Modern Mystic Kelley Knight

Kathleen Shannon 0:02
Hello and welcome to being boss,

Emily Thompson 0:04
a podcast for creative entrepreneurs. I'm Emily Thompson.

Kathleen Shannon 0:08
And I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Kelley Knight 0:10
I'm Kelly Knight and I am being boss.

Emily Thompson 0:18
In this episode of being boss, we're talking about manifesting getting aligned and maybe Colts with a modern mystic Kelli Knight. As always, you can find all the tools, books and links that we reference on the show notes at WWW dot being boss dot club.

Kathleen Shannon 0:37
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Emily Thompson 1:46
Kelly Knight is a natural, intuitive and psychic medium who blends depth psychology with Tarot to help guide people through life's transitions. She's become one of the premier Tarot readers in the southeast and has been featured in publications such as nylon and goop. Kelly is also the founder and CEO of Atlanta's modern mystic shop, a modern metaphysical shop, featuring ritual tools like candles, crystals and Tarot decks all intentionally crafted by female makers. In partnership with her husband, she is creating a new way to generate profitable brick and mortar businesses by prioritizing intuition and integrating spirituality with company culture.

Kathleen Shannon 2:34
Kelly, we are so excited to have you on the show. Welcome to being boss.

Kelley Knight 2:38
Thank you. I'm so excited to be chatting with you, ladies. Alright, so

Kathleen Shannon 2:41
first and foremost, can you give us a little bit of background on what you're doing now and the path that led you there?

Kelley Knight 2:49
Yeah. So right now, my main project is modern mystic shops. So this is a modern metaphysical shop, based in Atlanta, Georgia, in this amazing shopping center called pumps to the market. It's just full of our whole building, actually, where I am is full of local vendors. So even the food vendors, all of the shops, it's really, I don't know, independent and wonderful. And so that's what I'm running now. So we've got crystals and Tarot decks, and we do readings and have apothecary items, really everything that you would need on your spiritual journey, but in a modern, fresh, updated way. So there was a time where, you know, I was doing a lot of tarot readings with clients and in my hometown, and I didn't have a place to send them that felt like me or them. The other metaphysical shops here are cool, but they were sort of, you know, made in the 70s. And I think everyone's been to that, you know, one store where there's the drapes and the crystal balls and stuff. And that didn't feel like me or my clients. And so I sort of I saw a gap that our city could really use a space where these tools were being presented in an intentional setting and in a modern, clean way, where it could feel like maybe you're walking into a West Elm or anthropology and not sort of, I don't know, I don't want to this other concepts, but where it's fresh, and it's lively, and it feels accessible to anyone that's strolling by. So that's sort of how that came to be.

Kathleen Shannon 4:21
Yeah, I'm a branding perspective. I love this so much. Anytime I'm teaching workshops on branding, I really like for everyone to think about these contrasts in your business and to flip the script on what has been expected. So we've all wondered into those metaphysical shops and we love those shops, they definitely have their place, but there's always room to grow and evolve and to really change what's even expected. Now, you know what you're wanting to do. So kudos on that. And then how did you get here? What did you do before you opened a metaphysical shop?

Kelley Knight 4:58
Well, I have a background in marketing which I think is just such a phenomenal background for anyone in business. And so I was doing some work, I started in media and radio sales, I got to work for my hometown radio station that I grew up listening to. And that felt like I don't know, is meeting these celebrities, even though you know, they're just Atlanta radio DJs. And I was really successful there. And they really taught me because it was sort of a forward thinking radio station, how to sell digital, we were selling. I mean, it's a no brainer now. But we were selling targeted emails. You know, like, that wasn't a thing. When I, when I first started, we were on the cutting edge of that, sort of, they would throw these big concerts and events and activations and so I really got into what it feels like not just to sell one thing, but to create these programs for clients, where they're reaching audiences and engaging ways. And so that was my background was through the radio station. And then one of my clients was a startup called Moe's Southwest grill, you guys been welcome. They've got the best case out. So I'm most was working with the radio station. And they were smaller than and they were building their marketing team. And I realized that I wasn't so much into sales, but I was into marketing. And so I was one of their first they hired three of us at one time as a field marketing manager. And I loved working in that startup environment, everyone was under 40, even the founder and the president of the company. You know, it was a little bit of disarray, because everyone's doing everything for the first time. But I got sort of the flavor of what it feels like to work for a startup and not really have that many limitations, you can just sort of do it, do it to one or even test ideas. And so that's where I really got my marketing chops, so to speak. And then from there, I had a couple more jobs in media, I worked at a TV station and news station, and I was representing this new digital property owned by ag net and Tribune, I was called metromix. it's since been laid to rest, but I was the, you know, the token young person. So like, all these news executives and anchors would be like, what would make you watch the news, and I'm like, put it online. But they weren't really doing that. But that was sort of my role. And then from there, I started consulting. So I was getting sort of a good feel for building my skills in PR and marketing and media. And so I started consulting local businesses, and actually, all the way up to international brands. And that's what I was doing before I got hit by a tarot deck, basically, that really just created this random fork in the road.

