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Your Art Is A Spell

Edgar Fabián Frías

Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell, the podcast that ignites inspiring and transformative conversations about art as a magical practice. I'm your host, Edgar Fabián Frías—a multi-passionate artist, witch, therapist, and proud mutant shape-shifter. My art spells have reached audiences through social media, billboards, and skyscrapers and have even been placed on the surface of the moon! Join us as we explore how reclaiming your unique artistic voice and embracing bold creativity can transform your life and the world around you. Subscribe to the podcast and sign up for our newsletter at www.yourartisaspell.com to stay connected!

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  • 24 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 28 min
  • English

Episodes 24

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  • S2 · E12
    Friday · 19 min

    Who Gets to Make Culture? They’re Making Art, Therapy, and Care a Luxury

    What happens when a society decides an education is only worth funding if it yields an immediate corporate paycheck? In this episode, we unpack the dangerous federal student loan policy direction tying student loan access to graduate earning thresholds, putting fields like fine art, music, therapy, social work, counseling, and early childhood education directly in the crosshairs. This isn’t just an abstract economic debate about debt; it is a structural move that determines who gets to tell stories, be a part of creative culture, who can afford to care for others, and who gets to dream beyond basic survival. We explore the reality behind these artistic education loan restrictions, why underpaid labor does not equal low-value work, how gatekeeping artistic expression degrees threatens marginalized voices, making art as luxury, and what we can do to build interdependence, mutual support, care systems, and cultural resistance. What We Cover The policy shift: Tying federal student student loan policy aid to post-grad salary thresholds Why equating market price with human value deepens societal inequality How cutting aid for creative and care fields gentrifies culture and silences working-class voices Moving from survival mode into collective imagination Practical ways to support creative culture, cultural workers, fight systemic gatekeeping, and build community alternatives If this conversation resonated with you, share it with an artist, therapist, teacher, or friend who needs to hear it. Chapters 00:00 Introduction: The impact of education policies on society 02:01 The importance of culture, art, and care work 03:58 The implications of restricting access to creative fields 06:02 The cultural role of art, music, and storytelling 07:54 The economic undervaluation of care and creative labor 10:00 The importance of advocacy and policy change 11:52 Building community support and interdependence 13:57 Dreaming of a more inclusive and creative future 16:01 Conclusion: Valuing and supporting cultural and care work Community & Links Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/yourartisaspell 💌 Join the Mutant Magic newsletter and membership space: https://mutant-magic.com 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E11
    September 25 · 27 min

    Reclaiming Your Imagination When The World Is Falling Apart (A Guided Creative Ritual)

    We can still make art in the darkest of times, and that might be exactly when we need it most. When you feel depleted, scared, or overwhelmed by collective dread, play and sanctuary are deep, vital resources we still own. They don’t cost a dime, they require no permission, and no oppressive system can take them from your spirit. Reclaiming imagination one artwork at a time. In this episode of Your Art Is A Spell, we open a living creative sanctuary. We examine how media algorithms and authoritarian rhetoric weaponize fear to exhaust our nervous systems—and why reclaiming your imagination is an act of counter-insurgency. Then, we step directly into a 15-minute co-creation ritual using accessible, free digital tools to transmute heaviness into intuitive play. Whether you pull out paper and a ballpoint pen and have intentional image making, open up a digital art practice, hum a sound loop, or simply soak in the audio while resting, you are warmly invited into this circle. Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Art as a Response to Darkness 02:52 The Reality of Our Current Moment 04:19 Imagining a Collective Future 05:54 Art as a Sacred Boundary and Spell 06:25 The Power of Joy and Play in Repressive Times 07:30 Starting the Creative Practice 08:10 Using Childhood Joy as Inspiration 09:30 Expressing Emotions Through Art 11:03 Layering and Building in Digital Art 12:54 Drawing and Imagination 14:20 Adding Depth and Contrast 16:50 Narratives in Abstract Art 18:50 Working with Shapes and Colors 19:58 Using Tools for Depth and Dimension 21:41 Knowing When to Pause 22:50 The Body and Art as a Healing Practice 23:35 Quick Creative Practices for Daily Life 24:57 Your Art as a Sovereign Act 25:12 Community and Sharing Your Art 26:18 Join the Community and Final Thoughts Connect & Support the Magic Join the Patreon: Support the podcast and become part of the Spellcaster Circle at patreon.com/yourartisaspell Newsletter & Updates: Sign up at mutant-magic.com for event news and collaborations. Share What You Made: Post your piece—messy, digital, analog, or unfinished—and tag me on Instagram at @edgarfabianfrias ! Listen on the Go: Your Art Is A Spell is streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. If this conversation brought a little more space into your ribs, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs sanctuary today. Every interaction is a spell that amplifies our collective web. 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E10
    September 18 · 26 min

    Why You Feel Burned Out (And How to Actually Protect Your Energy)

