Welcome to Witch Sweat ~ conversations on the body, intuition, creative practice and spiritual self-inquiry. Jolts of inspiration! Hype sauce for a more expressed life! We’re talking about what it takes to unfurl the wingspan, and feel more life pouring through the parts of ourselves that otherwise stay squished and hidden.
Follow @melissawordstudio on Instagram for more juicy word-art-play and subscribe to Witch Sweat for new weekly episodes.
Music by Ben Coleman
Album art by Erin Palovick
Facilitation in the Age of Shock w/ Narinder Bazen
"Facilitation is triage now" -NB
What does it mean to lead group spaces in a world that feels increasingly raw, volatile, and grief-saturated?
Melissa and Narinder sit down as artists, death workers and teachers to talk about how the role of the facilitator is changing, and why many space-holders are feeling exhausted and under impossible pressure.
We talk:
the collapse of the Spiritual Teacher archetype
the rise of grief-literate communities
entitlement dynamics in healing spaces
discernment vs hypervigilance
boundaries for facilitators
the difference between authority and domination
how facilitators can survive this era without burning out
grief as a portal to joy
why artistic practice is a potent container for grief
This episode is for anyone who holds space for others: teachers, grief workers, artists, coaches, therapists, facilitors and community organizers and leaders.
✨ Magic Links:
🪞 Narinder Bazen’s Nine Keys School of Death Arts
🌷 Flowers on a Table (Narinder’s upcoming course)
🫧 Join Devotion Mode — Melissa’s monthly snail-mail art club:
Each month, readers receive art in the mail: postcard prints, drawings, and writing that’s cooked up in the studio that month. A tactile antidote to the algorithm. Go slow, touch paper.
Stay Connected —
Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot art memes
Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and studio news
Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals
20 Feb 2025
The Mystic's Grief with Narinder Bazen
When you find yourself more and more interested in non-ordinary states of consciousness and cultivating a deep relationship to Divine Intelligence, but have spent a dizzying amount of time apologizing, downplaying, or sanitizing your visions, gifts and ‘out-there’ theories on reality, my friend, you may be hauling around the Mystic’s Grief.
Let’s sort through some of that, shall we?
Grief Threads winter edition begins February 23 - are you in?
Five weeks of cozy sewing and intuitive quilting while getting about the grief stored in our hearts and bodies.
Work with Narinder 1:1 or learn about her Death Midwifery Training.
10/10 recommend!
Book 1:1 Creative Coaching time with Melissa
Free Resources —
Download Attention Reset - my free digital art zine on getting outta your head and into your body
Stay Connected —
Follow Melissa’s Instagram for hot spirit memes
Join Melissa’s weeklyish newsletter for creative musings and first dibs on workshops and art
Big thanks to Ben Coleman for composing our theme music, and Gavin Bernard for vocals
Erin Palovick made our stunning cover art <3
17 Feb 2025
Creative Blocks and the Artist's Grief Q+A - pt.1
Oh lordy this is a big one for my artists and creative folk.
I asked my audience on IG to name some of the grievances they carry having chosen the artist's life, or from not feeling allowed to chose the artist's life. Ugh, devastating. You're responses were gutting, and very universal. So here's my hot take on each of them. Spoiler, it's a lot of tough love. So go make your art.
Some topics covered:
- feeling too broke to do the kind of art you wish you could make
- feeling like your ship has sailed, and comparing yourself to other people who achieved 'success' early on in their journey
- feeling robbed of a childhood where free, playful expression could be fully explored
- fear around not having a clear direction - too many ideas and paralysis on where to start, overwhelm overwhelm overwhelm.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.9 / 5
18 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
28 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
16
Social presence
94
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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