Episode 40: Personal Sovereignty

Welcome, welcome, dear listeners to yet another installation of the Death Coven program. In today's episode we pit badassery against each other in our hypothetical segment and then Skye leads us in a conversational topic on the concept of Personal Sovereignty and how we can apply it to our daily lives. Get ready to scope your life from a bird's eye view, do your taxes on time, and beat the ever living hell out of that bloated, rotting, dead horse that forever plagues you. Get into your body and out of your mind with us every other Thursday!

If you'd like to skip the hypothetical go to: 23:26

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Transcript

Skye 0:18

Um, but yeah, my, my name is Lady Sovereign Today. Whatever happened to Lady Sovereign? Y'all remember?

Poppy 0:26

No, I don't know

Skye 0:27

The musical artist love me or hate

River 0:29

ho of.

Skye 0:30

it's still an obsession. Love me or hate me. That is the question. If you love me, then thank you. If you hate me, then fuck you.

Poppy 0:37

Yeah,

River 0:38

Sounds

Skye 0:38

Not ringing a bell

Poppy 0:39

it was on the radio like a billion times in 2012 or

Skye 0:43

hit wonder.

River 0:45

Oh, I was not

Skye 0:45

That was, that was the first time I ever heard the word sovereign, I think was lady Sovereign. So that's my name on the call today. Listeners, if this part is, is making, yes, and my pronouns are queen slash be,

Poppy 1:04

and your baby new queer.

River 1:06

I'm baby new queer.'cause I, I've got New Years on the brain.

Poppy 1:10

Oh, I see. I

Skye 1:11

be out in the new year.

Poppy 1:12

coming out?

River 1:14

I'm, uh, I'm 30 years old, but I'm actually a new queer.

Skye 1:18

A new flavor of queer

River 1:20

Yeah. I, um, I took queerness and I freaked it in a new and

Poppy 1:26

Much like queers do. Yeah.

Skye 1:29

Yeah, you've already done that.

River 1:30

Yeah.

Skye 1:31

It's honestly old hat at this

River 1:32

I've done it in so many different way. I've queer heterosexuality multiple times. It's crazy. You can queer anything.

Poppy 1:42

we got the cosmic stardust and Alani. What is river sipping on over there? Girl? You're gonna do Y to Y.

Skye 1:52

Yes.

Poppy 1:52

Y to Y. Action.

River 1:54

Once an emergency year.

Skye 1:57

yeah. It's like I said to River earlier, the, this first one is simply to animate my corpse. The second one is recreational, and for me to feel something

River 2:06

Yeah. Oh baby, on the mic. Oh, I thought you were holding maple. It was just your, um, your tartan.

Poppy 2:14

Did I tell you one of the guys I played DD with also is a cat named Maple and she's,

River 2:19

Two maples,

Poppy 2:21

Yeah. Three, two and a half. Maples

River 2:25

two and a half maples.

Poppy 2:28

Gus used to be Maple.

River 2:29

Yeah. That's his dead name.

Skye 2:32

gus dead name for my child. Well, I remember when you brought Home Maple, the then Maple, and I said, oh, that is such a good name. And guess what, when I tell people Maple's name now guess what they say? Oh, that is such a

Poppy 2:49

such a cute little sticky sweet.

River 2:52

yeah. Just a little

Poppy 2:53

It's a tree. It's a

Skye 2:55

it's not, it's unexpected but delightful every time. It's

River 2:58

How often do you see a cat named Maple?

Poppy 3:01

Twice, three times now.

River 3:03

guess,

Poppy 3:05

Uh, not that

Skye 3:07

It's

River 3:08

not as often as like cat's named Midnight

Poppy 3:10

like Kinsley in Utah.

River 3:12

Yeah.

Skye 3:13

name in the shelter was Midnight Rain.

Poppy 3:16

I love that.

Skye 3:18

Yeah.

River 3:18

a solid name.

Poppy 3:20

That's,

Skye 3:20

And I think her sister's name was Daylight

River 3:23

Ah.

Poppy 3:24

Was she also black or was she like

Skye 3:26

she was a dilute Torty, so she was like gray and

Poppy 3:29

Oh, those are so pretty. Dilute. Splash some water on

River 3:34

Mm-hmm.

Skye 3:34

you later. Okay. Love you. Love you.

River 3:37

Ew. Yuck.

Skye 3:40

Anyway, sorry, I had to kiss my husband. Do you mind? Look away. It's a private moment.

Poppy 3:46

It's on

River 3:47

off. This is recording. This is private.

Poppy 3:50

editor. Don't cut that out.

River 3:52

Mm-hmm. just so rare that I watch him make displays of affection with you that whenever I see it I'm like, you guys aren't just like bros. You guys are actually like for real married.

Poppy 4:02

That's our

Skye 4:02

You love each other for

River 4:03

friends.

Skye 4:06

You're not doing the misogyny bit. What do

River 4:08

He's not threatening to beat you.

Skye 4:10

Hmm. Listeners. My husband truly does love me. I'm safe.

River 4:14

He's a, he is a very

Skye 4:16

help. It's okay. is, he is, he's,

River 4:20

that's coming from somebody that doesn't feel safe around any man.

Poppy 4:24

He is threatened bears in the forest. So

Skye 4:28

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 4:28

if I'm gonna run into into a man in the woods, I'd want it to be Michael and then also a bear. I would want Michael to be there. Yes. all right, well, welcome to Death Coven, everyone. This is a podcast by Witches. We are the witches. You are the listeners. And today, sky's leading an episode on Personal sovereignty., My name is Poppy

River 4:51

I'm river.

Skye 4:54

And I'm Skye, I'm your lady sovereign for today.

Poppy 4:57

y. Uh, would you like to, to give any kind of teasers before we jump into our, uh, chunky hypothetical?

Skye 5:08

Um, I don't know. I, I'm afraid that a lot of this is going to be. Word vomit because it is not very organized. It's a lot of just my scribblings in a journal that I had to go back and scribble over, and then also shared with a friend that I'll get into. And then it's just our sick, twisted minds talking about a topic that we adore. And then I'm just gonna try to find the thread along the way and just hope that I, uh, catch a momentum, uh, and yell at you about something I've been passionate about.

River 5:47

This episode's really about the journey, not the

Skye 5:50

Yeah, and I, I, I will say up top, I don't feel that I am the personal authority on the topic. It is just something that has been so apt in my life and very prominent, especially recently, that it's top of mind. And I just, we have this platform, so, and we talk about things and I'm like, well, this is what's top of mind for me. This is what I'm gonna be talking to you about. that's kind of my, my intro

Poppy 6:22

just your intro. I'm like. I have to hold myself back from like, popping in and saying things,'cause I'm excited about talking about this. So I think it's gonna,

Skye 6:32

It's a fun topic to talk about,

Poppy 6:35

yeah.

Skye 6:35

and I encourage you to pop in when it's, when I'm, when I'm going off later. So.

River 6:41

Whenever you feel the spirit.

Poppy 6:47

I was just gonna ask you guys if you wanted to do a little hypothetical event.

River 6:54

an event.

Poppy 6:55

It's an event,

Skye 6:56

event.

River 6:56

a challenge.

Skye 6:57

Wow.

Poppy 6:58

necessarily a challenge. We're, we're not competing with each other. We are all working together today because we have been hired as judges in a tournament for badassery.

River 7:16

Okay.

Poppy 7:17

So, since today is all about personal sovereignty and what's, what goes along with that better than just the concept of a badass. So today we have eight. Bad asses that have been handpicked. I contacted Sky and River separately before this recording and asked them both to give me three, just things that have the essence of badass, or it could be a person, it can be a concept, um, a vivid image, a feeling, et cetera, et cetera. So that's what we're doing. We have,

Skye 7:54

beautiful things against each other.

Poppy 7:56

yes. And then, uh, at the end we will be confronted with the ultimate badass. Uh, yes. So we've got to start off, we've got our Eastern and western conferences. Um, so we'll have four one V ones, and then we'll get into like the winners. We'll be fighting each other. So total of seven matches today? Yes. We got the brackets. Um,

River 8:22

I feel like I need to keep a, are you like keeping track? Okay. Thank God.

Poppy 8:26

it. You don't worry. Your pretty little head.

River 8:29

I

Skye 8:29

Maple is like being a little scoundrel this morning, so I need to check on

Poppy 8:33

She's doing her thing. She's like, I have personal autonomy

River 8:37

She's like, what about my sovereignty?

Poppy 8:40

a baby, but I'm also a woman. She's like in her teen phase now, right? Because

River 8:44

Uh, she

Poppy 8:46

almost a year old. Is she already a year old?

River 8:50

I don't think she's quite there yet. I think she's just about to be, she's reaching her adolescence.

Skye 8:59

even, she's literally nine months old.

Poppy 9:01

Oh,

River 9:02

getting there. She's getting close.

Poppy 9:05

Would you like me to read you our eight now or are we ju do you

Skye 9:10

kind of wanna go bracket by

River 9:12

Yeah. I feel like I'm gonna get too overwhelmed if it all hits me at one.

Poppy 9:17

All right. Battle one. Uh, we've got a, uh, any sword or weapon that has engravings on the handle and riding on the blade that glows when it's around a specific type of magic

River 9:35

That I know that's a sky pick. That's deeply

Poppy 9:37

yeah, that's, it's a sky pick versus. And I added something here, river, a giant Doberman in a spiked collar. Gotta give him

River 9:48

See, I didn't know we were gonna be like, I didn't know. I had to really amp it up, so I was like, what do I think? A fucking cool dog in a spiked collar?

Poppy 9:58

Do you, would you like to revise your entries before we get in here? Okay.

River 10:03

I said what I said.

Poppy 10:04

Okay. So

Skye 10:05

So are we voting on

Poppy 10:08

we, we will discuss, we'll discuss and we'll, you know, eventually come to a conclusion.

River 10:13

Hmm.

Skye 10:14

Okay.

Poppy 10:16

So, and they're not fighting one view one necessarily. I'm

River 10:20

It's just what do you like

Poppy 10:22

this is like an America's Next top model. Like they're walking down the runway next to each other, you know,

Skye 10:27

Okay.

River 10:27

Just this sword floating down the runway, glowing a little bit.

Skye 10:33

I mean, I, not I, I'm partial to the sword,

River 10:36

I feel like, yeah, I'm gonna be partial to everything I pick.'cause I'm like, yeah, I think that's badass. Not that Sky's pick is a

Poppy 10:43

sure, but you didn't

River 10:44

I like mine.

Poppy 10:46

when you were coming up with them.

River 10:48

Yeah.