    Why do you feel burned out even when you're "doing everything right"? In this episode of Your Art Is a Spell, host Edgar Fabián Frías breaks down why burnout and exhaustion are often not personal failures, but signs of extraction: from your labor, your attention, your money, and your imagination. This episode reframes what it really means to protect your energy. Instead of another spiritual bypass about cutting cords or raising your vibration, Edgar grounds the conversation in material reality: rising gas prices, corporate profits, environmental racism, and the attention economy, and asks what genuine protection looks like when the thing draining you is systemic, not personal. You'll learn a five-part framework for reclaiming your energy — name, return, retrieve, redirect, and join — plus a guided meditative practice with journaling prompts you can return to anytime: What is mine? What is not mine? What do I return today? What comes back to me? This episode is for artists, multi-passionates, outsiders, working-class creatives, and anyone trying to build a life and a practice inside systems that were never designed to hold all of who they are. If this episode resonates, leave a comment with one thing you're calling back to yourself, subscribe for more episodes on art, magic, and empowerment, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. 🔗 Join the private membership Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yourartisaspell 🔗 Sign up for the free newsletter: https://mutant-magic.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Rethinking Protection in a Systemic World 02:22 Protection in Spiritual Practice and Its Limitations 03:15 Protection Becomes Private Responsibility 04:26 Material Reality of Systemic Oppression and Environmental Racism 07:15 The Structural Wound and Personal Diagnosis 08:17 Agency, Boundaries, and Locating the Problem 09:26 Visible Arrangements of Power and Their Impact 10:48 Environmental Racism and Disparities in Exposure 11:36 Climate Catastrophe and Specific Industry Roles 12:29 Communities as Sites of Resistance and Knowledge 13:36 The Attention Economy and Catastrophe Fatigue 14:47 Protection as Discernment: Setting Boundaries 16:14 The Five Movements of a Protection Spell 19:11 Collective Power and Mutual Aid 22:37 Material Acts of Power and Closure 23:56 Acknowledging Crisis Without Surrendering Imagination 24:37 The Power of Relationships and Collective Action 25:19 Supporting Art as a Spell and Community Engagement 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Rethinking Protection in a Systemic World 02:22 Protection in Spiritual Practice and Its Limitations 03:15 Protection Becomes Private Responsibility 04:26 Material Reality of Systemic Oppression and Environmental Racism 07:15 The Structural Wound and Personal Diagnosis 08:17 Agency, Boundaries, and Locating the Problem 09:26 Visible Arrangements of Power and Their Impact 10:48 Environmental Racism and Disparities in Exposure 11:36 Climate Catastrophe and Specific Industry Roles 12:29 Communities as Sites of Resistance and Knowledge 13:36 The Attention Economy and Catastrophe Fatigue 14:47 Protection as Discernment: Setting Boundaries 16:14 The Five Movements of a Protection Spell 19:11 Collective Power and Mutual Aid 22:37 Material Acts of Power and Closure 23:56 Acknowledging Crisis Without Surrendering Imagination 24:37 The Power of Relationships and Collective Action 25:19 Supporting Art as a Spell and Community Engagement 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E9
    September 4 · 54 min

    The Border is Haunted: Art, Aliens & the Power to Create Your Own Reality

    In this episode, Ed Gomez shares the inspiring story of the Mexicali Biennial, exploring how artists can create their own platforms and challenge borders, both physical and metaphorical, through art and activism. We delve into themes of border fence politics, collective trauma, creative expression, social commentary, hauntings, paranormal borders, and the power of artistic agency. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to the Mexicali Biennial and its significance 02:25 Ed Gomez's background and artistic journey 06:39 Themes of formal and conceptual art practices 09:37 The paranormal borders project and its relevance 10:36 History and origins of the Mexicali Biennial 14:24 The role of biennials in art activism and critique 16:54 Building a community and sustaining the project 19:29 The publication 'Art Actions and Exchanges' 22:18 The future of border art and cultural exchange 28:55 The theme of this year's Paranormal Borders Biennial 36:23 Artists' agency and creating their own opportunities 43:44 The border as a haunted space and collective trauma 52:02 Art as a spell and a tool for change 53:10 Closing thoughts: What do you want to create? Learn more about the Mexicali Biennial by going to their website: http://mexicalibiennial.org/ Or follow them on Instagram ⁨@mexicalibiennial⁩ Love this show? Support us by becoming a member on Patreon: patreon.com/yourartisaspell 💌 Join the Mutant Magic newsletter and membership space: https://mutant-magic.com 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E8
    August 25 · 40 min

    Desire Over Dysphoria: Gender Rituals with Eli The Gender Doula

    In this episode of Your Art is a Spell, Eli, The Gender Doula, shares insights into his journey and the significance of gender exploration. He discusses the role of rituals in supporting individuals through gender transitions and the launch of his new book, 'Gender Rituals.' Eli emphasizes the importance of community support and the concept of trans audacity in creating change. The conversation highlights the need for inclusive spaces for gender exploration and the impact of Eli's non-clinical support with transition care and transgender health for individuals and communities. Showing us how desire is more important than dysphoria when it comes to transgender medicine and guiding transitions for trans and gender nonconforming people. Learn more about Eli at: https://www.thegenderdoula.com Get his new book Gender Rituals: Creating a Sacred Space for Your Body, Your Gender, and Your Becoming https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/817297/gender-rituals-by-eli-lawliet/ If you're in Portland and would like to attend Eli's event, get more info here: https://seagrapeapothecary.com/collections/events/products/09-18-2026-shedding-old-skins-a-name-and-pronoun-release-ritual Edgar mentions that they are an LMFT and are able to support folks with accessing gender affirming care in California via their telehealth therapy practice, learn more at: https://www.edgarfabianfrias.com/gender-affirming-care 00:00 - Desire Over Dysphoria: Intro to Eli The Gender Doula 01:08 - What Is a Gender Doula? Non-Clinical Transition Support Explained 02:56 - How a Gender Doula Works: Clients, Families & Community Rituals 04:10 - Eli's Journey: From Transgender History PhD to Becoming The Gender Doula 08:16 - The Genesis of The Gender Doula Practice (2020 & Going Virtual) 11:47 - Beyond the Medical Model: A Holistic Approach to Gender Identity 15:55 - Desire Over Dysphoria: Why Desire Is the North Star for Transition 17:43 - Announcing Gender Rituals: Eli's New Book (Out August 25th) 21:50 - What Are Gender Rituals? Rituals for HRT, Surgery & Life Thresholds 26:00 - Solo vs Community Gender Rituals: Name & Pronoun Change Ceremony 29:20 - Trans Audacity: How Ritual Helps Us SurTHRIVE 31:29 - Gender Exploration Is For Everyone (Not Just Transgender Folks) 33:03 - Connect with Eli: Website, Instagram & Ask The Gender Doula 35:58 - Final Reflections: Your Art Is a Spell 💌 Join the Mutant Magic newsletter and membership space: https://mutant-magic.com 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E7
    August 18 · 29 min