Emily Thompson 7:43
Yeah, I love this. Because this is not a very spiritual sounding path. It's all very practical and marketing and sales and startups and all of these things. But what you're doing is you are you know, you're building a culture in Atlanta, and I think, you know, around the country, that's very spiritual base. So I'd love to hear about that tarot deck hitting you and how,

Kathleen Shannon 8:07
imagine you working through one of those like 70s mystical shops, and it's like a really cute romantic comedy, where a tarot deck just literally flies off the shelf in the head, and you get a concussion and you forget what your job is. Daskal store instead,

Kelley Knight 8:25
is that what happened? exactly what happened. So simultaneously, while I'm doing all of this, you know, growth in my career, I was simultaneously really seeking because I, you know, I made six figures, my first year out of college, I owned the condo at like, 24 owned my car, and I was still really like, sad and stuck and not fulfilled. And so before the Tarot deck hit me in the head, I started really in my mid 20s, about 10 years ago, seeking, I was going to these different retreats. I was working with this group in Atlanta that did depth psychology work, Gestalt therapy, they taught me there how to use an energy modality and taught me Tarot. And I was trying to sort of assemble a life that looked that not just looked good, but felt good.

Emily Thompson 9:17
I have to ask how you did this in the south. Were you in Atlanta and

Kelley Knight 9:23
all of that, like, yeah, I wasn't Atlanta. And, you know, I have to say that it's sort of like my reality kind of unfolds around me based on what I need. And I just sort of kept on bumping into the right people that you know, and to give myself a little credit, I was pretty vulnerable. And I opened up to a few people about feeling stuck and depressed and not really knowing where to turn when I normally maybe wouldn't have and then those happened to be the right people that are like, Oh, you should try this class or Oh, have you read this book and teachers just sort of kept on appearing for me in a way That was really organic. And I could kind of be sort of soul searching while I was continuing to just build my career and move forward. Because what else you gonna do? You can't, I couldn't just stop working. So in the south, you know, that was a little bit of something that made me nervous, like was Atlanta or was the south of ready for Tarot readers. Actually, the oldest metaphysical store in our city is outside the city limits, because I think there was a point where it was actually illegal in our city to be giving tarot readings and selling occult items. So that shows you a little bit how far the South has come. And luckily, for whatever reason, my little sphere of influence was ready for me After a time, and then that got bigger. And then sort of I feel like there's this domino effect, or I can't tell what came first if the people were there, and they're attracted to us, or we've sort of simultaneously started just to put this out there and normalize it, but that was kind of my mission was like, This is what we do. Now. It's at that point, it's 2016. We read tarot cards, and we get acupuncture and it's like, not fucking weird. Wait, wait,

Kathleen Shannon 11:12
wait. So how did you get from the the marketing and consulting and media buying to then? Where's the bridge? Okay.

Emily Thompson 11:22
Yeah, store,

Kelley Knight 11:23
that's when the Tarot deck hit me in the head. No, my husband bought me as a gift, the wild unknown. And I'm sure you guys have used it. It's such a popular deck with our age group. And for me, it was like a really mystical experience. Tarot went from how it used to approach it would be I would pull cards, I would read a book, I would go to Video friend, you know, I'd go to baby tarot.com, I would figure out what the meaning of the cards were. And then I would kind of put my slant on it. And it always felt disconnected. It didn't feel integrated or intuitive. And so for whatever reason, like divinely, he gave me this gift. And it's like, Laura, that you should be gifted Tarot decks anyway, which makes it kind of cool. And it was almost as if, overnight, it made sense. Like every card meaning every sort of, I don't know, in France, I just got it. It's became animated to me. And I did kind of skip a step in the sense that a couple of years prior, I did have a very abrupt psychic awakening as well, where it really was like one night I went to sleep. And the next the next morning, I had access to the spirit world, and angels and unseen rounds. I, it sounds like a movie, but that's really how abrupt it was for me. So Tara was a way that made that less scary, where I could kind of hone it in and focus it into a specific medium. Okay,

Kathleen Shannon 12:54
so I love tapping into intuition. And I feel that it's I'm really in the flow, whenever synchronicities are happening, but I think that if I woke up one morning, and I was able to see angels and auras and hear things like be, you know, almost flooded. Yeah, with that kind of ability. I would question whether or not I was maybe going crazy. Yeah,

Kelley Knight 13:17
that's what happened. Okay, so yeah.

Kathleen Shannon 13:19
Can you share more about

Kelley Knight 13:21
Yeah, sure. Um, I thought that I was having, I thought it was possible that I was having a psychotic break. I was in these classes. And we were in this program where we would meet every three months and go, you know, into the Georgia mountains, and we would do this really intense work. And there was this one weekend where we were doing very intense meditation slash hypnosis. And during that time, ever, we did this one exercise where everyone in the group was the recipient of this energy. And so I sat there and I received it and I had a spontaneous healing. I actually had a cyst on my wrist that I was going to be surgically removed, and it vanished. And then someone else was hiking. Their turn now is sort of in meditation, and it felt as if almost like the skull of my my school was sort of cracked open and someone was like working under a hood of a car. Like it's very weird. And I thought I was just hallucinating. I'm like, okay, we're like really tripping balls out here in the middle of the North Georgia mountains. And then when I came home from that trip, I was meditating again, and that's when a lot of this stuff came through. And I did think that it was possible that I like I said, I was having a psychotic break and I can find it in my husband who was my boyfriend at the time and my dad, and I just prayed very hard. I said, Okay, if this is normal, I need a coach. I need a teacher. I need a sign. I need something because this does not feel comfortable to me. You can imagine it was like a parade of like for sure. deities and spirits. It was very weird. Wow. So once brunch with my husband at this place called isn't it's no longer around I don't think but Kathy Jonah and the magical attic, and they always had readings and stuff upstairs and I saw this flyer for an angel circle. And I'm like, Okay, I'm seeing angels. I don't know what an angel circle is, but it sounds like this person might be able to help. And I went to that. And as soon as I walked in, the facilitator, who now became who then became my mentor said, Do you know Archangel Metatron, and Gabriel. And those were the two energies that I had been seeing, like on a recurring basis. And it was immediately validating to me that she spoke by name those two angels. And then she kind of took me under her wing and really helped me understand how to appreciate this as a gift, how to sort of filter things out how to ground how to like all the things that I took me years to develop. And she helped me to normalize it and to help me understand that there are other people that might be having these experiences. So her name is Joanne Cohen, and she really changed my life. And now she's a reader at my shop sometimes, which is crazy to me that my mentor, like does guest readings, but she's super proud.

