121 - Dana B. Myers: The Art and Magic of Allowing
In this rich and playful conversation, Sarah sits down with returning guest Dana Meyers—former founder of Booty Parlor, author, tarot reader, ritualist, and self-described “business witch”—to explore what unfolded after selling the company she built for 20 years.
For over twenty years, she has built brands, led communities, and helped people reconnect to their joy, intuition, and personal power.
The question she’s exploring now is:
What happens when you stop forcing outcomes and start allowing life to surprise and delight you?
Dana shares the threshold of releasing an identity tied to achievement, stepping into the unknown, and learning to trust a new way of living rooted in intuition, creativity, pleasure, and flow.
Together, Sarah and Dana talk about motherhood, money, nervous system patterns, parenting teens, the wheel of life seasons, and how ritual can help us move through stuckness and reconnect with our own power.
This episode is a reminder that sometimes the next chapter can arrive through allowing (a pattern interrupt for most of us!).
Dana leaves us with a few rituals we can use as we transition into spring!
In This Episode, We Explore:
What it felt like to sell the business that shaped Dana’s identity
Why “allowing” feels so new and exciting for her
The difference between forcing outcomes vs trusting timing
How panic-promoting shows up in business and life
Why Dana says, “My true wealth is my happy home”
The role of evidence in building trust with yourself
Parenting teenagers and learning to listen instead of fix
How ritual and spell work create movement during hard seasons
Using creativity as medicine for stuckness, grief, and change
Practical spring rituals for pleasure, cleansing, and renewal
Dana first joined Sarah in Season Two for a powerful conversation on pleasure, intimacy, relationships, motherhood, and reclaiming desire. If you loved today’s episode, go back and listen to hear the roots of her work—and the beautiful evolution into who she is now. Listen here »
Episode Transcript:
Sarah Tacy: [00:00:00] Welcome to Threshold Moments. Today we have with us Dana Meyers, and I was just saying that when I was sending the invite out to some people who are in my juice membership to come and be part of the live audience, I got to reflect on Dana and how Dana first entered my life, which was actually Dana, when you went on to Kate Northrop's origin program.
Sarah Tacy: And I think you were teaching about pleasure and my husband and I were driving somewhere together and we were like, who is this woman? What I maybe didn't know fully about you yet is that you grew up in a sex positive household. And so what I heard maybe for the first time in my life was someone who was speaking about pleasure and sexuality through a lens that wasn't.
Sarah Tacy: A pendulum swing from like the healing, from the shame, but just something you had lived into. And I was like, like my whole body had to recalibrate. What is this? [00:01:00] I don't know. I like it. Something seems really good about this. And then I had Dana come and do a 90 minute session for a group I was leading called Tools of Gold for the Embodied Feminine.
Sarah Tacy: And just nobody wanted her to leave. And the questions like the session just kind of kept going. And I was like, okay, time is up. I kind of have to teach my portion now. And the questions that some these asked I like jaw dropped because I couldn't have imagined them asking those questions.
Sarah Tacy: And so to me it just really showed how your comfort. Body and pleasure just allowed people to open up and say oh, this is what's real and this is what's top of mind. And here are some curiosities I had. And then I'll just say that next. I had you on threshold moments, I think two years ago, and you were right at the threshold of selling booty [00:02:00] parlor, which Yes.
Sarah Tacy: And it was the business you had for 20 years. Yep. And it was, correct me if I'm wrong, but like pleasure toys sex ed I wanna say sex education, but again, for me, just hearing,
Dana B. Myers: I wrote a couple books. Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Yes. And you wrote a couple of books. Do you wanna name your books?
Dana B. Myers: It was under the the sort of the family of, it was called the Mojo Makeover.
Dana B. Myers: It was like, how do you reinvent your, the way you talk about sex, the way you identify your desires, what happens after you have kids? All those things. It was Mojo Makeover.
Sarah Tacy: I think I wanna reread that.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. The Mommy Mojo makeover. It's a bit of a classic. I wrote it to get me back to my pleasure through the experience of having two kids.
Dana B. Myers: I wrote it because I needed it.
Sarah Tacy: I remember, and I remember, I think before I really was able to I was so deep in sleep deprivation, I was like, I just I just couldn't fully, but I,
Dana B. Myers: yep.
Sarah Tacy: [00:03:00] Now, even though I would think oh I should have done it 10 years. Oh, now it'd be such a good time.
Sarah Tacy: Yeah. So I'm I'm so happy that you brought that up.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. Cool.
Sarah Tacy: And then part of having you back on threshold moments is, I would love for our listeners to really get to hear the various waves of experience that people go through when they are continually curious and they're continually opening and they're like, what is real now?
Sarah Tacy: And so you sold your business and maybe a year or two later or a year later had your 50th birthday and I and you what I is like on the newsletter. I'm like, and I think like the only way I can describe it is she like runs a magic shop. She sells and she does tarot and everything about her. You just wanna be around.
Sarah Tacy: And she is one of the few women that I know that combined like witchery and business with a level of skill and artistry that you [00:04:00] do.
Dana B. Myers: Oh, thank you. Wow. That's beautiful. Nailed it. Nailed it. Nailed it. Yeah. Yes, the last time we talked, I was on the threshold of selling the brand that I had founded and built and grown through blood, sweat, and tears and highs and lows.
Dana B. Myers: And I had done it with my husband. So it was my whole life. My marriage was wrapped up in it. My professional life was wrapped up in it, my persona identity. It was all tied in. You know, and it had so many layers and even though I was really ready to race it, I was so ready. I had been sort of plotting and planning for many years to make an exit.
Dana B. Myers: There were many moments where I was like, I don't care if I just leave it, you know, kind of kick it to the curb. I don't care. I'm done. I wanna move on. I felt this calling to, you know, I wasn't sure was I [00:05:00] gonna become a professional witch? What was I gonna do? You know, what exactly was this plan? And I immediately identified that I didn't have to force a new identity.