    The Best Tool For Artist Block Isn't What You Think

    Feeling creatively stuck? In this episode of Your Art Is a Spell, I share how I use tarot not for prediction, but as a creative technology — a way to reignite your art practice when inspiration runs dry. We'll walk through three simple practices: pulling a theme card to set the direction of your work, calling in a support card when a project feels heavy, and a two-card transition spread for when you're starting something new. Featuring the Liberation Tarot, Missing Witches, and Travel Tarot decks. This is for artists who want to make their practice a ritual — not another obligation. No divination experience needed. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to tarot as a creative tool 02:04 Tarot as a collective artwork and energy 03:05 Select Your Tarot or Oracle Deck(s) 04:50 Using Tarot For A Creative Block With The Missing Witches Deck Of Oracles 09:03 Asking For Creative Help From The Tarot Deck Using the Liberation Tarot 09:45 Showing The Mutant Card (featuring me!) 11:25 Asking tarot for support featuring adrienne maree brown's Healer of Vessels 15:45 Two Card Transition Tarot for Creativity With Travel Tarot by Jeff Hinshaw & Lonely Planet 18:40 Two cards pulled for this reading with intuitive interpretation 21: 05 Water is in both cards and is a symbol of transformation, life, healing, change 22:39 Reading about the two cards from the Travel Tarot 26:33 Conclusion for Video 💌 Join the Mutant Magic newsletter and membership space: https://mutant-magic.com 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org To watch the earlier episode of Your Art Is A Spell with Travel Tarot's Jeff Hinshaw aka Cosmic Cousins https://youtu.be/Wiwqxi7OwNI?si=AVSaG5d97Nh0xlZN

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  • S2 · E6
    August 11 · 12 min

    Who Profits From Artists' Pain?

    Someone is profiting off the idea that your pain makes better art, and it's not you. In this episode of Your Art As A Spell, Edgar breaks down who actually benefits when artists believe suffering is the price of being "real": the art market, institutions, and even the wellness industry that profits from healing the wounds artists were told they needed in the first place. We dig into how the "tortured genius" myth was built inside a white, Western, mostly male tradition, yet is still used to measure marginalized artists, who are often expected to turn their identity and suffering into content just to be taken seriously. Edgar also reframes the art block: not a crisis or a personal failure, but a normal, cyclical part of the creative process that sometimes just means you need rest. The takeaway: joy, play, and rest aren't the opposite of serious art, they're acts of resistance against a system that needs you depleted to keep producing. 💌Join the free community & newsletter: mutant-magic.com 🔗 Support the podcast on Patreon: patreon.com/yourartisaspell #ArtistWellness #CreativeProcess #ArtBlock #MutantMagic #ArtistsOnYouTube Chapters 00:00 Who profits from artists' pain? 02:15 The art market's reliance on trauma narratives 05:00 Navigating sensitivities and gifts as an artist 06:36 Joy and rest as acts of resistance 07:00 Refusing to participate in exploitative systems 08:08 Reframing art blocks as cycles, not failures 09:20 Healing enhances, it doesn't diminish art 10:05 Building supportive artist communities 11:00 Challenging pressure to perform pain 12:06 Your art as a spell and a life changer 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E5
    August 4 · 14 min

    Why You Think You Can't Draw (It's Not What You Think)

    If you feel stuck because you think you can't draw, the truth is you don't have a skill problem, you have an artistic mindset problem. In this episode of Your Art Is A Spell, we dismantle the myth that technical perfection is required to be a "real" artist, and reveal what the contemporary art world actually values. Growing up, many of us were told we were "messy" or couldn't color within the lines. We internalized this conditioning, believing that high-level art requires flawless execution. But surviving UC Berkeley's MFA program and working as an art consultant taught me a different truth: institutional gatekeepers care far more about your intellectual curiosity, your personal archives, and your world-building than they do about your brushstrokes. We look at recent exhibitions from Guadalupe Maravilla, Sadie Barnette, and Lizzie Fitch & Ryan Trecartin to prove that the highest levels of the art world reward a powerful Art Vision over traditional drawing skills. Key Topics The difference between technical skill and art vision Personal story of childhood art experiences Critique of traditional art education and standards Examples of contemporary artists redefining technique Steps to unlearn limiting beliefs about art The importance of intuition and ideas over perfection How to develop and trust your own art vision The role of experimentation and failure in art growth Timestamps 00:00 Why You Think You Can't Draw (The Skill vs. Mindset Myth) 01:30 The Childhood Trauma of "Coloring Outside the Lines" 03:47 How to Unlearn Conditioning & Build Your Art Vision 05:10 The UC Berkeley MFA Secret: Technique vs. Concepts 08:12 The Art Consultant Lens: World Building Over Technique 09:00 Guadalupe Maravilla at the Hammer Museum 10:19 Sadie Barnette’s "How to Fly" at CAAM 11:50 Lizzie Fitch & Ryan Trecartin at Morán Morán Gallery 13:05 You Are Allowed to Be Messy (Final Transformation) Read the full "10 Mindset Shifts for Artists" guide here: https://mutant-magic.com Check out the exact portfolio I used to get into UC Berkeley's MFA Art Practice Program: https://youtu.be/UhDdcQqWrS4?si=eebvwWxxvoM4ipo2 Want to see my cover letter & personal statement? 💌 Join the Mutant Magic newsletter and membership space: https://mutant-magic.com Join us over on Patreon & become a part of the Spellcasters Circle https://www.patreon.com/c/yourartisaspell 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S2 · E4
    July 28 · 47 min

    The Algorithm Wants A Brand. Your Soul Wants Chaos.

