Mindful Magic: A Covid-19 Fundraiser

Mindful Magic is a collaboration between myself, Kat of Slow Folks, and Kayla of Warehouse Eight to raise funds for frontliners and those affected by covid-19.

One of the most humbling and inspiring things to come out of this pandemic was how community came together. Fundraising efforts came up and so many sectors became involved in helping provide for people working the front lines during this difficult time. It was also so heartening to see people rally behind small businesses, providing whatever support they could.

Just like any other person right now, I also had to figure out how to pivot PM and see how I could make it work given the current climate. I wanted to do something relevant, but also wanted to make sure that I could do something sustainable, something aligned with what Practical Magic stands for, and something within my means.

The idea for Mindful Magic came when I reached out to Kat of Slow Folks to ask if she was up for a collaboration. It was a slow weekend and I thought of saying hey! (This just goes to show you that random messages can totally turn into big things).

Kat and I met because of a tarot workshop I did for Likhaan Series at Munimuni Studio. Kat and a few of her friends created Likhaan Series to build community and offer learning experience to people interested in crafting and creativity. The February workshop we collaborated on went pretty well and we were actually slated to do a follow-up astrology workshop in March.

Unfortunately, that had to be postponed because of covid-19 (check out the photo to see how the mask-wearing started as early as February!).

We did a really short back and forth over DMs and were sold on the idea of coming together to raise funds for people affected by covid-19.

We wanted to pool our brands—me with Practical Magic and Kat with Slow Folks—to create a project that could we could promote and could garner enough buzz to help raise funds for medical supplies and food.

What we came up with was the idea of bringing mindfulness into magic. The magic part is the astrology profile that I write and Kat illustrates. Every donation form asks you your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs (I explain them briefly in my Instagram Highlights and in detail in my book!)—all of which gives me information to write out a few lines that encapsulate someone’s personality.

From there, Kat creates an illustration that supports your astrological personality and incorporates signature Slow Folks themes like beautiful women (and men!), organic forms, and natural backgrounds.

The mindfulness part of the project comes, of course, with everyone’s intention—to reach out, to help, and to provide support.

It’s only been a few days since we launched Mindful Magic and we’re currently fulfilling all the orders we received. We were actually gunning for 30 orders, and didn’t expect to hit target within a day! We decided to up our quota to 50 instead and immediately filled up the remaining slots in half a day. (Who would’ve thunk?)

It’s amazing to see how many people want to help out. It’s also equally humbling to see how many people were pulled in by the idea that magic can be mindful too.

Kat says, “I’ve always thought that that all I could do is donate what I can and stay at home. But seeing how people responded to this project made me realize two things…

“One, a lot of people, especially those who have influence, always have the ability to do more. And two, people are actually willing to help. If we all come together, then we would be able to empower each other to share energies and take a step forward to contribute even more to society, even on a normal day.”

I never expected to do anything beyond what I’m used to with PM—readings, workshops, connecting with the tarot community over social media. With all the distress brought on by covid-19 and the overwhelming show of support we’ve garnered through Mindful Magic, I’m seeing that with mindfulness and with magic, our reach can truly expand further than we thought possible. It’s amazing to see real practical magic actually work.

Everything that’s happened has also helped Kat consider what Slow Folks stands for too.

” I realize that living a slow and mindful life should never end within one’s self. It’s something that has to be passed on to everyone around us, in whatever way possible and this encourages me to find more ways of sharing my message across.”

Thank you to everyone who’s supported our little project that could. Please stay tuned as we hope to relaunch and open up donations again :) Maraming salamat!

Support Mindful Magic here.