Hi there! If you’ve found yourself here, note that I haven’t actively updated my Substack or regularly published in a couple of years. (One day again in the future, maybe!) For now, though, the below is outdated. Still, I hope those of you who might also be “in between” people will track me down, feel resonance with things I publsihed previously, and engage with me anyway. I’ll answer if you comment/reply anywhere!
To a metaphor, this thing is often that thing?
To Spirit, the rich are poor and the poor are rich?
To a geologist, a mountain can breathe?
To an immigrant, home is both here and there?
To a biologist, mold can have more than one gender?
To a synesthete, sound can be color and touch has taste?
To a physicist, light is both a wave and a particle?
To a mystic, all matter is both inert and also alive?
God is a poet, no?
Throughout time, there have been many names for people who tend to hang out “between worlds.” In the Celtic tradition of spirituality, they were often “Wandering Celts.” Báyò Akómoláfé calls them “fugitives;” calls us to practice “fugivity.” Clarissa Pinkola Estés speaks of them as “La Loba,” the Wolf or Wild Woman.
Creatives, artists, mystics, poets of paradox. Doulas, herbalists, writers. Misfits, radicals, shape-shifters, jesters. Name a culture and they’ve been there. And, because you are here, I’m guessing you’re one of them.
Welcome.
My name is Brandi, and I’ve always felt like one of these “middle space” people. After a while, though, I realized I was in pretty good company.
Turns out, we’re all “middle space” people. Because we are always in process. Always becoming something else. Always folding what was into what will be. Both wave and particle, God and human. This PLUS That.
To believe otherwise is to exist in separation. But to accept this as the nature of the universe is to live life fully integrated, whole, and thoroughly alive. Interesting, then, that “whole” is the etymological root of the word “holy.”
This Plus That is where I explore these mystical middle spaces. It’s where I connect the seemingly un-connectable and talk about why it matters.
Come Connect With Me
Subscription Options —
No matter how you sign up, each newsletter goes directly to your inbox. But, the Chat feature does need to be accessed via the Substack App.
Free:
Occasional sends, including things like:
write-ups on artists, scientists, mystics, and other creative idea/genre-mashing humans so you can be inspired by others making lives out of mixing together all their varied interests
links to idea/genre-mashing stuff I’ve found recently and love
personal essays
new podcasts
And occasional online hangouts and chat threads!
I don’t post on a regular content schedule—only when time, capacity, and excitement allow for it!
$6/Month or $60 a Year:
If you’d just like:
a way to express your gratitude
a way to show you value independent writers, artists, & creatives and the work we make
and/or a way to invest in content you really care about
$250 a year / Founding Member Price:
All the above, but with a bigger virtual hug.
Favorites So Far
People often ask me what my favorite interviews or essays have been to date. I also find that these tend to be a good “primer” if you’re new to my work. I hope they’ll encourage you to subscribe here and to the podcast. It helps me continue doing this thing I love and sharing it with you.
Podcast Things:
The Trailer
Inefficiency + Joy with David Epstein
Love + Death with Andreas Weber
Quantum Logic + Exclusive Truth with Lincoln Carr
Purpose + Illness with Charles Eisenstein & Lauren Buckley (YouTube)
Microbes + Spirituality with Asia Dorsey
Essays:
A Sick Society + An Individual Burden
Gravity + Decisions
Beauty + Risk
Nice Things Others Have Said
“Your written body of work is stunning. I think it’s a roadmap to somewhere I want to go, and I think that ‘somewhere’ is the middle space between all matter.”
— Kate
“You are writing my insides out on your pages and podcast. Everything you’re saying is resonating so deeply with me. What you’re sharing is nothing short of revolutionary, and dang, I’m so grateful for it.”
— Stephanie
“I signed up for your newsletter a few weeks back, after seeing a post of yours on Instagram. I'm not sure how I found you on IG in the first place, but I'm grateful I have. As I was reading your newsletter I was overwhelmed by seeing myself in your words. Thank you for sharing this intimate exposure of yourself with random internet strangers who just happened to follow the lure to signup for a newsletter that they weren't really sure what they were signing up for.”
— Stephen
“I so look forward to each email from you, because in your writing I often hear my own speaking back to me. You are a true mistress of your craft and I thank you for putting your words, experiences, and vulnerabilities out here for us to share. I hope you know you’re not screaming into the void. You’re not alone. And, speaking for myself, although I think I speak for many of your readers and friends, your sharing of your gift with us is so comforting and thought-provoking.”
— Ashley
Other Ways to Support & Engage
Invite me on your podcast, write about This Plus That in your newsletter, link to me on your site, or invite me onto whatever platform you have. (Let’s collaborate!)
Send me a tip of any size. Any amount is welcomed with gratitude.
Share this newsletter with your friends or anyone else who might benefit.
Subscribe to the podcast, leave a great review, rate it 5 stars, and share it with others.
Follow me on Instagram, YouTube, and/or Twitter, and share my posts, write something up about This Plus That in your Stories, tell people what your favorite episode or essay has been and why, etc.
Gift me a book, welcome me to visit & stay at your home, or most anything else your imagination can dream up, as long as we both consent to it 😂
However you decide to engage, you have my gratitude.
We live in a universe built on the gift—an abundant, alive, dynamic, bright, dark, terrifying, wonderful, awe-inspiring place of vast resources and connections waiting to be made.
I’m so glad to be in it with you.
