Bewitching Potions: Crafting Enchanting Cocktails with Julia Halina Hadas

 50:02

SPEAKERS

Jamie, Julia, Christy, Marlena

Christy  

On today's episode of A witch, a mystic Anna feminist, Marlena Jamie and I welcome Julia Alina Hatice to the show. Julie is the author of the modern witchcraft book of astrology, Moon magic, and Mixology and witchcraft cocktails. She joins us to talk about how magic ritual and intention can be used when crafting the perfect witchy cocktail. So grab a drink and listen. 

Okay, well.

Jamie  

Pick the drink.

Christy  

Well, welcome to the show everyone. Yes, we are already drinking because our guest is a magical mixologist, Julio. Welcome to the show.

Julia  

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here with you guys.

Marlena  

So I just wanted to give a little background Julius showed up on my feed and I can't remember if it was Instagram or Tik Tok. And it was for her book, modern witchcraft book of astrology. And she came up on my feed. And I was like, wow, that looks really interesting. And so I ordered the book. And then I actually hit her up on Instagram. I commented in one of her posts, and I was like, I would love to discuss this with you. And so I was that person, where I was like, Oh, my God, this is so interesting. Will you please be on my podcast?

Christy  

I love you’re putting yourself out there. Marlena.

Jamie  

You’re mixing the best of both worlds, right? Witchcraft, cocktails. I mean, come on. It doesn't get any better than that.

Christy  

Yes,

Julia  

yeah. And I love how you found me through the modern witchcraft book of astrology. I loved writing that book and has like a lot of meaning and healing because I started off as an energy worker before. I got in to mixology, but like mixology, and magic is really my thing. So I love that you found me.

Marlena  

Yes, and I love this book. Because, for me, astrology is, it's hard for me to wrap my head around. I really try to, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around, and your book is so easy to follow. And then you also have like cool little spells in here. And I don't want to say cool little spells. You have some really cool spells in here. There's just there's a whole lot of information. So I guess we'll work backwards because this is your most recent book. Yeah. This is your most recent book. So why don't you go into a little bit about this book and how it came about?

Julia  

The astrology or the mixology astrology? Oh, yeah. Um, so that was, my publisher has a series called the items made through the modern witchcraft series. And already at this point, you know, my previous book was magic mixology, where I created cocktails based off of the moon, and also the mood in different signs. And even before then, when I was like, back behind the bar 2016 2017, I was making, like astrological cocktails for different events. And so, for me, I was really lucky that when I came into the magical scene, I wasn't in like a metaphysical store where we had you know, an astrologer, we had a bunch of witches from very different paths, you know, we had somebody conjure work, someone who did the fairy tradition, Wicca, you know, all these different paths. And so, astrology was really interwoven already into my witchcraft practice, and especially when I stepped into energy work. I'm kind of someone that likes to understand and work with things in a beneficial way, you know, so rather than like, what I heard Mercury Retrograde, like, people say, Oh, don't do any spell work or things like that. And I'm like, Well, how can I work with this energy? You know, there must be some kind of way. So I always kind of wove astrology naturally into my work and doing for healing and ritual, you know, what is the moon in a certain sign or certain, you know, aspect or alignment in the sky? Like, what does that mean for my healing journey? Or how can I use that to empower my witchcraft focus my witchcraft to be the most beneficial that it can be? So after doing the magic mixology, my publisher wanted to do this astrology book, and I kind of already had that work built up, you know, through magic mixology, and a couple of my cocktails on my site. So that's how that happened.

Marlena  

That is fantastic. And so I guess we should go into the magic mixology. Yeah, yeah, that's the one Yeah. Christie has.

Christy  

Yes. So like I was drawn to just the beautiful cover. And then the beautiful pictures. I mean, it is it is like, but I know this isn't is so good. Yeah. And so I actually made a drink out of this book. That's called New Moon beginning Saki and so funny, not funny story, but I don't make a lot of cocktail So I had to go get all the things so I had to get the mother. And I know you can make that. Yeah, no, no, no, it's totally, it's totally fine. Oh my god. No, I was like, super excited that I had like a reason and I'm like, Oh, I'm gonna get that. And then I was like, maybe do I have like a mortar and pestle and I was like, Can I use that? And I was like, I don't have one of those is like, I want one of those. So then it just spiraled in. So yeah, but it was really fun for me because I got to get all the things and like, the book is beautiful. There's so many great recipes in here. And there's like a syrup for my drink the lemon balm, Ginger syrup, and I'm not a ginger fan. And I like it highly. So huge, like shout out.