Dana B. Myers: I didn't have to force a new persona. It was a real conscious choice that I was just going to let things evolve and develop. And that was a beautiful choice for me. 'cause I'm so type A, I'm so Capricorn. I'm like, how do I get from A to Z as quickly and efficiently and strategically as possible? And then I was like, I think I might wanna rewind that pattern a little bit.
Dana B. Myers: But that was the huge threshold to cross. And I crossed it mostly with great joy and a huge sense of relief and deep satisfaction deep satisfaction to have had an idea on my living room floor when I was 26 years old, gone for it, given it everything I had. You know, almost went bankrupt so many [00:06:00] times.
Dana B. Myers: Had huge wins, just like epic celebratory wins. And have had, you know, was surprised by a lot of the things that I experienced. So it was a huge sense of relief and satisfaction and it freed me up to start exploring. I took over this space that I'm in right now. It was an empty room in the house.
Dana B. Myers: You know, having shared a house with a husband and then two kids for a really long time, I identified that there was an available room in my home.
Dana B. Myers: And I was like, that's mine. This is my moment. I'm crossing a threshold. I need a space to figure out what's next for me. Who am I becoming? So I claim this space and I don't design anything in my house. My husband does all the things. 'cause he, and he's so good at it, I'm just like, you go for it. But I chose everything in this room.
Dana B. Myers: I chose every wallpaper, every notion, every whatever. And and I just. Started inviting [00:07:00] people in and sharing the magic that I know. And so I've been studying tarot for a really long time. I started doing tarot sessions. That evolved into me then sharing my spell work and figuring out, okay, what's the theme of your tarot session?
Dana B. Myers: Let's turn that into a spell. And I built this little spell closet with all my spell crafting supplies. It's my happiest place ever. And so we do spells, and then that led to being contacted by different hotel groups and brands here in Miami to then come and do events on other people's properties.
Dana B. Myers: And then I got invited to do corporate work, and I was like, oh, this is really interesting. This is so interesting because I'm now going into, you know. Boardrooms with heads of departments for mega global corporations doing spell work. Now, I don't call it spell work, I call [00:08:00] it ritual, you know, tuning your team's intuition, building emotional communication, you know, but I'm going in there and I'm totally business witching the place up.
Dana B. Myers: And it's really fun. And so I'm kind of doing a little bit or a lot of everything. And it's funny because, you know, old habits die hard. Like I mentioned the Capricorn tendencies of I need to know where I'm going. And when I first started, I was like, I'm gonna give myself a year to just explore and try all the things.
Dana B. Myers: And now I'm like, no, I'm giving myself another year to keep exploring and keep trying. I'm, and that's been a hard, that's been a new muscle to build allowing myself to develop. Instead of forcing an outcome, that is, that's a really big change for me, another big threshold that I'm crossing and it's taking quite a bit of energy and discipline to notice it and stop myself.
Sarah Tacy: So I have two questions. [00:09:00] One is, what does allowing feel like in your body? And then the other one is, do you think that spell crafting has any, is like a cousin to that Capricorn energy in any way where it's oh, I'll get to have this spiritual, but also can this get me from A to Z?
Dana B. Myers: Oh, a hundred percent.
Dana B. Myers: Okay. So what does allowing feel like in my body? Oh, it feels like being at the top of a rollercoaster and being like, oh my God, we're about to go down the drop. You know? And the only thing I can do is scream and you scream right to I don't know, distract or occupy or express, and then you enjoy the ride.
Dana B. Myers: So it is still, and it does feel really good but it's a totally new habit for me. And so like any new habit, it takes discipline, which I'm very good [00:10:00] at. That's that Capricorn nature again. But allowing. I just keep, I just continue to give myself permission again and again, and all my scarcity stuff, rears its head, all my lack stuff, all my wi is my luck gonna run out if I don't force an outcome.
Dana B. Myers: And I just allow myself to explore, will my luck run out? Will I kick myself for not forcing an outcome or being, you know, rigid and strategic? And of course I am being strategic. I'm being so strategic. I'm just doing it in a way that is somehow more flexible. Ultimately what I will say is that the path of allowing in this new moment that I'm in has also opened me up to really great truths.
Dana B. Myers: Like my true wealth is my happy home. I think that [00:11:00] releasing some of the pressure on myself to rise as fast as I can in this new career, I have started to see, you know, my home life. I mean, I've always been working, I've always been working. I've always been achieving, you know, with my kids I was like a starfish, you know, with the kids then doing a thing for Booty Parlor with the kids and then, you know, trying to sell another book or you know, always trying to do so much.
Dana B. Myers: And I think that now that I've allowed myself to allow more flow, I'm allowing myself to develop the other things in my life that have so much value. The weight of that value is just becoming so much clearer to me. Not that I didn't appreciate my happy home. Health, you know, and wealth and abundance of my family and extended family.
Dana B. Myers: But I was always running in so many different directions. And now that I'm able [00:12:00] to allow and be more present, that truth is like at the forefront of me every day. I don't have to hustle this. Like I can enjoy this because my true wealth is my happy home. And of course, it's easy to say your true wealth is your happy home when you have money in the bank.
Dana B. Myers: I acknowledge that, right? I sold my brand, I made some money. I still wanna make money. I'm still super motivated by money, but I'm now allowing myself to feel more safe with what I have so that my appreciation of the bigger things that I have, health and love, and a home and joy that is like on top of my skin every day.
Sarah Tacy: Yes. So not a long answer. No, it's not. I mean, it's not, it's, I will almost always come out, maybe this is a Gemini in me with, there's always two things for me. I'm like, oh, two things I am, so I'm like, wow. I wonder, does [00:13:00] allowing ever feel boring and neutral, or does it always feel like the top of a rollercoaster and no, sorry, let's do that one first.
Dana B. Myers: For me, it never feels boring because it's so new. I'm 50. I've been forcing outcomes for 50 years. So allowing is it's like super exciting. It's like dating a new guy, you know? Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Oh my
Dana B. Myers: God. Who is this? What is this? What is this?
