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S2E14 - We Interview a Witch w/ Mia Russell and Delena Pt. 1 (Part 2)

Episode Description:

In this episode, Mia introduces me to her friend, Delena, a real-life witch and an introvert! This is Part 1 of our interview with Delena. We had so many questions that we had to split this into two parts. Make sure to look out for that episode.

Crossroads Metaphysical Store: http://crossroadsoccult.com/


Disclaimer:

Some parts of the transcript may be edited for better readability, but the content remains the same. Mostly removed duplicate words, vocal filler words, and added/removed some words for clarification.


Transcript:

Continuation from Part 1...


Meliza Manalo 46:43

Okay. Do you guys believe in an afterlife? Like in Christianity, we have the heaven and hell, whatever. What's the afterlife, I guess? Do you believe in ghosts and spirits and all that?


Delena 46:57

That's individual. It's not decreed. Some of us do believe. I'm into ghosts. It's called Stone Tape theory, which is when you repeat an action long enough, the buildings and the world around you records that kind of action.


Mia Russell 47:28

Like string theory?


Delena 47:31

I don't know enough about string theory.


Mia Russell 47:34

Oh, sorry.


Delena 47:35

That's okay. But the ghost people call it stone tape theory. And that's where a haunted house is haunted because somebody walked up and down the stairs every night at 10pm exactly. And the house remembers. And so, you hear the footsteps on the stairs. There was this one episode of Ghost Hunters. (Laughter) I was obsessed with Ghost Hunters man. Not Ghost Adventures. I don't like that.


Mia Russell 48:03

Oh, I'm so glad you said that.


Delena 48:06

Yeah, TAPS.


Meliza Manalo 48:07

Yeah.


Delena 48:08

Old TAPS especially is my favorite. But there was one where they did an Amish house. Or I don't know if it used to be a Church or something. Or if it was just this dude's house. But you would hear people walking the top. Like catwalks all night. And it's just because that guy did that every day for 25 years, you know? And the house remembers. Or if something traumatic happens, there's an energy imprint.


Mia Russell 48:43

Yeah. That's what string theory is.


Delena 48:46

Oh, is it?


Mia Russell 48:47

Every string has its own vibration. And it kind of ties in if you kind of stretch it a little bit. It's hard to explain but everything is on vibration.


Delena 48:57

Everything in quantum physics, you just squint at it hard enough and it's magic.


Mia Russell 49:01

Yes. (Laughter)


Delena 49:03

That's why it's so cool. My mother, I and the people and she wrote her book and it is called this in the book. The bio universal energy which is what connects all of us to each other. And that's what allows you to speak things into existence. I think that's connected to the resonance of everything and how we're all connected and tied together. Hippie hippie tree hug. (Laughter)


Mia Russell 49:06

It's not even just hippie hippie tree hug. That's scientific.


Delena 49:44

But yeah, that sort of thing.


Meliza Manalo 49:49

Like a ghost is haunting you, but more like there's that imprint?


Delena 49:55

I think it could be because I don't believe in demons. And I think I believe in this primordial energy that doesn't care (Laughter) if that makes sense. Where people are like, "You upset it, and now it wants to kill you." I don't think they care enough about what we're doing as people. I described it to somebody once like, if you walked into Athena's temple, and you kicked over her altar, and you yelled at her, and you were like, "You're fake. blah, blah, blah", she would kick you out. But she's not going to haunt you for the rest of her life. She's got sh*t to do, you know? (Laughter) Yeah. Like that kind of flavor of energy existing. And then maybe if somebody needs something done bad enough, they could be a spirit or if they just like hanging out. They just want to see as people's spirits. They just want to see what's up.


Mia Russell 51:05

Yeah, so I kind of have a situation similar to what you're talking about. Two people passed away in the house that I live in. And both my mother and I have had separate experiences, where nobody else has been around to verify it. But something has said hello to her. And something has said hello to me. And it's not been evil or anything like that. It's just...


Delena 51:38

Like, you don't feel scared?


Mia Russell 51:40

No, not really. I mean, it was kind of creepy, because it was in the middle of the night. And I was in bed.


Delena 51:47

This is kind of rude.


Mia Russell 51:51

So would you just treat it like a normal person as if they walked in and said, "Hey"? Like, walk into your room and said, "Hey, what's up?"