Julia  

My magic mixology book like, yeah, my publisher like wanted it to be its own entity, which it is. But also for me, like that was my second book. So I kind of put a lot into that. And I really just wanted to show people like the minimum and the maximum of what you could do. So you don't have to, like follow. I know we were talking earlier before we start recording, like you don't have to follow everything to the tee. You got to make it work for you the lemon balm, Ginger syrup, like you can use fresh man instead of lemon balm. Because, you know, and whatnot. So, yeah, I love how that book came together especially because like, what better way to connect to the moon than a liquid beverage, you know, since it influences the tides, and all that. So I love working with it.

Jamie  

and speaking of your cocktails in your recipe, so how does it work with the moon, Mercury in Retrograde? How do you pick these concoctions in order to make our health energy work with you in that sense? How do you How does it work? Let's do that.

Julia  

Yeah, I hate to say like, complex on like multiple sides, because one thing I do have a professional mixology background, and I worked in a distillery. So I have the in depth knowledge of each alcoholic spirit, the different parts of the distillation process, what it is distilled from, and then you know, also looking at what ingredient is associated with what planet or what sign and then you have to account for the energy. And then you also have to account for what's actually edible, right? Because if you look a lot of witchcraft books, just that, you know. So it just, you know, put all this stuff together and then kind of tapping into the energy of what it is that drink should do, or what its purpose or intention is. And testing for flavor, but also for magic. So honestly, like when I show you this little jar of like, I mean, that's one thing recording for Instagram, you know, the little reels on stuff like, you have to take so many shots. So I often end up like with these large jars, jars, entire cocktails. Yeah, I know. It's crazy. Actually. You can freeze them. So I have like this frozen drink. And anytime I go see my friend, she just opened up the shop. I'm like bringing her a little. I love it. Like with this giant picture of leftover drink from just finding the perfect balance of magic and energy and love

Marlena  

And Jamie, what drink do you have?

Jamie  

So I went on your website and went to your blog and found recipes out there, which there's a ton that are amazing. But I picked this particular one because well, mercury, and it seems like it's always in retrograde. Or at least when everything's going to shit I call Marlena and say where's mercury? She goes in retrograde. So I understand what's really going on in the world. So I found this one is actually called, I want to make sure I read it right communication breakdown. It is a Mercury Retrograde, a throat energy center recipe. So it is beautiful. As everyone else I did have to do a little bit of modifications. Actually, I'm just missing one ingredient because I went to three stores last night and they were completely sold out. So I'm missing the blue key. I can never say the same crop Cracow, correct carousel carousel on my Karaca I always honestly I always want to say sir rock and I'm like that's not it. So I have this beautiful Empress gin, that includes also elderflower, and this has fresh mint and lemon and so Jan, of course, and crushed ice and simple syrup. And it's delicious. And I think it'll help me forget my Mercury Retrograde issues. So it's delicious and you can get these great recipes off your site and it's beautiful. I love it. I love it.

Julia  

Oh my god I actually knew that one because at the time that I did that drank it was like after I finished witchcraft cocktails and was waiting for it to be published. And so I just you know was looking at all of these different ingredients that can help with the throat energy center and communication and so there's like them mint sage Kim Il sera, but you know like improve Vice for what you've got. And all of its aligned to the energy center by love adding Empress Jen because beyond just the elderflower, which is great for the seasonal energy, the Empress Jen gets its color from butterfly pea flower and that changes color upon contact with acid. So that's great. Yeah beautiful like gorgeous transformation hope, you know tuning to that spiritual energy transform above Mercury Retrograde that's just perfect.

Jamie  

I love it. It’s really good. It's really tasty. So I'm happy. Yeah, happy

Julia  

actually named it at the time. I was like singing in a band like a rock cover band. And so I was like, oh, Led Zeppelin Xeno communication breakdown or songs.

Jamie  

That's perfect.

Christy  

Yeah. And Marlena

Marlena  

That’s awesome

I have your witchcraft cocktails book. So this is your first book. So we've completely went backwards. But this is, this is your first book. And so you started off as a mixologist. And you've been doing witchcraft or a long time. So why don't you tell us the concept of this book and everything that I love about it?

