enough to apply to almost anyone going through a transition.
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:57.360
It's a completely natural thing to occur that these messages would land so hard in the moment that you receive them, but the structural vagueness explains why a quiet emptiness creeps in later.
00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:05.040
Now, our continued engagement is driven by a mechanism called intermittent reinforcement.
00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:08.079
And this is really interesting and it's frankly not new.
00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:09.519
Psychologist B.F.
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:17.120
Skinner discovered that when rewards are unpredictable, we pursue them more compulsively than when they are consistent.
00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:23.199
This is the exact design principle behind slot machines and social media notification feeds.
00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:32.560
So when one online reading happens to nail your exact situation, which I think that it's possible that they can, it creates a powerful neurological hit.
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:36.560
And then we natural, naturally go looking for that feeling again.
00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.519
Sometimes we find it and sometimes we don't.
00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:43.600
And that very unpredictability is what keeps us scrolling.
00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:51.839
It's not a lack of willpower keeping us hooked, it's basic brain chemistry responding to an unpredictable reward.
00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:53.759
I just think that's interesting.
00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:02.959
I had forgotten about the concept of intermittent reinforcement, and it was interesting to revisit it in this context.
00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:15.199
This digital format also mimics intimacy, so consuming things online, that's what I mean by digital format, through what sociologists Horton and Wall termed parasocial relationships.
00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:24.800
And these are one-sided emotional connections where we feel genuine warmth and familiarity for a media figure who doesn't even know that we exist.
00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:33.360
And when an online creator looks directly into the camera and says that what you're viewing is not an accident, they collapse that distance between the two of you.
00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:40.240
And your nervous system responds to that warmth because the emotional experience that you're feeling is entirely real.
00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:50.160
The human craving for connection is beautiful, but a video broadcast is fundamentally one way and cannot do what a reciprocal relationship can do for you.
00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:56.079
We also have a name, we also have to name the platform architecture plainly.
00:06:56.319 --> 00:07:01.439
The algorithm is not a neutral tool, nor is the universe sending you a synchronicity.
00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:06.480
It's a machine engineered to measure and maximize engagement.
00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:11.680
It does not serve content because it's true, useful, or good for your soul.
00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.879
It serves it because you clicked on something similar in the past.
00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:22.079
And it serves it because the algorithm has deemed whatever the content matter is as being highly consumable.
00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:27.519
And then it will push it and push it and push it more and more and more, and even into new audiences.
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:38.399
When we combine a real human need for meaning with a machine optimized to mimic fulfillment, we experience a slow atrophy of our own discernment.
00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:47.920
Spending all of our time letting someone else interpret the energy of our lives causes us to lose touch with our own brilliant ability to read our own terrain.
00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:58.480
And stepping back from the screen is not a loss of spirituality, it's a reclamation of your spiritual sovereignty and your own self-care practice.
00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:05.680
The universe speaks through your actual life, your immediate community, and your own quiet intuition.
00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:13.120
It's one thing to name the trap that we've all been caught in, but it's another thing entirely to find our way out of it.
00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:20.160
When we step away from the flashing lights of the algorithmic feed, the sudden quiet can feel disorienting.
00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:27.839
We might wonder where to look for genuine depth when our screens have spent years defining what quote unquote spirituality is supposed to look like.
00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.120
Fortunately, we don't have to reinvent the wheel or wander blindly into the dark.
00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:41.759
There are extraordinary thinkers, scientists, and practitioners who've spent decades anchoring transformation in the physical body.
00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.360
They've looked at rigorous data and in real-world communities.
00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:50.240
And they are the ones doing the quiet, heavy lifting to show us what lies beyond the screen.
00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:57.440
And their insights offer a beautiful, practical roadmap for anyone ready to ground themselves in something real.
00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.159
So I want to share some resources for doing the work.