Delena 51:59

Yeah, you could do that. And yeah, I would do that especially since you don't feel threatened. Like the kind of threatening energy where somebody is like, "This is my house." But you also want to be with intention. You want to be authoritative. They might not like it, but this is your house now. But if they're not threatening in any way, I would just be like, hey, I don't mind that you're here. Please don't wake me up at two in the morning. You know? You want to hang out and chat, that's cool. Please do it when I'm awake. I would love to hear from you. That'd be awesome. If you're not here to scare us or threaten us or anything, you're welcome to stay. I have a sleep schedule that I would like to keep. Like if you want to hang out while I'm on the couch, reading a book, you can sit on the couch. I won't mind. Like that kind of thing. Yeah, just have a conversation. Not like a bad roommate, but like a roommate where they just moved in and you want to be like, hey.


Mia Russell 53:10

You want to be inclusive.


Delena 53:11

Yeah. And if it starts being negative, then you evict them.


Mia Russell 53:21

All right, okay.


Delena 53:24

And have you seen the comic, Mia? I know I share it every year of the lady with the pots and pans running through the house going, "Ahh! Get the f*ck out of my house!"


Mia Russell 53:34

Yeah, yeah.


Delena 53:35

That's like that.


Mia Russell 53:36

I love that.


Delena 53:37

That I think is connected to several other practices where you clap. I know in Japan, you clap to get the Spirit's attention. In China, I think you do bang pots together. I think in granny magic you also bang pots but that might be wrong.


Mia Russell 53:52

♩ I didn't get no sleep cuz y'all. Y'all not gonna get sleep cuz of me! ♩ (Mia and Delena singing together)


Delena 53:57

♩ Y'all not gonna get sleep cuz of me! ♩ But yeah, it's an attention grabber and and you're clinking the glass at a wedding like alright, listen to me now. This is my house. If you're cool, you can chill. The stage is not for you. If you aren't cool, get the f*ck out of my house. And you just have to be authoritative and intentional. Because they can tell when you're nervous about it and afraid of them. And if they're f*cking with you, they're just gonna keep f*cking with you. If you're scared of them.


Mia Russell 54:33

Yeah. Well, to be honest, at the time, I freaked out. I said something that was like, no, I don't want to do this tonight. And I left the room.


Delena 54:46

That's a good one. But you could also just be like if that happens again, you can be like, you're scaring me. And then just have that be the end of it. And sometimes they're just like, "Oh sh*t, sorry." Yeah, the thing that you're doing is scaring me. If you want to talk, we can do it later. But right now you're scary.


Mia Russell 55:08

Yeah. It definitely freaked me out.


Meliza Manalo 55:13

It'll freak me out. Delena your view on the spiritual world is in my opinion very positive as compared to, I guess my upbringing. Especially kids who come from Catholic backgrounds and that kind.


Delena 55:32

Oh, everything's a demon. If it's talking to you, it's a demon.


Meliza Manalo 55:37

Yeah, yeah. For example, I refuse to use a Ouija board in our house.


Delena 55:44

Oh, I don't use Ouija boards.


Meliza Manalo 55:46

Yeah, cuz to me, that's just like a key to, I don't know, the spiritual world and inviting whoever and whatever in your space. And I'm not for that at all.


Delena 55:59

And it is a direct invitation. And that's something else that you have to be very intentional and direct with. You have to say, these are the only people I'm interested in talking in. If you have any negative thoughts or feelings or anything towards me, you're not invited to this conversation. If you are benevolent and positive, we'd love to hear from you or something like that. But I don't f*ck with that. My mom has done it several times with success, but I don't have enough energy for real people. (Laughter) I’ll just talk to them normal. I don't want to write an essay. (Laughter)


Meliza Manalo 56:50

I definitely get that.


Delena 56:53

But yeah, I know lots of people. And there's the rules on how to use a Ouija board. I don't even know them. But I guess according to all of my ghost podcasts that I listened to, some people you have to touch knees and make the connection. The board has to be sitting on your knees. And then you do that. And then some people, it's on the floor with the candles around. And then you have to say goodbye and stuff like that. I mean, but that's just polite. Saying goodbye. But yeah, I'm not necessarily afraid of them. I just don't want to deal with them.


