What’s up, swimmers? I’m back in your eardrums today with a super rad conversation that I can’t wait to share.
In 2020 and 2021, I hosted a podcast called Discourse of the Stranger (DOTS), which was structured in part by two-episode groupings of a lecture or teaching episode, followed by a conversation. I loved getting to explore what I’d been learning about further, bobbing and weaving through complex topics in the company of another mind and soul, and it’s the thing I’ve missed the most since deciding to end the project at the end of 2021.
After this last year, which was a bit of a doozy for me—high, like really high, highs, and low low low, lows—I’m hanging in the liminal space of a spiritual transition; as I compacted and compiled over a decade of my “seeking” into The Witch’s Book of Numbers (coming soon in audiobook format!), and am now feeling quite back at the “beginning” of whatever rabbit hole I’ll climb down next.
So, I was thrilled when Hanna Williams, aka organic.abundance on Instagram, agreed to come chat with me about spiritual absurdity, online ecosystems, devotion to the path, and much, much more.
I don’t have beliefs. I have experiences.
I don’t believe in God. I experience Her.
- Hanna Williams
Hanna (she/her), was a staunch atheist until she was 19 years old, when she met God in a compost heap working on a farm. The Divinity in Nature led her down her own decade of religious studies, before she was initiated into the Tantric tradition that she practices, and guides others through, today.
Straight from her website, “this lineage of classical Tantra is grounded in working with the transformational power of Grace, developing positive orientations in the mind that empower growth and connection, and living in service to the world (the Divine itself.)”
She is also an artist, writer, meme generator, cook, athlete, and friend.
What if God was like an old, loving friend who’s been trying to contact you—and all you need to do is learn how to answer the phone?
- Hanna Williams
I’m so grateful to Hanna for saying yes to swimming in the soup with me, and for all of the deep, and lighthearted wisdom she had to share.
I know that she is going to be a key voice for me this year, and I hope that you also gain a ton of ease, grace, and guidance from listening to her story, her approach to spirituality, and her gorgeous ability to glean awe from what she refers to as the “Divine potentiality” that lives within all living beings.
Some of my favorite moments from this conversation include:
[regarding her memes] “I'm very, on purpose, giving people whiplash. spiritual whiplash... because I want to see who actually can hear what i'm saying through that."
“All joy and pleasure is actually derived from the inner self,
which is like the inner god that is dwelling within everything... if you do actually court that reality... every time you experience pleasure... can be a moment of momentary worship.”
[on embodying trickster energy] “I think that this...is really needed in the modern spiritual world because there needs to be a disruptive factor... I don't want people to take me [or spiritual topics] too seriously.”
But there really are so many golden nuggets within. Let me know which moments stood out to you!
If you’d like to work with Hanna further, there are many different ways to do so!
SITS 1x08 - Diving Deep with Hanna Williams