Patrick Jasper Lee, Romani Gypsy Author and Medicine Man (episode 2)

"You can never buy the Earth, no matter how much you paid her; you can only borrow the Earth…Befriend and borrow the Earth, and the Earth will befriend and borrow you, and she will freely give all her natural wealth to you, all her fruits and spiritual insights. But try to own her and you could find your relationship with her breaking down."  from We Borrow the Earth by Patrick Jasper Lee At this point, I don't remember a time when the work of my guest for the second episode of my podcast, Empower Your Magical Self, wasn't important to me.  That's hyperbole, of course. But there's a grain of truth to it, as I started reading Jasper Lee's work in 2020, just as my quest to save my own life began.  After decades of grinding desperation, I knew it was past time to find my personal power so that I no longer felt like flotsam crashing along the shore of the world's indifference. I'd tried so many ways of living and none of them felt good -not only was I not tapping into my own energetic power, I generally hated being alive.  It was time to get magical. It was time to Empower My Magical Self.  Books and My Soul-Lit I didn't know yet that I'm autistic. That diagnosis wouldn't come for another year. But I did know that I was being profoundly affected by my diet; not just what I physically consumed but also what I energetically consumed.  Once I really tuned into myself, it became clear - the art and entertainment I was consuming was hurting me as much as the unhealthy food and drink I was taking in. So I stopped all that and rebuilt my habits from the ground up.  My new habits became my Soul-Lit.  Since embarking on this new way of life three years ago, I've only read books that enhance my well-being and joy, and that's been a big change for me.  Jasper Lee's books have been a big part of that reading, and thus of getting my soul right, of empowering & decolonizing myself Jasper Lee's Books What is it that's touched me so deeply about Jasper's books? My original interest in them was learning more about the mysterious Romani Gypsy culture (and yes, I'm fully aware the Gypsy is often used as/considered to be a slur. I only use it here because that's how Jasper defines himself).  But once I became steeped in his work, his worldview and the traditions of which he spoke seemed so very right to me. It's an indigenous worldview; we forget that the Romani Gypsy people are an indigenous, tribal culture.  Jasper Lee has two major non-fiction books, We Borrow the Earth and Coming Home to the Trees. They are both gorgeous works that are, to my mind at least, utterly unique in their examination of Romani Gypsy spirituality by an actual chovihano (Romani Gypsy medicine man).  He's also written a fictional trilogy called The Long Reflection. Those books take place over the course of roughly a thousand years, and follow several generations of Romani Gypsies.  I highly recommend all of his books…and that's why I'm thrilled that he agreed to be on my new podcast, Empower Your Magical Self. Empower Your Magical Self: The Podcast My conversation with Jasper sparkled. We talked about (among other things) animism, earthworms, and our prehistoric ancestors. The latter bit of our talk reminded me of a story I published earlier this year called Shadow & Our Ancestor: A Parable About How Things Got This Bad, so I read it (it's short!) aloud during the break in the show.  Subscribe Today I'm so grateful to Jasper for spending an hour with me. It's the second of what is playing out to be a truly magical series of conversations.  Please subscribe to Empower Your Magical Self wherever you get your podcasts to learn more about my inspiring guests - and how you can empower your magical self. #podcast #EmpowerYourMagicalSelf #PatrickJasperLee