Episode Summary
Remember what it felt like the first time you saw something truly amazing, something that blew your mind? Like the first time you saw a movie in the theater as a kid or someone showed you the constellations? Magician and mentalist Erica Sodos helps us learn to rediscover that sense of wonder, awe, and amazement.
Episode Resources
→ Erica Sodos: http://ericasodos.com
→ Erica's Routine with Her Mom (Momma is Magic): https://youtu.be/0gyuos4waqk?si=bvm47N9JBpkZ1Djp
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About the Show
Shame Piñata is hosted by Ritual Artist Colleen Thomas, a Certified Meditation and Mindfulness teacher who helps people make sense of life through ceremony. Music by Terry Hughes.
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Full Transcript
Sodos: And literally, I swear, the tree was my bestie after that. And now… it’s like, if I don't walk there... Today I didn't walk over there and I thought, “Oh, I haven’t seen my friend!” You know? And I’m not just a tree hugger, I kiss them. I love to kiss them and get in there. Do you do that? Do you hug trees? I love it.
Remember what it felt like the first time you saw something truly amazing, something that blew your mind? Like the first time you saw a movie in the theater as a kid or someone showed you the constellations? Maybe when you discovered the best superhero ever? What if it could be possible to keep hold of that sense of wonder, awe, and amazement?
This is Shame Piñata. I’m Colleen Thomas. Welcome to Shame Piñata, where we talk about creating rites of passage for real-life transitions. Believe it or not, that sense of childlike wonder is a place we can still go, even as adults. It can be a little more complicated to get there (b/c adulting), but I'm a firm believer that joy, awe, and wonder are foundational components to living a healthy life. And what’s more, they are essential skills if we want to build our own unique ceremonies to honor, appreciate and acknowledge the many ways we grow and change as we move through life. There are huge industries cashing in on our need for expansiveness and joy (think Disney, Hollywood, and gaming)and there are also simpler ways to find magic closer to home in everyday life. Slowing down, being alive to possibility, and noticing exquisite beauty in little moments are a few examples.
Today we will be talking magic. What is it? Where do we find it? And how do we spell it? We'll be focusing on many different types of magic, from stage magic to real magic and how they overlap. Our guide for this conversation is Erica Sodos, one of a small number of female stage magicians in the US who is also a mentalist. I've known Erica for almost 20 years and I can tell you that she truly walks her talk. She finds magic all around her in every moment and she’s inspirational. I'd like to invite you to listen in on a conversation Erica and I recorded about a year ago, when we were all still in lockdown.
[MUSIC]
Thomas: You are somebody in my life who has helped me connect with magic like really nobody else in your own unique, totally unique way, and I've always wanted to ask you, and I'm glad to have on the chance, how do you find magic in life? Like, what's your thread? What's your connection? There's several kinds of magic that you're connected to. So I want to know, how are you connected? What is that like?
Sodos: First, I want to say that means so much to me, Colleen, for you to say that because as you know, I think you're one of my wisest friends. So that means a lot. Yes, so how do I find magic in my life? Well, you know, it's funny because I look for it, right? I look for magic. And so because I'm looking, I also find it. And I believe that everything has energy and everything is connected. I guess you could call me an animist, right? So everything is alive. I also like to sometimes call myself a biophiliac, which is a lover of life. So I find magic because I love all… everything that exists. And so being outside... and I understand that not everybody can get outside... so even looking outside or having houseplants. I counted recently. We have 39 houseplants and so… they are these beings are taking energy from the sun and they're living. And then of course, there's the spirits in our house, house spirits... and then, because I know we're all home a lot, and we feel kind of isolated, but I believe that life is all around us. So... and then animals of course.
Erica has a cat named Princess Patches Precious Poppycock McGee and at the time of our interview, Erica had a daily practice of drawing a sigil in her wet cat food every morning. A sigil is a symbol considered to have magical power. We recorded our interview on a Sunday.