Julia  

Yeah. Um, so I think like most people who go into witchcraft, you know, I was raised in a family that didn't acknowledge witchcraft existed, you know, so I didn't find it. But when I did, I really went against the grain. So as a teenager, my mom was like, afraid I was worshipping the devil for a while, but now she's supportive. But yeah, flip. But you know, people don't have a lot of information didn't have a lot of information about witchcraft or those kinds of practices. At that time. It's like at a young age, I did dive into magic and worked at that metaphysical store. And then my turn 21, kind of on a whim, I decided to take like a bartending class. But I put that in quotes, because we were working with like, colored water, it was a dive bar on bartending. So it was not fancy, like every time be like, Oh, you went to bartending school. And I was like, I was playing with colored water to make a BMX like it was not. You know less about like making drinks quickly and knowing where everything was in the well, but I loved it. The instructor would just drop like little tidbits of some stories. And I started investigating more into the mixology side of things and learning about the history of the craft cocktail movement, and how every facet of modern day cocktail. And alcohol itself stems to ancient magical and spiritual practices, bitters, you know, shrubs, these were things that healers would make to preserve herbal properties and energies, and the whole fermentation process and the distillation of spirits, ties into like alchemy and worship. And so I was already kind of started my blog at that point. But then when I officially got the book, which craft cocktails, which has like recipes that come from what I was behind the bar and stuff, but it was putting all of that and kind of showing people how the craft through craft cocktails, you can make your own potion, you know, this same herbs as long as they're edible. If you're going to dress your candle for money, and you're gonna put chemical and cinnamon and other things. If it's edible, why not put that into a potion form, whether it's alcoholic or non alcoholic, because what you ingest your body really breaks down, it can change your vibration, whether it's a spell in itself, you're adding it to spell, you want to help overcome communication issues at a party with a Mercury Retrograde drink, you know? So yeah, that's how that came about.

Marlena  

Well, this book is fascinating. It's it's so cool, because in addition to talking about bartending basics, and discussing like different alcohols, different spirits, you also go into, like witchcraft basics. And so different magical elements, you discuss a little bit about astrology, you discuss Taro, you discuss the chakras, crystals. And then with each of the recipes, you also have advanced magic. So like what the recipe that I made, or the cocktail that I made today is the money making Dark and Stormy, in addition to what that does, or the purpose of that cocktail, then you have your advanced magic, where you're sitting there for this one, to pull the knight of pentacles to assist you with the work that you're that you're doing, basically. And so I think that's super cool. And I noticed like with some of the other cocktails, you have crystals to meditate with while you're drinking or you know, to hold in your hand while you're drinking this cocktail. And so how did that part come about the additional advanced magic that you put into this book?

Julia  

I love I can tell like you actually read the book. Just kind of like skip to like this file or the recipe section but like clearly, you know, like He read the actual like, herbal ingredients part anyway, I just love Yeah,

Marlena  

I like to do a lot of research when I was making my cocktails. And like,

Julia  

I feel like you should kind of read the frontmatter book, but also like, I understand why people skip, you know, I read so many witchcraft books and every time I have to read the basics of magic, I'm like, you know, how do I go over so many times? But you know, it is important. Um, but yeah, I mean, I love to layer on magic. And like, at this point, I was already working as an energy worker, I got certified in Reiki and shamanic practices. I've taken some crystal healing courses, and also was doing tarot readings at the shop. And so everything to me is intertwine. You know, it's all about like, your personal style. And so Adams media likes to make everything beginner friendly. So like, I couldn't go super complex, which there is actually a bonus. If you want to dive in a little more, I can send that to you. But it's called cocktail spells. And it has like, how to gives examples and a few specific examples of how to intertwine the cocktails into actual spells and rituals. So like the harmony healer, there's like a sugar jar spa that you can do to like while you're serving the cocktail, you know, something to help bring harmony. But anyway, there's so many layers as to what you do, and Adams and he was like, Okay, you just got to choose a couple things. So we landed with just taro and stones and crystals and minerals. And they're like a great way to just add layers and tune in to the energy. So if you're doing intentional work around, like, you know, making money like you are doing with the money making cocktail, you know, having that visualization of that tarot card, tapping into that archetype. And chanting a little extra magic in a more accessible way of maybe like a full spell or ritual, which I love to do.

Jamie  

Well, and it's like a good intro for a lot of people, right? Like, oh, I'm gonna tell Oh, there's a little added bonus here. I can do a little, little ceremony. Little ritual. That's amazing. I love it. I love it.

Marlena  

And by the way, this dark and stormy is delicious. So I was looking for a run bass string and money making Dark and Stormy. This one is basically to assist with Building a Business, Career Plan, things like that. There's been things I've been thinking about. So I was like, Okay, I got rum, and this works out. But there's ginger in here. Then you also have for syrups there was one syrup that that you actually gave the ingredients to make. And I can't even pronounce this. Bergamot? Yeah, the bergamot, Ginger syrup. So I made that. And that's been sitting in my refrigerator for the last over 24 hours. So, but added that to it. And I was like, I was like Vince, look at me, if it's my husband, I'm like, I'm doing it. But no, it was it was a lot of fun to make. And like I said, reading your books and and going through these and having a better understanding about it made it actually a lot more fun in making the drink. So thank you for that. One question I have because in like the spiritual community, you hear a lot about drinking is frowned upon, or. And so I, I love how you've managed to meld the two together. And just curious what your thoughts on that are?

