Latest / Spooky Butt / 3. Ouija Board DON’TS with Alexandra Jones
Transcript
- speaker-0: Mm. speaker-1: We're in the Spooky Butt studio with one Alexandra, aka Alex Jones. Alex is a creative based in Austin, Texas. She enjoys all things spiritual and woo-woo. Alex, my god, welcome to Spooky Butt! speaker-0: Thank you so much for having me. speaker-1: Of course, of course. So glad to have you here. so let's get started. So, like we were kind of discussing before the show, I recently learned that you are a witch. you are part of a coven down in Austin, Texas. I'm surprised that I sorry, go ahead. speaker-0: No no I'm sorry, I'm just kidding. speaker-1: I'm just I'm just gonna start screaming burn the witch like throughout Don't out me. Right. so you're a witch in Austin, Texas, and I'm surprised I didn't learn that until a about six to eight months ago. so what I'd like to know is basically how long have you been practicing witchcraft and then kind of what what got you into it? speaker-0: I'm like, Mama don't out me. For sure. I actually started just kind of messing around with it when I was in college. which we'll talk more about the house and my roommates there later on. But started messing around with it in college, would do, you know, I think we did like a love spell or something. Cause as a twenty year old girl, that's absolutely what you would do. I feel like it kind of worked, but it's speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: kind of also blew up in my face. So as someone who was just messing around. But I don't like to think of witchcraft as like this I think when people think of that, they're like, she is doing spells and she's putting hexes on people. First of all, a hex is something I would never do. Like it's that's some serious shit. And that is something I don't want to tangle with and have Karma come back to me with that. So I view witchcraft and these types of rituals as more of just a spiritual practice. I actually don't really even call myself a witch, I would say. but I believe that there is so much innate power in ourselves, and that's mostly what witchcraft is about. You do the shadow work. You do you kind of look at the things like I love these things about me, but there's also some things about myself that I could fix, or like there's a darker side to me. And sometimes you can embrace those things too. And also so many cultures and so many, like across the world, we've always regarded like the moon cycles and our equinoxes as and it's translated into these major religions too, to where like we celebrate Easter. Is it the spring equinox? I don't know. There's so much overlap, but doing a little ritual and journaling and reflecting every full moon, new moon. Yes, maybe I do sage my house every full moon. Like it's just I like to say that witchcraft is truly just believing in yourself and there's an innate power to that. Do I think I'm A magical being and I can make things happen. No. But there is something to be said for affirmations and believing that you are XYZ and then it happens. Like people talk about manifesting, and it's like you manifest this. And it's like, yes, well, if you tell yourself this is gonna be me, I'm going to be like this, then you will be. You just kind of have to like put it into action. So Yeah, I've been doing that for a few years now. I got more involved after I started pole dancing studio here. unfortunately, the studio it is still here, but the person that I was under when I started this, she has moved on to she lives in North Carolina now, so can no longer be found. But there's plenty of pole studios and plenty of witchy things to be done. So speaker-1: That's awesome because that's what I think too, like when it comes to witchcraft is like there's the initial sense of like you hear the word witch and you think of like, okay, hocus pocus, like the movie, or the witches, quote unquote, who I know are just like hippies. Like it's just very like healing energy and all of that good stuff. speaker-0: I'm just honest, yeah, it's like when I'm saying I'm like doing witchcraft. I'm like, I'm burning a candle, I'm meditating, and yes, maybe I left some water out in the moonlight. Like to me. It's not but yeah, it's not like I'm gonna be hexing people or things like that. I'm just mostly like tomorrow night is the there's it's strawberry full moon. It's in Capricorn. So That it's a really good time to reflect. And also we're halfway through the year now. It's like, where have I been? We just had our summer equinox to last week. And it's a good time to reflect. And it's like, what kind of seeds did I plant in the winter time? And like let them grow over the spring and summer. Like, where am I at in the past six months? I've grown a lot and it's just a good time to take stock. And then the full moon's at the end of the cycle too. So you're releasing things, you're saging your apartment. You're saying these things that I'm doing are no longer serving me. So I'm letting them go. So that you can bring in room for new speaker-1: That's I didn't even think of that. Like with the so we have the equinox which was on the twenty first and we're recording this on June twenty eighth. Yes. So I didn't realize that those two are so close together. That's really cool. speaker-0: Yeah, so and also a lot of people feel like actually I think the new moon is more important in the lunar cycle than the full moon. Full moons, yeah, like I said, it's the end, so you've released a lot of things, but with a new moon, you actually don't manifest under a full moon. You let things go so that you can manifest and bring those things in. So under a new moon is when you want to manifest. speaker-1: Okay, so I like was never great with like solar system stuff in school. So like I ass okay. Is there like a big gap in time between the full moon and the new moon or speaker-0: I mean it's about I wanna say that lunar cycle is like two, three weeks. Yeah, it's a few weeks. It's not like a crazy amount of time. but it's a g it's just a good practice to keep stock and to be grateful, grati express your gratitude for the universe. Like thank you, universe, for blessing me with these things. Now what about these other things that I want? speaker-1: okay. speaker-0: There's a reciprocity to it. There's a give and there's a take. You must release so you can let things in. speaker-1: Where's my money universe? That's what I would say. Where's your money? Where's my money? Yeah. speaker-0: The and you can work with a lot and I don't think this astrology is really good for it right now, but there's some astrology that is really good for welcoming in wealth and abundance and you can get into like candle magic. So you'd light like a green candle for prosperity and abundance. So you can call in whatever you want, but generally people do my cat. I feel like generally people look for like love and sometimes money, but I like to just do it as taking stock in myself and the rest will come. speaker-1: Hell yeah. Yeah, that's great. Cause yeah, it's okay. So it's like with the full moon, you kinda do like the the the detox or like the purge or whatever. Yeah. So that you can make space for like the new moon, which is a really, really important lunar cycle. Like that's that's something that's super important for like getting your shit together and then like bringing in the new. So that's fantastic. Yeah. Exactly. And I liked what you said earlier about how like you would never put a hex on someone 'cause that's You you seriously don't want to do that 'cause that's like kind of playing with a nuclear warhead, if like I had to kind of describe it. speaker-0: Absolutely. There's again, it's the reciprocity. You have to give or in order to receive, you have to let something go. And if you are putting that type of energy out there, you're gonna receive it back. So you have to just be ready for that. Right. It's not something to be played with. speaker-1: Okay. Yeah, and like some there have been times where I'm like so I'm a cradle Catholic. Basically I don't really practice anything and I've thought about looking into other practices and like religions, spiritual, whatever, but I'm like my brain doesn't have enough room for it. And then I'm also what kind of I guess not so much freaks me out but makes me a bit cautious about like witchcraft is that I'm worried that I'm going to like do something wrong and then summon something that's like older than Christianity. and just like completely blow it and like ruin my life. speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna be trying that type of thing, like for me it's just like, okay, I do a release ceremony and I write down things I want to release and then I burn it. Like I'm not like calling upon spirits and stuff, because I'm all also was raised Christian and yeah, I don't really fuck with that either. So I'm pretty safe. I have done a love spell once or twice. So speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause it's like if you're trying to you don't want to like contact like a an entity from a dead religion and be like this speaker-0: Yeah. I think I think I'm really good on that. speaker-1: Yeah, we don't we don't need that. speaker-0: No, I'm not that deep down. I'm not that deep. speaker-1: So like with the witchy stuff, I so you kinda dabbled with it in college. And then was it like when you came to Austin, you were like, Hey, look at all this really cool witchy goings on and the community and all that sort of thing. So was that kind of like a sign to you like, Hey, I actually need to pursue this? speaker-0: Yeah, it was actually so this poll studio. It was in I guess it was What year was that? 2022, maybe 2023. I joined the studio at the it was one of my friends. And one of my longtime friends had a birthday party there and she had started going a few months earlier. She had a birthday party there, and I was like, wow, I love this. This is cool as fuck. I'm gonna start pole dancing now. and not just it's not just pole. You can do floor work and other types of dance, but the The belief of the studio owner, I will shout her out, Crimson Minx. the studio was called Minks and Muse, but yeah, like I mentioned, she'd moved to North Carolina. And so you can follow her at SOEROtic Magic. But her belief is that sexuality is a very innate. power that's within all of us. And a lot of the times we use our sexuality and our sensuality to attract a partner or it's for other people. But her belief is that you actually, it's absolutely for you and you can use your power of sexuality without having sex or being sexy, which it sounds antiqual to like, you know, pole dancing, but actually a lot of the Practice was getting more comfortable with being in that state in front of other people and also witnessing yourself. A lot of the times you don't actually want to watch yourself do that because you're like, my God, I'm so embarrassing, or you get really in your head, especially if you have like body image issues. You're like, my God, I look so whatever in this outfit. Like it's so about getting out of your head and into your body. And that's kind of where I started really getting into witchcraft again. So then I met also a group of women or a group of people there who just really it was just such a community because every single class, it's not like a normal I also do ya like yoga a lot too. And sometimes, you know, you just go in, unroll your mat, you do the thing, and then you leave. With that studio, we all sat in a circle. It was like first 30 minutes of class. You sit in circle, you say how you're feeling. Of course, we all s shared our astrological s astrological shines, our pronouns and whatnot. And, you know, you kind of just have like this prompt. So it was a very natural way to make friends. and we eventually just started hanging out all together. And we still hang out all together, but we had been doing We would do rituals together, we would s celebrate the equinoxes together. it was just became a really wonderful community to be a part of. speaker-1: That is fucking awesome. speaker-0: Yeah, and not to like tie it back to religion too, because I don't think of this as a religion. I think of it as a community. But the thing I actually do like about organized religion is that it does give you a sense of community. I people miss that. I think our society has become very hyper independent where we don't like people talk about wanting to have a village all the time, but they don't want to be a villager. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: up from the airport. They won't have, they want people to show up, but they won't, you know, they won't make it like a priority for them. We're so caught up. And then also us, especially after the pandemic, us working from home, like want not going out as much. We've like eliminated some third spaces that are really important. and we all need that. It's like absolutely vital for human survival. So I actually really don't mind. I love believing whatever you believe in. I just want you to have a community and a group of people that you can just like be yourself with. speaker-1: That is fantastic. Cause like it's it's so cool, like what I'm hearing about how like this, you know, you hear pole dancing and you think like, okay, exhibitionism, you know, naughty, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And it's like, hey, this is something that's for you and it's about integrating, you know, like all the parts of yourself and doing it in a very vulnerable way. But you're it's that's such a cool way to connect with other people because everybody else there is being extremely vulnerable. speaker-0: Yes, it's extremely vulnerable to be sensual in front of other people. And part of the class is too you sit on the wall and you get more comfortable with people viewing you in that vulnerable state and also watching other people do it. I think it was I had a group of people that I started with and I had like a six week beginner poll series with and then we all just stayed really good friends to this day. We were actually talking about it recently. It was three years ago. It was yeah January of 2023 that we did that. And we have all changed so much in like the past few years just through this practice of like being sexual not for someone else but for yourself. I will say It empowered me to leave a long-term relationship that I was very comfortable in and just wasn't doing it. You know, I started pole dancing because I had a sexless relationship that I wasn't happy in. and I started it. And then yeah, six months later, I finally ended it after three and a half years, which was a wild thing that I thought at the time. just because I could see How other people lived, and I didn't have to. Cause at that time, too, I was 29 years old and I was like, well, we've just been together. I think we just have to get married. Like, because that's too. You just get married and you have kids. Maybe we'll I think we would probably have gotten a divorce. He's a very sweet guy, and I always have love for him, but I just don't think we were compatible in many ways. So it empowered me to leave that relationship. Another woman that I in that group she started doing she just wanted to start doing photography. So she had bought a film camera and now she has a magazine. speaker-1: my god. speaker-0: magazine now. other people also left their relationships. One person I danced with was going through a divorce at the time. she had opened up her relationship and met someone really wonderful. Now they're getting married. Yeah. And she also learned that she actually just doesn't like men. So the fiance is also a woman. So speaker-1: Wow. speaker-0: We've just grown so much and it's like just a wonderful thing to see. speaker-1: That's man, that's great that she found her person. I was about to be like, my God, that's all so cool. And it's like, yeah, on the one hand it is cool, but like leaving a relationship, a marriage, a career, et cetera, like that's all very heavy, intense stuff. And it's so cool that you guys kind of built that foundation together, like, hey, we've all seen each other be very, very vulnerable and very honest. So you guys had your village, your support network to lean on. So that's fucking rad. Cause like speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. speaker-1: This you know, I'm a millennial, this is a chronic problem for all of us is how do we make like meaningful relationships in today's day and age? Like how like you see all this content, it's like, my God, how do I make friends as an adult? And honestly, I mean you might wanna join a coven or you might wanna start pole dancing. speaker-0: Join a coven. Well, I mean, that's the thing. It's just go and do something that you love. And then the people around, they'll show up. Like, and just talk to people. People are like more open than like you're willing to think. but yeah, I can could not recommend it enough. I love it. I was just at dance class earlier. and it's not just, yeah, it's sometimes a workout, it's sometimes not. It's just whatever you want to do. speaker-1: That's so cool. Cause I never I just, you know, when I think of pole dancing classes and all that, like I've seen that they're popular for women who maybe are like cancer survivors or, you know, they went through like some massive life change and they need to get their confidence back, which is all cool and awesome. But there's another level of cool and awesome when it's like a spiritual practice as well. Yeah. speaker-0: Exactly. speaker-1: Right. my God. That's that's awesome. yeah, man, all good things just with all that going on. So like with your dance class, so is this something that you do dance class like once a week and you've been doing this for like three years at this point? speaker-0: Well, I had to cut back my membership so I have three classes a month. But no, I make a priority to do it. And I yeah, I've been doing it pretty much straight for three years. And there's other routes people take. So I'm not like super huge on like doing tricks and whatever. I just want to go and dance and have a good time. wear my big ass heels. speaker-1: Fuck yeah. speaker-0: Other people really love they're just like, I wanna nail this next trick. I wanna pull an Aisha, which is like you're upside down and also hanging off of it. Like it's a whole thing. But that kind of scares me. But I like feeling embodied and in my body and like just getting to that version of myself. Actually, the class I took today was one where the instructor prompted us to take the bass choreography and then kind of explore different versions of ourselves that like we need to unlock and having different music set to that. So I was like, I need