00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:13.600
If you're ready to step away from the algorithmic feed and ground yourself into something that feels more substantive and substantive rather and supportive, you don't have to navigate that terrain alone.
00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:22.720
I want to introduce you to some researchers, therapists, and thinkers whose work offers a powerful anecdote to passive spiritual consumption.
00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:29.440
And these are people doing the rigorous, deeply human work of showing us what real transformation looks like.
00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:32.720
And we can start with the actual biology of belief.
00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:33.200
Dr.
00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:44.559
Lisa Miller is a psychologist and professor at Columbia University, where she founded the Spirituality Mind-Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program of its kind.
00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:59.360
Through over a hundred peer-reviewed studies and books like The Spiritual Child and the Awakened Brain, Miller has provided some rigorous research on how what spiritual on how spiritual engagement impacts the human body.
00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:04.480
Her work states that humans are neurologically built for spiritual experience.
00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:06.320
I think this is super interesting.
00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:14.879
We possess specific brain circuitry designed for connection, meaning making, and feeling held by something larger than ourselves.
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:23.519
But here's the vital catch: that circuitry is only activated through actual active practice, not passive consumption.
00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:38.799
So when we think about kind of getting a hit through consuming a lot of online content, that initial hit, and we talked about this earlier on in the episode, does trigger something in us and make us want to go back for more.
00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:47.200
But to get a deeper, more meaningful practice built, we have to take our engagement a little bit further.
00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:58.559
So when we engage our neurological circuitry firsthand, our brains become more resilient and measurably protected against depression and addiction.
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:06.080
So when we develop a deeper practice, it can actually help us with some issues like depression and addiction.
00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.000
And I think that that's really interesting.
00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:13.360
The deep peace and connection people chase in those online videos is entirely real.
00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.919
The brain states they point toward are real.
00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:20.240
They're just fundamentally inaccessible through your screen.
00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:28.159
So I wanted to outline some of the five daily practices that she mentions to activate your quote-unquote awakened brain.
00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.960
This does come from her book, The Awakened Brain.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.799
So just kind of diving into that, according to the groundbreaking research by psychologist Dr.
00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:40.320
Lisa Miller, human beings are hardwired for spiritual connection.
00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:42.240
We've already talked about this.
00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:46.720
However, this neural circuitry cannot be activated by passive consumption.
00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:48.000
We've touched on this as well.
00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.399
Instead, it requires active practice.
00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:52.399
What can that active practice look like?
00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.000
Let's see what she says.
00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:03.039
When we engage this circuitry firsthand, our brains physically change, building measurable resilience against depression, anxiety, and addiction.
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:07.840
So here are five practical ways to activate your quote unquote awakened brain.
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:09.360
This is this is from Dr.
00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.120
Lisa Miller's work.
00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:12.799
So let's see what she says.
00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:15.360
Some of this stuff makes a lot of sense to me.
00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:24.639
She has the hosting council meditation, which is a 90-second imagery exercise to shift out of isolation out of isolation, rather.
00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.879
So you close your eyes, you take five deep breaths, and you visualize a table.
00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:37.039
You invite anyone who has your absolute best interest at heart, living or deceased, your higher self and your higher power to sit with you.
00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.000
And then you ask them, what do I need to know right now?
00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:46.000
This activates the brain's bonding networks, replicating the neural feeling of being safely held.
00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:53.840
Now I do something similar in one-on-one sessions with my ongoing clients where we kind of hold a little council meeting.
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.360
And I can tell you, we've all found it to be very, very helpful.
00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:01.039
We don't do it exactly like this, but I don't know that that really matters.
00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.519
And I can tell you that it's it's really helpful.
00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:08.960
The second thing is shifting to spiritual listening.
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.240
Treat your mind like an antenna rather than a factory.
00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:17.600
When hit with an unexpected roadblock, stop trying to force a logical solution.
00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.240
This is this is something that I have found helpful.
00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:25.679
Instead, quiet your mind and ask out loud, what is life showing me right now?