Julia  

Yeah, I think that's really a personal thing for people to decide themselves. Like the reason I say that too, is because like, every ancient culture that ancient cultures and cultures are still around today, you know, they have specific ingredients they work with to alter their consciousness, whether it's ayahuasca, or some other substance, you know, and so alcohol is tied to spiritual practices at its root in the same kind of way. And when you tie into that conscious spirituality when you're engaging in these kinds of substances, you know, everything in moderation, obviously, but when you connect to it in a conscious way and add magic and spellwork one, you can feel the energetic transformation but you're also drinking consciously you know, it's not like you're hammering down 10 cocktails and blacking out,

you know?

Marlena  

It may have happened once or twice but

Julia  

I and so it's just really drinking with intention and magic and like really, you can taste the difference anytime make a cocktail for someone, and especially if it's a custom cocktail, or like you know, especially magical cocktail, they can feel the difference in their their body and how it lifts their spirit and their mood. But I it's also not for everyone, you know, some people, alcohol doesn't work for them, or they have a certain relationship there to work on. For me my relationship that I'm working on is with with sugars So I have watch what I put in my body there. But for other people wanted something like alcohol, you know, there are non alcoholic options. I always advocate for that on my blog and site in the books, they kind of had to edit that out just to be conscious of space. But I usually put non alcoholic versions unless it's like, like an old fashion. It's just hard to work down that

Jamie  

old fashion if it's not gonna happen.

Marlena  

But what I loved about this book is there are a couple non alcoholic beverages in here. Yeah, well, you know, it's not just it is cocktails, of course, you did give non alcoholic options here. And so your book has a little forever one.

Julia  

Yeah, I think the fundamental practice of craft cocktails can be applied to anything doesn't have to be alcoholic or not. So that's the beauty of shrubs and syrup like syrup you made, you know, you can magically make that in five minutes. For anyone listening or like, I know the word I don't know, I'm someone who like I like to bake, but I don't like to cook because I got like 50 pans that I'm cleaning for the next hour. You know, so like, whenever I hear something like syrup, I get nervous, because I'm like I am not. But also when you're behind the bar, like you can't break out the hot play and a pan and you know, just not gonna work. So really, it's just like making tea and adding an equal amount of sugar and you're doing it with that intention. And now you have syrup, a magical syrup that you've made it the clips that you can add to your your drinks for the next 30 days. You know, they're it's coffee tea or cocktail anyway, I can get so excited about like all the little levels of how you can put that magic in there. But

Marlena  

ya know, and I it's amazing. And like what you were saying drinking with intention and how it's tasting different. I definitely feel that with this. And so I'm not just sitting here like, you know, pounding back a couple shots. Yeah.

Jamie  

I don't know what you're talking about Marlena. Few times.

Marlena  

Yeah. No, but I mean, these are great. And like I said, your books are, I have two of them. I love reading them. And when it comes to like books like these, sometimes I'm not a front to back, like read it thoroughly, kind of. But with these, I love going to them during certain times and knowing that they're there for easy for me to understand. Yeah, it's just, it's fantastic.

Julia  

I'm so glad to hear that.

Jamie  

Well, and I love that it's it's a practice, right, it's so it is a ceremony, a little mini ceremony when you're crafting these cocktails. So when you are doing it with the intention of okay, I'm you know, I'm trying to put mercury in its proper place or whatever it is, you know, or deal with it because it's happening. And for me, alcohol does relax me so when you're not like Marlena said taking shot for shot for shot. If you have one drink, and you're focused and you're you know, sipping it, enjoying it and really tasting the flavors, it doesn't block you, you know, it does relax, you calms you, it opens your mind. So that you can connect, you can feel that energy you can be more relaxed, a little more open. So at least for me, I again, like you said alcohol is not for everyone. But even with your non alcoholic cocktail versions it or mocktails you can still get those same intentions and feelings because the herbs and things that are in there can do the same for you. So I really, I like that. It's like a little ceremony, if you will, a little a little a little spell. Like you said, I love that because you are crafting something beautiful. And if you sit and enjoy it, and not just pounded back like well, most of my cocktails but you know, it's you can enjoy it and really open up. I'd love it.

Julia  

Yeah. Especially like just also realizing like the alcohol you put in there. What's the magic of that alcohol like you have gin in that drink. And so gin, the defining ingredient that it has to have is is Juniper and Juniper is great for cleansing, and also for bringing clarity and attuning to kind of higher self type energy. So that's kind of why that Juniper gin was an option on that cocktail instead of, you know, vodka. Yeah. So and even just the process of fermentation, right in order to drink a beer, or Mead, or wine or even like any distilled beverage has to be fermented and then distill and distillation comes from alchemy, by the way, like literally ancient alchemists, you know, but just the process of fermentation, you know, the death and transformation of those ingredients. It's already so magical by itself. So whether you're putting in a cocktail and you're tuned to what's in that alcoholic spirit, or you're giving it as an offering, you know, if you're a witch who works with other spirits, you know that play on words is accurate. hit or miss, you know, because usually we add alcohol to miss to like, you know, help stabilize it. So it all just interweaves in so many ways.

