#154 - David Stokes: Masquerade At The Crossroads of Good And Evil - Holism and Spirit Work in Mental Health and Addiction

#155 - Angel Millar - Supernatural Woman and the Male Initiate: Bonded Through Dreams

Quote: "Initiations into esoteric societies prepare—or are intended to prepare—the initiate to think about what is beyond life and even what might lie beyond death, and to consider his actions not in relation to his ambition but in relation to the Divine Will. Indeed, the symbolism of death and self-sacrifice is common to initiation rites." (...) "Often, the initiation rite gives the initiate a new body by making it symbolic or talismanic. Most notably, there is frequently special symbolism that relates to the sexual organs. These are no longer the animal organs but acquire some sacred status." Welcome to a very special conversation with Angel Millar, whose quote appears above. His newest book has just been published!! I will just copy his bio from the publisher, Inner Traditions, as my own rephrasing is going to make it worse I'm sure: Author Bio: Angel Millar is a highly esteemed author and lecturer on spirituality, symbolism, sorcery, and self-transformation. He began studying magic and trance in his early manhood and was initiated into the Illuminates of Thanateros in London at the age of 19. Now residing in New York City, he is a certified consulting hypnotist and the author of "The Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality", "The Path of the Warrior-Mystic", and "Transcend the Chaos". IN THIS CONVERSATION, we touch on topics such as fundamentalism in esoteric communities, dreams and visions that are more than representations of aspects of the personality, true HUMILITY, how sex and self-transformation can come together, encounters with a supernatural woman, how to FEEL if someone is not for you, even if they say all the right words, and in the end, we find out what Angel really thinks of therapy and how his Capricornian nature points us to what is REAL. Angel has a great cardinal (initiatory) nature, so in the astrology corner at the end, we talk about the fusion of what we can call a whole cardinal cross, in fact. I HOPE you too also feel this interview is evocative and worthy of your further exploration and contemplation. LINKS THE BOOK we speak about: https://www.innertraditions.com/supernatural-woman-and-the-male-initiate [https://www.innertraditions.com/supernatural-woman-and-the-male-initiate] Angel Millar simply go to: https://angelmillar.com/ [https://angelmillar.com/] Mannah: https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/ [https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/] the youtube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/j6HU9wiBJcg [https://youtu.be/j6HU9wiBJcg]

#154 - David Stokes: Masquerade At The Crossroads of Good And Evil - Holism and Spirit Work in Mental Health and Addiction

"If patients stay in the system long enough, they learn to control all words and gestures linked to fantastical thinking, delusions, grandiosity, and hallucination. Through hard experience they learn the fruit of their best thinking is not approved of by the professionals involved in their care. They learn Orwellian doublethink, a capacity to believe in two opposing points at the same time. They discover the skill of believing the reality their mind often presents them with, while at the same time fitting in with the actual reality reinforced by mental health workers."(....) "The scale of suffering of our mentally disordered is rarely investigated as a factor of the disconnections between who we are now and those who went before us." David Stokes has written a truly exceptional book, where I feel he says all the things we are not supposed to say - when working in publically funded social work at least. "Masquerade At The Crossroads of Good And Evil - Holism and Spirit Work in Mental Health and Addiction" is published this year, 2026, at Aeon Books. A much needed book!! This is a shorter interview, as the audio was really poor, but I have edited it so it is a lot better for you to listen to now. I'm hoping to meet David again for a follow up. But enjoy this shorter interview on what the Crossroads is, what the Masquerade is, and how to incorporate a holistic approach into social work, not by suggesting anything spiritual to clients, but by meeting their own aspirations. Find the incredible special and thoughtprovoking and caring book here: https://spirit.aeonbooks.com/author/david-stokes/23787 [https://spirit.aeonbooks.com/author/david-stokes/23787] Mannah here: https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/ [https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/] youtube version of this interview https://youtu.be/oYd5MxocABE [https://youtu.be/oYd5MxocABE]

#153 - Jungian Analyst Erica Lorentz: Body as Shadow - Jungs Method of Embodied Healing