to stand up for myself more and be a little bit more confrontational. So I really loved the really aggro song. So and then we did like it was like a super aggro song and then we went to like a seven minute death cub for cutie song. I laid down in the middle. speaker-1: yeah. You're like, I'm gonna take a break. That's so cool because it's like it's it's great when some type of art, whether it's movement or visual or whatever, is how you can kind of process something in the real world. Like, hey, this thing went this way at work, and here's how I wish I would have handled it differently. So it's good to kind of like get those neurons firing and be like, you know, play with that and be like. How can this have real world application? speaker-0: yeah. and I absolutely say this all the time too. When I started dancing, and of course, like I talked about leaving my relationship, but I felt like I after doing it for a while, I would start to just carry myself a bit. Like I would stand up straighter. I would s start standing up for myself. I felt more confident just in every aspect of my life. Like It was just kind of amazing how much of like a three sixty and I also started to just see myself in a better light. Like I it completely changed my life, which is so corny to say, but I'll say it ten tons is out. Like it did, it changed my life. speaker-1: That's awesome. And then something that I just realized is that you said you mentioned you were twenty nine when you started. And so that kind of coincides with your Saturn return. speaker-0: It did. My Saturn is Pisces, so it actually just ended. mine was a little bit longer, which was hell, I guess, because there was a lot of retrogrades. But yes, it was also part of my Saturn return when I started doing this. speaker-1: I think speaking of retrograde, I think Mercury is in retrograde this week. speaker-0: I think yeah, it's about to go retrograde. I don't know if it's currently, but I think it's about to go speaker-1: okay. Interesting. That's that's so cool because my my Saturn return was brutal because my Saturn return was COVID. speaker-0: that's right. speaker-1: So it was like, yeah, the world like just imploding and then it's it was kind of funny 'cause it's like I brought everyone down with me and I made the world have a Saturn return. speaker-0: You're like, it's not just yours, it's all everybody's speaker-1: I'm a Libra, I'm all about balance and fairness and I'm like, You assholes are in it with me. speaker-0: Sure. Yeah, everybody's doing a Saturn return now. Yeah. speaker-1: Fuckers. So funny. So like when it comes to Austin, this was something that it it's so funny because like we all everybody I should say this. For those listening, I used to live in Austin, which is how I met Alex. This is back in I believe twenty eighteen. Yeah. I was there from twenty seventeen to the mid yeah, middle of twenty twenty. I think I actually moved away from Austin this week. In 2020, which is wild to think about. Yeah. So that's how we met. And then it was just kind of funny because I felt so like drawn and there was all this synchronicity and all this cool stuff that kind of coincided with me moving to Austin. But something that I didn't know about the city is that it's so witchy. And I was like, Are you shitting me? This is awesome. Yeah, another bonus on top of like the coolest shit ever. speaker-0: I think actually kind of remember that. I know. That's also I think I didn't realize that because also I moved to Austin just kind of on a whim, and that was nine years ago. So it worked out like really well for me, I guess. But I was just like, you know what, that sounds like a cool spot, sure. but yeah, and then I later learned that it has just like people that are drawn here are just very warm and friendly and welcoming, and then also There's a lot of spirituality and just a a touch of the woo-woo. Although I will say in past years, maybe less so people moving here are less woo-woo or whatever, but we still have all of our traditions. Like I went to Eeyore's birthday a few months ago, danced in a drum circle, felt alive. So maybe took some streamies. speaker-1: Ha ha. speaker-0: Wonderful time. And that's what I love about Austin is that we just like did that in a park. speaker-1: Right. So why do you think so apart from like, you know, it has that super friendly and welcoming culture, like do you think there are any other factors that have made Austin such a draw for witchiness? speaker-0: I don't know. I think it's because it's always been a spot for creatives. I think if you're a Texan, I think a lot of people in Texas have just like seen Austin as like, this is the cool city, like super creatives, music, all the music, all of the arts, you're going to Austin. So I just think it's always had that vibe. speaker-1: It's such a fun fucking city. speaker-0: It's a fun city. Dare I say too much fun? speaker-1: No, I feel that. I remember I this is so stupid and this is kind of an aside because it's not my interview, but I remember I told my god, I would go out every s every Saturday and just get shit housed. Like me and my friends, like you were you were there too. Yeah. Yeah, hundred dollar bar tabs, don't give a shit, like whatever. Yeah. And I was like twenty seven or so and I was thinking, my god. speaker-0: How is there too? speaker-1: Do I have a drinking problem? And then I realized no, I have a fun problem. Like Austin's too fun. Yeah. And so what I did is I was like, I'm gonna cut my drinking in half because I'm blacking out so badly that I'm not remembering how much fun I'm having. Yeah. speaker-0: That's that's the dark side of the drink. Boy do I love a drink, but yes, I also had to cut back a little bit. speaker-1: It's I mean, it's it did actually work. I was like I someone would bring up some story like, do you remember at blah blah blah when this happened and I was like, No like And it wasn't Yeah, it wasn't an embarrassing story. It's just like, my god, I missed out on all this like beautiful fun we were having. So speaker-0: Yeah, that's the worst part. I never have like I know I'm perfect, first of all. But I'm like, no, why did I don't I don't remember this really fun time that we had? Yeah. speaker-1: So that's just a PSA to