[Interview] Exploring Soul Remedies for Healing and Growth from Mexican Loteria (feat. Xelena Gonzalez)

For many centuries, cartomancy, or divination using a deck of cards, has been a popular tool for connecting with our intuition and understanding ourselves better so that we can co-create the future we want. Lotería, also known as Mexican Bingo, has seen many artful incarnations and has served a multilayered purpose across Latinx cultures, including offering guidance. My guest, Xelena González, found inspiration in this tradition and created a deck based on traditional symbols for divination, reflection, and self-healing. She’s here to illustrate the magic of this practice. Xelena González is a storyteller, dancer, and visiting author who centers self-love in her multi-disciplinary workshops for all ages. Her picture books include the multiple award-winning ‘All Around Us’ and the forthcoming title ‘Remembering.’ Xelena’s storytelling skills were honed as a public librarian in her hometown of Yanaguana/San Antonio and in Guangzhou, China, where she served as head librarian. Through her author visits, she has introduced a method of “tai chi storytelling” to more than 100 schools, museums, and libraries around the globe. During our conversation, Xelena explains the spiritual significance of the La Loteria symbols in Mexican culture and how we can gain inspiration from them to access the wisdom and light within us. She also discusses the significance of ancestry and lineage in self-knowledge and navigating our lives.