Sarah Tacy: Imagine
Dana B. Myers: I'm allowing, can imagine.
Sarah Tacy: I can imagine for some, and maybe I'm over coupling it with slow, that some people have found success through faster.
Sarah Tacy: Results faster, harder, longer, with work. And that in the allowing there, in my imagination of it, that there is some slowing down in order to receive. And to notice
Dana B. Myers: Uhhuh
Sarah Tacy: and that for so many bodies and systems that can feel like a threat of death.
Dana B. Myers: Ah,
Sarah Tacy: yeah. Which it is like a death of an old [00:14:00] self.
Sarah Tacy: But then like I can notice for myself too, if it's like really slow, it's wait, what else did I have to do for work? What else should I get any, you know? And so I can notice the background running of what does it really feel like even now, as I said, like I have a 10 and a 6-year-old and I'm often thinking, do I really need to do all the work I do?
Sarah Tacy: And kind of trying to find that that between if there is a, between.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: And I'm curious about the allowing too of am I, when am I forcing results and when am I allowing? And also, I talked about the Sacred Third, the place in between the two. Yeah. Where there's just like a little bit of both, like you said somewhere you said you're like, you know, I am like I am looking and planning and the allowance is now part of my plan.
Sarah Tacy: That Sacred Third. It's like they're happening and you're somewhere in the middle. Yeah. So I think you answered my question that for you and you feel like the top of a rollercoaster, which is I love hearing different people's take. [00:15:00] I would be like, oh, I'm so uncomfortable with a still, which might be like, I wonder what would happen if I'm just like,
Dana B. Myers: so it's not slow.
Dana B. Myers: My, my allowing is not slow. It feels more expansive, but not slower, which is interesting. You've just given me so much to think about. Now I'm gonna be like, analyzing what is the pace of my allowing it doesn't feel slow. It just feels like I'm peeling back the layers of crushing pressure. Yeah. And that feels really exciting.
Dana B. Myers: And it's scary. It feels really that's this rollercoaster thing. That's the scary part for me. And yet I just, I always come back to the evidence. Okay. I kind of allowed this to unfold and I survived. And then another new opportunity came in and, you know, I've been talking about this phrase, panic promoting.
Dana B. Myers: If I'm looking at Beth is nodding her head, if I'm looking at my calendar and I'm [00:16:00] seeing, oh God, that week is slow and I wanna meet my goal of X sessions or X money per month, then I, my instinct is to panic, promote let me come up with a promotion. Let me message my group and let me flash it out on social.
Dana B. Myers: Let me, and then what would happen is I'd panic promote and it would work, and then I'd feel overbooked and then I was right. And then I was overbooked with things that weren't necessarily my bigger wins that I want. And so I'm really, I'm training myself to notice the urge to panic, promote.
Dana B. Myers: Back up. Back up, girl, roll it back, slow it down and roll it back.
Sarah Tacy: When you say that, I hear that you're leaving room to be surprised. There's that phrase, surprise and delight me. And so if you know what's gonna make you more money and you know how to do it and how to do it quickly and you fill it, it's a different feeling than if you leave it open and see what would come [00:17:00] to you and through you.
Sarah Tacy: Yes. Which may come actually with speed.
Dana B. Myers: Yes. Or it
Sarah Tacy: just wow. But it just like really leaves room to be a surprise and delighted until the universe work through you.
Dana B. Myers: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. A few days ago, the urge to panic promote was serious and I was, it was like, whoa, okay. And I was like let me just do some Qigong instead.
Dana B. Myers: Okay. So I went to do, I'm a huge fan of Qigong and I started about, I don't know, seven or eight months ago, and then I found this amazing teacher who does these zooms, and I was doing Qigong in 10 minute. Videos and this teacher comes online and she does an hour and it's just the most magical thing.
Dana B. Myers: And when I do her Qigong, exactly what you said, I am surprised and delighted by the opportunities that come my way because I'm giving myself a full hour to be working with the channel of the earth and heaven and really working with those energies for a solid hour. And, [00:18:00] you know, casting with my mind what it is that I wanna create space for.
Dana B. Myers: And without fail, opportunities come into surprise and delight me. It happened it literally just unfolded in the last 72 hours. I was like freaking out last week, ready to panic, promote, and hustle. Oh do you have enough? Do I have enough? Like a little squirrel, you know, making sure that you have enough nuts for the winter.
Dana B. Myers: I was like, stop dropping Qigong. I did my Qigong and I got invited to read tarot at two fabulous parties on yachts this week. Oh. Like abundant money, abundant opportunity. Like just chill out. Just keep allowing. Yeah, keep allowing, I keep getting these reminders. Just keep allowing. And my word of the year is develop, like I asked for this, I asked for a year of development, not of high achieving A to B in 60 seconds.
Dana B. Myers: So I'm getting what I asked for.
Sarah Tacy: And it's funny 'cause I [00:19:00] hear it and I'm like, wow, that takes so much trust. It takes so much trust. But I also heard you say evidence. Yeah. And so you get to have the roller coaster and Hey, I'm gonna lean in earth and sky casting with my mind. But then the evidence that it keeps coming through.
Sarah Tacy: And I think it's so important every time, and sometimes I'll say isn't it beautiful when somebody can hold the vision for us? Or when somebody else, like right now for you, for our listeners, could say, this is what I'm doing and I have had evidence that it works. And then people can also try it in their own life.
Sarah Tacy: So you can see evidence outside of you and then Yeah, just to really search. I notice, depending on my physiology, it's what stories come back to me.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: So if I am super tired and I'm feeling grumpy, or I've had an encounter with my husband that does not feel positive every other time that I've felt that way, those stories [00:20:00] will come forward.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. Oh my God.
Sarah Tacy: Yeah. So when I switch my physiology. I will also then remember all the other times I felt that good or all the other times I've taken risk and it's worked out, or when it didn't work out, like what was my next step. Yeah. And so it's helpful because we have a library that could probably support any story.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: So it's important, like what stories do we really need to help bolster us in the direction that feels most alive and most authentic? And I think a bit edgy. There's something about stabilizing and then coming to edge and then stabilizing again.
