Welcome to the Frequency Asked Questions Page! Remember that you can always email me if anything is not addressed here.
Who are you? What do you do? Where are you? When are you? Why are you? How are you?
Hi! I go by Kathleen Borealis! I am a geologist and lifelong pagan, current identifying as an animist. I host a podcast called Borealis Meditation Podcast that is a bridge into the world of earth science for people on the more spiritual/religious side of things. I currently live in Southeast Asia, but have previously lived in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Hawai’i. I tend to float between now and deep geologic time. My podcast and outreach are a gift back to the community of the knowledge I have learned through my formal and informal education. I’m great how are you!?
I have heard you talk about the ethics of buying crystals where can I learn more?
This is a great question! I have a two part podcast series on this topic and am working on more materials related directly to this matter.
You can find the first episode here
and the second episode here
Do you have a Patreon? How can I support you and the show?
I currently do not have a Patreon and the only way to monetarily support the show is through Ko-Fi. You can also support me by engage with and sharing my work! That is the kind of support I love the most!
Do you believe in god?
I identify more as an animist. I think the best way to answer this question would be with the Terry Pratchett quote “Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman.”
How can you be a science witch?
Easy! I found a quote at one point that I can’t remember exactly…. something like science being the explanation, and magic being the expiernece. I like this. Science is concerned with questioning things until we can explain them. Magic and spirituality are more about the experiences and the unexplained and unknown. Curiosity is what drives my interest in both. One I strive to explain and the other I focus on expiernece and emotional response.
What drew you to witchcraft? How do you get started?
This is a funny story. When I was a small human (around 10) I realized that I was more religious than my family. I tried to see if one of the major religions around me was a good “fit” for how I was starting to understand the world around me. They were not. So one day after school (11/12 at this point) I was at the library and I must have found a book on world religions. I remember reading things descriptions and loving Shintoism (but I wasn’t in Japan), and Druidry (but I wasn’t a man. Something I now understand was an unconscious bias). The entry on neo-paganism seemed like the closest and so I have identified as a neo-pagan ever since. From there I just let myself be guided by my interests. I am currently an OBOD member and helped set up a pagan student group at my college in undergrad. However, I have always had a very solitary path.
What advice do you have for science-minded people that are interested in starting witchcraft?
Remember that you don’t have to “buy” everything. You don’t have to get into crystals, or astrology, or tarot, or anything. Throw away the lists of correspondences and let yourself be led by your experiences. If you start a book and don’t like it, you don’t have to finish. If everyone LOVED it, who cares its not for you. Don’t feel like you have to believe anything this is about your personal journey and the most important thing is your expiernece. Watch out for predators sexual, psychological, spiritual, and financial.
Book recommendations for Beginners?
I recommend two books: Dabblers Guide to Witchcraft (for all the hard lessons others have learned), and Paganism for Beginners (for an excellent overview of what is out there).