Emily Thompson 16:11
Okay, I have two things, I want to say one, I want to go back to the wild unknown deck because I have to, I have to Ditto that that deck for me, was the one that made sense. And the one that opened me up to other decks like I was having a really hard time really getting into Tarot, until I gifted myself, the wild unknown deck. And I was able to connect with that on such a deeper level and then therefore connect with other decks as well as like the gateway drug for sure. So if anyone out there is wanting to get into Tarot and not to say that the wild unknown deck is that deck for everyone, but I do think you have to find the right deck for you and how it is that your mind works. So that plus Oh, I can't remember what my second thing was. I got to into that one Kathleen jazz

Kathleen Shannon 17:02
got one I do, I actually have a pretty serious question. And I think that in spiritual matters, it's something that we should take seriously. Like, it's not as flippant as sometimes what it looks like on Instagram of lighting some Palo Santo, right and smudging your house. And that's great. And all. Sometimes it's not, it's, we can go into a whole other conversation about sustainability. But I wouldn't I just want to talk about the seriousness of spirituality and cracking your kind of like heart and soul open to these things and making sure that you are safe and protected whenever it comes to choosing mentors, guides and groups. Yeah. And if anyone has seen I don't know, Wild Wild country on rainy right, like, there is some pretty there can be some shady stuff, right? Totally. And so I just have a question for you as this person, you know, that is in the community that people trust. And that has been through this experience where you've were cracked, wide open and are probably a little frightened. Right? How did you? How did you navigate that like feeling safe and secure within these really deep spiritual awakenings? And do you have any recommendations for people and making sure that they're staying safe as they're looking for their own community?

Kelley Knight 18:26
Yes, and I have, yes, that's an excellent question and point to the Tarot deck, and then I'll swap over. I think it's very important that you find a tarot deck that speaks your language. And for me, that was the wild unknown. And now I've been working with the Smith Waite deck more and it just feels like time that maybe there's something else that's speaking to me. If you're having a hard time with Tarot, I would not suggest that it's not for you, I would just suggest that maybe you don't have the right deck that not only speaks your language, but like your specific dialect of like English, it's that it's that specific and that's why in our shop, we have lots of indie DAX, we've got the traditional DAX and we have them out for you to like touch and feel and work with so don't give up on Tarot. If it's not working. Try another deck. That would be my my answer Emily's question. Now about Kathleen's, like very deep and profound question. Um, I actually did not always have a great experience, the place where I went, and I that's why I'm very grateful. I learned a lot. I met my husband there. I healed a lot of my trauma there. But then it got to me a little bit coltie I have to say, and that's why I don't actually refer people to go there any longer. And I got to a place where I was working there. I was living with people in that community and their homes. It's like a home training and what really let me know that it was not okay was when I was having this psychic awakening. I thought that's what we were all trying to do. Like we were trying to get in touch with our intuition. Step into alignment and create a life. And when that wasn't celebrated there, and it was like, Are you trying to make yourself special? You know what like, are you there's only room for one person to be the one that can hear or sense or know, when I felt like I was having to run by like major life decisions to the, you know, the teacher in this community. I literally packed my bags in the middle of the night and ran away, like I left and wow, that actually happened. So it's so I'm so glad that you asked that question. Because a lot of these spiritual tools will serve you really well until they don't. And then what I would say is, you have to take personal responsibility for who you select as a teacher, who you select as your readers, and you cannot forfeit your own discernment or screams from internally, because someone has some sort of rank or experience or whatever. And that's what I learned very clearly was that, you know, when I found myself knowing things, and sensing things, and it being contradicted by the leadership of this group, and I'm like, Yeah, but I just know that that's not the way that it is or how it should be. And I started making myself wrong. And thinking, Oh, I must be wrong. And it turned out that I wasn't, I just like, fucking got out there. So okay, what answer your question, I guess.

Kathleen Shannon 21:24
Yeah. And then what would you say are some red flags for someone, you know, for example, let's say they're in the south, and they're not around a lot of this. And they're seeking a little bit more spirituality, and they want to play with their first tarot deck, but maybe they're scared because they have watched Wild Wild country or heard your experience, or, you know, I know that I've gone to some metaphysical schools and some red flags for me was, whenever they try telling you what you can and can't eat, that's a big red flag. Probably another red flag is what you can and cannot wear is another red flag. And that, for me, the biggest red flag whenever it comes to spiritual teachers is people who are unwilling to share their sources. And so I don't know if this is I'm not at all an academic, I went to school. And I just think it's so important whenever you're sharing information from legit philosophers, so I know that they were sharing some really cool stoic philosophies and some really cool, you know, like Wayne Dyer stuff and law of attraction and Abraham, but not saying where this stuff was coming from, and then I would stumble across it later, and verbatim, you know, it would be the content that they were teaching. And so that even was probably in hindsight, one of the bigger red flags. Yeah, for sure. So So what would you say are some of these red flags that you would recommend someone look for? Or, you know, maybe the opposite of a red flag whenever it comes to like, how can you make sure that someone is going to be a good mentor, like even your teacher who helps you finally learn how to ground like what was different about her,