Dana B. Myers: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think you're it beautiful.
Dana B. Myers: Every word you just spoke. Thank you for that. And I think the edge is really important and the edge is also really important to, you know, keep us from what we talked about a while ago, which is like the boredom or feeling like it's too slow. But the edge, going to the edge is then what allows us to remember, okay, wait, I know how to get back to [00:21:00] my sense of calm and peace and stability.
Dana B. Myers: Okay, I learned that lesson. And then we go to the edge again. 'cause we want another lesson. Yeah. It's like the wheel of fortune and the tarot. That wheel keeps on turning. And if we embrace the turning of the wheel as when we're on the top of the wheel, these high moments, we've learned the lesson.
Unknown: Yes.
Dana B. Myers: Things are thriving and it's come to fruition. Things are flowing. Opportunities love all the things. And we really celebrate it when we're at the top of the wheel. 'cause we know the wheel's gonna keep on turning and then we'll be at the bottom of the wheel in the underworld again, whether that's for a day, an afternoon, a week, a month, a year, we can celebrate being at the bottom of the wheel and the underworld because we know the richness of the lessons that we're going to glean from that experience.
Dana B. Myers: If we pay attention, if we open our hearts to it and then we know the wheel's gonna keep on turning again.
Sarah Tacy: Okay. I have a question there.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: So I love talking about the cycle of awareness and the [00:22:00] fertile void at the bottom. And anytime I'm in it, I'm like, damn it Sarah, you always talk about the richness of the fertile boy, but this freaking sucks.
Dana B. Myers: Okay.
Sarah Tacy: And I like, and I want to, like, when I hear you say Celebrate in the darkness, sometimes it's so hard that I like the idea of celebrating and then I want to celebrate, and then I might shame myself because I can't celebrate the darkness. So I am curious what your experience has been about being in the dark.
Sarah Tacy: Yeah. And the pleasure you might find there. Yeah. I dunno if you do. I don't know if
Dana B. Myers: those I do. Okay. You know, I find pleasure in everything. That's my mo like, can I find pleasure in, you know, a paper bag? Yes, I can. And ooh this comes right into play with what you brought up earlier, which you said is spell crafting a cousin to being that Capricorn achiever?
Dana B. Myers: And so the way that I find pleasure in the darkness is [00:23:00] by ritualizing it with spell casting. So whatever I'm working through, and I, my, my spell casting is for the light and for the dark. It's around the whole wheel. But yeah, one way to make your dark moments, your dark nights of the soul, your underworld journeys, however you wanna call them.
Dana B. Myers: One way to celebrate them is to ritualize them with a spell. It's to light a candle. Pour salt around it, what you know, inscribe on that candle, the darkness that you're experiencing, and then light that candle, melt that candle, you know, oh, I am consciously, actively melting my darkness right now. That's something to celebrate, right?
Dana B. Myers: You might still be in the darkness. It might last a while longer, but you are now. Co-creating in the darkness to move yourself. And so that's why, you know, for me, spell casting is equal parts magical and practical, right? And so [00:24:00] a spell, I bring in things I can feel, right? Herbs, oils, flowers, stones, candles, trinkets, keys, nails, you know, whatever.
Dana B. Myers: And you can get super witchy or you can keep it light. It doesn't matter. It's like it's your own spell. And so I've got things in my hands. This represents what I'm feeling. I'm carving in the feeling I want to release. So there's these physical acts of expressing what you're going through. And then it's like the celebration is right there.
Dana B. Myers: Oh wow. I'm doing something with my darkness. I'm gonna celebrate that. So you're celebrating yourself for doing something to feel it. To process it, to move it. And then there's that. So it's all part of the magical, it's tangible, but it's magical, right? Casting a spell, speaking what you're releasing, or speaking what you're calling in, right?
Dana B. Myers: I'm calling in an exit from the [00:25:00] underworld. Or if you're doing manifesting work with your spell work or whatever it is. But then there's also the practical, because a lot of people, a lot of clients not too many, but a portion of clients will come in and will work up their spell and they'll go home and then they'll burn their spell for three days and then they'll call me and they'll say it didn't happen.
Dana B. Myers: And I said A, we gotta give this some time. And B, have you started your, I call it an action sprint, right? For every spell that I develop, there's the story of the spell. What is the story you wanna tell with your spell, or what's the new story you're creating with the spell? What is the spell ritual itself?
Dana B. Myers: What's the intention? What's the incantation or the candle or the notions of the potions or whatever. And then what's the sprint? What is the action sprint that you are going to put into motion? This is the Capricorn, right? What is the action sprint that you are going to do in your real life to support your magical spell work?
Dana B. Myers: I believe they all have to work [00:26:00] in tandem. And to me that just sounds like a huge celebration. Wow, I've got a situation in my life and this is how I'm working through it. That's freaking magical. I'm gonna celebrate that. So the celebration is both in patting myself on the back for doing something, but it is also in celebrating working with beautiful things to process what's going on in your inner world and your inner life.
Dana B. Myers: And that to me is a celebration.
Sarah Tacy: If trauma physiology is often thought of as being disempowered and alone. Those are the two main, as I see it, the two main tenets of trauma physiology. Okay. So when I hear you talk about, you said
Dana B. Myers: disempowered,
Sarah Tacy: disempowerment. So you feel like you're without choice.
Dana B. Myers: Ah, okay.
Sarah Tacy: And you feel hopeless. So there's nothing you can do and you feel alone. And so the aloneness is really important because the thing that happens to you or in your life, it's often in front of [00:27:00] others, but you feel like nobody understands and you feel like it's on you to figure it out.
Sarah Tacy: And so when I hear you talk about spell casting, you're using the phrase co-creation. So already I'm not alone. Already. I'm reminding myself that there are forces that are greater than me, beyond me, within me, around me. Oh yeah.