listeners, like, Hey, you gotta remember how much fun you're having. speaker-0: You do, yes. And honestly, if you just have like a diet coke between drinks, no one's gonna know. speaker-1: No one's gonna know. Or like a club soda with lime. Yeah. speaker-0: No one's gonna know. Yeah, just have a diet coke. It's fine. speaker-1: Or well Austin we have to say Topo Chico. speaker-0: yeah. Or a topo, you have a little topo, a little lime in it. No one's gonna be the wiser. Also, yeah, great. Just have a little treat. speaker-1: Topo Chico, please sponsor. speaker-0: Please sponsor. speaker-1: Please sponsor this. I need please. There's one thing you take from this. speaker-0: I just need a sponsor. speaker-1: Yeah, hell yeah. That would actually okay, I won't get I won't go off into this. Okay. That'd be cool as shit, yeah. So like, okay, so you've been in Austin for nine years, which I of course I'm like, threes, like my god, it's a multiple of three and like all this cool, like spooky shit. So like what like how has your love for Austin changed? Like what do you still love about it? What's like I don't know, like tell me all the good stuff. speaker-0: okay. Yeah, I will say I'm definitely com becoming a curmudgeon just because I'm like, ugh, the people who moved here in the pandemic suck. However, I actually thought about this the other day. I went to they have we just have like an outdoor summer concert series at like downtown. and it had just like a lovely view of the skyline. Actually hilariously enough, I didn't realize that the venue didn't I was just like, it's outside. Of course I can bring my own drinks. Like brought went to Royal Blue, rode a little bike, did a little bike ride, I got a bottle of wine, I got a sandwich, and then I got there and it says no outside food or drinks. And was like, Shit. I was like, God damn it. So I just unrolled my blanket outside the venue. And I was like, All right, well, now I'm having a solo date. Just a beautiful, beautiful view of the skyline. And we're having a super mild summer too. yeah, not no 100 degree days yet. But then I rolled the I ended up rolling the bottle of wine and my blanket because I was like, I'm not whatever. And I made it in after I ate my sandwich. And then I like just sat and hung out with my friends. Like we were just sitting. Barefoot on a blanket in the grass, we're watching a band. and I just on my way home, I was riding a bike and listening to music, had a few glasses of wine, but I started crying because I was like, that was just such a beautiful night. And it did. It reminded me what I loved about Austin. It's just A super fun city. And you know, there's also the Peter Pan syndrome a little bit. I might be guilty of it as well. But I think it's just a beautiful place. And it also doesn't really matter. You can just do whatever you want. Like if you want to get a little wine drunk at a free concert outside and then bike home, you can. But I love that and I just love I went out two weekends ago to this like And had you ever been to Sahara Lounge in Austin? speaker-1: No, but I lived well, we lived on the east side, so I I lived kinda close to it, but I just never got out there. Mm-hmm. speaker-0: I will say for the listeners who might not know, Sahara Lounge is kind of like an old East Austin staple. And if you also don't know, East Austin was primarily a black neighborhood until the gentrifiers, including myself, gentrified it. it was gentrified before I got here though, so it's fine. Anyways, but it's an old club and no AC in there to his balls. speaker-1: Me too. speaker-0: But it is just one of those places that I'm still like, old Austin is alive and well here. it is just people of all ages are there. There's a band, there's a DJ. It is just such a fun club. But I went there two weekends ago with some of my girlfriends, and I just danced all night. We just danced all night. Didn't have to I don't like drinking on the dance floor. I'm like, this is inhibiting my dance moves. I'm like, I don't want the cup. Like so just being able to sit in that joy and I left and I had to shower when I got home because I was absolutely soaked. Like my hair was soaked. It was crazy. But things like that, like just seeing people just love their life is just I love it. I don't know. speaker-1: That's that's just yeah, it's like so Austin. And it's like I remember cause I moved there when I was like twenty-five. So I still had like quite a bit of growing up to do. And I just remember it was like, hey, I had the, you know, I'm from the Midwest, I'm again Catholic, grew up around a lot of martyrs. And so I had the like earth shattering realization that there's nothing noble about being miserable. And yeah, I'm around a bunch of people who chose the miserable path and they just speaker-0: How Austin? speaker-1: bitch and complain all the time because that's like I think they think that they're getting like some type of good karma from that or whatever. And it's like you just don't get that in Austin. It's like people choose happiness and it's just it's like they're not they're not burning for eternity. Exactly maybe they're they're burning on the dance floor. I don't fucking know. But like yeah, it's it's just it's just so cool to see people like, hey, when you make the happy choice and you lead a happy life, it makes you a better person. And it was just cool to see that like radiate out from everybody. speaker-0: Yeah, it does. I think it's just prioritizing joy. And I love Austin 'cause you can be outside for most of the year. In the summer it's hot, but just find a body of water, you'll be fine. You'll be outside and just loving life and enjoying it. It's a great it's a great city. And I truly every year when my lease ends, I'm like, Should I move? And then I end up not because I just don't think there's any place that I'd I'd rather be, honestly. So speaker-1: What's like one of the great things well, I should say greatest things about Austin is it's just so easy to make friends there. speaker-0: It's so easy. I have so many friends and I have like not to be like, my god, I'm so popular. But like I have a good amount of friends and I have just a community of people and I it's really hard for me to get to like try to leave. And