Minerva's Muse Vol. 30
Minerva’s Muse is a column of inspiration named after the Roman goddess of creativity, wisdom, medicine, and craft. I believe that inspiration and creativity belong to the collective and are meant to be shared, so if any of the following inspires you, please feel free share it with others!
Listen…
In 2017, as I began to fall deep into the darkness of a two-year life/identity/spiritual crisis, I discovered astrology. Astrology’s language of archetypes and cycles resonated with me in ways that nothing else had. When regular words failed to explain what I was feeling, symbology stepped in. Don’t get me wrong, most mainstream astrology is bullshit, and I’ve gone through multiple periods of total disgust, shame, and confusion when it comes to my relationship with it. One of the most beautiful lessons it continues to impart relates to discernment. Discernment, I believe, is a lost art. Sometimes, two things may look the same on paper, and discernment needs to be employed in order to assess the underlying energetics of something, helping us to assess whether to move towards or away from it.
In all these years of practicing astrology, The Astrology Podcast, hosted by Chris Brennan remains one of the few resources I trust when it comes to astrology. Chris is diligent, well-researched, grounded, and honestly quite dry, which I appreciate. There is no talk of ascension, 5D, enlightenment, awakening, or any other cringey new age nonsense. The Astrology Podcast is more like a high school physics class than a spiritual sermon. Not to say there isn’t any value in discussing the spiritual nature of astrology, but once we enter into that territory, everything becomes a whole lot murkier.
Aside from the year-long astrology apprenticeship I completed six years ago, The Astrology Podcast has been my go-to resource for information, and continues to teach me so much. Chris’ monthly and yearly forecasts are by far my favorite content, and if you’re interested in learning astrology, this is a fantastic place to start.
The 2024 Year Ahead Forecast was just released, and I highly recommend it.
You can listen to it on all the podcast apps, or watch the Youtube version linked below. We’re in for a wild ride these next two years…
Read…
A fantastic article on how place and space affect and influence ideas. I’ve been obsessed with this concept for a long time, and this article explains the phenomenon quite eloquently.
A fantastic piece about age-gap relationships that I found extremely relatable. I have never been in a long-term relationship with someone my own age, and there are rarely any accounts of this phenomenon that aren’t steeped with judgement and shame. This article by Lila Shapiro is an exception.
Watch…
It’s been years since I watched Chef’s Table. Personally, I felt the show became a bit repetitive and heavy-handed. However, the other day I stumbled across Volume 6 of Chef’s Table, which focuses on chefs who have returned home to their roots in one way or another. All four episodes are fantastic and inspiring, but my favorite features Dario Cecchini, a Tuscan butcher, whose life mission is to educate people about lesser-known cuts of meat, and explains how eating meat can be an act of reverence and respect.
Here’s the trailer for the four-part series -
Look…
In the past few days, very rare rainbow clouds called polar stratospheric clouds appeared near the Arctic circle. I can’t get enough of them, and am totally in awe of their beauty.
Make…
In case you missed it, I’ve been posting some of my favorite recipes on Substack. Many are from my previous life as a food photographer/blogger, and some are new. Recently I posted a recipe for pulled pork and spicy southern greens with bacon. Keep your eyes peeled for more recipes coming soon…