Sodos: Like today I did a sun because it's Sunday that we're recording. I made a sun sigil, so everything can be fun and to me it's fun too to do that. What else do I do? Correspondences! So for people who want to get involved you know and find more magic, like learning correspondences. I mean, everyday like, is it like Monday… Oh and the moon cycles, of course we share that. You know, that's another way to harness magic. What sign is the moon in? What cycle is she in? But the correspondences: so Monday is the moon and Tuesday is Mars and Wednesday is Mercury and so that they're different deities and so you could get into that energy and learn the correspondences. And foods of correspondences! So what we eat has energy and what we wear. And, you know, it's…so that's another ways and that then you find meaning and like everything is connected. Oh, and then magic. I mean, I think working on magic alone, you know, that's how I connect to magic. And magic connects, performing magic connects me to real magic and ritual in so many ways. First of all, it's archetypal. So I mean, I have... I'm super into Tarot and I have like... but I put the cards everywhere. I don't look at them so much always, like telling the future but more as meditative tools, like I put them on altars and things. And the Magician archetype is so powerful. And a long time ago, the magicians would combine trickery with their performance to you know, to create change to help people believe, right? They... so they would combine trickery with real magic. And so I love that. So that helps me and also having an idea of something I want to do, like a magician goes, "Oh, I'd like to make that levitate." And then we have to think of how we're going to make that levitate. And so that's magic. And then the third most powerful is how it affects people, is when people see magic. They're in an altered space. And I didn't say that, Colleen, that's the biggest that's also another way I find magic is being present and meditating. And, like I have this… every time I blow out a candle now by where we have all these plants, the smoke, the way it intermingles with the leaves of the - you know what I'm talking about, right - the way it intermingles with the leaves. I mean, it's pure magic.
Thomas: I want to go back for a second, you just said several kinds of magic. So I'm going to try to say them back and correct me because I'm thinking that you said that there's the magic of connecting to spirit. And then the magic of performing magic as being a magician. And the magic of how the receiving of the magician’s work affects your audience, when their mind is blown and they're like, "Wow". And then a fourth kind where you're seeing magic in everyday life, like little magical moments that are just that just blow your mind.
Sodos: You know, it's funny, because... so I think there's a lot of overlap, because, and the first one, I might call it, I think it's cool. You said connection to spirit, but it's like... it could be connection to plants. So I guess you could say plants have spirit, not looking at it like there's one spirit, like, Great Spirit, but more like everything is alive. So you're saying like... it could be ghosts, you're connecting to it your Ancestors, or fairies or plants or a certain deity that you have a connection to or something? Yeah, I like that. And then there's actually performing magic which overlaps because there's that, and that of course, is about transcending having the person go into a magical moment, right? And then there's magic in the everyday. And then there's also magic, because, you know, like, if you look at the definition of magic, it's basically, you know, control over natural forces like supernatural powers. I mean, the dictionary will define only two of what you said they will define one, a magician, which I am like, who can do tricks and then two, extraordinary power. But I think when you're in a transcendent state watching a magician, you can do anything because inspiration moves, right? I mean, there's overlap.
Thomas: Tell me more about the magic with the C and the magic with the CK. I've never been very clear on that.
Sodos: I know that traditionally MAGIC is magic on stage. A magician is on stage performing a magic show. And then magic with an MAGICK is more real magic. Like if you look online, there's all these people who are into, you know, spells and rituals and that kind of thing and they would spell it with a CK like magickal living, you know, "how to infuse everything with real magick" with a CK. Unfortunately, I can't go into the minutiae of why but I know that the words actually have... sort of like faerie and fairy, FAERIE and FAIRY. They actually have different etymology, those two words. They come from different... and then they just got blended. And for me ferry AE is the authentic fairy and AIRY, is like Disney. And so like I like to say, my passion, my real deep passion is where real magick, like CK, meets performance magic. I mean, I have a lot of passions, but you know, where they blend.
[MUSIC]
It's great to have you with us today! Magical moments come in all shapes and sizes. They weave through our lives in predictable and not-so-predictable ways. If you're in a life transition right now (a magical moment or a not-so-magical moment) and would like some support, you can work with me to have a custom ceremony built just for you. Find out more at shamepinata.com
Thomas: Has magic helped you deal with a life transition, with a hard life transition?