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:32.080
This disengages hyper-focused task networks to allow for broader, more creative insights.
00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.399
So it it interrupts the loop.
00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:37.519
And I don't know about you, but I get real stuck in loops.
00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:49.759
I'll notice that I have a lot of mental loops and I have different practices where I have to engage them to help me break out of that so I can broaden or expand my awareness and not stay trapped in that loop.
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.720
So the spiritual listening practice kind of rings true for me.
00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.159
The third is active altruism and service.
00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:02.720
Spiritual circuitry requires a deliberate choice to love and serve others.
00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:09.279
Actively choose to engage in community service, help a neighbor, or respond to an annoyance with kindness.
00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.679
This engages mirror neurons and bonding circuitry, dissolving the illusion of separation.
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:33.919
Now, I'm a big believer in selfless service or helping people out as part of a spiritual practice because I do think that we consume a lot on our phones alone and online, and it almost makes us more and more separate from each other and gives us false sense of connection.
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:43.440
But getting out into the real world and just helping a friend or helping somebody who needs something without expecting anything in return is a powerful spiritual practice.
00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.720
It's been central to mine for many, many years.
00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:54.080
And it has helped to make me feel less separate, which has been fulfilling to me.
00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.399
Cultivating awe in nature.
00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:00.240
Nature is a universal gateway to transcendent awareness.
00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:08.320
Spend dedicated time outdoors without technology, intentionally focusing on the vastness and complexity of the natural world.
00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:16.720
Deep awe quiets the brain region responsible for tracking the boundaries of the self, creating a physical feeling of oneness.
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.639
So if you've been following along with me, you know that I'm a big believer in connecting to nature.
00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:32.480
Even if you live in a big city and it's hard, even visualizing it in your mind's eye can be really helpful, or bringing a bouquet of flowers into your home.
00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:42.000
Just this morning, I was taking the dogs out and I saw a trail of ants, and they were moving their nest, I guess you could say, and passing all the eggs along.
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:59.759
And I just sat and watched these tiny, tiny ants carrying things way bigger than they are, and it did generate a sense of awe, and it made me feel so connected and also I don't know, just how beautiful nature is and how connected everything is.
00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:12.799
And I also spend a lot of time watching birds and bugs, and right now the butterflies are flooding my backyard and the garden space as well as dragonflies, and I'll just sit and watch them for a very, very long time and let the time pass.
00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:16.159
And it's just takes me out of myself.
00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:21.120
The other thing she recommends this is the fifth practice is tracking synchronicity.
00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:26.639
Train your brain's networks to scan for meaning rather than threats.
00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:34.480
Keep a journal of meaningful coincidences and sudden intuition or chance encounters that shifted your day.
00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:42.480
Because actively documenting these moments validates them and wires your brain to recognize that part of a larger supportive universe.
00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:48.720
So this is another thing that I recommend to people who are wanting, there's like, Emma, I want to develop my intuition.
00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:58.639
I'm like, keep a journal and keep track of these moments where you feel awe or you've had a meaningful coincidence or sudden intuition or a chance encounter that shifted something for you.
00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:07.759
Write about them, acknowledge them, and validate them because it does open you up to more of those experiences and it can be a very fulfilling practice.
00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:11.279
Now, I want to shift gears away from Dr.
00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:15.839
Lisa Miller's work into some other people's work who I have really enjoyed.
00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:26.319
And to move from the brain into the rest of the body, we can look to therapists and somatic practitioners like Rezma Menachem and Prentice Hempill.
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:34.000
So in Menachem's book, My Grandmother's Hands, which I highly recommend, it's a foundational reading for anybody that wants to do deep inner work.
00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:42.559
His framework, which is called cultural somatics, starts from the premise that healing is not primarily an intellectual or cognitive event.
00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:50.160
It lives in the body, in the nervous system, and in the patterns of contraction and release that we inherit through generations.
