As I sit down to introduce myself, I’m realizing that it would probably be helpful for you to know about Wunderkammern.
“Wunderkammern (cabinets of curiosities)
arose in mid-sixteenth-century Europe as repositories for all manner of wondrous and exotic objects.
In essence these collections combine specimens, diagrams, and illustrations from many disciplines; mark the intersection of science and superstition; and draw on natural, manmade, and artificial worlds."
—from a MOMA exhibition description
THAT’S ME IN A NUTSHELL:
An assortment of random hobbies, interests, and bits of knowledge that may or may not prove useful, all gathered up in my museum-workshop-library-studio of a brain.
Like a bowerbird, I’m always alert to new fascinating tidbits to add to the display.
(See what I mean about random bits of information?)
This boundless enthusiasm for knowledge and discovery informs my art, my leisure time, my career path, and my work with people.
But I didn’t always appreciate my Wunderkammer-nature.
Like a lot of polymathic (often neurodivergent) people, I felt flaky and weird for not being able to pick a path and stick with it.
I also used to feel kind of self-conscious when it came to presenting myself in a professional context: what things were appropriate to share, and what was irrelevant or just too weird?
So I whittled myself down to the parts that I thought looked “legitimate,” only to quickly grow bored and disengaged with this watered-down version version of myself.
The question: play it safe (and boring), or play it weird?
Playing it safe wasn’t working for me. I’d built a successful coaching practice and I was still getting clients, but they were responding to Professional Julia, not to me. I started feeling resentful that they expected me to be the person I told them I was.
So bit by bit, I began sharing more of the Wunderkammer. (This is a section of one of mine.)
I started talking about my scavenged nature art. I came out as non-binary and openly shared my experience with late-diagnosed ADHD. I posted pictures of my foraged meals and found fossils.
I even started talking about the tarot and astrology work I was doing with people, even though I was half-convinced all my friends would think I was a new-age airhead and bail.
And wouldn’t you know, getting quirkier on main opened the door to even more awesome relationships.
Oh, I’m sure there was some eye-rolling, but it happened where I couldn’t see it.
I KNOW NOW THAT EASE = HOW MUCH OPENNESS I ALLOW.
It was scary for sure — I had to trust that any rejection I experienced would be outweighed by the benefits. Each baby step I took proved that over and over again.
And when I feel like a dozen ferrets in a trench coat pulled by disparate interests and motivations, rather than a cohesive human, I need to remember that I am the common denominator.
That’s the beauty of a wunderkammer: the container is the context.
What I didn’t count on was how much this would change everything else.
As it turns out, improving my relationship with myself improved literally every other relationship in my life (and when you look at the world through an animist lens, everything is relationship).
I thought I couldn’t commit to a path, but I just didn’t understand the path.
What I’m actually committed to is expanding the definition of “path” to something infinitely bigger and deeper and richer.
Not a footpath or even a six-lane highway, but a vast and powerful river: a path that’s an ecosystem unto itself.
This is the path i’m inviting you to walk with me:
For the first time since I was nine and didn’t give a fuck about looking weird, I’m living from all of me.
I’m giving people the opportunity to say YES to all-of-me, rather than preemptively saying no on their behalf or yes to a smaller “acceptable” version.
Even when the world seems manifestly fucked, I’m finding doorways to enchantment and delight.
I’m learning to root myself in my inner and outer ecology, and to let that inform my cosmology.
I’m discovering new and exciting ways to engage with other people and their sense of possibility on an individual and communal level.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S NEXT, BUT IT SURE AS HELL WON’T BE BORING. Are you in?
What’s next?
This is the choose-your-own-adventure part where I point out a few areas you might want to explore.
WORKING WITH ME:
Map your inner landscape through Archetypal Astrology or get help with Project Whispering to get your thing (whatever that is) out in the world. Click the links to find out more about each of those.
ART:
Nature-inspired beauty from my art business, Juniper & Bone.
I’m currently overhauling basically everything about the way I’m doing business, so check back or get on the list (sign-up form below) if you want to be updated about new developments!