Kelley Knight 22:55
she didn't ask me for any money, which I don't think that I want to get into, like everyone giving you your services for free, because as a practitioner, I understand that there's an energy exchange there. But she swooped in to help me because she saw me in need and wasn't like, and my rate is $250 an hour. It was like this person is having this experience and this crisis, and I can I can help, right? So I would check out I don't I don't want to say like if it's super expensive, shy away, because I've also, you know, I'm paying, you know, a good amount of money to be part of this, like women's group that I really believe in. But I would check to see, does it feel like a fair exchange, anytime that anyone's asking you to substitute your judgment for there's even if it doesn't feel right, like that's a hell no. But I will say the thing that's tricky about sort of, like the occult practices is, especially in the south, we have this cosmology that's really, really tight on us. And so sometimes it's hard to discern between, like, Is this an old story, that I was trained to think that these things are evil, and that and so I need to sort of reap like unprogrammed myself? Or is this an internal red flag thing, like don't approach this, it's not safe. And so you know what I mean, because that's what we run across a lot like in our store, and my husband, he's my business partner, but he grew up in a church community and his dad's a preacher, and he doesn't go to church anymore and he's a practitioner of magic like legit systems of magic where he's been in I don't even know the words because he whatever he's been trained and and inducted into these certain lineages, and he had a lot to unravel about all of that stuff right and so we all do so it's really getting in into your body I would say and creating the first step to intuition for me is your Yes No. And just get into like your internal Yes, no. And like, is this in your body and not like a mind voice saying yes or no, if that makes sense? Yeah, I

Kathleen Shannon 24:57
want to continue that line of thought because I was planning on bringing you on the show we were planning on bringing you on the show to talk about intuition and blending that into your business and, and how that looks. But I think that this is a good first step is even just discerning that yes, no about picking out that tarot deck or that crystal or really the word that I think we use for that really practical things too, for sure. Yeah. And like really getting out of that lizard brain and getting into finding the parts of your body that help you better more accurately make those decisions. And so what about you whenever it comes to your business? And that yes, no intuition. Are there other ways that you tap into that? How does that work for you?

Kelley Knight 25:45
Yeah, I have. Luckily, I have developed a bit of a psychic sense of knowing which is probably more astute than average. So your average listener probably isn't participating or having access to similar things as I am so but I do train our staff. So that's part of the culture we've created is to sort of infuse, you've got like you're into intuitive sense with your executive mind is what we call it, and you have to kind of have them both working in tandem. So we leave with intuition and then check, check with our executive mind. And so that's where we bring in things like the Tarot, like I train, if whoever's interested in our staff how to use these cards, to help guide and help uncover what might be out. I love Tarot, for uncovering what you might not be seeing or what's under your level of conscious awareness. And then my husband does a lot of the training with folks about the body like the the body connection. And I learned that through that school that kind of got wonky at the end. But it's really finding that quiet space between the future and the past, and dropping, dropping in there. And so there's some meditations that I've created, or it's part of the training program, when I teach people how to read Tarot how to get in that space where you're not attached, or you're not future, in going too far into the future, in the fear from the past isn't really informing the decisions and just practicing getting right there. And so I do a lot of meditation. I, that's my daily practice every day is Kundalini Yoga, and meditation specifically, to help me drop into those spaces. And that's where a lot of my decision making happens is actually after meditation where it's like, oh, that's clear now. Oh, I get that. Or why was I worrying about that thing? That doesn't matter? Does that answer your question?

Kathleen Shannon 27:29
Yeah. Okay, wait, but no more questions. Yes, please, of course. Can you tell me a little bit more about your Kundalini practice, this is I don't know that we've ever had a Kundalini Yogi on the show. And I'm, like, not barely even on the surface familiar with what that looks like. And I'm sure people go through like 200 days of every day for 45 minutes a day doing it. So what's your Kundalini practice? Like? And can you explain what it is?

Kelley Knight 27:55
Yeah, I'll do my best. I'm not a Kundalini teacher. I'm a Kundalini Yoga practitioner, right. So I have this teacher that I work with, based out of LA, and she's also a mentor of mine. And so she actually assigns me and helps our group with group practice. So we do a lot where the called Assad mag, your daily practice, where many of us are doing the same practice every morning every day to sort of move ourselves forward. But then also our group, which is really nice, because she's created a really nice women's community. So usually, I'll get an assignment that's like 40 days, that's usually the minimum. And then you can do 80, or 120, of certain meditations. What Kundalini Yoga why it's different is it's really meditation heavy. It's also not super awesome, a heavy meaning like the actual postures, you'll do the same thing for minutes and minutes and minutes upon end. And then there's also a lot of mantra and chanting and mood dress. So it's a very active meditation, I have a very hard time sitting in silent meditation. I've never actually been super great at that. So when I'm doing a Kundalini meditation, when I'm chanting, or I'm, you know, touching my fingers, and there's some movement, it really helps me actually go deeper and actually move the energy. But the main philosophy, I would say that are the main benefit I get from Kundalini Yoga, as opposed to other modalities I've tried is it's focused on the aura. And it's really focused on your electromagnetic field. And that's what actually makes you radiant, that helps you attract, you can actually lodge things and program things in your aura. And as part of like a manifestation practice, it also helps you at least with my business, the stronger your aura gets, the more you can hold success, because you know, there's those people sometimes where I've experienced where you get the success and sort of slips right through. It's because your auric field is not actually operating in a way that can actually hold it and retain it. So I consider it sort of like a business. It's like a business strategy for me is to do this practices.