    In this episode of Your Art Is A Spell, Edgar Fabián Frías talks with artist and musician Colin Frangicetto Circa Survive (also known as ADHD, Space Case, and ColinCosmic) about resisting the pressure to become a single “brand” and staying true to your multi-passionate, witchy, chaotic creative self. They explore identity, pseudonyms, art practice, digital collage, abstraction, retrocausality, AuDHD, Patreon, full-time art life, and how to make expansive art in a world of algorithms, genres, and rigid systems that want you small and easy to consume. 00:00 – Intro: The Algorithm Wants a Brand. Your Soul Wants Chaos Artists, witches, multi-passionates vs niche, brand, and algorithm pressure. 02:33 – Meet Colin Frangicetto Multidisciplinary artist, musician of the band Circa Survive, and visual artist with many names: ADHD, SpaceCase, ColinCosmic. 05:28 – Monikers, Personas, and New Band Energy Why artists use pseudonyms, “shiny new” energy, and resisting being easy to consume. 09:58– Leaving the Old Identity: Courage and Collapse Devastation, closure, and choosing new creative identities despite industry expectations and branding. 12:24– Colin sharing about his journey creating digital art, Hic et Nunc, tezos, cryptoart, and where his name ADHD came from. 14:49 – The transience of everything and artists obsessing over being remembered and trying to curate how that will happen 16:06– Challenging the fear of Being Forgotten, Spiritual Surrender, Sacred Comedy LSD experience, collectivism vs individual identity, releasing legacy anxiety. 21:46– ADHD Hyper Layered Art Practice: Collage, Inset Series, Digital Hoarding Screenshots, archiving, multi-layered digital collage, excavation, and abstraction. 25:15– Retrocausality, Determinism, and Creative Flow Trusting the subconscious, letting go of over-editing, and escaping aesthetic boxes. 29:18– Research Mode, Input/Output, and Capitalism Fatigue Experimentation, films, books, archiving, and struggling with releasing work in a formal market. 32:58– Circa Survive Hiatus, Reunion, and Performing as Spiritual Reset Band breakup and return, friendship mending, loud music as church-like catharsis. 35:28 – Full-Time Artist Life, Grief, Stability, and Patreon Losing Benny, carving time for humans and animals, sustaining full-time art, and Colin’s Patreon (colincosmic). 42:52– Reflections from Edgar about conversation with Colin Being in tune with our resistance and with what we need to support those parts of us that feel resistant or afraid. The burden of being known as an artist in a certain way and the lift and hard work it takes to build another persona or career. I also share about Mutant Magic and how it connects to my own need to have a container / shield to share vulnerable parts of myself. Check out Colin's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/colincosmic 💌 Join the Mutant Magic newsletter and membership space: https://mutant-magic.com 🌐 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org If this episode supported you, please share it with a friend who needs to hear it. And leave us a review, it helps more artists, witches, and weirdos hear this podcast! Your art is a spell, and it will change the world around us.

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  • S2 · E3
    July 21 · 27 min

    How Artist Residencies Change Your Life

    Are you feeling stuck in your art practice or making work in the margins of your everyday life? In this episode of Your Art is a Spell, we explore why artist residencies and fellowships aren't just for "traditional" or highly funded creators—they are powerful portals that can fundamentally change what feels possible for your career and your nervous system. I’m sharing the raw, behind-the-scenes reality of my recent three-month residency portal through Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna, and New York. From working with sacred archives and somatic displacement in Europe to timeline jumping with Web3 and NFTs in NYC, we cover how these protected containers can pull you out of survival mode and place your art back at the center. We also get real about the hard parts: loneliness, logistical challenges, and the heavy energetic toll of confronting historical trauma in institutional spaces. If you are an interdisciplinary, working-class, neurodivergent, queer, or wonderfully weird artist wondering if you belong in these spaces—this map is for you. ✨ JOIN MUTANT MAGIC ✨ Ready for more direct support with artist statements, residency applications, and building a sustainable, unconventional creative life? Join my new Ghost-based newsletter and membership space. (If you are already on my mailing list, you've automatically been added to the free tier, Mutant Dispatches!) https://mutant-magic.com Thumbnail photo by Maximilian Rauschenbach | Künstlerhaus Bethanien 00:00 Intro: Why Artist Residencies Will Change Your Life 02:39 What Actually is an Artist Residency? 07:51 Early Proof: How Fellowships Shape Art Careers 09:57 My 3-Month European Residency Portal 11:33 Berlin: Sacred Archives and Confronting History 13:58 Warsaw: Displacement, Rituals, and the Nervous System 17:15 New York: NFTs, Web3, and Timeline Jumping 18:53 The Hidden Magic of Artistic Uncertainty 20:45 Reality Check: The Hard Parts of Artist Fellowships 22:23 Is an Artist Residency Right for Your Practice? 25:43 Final Advice: Taking the Leap and Applying To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org If this episode supported you, please share it with an artist friend who needs to hear this. And leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts, doing so helps us expand our web and helps more artists, just like you, get this message. Your art is a spell, and it will change the world around us.