Sodos: I thought about this a lot and I'd say... what... you said helped me, has magic helped me with a life transition? And I think the biggest experience that I had of that specifically is when my mother died. I don't know if you're familiar with what I did with what my mother died. So I'm going to tell you,
Thomas: You did a show, right? And you had her join you in the show.
Sodos: When she was dead, yeah.
Thomas: Right
Sodos: So my mother was a performer when she was younger and had some mental illness. It was a challenging relationship but she was also very funny and dynamic and alive and alive... And she had a big shadow. And so she always wanted to perform with me, but it was… the relationship was challenging. And she was in nursing homes. This is so funny, funny and sad. I would do magic shows at the nursing home. And we’d practice like, "Oh, we could do routines together!" Her nursing home. And so I'd say, "When I hand you this cylinder, you do this." And so I… and we practice and I'd hand it to her... and she had dementia really bad so she couldn't remember what we were supposed to do. So when she died, when she was dying in hospice, I just knew, and I kept saying, "Mom, I'm going to make up a routine with you. I'm going to make up a routine with you, I promise." And I didn't know what it was. And a couple months after she died, I realized that I still had so many of her voice messages saved on my machine. So I edited them together and she was hilarious, like, and she would sing on my machine and she'd say things about how... how unhealthy she was. And so I edited them and then we perform... we... I put together this routine at her memorial, which we did at a theater where I before the pandemic was doing my monthly psychic show, although my mom has been dead for quite a while now. And I created this thing where we had a conversation and I put her ashes, her real ashes, in this box and I did a seance and we had this conversation. And I called on my mom's spirit. And it was funny, like, "Where are you?" And it was her actual voice saying, "Well, I think you know where I am." And I'm like, "Well, are you enjoying yourself?" And she goes, "Well, as usual, I'm eating too much." And because she was at times in her life very, very obese. And I had her say really funny things like we had a hilarious conversation. And then I said, "Show me a sign" and I put the box down on the table and it levitated all over the room. And to me that combines real magic and performance magic because it was a way to process her, my relationship with her, and grieve and not only grieve her death, but grieve the challenging relationship. And I mean, it's always layers of the onion, so I'm still doing that many years later. And it was amazing, Colleen, because many... because the next day I performed it in Vegas at this nightclub, the same routine. And every time I did it crazy things happened. Like three years later, I did it in Vegas and my sister called me the next day. And when my mom was admitted into the hospital before she died… like six months before she died we lost her wallet and everything and it was found the day after I did that routine three years later.
Thomas: Wow!
Sodos: It was hilarious, like... so it definitely tapped into some dimension of spirit.
Thomas: Wow, I was following along with you doing that work, but I've never heard you really describe all of it before. So I just feel so honored to be let into that time in your life. And to be aware of how amazingly embodied and empowered you are to… and creative you are, you're just so amazingly creative, to have to brought that together and to have shared that with the world your own processing of that really, really big loss.
Sodos: Thank you so much. That means a lot. That means a lot.
Thomas: Wow. Well, so… one thing I wanted to ask you, because I know that you are connected to magic in so many different ways and it's also your day job. So I wonder if it ever starts to be a little bit less than fun, or it starts to feel like work, or you need a break from it, or… does that ever happen?
Sodos: Yeah, so you mean... Right. So the performing magic, does that take away from my experience of magic as I...
Thomas: Because it's your job? Because you're in a half-to position with it to some extent?
Sodos: Well, I think it's actually the opposite. I think it deepens my connection to magic, because there's witchy people who are into real magic and then there's magicians and it's shocking how few magicians actually like real magic. Like they hate it. Like, like, some magicians actually dislike real magic. And I think, "Well, you're a magician. So I would hope that you would love real magic. You’re pretending to do magic. So..." For me, as someone who loves real magic, I do my magic from that way. So I do many different kinds of magic. So I can do card magic with the rest of them and then I do this branch of magic called mentalism. If you're familiar, it's a psychic magic, so it's mind reading, and predictions. And when I do that, I'm combining all kinds of magic and people don't know what's going on. Like, they're just, "What the heck?!" And you know, so when I do that form of magic, feeling people's reaction to it and seeing it helps me believe in magic. So it actually deepens my connection to magic. Does that make sense?