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:55.519
So much of the spiritual content we scroll through, it's purely cerebral.
00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:02.880
It's a collection of words and concepts and predictions and mental frameworks, and the body just doesn't know what to do with that.
00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.759
And actual healing requires our physical nervous system to be present.
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.400
It also means that we might feel things that are uncomfortable, which is why it can be helpful to work with a practitioner.
00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:28.559
But I return to my grandmother, my grandmother's hands often, and I always learn something new when I return to it, and it's been a really helpful tool for me.
00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:34.000
Now, Apprentice Hemp Hill expands on this beautifully with their book, What It Takes to Heal.
00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:42.079
And Hemphill argues with immense compassion that healing is not a destination, a product, or something that you consume your way into.
00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:50.079
It happens in real-world relationships in the body over time and through steady practice and returning to ourselves.
00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:53.759
This is a direct, gentle answer to the algorithmic loop.
00:18:53.920 --> 00:19:04.880
Both Menachem and Hempel remind us that five minutes of being inside your own skin will do more for your spiritual life than five hours of watching someone else talk about theirs.
00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:12.079
And this is something I always offer to any client that I work with, and I say it doesn't have to be an hour-long thing.
00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:19.279
It can just be five minutes of quiet time and breathing and being in your own body with nothing, no technology.
00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:27.119
And it's simple, but simple doesn't always mean easy because I can tell you what, a lot of people have a hard time even picking up a five-minute practice.
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:30.000
And I there's something interesting to me about that as well.
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:37.599
And I've certainly sometimes found it hard to create five minutes to just be fully present in my body.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:47.039
Now, when we look at the broader outline of online wellness, we have to also examine what we are consuming.
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:53.440
Spiritual activist and author Rachel Rick Ricketts explicitly addresses this in her book, Do Better.
00:19:53.680 --> 00:20:04.400
This was required as part of my trauma-informed life coaching certification that I did a while back, and it's a book that I again I return to over and over.
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:13.279
And Ricketts examines how the modern wellness industry centers whiteness while systematically extracting from black, indigenous, and other traditions of color.
00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:14.720
This is very true.
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:30.559
A large portion of the energy updates and collective ascension content floating around the internet does draw heavily from ancient lineages that it doesn't ever acknowledge, and it's stripped of its historical context, its community accountability, and original depth.
00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.839
And this content becomes watered down and it unmoored.
00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:47.920
And by connecting spiritual practices directly to justice and systematic accountability, Ricketts is grounding spirituality in a way that makes it real, historically, and deeply responsible for the world we live in.
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:54.400
And I feel like this is the way that the old people I think that my ancestors would have practiced in this similar way.
00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.359
That's something that I deeply, deeply feel.
00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:07.039
The exercises and prompts at the end of each chapter go really deep and they prompt a thoughtful deconstruction of your own behavior and beliefs.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:12.319
So it's it's a very well-written book that's easy to read and get through.
00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.039
But at the end, there are these prompts and questions.
00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:25.440
And let me tell you, like, that's what takes longer than reading the book, is going through the questions and the explorations that she asks of us when we read that book.
00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:32.319
And for a model of what grounded spirituality looks like in action, we can turn to Adrienne Marie Brown.
00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:42.400
And in her book, Emergent Strategy, she describes a spirituality rooted in nature, in relationships, and in the fractal patterns of living systems.
00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:49.519
She reminds us that true change and transformation happen at a level of the small and the intimate.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:51.359
And I really believe this.
00:21:51.519 --> 00:22:05.200
It does not occur in massive portal activations or overnight collective energy shifts, but in how we show up for each other and For ourselves and for the earth on an ordinary day.
00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:19.920
And if you want to understand the exact mechanics of your feed, this I haven't read the book yet, but I've looked at some YouTube content, and I'm definitely going to look for the book at the library and see if I can get my hands on it.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.960
But this is super interesting to me.