Meliza Manalo 57:37

No, that completely makes sense.


Mia Russell 57:39

Like, if you don't want to talk to physical humans, why would you want to talk to non physical humans?


Delena 57:47

I don't want to dial a random phone number and then get whatever I get, you know? (Laughter)


Mia Russell 57:50

Yeah.


Meliza Manalo 57:51

Yeah, definitely. That's a good way of putting it.


Delena 57:56

Yep, yep. Yep.


Meliza Manalo 57:59

Oh, I just lost my train of thought.


Delena 58:01

My train. My train has the tracks. It just goes.


Meliza Manalo 58:09

Because you said your mom has done it successfully, have you ever been just part of it? Not like totally. Cuz you say you don't do it. But...


Delena 58:18

Yeah, not in a serious way. I mean, I f*cked with the board when I was little, but I never tried to talk to anybody. And it would always be me alone. And there's no movement happening. There can be movement when you're alone. But no, because I was really little. And then mom did the thing where she's like, you can use this but you have to be very... Oh, no, she didn't say you could do this. She just said I could use it when I was older. But she's like this is very powerful. You have to be very intentional with how you use it. You don't just call things with no reason. She had the mom talk with me where you explained things to a seven-year-old. Actually, I would have been 11 or 12 at that time. When I was little, I was like, that's neat. And then that was the end of it. It's just not interesting. She also does table tapping, which is similar but takes a billion years. You hover your hands, you'd get a little roundtable preferably with three legs, and you hover your hands just barely on the surface. And however, many times your hands touch the table is a letter. So, like 1 to 26.


Meliza Manalo 59:29

Oh God.


Delena 59:30

It takes hours. But she's done that before with success with the coven.


Mia Russell 59:39

Okay, so I know we're talking about Ouija boards, but do you use anything else like you see on TV? Like a crystal ball or something?


Meliza Manalo 59:50

Oh, that was my next question.


Delena 59:51

Crystal balls are cool. I've never used one. I own them because they're pretty and I like shiny rocks. But also they can set your house on fire because they're a double convex lens. So, I don't have it out. That's really fun in the store. When people are looking at crystals, you're like, "Hey, make sure you cover this, if you're gonna leave it out on your table." And they're like, "Why can they reach out to us?" And it's like, "No, they'll burn your house down." (Laughter)


Mia Russell 1:00:15

Because the sun will burn your house down.


Delena 1:00:17

The sunlight will hit it just right and set your table on fire.


Meliza Manalo 1:00:22

I never thought about that.


Delena 1:00:24

Yeah, my mom has a really cool picture from the 80s of her holding one and it looks normal. And then the next picture of her looking down on it, and it's glowing.


Mia Russell 1:00:33

Ooohhh.


Delena 1:00:35

It's cool. I'm sorry for my cup noise just now.


Meliza Manalo 1:00:38

It's okay. Does she use it? Or it's just..


Delena 1:00:44

I don't know if she uses anymore. I've done scrying with black mirrors, which is where you just take a photo frame, and you put black behind it. And then you just stare. Basically, you stare at it until stuff happens. It's like meditation with a prop. And then I did pendulums for a little while, but I never have enough questions, if that makes sense. Because it's always been here. I did all of my like, 'when will I get a boyfriend?' in high school?


Mia Russell 1:01:19

Like any girl would.


Delena 1:01:20

Yeah. I already had my girlfriend and I was like, now it's time for a peepee. (Laughter) . Will I get a boyfriend? Yes, or no? (Laughter)


Meliza Manalo 1:01:31

But do you use cauldrons and make potions?


Delena 1:01:36

Yeah, those are things. Cauldrons are expensive because they're cast iron.


Meliza Manalo 1:01:43

Oh, yeah.


Delena 1:01:44

So, I have a Little Betty one that I burned instead of the shell. I use it for my sage. And so it's just got sand and salt in it. And then it just holds burning things for me. There's a guy at mom's shop that teaches potion making. Not all of them are edible. But you do put herbs in there that are not safe. So you don't always want to swallow. Some of them you can, but I have a very sensitive stomach. So I don't branch into that too much. The most I'll do is like a sinus splint tincture, which is sold on Amazon. It's not fancy, but potions exist.


Mia Russell 1:02:33

So it's like medicinal.