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  • S2 · E2
    April 20 · 15 min

    Art Is Living Emergence

    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 Sign up for my newsletter https://www.mutant-magic.com If this episode supported you, please share it with an artist friend who needs to hear this. And leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts, doing so helps us expand our web and helps more artists, just like you, get this message. Your art is a spell, and it will change the world around us.

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  • S2 · E1
    April 14 · 19 min

    How Queer Artists Have Used Art Spells For Liberation For Over 100 Years

    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 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org 🌐 Follow Me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/edgarfabianfrias/ More Videos From Me 🎨 Artist Tips and Support https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dY9ZOIxCC4tKz2RFqeeyQIm 🖼️ Art Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKfUhzEPgGA&list=PLEVN8TPFy9daZcyxvJI316QxH4LYpwLY0 🔮 Tarot and Oracle Deck Reviews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H9DUFzmESA&list=PLEVN8TPFy9darQDzJpTGsp2PkXxTXDyCj 🎤 Interviews https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dZBa6n6gxN65YNKCgNn6syi 🤳🏼 Watch my VLOGs https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYRVmz-OVAbsEpRuh_ygZIX 🎵 Live Music Videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9da7xjyfY9Ca7foFWYaD9_Yd 🇲🇽 Videos en Español https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYpsBwEBGxIta0ovDeayZjp Artwork used in cover is by Devan Shimoyama

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  • S1 · E21
    Aug 31, 2025 · 9 min

    The Secret Power Hidden In Your Art!

    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 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S1 · E20
    Aug 20, 2025 · 46 min

    Season 1 Reflections, Psychic Gifts & Spells for Creative Freedom

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 20 In this second-to-last episode of Your Art Is A Spell, Edgar Fabián Frías reflects on the wild magic of Season 1, shares a collective two-card tarot reading, and answers listener questions about creative blocks, ADHD focus, and healing money shame. Along the way, Edgar weaves in stories of psychic gifts, ancestral medicine, and the importance of building underground, community-rooted spaces in times of fragmentation and surveillance. This episode is a love letter to artists, witches, and dreamers navigating the messy, beautiful process of creation. It’s a reminder that your art is a spell—and that you have the power to reclaim joy, resilience, and freedom in your practice. Some organizations to support during this time The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights https://www.chirla.org/ Transgender Law Center https://transgenderlawcenter.org/donate/ Dahnoun Mutual Aid in Gaza https://www.instagram.com/dahnounmutualaid/ Palestine Children's Relief Fund https://www.pcrf.net/ Darfur Women Action https://www.darfurwomenaction.org/ Watch this video on "Punk Damage" https://youtu.be/gtElsOoQhWY?si=KEmNikDc3efC96OO To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S1 · E19
    Jul 15, 2025 · 59 min

    Drag, Dionysus & Divine Disobedience: Uma Gahd on Art as Ritual

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 19 In this episode of Your Art is a Spell, I’m joined by drag artist, educator, and witch Uma Gahd (Canada’s Drag Race Season 5). We dive into drag as ritual, Dionysian magic, chosen family, queer resilience, and what it means to stay authentic in a commercialized world. ✨🧙‍♀️🎭 🎭 Follow Uma Gahd: @umagahd and houseofgahd.com 🌐 Learn more & join the newsletter: yourartisaspell.com 🔮 Subscribe for more episodes on art, magic & queerness! Timestamps 00:01 – Welcome to Your Art is a Spell – Season Finale Intro 00:30 – Introducing Uma Gahd: Drag, Witchcraft & Education 01:52 – Uma on Being a Witch & Catholic Roots 03:24 – Greek Mythology & Discovering Dionysus 05:26 – Drag as Sacred Ritual & Personal Exploration 07:57 – Gender, Asexuality & Queer Spirituality 09:58 – Losing the Spark: Drag, Burnout & Rediscovery 11:01 – The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence & Activist Drag 14:06 – Rejection, Resilience & Building Queer Community 19:26 – The Origin of Uma Gahd: Character Building & Comedy 23:16 – Creating Safety in Queer Space Through Drag 29:03 – Returning to the Roots of Witchcraft 32:36 – Drag Story Time, Literacy & Teaching with Glitter 35:44 – Queer Family, The House of Gahd & Chosen Kin 42:38 – Facing Resistance, Trusting the Magic 47:42 – Advice to New Drag Artists: Go Big, Then Refine 50:30 – Tarot, Oracle Cards & Divination as Art 52:21 – How to Follow & Book Uma Gahd 54:44 – Final Reflections & Outro: Your Art is a Spell Sign up for my mailing list https://www.mutant-magic.com To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S1 · E18
    Jul 1, 2025 · 45 min