it's also so easy to make new friends because I've had friends leave and all that. And I've I mean, they're still some of my best friends, so speaker-1: Yeah, it's I don't know, it's just it's great. It's that's one of the things 'cause it's like there are other cities that are full of transplants, kind of like Los Angeles, where it's a lot harder to make friends and that's kinda that comes with like the territory and how the city's designed and all that. But it's like the I mean, I just didn't realize how spoiled I was in Austin because it's like, yeah, everyone's a transplant, but everyone is so motivated to get out and like try new things and just get out Hey, introduce yourself, like blah blah blah. And it was just so Easy to make friends. speaker-0: I know. Yeah, it's just like I guess there's some cities where people are like really obsessed with I would say Austin's not like obsessed with working. they actually say people in Austin don't really work. Everyone works from home. But like it's not like a go go go type of place like New York is or like social climbing like LA. It is just people move here because they're just like I like the vibes. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: I don't need to do that whole thing. I'm not trying to chase that type of dream. I'm just trying to chase a good life. And that's what I'm here for. speaker-1: I love that. my God, it was a it's I I don't know if it was a tweet or what, but it was the if New York is the city that never sleeps, Austin is the city that never works. speaker-0: Yes, exactly. No matter what time of day. speaker-1: That's my god. That's so funny. Cause I will like I can see that. Cause like the thing is with Austin is that it's you can you can work as like a server or whatever. So you've of course you work weird hours. So like that's very accepted. But I did I met a lot of people who were part of like the startup grind who were crazy and they worked like sixty hour work weeks. So it just it kind of depends. It's speaker-0: Depends, but I like Austin because you can choose your own pace. Like you don't have to go at a new like New York minute or whatever. Like you can take it really fast and do the entrepreneur thing, tech, whatever. Also, you don't have to. Mm-hmm. It's kind of great. speaker-1: If you were to like move to a different city, even though you don't plan to, is like do you have any cities in mind that you would love to try out? speaker-0: Yeah, I'm been thinking about that. I would go to where I already have people because now I'm like in my thirties. A little bit harder to make friends. I don't want to go out as often as I did when I first moved here when I was twenty three. So but I would go to DC. I really like that would be nice temperate. I've never lived anywhere with normal Fucking weather. and my sister just moved to Chicago, which that's not temperate at all. But God, nothing beats a Midwest summer, dude. my god. Yeah. Like and I love that city too because I love and I grew up in Wisconsin, so I know the vibes, but Chicago in the summer, I feel like just cannot be beat. And that's truly why they live there. Like they suffer through the winter, so you they can have summer in Chicago. speaker-1: yeah. Right. And I think they they still do this. I remember I lived there many years ago, but in the summer, every neighborhood would have a block party. Like it would be like this weekend is gonna be Andersonville, this weekend is gonna be Wrigleyville, like et cetera, et cetera. So it's just like the city just like cranks it up during the summer 'cause they know hey, we have this short amount of time. Yeah. speaker-0: Have a short window and I love that. speaker-1: It's it's that's another speaking like on the topic of a place where it's easy to make friends, Chicago is up there too, and I think it's it's a good city for millennials as well. speaker-0: I think so too, but we'll see. speaker-1: Yeah. It's I mean it's not going anywhere, so speaker-0: Yeah. No, it's still there. speaker-1: So we've we've come to the the point in the episode where we need to get into the spooky buttness of it. So I understand that you have a story from when you lived in Charleston. Yeah. Okay. Let's let's get into it. speaker-0: I do. Alright, so let me paint the scene. I am, I think it's my senior year of college. I moved into a house with two of my best friends. the house was built like in the 1800s. It was one of those like old, old Charleston houses. Like it actually like was slanted. You could put something on the ground and it would just roll. Yeah. And we had it was a duplex. We were on the bottom floor. speaker-1: shit. speaker-0: I my bedroom was fully not supposed to be a bedroom, by the way. But you know what? It was twenty sixteen. The vibes were up. My rent, five hundred dollars. To live in the middle of downtown Charleston. Kind of unheard of. But it was such a piece of shit place that I had to go through either of my roommate's rooms to get to a bathroom, which also kind of sucked. speaker-1: Hell yeah. my god. my god. speaker-0: But anyways, we were just also one of those houses where people would just kind of show up and like we'd have our door unlocked all the time. In retrospect, not a good idea. But it was the times. You just had to be there. Twenty sixteen, dude. Like we still had Obama as a president. it was great. anyway. But we would just come back, me and my friends, my best friend Thomas, we would just come back from the bars, absolutely shit faced, and we would just be like, let's pull out a Ouija board, like ha ha, let's play with it. Fuck. And yeah, and sometimes we would do witchcraft. So like my armate would wake up and there'd be like a salt circle on the grounds because we're doing shit. But I speaker-1: We made margaritas. I don't know what you're talking about. speaker-0: Midnight and margaritas, hello, practical magic, anyone? But we would we would come home and just do Ouija board. Anyway, so the one night we are Ouija, we did pick up something and we have to speak to a spirit. What we believe no one has ever fessed up to moving the thing. So we do believe still that we did commune with a spirit. And also Charleston's just like such an old city. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: Like of course. It's like crawling with ghosts. And actually, I love a ghost tour, like sidebar. I've done like four of them in Charleston. My parents live by Savannah, and I've done like three of them there. Love a ghost tour. Have not done one in Austin yet. So if I move, I have to do that first. Right. Anyways, we commune with the spirit. everything's fine. We learn that the spirit was a slave. speaker-1: nice. speaker-0: In the day. There's a couple other spirits in the house. They like to commune. The slave spirits commune in like the kitchen. And I was like, okay, that seems a little pointed, but okay. Like they kind of commune there. And then there's another spirit who's not quite as nice, and he's in my roommate's room that is across from my room. So that one was like the not nice spirit, and the other ones were nice. So, anyways, I think nothing of this. We just, you know, pass out later on that night after Ouijang. That's also the thing. We probably did not close it out properly. Fuck. Probably did not close it out properly. Probably did not do the proper precaution. So I would not recommend doing this unless you know what you're doing. So a week or two later. My one of my roommates goes, he does study abroad trip, so he's gone all summer. And then my other roommate goes back home to Tennessee. so I'm there doing an internship that summer and I'm just kind of like left to my own devices. I'm there in the apartment alone. And I didn't think about anything. And then I was like, hell yeah, I got the apartment alone. This is so sick. speaker-1: Like so you're there alone. Okay. speaker-0: And then I remember I came back from work that day. I'm sitting, and because I'm alone, finally, I'm in my roommate's room on the toilet, scrolling on my phone. What you do? I'm finally alone, there's no one else there. So I'm in the phone, I'm like on the toilet, scrolling on my phone, and then I hear something fall, and I'm like, There's not been anybody else in this house for a full day. speaker-1: That's what you do. speaker-0: I don't know what fell. And then I just finish up and then I realized I opened the door and a book has fallen off her bookshelf and it like kind of projectiled. And I was like, that's cool. I didn't touch that. No one else is here. Fucking cool. So and then I realized too, and I thought back and I was like, shit, we did the Ouija board and this is the mean spirits room. Yeah. speaker-1: Don't do that. speaker-0: So that happens. And then I was kind of freaked out, but I was like, whatever, go back to work. I come back later that day. And it's just I did just get the feeling, I just never felt alone in that house. And I just I was just like, okay, this is like a little weird. And I w hear heard like noises all that night. And I was just like, I I can't do this. So the next day I call my mother. As one does. My Serbian Orthodox mother comes up, drives two hours up. She has holy water with fire. She brings our family dog who is now past RIP teacher. she brings our family dog and she spends the night with me and she gets a priest to bless the house. Good call. Because she knows what's up. speaker-1: Yeah. my god. Good call. speaker-0: Anyway, so she's le left me there with my family dog just to like, you know, you need company while your roommates are gone. And I'm like, okay, great. So our family dog stays. And you know how they always say that like dogs just know about these things and they just don't so I think back to our conversation with Ouija board. So first my dog was very food motivated. Like that bitch loved to eat. If there's me too. So she was very food motivated. I would try to get her to go, cause to get to the backyard, you had to go through the kitchen. She would not step foot in the backyard. She would not step foot in the kitchen. Wouldn't do it. I would hold a piece of ham and like wave it at her. And she's like, No, I'm not going in there. You gotta bring that ham out here. speaker-1: Do I? speaker-0: And she wouldn't go into my roommate's room either. I even put like her food bowl and stuff on the wall next to that room. And she just would not go near it. Wow. So yeah, she only went in our living room and in my bedroom. And she just would not do it. And I had to, much to my dismay, I had to take her outside. So we she wouldn't go. So eventually I'm just kind of like fed up and I kind of just like set some things up. I'm in my salt circle. And I'm just kinda like, hey, spirit, listen up. Like, I'm cool if you're cool. I'm sorry that we did the Ouija board. Like, if we could just go back to coexisting harmoniously, I'm sorry about the priests. Like, you know what? If we could just coexist, that would be sick. That would be so nice. And things had calmed down. So I didn't see much after that, but it was mostly the things like falling off of shelves and then just like yeah, the feeling that we'd never be alone there. Also, yeah, tensions got high sometimes, but I don't know if that was roommates' problems. Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, that was my haunted house. speaker-1: yeah. So how long did you like how long did you guys experience activity in the house? speaker-0: I mean they lived there for longer than I did, but I think I had like about a year of that. But that was just like the most like that was like the most I experienced it. And I feel like I noticed it more just because I was there by myself. Yeah. But I only lived there for a year or two. speaker-1: Yeah. Okay. So like did you guys ever know I mean, granted it was like college you know, someone someone probably owned the house and was like renting it out to you guys, I assume like it wasn't university property. Right. Okay. So like did you guys ever look into like the history of the house or any of that? speaker-0: You know, I never did and I kinda wish I did. speaker-1: Uh-huh. speaker-0: But no, to answer your question I did not. speaker-1: So it's I think I guess it's kind of safe to assume that like those enslaved people who like came through on the Ouija Ouija board were pro it was probably where they were kept. probably. Unless it was a you know, energy that came off of like other properties. But it's like, I mean, it's Charleston. It's like