Emily Thompson 30:03
Kathleen, this is like your age old answer to the question I know that you pose at being boss. Okay, so

Kathleen Shannon 30:11
my number one question since we started the podcast, the thing that I've been seeking that you just answered in a way that nobody has ever answered is, how do we, how do we expand our capacity for success? Because I think that any creative entrepreneur or Freelancer or side hustler can be successful with their talent or with their grit or whatever materials and tools they have access to. But is the capacity for success that's a little more elusive? And is what I've been probably asking in one way or another of every guest that comes on the show. And you just answered it without me even having to ask it. So there you go. It read my mind. Quite literally,

Kelley Knight 30:54
maybe it misgiving? Yeah, I mean, that's, that's the, it's all comes down to your auric field and your energy field and what you can hold there, and how and how much you can hold and how you can extend it. And so that's what I work on every single day, because I, I hold a lot in my aura right now we've got this business, and we've got about 12 employees, and we've got these goals. And so there's certain Koreas or like yoga sets where I'm actually like embedding that, holding that imagining that in my auric field, and in my art line, which is another part of your aura, which women have to have, which goes like, ear to ear and the nipple to nipple. And you're so you've seen like halos on people that's really like there are clients. So you can actually program things into your Arc Line and expand your capacity, but it takes daily practice. It takes daily practice. So wait, where do I learn more about this?

Kathleen Shannon 31:46
Is this Yeah, leaney specific? Yeah, well, I don't know local class or can I read a book? Can I yeah, a YouTube video?

Kelley Knight 31:54
Yes. Yes. To all of it. Um, my, my teacher, her name is guru Jagat which is G. I'm going to we're going to talk about her name, g u r u space JAGAT. But it's not she's not a guru. And she's not my guru. But in Guru mukhi. That language. Guru means from light to dark. And so it's a teacher is called a guru or not even a teacher is called that but in Kundalini Yoga lineage, you get assigned a name. She didn't get to pick it. Her name is Gouda. joget. But I know sometimes people were like, so are you gonna go meet with your guru? And I'm like, you know, like, no, she's a teacher. She's like in her 30s. And so her book that we sell at my shop is called invincible living. And it's an amazing Kundalini Yoga Book, but because she is such a badass businesswoman, and Aquarian woman, she has a website called Rama TV. And on Rama TV, it's sort of like Netflix for Kundalini Yogi's, you can subscribe and access all of her classes. And then what I love about her and what she's created for women is that she's got these camps. So I go to like Kundalini Yoga Camp a couple times a year, and we go to like these sacred mountain top places, and meditate and learn and hear lectures. She's a very prolific speaker. I feel like I'm just like, pushing her hard. But she's been such an amazing influence on me, and that I practice mainly at home through those resources. And that's another thing I love about Kundalini Yoga is your daily practice. It's just in the morning, you don't have to go to a studio like, you can just tune in and do it yourself.

Emily Thompson 33:33
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Kathleen Shannon 34:19
I just thought about you part of the reason why I asked you about kind of things getting culty earlier and I want everyone to know I would probably be the first person to join a call. I did join a call bear. Whenever I was watching Wild Wild country, I was like I This looks good. It went bad. And even then I still kind of wanted some of those Maroon outfits. Okay, but let's let's change gears here. I want to talk a little bit about law of attraction and men manifesting. I shared something that our listeners are Oh, well, gave me the finger.

Emily Thompson 34:56
You can always finish your sentence when I give you the finger. Okay? I'm so and I want to talk about this in relationship to you opening modern mystic because we kind of got off the story of the journey and I feel like manifesting and probably opening the shop probably come hand in hand.

Kathleen Shannon 35:14
Yeah, just this idea of you know what you're seeking and you were seeking is seeking you. I think it was Paulo Coelho. Yeah, never say his name, right. I know, the alchemist I love I love that book, The Alchemist. If you all haven't read it, you've got to check it out. But I think it's a really good example of how you can kind of be on this journey. So yeah, speak to the actual store and manifesting and how you continue to manifest.

Kelley Knight 35:42
So that was another obviously maybe not so obviously, mystical experience. So okay, so I was doing all this self work, I was doing all these, you know, freelance projects, and managing all these clients. And then I hit and I was actually also seeing Tarot clients. So what grew first was my Tarot business. So as I was seeing more Tarot clients, I was doing less marketing work. So I had about four clients on retainer. And I would drop a client every three months or so as we started growing with the Tarot business. And then by the time the shop did open, I still was hanging on to that, like, one client that I just still needed, you know. And I think that that's great actually, to have side hustles because it keeps you out of this survival mode of making bad decisions, because you feel like you need money. So I was doing my tarot readings, seeing less and less doing less and less marketing work. And then I hit a depression. And I don't use that word lightly. And I thought I had hit depressions before and I didn't like, it was a couple of months of like, I couldn't leave the house. My husband was driving me to my therapy appointments. Like, it was unreal. Um, but luckily, because I had done all this work on myself. I knew not to be hard on myself. I was just like, Okay, this is what's happening. Now maybe this is what life is like, at for me, and I could not figure it out. And this one day, I had, like, all my, I'm sure that sounds so dramatic. But it was true. I had all my cards out. I'm like sitting on the floor, like trying to find these answers. And I heard called Christian. And Christian is a friend of mine, who's also a tarot reader. And he gave me this reading. And he said, This is no big deal. You've just outgrown your container, your energy is like stuck in this little coffee can, and you need to expand and so you feel stuck, and you can't move. And I was like, Okay, and so my husband does ritual magic. And he gave me this road opening ritual to do, which we teach at the shop, I'm happy to share that with anyone who would meet because it changed my life. And so on one full moon, I didn't even know what I wanted to attract, per se. But I carved these words into these candles. And I prayed and I did this ritual, with like, my full self like, it would save my life. And I did it and did it, it took two hours, and I was crying I was and then I let it go. And then right after that, literally within like a week, I always had the idea for the shop is a long term idea. But um, one of my clients heard me talking about it, and she gave me the money to start. And then within like, another week, the location opened up. And then within probably 30 days of that ritual, the shop was opened in our first location. So that's how that happened.

