(This episode assumes listeners have already watched season 1 of Heated Rivalry and contains only spoilers and no synopsis.)

Why are we so consumed by Heated Rivalry, really? What does it mean to have a source of corrective experience with no threat of betrayal? How can romance offer us a reparative experience to resource us for collective liberation? When power mapping between two prince charmings, can we see to it that community wins over capitalism in real life, too? Who knew that a tuna melt could evoke so many feelings?

Kristyn with a Why uses the three questions she learned from teacher and mentor Carmen Spagnola on the Numinous Network to engage in a trauma-informed and attachment-oriented friendly chat with her BFF Jamie to settle their nervous systems as they shared their reactions to #HeatedRivalry season 1, featuring guest appearances from Carmen Spagnola.

Follow the Stoner Story Witch podcast on Substack!

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration alluded to in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s Numinous Network, article on the Anxious/Avoidant Trap, & Numinous Podcast

Esther Perel’s Reel

Bitches Gotta Eat Substack

Zawn Villines: “If he wanted to, he would.”

Spring Up Liberatory Education

People’s Oracle, Dayna Lynn Nuckolls “Liberation is Collective Imagination”

adrienne maree brown “Visionary fiction”

Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music)

Note: This Writers Group episode is more of a diary entry documenting our creative process rather than a well-researched audio essay about a theme or an outlined interview. Transitions may feel jarring or confusing since the priority is consent and privacy over elements of our work. If you have a pressing question, feel free to ask on substack! (This conversation occurred in September 2025)

Much of this conversation was omitted to protect details of our writings in progress, but in this conversation we discussed elements from our own “Sexy Inventory” for our projects- from the competent protector relationship between daemons and humans from His Dark Materials, to the men in service of powerful women like the Warders to Aes Sedai in Wheel of Time, to the Indigenous Sovereignty in the Empyrean Series, we love it all.

You can find Matt here and here

Follow the podcast on Substack or Instagram!

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration alluded to in today’s episode:

Jeanna Kadlec: “Embrace the Cringe” and “No new stories”

People’s Oracle, Dayna Lynn Nuckolls “Liberation is Collective Imagination”

Thanks to Sophie Strand for “Compost Heap” and “Sexy Inventory” on Substack

Resources in the “Compost Heap”: #WheelofTime, #HisDarkMaterials (#GoldenCompass) , #TheEmpyreanSeries, and Bodhisattva

Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music)

Today’s episode revisits two conversations “From the Archives,” in particular, the Full Moon in Aries in 2025 with Jeanna Kadlec and the New Moon in Sagittarius in 2024 with Carmen Spagnola.

Today’s episode is all about how romance, desire, and eros is at its core about helping us find and orient to our destiny, Amor Fati- the love of our fate. At the end of this short and sweet episode, I share a rough draft of a song integrating this concept as a somatic practice to overcome perfectionism as I keep trudging along writing my book.

Follow the Stoner Story Witch podcast on Substack or Instagram!

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration alluded to in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s Numinous Network

Jeanna Kadlec’s substack astrology for writers

Audrey Lourde “Uses of the Erotic”

Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music)