every square inch probably has that, you know. speaker-0: Game. I mean honestly, yeah, they we had like the our city market. They will say there were never slaves traded there, but it's like so fucking for real right now. I know we're just definitely the first thing they sold. speaker-1: Bullshit. my god. Yeah, I I have a different podcast that I listen to and they said something interesting. hello, this is Mr. Tommy, right? speaker-0: Yeah, pickles. speaker-1: Actually so okay, sidebar. Sidebar. I think he he was like meowing a lot when you were talking about like the ghost activity. So I'm like, Okay, he's he's picking up on something. speaker-0: I think so. He lived in that house also. Yeah. When he was a I got pickles when I lived in Charleston. So yeah, that was ten years ago. Maybe it's it's our ten years. Ten year next month. But yeah, he lived in that house when he was a kitten. So that actually makes sense. But yeah, he is meowing at me a lot. So that's why I picked him up. speaker-1: my god. my goodness. No, perfect. Cause yeah, we my cat is it's kind of hot here, so she's napping in a cool place. But what I was saying initially is one of the podcasts I listened to, they were talking about Charleston. And then like one of the hosts just kind of like stopped for a second and he's like, Charleston is kind of America's Edinburgh because it's so fucking haunted. And it's like, yeah, that's a really good observation. It is. speaker-0: haunted. Savannah. Savannah's a good ghost town too. speaker-1: I've never I have actually I've never been to either. speaker-0: I would recommend, I would say I love Savannah. That was when I thought about moving to, but I was like, because it's really close to my parents. But Savannah, if you had to take Charleston, which is very like kind of prim and proper, you'll see like a lot of the southern tide type of stuff. It's kind of like in the middle of like New Orleans and s Charleston. Like it's just it's not as prim and proper. You know, they we have like the outdoor drinking, open container laws. but it's not quite as like crazy as New Orleans is. So definitely recommend. speaker-1: that's cool. Yeah, one of my cousins went to Savannah College of Art and Design. I think I I think her apartment was haunted, but she was she's just so like, yeah, whatever. speaker-0: Lucky. Yeah. Yeah, it's just like part for the course. speaker-1: Yeah. Man, he w No, it's totally fine 'cause it's like he's ready to tell he's ready to be interviewed, so I'll get him speaker-0: It's really loud. I'm so I think he has like a lot to say because he was in that house for so long too. Do you remember? Yeah. speaker-1: Did he like did he act weird when he was there or just kinda like speaker-0: No, but he was a kitten. Like I got him when he was like I wanna say he was like ten weeks old. Yeah, he still had like his eyes were still blue and everything. Yeah. speaker-1: wow. Man. speaker-0: But no, it was just like my family's dog that acted really weird. speaker-1: So like the priest who came to bless the house, was he Orthodox? Mm-hmm. Yeah. interesting. Okay. speaker-0: Yeah, my parents get their house blasts every year. speaker-1: Okay, my parents kind of do something similar. Yeah. okay, so like I guess when you huh. So when you kinda like offered the olive branch after all of that, did so did the activity kind of die down or did it just kinda like keep going? speaker-0: Yeah, it kinda just died down, but I will I will always say I never felt I always felt the presence. speaker-1: Yeah. Well that's good. Like, I don't know. I shouldn't say like that's good, but it's just like Could be worse. speaker-0: I coexist with the spirits all the time. Like there's no getting rid of them. Like I wasn't gonna exercise the demon. But yeah, the priest came around, just sprinkled some holy water. Or big into incense too. So speaker-1: That's that's a really good point, just saying just coexist and like everything and yeah. speaker-0: It's gonna be copacetic. We're just gonna coexist. We're gonna live here. I'm gonna live here. speaker-1: Tommy's gonna live there. my god, that's that's so funny. Cause like when I was yeah, cat I don't know, cats do the darndest things, but when I was getting stuff geared up and like really like actively prepping for this project, Boo started acting even goofier like spookier. So I'm like, she knows she's a mascot. speaker-0: Over there. She know she does know she's mask on. speaker-1: She is. She's the only mascot. my god. Well this has been fun as shit. speaker-0: I know. we should just do this all the time. Well you should just do this all the time. speaker-1: Right. any final thoughts about maybe Charleston, Austin, anything you'd like to kind of close out on? speaker-0: I think if you had to say my synopsis or like main message I want to get out is just enjoy your fucking life. Just get out there, have fun, try new shit. You never know who you're gonna find, what you're gonna fall into. Just the universe has so many blessings for you and just be open to receiving them. speaker-1: Yeah, Tommy's like, Hell yeah, Yes, mama, hell yeah. He's going like this. speaker-0: Said yes, Mom. And he's like, Yes, mom, eat. That's just what I wanna do. He's screaming at me for food, so speaker-1: Hell yeah. So Alex, Alexandra Jones. Yes. where can people find you? speaker-0: yeah, I don't have much to plug, but if you do want to follow me on Instagram, it's at Alexandra underscore Jones with an extra S at the end. speaker-1: Hell yeah. my goodness. Thank you so much for joining me on this spooky, spooky, spooky butt journey. I appreciate it. Of course, anytime. speaker-0: You and thank you for having me. About my witchcraft and my old ass house. speaker-1: Hell yeah. Alrighty. Alright. Until next time. Goodbye. Ooh. Tommy can close this out. There it is. Hell yeah. Thank you for listening to this episode of SpookyButt. Music by Drew Mantia. Artwork by Lauren Seely. Listen to SpookyButt on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Please be sure to like, rate, and subscribe. Follow SpookyButt on Instagram at Spookybut Podcast. Need to make contact? Send us an email at spookybuttpodcast at gmail.com. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye.