What if art was never just art? In this episode of Your Art Is A Spell, I'm taking you with me to the Humboldt Forum in Berlin — one of the most beautiful and complicated buildings in the world — to explore a question that has been living in me since I arrived in this city: What is art, really, and what happens to it when it gets archived?

Every culture that has ever existed on this earth has made art. And almost without exception, every culture that has ever made art has also practiced magic. These were never two separate things. They are one impulse — the human insistence that the invisible is real, that life is more than what you can touch and measure.

Art is living emergence. It's what happens when human intention enters into relationship with material and something comes through that neither the maker nor the material could have produced alone.

The Humboldt Forum holds thousands of sacred objects from cultures across the globe — objects that in their original context were never just art. They were portals. They were alive. And there they are, inside a reconstructed Prussian palace. I walk through this space not to perform outrage, but to feel what happens to living emergence when it gets archived. And what I find surprises me.

Featuring the Joliba Friendship Choir and the Pet Shop Bears performing live inside the museum on the day I visited — because life force finds its way through.

This episode 2 of Season 2: Tactical Magic.

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-art-is-a-spell/id1796481637

If this episode speaks to you, share it with a fellow magic-maker. Your art is a spell — and it is changing the world around us.

Time Stamps
00:00:00] Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell | Berlin Artist Residency Introduction
[00:00:24] Researching Wixárika Sacred Art at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
[00:00:50] Introducing Season 2: Tactical Magic
[00:01:03] Every Culture Has Made Art AND Magic — They Are One Impulse
[00:01:28] Art vs. Western Regimentation: How Magic & Art Were Separated
[00:02:18] Defining Art as Living Emergence
[00:02:57] Heading to the Humboldt Forum: Sacred Objects in a Prussian Palace
[00:03:37] Arriving at the Humboldt Forum | The Palace Is the Message
[00:04:49] Colonial Collections: Objects from West Africa, the Americas & Asia
[00:05:07] Can You Feel the Life Force? Vibration & Residue in Archived Objects
[00:05:22] Surprise: Live Choirs Performing Inside the Museum
[00:05:40] 🎶 Joliba Friendship Choir Live at the Humboldt Forum Foyer
[00:06:39] 🎶 Pet Shop Bears Gay Men's Choir Live in the Americas Section
[00:07:25] Sacred Ceramics & Ancestral Altars from Mexico, Peru, Guatemala & More
[00:08:02] Art Is Living Emergence — Even Behind Glass, the Life Force Persists
[00:08:11] On Archival Practices & Repatriation at the Humboldt Forum
[00:08:44] Wixárika Yarn Paintings, Niericas & Sacred Shamanic Technologies
[00:09:06] The Artwork Is the Portal. The Making Is the Ceremony.
[00:09:09] What Does the Archive Do to a Portal? Interrupting the Circuit
[00:09:50] The Humboldt Forum's Colonial History Room — Naming the Tension
[00:10:20] Art Made with Intention Cannot Be Fully Contained
[00:10:44] Sitting Outside the Museum: Energy Fields & Tactical Magic in Berlin
[00:11:06] Using Your Body as Antenna — Resonating with Life on Earth
[00:12:13] The Creative Calling: When Inspiration Moves Through You
[00:12:31] Woken Up in the Middle of the Night to Create — Do You Know This Feeling?
[00:13:15] Your Art Is a Spell: Channeling the Divine Every Time You Create
[00:13:46] Tactical Magic for Witches Who Feel Untrained or Outside the Lineage
[00:14:06] There Is No Right or Wrong Way to Practice Tactical Magic
[00:14:48] We Are at a Crossroads: Why Tactical Magic Is Needed Right Now
[00:15:07] Your Presence & Body Hold All the Wisdom You Need
[00:15:22] Vibrate. Resonate. Channel. | Closing Invocation from Berlin

Welcome to Season 2 of Your Art Is A Spell. In this premiere episode, we introduce the concept of Tactical Magic, the use of ritual, art, and ancient wisdom as tools for survival and agency in difficult times. Join me on a journey to the Palm Springs Art Museum for the groundbreaking exhibition, Queer Arcana: Art, Magic & Spirit. Spanning over a century of work from 1909 to 2026, this show reveals how queer, trans, and gender-expansive artists have long used the esoteric to build worlds where they were once excluded. From the tarot of Rachel Pollack to my own social practice ritual, Give Us Home Spider, we look at how art functions not just as decoration, but as a technology of the spirit and a powerful act of political resistance.

Video Chapters
00:00 – Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell Season 2
00:30 – Reclaiming Sovereignty & Agency in Difficult Times
01:05 – Artist Residency in Berlin: The Human Machine
01:40 – Traveling to Palm Springs: Queer Arcana Exhibition
03:30 – Arrival at Palm Springs Art Museum
04:15 – What is Tactical Magic? Defining the Theme
05:15 – Magic as Resistance: Survival at the Margins
07:10 – Inside the Queer Arcana Exhibition: Art, Magic & Spirit
08:08 – Art as Spellcraft: A Technology of the Spirit
09:27 – The Q+ Art Initiative at Palm Springs Art Museum
10:00 – The Six Portals of Queer Arcana (Section Walkthrough)
11:53 – "Give Us Home Spider": My Social Practice Ritual (2017)
13:00 – Why Queer People Turn to Divination & Ritual
14:13 – Visionary Artists: Candice Lin & Hilma’s Ghost
15:15 – Honoring Queer Lineages: Clarity Haynes & Agnes Pelton
16:00 – Walter Mercado & Nao Bustamante: Latinx Astrological Legacies
16:18 – Remembering Ancestors: Genesis P-Orridge & Nancy Azara
16:50 – The Desert as a Place of Vision & Sanctuary
18:18 – Honoring Rachel Pollack & Austin Osman Spare
19:12 – Closing: Your Art is a Spell

Explore the Exhibition:

Queer Arcana at Palm Springs Art Museum: https://www.psmuseum.org/exhibitions/queer-arcana

The Q+ Art Initiative: https://www.psmuseum.org/art/q-plus-art

The artists included in this exhibition are:
Carlos Alfonzo, Steven Arnold, Nancy Azara, Judy Baca, Elijah Burgher, Nao Bustamante, Cameron, Tee Corrine, Jayne County, Frances Salomé España, Edgar Fabián Frías, Russell FitzGerald, Sergio Hernández Francés, Hilma's Ghost, Tamara Gonzales, Marsden Hartley, Sadao Hasegawa, Richard Hawkins, Clarity Haynes, Joseph Liatela, Candice Lin, Fred Lonidier, Billie Luisi-Potts, Daniel Correa Mejía, Mundo Meza, Genesis P-Orridge, Agnes Pelton, Naudline Pierre, Rachel Pollack, Eric-Paul Riege

To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell
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Artwork used in cover is by Devan Shimoyama

Your Art Is A Spell
Season 1 Episode 21

You are not broken. You are becoming. This finale of Your Art Is a Spell reveals the sacred truth of mutation — how every act of art, imagination, and creation shifts timelines and transforms the world. Inspired by Octavia Butler, Mark Mothersbaugh, and cosmic astrology of 2025, this is your call to power.

Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to the Season Finale of Your Art Is a Spell
Gratitude and reflection on Season 1 of the podcast/video series.

00:28 – A Secret Message for Freaks, Weirdos & Mutants
An empowering invitation for those who feel different to embrace their gifts.

01:10 – Mutation Is Our Birthright: Art, Change & Liberation
How transformation and mutation are sacred acts of resistance and creation.

01:32 – Unlocking Psychic & Spiritual Gifts (Dreams, Intuition, Synchronicity)
Honoring our innate spiritual technologies and creative powers.

02:17 – Remembering Our Gifts Through Art & Ancestors
Stillness, creativity, and ancestral connection as portals of transformation.

02:44 – Octavia Butler on Change: God Is Transformation
Wisdom from Octavia Butler on becoming and collective mutation.

03:09 – My Story: East Los Angeles, Undocumented Roots & Resilience
Personal journey from systemic barriers to academic and creative success.

04:06 – Mutating Beyond Expectations: Art, Healing & Magic
How breaking cycles and choosing transformation creates new realities.

05:03 – Art as Counter-Spell & Sacred Technology
Art slows us down, heals, and reshapes our futures.

05:31 – Every Creation Mutates Reality: Portals & New Futures
Every artistic act shifts timelines and births new selves.

05:55 – Psychic Gifts as Antennas: Tuning Into Subtle Energies
Dreams, intuition, and guidance as tools for survival and creation.

06:17 – Freaks Will Change the World: You Are the New Story
Celebrating outsiders as leaders of change and new futures.

06:39 – Astrology 2025: Neptune & Saturn in Aries (Mutation & Fresh Starts)
How current astrological transits support courage, action, and transformation.

07:24 – You Are Becoming: Embracing Metamorphosis & Power
Affirmations of growth, evolution, and reclaiming gifts.

07:43 – Season 2 Sneak Peek: Writing My First Book on Art Spells
Invitation to co-create a new book on art magic and creativity.

08:29 – Stay Connected: Newsletter, Community & Future Offerings
Ways to connect, share with friends, and receive updates.

08:50 – Closing Blessing: Your Art Is a Spell That Changes the World
Final gratitude for Season 1 and a reminder of your creative power.

Links

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