Can Spirit + Luxe Live Together? {Changes coming!}

I have a few confessions to make. Let’s start with I don’t meditate every single day. And when I do meditate it’s for about 10-15 minutes at a time, unless I’m doing a guided meditation or shamanic journey that is going to take longer.I also don’t do rituals for every full moon, new moon or seasonal change. So you wont be surprised when I tell you that I don’t live in an ashram and I’m not an aspiring yogini.Don’t get me wrong, I’m a spiritual practitioner with a hardcore practice of gratitude, intention setting, mindfulness, divination and daily connection with Spirit. I can work magick with the best of them {and you know I’m serious because I even used a “K”}. But spirituality isn’t all there is to my life.I have a lot of interests that aren’t spiritual and a lifestyle that some might consider very non-spiritual. For example there are the times when people think I’ve gone missing because I’m totally unreachable when a new Call of Duty game comes out...or when I binge on a whole season of Party Down South of Jersey Shore in one wayward couch surfing day.Then there is the collection of designer handbags I’ve started to put together or my love of drinking Dom Perignon* on a Tuesday just because. Or there’s the $50 bottle of nail polish I have {come on, Christian Louboutin red!} or the time I spent $45 on a tape dispenser for my desk {come on, Kate Spade!}.The thing is that I am very blessed and full of gratitude to be able to live a little luxe. Not a lot luxe...like not Rich Kids Of Instagram luxe {I'm not writing this from the veranda of my private villa overlooking the ocean in the south of France...yet}, but in the relative terms of where I’ve been and where I could be, I’m livin’ kinda luxe. Between my business and my husband’s income, we live well.  I'm not shy about how I live now but I know that it can trigger some people's negative money mindsets and associations with wealth and luxury. People sometimes think that I don't know what it's like to not have two nickels to rub together. NOT TRUE! In my early 20s I lived in an attic apartment with no heat, no gas, no stove and one window that opened with a terrible roommate because I had no money. The $200 a month for that was all I could afford.I've come a long way from where I was and I am grateful every single day for that. The work I've done with manifesting, Law of Attraction, and money mindset contributed to all of that. I'd like to think that by sharing things around my current lifestyle it can be inspiring to some to see beyond their current circumstances and limitations {if they want to...you have to decide if and when you need to make changes to your money mindset}.But this brings up some issues from time to time. I do have people give me a little shit here and there for having a little money, spending that money, and then “claiming to be spiritual”. I don’t know what’s more offensive, bringing my spirituality into question or trying to tell me what I should do with my money.I’ve talked in the past about how I feel there’s a huge disconnect between the concepts of spirituality and money. There are people who feel if you’re doing anything spiritual to help others you should be doing it for free or you should somehow take a vow of poverty.

Fuck no!

Maybe in the 12th century but not today, because unlike then nobody else is housing me, clothing me or feeding me in exchange for my work and I have a right to do those things with whatever taste I wish. Mine just happens to be a little pricey {and blingy}.All of that aside, yes I am spiritual, yes I’m blessed to have some cash, yes I live a little luxe and yes I have interests completely unrelated to spirituality. Sometimes that’s all really, really hard to keep separate for the sake of my blog and my business. That’s why I’m making a bit of a change to my blog.A lot of these changes are coming mainly to my blog. This isn't going to have to big of an impact on what I offer when it comes to courses, products, and services. I will remain firmly focused on sharing spiritual, magical and ritual tools and practices across the board. That said I am going to be making a few changes to my reading {all good change} and I'll also be creating an entirely new 1-on-1 coaching offering that will be more of a spiritual lifestyle program that combines the best parts of the two types of sessions I offer now.I’m sick of keeping “spiritual + biz Jess” separate from “luxe it up and lifestyle lovin’ Jess”. So I’m bringing lifestyle stuff into my blog because spirituality doesn’t live in a vacuum. Spirituality is part of all aspects of my life and my life is more than just spirituality.I started blogging in 1998 {yay for AOL personal pages} as a way to share with friends what I was up to and what was in my head at the time. Then I moved on to writing in an MSN profile/blog-like page and in 2004 I started a LiveJournal. That account still exists and I went back and looked through it and it made me kind of sad.I would write about rituals and meditations and magic but I also talked about movies, books, shopping adventures, {and at the time} going clubbing in about equal measure. Of course back then I wasn’t trying to run a business attached to my blog so I wasn’t self-conscious of talking about whatever I wanted. At the same time looking at that stuff made me miss feeling free to share whatever was on my mind and whatever I was excited about at the time.I started to get a bit hesitant about sharing personal stuff on my blog after an Instagram incident in 2013 involving Pixel and a Birkin. It made me more sad than anything else. The fact that people could get so triggered by a picture just blew my mind a bit.  The fear I have {and I admit its a fear} is that if I decide to write about something like my favorite hair products right now the day after writing a post about how do recover from your first shamanic journey that it’s going to confuse some people at best and upset others at worst.I’m dealing with that fear by using a healthy dose of Fuck It Therapy {have you read that book or the other book yet?}.

I’m just doing this.

 I’m going to be blogging about all the things I normally do, just like how I usually do, but I’m also going to be blogging about other parts of my life...some luxe, some not so luxe, but many totally unrelated to spirituality. I’ve added four new categories to the sidebar - Lifestyle, Beauty, Leisure, and TI:heart: - which will get some use very, very soon.Because, babe, if you don't think there's a connection between fashion and beauty with magic and how you feel spiritually, you're missing out big time!One of the first things I’ll be writing about is my skincare and makeup routine which I got a bunch of questions about after I posted my most recent selfie around my birthday {which I’m now using for everything until I get some more professional pictures in a few weeks}.I guess you could say in a way I'm bringing the fun of personal blogging like back in the LiveJournal days to my blog and business today. I thought about starting a separate blog but that defeats the purpose of wanting to combine all aspects of who I am in one place authentically.So this is kind of like my stance that spirituality doesn’t live in a vacuum or bubble and as a way to show that you can work amazing magic, do meaningful meditations and even have a spiritual business that changes lives while carrying Louis Vuitton on your arm, getting blowouts and drinking Dom without having to hide it**.[wc_spacing size="20px"]A Few Footnotes...*I always feel like I need to clarify some of the story of my past. Yes, I had a drug and alcohol issue in my 20s but I wasn't an addict. I never went to rehab, never went into the hospital, wasn't ever in a position where I had to drop out from life for days, weeks or month at a time because I was coming down off a bender. After an overdose {a small one} and my rock bottom moment {which I talk about in my bio} I walked way from all drugs and most drinking. I don't do drugs anymore {haven't for 10+ years} but I've learned my limits with alcohol. So yes, despite my past I do still drink. **Please keep in mind that I'm talking about not hiding these things or these interests, which is not the same as flaunting them. I make no apologies for my tastes or lifestyle choices. I'm not flaunting them but simply choosing not to tuck them away any more.   [wc_spacing size="40px"]