Jamie  

We just went to Mexico not long ago and went to a tequila distillery and got to see and hear the whole process actually, I'm sorry not see it, but they explained the whole process to us and I never really fully understood how it all happened. And it's it's amazing. I mean, I was going to my next cocktail is going to look for was a tequila cocktail because yeah, we this house is a big tequila house. But the agave plant and its origins and how they distill it into tequila is fascinating. And so when you said that about gin, I'm like, You're right, Juniper like, these are, these are good things for us. You know, these really, and of course, when it's distilled and turned into tequila in moderation, but it is good. It's good in moderation and moderation.

Julia  

Yes. To say like, I love that you went because I had a presentation with someone who was working for the head distiller for small batch, tequila distillery. And it's so magical already. You know, the process of working with agave, especially those farmers are so in tune with the land and the process like it is a spiritual process for them making those things like the agave plant itself, you know, the Blue Agave specifically taking like 10 to 20 years to blossom, and then you have to cut it off right before it the flower actually appears to get all those sugars. And it's just so magical. And you know, GABA is associated with the planet Mars and has that sensual, revitalizing energy. I like to joke that I have given my best Tara reading on tequila. And loving talking about like, relaxing and tuning in. I'm like, Yes, like, you know, obviously, everyone's different. But it definitely can help in that way. So yeah,

Marlena  

well, it's interesting, because I've even read, like Oprah Winfrey has said, with two glasses of wine, sometimes she does her best meditations. And I remember this blog that she had written, it was no more than two. But with those two glasses of wine, you do break down that wall a little bit. Yeah, you know, you are relaxed and a little more open that you are able to bring things in. Granted, everybody should ground themselves and protect themselves before doing so. But also anytime I drink, I also make sure to ground and protect myself, you know, to a protection spell. Sorry, going back to your book. Because in rum, you talk about each one of the spirits basically. And with rum you said Additionally, this aspect makes rum perfect for protection and neutralizing negative energy. And so the fact that you were able to put the information with regards to each one of these spirits and what they can do for you. It's just super cool. I mean, it's super Yeah, and I love how passionate you are about the alcohol I'm sitting here like grinning from ear to ear listening to you talk about it. So let me

Julia  

see just would look up rum in here really quickly.

Jamie  

And let's just say the fact that they're called Spirit I

Christy  

know I like the circle.

Julia  

Yeah, I just to like expand on rum. I'm sorry. I'm like such a nerd about this. Um, so I love rum is actually isn't it has to be made from sugarcane at some point in the process, whether it's from the sugarcane juice or fermented sugarcane itself. And so when you think of sugary it does relate to Venus, money drawing attraction, so I like to use rum a lot for sweetening. But it has a lot of it's tied into a lot of Afro Caribbean traditions, which there's a history behind that line, fortunately, when you think of plantations. But yeah, it's like also, like people would like spread sugar to neutralize energy because of the positive energy of sugar and sweetening. So it helps neutralize negative energy in that way. Just to expand on that a little more, like does have that protective. Allah was like the last line that you read there. And I was like, oh, yeah,

Jamie  

I need to clarify.

Marlena  

No, no, I'm glad that you did. Like you were reading my mind.

Julia  

So just in your ads that, you know, when you kind of can sweeten things up, whether it's negative energy coming your way, I helps neutralize in that kind of direction.

Christy  

I wonder if there's like a correlation. This is just totally like, a correlation between people's like, favorite, like, I don't know, like, I love whiskey, right. And I can drink whiskey pretty much all day and not be hungover. Right. So I'm wondering if there's a correlation between like how whiskey is, you know, made and like, I don't know it's connected to

Marlena  

me. Let me just Julia before you go into this, let me just stay this real quick, in one of our more recent episodes, there was discussing ancestral work that you had been doing Christie. Yeah. And in reading this book, there is a little bit about grounding and ancestral work. So