Thomas: Yeah that does. Mm hmm.
Sodos: I think where it does limit my magic is, when I see a magic show, like most magicians want to know how everything's done. Like, that's all they care about. I mean, it's very male dominated, so you can imagine it's... that's a different conversation, but... They want to know how the trick is done and unless I'm going to do something I'd rather not know. So if I see a magic show where I know it's tricks, I don't want to know because that takes away the magic for me. I only want to know the magic that I'm going to do otherwise, I'm going to be enjoyed by what you're doing and to me, it's real magic. And not only that, but I do some magic effects that I literally don't know how they're done. I know that sounds weird. But there's a whole there's magic that it doesn't even make sense. That's why it's so cool, magic. [LAUGHES]
Thomas: You don't know how they happen, but they happen reliably enough that you can perform them and trust that they'll happen?
Sodos: Yeah, there's certain techniques in magic. There's different techniques… and you know, I was learning some card stuff and it's like, "How... How is that working? I... this is my card..." I practice myself. And to me, that's magic. And I also think it's magical that people think of this stuff that like somebody makes up this stuff and then they sell it or whatever they write books. Yeah, it's very cool.
Thomas: So you just said, and I know from knowing you that a big part of your… a big part of your inspiration and your work is to inspire people to find their own magic. What advice do you have for helping people begin to open their eyes to the magic around them in everyday life?
Sodos: Yeah, that's a great question. So I'd say slowing down, paying attention, looking around them, utilizing all their senses. So again, I can just walk into a room and notice the sun coming through the window, and again... the highlight of my day. You know, you're transcended, even if it's just for a second. So I'd say one of the ways to experience more magic is to slow down, pay attention, and feel. Open to our feelings, connect to nature as best they can, you know, I know again, different bodies, but being outside and feeling the sun and the wind. And, you know, weather and the changes. Meditating, the old classic that's pretty much good for most things. Meditating is brilliant. And I even think altars, you know, just starting to create even if it's just a candle and a glass of water, you know, lighting a candle and sitting in front of the candle and make things fun. Cleaning. During the pandemic, I have gotten so into cleaning, it's actually weird and I make it a whole ritual, because you have to clean and it's… whether it's I'm listening to a podcast or to music to a mood and I think of intention and as I sweep by put the… So it's like, it's like infusing intention, you know, even if it's just when you wash your face and you say, “I open to magic and I'm going to see clearer” and paying attention to. If... if one lives with a companion animal, or a plant, you know, feeling the plant and sensing, I think opening up to subtler vibrations. It's really helpful.
[MUSIC]
Opening up to subtler vibrations, infusing intention into the things we do, and creating simple altars. These are three great ways to find our own magic. And it’s important to find what sparks for each of us, right? I may miss the little things that jump out to you and you may miss the ones that appear to me. They’re really reflections of the magic within us, of that space that is alive to awe, open to wonder, and willing to believe in magic.
We will hear more from Erica in season 3, but for now I invite you to consider how you might find more magic in your world. You might be like Erica and find yourself called to draw meaningful symbols in your cat’s breakfast, maybe you’ll have a conversation with a certain tree you pass on a walk, or see if you can hear the spiders laughing. Whatever you do, follow your intuition, as you continue to find your own magic.
Erica Sodos is a magician, speaker, emcee, psychic entertainer, one of only a handful of female mentalists in the world. An avid lover of nature, dedicated vegan, environmentalist, activist and tour guide at an animal sanctuary, Erica is committed to ending speciesism by creating a world that honors all beings. You can find out more about Erica and see examples of her magic at ericasodos.com. You can also find links to upcoming shows in the show notes.
Our music is by Terry Hughes. You can follow us on IG and Twitter at shamepinata. You can reach us through the contact page at our website, shamepinata.com. And you can subscribe to the podcast on Radio Public, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite player. I’m Colleen Thomas. Thanks for listening.