    Hair Is A Spell: Gray Hair Magic & Gender Freedom with Opal Starlight ✨

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 18 In this magical episode of Your Art Is A Spell, Edgar Fabián Frías sits down with the incredible Opal Starlight (they/them), a queer hairstylist, witch, and healer based in the Bay Area. Opal shares how they transformed their journey from working in celebrity salons to creating Magic Spell Studio, a deeply intentional space where hair becomes a ritual, a portal, and a tool for queer and gender-affirming liberation. We explore psychic haircuts, reclaiming gray hair as sacred, and how self-adornment can be an act of resistance and spiritual awakening. ✂️✨ Opal is a transformational hairstylist, a multidimensional nonbinary artist and a witchy magic maker. Working in the realms of mysticism, visual art and adornment, Opal is fascinated by our earthly divinity and the way our souls enchant of our human forms. A firm believer in the unique magic that we all carry, their work orbits around the exploration of our ever evolving identity, seeing the art of hair and the way we decorate ourselves as powerful spell casting. 🌙 Visit Magic Spell Studio: https://www.magicspellstudio.com 💫 Follow Opal on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magicspellstudio 📍Book a session if you’re in the Bay Area or want to work with Opal If this conversation touched your heart or inspired your creativity, please like, subscribe, and share this spell with someone who needs it. 🧿 Timestamps 00:00 – Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell 00:27 – Introducing Opal Starlight & Magic Spell Studio 01:05 – Hair, Adornment & Clothing as Art 02:13 – Opal Introduces Themselves 03:06 – From Celebrity Stylist to Hair Witch 05:00 – Discovering Hair as a Magical Practice 07:20 – The Birth of Opal’s Magic Garden Salon 08:58 – Healing Through Haircuts & Sacred Space 10:11 – Systems That Diminish Art & Identity 11:19 – Liberation Through Pause & Psychedelic Healing 13:08 – Coming Out as Non-Binary & Releasing Gender Rules 14:37 – The Hermit Archetype & Shining a Light for Others 15:24 – Gemini Magic & Gender-Affirming Haircuts 17:15 – De-Gendering Hair Styling Practices 18:46 – Living Authentically as a Non-Binary Artist 20:28 – Adornment Without Gender: Decorating the Soul 21:48 – Hair as Expansive, Expressive Art 22:34 – Escapist Aesthetics & the Power of Color 23:59 – Creating Magic Spell Studio as a Portal 25:36 – Sultry Earth Spirit as Spatial Inspiration 27:04 – Nature as a Maximalist Inspiration 27:48 – Psychic Haircuts & Channeling While Styling 29:54 – Deep Client Relationships & Emotional Healing 30:51 – Dismantling Western Beauty Standards 31:24 – Reclaiming Gray Hair as Sacred & Wild 33:42 – Hair Dye as Ritual vs. Liberation 35:29 – Aging as Beauty & Gray Hair as Spellwork 36:56 – Activism Through Adornment & Self-Expression 37:42 – How to Connect with Opal 38:54 – Finding Opal Online & IRL 40:10 – Final Message from Opal (Channeled Incantation) 41:26 – Outro & Reflection by Edgar 42:04 – Key Takeaways from Opal’s Visionary Practice 43:30 – Connect with Opal + Share the Episode 44:05 – Cast Your Spell into the Algorithm ✨ To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S1 · E17
    Jun 23, 2025 · 17 min

    The Power of Belief: Awakening Your Psychic Gifts in a Time of Crisis

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 17 In this episode, “The Power of Belief: Awakening Your Psychic Gifts in a Time of Crisis,” I explore how belief shapes our psychic capacities—and why systems of control are so invested in suppressing them. From interspecies communication to remote viewing, from being in the G.A.T.E. program to experiencing spontaneous synchronicity with an A-list celeb, this is a deep dive into magic, consciousness, and the urgent power of imagination. 📍 Timestamps: 0:03 – Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell + introduction to episode theme 0:20 – Personal update: injury + urgency of making this video 0:32 – Backdrop of state violence: National Guard & ICE in LA 0:45 – Leaving the materialist paradigm behind 1:24 – Introduction to belief, psychic skills, and consciousness 2:09 – Systemic suppression of imagination and intention 2:33 – Consciousness as the foundation of all life 3:21 – Dehumanization, objectification, and political spectacle 4:02 – Remembering our interconnectedness and psychic abilities 4:46 – Step 1: Expanding belief to activate magical potential 5:34 – Messages from plants, crystals, animals, and spontaneous communication 5:54 – Exploring remote viewing and psychic phenomena 7:01 – The G.A.T.E. program & psychic children theories 7:54 – The Telepathy Tapes and personal psychic validation 8:36 – Examples of animal communication and dream appearances 9:16 – Synchronicity with A-list celebrity and confirmation from the universe 11:18 – Abundance, rest, and returning to natural rhythms 12:39 – Tuning into imagination, intention, and collective change 13:21 – Guided psychic communication practice 15:09 – Invitation to reflect and share your own experiences 15:34 – Final thoughts: belief as the foundation of magical power 16:04 – Season 2 teaser and YouTube call to action To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S1 · E16
    May 30, 2025 · 14 min

    The Secret Reason Your Art Gets No Likes!