Poppy 10:49

And I've got

Skye 10:50

to spoil the future, but I will say I also included a dog with a spiked

Poppy 10:54

That's

River 10:54

Dogs with spiked collars are just so fucking cool.

Poppy 10:58

very bad. I mean, the fact that both of you picked dog with spike collar kind of means that it's like a core badass thing.

River 11:08

Yes. Did you pick a, not to spoil the future, but like did you pick a specific type of dog or was it just

Skye 11:14

I did.

River 11:15

Mm, me too. I had to go with do room inside the most badass looking dog.

Skye 11:21

I did

Poppy 11:21

I forget what a doberman looks like. They're like

River 11:23

They've got like sharp ears and like pointy sna, their like, they look like rottweilers, but like

Poppy 11:30

But are they like, are they naturally, they naturally have those short ears, or

River 11:35

I believe. So. Are they

Skye 11:37

do something to them. They clip their tail or something. I

River 11:39

they do clip their tail. I don't think they

Poppy 11:43

yeah. I'm looking at an, I'm looking at a natural uncut doberman, and he's got the floppy ears.

River 11:49

mm

Poppy 11:50

Oh, it's so sad. There are, there's some that have like band-aids around their

River 11:55

I thought they were naturally like that.

Skye 11:58

No,

Poppy 12:00

but they still look pretty, pretty mean.

River 12:03

Yeah. In their natural state, they look incredibly

Skye 12:06

they're like guard dogs. They look like those like Egyptian dogs. You know what I'm talking about?

River 12:10

Like in AIS type

Skye 12:12

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So where do we go from

Poppy 12:15

Where do we go from here? I think I'm gonna, I'm just, because there are two dogs, spike collars. I'm gonna have to go with the Doberman personally, unless you guys have a, a different, a different take. The sword is obvi. All of

River 12:30

The sword is badass. Yeah. I can't deny that.

Skye 12:33

dog that is exists later. It's not just the dog.

Poppy 12:38

Yeah, it's

River 12:39

The dog is the vessel.

Skye 12:41

The a dog is an accessory to something else.

River 12:45

Jesus. You know, it's cool when a dog is an accessory. I

Skye 12:49

um, do you, are you trying to watch the dogs be up against each other and around? Is that what

Poppy 12:55

not necessarily, no, I'm just saying the fact that you both independently thought of a dog with a spike collar means that

Skye 13:02

such a

Poppy 13:02

yeah. That's like an iconic badass symbol, you know?

Skye 13:06

Okay. Yeah. I see that. I guess swords in general also are, but the magic wand is so specific that it's like, uh, that could be kind of nerdy, which isn't always considered badass.

River 13:20

very d and d flavors, which is

Skye 13:23

badass in

River 13:24

be very

Poppy 13:24

the moment. Like if you're like, uh, I am no man kind of deal,

River 13:29

If you are 40

Skye 13:30

gifted that sword, you'd be like, that's

Poppy 13:32

that's

River 13:32

and it's real life for you, yeah, that's

Poppy 13:35

But then you can also

River 13:36

on the outside, who doesn't play d and d, I'm like some fucking nerd

Poppy 13:41

I'm picturing like a, a nerdy guy in his backyard, like practicing his, the art of the sword.

Skye 13:47

depending on the situation. It, the sword could be embarrassing.

River 13:51

be a oo type situation.

Skye 13:54

not gonna be embarrassing in any type of

River 13:56

no. The Doberman's just gonna stand there. Very regally.

Skye 14:00

Yeah. Okay. Doberman continues.

Poppy 14:03

Okay. Uh, next up we have got, um, let me actually rearrange this a little bit. Okay. We're gonna do, we're gonna do this now. the essence of all extreme sports, all of them together, uh,

River 14:19

The face.

Poppy 14:22

uh, versus

Skye 14:24

What did you do? Okay, hang on, hang on, hang on.

River 14:27

Oh no. She's opened windows.

Poppy 14:30

mode.

Skye 14:32

Okay, continue.

Poppy 14:33

Uh, the essence of all extreme sports versus old people that are really into street fashion.

River 14:39

Oh, you're just pitting two of mine against each other. What the fuck? How am I supposed to choose between my babies

Skye 14:46

I personally don't think extreme sports are badass. I think a lot of the times that they're just stupid and reckless.

River 14:52

And I think that's kind of badass. Unfortunately, when I see somebody on a motorcycle doing some shit they have no business doing, I'm like, damn, you got me on that

Poppy 14:59

Yeah, you got balls,

River 15:01

If you're doing a back flip, 80 feet in the air on a motorcycle and you land it kick ass if you die, you tried your best.

Poppy 15:10

your life to the sport.

River 15:12

Mm-hmm.

Skye 15:12

but I will say the old people with high fashion, that is bravery and

River 15:19

That's authenticity,

Skye 15:20

I say,

River 15:21

That's swag.

Skye 15:22

that's personal sovereignty.

Poppy 15:24

Yeah.

River 15:24

that's cunt.

Poppy 15:25

Yeah.

Skye 15:26

Yeah,

Poppy 15:28

Okay. We going with old people.

River 15:30

Yeah, I think it's unanimous between the two. I just love a fashionable old person,

Poppy 15:39

Okay.

River 15:39

especially when they're like tatted up and they have like chunky rings on and

Skye 15:43

Hope to be one someday.

River 15:45

Oh, I hope to be, I'm not a fashionable young person, but I hope at some point it clicks for me.

Poppy 15:50

Number three, Peter Steele In a leather studded jacket with brass knuckles. Holding a rottweiler with a collar

River 16:01

I don't care what the other one is. I'm sorry.

Poppy 16:04

versus a honey badger holding a knife, wearing a whistle around its neck. Like that one devil dog,

River 16:13

Like what?

Poppy 16:14

like the devil dog in the, uh, that, that one, uh, witch trial story,

River 16:20

Oh, right,

Poppy 16:21

but it's a honey patcher.

River 16:22

I was

Skye 16:23

That honey

River 16:23

devil dog.

Skye 16:24

fucked up. I know that this

Poppy 16:26

I don't think Peter Steele would hurt an animal, though.

River 16:29

No,

Skye 16:30

No, but the Rottweiler might.

Poppy 16:31

The Rottweiler might. I, I don't know. I feel like a honey badger might be able to hold its own against a

River 16:36

I mean, the Rotweiler would definitely get some hits. It would, would not come out unscathed.

Poppy 16:41

Yeah. With the

Skye 16:42

if the honey badger attacked the Rottweiler that belongs to Peter Steele, he's protecting

Poppy 16:47

might,

River 16:48

gonna step on that

Poppy 16:49

a

River 16:49

badger and it's gonna

Skye 16:50

got brass knuckles.

Poppy 16:52

He's gonna

River 16:52

stepping feet tall. He doesn't even, he just steps on it like a bug.

Poppy 16:57

Oh

Skye 16:58

six five or six eight or

Poppy 17:00

yeah. He's a big man. Yeah. Okay. Peter, I, Peter Steele's definitely gonna come out on top for that one,

Skye 17:07

He's just so sexy. He's in

River 17:08

he's just so

Skye 17:10

dog.

Poppy 17:12

Peter.

Skye 17:13

thing I thought of by the way. I was just like, Ooh,

Poppy 17:16

Last matchup we've got, um, the guy that tested the first bulletproof vest during a public demonstration

River 17:25

Oh

Skye 17:26

damn. Yeah. Yeah.

Poppy 17:29

a six foot tall woman, completely naked and unashamed. Her eyes twinkle with the hint of both sex and bloodlust. She has tattoos.

River 17:36

Damn. This is a toughie. I,

Skye 17:40

This is a toughie.

Poppy 17:41

Yeah. I mean, it's like her in one. It's like her existence is badass. And then the other one, it's like his actions are badass.

River 17:50

of them is like real life. That shit actually

Poppy 17:53

WH Murphy. Yeah.

River 17:55

Yeah. The other one is like conceptually

Poppy 17:58

Mm-hmm.

Skye 18:00

cause it's like what's more badass? The sort of metaphor of confidence

Poppy 18:05

like sexuality and

Skye 18:07

or like an action that is like, has

River 18:11

public display of, Hey, let's find out if this works

Poppy 18:15

everybody gather round

Skye 18:17

and that's

River 18:17

Everybody pick up a gun. Everybody gets one shot.

Poppy 18:21

Everybody. Can you imagine if it like, like he must have been a hundred percent confident, right? There must have been a little voice though.

River 18:29

He was like, but what if,

Poppy 18:31

But, or not

River 18:33

aim for somewhere vital.

Skye 18:36

I'm very 50 50. Like I wouldn't be

River 18:38

This one's really

Skye 18:39

of these like went through.

River 18:42

And it sucks'cause not to jump ahead of ourselves, but last night Sky and a got to see a lot of tall, naked women. So that's like real life fresh in my head.

Skye 18:54

Yeah, I, I put forth the, the naked woman and I unfortunately am like slightly leaning towards the, the, the bullet.

River 19:03

got to see one of my favorite tall femes last night completely naked, so I'm like, damn. That was nice, wasn't it? Dude, the showcase goes crazy.

Poppy 19:14

Full

River 19:15

bush. we saw a lot of bush last night that they were not the only person getting naked on, on the

Poppy 19:20

Lips on the pole, man.

River 19:22

Yeah. Somebody licked the pole and the floor.

Poppy 19:25

ooh.

River 19:26

We'll get to it.

Poppy 19:27

Okay. We'll get

Skye 19:28

We'll get into it.

River 19:29

this is hard. This one's really tough.

Skye 19:32

See if it was her against a Rottweiler, like that

River 19:34

I'm, I'd be like, yeah,

Skye 19:35

Well, not the Rottweiler, her against Peter Steele would be very difficult for me,

River 19:38

I would just, I would want them to fuck. I'm sorry.

Skye 19:41

yeah.

Poppy 19:43

Maybe the bulletproof vest in him will fuck

River 19:46

Maybe

Poppy 19:47

the guy in the bulletproof vest, not the actual

River 19:51

because we're gonna be talking about the showcase later. We're gonna give it a lot of time and spotlight. I'm gonna give it to the bulletproof vest so it can have its moment. But that's just me personally.

Poppy 20:03

it's, it's 15 seconds of fame.

River 20:06

Yeah.

Poppy 20:08

Okay.

Skye 20:09

might get knocked out next round.

River 20:10

It might, but we gave it a shot.

Poppy 20:13

Okay. Um, round one. Done going into round two. So we've got the winners one V one each other. First up we've got Doberman versus bulletproof vest. He's, he's jumping right in to the

River 20:30

he's just biting at the

Poppy 20:32

He's.

Skye 20:33

I gotta give it to Doberman.

Poppy 20:34

Really

River 20:35

I'm sorry.

