Glossophobia: The fear of public speaking… Weekly Recap 6/2/2025

Have I ever shared my fear of public speaking?

It might seem strange since I regularly post about places and events where I’m doing exactly that. And heck, I even encourage folks to attend! But ten years ago I would have completely balked at the idea of getting up in front of a group of people and explaining or teaching something.

Let me just clarify something: I’ve been performing music publicly since I was a little kid. I had to sing in the church choir from around the age of 6. I had piano recitals starting in 5th grade. And yeah, I’ve been a part of quite a few musical groups since then and I’ve been on plenty of stages…

But playing music in front of people is way different from speaking.

Talking is hard, man. Words are hard.

So I’ve taken baby steps like testing things out with smaller groups. I also have a short ritual that I do before every speaking engagement… and it helps. Most of all, however, I find solace in talking to other people who might share the same fear — people who have been doing this for a lot longer than I have and still get nervous.

Maybe the fear never goes away. Maybe we just find better ways to react to it. And I’m okay with that.

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Good morning and happy Monday, friends! And happy to start to June!

Another week means new things.. so here’s where we’re at…

• A new book review: The Poison Path Herbal
• A new podcast episode: Unveiling the Carnyx
• A new article: I finished the second and final part of “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Energetic Cleansing.”

Wow… all the new things!

On Wednesday, Selene and I went out for a bingo night at our local dive bar!

And we won a few things! Free drink, free app, and a free dessert. Clearly the bingo gods were on our side. The food is terrible, but the games are fun.

I received my first series of cover proofs from Crossed Crow’s art department. I’m very excited to be seeing progress made here… and I cannot wait to see how my book’s final appearance will turn out. I can’t show you any of that yet, but I can show you Loki being a studio cat.

And I can also show you what it looks like when you step into a giant banyan tree and look straight up to the sky.

I posted Anthony Rella’s interview. We had some technical difficulties during recording, so the editing phase was a little more difficult for me than usual, but I think everything turned out great in the end. He was able to provide a really interesting perspective on how psychology and magick can intertwine, so you should definitely put it on your watch list.

On Friday, Selene and I went out for a little date night at once of our favorite restaurants.

She got ceviche and I got arrisotado. They were delicious.

And then… we left for the rest of the weekend to do some spiritual work! I can’t really tell you more than that, but it was all very fulfilling and much needed.

There’s quite a few things that are happening this month… and in the background, I’ve been trying to prepare for them.

First up, Summer Magick Fest. I’ll be presenting a workshop on scrying and magick mirrors. Selene and I will be participating in a panel on Prison Ministry. And yesterday morning, I also decided to set up an altar to Pan in their new “Temple Room,” which I’m very excited to see.

After that, my own class series starts, which I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about, but I’m just going to keep reminding you anyway.

And then at the end of the month, I’ve got another “Wyrd Wednesday” scheduled with Christiana Gaudet… where we talk more about the Elder Futhark Runes. I’ll give you a little bit of additional info on that when we get closer to the date!

I think that’s all for now. In the meantime, I’ve got classes to prepare, workshops to write, interviews to conduct, and videos to edit… and I’ll also be here giving rune readings.

Stay tuned for more soon!