Sarah Tacy: So I'm now taking that part out. And then the other thing that can happen to me that brings me deeper into shame is I should be able to fix it.
Sarah Tacy: I should have the tools. But with a spell casting, it feels, again, because it's in the co-creation, it already feels more empowered. So I'm not looking at what did I do wrong or that, but it's, it feels empowered just even in I'm already doing something. I'm already doing something in honor of the process and also,
Dana B. Myers: yeah, not
Sarah Tacy: bypassing what I'm in, but to say, this is what I'm in and like naming the thing and Yes.
Sarah Tacy: Naming the, like the, show me the surprise and delight me. And so I can see in it already [00:28:00] such a. Gosh. Yeah. Like such a powerful portal where I'm not escaping, but I am also already moving. Like now it's in motion instead of stagnant.
Dana B. Myers: Yes. Yeah, a hundred percent. It is absolutely putting things in motion.
Dana B. Myers: I mean, when you're using the elements, you're using smoke, it's air, that's motion. Fire is transmutation, it's motion. You know, the, maybe I'll bring in some dirt or something. You know, I once created a huge fire. I think I may have talked about this in our last podcast. I set an altar on fire 'cause I used this dirt and I didn't realize what was in the dirt was so flammable.
Dana B. Myers: But I was like, you know, but bringing in the dirt, like what's living in that dirt? There's life. Then in the spell, there's a life force in the spell right. Water. You know, water has the power to. Hold our emotions and move our emotions and help us listen more deeply to our intuition. So we are not alone.
Dana B. Myers: We're working with the elements in spell [00:29:00] casting. And that's pretty impactful. Something that you said which is you know, I didn't fix this. Or the shame of I'm not fixing this. And I think that part of spell work is again, like you said, the allowing the surprise and delight me.
Dana B. Myers: You know, like in many traditions I will end my spells with, may this spell be for my highest good and the highest good of all this, or something better. Surprise and delight me, you know, surprise and delight me. And sometimes the outcomes of spell surprise and delight me in ways that I was like not asking for.
Dana B. Myers: I was like, shit, wait, that's not what I wanted guys like. Whoa. And then maybe a year later, the golden nugget of wisdom comes, or the desired outcome comes. And I go, oh yeah, okay, this or something better. I had to wait for it. So part of this spell was also teaching me patience and [00:30:00] allowing, right? So it's all those things and more.
Dana B. Myers: I mean, it is such, you know, creativity is a great tool for trauma, right? Creativity is a great tool for pain, for loss, for sadness, for stagnation, for stuckness. And, you know, creativity comes in a million different formats. For me, spell work, making altars. That's my art, that is my creativity. And so create the creativity of it, the magic of it, the material tools of it, it all, it's all moving me.
Dana B. Myers: It's all moving me. And I have enough evidence to know that all the spells deliver in some way. Which is really
Unknown: exciting
Dana B. Myers: and requires a lot of trust.
Sarah Tacy: Do you see a difference between a spell and a ritual?
Dana B. Myers: No. Okay. Not at all. I alternate the words for me. They're interchangeable. And it's so funny because I'm glad you brought that [00:31:00] up, because every, everything is a spell to me, and all rituals are spells and all spells are rituals, I guess, in my world.
Dana B. Myers: But not everyone is comfortable with the word spell. You know? It brings a lot with it. And so I do interchange them quite a bit to kind of soften the you know, the, you know, the maybe. Whatever outdated associations that the word spell brings. And I also think that some people think, oh, the word spell.
Dana B. Myers: You know, there's this thing with Etsy right now, the rise of the Etsy Witch. Oh.
Dana B. Myers: And witches selling spells. And the most popular spell on Etsy is The Good Weather on My Wedding Day Spell. And so people buy that spell for whatever, $13 and 33 cents on Etsy, and they're like it's guaranteed, right?
Dana B. Myers: Like it's gonna be good weather. And, you know, all magic doesn't work like that, so some people think Spell is an immediate outcome, you know, sometimes it is, but it's not [00:32:00] always. So ritual, I guess, in most people's minds has a little bit more of an expanded view of time, I suppose. What do you think
Sarah Tacy: Spell feels?
Sarah Tacy: A little bit more directed to me.
Dana B. Myers: Uhhuh. Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Even though there's a surprise and delight me, it feels also like you're being really honest with your intention. I, in general I just, I think this is something I would love to have more of in my life. I'm, you and I shared Generos Opia as a mutual friend, and she's really big into ritual, even though I've never done a ritual with her.
Sarah Tacy: And there's a part of me that's what does ritual mean to her? What does ritual, like, how does that show up? Is it in the way you wash your dishes? Ritual could be like washing your dishes and and then spells, which I guess here's the overlap is I think about who is a woman who said your word is your wand.
Sarah Tacy: Do you remember?
Dana B. Myers: I don't remember who [00:33:00] said that, but is, I mean,
Sarah Tacy: she's from like the 1920s and she was somebody who was really big. I'm gonna put it in the show notes. It's like a very obvious one.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. I mean, it's true. It's, you know, spells spelling, spell it yourself. Yes. We're spelling R outcomes, our destiny, our lives.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Yeah. And so I guess I'm so seeing like the power of words, but then Yeah, I see the way that you do your spells with the candles and I, you did one online I don't know if it was called spell casting. I loved it so much. I'm just gonna say, or two
Dana B. Myers: Oh the Yeah, please. The zoom that we did.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. Thank you. Have you ever done that again? One. No, but I want to, and I should. I
Sarah Tacy: loved it so much, but I guess I was like, oh, I guess she didn't like it because she didn't do it again. Because I get that in person is probably so
Dana B. Myers: no. Do you know what's really interesting? If we, can we, can you hold your thought?
Dana B. Myers: Yes. Or do you wanna say your thought first and then we'll circle back. 'cause this is like a, this is a great example to talk about. Okay. I think
Sarah Tacy: I've said all I wanna [00:34:00] say about ritual.