00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.440
So this is about the mechanics that shape our algorithms, and it's Dr.
00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:32.000
Sophia Umoja Noble's Algorithms of Oppression.
00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:35.440
It's a very interesting place to take a look.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:49.039
This is a professor, she's a professor at UCLA and Noble documents how digital platforms are shaped entirely by private profit motives and are anything but neutral in what they amplify.
00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.720
The spiritual community is not exempt from this.
00:22:52.880 --> 00:23:04.720
The voices, aesthetics, and versions of spiritual truth that get pushed to the top of your feed are not a random assortment, nor are they the universe curating your awakening.
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:10.480
It is a corporate machine prioritizing engagement over your well-being.
00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:20.799
Lastly, if you love the tarot and you also love anti-racist self-exploration, you'll really love Tarot for the Hard Work by Maria Minis.
00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:29.599
I love this book, which transforms the tarot from a traditional tool of personal divination into a powerful mirror for collective liberation.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:42.960
By mapping the evolutionary journey of the major arcana into the heavy labor of anti-racism, Maria Minnes elevates tarot as a spiritual practice beyond a tool for mere self-comfort.
00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:47.680
She reframes it as a tool for self and social accountability.
00:23:47.920 --> 00:24:01.119
And these this practice forces radical self-honesty, using the cards to reflect our unexamined biases, privileges, and internalized complicit complicency and systematic oppression.
00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:14.400
This book and working with it has really changed the way that I look at the tarot and engage with the tarot in my self-care and spiritual practices, and also when I use it in sessions with clients, I just love it.
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:28.079
I'm remembering how with one of the archetypes in the tarot, the Herefont, which has always been a little complicated to me, it was through her book that I was really able to connect with that archetype in a deep and meaningful way.
00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.400
So it's a good tool.
00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:45.279
Now, rather than allowing for spiritual bypassing, so using mysticism to escape harsh social realities, Tarot for the Hard Work explores the idea that inner insights turn into real-world action, right?
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:49.279
It positions the inner shadow not as the end in itself.
00:24:49.440 --> 00:25:04.400
So shadow work isn't something you do once and there's an end to it, but as the essential spiritual practice required to dismantle systematic injustice by starting with you and your self-care practice and how you're doing that work for yourself.
00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:10.720
Now, through this lens, engaging with the cards becomes a sacred, active ritual of unlearning.
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:22.720
And proving it proves to me at least that true spiritual awakening requires us to look honestly at our own reflections and take active responsibility for repairing harm in our communities.
00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:31.680
So this is not an invitation to quit the internet forever or decide that everyone making spiritual content is doing something wrong.
00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:34.079
I'm a spiritual content creator.
00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:46.480
It's simply an invitation to notice honestly and without shame whether the content that you consume is truly nourishing you or if it's become a substitute for the real-world action and connection that you're really looking for.
00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:54.000
Now, if you feel ready to reclaim your inner landscape, you might find it useful to step back from a few specific things for a time.
00:25:54.240 --> 00:26:00.640
Collective readings that claim to tell you exactly what the universe has in store for millions of strangers simultaneously.
00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:02.480
Maybe take a step back from that.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:13.039
Weekly energy updates that account accounts that frame every regular planetary alignment or lunar event as a crisis requiring outside interpretation.
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:20.000
Channeled messages that position a single online creator as an exclusive conduit between you and spiritual truth.
00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:27.920
Timeline shift and ascension content that promotes a sudden, passive, collective transformation that never quite arrives.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.599
There's a lot of this out there.
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:41.759
None of these things are, I would say, inherently evil or bad, but a steady diet of them quietly replaces your own vibrant inner life with someone else's interpretation of it.
00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:47.200
Consider what you might like to put into your newly opened space instead.