Emily Thompson 38:27
Yeah, oh, my goodness. Okay, I want to talk about this, like manifesting things, you not knowing exactly what it is that you wanted, but still getting exactly kind of what you wanted, but definitely what you needed. Because this is something that I struggle with a ton, like, I know, I need to be like, defining what I want. So I can like, you know, point my arrow towards it and move towards that. But I struggle with getting specific sometimes on a very serious level. So can you talk a little bit about Yeah, how to manifest what you need, if

Kelley Knight 38:58
you don't know what you need? I have an unpopular opinion. So I and this is just me, like a lot of people get super specific, and I'm the opposite. And I also cannot visualize things very easily, which is weird, because I'm psychic. But that's not my sense. I hear things and I feel things more than I see things. And so for me, I just really in that ritual and in manifestation in general, try to get a tone of what I want my life to feel like, very strongly as if like my first time I actually tried to actually manifest I was just like, I want to manifest and atone for my life where I don't have to wake up to an alarm clock. That's it. I don't know what that looks like. I just know that I fuckin hate waking up to an alarm clock. And so that's the life that I started to create. And so for me, it's 1000 times more effective to feel what it is that you want or how it will feel when you experience it than it does to actually say specifics. I am one of the only people I know that think that so I but it works for me. It works. For me 100% of the time,

Emily Thompson 40:02
this isn't right along the lines of how I feel as well. But it apparently that hasn't helped me. Or it hasn't kept me from feeling guilty for my inability to get specific. So if anything, you just gave me permission to just do it the way I need to do it.

Kathleen Shannon 40:18
Okay, but here's the deal is that you did get specific, you said, I want to feel what it's like to wake up without an alarm clock that is incredibly specific. It's maybe one small nugget of that specificity. specificity we're doing? Yeah, you did it. But do you know what I mean? And I do, but I do like how you are kind of getting into the feeling. And I would say that I get very specific visually, and probably because I have a visual arts background. And I think in images and symbols. And so for me, whenever I can get into the visual, then I follow it to the feeling. So it's making me wonder if whenever it comes to manifesting, and I feel like the three of us here are pretty good at it is always going back to the feeling but your the way that you might get into that feeling is along a different path.

Kelley Knight 41:08
That could be I would say I'm also kind of skipping one step, which is like when you remember reminded me when you say like the feeling to you, it's like healing is another big step to manifesting. Because I feel like there are so many pains or so many belief systems or things that are just keeping us so locked up to even have the idea of like what is possible, right. And so I think that's also kind of like a preliminary step that or maybe a simultaneous step two is like, let's move through some of the lower feelings and some of the frustrations and the angers and the pains to to get that sort of moved through your body. So they're their space to cultivate a different feeling,

Kathleen Shannon 41:48
that's you're going back to that container or that capacity for what you want. If it's all full with junk or clutter, whatever it might be, there's no space to get what you want. So and another thing that I want to point out is that we're manifesting everything. Yes. I mean, everything in our lives is a result of us manifesting something. So I said, you know, we're good at manifesting things, everybody here, everyone listening is good at manifesting things, because everything in your life is evidence of stuff that you've manifested.

Kelley Knight 42:18
Right? the good and the bad, though. That's another age, right? So like all of that, yes.

Kathleen Shannon 42:24
So for me, I think that the visualization, and the getting specific part is really having some control over what I'm manifesting good or bad, for example. And so even just more, a recent example of this, that I just realized I had manifested was that I always imagined living in the same town as one of my closest friends. And she lived in Durham for a really long time, North Carolina, and I thought, Okay, well, maybe I can move to Durham. And then without even thinking about it a few years later, we both ended up randomly in Michigan, were two hours door to door. And we were hanging out this past weekend. And I realized, Oh, yeah, this is what I visualized. I thought it was gonna happen in Durham, or somewhere else who ever knew that it would happen in Michigan. But by getting specific about that feeling of being in the same place as my favorite friend, or, you know what I mean? Like I it made me realize, Oh, I manifested that. And I was intentional about it. And it showed up.

Kelley Knight 43:23
Sure. Maybe it's less being less specific about the how, like how it shows up, right, right, I think people get caught up on that. So it's like, I want to make $500,000, or I want to sell $500,000 of this sort of item by this time. Maybe that's specific, and you get the tone of that. But then how that comes to be, maybe that's not for you to decide. There's got to be space for the miracles and the grace and all of that other intangible factors that can push it through two years later, or in a way that you didn't expect. So I would say I'm using room for both.

Kathleen Shannon 43:56
I love that. And it's going back even to the alarm clock, you weren't thinking I want to not wake up to an alarm clock, because I am living in a tiny house in the middle of the woods, and it's the sun and a rooster waking me up. That's where my mind would start to go with all these things. And instead of saying, I just want to wake up on my own, I don't know how or what that looks like.