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 16 What if shadowbanning isn’t just an algorithmic glitch—but a curse? A silencing spell cast on witches, weirdos, and worldbuilders? And what if breaking that curse means reclaiming your visibility, your voice, and your magic—one uncensored post at a time? In this bold and galvanizing solo episode of Your Art Is A Spell, Edgar Fabián Frías invites us deep into the heart of shadowbanning—what it is, who it targets, and how to resist it with spellcraft, strategy, and soul. Drawing from lived experience as a queer, Indigenous, multidisciplinary artist and educator, Edgar unpacks how the algorithm quietly disappears creators who dare to be too real, too radical, too embodied. From sex workers to activists, witches to fat queer artists—entire communities are vanishing from feeds, silenced without warning. But we don’t disappear quietly. We haunt. This isn’t just an episode—it’s a counter-spell. A reminder that your art has power beyond the platform. A call to dream beyond the algorithm. 🎧 Tune in to discover: 🕳️ What shadowbanning really is—and why platforms pretend it doesn’t exist 🧙 Who gets shadowbanned (spoiler: it’s not random) 🌀 How to cast counter-spells: from engagement pods to code-switching captions 📬 Why newsletters and personal websites are magical tools for liberation 🖨️ How zines, flyers, and word-of-mouth keep art alive offline 🕸️ The importance of creative covens and collective amplification 🔥 Why quitting a platform can be an act of radical love—and not disappearance 👻 What it means to become uncensorable, to be the ghost in the machine This episode is for anyone who’s ever posted something sacred only to watch it vanish. For those who have been told their work is too much, too weird, too honest, too queer. For those still making spells in the shadows. You are not alone. You are not broken. And your art is still a spell—even when no one clicks "like." ✨ Listen, share, and conjure new pathways of connection—because the algorithm was never meant to hold our magic anyway. Let this episode be a love letter to your persistence, your wildness, and your refusal to be erased. Because your art is a spell—and it will outlive every shadowban. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro: Your Art Is a Spell What if your most magical post disappears into the void? 00:29 – What Is Shadowbanning? The algorithm whispers “silencio”—but it’s not your imagination. 00:52 – Shadowbanning = A 21st Century Witch Hunt How algorithms bury artists, witches, and truth-tellers. 01:18 – Signs You’ve Been Shadowbanned How to know when your content is being silenced. 01:44 – Who Gets Targeted (and Why) Witches, queers, educators, activists, and creators pushing against the norm. 02:33 – Shadowbanning Patterns & Real-World Examples How artists and communities are disproportionately impacted. 03:20 – From Artists to Activists: The Censorship List Who's on the algorithm's hit list and why it matters. 04:03 – My Shadowban Stories How my reach plummeted after speaking truth through art. 04:50 – Be Safe, Be Quiet, Be Sellable? Nope. Refusing the algorithm's demand for palatable content. 05:12 – Counter-Spells for Creators on Instagram Practical strategies to outsmart shadowbanning. 05:56 – Speaking in Code: How to Say More While Saying Less Tips inspired by TikTokers, educators, and digital witches. 06:38 – Newsletters: The Unshadowbannable Spell Why a newsletter is your best magical tool right now. 07:57 – Build Your Own Digital Altar Creating websites, blogs, and online homes outside of the algorithm. 08:20 – Go Underground: Flyers, Zines & Word of Mouth Offline magic still works—maybe even better. 08:60 – Find Your Coven: Community Is the Cure Surround yourself with artists who amplify each other. 09:38 – Name the Shadowban, Break the Silence Why we must speak out and stay visible. 09:57 – Why I Quiet Quit Instagram Choosing connection over metrics. 10:36 – Life After the Algorithm Feeling more seen, more connected—without social media. 11:23 – Witches Thrive in the Shadows Your magic doesn’t need validation from the feed. 11:47 – Become Uncensorable Make art for the future. Archive for the collective memory. 12:33 – Keep Casting Spells, Even in Silence Your magic works whether it goes viral or not. 13:14 – Subscribe & Stay Connected Get uncensored magic straight to your inbox and podcast feed. 13:35 – We Were Never Meant to Be Quiet Why shadowbans make us even stronger. 14:17 – Outro: Your Art Is Still a Spell And it’s already changing the world. Taylor Lorenz's video "Someone needs to do it" https://youtu.be/zXrjlOE9e50?si=vl7-gPWrMRp9hCeC Watch my video "I Quiet Quit Instragram and It Changed My Life" https://youtu.be/9sUdAPbIwt0?si=ZmZ2f7Eba2YcOqJ- To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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  • S1 · E15
    May 24, 2025 · 56 min

    Anne Horel Lost 130 Artworks in One Day—Here’s What She Did Next

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 15 Join Edgar Fabián Frías in conversation with Paris-based digital artist Anne Horel as they dive into AI art, AR filters, witchcraft, veganism, and the magic of making art in the post-internet age. From Vine to the Grand Palais, Anne shares her visionary practice and spells for the future. #AIart #DigitalWitchcraft #AnneHorel #YourArtIsASpell #ArtInterview #ARfilters #VeganArtist Timestamps 00:00 – 🎙️ Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell 00:25 – 🌍 Anne Horel’s Global Digital Art Journey 00:47 – 🔮 Witchcraft, GIFs, and Performance Art 01:12 – ✨ Post-Internet Aesthetics and Vegan Pop Culture 01:35 – 💌 Honoring Anne’s Creative Contributions 01:56 – 🧠 Anne’s Artistic Origins and Experimental Spirit 03:02 – 📺 From TV Culture to Digital Artistry 04:14 – 📱 Early Social Media and the Rise of Facebook Art 06:03 – 🎶 Turning Facebook Group Names into Sound Art 07:28 – 💡 Birth of the Digital Performance Avatar 08:46 – 🌀 Navigating Platform Collapse (Vine, Instagram) 10:22 – 🥀 Grieving Digital Loss and Artistic Rebirth 11:51 – 📉 Platform Power and the Illusion of Numbers 13:04 – 🧠 Building AR Filters and Meta Partnership 15:08 – 🚨 The Disappearance of 130 AR Filters on Instagram 16:35 – 🕸️ The Trap of Social Media for Artists 17:07 – 🏛️ Palais de Tokyo: From Vine to Museum Walls 19:23 – ✊ Curating a Manifesto with Digital Creators 20:39 – 🤳 Content Creator vs. Digital Artist: A Sharp Divide 21:45 – 📰 The Media Misunderstanding of Digital Art 23:42 – 🌀 Trash to Treasure: Valuing Digital Practices 24:35 – 🤖 Anne on AI Art and Shifting Cultural Value 26:32 – 🗿 From Skyblog to National Archives: Digital History 28:03 – 🗣️ Words as Spells: AI, Magic, and Collective Energy 30:27 – 🃏 The Story Behind Anne’s Oracle Deck 31:29 – 🪄 Casting AI Spells at Grand Palais Immersif 33:11 – 💬 Ownership, Creativity, and Collective Consciousness 36:03 – 🧭 AI, Ethics, and the Artist’s Role in Change 38:58 – 💥 Letting Go of Control and Embracing Play 40:23 – 🎭 New Work: The Woke Tales and Narrative AI 42:10 – 🐺 Healing Fairy Tales with New Endings 43:17 – 🥔 Dips Fake: A Polymorphic Potato’s Existential Crisis 45:44 – 🌱 Veganism, Feminism, and Environmental Justice 48:19 – 🐄 Ethical Eating and the Future of Food 50:17 – 🌍 Linking AI Resource Use with Animal Agriculture 51:42 – 📡 Where to Find More of Anne Horel’s Work 52:45 – 💫 Final Reflections: Spells, Art, and Digital Futures Sign up for my mailing list https://www.mutant-magic.com To learn more about Anne Horel https://www.annehorel.com/ To purchase Anne's oracle deck Le Nouveau Belline https://www.amazon.com/Nouveau-Belline-Anne-Horel/dp/2492847519 To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com