Dana B. Myers: Oh yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Spell
Dana B. Myers: casting.
Sarah Tacy: Except that before we go, I would love for you to walk us through a way that we could, you know, listeners could either cast their own spell for the spring or summer or do a ritual.
Sarah Tacy: But going back to your class and why I loved it so much. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. Is it, does it has the mystical, it has the candles. It has a vibe. But you had us fill out this spell like, so Capricorn. Ad libs. Yeah. And it was so great. That's what I did because it was like, choose from these five that would best describe what you're looking for in this section, for this reason.
Sarah Tacy: And then at the end there's this beautiful spell that rhymes, but is very specific. Was very specific to me. And it was fun to read. And I just enjoyed it so much because again, it was that mix of structure. So I didn't walk away being like, okay, I'm supposed to do this. And now I, but yeah, it had [00:35:00] structure and magic woven in and I was like, that was so fun.
Sarah Tacy: And I also felt like I walked away with something very specific for me.
Dana B. Myers: That's awesome. That is so awesome, and thank you for acknowledging that because I'm like a total worksheet, which, so when I lead a group spell, that's very much how I do it. I have a Mad Libs ad libs fill in the blank. I make it so that it rhymes, but that it is customized you know, give you options on archetypes or this or that, or what are you calling in and what are you releasing and instructions.
Dana B. Myers: It's super detailed. And so that it's not, you know, some concept that's way out there, you can go and do your spell. It's interesting and it's funny 'cause that is the format. I do wanna write a spell book, and that is the format of the spell book. And it is called Spell It Yourself. Ah,
Unknown: love
Dana B. Myers: it. It's a, and now that I've said it, I have to do it. But yeah, you know, I, it's so funny because. I have wanted to do more of those Zoom spell workshops. [00:36:00] And I haven't because I'm like, you know, then the old Dana comes in, how many people do you need to have and how much time are you gonna promote it?
Dana B. Myers: And is it worth the time you put in if only 10 people show up? And then I'm not allowing, you know. And so the place that I do wanna come at that from is what if one person shows up? Then I have a great one-to-one cell casting session and just, you know, this is another reminder to keep allowing myself to do the things that bring me joy.
Dana B. Myers: And to bring others joy and and to just keep that flow going. That's it's interesting that you brought that up 'cause that's one that rolls over every month on my little marketing plan. Like, when are you gonna do this, Dana? So I think I'm gonna do it. Thank you.
Sarah Tacy: Yeah. Great for me
Dana B. Myers: too.
Dana B. Myers: Totally, I'm gonna do that.
Sarah Tacy: And going back actually to your thing about home.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Just kind of throw that back.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah, totally.
Sarah Tacy: I don't know if you're a person where, like a [00:37:00] lot of things, like if you allow, then actually so many opportunities come to you. And how are you finding that with amplifying home?
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. And also I, there's this like little ting of the oh, and can we talk at all about like when things get hard, how you come back to yourself as well?
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. I mean, that is the thing, right? It's like how busy, you know, you're allowing, right? You're doing your Qigong on the grass with the birds and then the things, the opportunities roll in and then, you know, suddenly you're like away three nights a week 'cause you've got opportunities.
Dana B. Myers: Then you're not doing the homework or the bedtime or watching your favorite show with your son. So I think for me, that's almost like a week to week kind of a try and balance it. I love
Sarah Tacy: that.
Dana B. Myers: I have not, I'm 15 and a half years into motherhood. I have not figured out the [00:38:00] perfect balance of motherhood and work.
Dana B. Myers: I don't think I ever will. I just try to adjust it week to week. So if I have a really busy week, like I have a really busy week this week, I said yes to everything next week. I put busy blocks every single day in my calendar, which is an edge for me. 'cause then I'm like then I won't be making the money that I wanna make to make mama, you know?
Dana B. Myers: And I'm like, but no, I'm taking my parents on a cruise for their 80th birthday on Wednesday. I'm gonna leave Monday and Tuesday open to chill and prepare and get the decorations ready and buy us all little snack packs. Like I'm gonna live. Because my true wealth is my happy home and my happy family.
Dana B. Myers: So I'm gonna live and that, that comes up. People have asked me for appointments and I kept saying, you know, no I'm really, and as I'm saying it, no, I'm really sorry. I'm busy that week. Like I'm like feeling the anxiety in my throat, but you're
Unknown: not making your numbers, Dana,
Dana B. Myers: but you've [00:39:00] chosen to remember that your happy home is your true wealth.
Dana B. Myers: So it's a week, it's a week to week balancing act for me. A hundred percent week to week balancing act.
Sarah Tacy: You and I when we first got on, we're just like, oh, those moments when our kiddos, or our kiddos and us together are having like a challenging moment. And I was like, oh, it keeps going. You know, oh
Dana B. Myers: yeah.
Sarah Tacy: Oh, it doesn't just you know, I got through we're no longer in toddler sage, but I think I had this story, of course things get easier in many ways, but I had this story that at a certain age,
Dana B. Myers: yeah,
Sarah Tacy: they would just wanna do all the things and we would just get along better.
Sarah Tacy: And Beth is looking at me with her she kind of college age student. And just yeah, just the roller coaster. And we were both talking about then like the power of coming back to ourselves and I'm, i'm wondering if there's anything you wanna share about. Where you [00:40:00] are in your life and anything you've learned from parenting or being a
Dana B. Myers: mom.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. So it's really interesting. My kids are now 12 and 15. My son, they're amazing. And right now, you know, I think acknowledging when you have these good, quote unquote, they're all good phases, but some are more challenging, right? When you have these good phases where like both the kids are sort of thriving in the moment, right?
Dana B. Myers: And things do feel a bit easier again, it's like top of the wheel. Yes. Oh my god, this is great. Yeah. Thank you. That's because you know that wheel's gonna turn and one kid's gonna have a fight with their best friend, and the other one's gonna do this, and the other one's gonna do that.