Kelley Knight 44:18
Right? Right. So I guess it's like, specifically specific and not specific all at the same time, if you can kind of reconcile those two notions, right. And this kind

Emily Thompson 44:28
of even flips, something that we say often on its head where we're always talking about, you know, just enjoying the journey and not becoming attached to the outcome. But this is literally the opposite where you attach yourself to the outcome and just ride the journey. However it needs to take you there,

Kathleen Shannon 44:47
or almost even even enjoying the outcome before it's appeared

Kelley Knight 44:52
to something well, that's the main thing. So that's another great point which is like I tend to put things into motion. And then act as if they're already done. And so I have, I understand that by the time I get to the place where it has to be done, it's waiting for me. So how and that counts. counsel, a lot of people with tarot readings like how would you be behaving? Or what choices would you be making? If you knew this was a for sure thing in the future? Because a lot of times we hold ourselves up, because we're like, well, maybe if this might happen, so it's like, well, what would you be doing? If you knew it was a sure thing? That's how you should be or not should, but that that would help you call it in much faster and with more ease. And then one more thing I like to say about manifesting that I learned is that don't assign a timeline. A lot of times, like I thought the shop would be like a five year thing. I mean, I'm not even it hasn't even been open for two years yet. And we're killing it. I hate I mean, no one will be like bragging. But I mean, this is far exceeded. That's why I didn't want to be too specific. It's far exceeded any capacity, I thought for what this could produce. And like in record time, so don't set like it has to be my five year goal, per se. Like, what happens if it happens in year two? You're gonna say, Oh, sorry. I have to wait three years.

Kathleen Shannon 46:10
Okay, I want to come to the brick and mortar shop. Because Yeah, a few guests that we've had on that has a brick and mortar and it's thriving. Yes. Tell us all your secrets.

Kelley Knight 46:20
I, I am, I'm super proud of myself and my husband and our team. And this is definitely a group effort. But I would say a few things that we've done really, right is number one, we've really focused on products that are handmade, small batch intentional that you can just like go on Amazon to buy. So pretty much everything in our store has a story has a maker has a meaning. And you can really only buy it from us or From the makers or maybe from other shops that have curated similar items. And I think that's really put us ahead of the curve with this digital age of people just like wanting immediate gratification, boom, boom, boom, I'm buying this thing, right. So I would say that's the first thing. The second thing is we really it's about the people it's about, like actually having an experience with our customers. And so we really try to focus on having an experience within the shop. So the way that our store is laid out in the old metaphysical stores, everything's in cases, you can't touch stuff, you know, you just have to kind of look through the glass and kind of like, like, I don't know, ask someone to unlock a key or use a key to unlock the case, we have all of our crystals displayed, you can feel them all of our candles, you can smell, you can get a tarot reading, that's an experience. And we consult as best we can. On the weekends. It's tough, because we have like 1000s of people strolling through there on the weekends, but especially on our on our slower times, we really go out of our way to consult people and to teach them about how to use a crystal, what do they come in with their problems. And sometimes people are grieving or have a struggle with anxiety, and we're there for them. And we've created a space that they can get just like online buying the same or buying a product, you know, from Amazon, let's say we educate, we do events every Sunday, we have these Sunday school classes about these different metaphysical topics. And we're really trying to share freely information. And I think that's been something that's really created these and when I was at Mosaic, calm raving fans, that's what we've created this, these experiences that people remember. And they're so impactful. They tell friends, and it's their favorite place on Earth. There's so many people that are like, this is my favorite place. And then they bring their sister and then they bring their mom and then it becomes everyone's favorite place. So it's say like, how can you create experiences for people that they can only get through you? And how can you offer something that they can't just like click a button and buy would be a few of the things I guess this is all

Emily Thompson 48:53
good stuff. And I have to say too, I've been to I've been to your shop. And it is a beautiful experience. It is such a cool place. I love how accessible everything feels. And I mean, I guess I'm like, I'm not a newbie, these sorts of things. So you know, it's easier for me to pick things up. But I feel like I've sat there at one of my favorite things to do at metaphysical shops, especially like New Orleans is my very favorite place to do this is to watch the people who have never been in shops like that wander in off the streets and watch them like take in everything for the first time. And I remember doing that in your shop. And there's something about the atmosphere that makes everyone feel comfortable in situations where I think in different settings would probably be a little more uncomfortable. And I say that because we are in the south. And yeah, it can be real real here. But it's a beautiful space.

Kelley Knight 49:45
Thank you. And I think that's a part of it, too. Like sometimes people stumble in by accident because it doesn't look like a metaphysical store. I mean, you see the crystals everywhere but it's just really beautiful. And so people are attracted to you just unknowingly or maybe their guides are kind of like pushing through the door, and they find themselves in some sort of crystal haze. And they're like, tell me more, you know, how do I how do I use this? I'm curious, you know, and yeah, I, it's really, it's really special. And I can mention a few things. And then there's also this weird X factor of where, you know, in my world, there's like, unseen support. And like, I feel like we've created our team like in the tangible form. And then we've got this like, whole team that we are unseen, that like help us because it doesn't actually make sense, the momentum that we have, like in any sort of business formula, so I think there's that that too.

Kathleen Shannon 50:42
How can we hire more metaphysical spiritual guides into our businesses? Like, like out a job application?

Kelley Knight 50:52
I think I don't think it's that I think it's like listening to them, you know, like, those nudges that might come through or those knowings like, some of them probably are you and your intuition. And then some of them might be ancestors or angels or guides that are like lining things up in that way. And so the best way is to ask for it like out loud, you know, and make it clear, like, I need help and all those moments, that moment of depression, that those moments of confusion, and I'm trapped in this cult, like all of those moments, like something that felt greater than me, like got me to move. And I think you have to ask, you just ask, we all have access to that.