Poppy 20:36

the, the giant doberman, we gotta

River 20:38

the

Skye 20:39

the giant Doberman. It's his little accessory. It's his little collar and his essence of his being like he the bulletproof vest guy, like he did a heroic act and that was badass. But the Doberman's essence as

River 20:53

the aesthetic,

Poppy 20:54

Mm-hmm. And it like as a tpa,'cause it's been an icon of badassery for so long that it's like, I get it, I get it. Okay. Doberman wins that

River 21:07

It's got so much flavor at this

Skye 21:09

it's in its genes, you

River 21:10

Yeah.

Poppy 21:11

I feel like, I feel like we already know where this is gonna go. Old people versus Peter Steele.

River 21:16

No,

Skye 21:16

Well,

River 21:18

no. I'm so sorry.

Poppy 21:20

I feel like they would love each other though. I feel like they get along really

River 21:24

Peter would respect it so much

Poppy 21:27

Which makes him even more badass. I,

River 21:29

yeah, they would just queen out all together. They would just be complimenting each

Skye 21:33

are gonna be up against each other.

Poppy 21:39

Oh, okay.

Skye 21:39

Not to jump

Poppy 21:40

yeah, no, I think we already know who the ultimate winner is gonna be then if we got Doberman versus Peter.

River 21:47

He just adopts the Doberman.

Skye 21:49

Yeah.

River 21:50

he's just like, now I have two dogs. This

Skye 21:53

Because that's just an extension of what he's already got going on. It's Peter Steele with two dogs with studded

River 22:01

With a

Poppy 22:01

He absorbs the other dog. They're riding the giant one.

River 22:05

Oh, yes,

Poppy 22:07

Okay, so, so as the ultimate badass, we've got Peter Steele in a leather stud jacket with brass knuckles holding a rotweiler with a stu collar, riding a giant

River 22:18

yes, yes,

Poppy 22:23

You, you should draw that

Skye 22:27

see.

Poppy 22:27

added to

River 22:27

Yes. Somebody looking really hard at Sky should draw that.

Poppy 22:34

Oh, and that's it. That's our tournament of bad. Thank you for playing along at home. I feel like some people were screaming just like, no, that's the wrong

River 22:44

sucks. That's lame.

Poppy 22:46

Extreme sports are so cool.

River 22:48

Yeah, they

Skye 22:49

Badger should have went through.

Poppy 22:51

Yeah,

River 22:52

You know what? If it was 2006, the Honey Badger would've won the entire

Poppy 22:56

is true. That is true. Honey

River 22:58

It had its

Poppy 22:59

What? What was the thing? Honey badger. Don't give a

River 23:01

Honey Badger, don't give a fuck. Honey Badger don't care.

Skye 23:04

if it was back then it would be like, honey Badger versus Chuck Norris.

River 23:08

No.

Poppy 23:10

you'd have

Skye 23:10

with nunchucks, eh,

Poppy 23:12

honey badger on hind legs with little nunchucks. Oh, that's cute. Okay.

River 23:19

Epic bacon.

Skye 23:21

Whew. All right. We got a, we got a, A biggie. A thickie.

Poppy 23:26

think.

Skye 23:26

This is such a, a broad topic, I feel, but also, I guess to start out, I don't know how much of the beginning will have been left in, but for the most part, this episode is primarily for people who find difficulty in reclaiming personal sovereignty or finding personal sovereignty. And so that's gonna be more so your type B people less so your type A people.'cause I feel that Type A people generally, they got it together. They've got their organization, they've got their routines, they've got all that shit that I'll be talking about later. For the most part, obviously Type A people aren't perfect and they can still glean something from this episode also, but I'm talking to my homies out there who are constantly in the shits, constantly trying to grab yourself up by the fucking bootstraps just to pay a bill. I'm talking to y'all

Poppy 24:36

I will

River 24:36

that are going, I'm fine. I just gotta lock in. And you say that every single week.

Skye 24:42

Yep.

Poppy 24:42

A people though, it is really easy to become a slave to the routine and the obligations and and whatnot,

Skye 24:52

I do have a note on too much personal sovereignty for you, type a's later.

Poppy 24:58

gotcha.

Skye 24:59

So obviously it's all gonna come back. Spoilers too, balance, and you know, whether you're type A or type B, or I think there's type C and D also now as well. I think so, yeah. But, um, it, it all comes back to your balance. So I am more type B, very laid back, very non-confrontational, very conflict avoidant. Um, which could translate to lazy. I, I don't wanna look at things. I don't want to do things. I kind of just hope things will turn out for the best. Um, and they usually do, but sometimes, like, I, I wait till the last minute to do things. I really, really need a fire under my ass to get shit done. Um, which is why I find it's really beneficial for me to work with the Morgan because she ignites the fire that then gets put under my ass. And she is primarily the reason why I'm talking about this topic today, because I've worked with her for, I don't know, a few years now. And especially this year, I have grown a lot, I have done a lot of my growing, honestly, just in the past couple months, like it has been an exponential amount of growth. I'm talking, I, uh, quit vaping. I completely changed my diet. I left my job, uh, got a new job, have started multiple different modalities within that job. Got into a car accident. Got like, had like, I've had so many, God dammit, maple,

Poppy 26:45

It's a tower

Skye 26:46

Maple is really, yes. So, and I don't think that it's a coincidence that all these things are happening, you know, obviously. The universe works in mysterious ways. This is my time of growth, yada, yada, yada. But also, I don't think I actually mentioned formally on the podcast, but as you two know, last January, I formally, within my own practice became a priestess of the Morgan. I devoted myself to her. I promised her that I would live my life as best as I could to embody what she means on Earth in my life. And part of that is, honestly, part is what I have written down here as sort of my personal definition of personal sovereignty, which is having the balls to examine your life objectively from a bird's eye view without judgment. And so if you think about sovereignty, you think about a ruler, you think about a king or a queen or a monarch of some variety up on a hill in their castle, looking down on their people. Um, you know, they, they've got, they've got pe, they've hired people to know what's going on in their lands, and then they have all their meetings with their whoever. But they, the long and short of it is, is that they know what's going on in their kingdom, and then they are making decisions based on what's going on in their kingdom, what is best for them. And that is sort of what. You should be doing in your own life to gain personal sovereignty, actually know what is going on in your life. Take stock, pay attention, and actually do something with that information. I'm so, I'm getting so heated. I'm sorry.

River 28:40

No, I love it as you should because it's a, your life. You are an active participant. You make the decisions.

Skye 28:48

yes. I'm, and I'm mostly yelling at myself because this is a reminder that I have to like, go through every so often. Sometimes it's every day, sometimes it's weekly, sometimes, you know, periodically I have to be like, Hey, are you living your life or are you just, yeah.'cause if you just wake up every day and you go, well I just gotta get, gotta get to Friday. Just gotta get through

River 29:14

just gotta get

Skye 29:15

through this

River 29:15

it.

Poppy 29:16

Let me spend four hours doom scrolling just to take up time.

Skye 29:20

yeah, man, just, just to wait.

River 29:23

and be alone with my thoughts.

Skye 29:25

just got home from work. I'm just gonna doom scroll until I get tired enough and it's time to go to bed for me to be unconscious. Like that's

River 29:33

And that's not living.

Skye 29:34

active, no, that's not living. Um, obviously there again, there are balance. To things. I'm not telling people your phone is evil and it's whatever. We're not gonna get into that. Obviously we need our phones and they can be fun and healthy and informative. And communications. Yes, the balance. My friends are in there actually,

River 29:56

Yeah. My friends live in my

Poppy 29:57

your your friends who live really far away like me.

River 30:01

My friends who I don't get to see and talk to in person. I need my

Poppy 30:05

Mm-hmm.

Skye 30:07

yeah, our Coven Discord is on my phone, so I need to be

River 30:11

And I love that thing.

Poppy 30:14

So last night during, um, our weekly Dungeons and Dragons session, there was like this whole long conversation that a couple of the players had, like in character about what it means to be strong, like what's the definition of strength.

Skye 30:32

Nice.

Poppy 30:33

it progressed, it was like, okay, it's knowing, acknowledging, acting. Like you have to recognize, you have to say, okay, something needs to be done, and then you have to actually choose to do the thing. But it's, it's all about choice, right? Yeah. So that your spiel about, um, being an active participant and whatnot just suited me back to last night where the giant cat man and the cowboy, a steampunk wizard we're talking

River 31:12

as old as time.

Poppy 31:13

beach before a big battle. Yeah.

River 31:15

Mm-hmm.

Skye 31:16

I very silly when there's just d and d, very silly characters having a very serious in-depth conversation about heavy

River 31:23

man and like a fucking little rat,

Poppy 31:26

Mm-hmm.

Skye 31:26

Mm-hmm.

River 31:27

they're just like talking about like what it means to be a person and what it means to be alive.

Poppy 31:32

we all actually just devoted ourselves to a death God

River 31:35

Hmm.

Poppy 31:36

in the uh.

River 31:38

that funny.

Skye 31:40

In the

River 31:40

Ain't it funny how the world works?

Skye 31:42

That's awesome.

Poppy 31:44

We'll see how it turns out. But

River 31:46

Yeah.

Skye 31:47

Yeah. I feel like in like a d and d, the death gods are like vengeful and spiteful and,

Poppy 31:53

no, this one is, so the whole thing, okay, you can cut all this out, I don't care. But the whole like corp thing of the campaign is the gods are dead. Like something that we are fighting against came and killed all of them. Uh, and so the god of death was attacked and kind of dispatched, but uh, is trying to come back because now souls have nowhere to go.

River 32:20

Oh, it's like Reaper Man. By Terry prt, dies because Death took a death. Retired.

Poppy 32:28

thank God I'm a cleric now because we're fighting a lot of undead.

River 32:32

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 32:33

Yeah.

Skye 32:34

That's awesome. That's so exciting. Uh,

Poppy 32:40

sorry.

Skye 32:41

How do we, no, no. I love I That was a great, I

River 32:45

It

Skye 32:46

tangent.

River 32:47

it.

Skye 32:47

yes, yes, it added. Alright. How do I wanna circle back around here? Well, let's talk about the, dictionary definition of sovereignty. According to Miriam Webster, the ultimate source for words and what the fuck they mean

River 33:07

I have to go get Hermes's. He's doing some crazy shit. Please go on.

Skye 33:11

okay, there is an A, B, and c.

Poppy 33:15

Mm-hmm.

Skye 33:17

A is a supreme power, especially over a body politic. B, freedom from external control. Uh, c autonomy. And C is controlling influence. We are primarily talking about B, your freedom from external control. We are talking about internal control, but that word control nonetheless, that is the word that it boils down to, is control. Now, if you're anything like me, you might have, um, negative

River 33:58

got knocked over. Hold on.