Dana B. Myers: And so acknowledging when things are really good and remembering when things are challenging, that everything changes always. Everything changes always. My daughter is about to turn 13. She's incredibly beautiful. She's developing, she's [00:41:00] smart. I know what I got up to at 13 and so I am definitely like on the precipice of whoa and feeling now how my mother must have felt as she was like, you know, intuiting what I was getting into.
Dana B. Myers: And so I, and I am, you mentioned like a parenting group. I am part of a parenting group. Every other Monday, me and seven other moms with teenage kids, we go, we talk about different things. That's very helpful. I have found that's very helpful. Because it's a place to remember that you're not alone and that every parent is going through something.
Dana B. Myers: It may not be exactly what you're going through, but every parent's going through something. So you remember you're not alone and then you get advice. Okay, I could try this. I could try that. I think ultimately for me, my big thing that is super alive right now is just finding time and [00:42:00] things to connect with each one of my kids.
Dana B. Myers: I never thought I would watch anime. I am deep into anime now with my 15-year-old, and I love it. I had no idea I was gonna love it. I love it. Now we talk about the storylines. We talk about the characters, we talk about the animation, we talk. This is this anchors us, he knows I wanna talk about it.
Dana B. Myers: And so I don't always wanna talk about it, but I will, you know, and it connects us with my daughter. A lot of the times I'm just going in and like sitting on her bed and listening, just kind of like waiting, not trying to fix anything. For a while when there was girl drama, I was trying to fix everything.
Dana B. Myers: You should tell this girl this and go to the court. And now I'm just like, oh, tell me more. You know? Tell me more is a great phrase. Tell me more. Tell me more. Tell me more. And just bite through your lip until it's bloody, you know, before you tell them what to do. Just say, tell me more. I think that is if I had to say kind of what's alive for me right now in parenting and what's working.
Dana B. Myers: Those things are working.
Sarah Tacy: [00:43:00] Oh, that was
Dana B. Myers: so good.
Sarah Tacy: We were with Deb Kerns Kate and I were with Deb Kerns a few months ago. And. She was sharing some of her parenting advice and I think she said, shared something similar. I won't share her specific story. It was hilarious. Yeah. But she was essentially just and before ever going towards advice, it's just like another question.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah, anything else you wanna tell me? What do you think about that? And just like listening and asking questions before it's 'cause some, she said, you know, sometimes their questions are like, oh shoot, like how much do I say about that? Or what what is my take? Have I healed that in myself?
Sarah Tacy: And sometimes yeah. So I'm loving this. Tell me more. And you are reminding me that our favorite pediatrician, my girl was my girl just Sophia. She was like under two years old. And she was saying that when her teenage daughter was going through a hard time she would just set a timer. And sit on the end of her bed for 20 minutes and not say anything.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: [00:44:00] And she's and for the first couple weeks she didn't talk to me, she didn't say anything and then she might say a few words.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: And eventually we're having full conversations. Yeah.
Dana B. Myers: And
Sarah Tacy: I find myself sometimes being like, I don't know what to talk about. And so this is such a good reminder
Dana B. Myers: Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: About presence and
Dana B. Myers: Yes.
Sarah Tacy: You know, joining together in things of like pleasure and play, but also just.
Dana B. Myers: The
Sarah Tacy: willingness to allow what's gonna come.
Dana B. Myers: Yes. The willingness to allow what's gonna come. Totally. That's it. I've gotten through everything else in parenting up to this point. There's evidence that I could continue to get through what I come up against.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. And into, yeah. And the
Sarah Tacy: parenting group thing, I just wanna say one more thing on that is that my husband's being a men's group for the last two years.
Dana B. Myers: Oh, nice. Yeah.
Sarah Tacy: And they gather every other Thursday. Yeah. And he generally has some questions, like he has some structure to it and these guys go deep [00:45:00] and they are really like learning about themselves.
Sarah Tacy: And at first I'm like, oh, that's so cute. Like my girlfriends and I like, we just get together and there's this flow. But actually I feel like so many of us feel really isolated and. We might say oh, a moon circle or this or that, but something about an every other week where it's a set day.
Dana B. Myers: Yep.
Sarah Tacy: So it's a little bit more predictable.
Sarah Tacy: Yep. And you say even showing up for parenting? So many of my friends and I are always on like self evolution and what's next? To even just show up and talk about that and just hold space for that.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. '
Sarah Tacy: cause I do sometimes think oh, it's just us, it's just in our house, or it's just, and so I am really thankful that you mention that because I think that would be something that I would love to do.
Dana B. Myers: Yeah. It's super helpful. It's super helpful. [00:46:00] I came up with three spring rituals. Okay. So the first one, because it's us, is called the Pleasure awakening Ritual. Okay. The ritual number two is spring cleaning and spell casting. Okay.
Dana B. Myers: 'cause we are in spring. And the third one involves glitter. And it's called the light Finds Me Spell. So we can do salt, lemon, and Sweep. The light finds me with glitter or the pleasure awakening. I mean, we could maybe get through two, I don't know.
Sarah Tacy: If I get to choose, I mean, I think I would choose pleasure, awakening, and spring cleaning.
Sarah Tacy: Beth, you are also here. Do you wanna vote for one?
Unknown: Those two are what appealed to me too. Yeah.
Dana B. Myers: Okay, cool. Okay. Then I shall play with the glitter on my own. So listen, you know, I'm all about pleasure, right? I'm always putting put some pleasure on it. It's like a motto [00:47:00] that I live by. And so I do put a lot of pleasure into my work for really important manifesting spells.
Dana B. Myers: I will often layer in pleasure, magic as I'm casting the spell, but this is not that. This is sort of connecting our pleasure. Returning. And opening again in the same way that buds return and open in the spring, right? So what we can see in nature with the buds starting to pop out of the grass and the ground we can also see happening in our body.
Dana B. Myers: So really this is a spell and a ritual about allowing your pleasure to come back to you or allowing yourself to discover your pleasure this spring in a new way, or discover something new about it. And so really super simple. The first step is to just turn on some music that makes you wanna move.