Julia  

yeah. That was great. Like, you can answer this for me, I'm gonna get into like the magical aspect, I will say, as someone who worked at a distillery, a large part of what people like in different types of alcohol is probably tied to the brands. Just say that, but like, Yo, so it had additive sometimes. And like, I hate to say it, but like some alcohols are more likely to give you not certain types, but certain brands are more likely to give you a hangover. Because they add in there, it's not clarified as well, like when they filter it add water. So it's like nothing is a part of like the quality of alcohol, what kind of they're adding artificial flavorings in there. Really play a role on the mundane side. And the better quality alcohol you drink, the less likely you're going to have negative effects from that the day after, but on a magical perspective, like whiskey, you know, has been made from a grain, a grain mash of some kind, and there's different types. There's, you know, rye whiskies you can I love bourbon bourbon has to be made from 52% corn, you know, so you can look at the magical properties of the grains and they're, you know, if it's right, or heavy, or corn or, you know, combination of everything, but the way I like to work with grain, I think of like the seeds, you know, the seeds of the grains, they're from the past, you know, when you think of human evolution, or the evolution of civilization, and how they would use grains to get through, you know, the winter months in certain areas of the globe. So it has that tie in to kind of like the grains of the past, but also it's the state of the future. And so I love working with whiskeys, bourbons for ancestral work in that way, except, of course, like my family's polish, so vodka back there, and so we think of grains, like you think of the root energy center and very grounding. And you know, tying to that karmic energy, but also transforming the energy going forward. And the future of kind of replanting a different seed. But also, whiskey is infused in oak barrels. So I think of, you know, the oak is super magical, and has that strength thing, kind of energy, protection, defensive energy as well. So, all of that, you know, yeah,

Jamie  

I mean, this, this is awesome.

Marlena  

See, the fact that you put the two together? And it was like, yes.

Christy  

Yeah, I mean, I'm really all of that ties into like ancestral work, right? Like, like you said, the, the seeds of the past, but also the seating of the future. I can totally see that. And I haven't tried it, because I just put that together today. But now I feel like I have to go try to ground myself in moderation, of course, the key word and see what like what comes of it? Because I think that would just be magical. Now that I know there's the intent. Or I can put the intention behind it. Right. Yeah. And instead of just like, This is good. What is?

Marlena  

Yeah, I love that for you. Because you are so creative. And you're putting your poetry out there. And while you're writing, you know, you're doing your ancestral work. And so to add this to it, yes, I think I'm excited to see what you create.

Christy  

Yeah, I think it would, I think it'd be a good little like practice ritual for me to just like, you know, maybe like once a week, let's make a cocktail. Let's sit down and write and see what comes out of it. And really, like with the different intentions, not all whiskey, I'll do I'll carry it up, but you know,

Julia  

I have Sorry, just like so nerdy of me.

Christy  

But go for it. Please, I

Jamie  

love this.

Julia  

So if you want to like tap in a little extra spell bear though, this is like a fire safety warning on there. We had to change it a little bit in this book. Because like, I'm not someone that's afraid. I'm like a fire science. I love working with fire but you know, fire safety. Definitely set off a few smoke alarms. You know, my partner can vouch for that. But in the modern witchcraft of astrology, cuz I love working with greens in that way. Like if you did, you know, intentionally create this whiskey based cocktail and added ingredients. You could add in. You could do whiskey sour easily, and especially like when you think of egg white egg white is cleansing, you know, protective and you can like put little bitters in the egg white when you shake it. Okay. And you drop the bitters and you can draw like a symbol or you can do counterclockwise anyway. So like, Yeah, that's probably what I would start with. that that citrus and then adding in other things in there, and I have drinks on my blog and my books too. But I have this reap what you sow cleansing spell. Oh, and so that was kind of like tapping into the same grain base, originally, like we changed it to brown rice for, you know, a fire safety here. But basically originally what it was was grain and what you would do at the end is throw like you burn this cleansing candle in this mason jar, and the candle is being supported by the grains. And so the cleansing and you kind of infusing that intention and tapping into those grains as being those ancestral patterns or ancestral energy that you're shifting, you know, for future generations. And you know, as the candle burns down, obviously, you're gonna watch it because the grains can lightly catch fire, you know, so. But like, Is that you, you know, if you have like a fire pit or a little cauldron, you know, you kind of burn or throw those seeds into the fire to transform after you let that candle so like, I love doing stuff where I have a cocktail, and I have a spell that's doing the outer work. So I'm drinking the potion on the inside changing vibrationally and the spell is drawing the outer reality towards me. And so like, that's a cool way to like if you wanted to do a spell with grains while you're drinking that whiskey cocktail to like, add anyway, it's super nerd, ya

Christy  

know, and

Marlena  

Chris, you shot it and I love it.

Jamie  

I would like to go back to tequila for a second. Because I love that you said you feel like you've done your best to readings sipping tequila. And Marlena was saying in your book she talked about the you know the different spirits and how they can relate to different things and do so tell me about tequila? Because yes. Okay, so I love vodka, but my house is turned into a tequila house. My husband is like tequila and honestly I again in moderation. Let's always put out that disclaimer, but I have found I feel much better the morning after drinking tequila now saying that not sugary, salty, heavy margaritas all night long. Like, you know the sugars would kick in but a good tequila sipping or with some soda water or something. I Yeah. And so today, let's

Christy  

talk about tequila.