Delena 1:02:35

Yeah. And that's just literally because my sinuses are broken and I need to breathe sometimes. (Laughter)


Mia Russell 1:02:41

Oh yeah. Breathing is good.


Delena 1:02:42

Breathing is awesome. I used one of the Neti pots before so that I wouldn't be like (taking continuous heavy breaths). (Laughter) But yeah, cauldrons from my experience are just for holding things that are on fire.


Mia Russell 1:03:01

Okay, fair enough.


Delena 1:03:03

Yeah. I mean, some people use them to cook or they use them for specific purposes. But in my experience, in my practice, it is just to contain burning things.


Meliza Manalo 1:03:17

Okay.


Delena 1:03:18

And some people even just use a frying pan.


Meliza Manalo 1:03:21

Oh, like this cast iron skillets?


Delena 1:03:24

Yeah. Cast iron, stainless steel, you just put sand in the bottom and then burn on top of the sand.


Meliza Manalo 1:03:30

Okay, got it. Yeah, so talking about TV shows growing up, did you actually watch any of like good witch or Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Charmed or any of those kinds of shows?


Delena 1:03:45

I watched Charmed, but it was on while I was at school, so I couldn't watch all of Charmed. I just watched whatever pieces of Charmed that I caught. I really liked it. My mom loved Charmed. I didn't like Hocus Pocus as a movie. That movie makes me sad because I don't eat babies. But Halloweentown, I love Halloweentown.


Meliza Manalo 1:04:10

Oh, I love Halloweentown.


Delena 1:04:15

But that one was a TV movie. And Hocus Pocus was a theater movie. So everybody knows about Hocus Pocus and not Halloweentown.


Mia Russell 1:04:24

I know about both of them.


Delena 1:04:27

Were you a Disney kid? That's why. I was a Disney kid.


Mia Russell 1:04:31

No. We didn't have cable growing up. So when I went to my grandparents’ house and it would be Halloween, it'd be like a super special thing when Halloweentown was on.


Delena 1:04:40

Yeah. I love Halloweentown too. I have all the CDs.


Meliza Manalo 1:04:44

It's a millennial thing. Only millennial kids what that is.


Delena 1:04:49

Yeah. Well, they either pick Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown in my experience. And Hocus Pocus makes me sad because they're all like painted to be up and eat babies and want to murder children.


Meliza Manalo 1:05:02

Oh, yeah. To stay youthful.


Delena 1:05:08

Yeah. Stardust. I love the witches in Stardust though. Because they're evil witches without eating babies. They just want to eat stars. They're like the fun evil, witches for me, they're not like the gross monster evil witches.


Meliza Manalo 1:05:23

Yeah.


Delena 1:05:25

Now the only thing on TV really that upsets me is when a haunting show pretends that it's secular. And then in season three, everything is a demon and everything is witchcraft and everything needs to be solved by Catholics. 'The Haunted' did that for me. There was a show on Netflix. It wasn't on Netflix, but I found it on Netflix. That was about haunted animals. It was awesome for two seasons and then everything was a witch's fault, and demonic and needed a Catholic to come save. It was like you couldn't just f*cking do the same show again? You totally ran out of ideas. That really upsets me. I know some people that get really mad at stuff like supernatural and stuff. When they call it Samhain instead of Sauin, that just makes me laugh. Because, it's Celtic. Like, it's hard to say.


Mia Russell 1:06:31

They pronounce totally different than yours.


Meliza Manalo 1:06:34

Yeah. But I think that stuff is kind of funny, because it's like, oh, they read a book once. But some people get livid when that kind of thing comes up.


Mia Russell 1:06:52

Yeah, I bet.


Meliza Manalo 1:06:54

Yeah. I get that because like, growing up, and everything we're exposed to, witches are evil, and they're bad and all that stuff. And that's why I'm so fascinated for people who actually identify as a witch. I grew up super religious. And we're like witchcraft is bad. And I went to a school where they didn't even let the kids... I mean, I loved Harry Potter. But some of the kids in that school weren't even allowed to watch or read the books. It was like insane. I was like, why?


Delena 1:07:32

Yeah, I liked Harry Potter up until she lost her damn mind.


Mia Russell 1:07:41

You mean J.K. Rowling?


Delena 1:07:42

Yeah. Rowling. Like bowling.