Dana B. Myers: There is a song called This Dance by an artist named Kyil, K-Y-R-I-L, that I am loving right [00:48:00] now for this spell. So turn on this song called This Dance Place. Your Hands on Your Body, right? And you start to move and all you do is ask What would feel good right now. What would feel good right now and what wants to bloom?
Dana B. Myers: Not like I have to have an orgasm right now, or I have to feel pleasure, or I have to come, I have to be sexy. No, this is just simply putting your hands on your body, letting some music move you, and asking what wants to open and what would feel good right now. All right. You can light a candle right after you move and just tune into your intuition and write down what wants to feel good.
Dana B. Myers: That is crazy. Super simple spell and ritual right. I love this next one, the spring clean and spell casting using salt, lemon, and a broom. I love my broom. [00:49:00] Okay. I'm a classic witch in that way. I love my broom so much. I never knew what a powerful tool a broom was until a few years ago. So get your broom, get some salt.
Dana B. Myers: You can just put out some table salt. Doesn't have to be special, although if you want special salt, Etsy is the place. And really this spell is a very physical spell, you are moving in this spell. And yes, of course, spring cleaning when we clean our homes. It's aesthetic, right? We feel good.
Dana B. Myers: We see more beauty in our lives, therefore we feel more beauty in our lives. But this is really about cleaning your energy. So you are not just wiping down surfaces, you are clearing the residue and stories and stuckness and any stagnation that you may have felt in the last few months. So you get your salt first and you sort of wanna ceremonially with whatever kind of, you know, feminine witchy flare that is of your unique preference.
Dana B. Myers: Kind of toss the salt into [00:50:00] any spot in your house that you feel needs a cleanse. You could just toss it right over yourself as well, if you, yourself is the one that needs the cleanse. And as you toss it, you are gonna say this very simple spell, which is with this salt I cleanse, any residue, any stuckness, any stagnation from my space and from my field.
Dana B. Myers: And then you're gonna take your amazing broom and you're gonna dance with your broom. You gotta activate your broom. You wanna activate your magical tools. So dance with your broom. You could pretend you're flying on it. You could just sort of like dance with it as if it's a partner, because it is a partner, right?
Dana B. Myers: And you're cleansing ritual. And you're cleansing spell. And you're gonna open up a door and sweep towards the door. And out the door. If there's a lip on the door and you can't just sweep it directly out, get your dust pan, sweep it into the dust pan and then dispose of it in a ritualistic way. What does that mean?
Dana B. Myers: That can mean you flush it down the toilet and say, [00:51:00] I now flush all the residue, stuckness and stagnation never to return again to my life. You can pour it in the garbage. You can, you know, if there's I wouldn't recommend pouring it into the water. We don't wanna mess up our water systems, but you could bury it, right?
Dana B. Myers: Do something witchy with it, and then lemon. Lemon is also a really powerful magical tool because you know, its brightness kind of cuts through our shit, right? When we cut a lemon, it shifts our moods, right? And that's ultimately what spell casting is. And this is a super spell. Like you could just smell a lemon.
Dana B. Myers: That's a spell. It cuts through our shit. It cuts through our moods. So you can get some warm water, squeeze the lemon into it, and then simply wipe down any key surfaces, right? And typically think about surfaces that have meaning doorways, right? When we think of doorways, we can think, oh, this is a door opening spell.
Dana B. Myers: I'm [00:52:00] cleansing my door with this bright citrusy lemon water because I want to open the door to my next chapter. Simple. I open the door to my next chapter. That's your spell right? Or you cleanse the space where you work with your lemon water, I now cleanse and clear the space so that fresh ideas can emerge.
Dana B. Myers: You're writing your spells in your own time. Like it doesn't have to be some big, crazy, long, rhyming thing. You're just writing your spells and pairing it up with the physical, tangible motion to bring the magical and the practical together. Can you, I'm gonna go backwards just a little bit with salt.
Sarah Tacy: You say With salt, I cleanse any residue? Stuckness. Can you read it one more time? And stagnation From my space and from my field? So again, the space is the tangible, my field is the magical, the energetic.
Sarah Tacy: Okay. I'm obsessed and and you [00:53:00] know, I'm just hearing like whistle while you work. Like it should be fun, you know, get weird with it. Get silly with it.
Sarah Tacy: In resource. We talked about the generative field in week six, and so much of that is, I feel like so much of what you're saying right now, which is if you were to wash the dishes or do the dishes instead, you can tolerate it and breathe and be like, okay, I'm grateful, blah.
Sarah Tacy: But if you turn on music and you dance while you're doing it, you are actually going to get energy instead of slowly drain energy's. And everything that you're saying to me, and like the lemon, especially when you're talking about cutting through, has this like generative energy to it that leaves so much room to be surprised by as well.
Sarah Tacy: Yeah. And it just feels like a really co fun, co-creation. It feels so doable. I'm like, Ugh, I love it. I can do this. I don't feel intimidated. Exactly. You don't need a special candle, a special blend of herbs, a specialist, all that's fun, and I [00:54:00] love that. But for this purpose, I thought, what are some spells that anyone can do with the things that they have in their home?
Sarah Tacy: Thank you so much. And for, oh my God, thank you listeners. I wish you could see Dana and the way she glows, but also I wish you could see the room behind her. The wallpaper, the golden shelves the candle one different candles of all different shapes and colors. Oh my God, they're look
Dana B. Myers: at her
Sarah Tacy: fun.
Dana B. Myers: Look at Medusa. Wow. Look at Medusa. She's new.
Sarah Tacy: Medusa is almost the size of her own head. She's, there's not a small candle guys either. Just
Dana B. Myers: no, I like a big spell. I like a big spell. I like a big spell.
Sarah Tacy: Dana, thank you so much for coming on. I love being in your presence. I love what you bring to this world.
Sarah Tacy: I'm so happy you're here in this world doing what you do, and thank you.