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  • S1 · E14
    May 16, 2025 · 11 min

    What Is An Art Spell? (And How To Cast One)

    Your Art Is A Spell Season 1 Episode 14 Is your art more than just art? 🎨✨ In this episode of Your Art Is A Spell, Edgar Fabián Frías unpacks the power of art spells—creative acts infused with intention, feeling, and transformation. Discover how your creativity can become a portal, a protest, and a sacred force of change. 🌱🔮 Learn what makes an art spell, how to cast your own, and why your weird, wild, and wonderful expression is needed now more than ever. 💥👁️ 👇 Drop a comment sharing your art spell + subscribe for more visionary magic. #ArtIsMagic #CreativeHealing #ArtWitch #QueerArtist #SpiritualCreativity #ArtSpells #YourArtIsASpell Timestamps 00:00 – Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell Kick off with an invitation to transform your life through art magic and intention. 00:26 – Meet Your Host: Edgar Fabián Frías Introduction to the artist, therapist, and art witch behind the podcast. 00:51 – What Is an Art Spell? Define the concept of art spells and how they work across time, space, and energy. 01:13 – How Art Becomes Magic Discuss how intention, care, and unexpected transformations turn art into spells. 01:34 – My First Art Spell Experience at LACMA Childhood story of confusion and awe that unlocked the magic of art. 01:58 – The Power of Not Knowing Why uncertainty and deep feeling are key portals to creative transformation. 02:13 – Defining an Art Spell A working definition of art spells as intentional acts that shift consciousness and reality. 02:40 – Intentionality Is Everything Explore how spiritual, emotional, or social purpose fuels an art spell. 03:04 – You Don’t Need Crystals to Cast a Spell What truly matters is belief in your creative power—not ritual tools. 03:25 – Art Spells as Collaboration with Spirit Connection to ancestors, guides, the land, and unseen energies. 03:48 – Support This Spell! (Call to Action) Encouragement to like, subscribe, and join the community of art witches. 04:12 – Flower Spell for Queer + ENM Communities Story of a collaborative art ritual that led to unexpected visibility. 04:58 – My Art Was Sent to the Moon A surreal outcome of an art spell—artwork launched into space. 05:41 – Instagram Spells + CN: This Post Is a Spell A series of healing digital spells shared on social media. 06:08 – Art as Collective Spellwork How creative works ripple through and connect communities beyond the individual. 06:32 – Art Spells as Resistance + Revolution Reclaiming creativity as a birthright in a capitalist world. 06:55 – Fuck the Binary, Fuck the Market Radical declarations: every voice and weirdness is sacred. 07:19 – How to Cast Your Own Art Spell A simple prompt to help you channel your current feelings into creation. 08:01 – Scheduling Time = Casting a Spell Claiming time for creativity is a powerful act of resistance. 08:27 – The Spell I’m Casting for the Future Vision of a queerer, more connected, earth-centered world. 08:51 – Your Art Can Shape Timelines Let your art echo beyond time, place, and imagination. 09:15 – Spells Tune Us Into Inner Power How creativity connects to eroticism, rage, grief, and agency. 09:38 – Your Art Is a Portal to Power Reclaim your agency in the face of systemic oppression. 10:21 – We Are the Art Witches Transforming the World Collective healing, death doula-ing the old systems, birthing the new. 10:43 – Share This With a Fellow Art Witch Invite your sensitive, creative friends to step into their power. 11:05 – Subscribe + Connect at YourArtIsASpell.com Final call to subscribe, sign up, and send a voice note. 11:24 – Take Care + Remember: Your Art Is A Spell A closing blessing to affirm your magic and collective power. To Watch / Listen to More Episodes from Your Art Is A Spell https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVN8TPFy9dYKoNr4LjNV9yDajN-ILKNR&si=1WF6GkfQh2pGfrzl To send me a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/YouArtIsASpell To learn more about me and my art www.yourartisaspell.com To learn about my private practice Therapy With Edgar www.therapywithedgar.com 💌 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.mutant-magic.com 🕊️ Follow Me on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/edgarfabianfrias.org

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