Mia Russell 1:07:45

Oh, whatever.


Delena 1:07:47

That's how Stephen Fry says it. He always has to correct because he read the audio books. And so anytime when somebody says that, he's like, "No, it's rolling like bowling."


Mia Russell 1:07:57

Oh, okay. You learn something new everyday.


Delena 1:07:59

Rolling.


Meliza Manalo 1:08:00

I didn't know that. It's like how Rihanna is pronounced Rihenna.


Delena 1:08:06

Is it Rihanna or Rihenna?


Meliza Manalo 1:08:08

It's Rihenna.


Delena 1:08:09

Is it? Okay. I would say Rihanna because it's the Goddess.


Meliza Manalo 1:08:13

Yeah, cuz I saw it on an interview. And that's so hard to change. Rihenna.


Delena 1:08:24

Oh, it's not a wiki. I feel like it was somebody's daughter in some mythology. It was Rhiannon.


Mia Russell 1:08:32

Oh, like the Stevie song.


Delena 1:08:36

But that name. She's a queen in Welsh mythology. That makes more sense. Rihenna or Rhiannon. I would say that's Rihenna looking at that. I like her vibe. I don't listen to a lot of her music. Just because like I missed that. Like I was balls deep in My Chemical Romance at that time. She said wearing a My Chemical Romance tank top. (Laughter)


Meliza Manalo 1:09:05

I think they were supposed to play an Aftershock but they're not anymore.


Delena 1:09:10

Yeah, they were gonna play last year. My parents had tickets and they got refunded, I think. Or they got pushed. I don't know. I think you had the option to take a refund or just wait.


Meliza Manalo 1:09:23

Because I honestly only wanted to go for them. And that was it.


Delena 1:09:29

I saw them in 2008. And in 2006.


Meliza Manalo 1:09:35

Oh, nice. I wouldn't have been allowed to go.


Delena 1:09:40

My dad took me both times. I was like, there's this concert I really want to go to. I'm like 13 or 14. I'm like I really want to go to this. And he's like, "Okay, give me the CD. And we'll see." And then he was like, "This is f*cking great."


Meliza Manalo 1:10:01

Awesome. Oh, I sometimes listen to like they have the emo station on Spotify. So I listen to every once in a while just for nostalgia. Anyways, what was the other question? Oh, so do you have rituals that you do on a regular basis?


Delena 1:10:26

Not so much anymore. We have eight holidays. And I used to mostly do the holiday. Some people would do every new moon and every full moon on top of the holidays, but I usually would just do the holidays. And it's just once every six weeks. It's really easy, because it's based on the cycle of the year.


Meliza Manalo 1:10:51

Once a holiday. Because like in Christianity, we have Christmas and Easter and all that.


Delena 1:10:57

Those are our holidays. Did you know that?


Meliza Manalo 1:10:59

Oh, no.


Delena 1:11:01

Yeah. So I can go through the Wheel of the Year with you. Ours is a lot more like CUSP specifically, our sect that I work in. It's a little bit different. And if you were to Google The Wheel of the Year, you're going to see it and it's going to be running clockwise. It starts at Yule which is December 21st to January 1st. It's that night. And it is the spark of life from the dark time. And then Imbolc which is six weeks later, it is in February 1st or 2nd. Imbolc, I don't remember the middle holidays too well. Oh, that's Brigid's Day. That's the first of spring, basically. Or when we celebrate the first of spring. And then Ostara which is Easter, is the equinox. It's spring equinox. And then Yule is the winter solstice. And so that is in March-ish. It's when the season changes officially. And then Beltane which is May 1st. It is the fertility holiday. There's Litha which I think has another name that I don't remember. That's summer solstice. We just always usually call it summer solstice. There's Lammas, which is Lughnasadh. It's in June? No, the other one. August. It's August 1st and 2nd. That's the bread holiday. It's the first harvest, I think. So Winter Solstice is we're in the dark of the year, and we're coming into the first light. Imbolc is the beginning of spring. Ostara is your first planting. And then Beltane is the fertility day. The earth is very pregnant. That's when the maiden switches into the mother like I mentioned before. And we have the great rite. Some people straight up have sex. We don't. We never did. We have a chalice which represents the Yoni. My mom has this awesome antler that looks like a d*ck. And so we use that. A lot of people just use like a dagger to be the phallus. But we have this awesome d*ck antler. And you fill the cup with wine, or we use sparkling cider because almost none of us drink. And you put it in the in the chalice and that represents the fertilization of the goddess. And then summer solstice is the switch from the longest day of the year to the dark times. Red holiday is the first harvest. Lugnasadh. And the wheat is coming in. And we make a giant bread loaf and it's delicious. And then Mabon is the boon, it's autumn equinox. And that's your surprise Second Harvest. And then Sauin is officially the beginning of the new year, I think in Wiccanism, I don't know for sure. But Sauin is, like I said the night of Halloween over to the first of November. And that is when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. And so we work with the spirits and we prepare to move into the dark of the year, which is the time between Sauin and Yule and we get really introspective. Anything that's still in the ground after Sauin, like going from the farming metaphor, is considered poison. And so you work your a*s off to get everything you possibly can harvested before then, because after that you would burn the fields. And anything left in it, it's considered unsafe to eat or for the gods. So you would burn it as a sacrifice. And then it comes back to Yule, which is the spark of the first light, which is winter solstice. I explained that really round about. I'm sorry.