"In modern culture, our sensitivity to our embodied soul has largely retreated into the shadow. An individual may be an excellent athlete or a consummate dancer, for example, but that does not guarantee a healthy relationship with our sensual authority, emotions, or imagination. Indeed, to excel in these areas and achieve our goals of efficiency and precision, we need to focus acutely on breathing, muscles, bones, and rhythm. This creates false gods of perfectionism and achievement." (from page 44 of Body as Shadow, 2026) I am so glad to welcome teacher, lecturer, workshop facilitator, supervisor and Jungian Analyst Erica Lorentz to this chapter of TAP. Erica is the author of Body as Shadow - Jungs Method of Embodied Healing, that she just published after many years of conceiving it. Themes that come up include healing of trauma, where do you go during dissociation, trust the somatic unconscious, what does it mean if there is only darkness when you go into your imagination, and what the subtle body is, even though it cannot fully be expressed in words. Erica spontanously shares from this place in the book that magically enough already was more own favorite, both this quote but also other passages around this lunar consciousness: "As we use the radar of our own experience to feel what a client is emitting—sensing something in the field between us that has not yet flickered into focus—we must soften into it. This is a lunar consciousness (in alchemy, a "making of the silver"). Schwartz-Salant (1982) describes what it means to perceive this kind of awakening and sight: 'This shift of consciousness can be described as a movement from a "solar consciousness" that readily leads to interpretations, into a "lunar consciousness" that focuses upon images and imaginal perceptions. This shift involves an introverted act in which psychic energy—attention and consciousness—is surrendered to the unconscious and to a symbolic sense of oneness, the One Continuum.' (p. 140) Jung discovered this introverted act in psychic energy, which he called "indirect thinking" (1971), when he followed his soul into the underworld." Erica has practiced Authentic Movement for many years, and had the experience of healing a serious headache through - she shares how that happened, and we speak a whole lot on Jungian psychology, symbolic journeys, and how the whole embodied soul got pushed into the shadow, and for us to heal, we need to reconnect to it and go into the imaginal creative space. So all in all - I hope you will tap in with us - beforehand Erica had asked me to look astrologically at how the book will be received and so I interpret the Saturn aspects to her natal chart, which are many, to be a place of solid authority and a lasting impact and things becoming real now- Erica mentions the new beginning, and I totally agree that right now and the coming year is big initiation into being her own person, having her own sense of authority rather than having to rely on social expectations - I don't know obviously how anyone will receive her work, but from my own perspective this book was a joy to read, beautifully written and points to what we long for collectively...at least I do. FIND MORE HERE: https://ericalorentz.com/ [https://ericalorentz.com/] the book: https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/body-as-shadow-jung/98276/?MATCH=1 [https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/body-as-shadow-jung/98276/?MATCH=1] Mannah https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/ [https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/] youtube version: https://youtu.be/4mkzAyTzDAU [https://youtu.be/4mkzAyTzDAU]

#152 - Lauren Donelson - Beyond the Information - A Conversation Between Therapeutic Astrologers

To us, astrology feels completely natural. But for many, it still sits outside the system, also the system of psychology, even though the obviosly go well together. As Neptune is influencing Saturn in a critical way right now, the lines may begin to loosen. This is a conversation with Lauren Donelson, who is a psychotherapist, intuitive healer, and yes, an astrologer. We share the vision of directly usindg astrology in the healing work - so welcome to an echo chamber what we feel strongly about. TAP in with us as we explore rich themes together and Lauren Donelson brings up many important reflections: at one point she says, "they don't belong to the institutions, they are ours," speaking about gifts that are often treated as something you need certification to even have them. Here are just a few notes on what we speak about: -How completely obvious it is to use Parts Work/IFS and Astrology together - and examples of how that would look -Embodiment, containing, holding and connecting to medicine plants -Mercurial gifts, both the technical explanatory ones and the more artistic ones -Would you trust an IFS therapist who is not also a registered psychotherapist? -How awful it is that what we can go out and call ourselves titles that relies on what education we were able to buy, and not solely on qualifications -And about the registering...do you trust someone with a register more than you own intuition and if so, I wonder why we became that way... -Ancestral healing -Environmental destruction !!! and justice -Building relationship with the land -Being magic /in Self !!! -and how it is TIME TO LISTEN deeply because the earth is speaking Astrologically, we speak about the whole gamut of Saturn, Neptune and lots of Pisces glimmer in there too, since Lauren and I have that Sun sign in common, and also Uranus through Taurus, because, as I envy in Lauren, she's got a lot of Taurus energy for embodiment, gardening, connecting to animals and nature, and her music (that we even get a tiny piece of)- It WAS truly refreshing to be with another and very qualified therapeutic astrologer-I really do hope you enjoy it LINKS: youtube: https://youtu.be/DlBiR8GKTEA [https://youtu.be/DlBiR8GKTEA] Find Lauren: https://www.laurendonelsontherapy.com/ [https://www.laurendonelsontherapy.com/] instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embodied_healing [https://www.instagram.com/embodied_healing] find me: https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/ [https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/]

#151 - Manda Scott: Imagine Every Human Being Living to Their Fullest Potential

Manda Scott "lights the fires of possibilities", as she calls it, in this much needed episode on thrutopias, the total collapse and how we can emerge into a completely new paradigm. Manda impresses me so much, she has been a published writer for 30 years and writing still, she is also the founder of ACCIDENTAL GODS. I really hope you will enjoy this episode where we get informed, sparked and interrupted in our normal thinking. So grateful for this interview - may it be of great importance to you too. Here are some notes about what we TAP into in this episode: -Bringing knowing back to those who have forgotten -Complexity versus complicated -Thrutopian fiction -Why we do not need more dystopias -Writers and artists imagining different futures -Letting go of tribal divisions -Remembering that we are part of the web of life -Our culture as locked in early adolescence -The natural state of humanity as wholeness -Inner coherence, trauma therapy and talking to the web of life -Ask the web of life: "What do you need me to do?" -Collapse into extinction and emergence into a new system -The caterpillar, the cocoon and imaginal cells -Awake dreaming and sleep dreaming -Aquarian themes run strongly through this conversation, as the archetype is prevalent in Mandas chart. LINKS: youtube edition: https://youtu.be/3_AGgwCICcs [https://youtu.be/3_AGgwCICcs] Manda: https://accidentalgods.life/ [https://accidentalgods.life/] https://www.youtube.com/@AccidentalGods [https://www.youtube.com/@AccidentalGods] https://substack.com/@eceni/p-158280401 [https://substack.com/@eceni/p-158280401] Mannah: https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/ [https://www.therapeuticastrologer.com/]