Julia  

Yeah. Like preface this, I meant to say this earlier, because I know you're looking on my blog, but I just I only realized, like, I gotta say, I've been working like a day job. And in a week from now, I will not be working a day job anymore apparently be

Christy  

writing cocktails. Congratulation like, yeah,

Julia  

thank you, but like working a day job the last few years and like trying to create these recipes on the side. Like somehow, I only have one tequila cocktail on my blog. And I'm like, how, what happened, this happened. And, and that was just like a basic recipe working with a specific spicy tequila. So I'm like, I think part of it was I was like writing for a magazine. So I probably sent my tequila recipes to them. Like, I'm gonna be focusing on tequila because I love it. And I think I'm someone that I love. All distilled spirits particular has a special place for me and going into like the agave base of tequila. So before you can distill, you have to have the fermented substance. And so the French substance that comes from Agave is called pulque. And that is tied into so many magical practices in southern and central America. And so one of the things was like as text as text to have this specific Goddess that was tied to this plant and all of these 400 protective you know, rabbit duties as well. And pulque was seen as this, this drink, too. I mean, all across the world, all these drinks were attuned to spiritual energies. But you know, when you think of tapping into that Mother Goddess energy, that creative energy, but also you know, can also be a little destructive. Yeah. Really, really powerful. And you know, agave when I think of like the lifecycle of agave, you know, how they have to wait for Blue Agave specifically 10 to 20 years for it to blossom and right before it blossoms, they have to cut out the heart. You know,

Jamie  

they just use that was interesting. They just use the pineapple of it. The core. Yeah. Not anything else that blooms off of it. Yeah.

Julia  

Yeah. And that's because they have to wait, you know, for the sugars like when it blooms, the sugars go out to the surface, which is what they want for fermentation. But I think of that, and I think the energy of coming to power, you know, for those of us who take a little longer to get there. I also think like reflection on life cycles of life and death, but also Agave has that energy of that sensuality and vitality. So I love working with agave a lot because like, if I'm out, I'll choose different drinks, putting on venues and like, I don't like to bother bartenders for super fancy drinks if I'm going out because on the other side, but like, I'll usually get it to kill a soda. Yeah. And it's tequila like just rejuvenates me in a way that some other spirits don't necessarily do by themselves. Those are used for different purposes, like tuning to spiritual interviews, or whatever. But agave and tequila really has that. Like, for me, I'm someone that's taken a while. I mean, I'm young, relatively, but I feel like I've had a journey with getting to where I am. And coming into my sense of power and confidence. And I feel like the agave plant really reflects that for me of like, you know, taking your time to find your inner strength and the power and you before you blossom, you know, so I love working with tequila in that kind of way. Also sensuality. Like I put it in a lot of love cocktail. Yeah, that's, that's about, you know, all of that. All of that into tequila. Yeah.

Jamie  

Well, and I, you were talking about the ancestry with the whiskey and everything. So when I think of tequila, and ancestry, I think Native Americans, I think, you know, like you said, Aztec like, I think it's just beautiful. And like I said, our whole household has turned into a tequila house in the last couple years. And when we got to the distillery was just amazing. So yeah, thank you. so magical. It is. Yeah.

Marlena  

And then Christy, you work at a winery? I'm just kind of

Christy  

so I bet no, I've been quiet because like everything you're saying, I mean, yeah, I've worked at a winery, I don't work directly in the viticulture, I am on a supporting role. But I have had plenty of opportunities to go out and see obviously, how wine or wine is made and how like you said, like, farmers are just so in tune with the land and so in tune with the crops, right, that it's magic in itself, like it is it's science, but it's magic, and I mean, I there's so much more that goes into it. And then even in the fermentation process and having to taste like right of a barrel like okay, we're gonna see like, like, where are we? Are we good? Are we not? You know, like, and it's, it's super fascinating. I don't know how our winemaker drinks all day and like, doesn't get drunk, but it's, you know, that's, that's different level. I know, it's only only sips. But like, but man, it's a talent. I gotta say it's a talent. Yeah, it's all just, like, so amazing. And I think people going out and seeing it. And like, actually, like, Jamie, you know, going and seeing how it's made, or how much of a process this is and how much goes into it. And how you really do have to be in tune with the land and the weather. And I mean, every little part of it will affect if we have too wet of a summer, we have to drive a summer if we have too much smoke, right from fires in our area. I mean, all of that goes into the crop. And then all of that goes into the finished. I mean, not all of it, but some of it can go into the finished product. Right. And so I don't know, I geek out over it too. So

Julia  

when you're talking, I was thinking like I think I don't know if you guys are in California, I'm from California. And so I was thinking about like those fires and like how now this whole process because of the ash, you know, impacting the wines and whatnot. So,

Christy  

yeah, this, it was real, the smoke taint was a lot, you know, and that's one of the big things around here. And I made a joke to you when we were having all those fires in the spoke team was terrible. We had to test all of our grapes. And you know, I was like why can't we make like a campfire wine just like a little smoky? Like some of the grapes that like aren't that great? You know, and we can sell it for like a cheaper you no amount and people can take it camping. They won't even notice it's a third bottle. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie  

There you go. Yeah.