Meliza Manalo 1:15:12

No, it's okay. I got most of it. You said like, because I was saying like Christmas, Easter and stuff. Those came from your guys' calendar, whatever? So do you know the history of that, like how they're linked?


Delena 1:15:28

Yeah, so the winter solstice, astrologically it's anywhere from the the 19th to the 23rd. We typically celebrate on the 21st. And it is the celebration of the coming of the Sun God. And four days later is Christmas, which is the celebration of the coming of the Son of God. Of course, mysteries are ours. They tried to ban Christmas trees, and Christmas altogether, because it was the celebration of Saturnalia and it's like the pagan gods. But the people were not having that in Europe at the time when the Church was trying to get rid of that. And so they shifted, because Jesus was probably born in April, if you historically account back. Like the shepherds in their fields, they wouldn't have been in their fields in December, you know?


Meliza Manalo 1:16:22

Yeah.


Delena 1:16:24

Even if it's in the Middle East, they wouldn't be out in their fields with their sheep in December. And so it was probably sometime in March or April, I think they decided. I think somebody actually counted and figured that out, too.


Meliza Manalo 1:16:37

Yeah, I remember someone disproving that.


Delena 1:16:40

Yeah. And so they took December 25th, because it was close to a lot of the smaller pagan holidays that they were working with. Like Saturnalia and Yule, and that sort of thing. And then also, all of the traditions that the common people were were already doing. And they just sort of cleaned them up and slapped the Jesus on it. And then Ostara is Easter. We celebrate the fertility. It's not quite fertilized like Beltane is, but that is when the earth is turning green. And hunting for an egg is a pagan tradition, a woman would hide an egg, and her mate would go off to find it. And if he found it, they would celebrate by having sex and hopefully have a baby. And stuff like that. And if you look down, somebody sat down with me one time. All of them are within four to nine days of our holidays. And they all celebrate about the same thing.


Meliza Manalo 1:17:50

Okay. That's interesting.


Delena 1:17:52

Someone knows that a lot better than I do. But I honestly don't know enough except for the holidays that they make us celebrate in the US. I don't know a lot of the other holidays. I think Ash Wednesday is connected to something and stuff like that.


Meliza Manalo 1:18:10

Yeah. Well, Ash Wednesday, isn't it like 40 days before Easter?


Delena 1:18:16

It's at the beginning or the end of Lent?


Meliza Manalo 1:18:18

It's the beginning of Lent. After that you do the 40 days of whatever you decide to give up.


Delena 1:18:26

And so that would be Imbolc, because it's about six weeks.


Meliza Manalo 1:18:31

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Six weeks.


Delena 1:18:33

Yeah. And then... my brain's gone. Sorry.


Meliza Manalo 1:18:39

That's interesting. Because for Easter, I didn't really understand the whole egg and bunny, bird or chicken or chick reference and all that stuff. And I remember asking my mom about it. Because her parents were originally Catholic, and then they converted over. And she's like, "That's an American thing. Because in the Philippines, they don't even do the whole egg hunting and stuff."


Delena 1:19:05

Yeah, that's really commercialized. Like American stuff. But it has roots.