Skye 34:00

the word control. You might hear the word control and go, oh,

Poppy 34:07

Yeah.

Skye 34:08

that's actually bringing up mommy and daddy issues. Ugh. So what I have found helpful is that words like sovereignty are much nicer. It feels more powerful if you are like, well, I need to get into control. I need to control myself. I, you know, if you are that type B person who you know, is trying to organize their life better and, but you have issues with control and this idea of control, I find that saying, you know, I'm gonna sit down and plan sovereignty for myself, feels better than sitting down.

Poppy 34:54

and controlling my, my urges and my

Skye 34:57

I need to get myself under control. It feels like you're in trouble.

Poppy 35:00

it, because control has the connotation of like denying yourself things that you want. You're like, I have to control myself from doing this. It's not

Skye 35:10

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 35:11

I need to control myself to do something, or if it is, it's like I need to control myself. I need to do something, so I need to control the urge to not do something. Whereas sovereignty is more just much more empowering. It's like identifying what you actually want in a positive. It's choosing the thing that is more positive rather than excluding the thing that is negative.

Skye 35:40

It is simply just a change in perception. It is just a different way to look at the same thing, a reframing of sorts. It is the hanged man, um, to bring it into tarot. And while I'm talking about tarot, that's actually a good segue into talking about a conversation that I had with a good friend of river in mine. Um,

River 36:06

of the pod, she will be a guest probably someday.

Skye 36:10

Oh, it said, now you gotta do it.

River 36:14

not up to me. It's

Skye 36:15

I know you're listening'cause I told you I was gonna send you this episode. Anyway, her name is Sage and River, and I and Sage all worked together, but I now no longer work there anymore, but. Uh, we were having a conversation last night about personal sovereignty.'cause I told her I was doing this episode and we were, part of that conversation was talking about tarot because she brought up that for her, she felt like the empress card was sort of the embodiment of personal sovereignty, yada yada, yada. Um, and I said, well, that's very interesting because for me, I've been viewing the emperor as my personal sovereignty because my issue is that I sort of need that masculine energy for the sovereignty, for control, the action of doing the routine, the, um, organizing the strategy, the actual action of doing, of saying, I am going to do this is very masculine to me and I need more masculine energy because this sort of, it is what it is. Lackadaisical everything will be okay in the end. Thing that I've got going on now is sort of more feminine, in my opinion. Again.

Poppy 37:45

The passive receptive, I'm gonna wait for an external influence, which I mean, that's not to, it's always tricky talking about masculinity and femininity, especially because I feel like femininity is often painted in that sort of light. Like without

Skye 38:06

It is not to say that the empress is not

Poppy 38:08

no.

Skye 38:09

a, a a symbol of sovereignty. She absolutely is. But we were talking about needing to be your own daddy. Um, and those were stages words specifically, and that is sort of my personal brand

River 38:22

That's your daddy?

Poppy 38:23

Yeah. Talking

Skye 38:23

that I need to be my daddy,

River 38:25

Yeah.

Skye 38:26

and that is how personal sovereignty is looking for me on my journey. Perhaps for you, you, you actually need the opposite. You need, you need more of a feminine sort of control in your life. I don't know what, what that looks like for you, but emperor and press, both of which I think are like two sides of that, that masculine feminine sovereignty coin.

Poppy 38:52

That you saying that, especially with the phrase daddy

River 38:59

And what came to mind with that?

Poppy 39:00

it makes me think a lot about like BDSM, like dominant and submissive energy, because like, not saying that the empress is submissive, but when you think about that, kind of like more femininity, receptiveness, but then you look at how actual BDSM relationships function, the submissive

River 39:23

Proper healthy, BDSM.

Poppy 39:26

the submissive one is deciding to submit and is in control and has that empowerment. So, you know, it's all, all how you look at it, but

Skye 39:39

It's the yin and yang. I mean, there's, you know, the little bit of the each within each other. It's also, we talked about how, you know, if you don't really care for this idea of extreme masculine masculinism, why can't I say that word?

River 39:55

Masculinity.

Skye 39:57

Masculinity. Thank you.

Poppy 39:59

Masculinism sounds like a,

River 40:01

Tism. Masculinism.

Poppy 40:03

sounds like a disease. Masculinism.

Skye 40:06

Masculinism, I, I've dealt with the case of Masculinism. Um, if you're not into like this extreme genderism of it all, um, I think that the chariot could also function

Poppy 40:19

Oh

Skye 40:19

card because it's that charging energy. You've got more of, a much more balanced sort of, um, masculine feminine sort of situation going on with everything. Go back and listen to our tarot episode where

Poppy 40:33

Yeah, it was just like a couple episodes ago

Skye 40:36

Yeah. So I think that if you're like, uh, I feel like I'm not really leaning towards like, I don't really know which, if I need more masculine, feminine, et cetera, you could work with both or the chariot or all three. So those terror wise, that's sort of been my inspiration of like remembering the ideas of those three cards and sort of using that to spearhead my life.

Poppy 41:01

and honestly, too, go back. Go back and listen to that episode where we talked about the lovers, the chariot and strength, because I think all three of those cards really kind of come at this concept from different angles. Which is interesting. Like I, I didn't really pick up on that until you started talking about the chariot. I'm like, oh, wow. All three of those are really in the zone of the major arcana where you are making choices and then acting on them.

River 41:28

mm-hmm.

Skye 41:30

Yeah.

Poppy 41:31

Who's yelling? Yeah, she's yodeling.

Skye 41:34

Maple.

River 41:37

Ra ra

Poppy 41:39

Oh, wow. Wow.

River 41:40

she goes. Little scuttling on the little wall.

Poppy 41:44

yeah. Talk about personal sovereignty, man. Maple's just zooming around.

Skye 41:50

Listen listeners Michael just put up for Christmas for the cats, um, they have basically a jungle gym on our wall. They've got little cat shelves that we have really high ceilings. It's like 20 feet ceilings. Uh, they don't go up all the way that high, but I mean, they're going up. It's higher than their, their traditional cat tree. It's like higher than their six foot tall cat tree. So if you hear Maples mumblings, she's just on one this morning and she's going,

River 42:19

a good time.

Skye 42:20

So I have written here and one of the main points that I did wanna talk about is sovereignty kicks in when you take charge and what and what to do with that information. So primarily the old what no longer serves you. We hear that over and over again when we do tarot readings, right? Like, get rid of what no longer serves you. What the fuck does that mean? Hey, we gotta talk about

River 42:48

Hey, it could be a lot of things. Hey, maybe it's a lot of stuff, I don't know.

Poppy 42:54

And we don't

Skye 42:54

rid of what no longer serves you.

Poppy 42:56

I don't wanna

Skye 42:57

We don't wanna look at

Poppy 42:58

serves me. A lot of the time

Skye 43:01

'cause I like it

River 43:02

it's my habit. What am I gonna do without it?

Poppy 43:05

it's so much easier and more fun to ignore

River 43:09

not more fun, but I'm just so used to it. I don't know what I'd do without it.

Poppy 43:13

Well, sometimes it

Skye 43:14

that look like practically? Yeah, no, no, you're totally fine. But like, what does getting rid of what no longer serves you look like practically? So let's go back to what I was talking about a second ago about, um, the idea of looking at everything that you have. Objectively without judgment and then doing something about it. So that is what, getting rid of what no longer serves you starts out as, so you take a look, take stock objectively looking at everything, identifying what no longer serves you right? Like when you are looking around at everything and then making the decision to say, okay, that's the thing that no longer serves me and therefore I'm gonna get

River 44:01

Mm-hmm.

Skye 44:02

So, couple of examples for me in my personal life of what I'm doing to look at the things that no longer serve me and get rid of them. Um, actually going through my finances, actually looking at my bank account, actually saying, where am I spending money? Getting rid of streaming services and recurring payments that I don't use? You know,

Poppy 44:27

longer serving you.

Skye 44:29

literally no longer serving me. Like instead of, because I don't want to have to, you guys know I was on a very long, um, like email situation with a streaming company that I won't give airtime here. So that it was,

River 44:47

It was a multi-hour long affair,

Poppy 44:50

like multi-day.

Skye 44:52

Yeah. I still don't know if it's come to a resolution. I'm still working on it. I have to check my email. I don't check my email. That's another thing is like, I actually have to fucking look at my emails. Um, I just don't look at things because I'm like, I don't know. I feel like if I look at something, I'm gonna see something scary that I don't wanna see.

Poppy 45:09

something about it. Yeah.

Skye 45:10

Then I have to do something about it. Like have a five hour long ordeal with a live chat with an agent at, like, I don't wanna have to do that if I can just pay, continue to pay you money. Like, if it

River 45:23

The path of least

Poppy 45:24

Yeah. Is it worth paying$10 a month to not have to talk to a representative?

River 45:29

Yeah. Sometimes when you're in a bad head space. Yes.

Skye 45:33

Yeah. But that's one of the things that I'm kind of like, okay, girl. Okay. Like, let's, let's rein it in, um, because, you know, I got, did I tell the listeners I got into a car accident? I think I mentioned it very briefly in passing a moment ago.

Poppy 45:51

I think we mentioned it on a recent episode too.

Skye 45:55

Did we? Okay, but I have a, I have a new car payment

Poppy 45:59

Mm-hmm.

Skye 46:01

so that's like forcing me to look at my money and say, Hey, like, you need to make room for this car payment now. Like you've, you've been living to your means, not below your means up until now. And so now where is this extra money coming from? What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna work more? Are you gonna cut money out? Like you, you need to look at your situation because the payments are coming and you have to pay them. You need a car. This is your car now. So I do think that. That car accident was a catalyst to push me in the right direction for this issue that I've had for a long time. I mean, I, I was forced into adulthood at a very young age. I wasn't really fostered in a situation to really be taught how to be an adult and live on my own. I racked up credit card debt just to fucking eat, you know what I mean? Like, I, like, I don't know how to do finances. My parents were very weird with money. Um, I won't get too deep into it, but like, that's, that's why I'm not good with money and Michael is much better at money than I am, and we keep our finances separate, but I often feel shame because I'm bringing debt into the marriage and I am maybe not always wise in paying for things that I shouldn't or paying more. Um, and so I, I keep things to myself. I ke I'm like trying to keep it under. I pretend I'm doing better than I am, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And, and I don't want it to be that way. I want to be confident and open. Obviously, I'm not keeping secrets from him or anything like that,

River 47:40

No, you don't have like a gambling addiction or anything.

Skye 47:42

No,

River 47:43

from him.