Christy  

I don't know if it'd be very good.

Julia  

Like my mom and stepdad love to go hiking and they love wine. And so they specifically have like those backpacks that has those detachable wine glasses. They can bring them out in the wild, so that's

Jamie  

fine in the wild. There's a new label was

Christy  

Yeah, yeah, but that's that's also one reason I picked the drink. I did because I have sparkling wine at home and it had Saki which I love Saki. Yeah, and then I was like, and I have sparkling wine. So we'll see how this works and in my brain at the time of Mike I mean it looks beautiful. It's gonna be beautiful but like sucky and sparkling wine. I'm not too sure. And it is quite delicious.

Jamie  

Love a sparkling Saki I love

Christy  

sparkling Why didn't you get a sparkling soggy I just got it right yeah, but like yeah, it was really good.

Marlena  

So Julia cuz I know we've been emailing back and forth, you said, you have something in the works. And then you just mentioned it. So please, can we get the scoop? Yeah, yeah, I

Julia  

have to say like, although I like keep up on my blog and book writing, like authors don't make a lot of money. So oftentimes, they have to, you know, work a day job, and especially like, the cost of ingredients. You know, I just like, you know, keep up a day job these last few years. But I recently got a book agent. And so there are two as a time of recording, there are two book deals in the works. One, it looks like I'm going to be good to sign next week. And so because of the time we're recording this, that is going to be it's going to be the modern witchcraft book of Moon magic. So it's going to be more on the witchcraft side of tapping into the moon magic stuff, and but the reason why I can leave the day job is because I'm also having a second book deal with someone else. It's gonna be a cocktail, obviously, energy. I can't talk about it too much. So like a little a little more rougher as far as where we're at in that process. So yeah, congrats.

Marlena  

Congratulations. Yeah, excited.

Julia  

I'm excited to just focus on what I love full time. So

Christy  

yes,

Marlena  

well, like I said, I love your books. I need to get your moon mixology book in between

Jamie  

you have this one in this one

Marlena  

by Chris, you how's that one but I, I love these books. I love the magic and the rituals in them. And like you said, you know, making cocktails, making making drinks with intention. Just kind of makes everything better. Better now might know my drinks starting to kick.

Julia  

I love it. I'll have to send you guys. Once those books come out with the new guys, this two new ones. I love that I can do this work combining what I love energy and meaning into mixology, and delicious drinks and flavor profiles and energy. And it's just so, so layered. So I'm just grateful to be here and share this and talk with you guys about it.

Marlena  

Well, I would love to bring you back on. Everybody who's listening, please go check out her books. They are, they are fabulous. They are absolutely fabulous. They're easy to follow for me when like I said with when it comes to astrology because it's so vast and I have a hard time wrapping my head around everything. You were able to break it down for me where it was very easy for me to understand. And the spells said I want to do during certain times. I mean, I have notes of okay, during this time or when I when I want this, you know and I basically have it broken down. Your book is just your books are fascinating. And I'm so excited for what you have coming up.

Julia  

Yay. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Jamie  

And they're beautiful. I mean, the picture books are just beautiful to look at if anything you know we have in our kitchen, we have like different cocktail and bartending books. So they will be added to my, my collection in my husband's gonna be like witchcraft cocktails. Yes, start making them and breathe

Christy  

with it and breathe.

Jamie  

or meditate

Marlena  

here. Here's a tarot card.

Jamie  

Pick a card, make a cocktail. And here's your crystal. I have so much fun.

Marlena  

Julia, thank you so much for joining us. I will put all of the information on how to get your books in the show notes as well as your blog. Please follow her on all of her socials. Is there anything else that you would like to promote? plug yourself for? Yeah,

Julia  

I mean, I just best placed I will say the best place to connect with me is to go directly to my website which craft cocktails.com Because I'm sure it's everyone knows the scam accounts are ridiculous at this point. So the best way to connect with anyone is through their website and then there's links to social to make sure you are following the right person. Yeah, don't get scammed. And yeah, the only other thing that I have in the works other than writing and focusing on the blog full time is I'm putting together a little Patreon so I'm hoping to dive a little more into the magical aspect of mixology there. Yeah,

Marlena  

I love it. I love it. Congratulate Yeah, you know, wish nothing but the best for you again, when your next book comes out. I'd love to have you back on. Yes. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Julia  

Thank you. Thank you for joining

Christy  

us for another episode of a witch, a mystic and a feminist. Don't forget to join us next Tuesday and keep in touch on WMF pa audit.com