Meliza Manalo 1:19:11

Wow, I learned so much today.


Delena 1:19:14

Oh, good. I'm so glad. I feel so bad because we're not even halfway through your little paper of questions.


Meliza Manalo 1:19:22

I know we're like an hour through.


Delena 1:19:23

It's a lot. I'm sorry.


Meliza Manalo 1:19:24

Honestly, like, if you're totally up for it, we could do a part two.


Delena 1:19:29

I could do whatever you want to do. I can talk for hours.


Meliza Manalo 1:19:35

Because I have so many more questions, but I feel like we're gonna go hours.


Delena 1:19:42

I don't mind going hours. If you guys have commitments, that's fine. I haven't talked to anybody in a week and a half. That doesn't live with me. And at that time, I didn't know most of everybody. So really, I was talking to the people that live with me. (Laughter) And then before that, I hadn't seen another person that I knew personally in like seven months. I could talk for forever.


Meliza Manalo 1:20:12

That's great. That fits in with this podcast.


Delena 1:20:16

Yeah, I'm like your target audience, man.


Meliza Manalo 1:20:19

Yeah. I love the whole like the introvert stuff because I only got into searching up introvert stuff when I did the podcast. And then I was super excited. Because Mia did say that you're an introvert, but I want to double check and ask you. Oh my god an introverted witch. Like celebrity of my dreams, because I don't really care about celebrities. Like this is the type of person I'm talking to. But if you're up for it, we could do like different parts, because I know we still have like a bunch of questions. But Mia, do you want to do one last question before we wrap up?


Mia Russell 1:20:59

Um, yeah. Sure. Do you want me to ask any question or...?


Meliza Manalo 1:21:04

Yeah, whatever you like.


Mia Russell 1:21:08

Hmm, let me see.


Meliza Manalo 1:21:11

Make it like one of those finale questions. (Laughter)


Mia Russell 1:21:14

Oh, God. No price or anything.


Delena 1:21:19

Come on, Mia. It's on you.


Mia Russell 1:21:24

I knoww. Okayy.


Delena 1:21:24

I'm sorry. Mia, I love you.


Mia Russell 1:21:29

So I guess just what advice do you have for people who are just getting into it or want to get into it? Like, what's a good place to start?


Delena 1:21:38

I would say find a mentor that you drive with. Because it's so different, the types of practices. And so if you find someone that's living a kind of witch that you're interested in, most of us love to talk. And we'll talk about it for forever and ever. I would say books, but books are so... like some of them are a little more open, but some of them are really black and white in what it's all about instead of somebody who actually practices. I normally would know off the top of my head, a lot of really great books, but I haven't read any in a really long time. But my mother writes books. You could read my mommy's books.


Meliza Manalo 1:22:26

We can plug her book.


Delena 1:22:29

No, she's got like 47 books.


Meliza Manalo 1:22:32

We can plug her name. (Laughter)


Delena 1:22:36

I would just say, to get super started, there's Facebook groups. Some of them suck like any Facebook group. But you get a feel for the type of people in the group. Like you don't have to comment. You don't have to talk to anything, just kind of stalk the group for a week or two and see what it feels like. And if it's something that you drive with, then you could start asking questions. A lot of us are really open to questions. Some of us are really pushy. And if anybody gets acidic or sh*tty with you, stop. Don't engage. It's just like any Facebook group.


Mia Russell 1:23:12

No gatekeeping type stuff.


Delena 1:23:14

Yeah. Gatekeeping can be really a thing. We have the joke how everybody says, "You're not a witch if..." And the people who are not witches are the people who say you're not a witch if... (Laughter) Yeah, look for Facebook groups. There used to be a thing called witch Fox that I think went under, but it was like a chat room for finding groups. And so I think people have made separate things on Facebook for how to find groups. I'm in one called 'California pagans'. I don't use it. I'm only in it because they post events. And sometimes people ask a question like, "Hey, I live in the San Fernando Valley. Does anybody else have a coven?" There's that kind of thing. Or if you know where there's a metaphysical bookstore, start there. Most of the people there at minimum, they want to make a sale. So they're going to answer your questions. At maximum, they'd love to talk about this kind of thing. And even then, if not the owners, then the customers. Some of them can be really good. But also if anybody wants to hug you and you don't want to be hugged, you tell them no. There's some really gross people that take...