00:26:47.440 --> 00:27:01.119
You can pick up your own tarot or oracle deck, pull a single card, and just sit with it, let it act as a psychological mirror, surfacing something from deep inside of you rather than delivering a message to you from the outside.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:07.519
You can sit, breathe, and sense what is happening in your body without trying to fix or interpret anything.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:08.960
You just acknowledge it.
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:10.799
And you can journal with intention.
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:18.559
You know, I'm always going to mention journaling, asking yourself the hard, beautiful questions that only you can answer, like what am I feeling right now?
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:20.960
What do I know to be true for me today?
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:22.799
And what am I avoiding?
00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:28.799
Building the capacity to stay with those questions is exactly what a true practice does.
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:42.240
And when you spend time in your own emotional landscape and set aside hours to be in the living, breathing world with your attention off the screen, you can step out of the spell and back into your own sovereign life.
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.279
And I have a few questions for you.
00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.519
Questions for the road, if you will.
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:58.720
Which of the psychological loops mentioned today, so the Barnum effect, intermittent reinforcement, or parasocial connection, do you recognize most in your own digital habits?
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:12.559
If you took just half the time you currently spend watching online content and gave it back to your own direct practice, what is one small thing you would love to do with that time this week?
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:22.720
Looking back at the thinkers introduced today, of which there are many, whose work feels like the specific medicine your or perspective your inner life needs right now.
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:27.119
So just remember if you're looking for more, there is more.
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:30.000
We've mentioned The Awakened Brain by Dr.
00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:42.720
Lisa Miller, My Grandmother's Hands by Resma Menachim, What It Takes to Heal by Prentice Hempill, Do Better by Rachel Ricketts, Emergent Strategy by Adrian Marie Brown.
00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:46.559
I also want to throw in Breeding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall-Kimmerer.
00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.319
That book really changed me.
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:50.400
Algorithms of Oppression.
00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:51.920
I've researched this.
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:52.880
I haven't read it yet.
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:54.720
I've got it on my to be red list.
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:56.480
I'm fascinated with this one.
00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:01.839
I also uh have really enjoyed No Nonsense Spirituality, the book by Britt Hartley.
00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:03.839
She's also got a lot of online content.
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:09.440
She goes by the tagline No Nonsense Spirituality, Tarot for the Hard Work by Maria Minnesota.
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:17.279
And there are other different things like podcasts and newsletters that might feel like they get you to cultivate a deeper spiritual practice.
00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.759
I hope that's what Blooming Wand does for you.
00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:23.359
And don't forget you can sign up for my newsletter at BloomingWand.com.
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:31.279
Don't forget to like and subscribe to the Blooming Wand podcast wherever you choose to listen to it, or like and subscribe on YouTube.
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:40.400
I try to be a place that curates and cultivates a thoughtful, deep, and meaningful practice.
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:42.880
Obviously, what I offer here is free.
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:47.039
It's free to you to incorporate as you see fit.
00:29:47.279 --> 00:30:02.480
Now I just want to remember that, I just want to remember, I just want to remind us all that a spiritual practice can be any anything, genuinely anything, but it does require one thing that the algorithm or the internet actively works against, which is effort and return.
00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:08.799
Not perfection, not a dramatic awakening, just showing up again and again.
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:19.440
And the difference between consuming content about spirituality and having a practice is essentially the difference between reading about swimming and getting in the water to learn to swim.
00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:26.640
The content can point at the water and it can describe what it feels like, but you're the one who has to get in.
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:34.319
And if you feel that you're at the threshold of wanting to go deeper into the waters in terms of your spiritual practice, do stay tuned.
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:42.960
The next episode is all about how we move from consuming spiritual content to developing a practice that feels supportive and fulfilling.
00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:51.920
And we'll talk about the dark night of the soul and other spiritual allegories that speak to the sacred times when we begin to yearn for something more.
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:53.759
So stay tuned.
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.480
And in the meantime, you know what I'm gonna say.
00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:01.359
Get those journals out, take good care of yourselves, and I'll see you soon.