Skye 47:44

no, no. Certainly not. But, um, let's see, what, what else? It's more than just finances though. Uh, generally like just doing things you've put off. You know, there's always things on the list where you're like, ah, I'll get to that later. Hey, actually get to it. Maybe that's what doing what no longer serves you is, is just, you know, we like to hide from ourselves and make excuses. It's no

River 48:08

do it later. It's not that bad.

Poppy 48:12

getting their W twos right now, y'all, you gotta do your taxes

River 48:16

I will say. F submitting my taxes. One is one thing I'm really good about submitting early. I don't do it generally any later than February.

Skye 48:26

Eat

Poppy 48:26

I are traumatized from

Skye 48:28

I, oh dude,

River 48:31

Oh,

Poppy 48:32

that was rough. That was like a multi-year.

Skye 48:36

oh, you had to print out like 30 pages at my house of like,

Poppy 48:40

I did, I had to mail in

Skye 48:42

crazy.

Poppy 48:43

horrible fucking IRS. But I mean, that was, that was a thing that we both did where we just ignored the problem and we were like, it's

Skye 48:53

for years.

Poppy 48:54

if I don't look at

River 48:55

if it's more complicated than you're used to it being, and you're like, well, now what the fuck am I supposed to do?

Poppy 49:03

the government acknowledged that the pandemic fucked everything up. So like we didn't get in troubled or anything like that, but it was just one of those things that was hanging over our heads for years. And every time I thought about it personally, I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna go to jail.

River 49:18

Yeah.

Poppy 49:18

It was like freaking

River 49:20

immediately shift to, if I ignore it, I don't have to deal with it or

Poppy 49:24

I don't have to go through the maze of like a hundred different forms. And I tried to make like appointments to talk to tax specialists and whatnot and, and they just kept falling through and ugh, ugh,

River 49:37

Brother, you're the specialist.

Poppy 49:39

you're the specialist.

River 49:40

to about this?

Skye 49:43

Yeah. I had to like go into a government building, but I didn't know that I needed my social security card on me, and the guy was a homie. Anyway, like it took me so long to even get to that point, and it was like deadline, like last minute, like, oh,

Poppy 50:00

All that to say, don't put it off guys.

River 50:03

Yeah.

Poppy 50:04

you put it off, the worse it gets and the bigger it grows. Like I've been putting something off for work, sorry, that I've been like, so there's this like annual huge yearly project that takes literally all year to do. And I had one more part of it that I thought was gonna be super complicated and I've been putting it off for months and the deadline's coming up, you know, so,

Skye 50:31

this is your sign?

Poppy 50:32

and well, no, because on Wednesday I was like, okay, I have to talk about this during a meeting tomorrow. Let me at least look at it and see how complicated it's gonna be.'cause I didn't even, I didn't even wanna look at it. And I pulled it up and I did it in 20 minutes and then it was done. And I was like, I've literally been losing sleep, like laying awake at night thinking I'm gonna get fired, which

River 50:56

I will say it's rarely ever as bad as you think it's going to be. It's that meme online that's like, I've been stressing out for four months over a phone call that took less than five minutes.

Poppy 51:11

And it might be complicated. Like it might be more complicated than you think it's gonna be, but it's not gonna be, it's not as scary as you're making it out to be.

Skye 51:20

Yeah. Yeah. Um, you might think about doing something like taking everything out of a closet and rummaging through that,

River 51:31

Yeah. I am thinking about that

Skye 51:34

for you. That might not be physical. That could be a physical, like your spare closet that's downstairs that has all your jackets in it, that you put, you shove your vacuum cleaner in and then it's got random

River 51:47

It becomes weird

Poppy 51:48

my tin balls of yarn that are all tangled up. Yeah.

Skye 51:52

Yeah. You might wanna go through, you might op, every time you open it up, you go, ah,

Poppy 51:56

Oh,

Skye 51:57

I gotta deal with that. And again, it might be metaphorical for you. It might, that closet might just be some something that, whatever it is that comes up for you and you go, every time it opens up, every time you're like, I gotta deal with that at some point, but not today. Shut the door, walk away.

Poppy 52:14

Yeah.

Skye 52:15

Sovereignty is, again, having the balls to look at it. Obviously this is within reason, mental health, et cetera, et cetera. If you're not in the place, et cetera, et cetera. Grain of salt. Okay guys, like, don't, I'm not yelling at you, I'm not fucking yelling at you to, to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get to it. Okay? Like, I'm not bullying you into getting into control of your life. This is for people who are actively like, no, I, I want to do for real.'cause this is, we didn't mention this is coming out. This is the new year. Happy New Year. Uh, the New Year episode's already come out before this one, but we're still in January. People are thinking about their resolutions. This is what had me thinking about this episode.'cause it's very resolution coded. The idea of sovereignty and getting your life together and what do you want the year to look like and what are your goals and yada, yada, yada.

River 53:12

Mm-hmm.

Skye 53:15

Um, make donations to your local thrift store that have been sitting in the trunk of your car for several months.

River 53:23

that was a personal one from

Poppy 53:25

Oh,

Skye 53:26

And that, and that

River 53:26

came from real life

Poppy 53:28

hey, I have, I have a bag in my car right now.

River 53:31

Mm-hmm.

Skye 53:33

I bet you do. I bet you do.

River 53:36

I have several boxes pulled out because I need to go through my things. I just haven't done it yet to make a donation.

Skye 53:45

Um, organize your photos, like create a photo album. Like your photos might just be like random

River 53:52

rid of all those fucking pictures of like a random, like good meal you made one morning that you were like, Alex looks good. I need to take a picture of that. And then three

Skye 54:00

accidental screenshots. Do you

River 54:01

take a picture of that?

Skye 54:03

how many accidental screenshots

Poppy 54:06

So

Skye 54:06

that I have? And I also just like random pictures that I sent only to send to you guys for like a very specific context

River 54:15

you never delete it off your phone.

Skye 54:18

and I just never delete it. Instead, you know what I do? I pay for additional storage

River 54:22

Ooh. That's one thing I'll never do.

Skye 54:25

in my phone. Um, so decluttering does not just mean clearing off surfaces in your home and putting them away. Decluttering is look in the drawers. Actually pay atten decluttering is, again, it's like that assessing of what you have and then getting rid of what no longer serves you, rinse, repeat a lot of

Poppy 54:48

Marie Kondo. Is that her name?

Skye 54:52

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 54:53

Does it spark joy?

Skye 54:56

Uh, having sovereignty is a choice to be an active participant in your life. We already went through that, but again, not just active. But actively in control in the know and aware of the comings and goings in your life and acknowledging when change needs to be made and actually doing it, yada, yada, yada. Kind of saying the same thing over and over again. Beating a dead horse. But again, sometimes that dead horse needs the shit be out of it. Dog. Like

River 55:25

comes back and you need to start hitting it again.

Poppy 55:28

it's an undead zombie horse

Skye 55:31

like, I don't know about you guys, but like I've got a bloated horse in my house right now,

River 55:37

Mm-hmm.

Skye 55:38

it's

Poppy 55:39

and it's stinky.

Skye 55:42

Yeah. And it's got stink fumes and flies. We have such a bad fly problem though, because this dead horse that I have to wake up every day and I have to beat

River 55:51

day.

Skye 55:54

Uh, sorry. My second year is kicking and I'm feeling insane.

River 56:00

we go. The Herb madness.

Poppy 56:02

I need additional juice'cause

River 56:04

Mm-hmm.

Skye 56:05

Do you wanna take a little, A little,

Poppy 56:08

I don't wanna cut you off. If you have like, momentum going now

Skye 56:11

no. You can go, you can take a little caffeine break again. I'm just saying, I'm saying the same thing over and over and over again. So let me find something fresh to say and you can go

Poppy 56:20

I'm, I'm gonna go get a little

Skye 56:21

go grab something.

Poppy 56:23

and some probiotics.

River 56:26

Wow. She's just gonna eat the powder. She's not even gonna mix it.

Poppy 56:29

scoop.

Skye 56:32

Okay. OTT. I'm glad I

River 56:34

Ooh. Ooh. Wait a second. Tea. I love it when there's tea. I love it when my dead horse that I have to beat gives me tea.

Skye 56:46

That's a crazy segment by the way. That just happened.

River 56:49

Yeah. fucked up dead horse. That's just in my bedroom. When I wake up every day, I confront it. The second I open my eyes,

Skye 57:01

and I go and I take my fucking whip out

River 57:06

pick up your ham or you keep next to the bed and you go, time to beat this fucking horse.

Skye 57:14

God, I am. I've got mania. Excuse my tits out.

River 57:20

Hum, hum and hum and hum. love how you said sorry for your tits, and then you're actively going like this.

Skye 57:31

Well, that was because I was like tits out.

Poppy 57:33

I am not wearing a bra.

River 57:35

I'm not either.

Poppy 57:36

That's my, that was one of my big personal sovereignty things when I stopped wearing brass and stopped caring if my nips were out. I don't care.

River 57:45

That's freedom.

Poppy 57:46

welcome everyone,

River 57:47

Yeah. Thank you.

Skye 57:49

And that's where I'll cut us back in.

River 57:51

Mm-hmm. The NIP talk.

Poppy 57:56

which is also a great segue into your.

Skye 57:59

Yes,

River 57:59

Yes.

Skye 57:59

yes,

River 58:01

Free the bush brother.

Skye 58:04

yes.

Poppy 58:04

I just got waxed smooth as a dolphin yesterday, like my entire body.

River 58:09

That's crazy. That sounds like torture to me.

Poppy 58:13

It actually, I kind of liked it.

Skye 58:15

mm-hmm.

Poppy 58:16

Sorry,

Skye 58:18

If you're nasty,

Poppy 58:19

my girl, Alyssa. She, she's, she's good.

River 58:22

Mm-hmm.

Skye 58:22

shout out Alyssa.

Poppy 58:24

Yeah,

Skye 58:24

She'll never know.

Poppy 58:27

she will not, maybe she will. Maybe next time I see her I'll be like, Hey,

Skye 58:32

maybe,

Poppy 58:34

sorry, go.

Skye 58:35

so let's, let's talk about how being in control can actually bring you freedom and how when you reclaim control of your own life and you become an active participant and your actions are intentional and true to yourself and what you actually want in the world, how much freedom that can bring you. And I witnessed true freedom and self sovereignty in front of me in the most raw form with River

River 59:19

Mm-hmm. And our friend Sage

Skye 59:22

And our friend Sage

River 59:23

our new friend that we got to meet.

Skye 59:25

and our new friend. Yes. and it was incredible So I was invited to this event vis-a-vis river. Um, so river, if you would like to sort of lay the groundwork of what the event was, why we were there, and any sort of notes or takeaways or things that you would like to say about it,

River 59:48

Yeah, sure. I had got a lot to say. It was a big night.

Skye 59:52

the floor is open.

River 59:54

So as I feel like it's been briefly brought up before, but I don't think I've ever gone in depth on air about it. I go to a pole dancing studio. I am a member there. It's a members only. Exclusive in the sense of like safety and privacy, so that we can do the crazy shit that we got to witness last night in a very safe environment. So I go to a pole studio. Our friend Sage also goes to the same pole studio and every, I wanna say twice a year. I believe this was the first I got to witness, but that's just because I haven't been at the studio for very long. It's just in the past year I started going, I think every two years there is a showcase of both students and instructors but there is a a twice a year exhibition, I believe they just had the wintertime one.'cause the studio closes for a time in the winter. So this is like the big bash before it closes, before the new year. And I will say in a classes, in the classes I've taken, you get to see little bits of what you saw last night. You get to see the freedom of expression and the authenticity. And it's not to be sexy and it's not to look good. You look cool as fuck when you're doing it. But that's because you are authentically moving how you need to. And that's hot as hell. But it's not to make yourself sexy for Hughes viewing you in the audience. And I have been wanting Sky to experience the magic of the studio that I go to for months. Sometimes they have public events. They had one a little while ago and there was a merch drop. She didn't get to go. She had other things to do that day. I was very sad about it. So when this, this open to the public, you gotta get a ticket though. Uh, showcase an exhibition. They very specifically said it's not a showcase, it's an exhibition. So when this exhibition popped up, I was like, sky. I grabbed her hand and I said, sky, I need you to experience. I just, I need you to be in the space so you

Skye 1:02:30

With quickness and haste. Sh Sage bought all three of

River 1:02:33

Yeah. The second the ticket's released.'cause at the time I am like a new member. I just signed my member paperwork. So I don't have like the early access that Sage already does.'cause she's been a member for three years now, going on three years I believe. So she, she was our, she was our Willy Wonka ticket holder. She got us in there. It was all squared away. And it is such a beautiful, authentic, kind, safe space. Truly at its core where you can in cover yourself in paint and cut off your clothes with a box cutter and roll around naked on the floor and show your full hole. To a room full of people and scream. There were so many screams and crying. And that's the art of it. That's the authenticity that they needed to express that they've been working on for months now. And it's so beautiful and I've never seen it at that scope before.'cause during classes you're still like, I wanna get this move. Right? Like, oh, I wanna make sure like my flow's good. And you're focused on yourself. At least me personally still. There are some people that are so uninhibited and they don't give a shit what it looks like. They just give a shit how it feels, and that's where I'm trying to get to,

Skye 1:04:05

Yeah, I think I loved one of, like, my favorite things just overarching from last night was the exploration of finding the beauty within the grotesque. And I, and I really, well there were multiple performances that, uh, portrayed that theme to I, I feel, anyway. There was one specifically a person who said, this is what I'm doing. I'm exploring, um, beauty in the Grotesque, which I loved. And I, I feel like it, and it was very abundantly clear. You, even though this dance and performance and, um, pole and the athletic, the athleticism and everything, and the performance of it all is abstract. It was very. Clear the

River 1:05:00

pick up on the

Skye 1:05:01

came across.

River 1:05:02

Yeah.

Skye 1:05:03

Yeah. And it was, it was very, the creativity and talent and rawness and vulnerability necessary to create the performances is, is truly admirable.

River 1:05:21

Mm-hmm. And to do it in front of a crowd of people that you might not even know and you are getting like fully naked and vulnerable in front of them because that is just your art expressing

Skye 1:05:35

And it's not just your physical naked body, it's also like your creative work. It is your naked

River 1:05:42

who was so, like, their performance was so raw. I when they, like, there was one point where like they were being like smothered by other dancers and they were like screaming, let go of me, let go of me. When she broke free and got on the pole, I saw there were real tears on her face. Because that was something real that needed to come

Poppy 1:06:00

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:06:01

Yeah.

River 1:06:02

and I started sweating during that performance. I got really activated during that one.

Skye 1:06:08

I got really anxious a lot during a lot of the performances, and I was like, clenching my jaw because I, I, it was palpable in the room. These like really

River 1:06:16

much of it is about like reclaiming again, the self sovereignty and like your authenticity and like literally rebirthing yourself.

Skye 1:06:27

Yeah. Redefining. That's what I mean. Sovereignty can be a, a redefining, that can be the control. You, you know, the, um, the, the song Unwritten by, was that Natasha Bedingfield?

River 1:06:43

The other rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you and That's so true.

Skye 1:06:50

The rest is still unwritten. Babe, you got the pen. Mm-hmm.

River 1:06:54

You're the only one that gets to live your life. It ain't that beautiful and there's so much you can do with it.

Skye 1:07:01

And that's overwhelming and that's scary.'cause the potential is literally, it's the blank canvas. It's the blank page. And

River 1:07:08

The only limitation is your imagination.

Skye 1:07:12

yeah. And that's scary and

River 1:07:14

Yeah.

Skye 1:07:16

ain't nothing to it. But to do it though, you gotta start somewhere.

River 1:07:19

Yeah.

Skye 1:07:21

Even like when you're writing, like, I don't know if you guys have ever had this, where if you have the goal to journal more and then in your journal you're just writing, I

River 1:07:31

Like what happened that day?

Skye 1:07:33

or Yeah.

River 1:07:34

well, I went to work and like, I don't know,

Poppy 1:07:36

It's a good jumping off point.

River 1:07:38

Yeah. It's a start, but if you're trying to like reach more depth, you're like, okay, but what am I like see? Like, what am I going through?

Poppy 1:07:48

What did my friend calling me make me feel, and how does that connect to?

River 1:07:53

Like, how does that, how do I feel about that friendship?

Skye 1:07:57

Yeah. Or you might be thinking, I've been having this weird feeling about somebody and it, it's not obvious as to why I feel that

Poppy 1:08:05

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:08:06

Um, and maybe you need to kind of like explore that. I don't know what that has to do with self sovereignty, but that's just,

River 1:08:15

It's just an exploration of like, you have to again, like acknowledge and take stock just generally of the things in your life, and sometimes you just need to like

Skye 1:08:26

of just

River 1:08:26

it and go, oh, okay, there's a deeper thing going on here.

Poppy 1:08:31

And humans are social creatures. I mean, so the majority of our lives are made up of our relationships with others, even if it's like tangential or not completely centered, but that's just such a huge part of

River 1:08:46

Yeah.

Poppy 1:08:47

is how you relate to other people. So examining that is examining yourself and your relationship to the world as well.

River 1:08:55

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:08:56

And thank you so much for that.'cause that segues me into the next point that I want to make, which is. Self sovereignty is really a practice in raw self-reflection ultimately. And it's really not easy to detach from the shame and judgment from our flaws. And I think that that is the root of why people who are not sovereign within their own lives, um, why, why they, why they aren't is because there is the shame and the judgment of that lack of control of, well, when I take a step back and I bird's eye view, look at my life and take stock, I don't like what I see, I feel shame. I am judging myself. I see where there's gaps in holes where there shouldn't be. I see where there's too many things maybe in a certain area, you know, you see flaws because comparisons as th of joy. You are comparing yourself to others and what maybe society expects from you, et cetera, et cetera. But it's easier said than done. Detaching shame and judgment. Taking a third person perspective and looking at things objectively and saying, okay, this is the way things are. Like for example, a tough thing I like when I quit smoking, when I quit vaping, I taking a third bird's eye view would be me saying. Okay. I have an addiction. I have, I am addicted to nicotine. That is just objective. So what am I gonna do about it? Am I gonna con like, because it was a crutch, I could make an excuse for myself and say, well, my life is so stressful. This is my vice, this is my one thing that,

River 1:10:45

It's not like I'm out here doing cocaine. It's just a

Poppy 1:10:48

Yeah.

River 1:10:48

It's not that bad.

Skye 1:10:51

Not to shame people with addictions by any

River 1:10:53

not. Hey, raise your hand if you've got an addiction in the chat. All our hands are raised.

Skye 1:11:00

so that's just something like a tough example of, of looking at something objectively that you may have shame, um, and judgment attached to is literally, it's that thing of the aa thing of acceptance, right? It's just like,

River 1:11:15

have to admit that there's a problem.

Poppy 1:11:17

You can take responsibility without blaming yourself.

Skye 1:11:21

yes,

River 1:11:22

Just because you acknowledge there's a problem, you don't have to feel shame about it.

Skye 1:11:28

It's me saying, okay, I don't check my email. That's objective. Okay. I have a nicotine addiction that's objective. You know, like even though saying it, it sounds negative, you can also do the reverse with the positive things in your life. Like, okay, I, I am happily

River 1:11:47

friend. Yeah. I

Skye 1:11:48

I'm a great friend.

River 1:11:51

I have a job that I love. Uh,

Skye 1:11:53

I have a job that I love. Those may be, some of those may be less subjective and more subjective, but you know, the point still stands that that is something you can take stock of and say like, okay, maybe my relationships, for example, are not somewhere that needs work right now, but my finances and my organization, like for myself, is sort of where I need to be focusing my attention. And that's important because there may be a time in the future where I might, all my bills might be on auto pay and I'm on top of it, but one of my relationships is, is lacking. And I might need to be giving that aspect of my life more attention. And so that's why it's so important to constantly be paying attention, and that's what self sovereignty is, is doing regular check-ins and being actively in control and knowing what's going on at all times.

Poppy 1:12:45

There's never gonna be a moment where literally everything in your life is perfect. That's

River 1:12:49

No, you gotta stop waiting for that. I used to wait for that for a really long time and I was always beating myself up.'cause I was like, yeah, my money's up. And like, I don't my, I'm doing well in these other areas, but I can't fucking hydrate to save my life.

Skye 1:13:05

And that's where the idea of balance

River 1:13:08

Mm.

Skye 1:13:10

because guess what we're all doing just by being alive. It's just a huge fucking juggling act. Okay. We can only do so many things if you're, you know, I, I'm doing X, Y, z, whatever over here, but in order for me to be doing X, Y, Z over here, I have to neglect A, B, C for a

River 1:13:25

has to take the back burner.

Poppy 1:13:28

we are not meant to have this many responsibilities and this much stimulation.

River 1:13:34

living in a community where everybody takes a job.

Poppy 1:13:37

We're not even supposed to have this many relationships with other

River 1:13:40

I'm supposed to know 20 people tops. That's all my brain is built

Poppy 1:13:45

Like you are doing so much more than your ancestors did, just living day to day right now. So pat yourself on the

Skye 1:13:53

We haven't evolved past what they were built to do.

Poppy 1:13:58

You still got those old monkey brains?

Skye 1:14:01

Yeah. I'm supposed to be doing monkey activities

River 1:14:04

to be eating berries and laying in the sun. I have to learn what a 401k is all about. Fuck off.

Poppy 1:14:10

I have to check my

Skye 1:14:11

oh my God. Don't. That was one of my fucking tasks, by the way. Rolling over my 401k into my Roth, IRA, I don't

Poppy 1:14:18

Hey, that's a great step.

Skye 1:14:21

It's done. I've done it. Clap for

Poppy 1:14:24

that's perfect. Listeners roll over your 401k into a Roth IRA. You'll thank

River 1:14:30

just let it, don't, just let it disappear.

Skye 1:14:33

So, yeah, let's examine our life. What are my motivations? First of all,

River 1:14:39

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:14:40

why do I do things? What do I want?

River 1:14:43

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:14:44

if you're like, well, how do I get up? Like, I literally feel stuck in my life. What are your motivations? And that can feel daunting also, when it's like, well, that, that's like, what's your dream job? What's your like, huge. Your motivation can literally be to pay your bill. Okay. You're like, I need to live, I need my heart to beat and I need a roof over my head. So that's what's gonna get me up and go to work because I've got fucking mouths to feed. Okay? That could be your motivation. That's okay. What do I want? What do you want? What are your motivations? What do you want out of life? Um, where are you now and how do you get there? How do you get to what you want and what your motivations are? That's ultimately what the fire under my ass is, right? That's the, the reminder of, hey, you have things that you want, you have motivations. You have desires. Um, a, a fire under your ass might be a deadline. You know, it's like, Hey, you gotta do this thing because there are consequences.

Poppy 1:15:47

Right.

Skye 1:15:47

Because, hey, you don't want consequences. You actually want to reap benefits instead, right?

Poppy 1:15:53

And I think figuring out what you want and like who you wanna be doesn't even necessarily have to be an active. Activity, like you don't need to sit down and write out

River 1:16:04

You don't need to

Poppy 1:16:05

Meditation. Meditation is fantastic for this. Literally sitting down, clearing your mind

River 1:16:13

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 1:16:14

in that moment when it is blank and you are able to receive that is the moment when you are most yourself.

Skye 1:16:21

yeah,

Poppy 1:16:21

So close your eyes and just listen.

Skye 1:16:28

yeah. I view finding out who you are and what you want as more of an exploration. It's sort of the visual that comes to my mind is like a, like a blooming flower. You're like a closed little bud and then you're like opening one little petal at a time, right? It's not this, I don't know, like there's not like a secret answer at an ultimatum in there. It's like there are little things, little nuggets, and it, they'll grow and change as you grow and change as a person. You're experience, you know, because I remember being a kid. And thinking, who am I gonna, like, who am I, like when I grow up? Like what? Who, like, I had this core. Yeah. I, it's almost like there was this core version of myself that was always predestined, waiting to come out. Right. And I was wondering as a child, like, I can't wait to find out at the center of it all who I am. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Because that's what you think about maybe as a child.'cause you're like, well, who am I gonna be when I'm an adult? And it's kind of disappointing, but it's also refreshing to find out that you, you actually get to decide who you

River 1:17:44

it out.

Skye 1:17:46

You

River 1:17:46

30 years old. I'm

Skye 1:17:48

who you are.

River 1:17:49

out who I am.

Poppy 1:17:50

Like looking back to when I was a kid, thinking about stuff like that, in my mind, that other person was a, was a different per, it was like a character or like a person that I hadn't

River 1:18:02

Yeah. That's somebody you would turn into

Poppy 1:18:05

Yeah.

Skye 1:18:06

Like, I'm gonna hatch and they'll

Poppy 1:18:08

Yes. You're, you're never just gonna become, you

River 1:18:11

turn 25. My frontal lobe's gonna pop into place and it's gonna be different.

Poppy 1:18:16

are you from before, but now you have additional experience. Like, that's, that's,

River 1:18:23

You just grew up, you just got

Poppy 1:18:25

done grew up.

Skye 1:18:25

To bring it back to d and d. It's like when you level up and you gain skills and you up your armor and all that shit, like that's what life is. You're just adding on to your repertoire and taking out what no longer serves you. The the deer hide is not serving you anymore. So now you need like the turtle shell armor now because you're doing harder shit. You know, if y'all are DD fans out there, I don't even play DD, but I love that shit.

Poppy 1:18:50

Yeah. My character has recently gone through a huge growth arc. So I started out as a beast master ranger, and my character's whole thing was like she had really horrible daddy issues and her mom died and she's trying to figure out how to save the world. Um, but then she realizes like she's been living for other people, she's been in denial. And I realized her character wasn't serving me the way that I was playing it.'cause I, I was a pretty new player, like when I, started this campaign and Ranger is like the easiest class to play. And I realized I was putting myself in a little, little box, not being able to like truly explore the extent of what you can do in d and d. So I changed my class recently, which was literally a game changer. So now like not only has my character gone through like an emotional growth arc, but she's also an entirely different class that I can do so much more with. Uh, and. You can do that with yourself too at any, at any point in time. Redesign.

Skye 1:20:11

That's so beautiful.

River 1:20:12

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 1:20:14

Thanks. I'm very proud of her.

River 1:20:16

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:20:18

Consistency and growth. Those are like the two, two, like big things. Um, I also kind of wanna circle back to the Morgan talking about consistency and growth. And I will say that if any of our listeners come, um, here,'cause maybe you're, you're curious about working with the Morgan or if you already do. Um, I mean, I would say that the idea of self sovereignty, this of being consistent with your growth and being serious about becoming the wisest version of yourself is sort of her whole deal. You know, if you wanna work with her, you know, she, she's to me, in my experience, gonna be more likely to work with people who are going to take it seriously and actually care about putting in the work. Um, so

River 1:21:26

Because you can talk a big game, but actually doing the work is different than just planning to do the work.

Skye 1:21:33

Yeah. Also, I don't, I mean, obviously people have all their different reasons to work with Gods and, but I, I can't really picture someone who is like super. Type A got all their shit together, ducks in a row working with the Morgan. Uh, they, they very well might, but in my mind it's like, well, what are you guys working on together? Um, I just haven't sat down and thought about it because I don't have a type A mentality, but certainly there are type A people who work with the Morgan for whatever reason. But to me, this idea of the, the Warrior death transformation, um, like being, just everything that she is is about self sovereignty. Like, that's like one of her whole thing is like, that's her word is self sovereignty and working with her is, okay, well how can, how can I also do that? You know what I mean? Um, probably gonna wrap up here. Do you guys have anything else to add before I say my last little thing?

River 1:22:49

I am just thinking, I'm just doing, I didn't

Skye 1:22:51

No.

River 1:22:51

immediate if you did.

Poppy 1:22:55

I don't know if you wanna keep this in or not, but like sexuality I feel is a huge, I mean, we, we talked about it a little bit during the, um, part where y'all were telling us about the exhibition, but

Skye 1:23:08

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 1:23:12

potential trigger warning for people that have had sexual trauma. But I feel like a lot of the time. A as afab people, like the majority of us, I feel have some sort of sexual trauma in our past to varying degrees. Yeah.

Skye 1:23:27

A need for reclaiming of some variety.

Poppy 1:23:30

yeah, the, the need for that and um, like especially for those of us who have had like sexual trauma as a child, oftentimes there's a redirection that happens without your control where it's like you maybe become hypersexual. And I feel like that's something that I've experienced and it's like you're wanting to reclaim that control, but in doing so, you become out of control. And that's something that I've been working on for the past, like 10 years, is reclaiming that, realizing what do I actually want

River 1:24:15

Mm-hmm.

Poppy 1:24:16

in my sexuality? Not necessarily even with a partner, but just like the expression of that. And it all loops back into like body image and how you view yourself and X, y, Z, which is also something I've struggled with for years and years and years. Um, and for me personally, starting to practice yoga regularly has been. Not that I wanna sexualize yoga at all, but it's, it's been a huge part of reclaiming my body for myself and like building that awareness, appreciating it for not what it can do, but just for its existence. You know, like celebrating the art of movement and being alive and whatnot. Um, so that just, this whole conversation just kind of like, made me think about that and feel that,'cause I, I feel

Skye 1:25:10

paying attention to your body is part of it. Taking stock of your body is part of it.

River 1:25:15

Yeah.

Skye 1:25:16

Yeah.

River 1:25:17

And that's, oh my God, the cats. Oh my God. Hermes is on one today.

Poppy 1:25:22

Yeah.

River 1:25:23

But that's how a lot of pole is for me.'cause it in a similar vein. Where I go do poll. It's not sexualized. It can be if you choose as a student and as a dancer to make it very sexual. You can, and that's your choice. That's what you wanna do with it. But for me, it's literally just about coming into my body and getting reacquainted with it so I can have more just awareness of what's going on and how I'm feeling, and how I want to be in my body.

Poppy 1:26:00

And to bring it back to Peter Steele,

River 1:26:02

And to bring it back to the sexiest man alive.

Poppy 1:26:05

talk about a badass, he, yeah. I mean. And he used his sexuality as, I mean, ba based on our pop culture icon. Uh, sky's pop culture icon segment, a couple episodes back. Um, he used his sexuality as, I mean, part of his identity, but also as his brand of self sovereignty, you know?

Skye 1:26:31

To get his message out, he's like, I mean, if, if I bring you in with how sexy I am in Playgirl, and then you get to hear my lyrics of my

River 1:26:39

hair and I'm seven feet tall and I'm built like a brick shit house. If you listen, that's great. I'm going to use it.

Poppy 1:26:44

yeah. But not in a violent way, because I feel like a lot of, a lot of the time icons like that almost use sexuality as a weapon rather than as a,

River 1:26:58

There are some people where it definitely feels it's inauthentic for them to be doing. it's manipulative And there are some like hypersexual artists that I follow where I'm like, no, that's real. That's who you really are and that's your art.

Skye 1:27:16

And you can tell, you

River 1:27:17

and you can always tell when the freak is authentic and I'll stand by that.

Poppy 1:27:22

Can you give us an example?

River 1:27:25

I, it's a case by case basis. I can, there is a coworker I have where I'm always like, and the freak ISN inauthentic and I can smell it on you. It's not real. It's very performative.

Skye 1:27:37

The showcase versus the exhibition.

Poppy 1:27:39

Mm-hmm.

River 1:27:40

Exactly. You're doing this for the audience, not for yourself.

Poppy 1:27:46

I will say sometimes you do have to fake it till you make it, but at that, at the core, you still need to know what you want to be faking to make.