Mia Russell 1:24:29

Just like in any community?


Delena 1:24:31

Exactly. Yeah. If you talk to somebody and they make you feel gross in any way, abort mission. Because they will take advantage of the hippie dippie tree hugging I love everybody kind of thing, if you don't want to be hugged, say no thank you and walk away. Because the gross people will seduce you into coming into their fold and then touching and whatnot.


Mia Russell 1:24:53

So, no strangers with candy.


Delena 1:24:55

Yeah, but sometimes there are cool people that have candy at festivals. So, feel it out. It's very common for like healers and stuff to have like a bullet Jolly Ranchers out.


Mia Russell 1:25:06

So I wasn't meaning like literal stranger candy.


Delena 1:25:11

Like the idea. Okay. But yeah, if it feels gross, don't engage. Believe your first impression if it feels gross. If you're nervous in the exciting way, that's fine. But you will know the difference if it feels bad.


Mia Russell 1:25:31

And when's the next festival you said? They're still planning it?


Delena 1:25:36

Yeah. They have to have the meeting to decide if they're having one this fall.


Mia Russell 1:25:41

All right.


Meliza Manalo 1:25:42

Okay.


Delena 1:25:42

So we don't know yet. We're still feeling it out. Like safety wise.


Meliza Manalo 1:25:47

Once you find out though, let us know.


Mia Russell 1:25:49

Yeah, keep us updated.


Meliza Manalo 1:25:51

I'll try. Mia, you'll probably see it pop up on my Facebook page somehow.


Mia Russell 1:25:58

Yeah, I'll just let Meliza know.


Delena 1:26:01

Crossroadsoccult. Oh, you know what? Crossroads has a Facebook page. Crossraods metaphysical store. There's a picture of a dude who looks like Orlando Bloom with gray in his beard. And then a lady with salt and pepper blonde hair leaning over him. Those are my parents. (Laughter) Crossroads metaphysical store at Crossroads Occult. They will probably talk about PanGaia the second there's any news about PanGaia to talk about.


Mia Russell 1:26:27

Okay, cool. I just liked him on Facebook.


Delena 1:26:31

She also does lives I think once a week, where they have tarot cards and do like a Facebook live thing.


Mia Russell 1:26:38

It looks like they have a couple of upcoming events, too.


Delena 1:26:41

Yeah, anything at this store is going to be on here.


Meliza Manalo 1:26:45

Okay, I'll put that link in the description.


Delena 1:26:48

Didn't mean to plug my parents store and be like, go buy from my mommy. But really, when I have a question I ask mom. So....


Mia Russell 1:26:57

I mean, don't we all? (Laughter)


Delena 1:26:58

Yeah.


Meliza Manalo 1:27:01

All right. Well, thanks Delena for getting on. I'm excited to do part two. Maybe part three. I don't know. I have a ton of questions. So I feel like we haven't even done half of the list.


Delena 1:27:13

Thank you for putting up with me so far.


Meliza Manalo 1:27:15

No, I love it. It's great. I want to know more. I love your energy and you're easy to talk to you.


Delena 1:27:23

Well, thank you. I'm so glad. I worked very hard on that.


Meliza Manalo 1:27:27

Okay. I was really nervous.


Delena 1:27:30

It's like Juno. Juno is like, "It's so cool. You don't even know." And he's like, "I actually tried very hard." (Laughter)


Meliza Manalo 1:27:39

Yeah, I was really nervous, though. I'm not really good at meeting new people. This worked out.


Delena 1:27:43

I say that I'm not but I did work at a festival for several years. So, I think technically I am only because of practice.


Meliza Manalo 1:27:51

Yeah. I definitely have a customer service persona.


Delena 1:27:56

Yeah. (Laughter)


Mia Russell 1:27:59

Same. I should let you end your podcast.


Meliza Manalo 1:28:05

Alright, thanks for making it to the end. If you enjoy what you hear and want to stay up to date on this show, please follow me on Facebook and/on Instagram. You can also check out my website at thetalkativeintrovertpodcast.com. All the information will be on there as well as in the show notes. If you want to help support the show, please review and rate the podcast and share it with your friends and family. Thanks so much and I'll talk to you guys in the next episode.


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