Emily Thompson 51:29
Okay, I do have to ask, though, yeah, your Yara is large and filled with awesome, nice, large ninja. And you're doing all of these things. How do you make time for a daily spiritual practice, as a boss who is making it do

Kelley Knight 51:47
it's the first thing I do or outside don't do it. So literally, I roll out of bed usually. So there's certain times where we have to be, we're supposed to be doing our sod not like the four or 4am kind of our, that's not usual. For me, usually, it's around six, I like get out of bed, go to the bathroom, drink some water and go. And I'm not even sometimes fully awake. And I see it like a business meeting with myself. Like, it's, I see when I do my practice. on a regular basis, I my business grows and thrives, my staff is happier, like things are coming in. And so to me, it almost feels like a business decision. Like, this is the first thing we do for our business every day. It's not. And that's even how we create our workspace. It's like an integrated place to work where you don't have to be like work Kelly and spiritual Kelly, you just show up. And so sometimes I divorce myself just like I wouldn't stand up. You know, if I an appointment with, you know, a vendor, or one of my staff members, I wouldn't stand them up because I was tired or it was too early. So I kind of have to treat it like that. And for me, it's like the linchpin of I attribute a lot of the success to that one thing. So like, why wouldn't I do it? You know, for sure. All right.

Kathleen Shannon 52:59
I'm a Kundalini Yogi now. Tell me, just tell me what I need to wear what I need to eat. I know see, that's the thing like

Kelley Knight 53:09
that they will check click, it'll click check some of your culty boxes. So like, we can talk about that because it's, you just like, do what feels right for you, you know, but they were bright. They wrap their heads, but there's always like, energetic reasons why and you don't have to do any of that. You know,

Kathleen Shannon 53:27
let's go into a little quick fire before we wrap up. Okay, this is kind of a new thing I wanted to try. All right. First, oh, no, if you can only pick one spiritual tool, so whether that's Tarot crystals, sage, whatever, that might be something that maybe you sell in your shop, what would it be and why?

Kelley Knight 53:45
It would be a tarot deck for sure, because it was my first one of my first loves. And it just gives me a wealth of information all of the time, and it feels like an extension of me. So it's sort of just like an extra limb or something. So it has to be Tarot. Okay, and then on

Kathleen Shannon 54:01
that note, what tarot card Do you resonate with the most and why

Kelley Knight 54:06
the star card is my all time favorite card in all decks. Like when we get new decks in the shop. I like I'm like, let me just see the star card. For me. It's always been a card that shows me a sign like I feel like a sign is coming or big movement. And it's my hell yes card. So sometimes I'll even wait to do something until I get the star card like eventually because it's such a strong sign for me. So it's always been my favorite. It's in every deck and the Ellis Tarot. The star card is Alanis Morissette and I just love her so much and so another reason why I love the star

Kathleen Shannon 54:42
that's perfect rose so good. Yeah, it's awesome. Okay, who is your favorite which in pop culture? So, when you mean pop culture, do you mean like a like a character or like do you mean like an actual which, it could be an actual which that is popular in our culture, or it could be a character in a TV show, or it could even be a celebrity that you think is super witchy but doesn't maybe come out and say like,

Kelley Knight 55:10
ah, ah, okay, so I would say maybe if it's a celebrity, I would go along this man like, I'm a super fan of hers. She really helped me through like my Rayji teens. Even if I need to like a catharsis. Sometimes I'll just like, rock out to you. I don't know. But she's really into a lot of this stuff. And she is, I don't want to name drop, but like, she's bought stuff from my store before, which made me like so fucking happy. Like a lot of news. I exist somehow and like the universe, so I think she's super witchy. And then I don't know that my teacher guru, Jagat would call herself a witch. But she works with energy. She's an astrologer. She's a yogi, and like, as far as like real life person, whether she associates herself with that, or not just into a lot of witchy shit, and I think she's awesome.

Kathleen Shannon 55:57
I love it. And what makes you feel most boss? Oh, I

Kelley Knight 56:00
love this question. I would say when my staff and my husband and our vendors and everyone is feeling like super purposeful, and everyone's growing and thriving, and sort of rising together through this little bubble of modern mystic shop. It's by far when I feel most badass and just most proud. Wonderful. Thank

Emily Thompson 56:22
you so much, Kelly, for coming to hang out with us. It was pleasure to chat with you about your spiritual journey. I think it's probably like the most flavorful. Is that the right word? For sure. And about opening your shop again, I think. I think that it's amazing. I love what you're doing. And I think bringing all of these tools and things like into the modern world is super imperative. And aren't people hungry enough for it?

Kelley Knight 56:54
Right. Thank you. It was awesome. You guys are great. Thank

Kathleen Shannon 56:57
you so much. And before you go tell us where our listeners can find you online and offline. Great.

Kelley Knight 57:04
You can find us on modern mystic shop calm on Instagram. It's modern mystic underscore shop. We also have our Sunday school at Mater mystic shop podcast. So if you want to learn about more witchy stuff and then in person, you can always stop by a modern mystic shop and pond City Market in Atlanta, Georgia. If you're coming through the city, make sure you stop by.

Kathleen Shannon 57:29
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Emily Thompson 58:06
Thank you for listening to being boss. If you're looking for more help and being boss of your work in life accom check out our website where you can find Episode shownotes browser archives and access free resources like worksheets, trainings, quizzes and more. It's all at WWW dot being boss dot club. Do the work be boss