River 1:27:56

You have to fake it, but you can't abandon yourself in the process.

Skye 1:28:00

No, that goes back to Conversation River and I were having yesterday about pole. But this can be extrapolated for this greater

River 1:28:09

Most things about pole can be applied to literally

Skye 1:28:13

a metaphor for life. Pole is a metaphor for life actually. So it's, it's the practicing while you're in your pre, before you're doing your showcase or your exhibition or whatever of thinking like, okay, worrying about your hand placement, et cetera. And instead of being in that flow state, but it's actually a really crucial step to be in that beginner worrying about your placement. We getting your routine down. You have to be in that phase before you can just have it be muscle memory and be in that flow state. Same is for learning anything. I mean, I also related it to my job with massage. Like I had to be like, okay, and then I'm gonna do this, and then I'm gonna do that. But now I just feel and flow freely.

River 1:28:56

Now that you

Skye 1:28:57

through that awkward, uncomfortable stage to get to the where I am now. So yeah, you do need to go through an uncomfortable growth period no matter what you're doing.

River 1:29:08

Yeah. And it's so important that you don't abandon what you're doing during that growth stage. You have to just sit in the discomfort and eventually it will pass.

Poppy 1:29:21

yin yoga

River 1:29:22

Yes. To tie it back to pole and yoga.

Poppy 1:29:27

is not inherently bad if you're feeling pain. That's one thing. If, if it's, if it's

River 1:29:33

If it's hurting you. Stop.

Poppy 1:29:36

If you start going

River 1:29:37

uncomfortable, you're

Poppy 1:29:38

you, you got tingles and, and numbness, you wanna pull back from that too. You don't ever wanna go numb, metaphorically, or literally, but you have to relax into it. Relax into the discomfort, don't fight it.

Skye 1:29:53

Yes.

River 1:29:54

Discomfort is just a message that you need to listen to.'cause it's trying to tell you something.

Poppy 1:29:58

It's not necessarily even like an alert, it's just a, a

River 1:30:03

it's just something that needs to be said.

Poppy 1:30:05

a sign of growth.

River 1:30:06

Yeah.

Skye 1:30:07

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, I mean, overall, the process of all of this is crucial

Poppy 1:30:15

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:30:17

to live, because along the way you learn that shame and judgment are, they're detrimental to growth ultimately, like, especially in that, that learning process. Um, so I mean, if you're not hard on yourself and. From one little leaf, one little baby bud,

River 1:30:38

one Acorn, a Mighty Oak will grow.

Skye 1:30:44

The more you observe, the more you understand and empathetically redirect yourself, uh, the more you grow into the person that you were meant to be day by day. And that's why it's so important to care about self sovereignty, to make this journey, to actively think about your own personal sovereignty in your own life. Because the more people who take time to self-reflect and take control of their lives and become wiser versions of themselves, the better the place the world will be.

River 1:31:18

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:31:20

The better we are as individuals, the better we can bring the best versions of ourself together and work together and so on and so forth. The ripples and

Poppy 1:31:30

Mm-hmm.

River 1:31:31

The more we can inspire others to be their authentic selves

Skye 1:31:36

and that's the whole point of why I'm talking about this today. That's why it's so important. And like I said at the top of the episode, I am not claiming to be an expert on this. I'm talking about it because it's so palpable to me right now, and I've made baby steps. I've had huge moments of growth and it, it doesn't pass me. Why that is, and I do, I mean, I do wanna give myself a pat on the back and say like, I have taken the reins. And I'm like, you know what? Enough is enough in certain aspects, and respectfully, I gotta figure my shit out. And it makes me feel good. It makes me feel empowered to be myself and to continue to be myself and learn things. I mean, one area that I certainly need to work on is compared to these two freaks here, poppy and river, I don't have a really, a physical expression, like how they have pole. And I mean, I do yoga, I do stretches, but I'm not, I'm not, I'm less in my physical body than they are. So that is an area that I also need to shed light on in the new year and prioritize, uh, uh, tuning into my, my physical vessel. So that's, I mean, I'm still learning and growing and I always will be. And that's the point.

Poppy 1:32:58

You start taking martial arts.

River 1:33:01

You could get really into Brazilian jujitsu.

Poppy 1:33:05

or even just like, uh, what's that one where you don't actually touch other people? I forget what it's called.

River 1:33:11

oh do.

Poppy 1:33:13

You know what I'm talking

River 1:33:13

I watched a lot of videos about it. Yeah, it's like you're just like diverting their energy. It's like a dance. Damn. A keto, I think it

Poppy 1:33:24

That sounds, that sounds familiar, but like

Skye 1:33:27

I dunno, I'll figure it out.

Poppy 1:33:28

I started doing Ariel because of a message from Persephone, because I was looking for some kind of physical creative outlet and she blasted it into my brain, I would not have signed up otherwise if it wasn't for that message because it was so intimidating. And there have been so many times where I've gone to class and I felt less than others. Like there's, I'm nowhere

River 1:33:54

Tell, there are people at the Pole Studio that have been doing it for years and years, and I'll end up in the same like drop in class as them and I go, oh my God.

Poppy 1:34:04

amount of times I've come home so many times, or I, I've gotten better about this now, but in the first year or so when I was practicing, I would come home so many times and tell Greg, I'm quitting. I have to quit. I can't do this. I'm

River 1:34:18

And yet you've never dropped that in the group chat whatsoever. And we had no idea until recently.

Poppy 1:34:24

yeah, but I stuck with it. And, you know.

Skye 1:34:27

Hey, one of my toxic traits, I hate when someone's better at me than than me at something

Poppy 1:34:31

same.

River 1:34:31

Especially when it's something that I'm like still learning. I'm still

Skye 1:34:36

if I'm not automatically great at it.

River 1:34:39

yeah.

Skye 1:34:41

Miss me with that shit. I'm quitting. You know what? I didn't like that shit

River 1:34:44

you gotta sit, you gotta sit in that discomfort so that you can get to a place where you're like, I'm actually pretty good at

Poppy 1:34:52

learn from others too, that every, they have so much to teach you, other people, just by OB

River 1:34:57

so inspiring. Yeah.

Skye 1:34:59

Yeah. Yeah. So that that discomfort and insecurity in my physical body is, is a big hurdle. And I, I feel it on the horizon. That's gonna be my next push, I

River 1:35:11

And that off the air. That's why I've so desperately been needing to drag you'cause I was like, she needs to see and experience this. Just,

Skye 1:35:19

I, I need

River 1:35:20

pole. I just

Skye 1:35:22

no, I don't need to do poll. But I, I, yeah, I, it it's a huge, like,

River 1:35:27

I needed you to see what the body can do. Uninhibited.

Skye 1:35:32

I just have like, the, the amount of insecurity is like crazy.

River 1:35:37

Yeah. It's crazy.

Skye 1:35:37

it, it is easier for me and I hate money. It is easier for me to like log onto my little laptop and just like check a couple apps or whatever. Like that is way more accessible to me than the

River 1:35:47

It's less scary than physically trying something new, especially with your body.

Skye 1:35:55

'cause it's like clunky and awkward and, you know, when you first start.

River 1:35:59

But then you get good.

Skye 1:36:00

And also like, I have pains in my body,

River 1:36:03

Yeah.

Poppy 1:36:03

Yeah. But

Skye 1:36:07

But yeah, that's all I got for you.

Poppy 1:36:09

Skye, I do wanna say I am so incredibly proud of you for all the growth that you've made over the past couple of my, I mean, the past year Yeah. But also

River 1:36:18

It's really hit you hard the past few months. It's really been accelerated the

Poppy 1:36:22

you've taken

Skye 1:36:23

this autumn has been.

River 1:36:25

Yeah. And you've done it. Can I say with so much grace, if I were you, I would be crashing out. I would not be having a good time.

Poppy 1:36:35

You, you're not fighting the current, you're swimming along with it, and it sounds like you've identified where you need to go next too, which is also super admirable. So, kudos to you. Good job. We love you.

Skye 1:36:48

Thank you. Couldn't have done it without, without the Morgan, without you guys, without Michael, without my, my job. I mean, my job is a very expressive, creative field. Um, it's a physical thing too, but it's physical for someone else. I'm being physical for someone else. And so it's like, okay, but now you understand how important it is. I understand anatomy and also this idea of self sovereignty and creativity, and I, I observe exhibitions and I go, that's awesome and wonderful. I love that they did that. And it's always, the mirror is being reflected back to me and saying, well, what about you? But what about you? What

River 1:37:29

quote the facilitator of the show last night, and what are you gonna do about it? You saw this crazy shit, and what are you gonna do about it?

Poppy 1:37:43

Mic

Skye 1:37:44

be continued.

River 1:37:45

Yeah.

Poppy 1:37:46

We'll check back in next January.

River 1:37:48

Yeah. We'll see. We'll see how we're doing next year.

Skye 1:37:52

I am a circus performer. This time

Poppy 1:37:54

Oh my gosh. We all just need to join the circus together.

River 1:37:57

Yeah.

Poppy 1:37:58

Sky gets into clowny.

River 1:38:00

Oh,

Skye 1:38:01

I learned how to ride a unicycle

River 1:38:02

I wish you would.

Skye 1:38:04

and juggle.

Poppy 1:38:05

Mm-hmm.

Skye 1:38:06

Anyway, this is longer than I thought it was gonna be, but that's okay. This is, uh, I'm a rambling man.

River 1:38:13

mm-hmm.

Poppy 1:38:14

All right. Any, any other thoughts?

River 1:38:16

Yeah. I got all my, my stuff

Skye 1:38:19

I'm rung out.

Poppy 1:38:20

Okay. Uh, well, if you listeners have any thoughts you wanna tell us about how you exercise your personal sovereignty, um, what you've been working on, what you've been working on this year, what do you think is badass? What do you wanna do in 2026 to

River 1:38:36

What is something you've been afraid to do, but in your heart, in your

Poppy 1:38:40

You know, You

River 1:38:41

you want

Skye 1:38:42

the calling, where is the calling coming

Poppy 1:38:45

If you wanna tell us about it, you can email us at death coven pod@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram. You can go check that out. Like follow, um, dm, tickle us through the interwebs. Um,

River 1:39:02

Don't do that.

Poppy 1:39:03

all right, so buy the power of three.

Skye 1:39:07

and so it is.

River 1:39:08

and so it is,

Poppy 1:39:10

it is

Skye 1:39:20

Or,

River 1:39:21

I'm a scap moon.

Poppy 1:39:23

Ski do. Sky learns how to scat.

River 1:39:29

She gets a really into hand boning. That's her physical expression.

Poppy 1:39:34

Oh.

River 1:39:35

She gets really into like crumping.