In honor of Pride month here in the US, I wanted to bring you a genuine conversation with a number of dear friends of mine about our own discoveries about our places in the LGBTQIA+ universe. We're having a frank, open discussion about our experiences, our joys, our struggles, and so much more. Regardless of how you (or those in your lives) identify, these issues touch all of us, and I want to help bring greater understanding to my community and to all those whose lives you touch.

I'm joined by three amazing guests – not "experts" per se, simply real people: Kelly Mahalak, Cassandra Coghill, and Chivas Sandage – as we dive into:

Our own journeys to self-discovery
The terms we use to describe ourselves, and the challenges in using these terms
Compulsory heterosexuality
Coming out is not a one-time thing
The privilege and curse of "passing"
The many joys in our lives related to our queerness

Laughter. Tears. Deep truths. This conversation has it all!!!

About Cassandra A. Coghill

I am Cassandra A. Coghill, a Relationship Alchemist and Intimacy Guide.

I am a healer, a priestess, and a witch.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Women and Gender Studies, with a minor in Human Development and Family Science, from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. (Go Bison!)

While attending college, I became a certified Reiki Master Practitioner and gave birth to my first child. While pregnant with my second child, I was initiated onto the path of priestesshood at the Goddess Temple of Ashland, Oregon. I am also an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

A powerful inner call to understand the mysteries of life lead me into the study of metaphysics and the occult from a young age. I have been a practicing solitary white witch for the past 11 years. I have studied the Tarot since 2014 and consult it and other oracles for myself and my clients regularly. I work with the so-called "classical" or "Western" elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth in nearly everything I do. My love for the so-called "Eastern" traditions runs deep (I've studied yoga, tantra, ayurveda, traditional chinese medicine, feng shui and Buddhist philosophy informally but extensively); but, as a person of predominantly British ancestry, the deepest and most powerful magick I bring forth tends to be drawn from ancient, indigenous European traditions, rituals, symbologies and myths. I commune with angels, dance with faeries and sing the songs of my ancestors regularly."

To learn more about and follow Cassandra:

infinitegenesis.com/bio-links Facebook.com/Cassandra.coghill.37 Instagram.com/Cassandra.coghill

About Chivas Sandage

Chivas Sandage teaches women's writing workshops on Zoom and also works privately as a coach, editor, and consultant. Her workshops and coaching packages support women who want to heal and deepen their relationship with writing, generate new work, revise and edit, complete a project, give public readings, and publish. Chivas is a digital columnist at Ms. Magazine and her debut nonfiction book is forthcoming from the University of Texas Press. She won the 2021 Claire Keyes Poetry Award and is the author of Hidden Drive, a finalist for the Foreword Book of the Year Award in poetry. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Texas Observer, The Rumpus, The Long Now, and Deceleration News, among others. Follow her on Twitter @ChivasSandage.

To learn more about and follow Chivas:

http://www.csandage.com

@ChivasSandage

About Kelly Mahalak

Kelly Mahalak is an Identity and Embodiment Coach specializing in helping women explore and express their deepest truths as they deconstruct learned beliefs and behaviors and remember how to live as their most authentic self. She is passionate about gathering women to create change in the world through community. She lives in Michigan with her 3 children.

To learn more about and follow Kelly:

www.Instagram.com/kellymahalak

TikTok @kellymahalak

And if you haven't yet joined The Year of WOMAN Membership, get to it!

https://carinrockind.com/woman