april 2026
muir woods
what’s on my mind this month
new place, new name, new season. it all feels so fitting for spring.
Hi friends! A lot has happened since my last newsletter, so I’ll keep this recap short and sweet:
Lumina has a new name. I went from Lumina Energy Work to Lumina Holistic Arts. Lumina Energy Work felt a bit limiting. I didn’t expect my small business to organically morph into an outlet for creative exploration and expression, but here we are. Pivoting to a name that could hold space for anything and everything just made sense.
I’ve got a new home for energy work. I’m now an independent practitioner providing care out of Buffalo Firefly at 4025 MacArthur Avenue. You can find me there on select Sundays! My availability is always up to date on my booking page.
I’m cooking up some exciting things that I’m not totally ready to share just yet. But you will be hearing about them. Everything is still in development, and our small team of cofounders is hard at work. One thing I will say with great sincerity: this work just might be my ikigai.
REST FEST!
I’m excited to share I’ll be a vendor at Rest Fest on May 9th at Carillon Lawn!
Come find me, my sweet dog, Panda, along with my very helpful partner, vending and enjoying some time outside among other wellness practitioners.
RVA Rest Fest is “…a celebration of wellness in community - a platform to highlight the best of what Richmond offers.
In uncertain times, we need each other more than ever. Rest Fest brings Richmonders together for one transformative day to nurture mind, body, and soul in a vibrant, alcohol-free sanctuary.”
I’ll have the Energy Well ready for you to pull from, and mini intuitive readings throughout the day!
collective themes + opportunities to reflect
When did everyone become an authority… on everyone else?
Is anyone else's social media feeds full of stuff like this?
You're Reading Tarot Wrong
You Need to Post Dumb Content, Here's Why
Non-Negotiable Days You Should Schedule Every Month
(courtesy of my IG Explore page)
It's become an exhaustive marquee of imperative statements, calling out what I oughtta do, think, or say. Somehow, total strangers have inserted themselves into my feed to ever-so-kindly inform me of my shortcomings. On a device I own, on a feed I've (mostly) curated!
We all have to make a living. So, I get the whole "You've been reading tarot wrong, but guess what, I've got just the resource for you so you can do it the right way!"
What's happening here is this unspoken power move that's disguised as helpfulness: if someone else asserts themselves as an authority on a topic in my life, what does that make me?
i’ve recently taken up photography as a hobby. this crab i spotted in a tidepool was basically a paid model. thanks for letting me get so close, lil one!
This Isn’t Really About Instagram
And it’s more than just me being annoyed at my phone.
I'll be vulnerable here: there were a number of structures in my life growing up that were designed to keep me from trusting myself.
Cultural/societal limitations around being a woman.
Being the oldest daughter of an immigrant family (iykyk)
Growing up Catholic
Raised in a collectivist cohort at home, while living in the US (heavily individualistic)
Many of these structures made it very clear that authority existed outside of me. Who I should be couldn't possibly come from me.
It also didn't help that I unconsciously settled on people-pleasing as a way to feel safe. Whether through nature or nurture, I grew up deeply empathetic against my will; exhaustively scanning the people in my environment to detect emotional volatility so I could act appropriately.
These structures overlapped in how cultural and societal ideals eroded my own expertise and replaced them with doubt. I found myself believing that other people are more likely to know what's best for me than, well, me.
And when your sovereignty is replaced with doubt, you tend to seek information and validation everywhere else first before thinking to trust yourself.
my dreamy new treatment room in buffalo firefly
Information & Learning as a Coping Mechanism
So what does one do when life is coming at you hard from all angles with strong opinions about who and how to be?
You arm yourself with information and skill-building.
Learning, data, and application of knowledge became my safe harbors. Because if everyone else seemed to be the expert on how life must be lived, the logical next step was to learn as much as one can.
At first, being learn-ed in anything and everything made me feel better. I gained a false sense of productivity and growth. It turned into a parade of knowledge and skillsets that really only took up brain space and made my high-achieving inner-child shine like the sun.
But it didn't necessarily help adult-me, who no longer needed to prove anything to anyone.
Was amassing this much information actually improving my life?
Was it moving the needle from doubtful to sovereign?
Or was learning anything and everything just a means of feeling better about my self-worth?
Maybe it was both.
muir woods
The Question That Changed Things
"But, how do you know?"
This question became the shift. I stopped chasing information that was just nice to know and started focusing on learning how to learn.
Thus began my venture into Epistemology: the Theory of Knowledge. I began asking it in nearly every situation.
Not consciously. I was just a child wearing an adult suit, looking for a way to make sense of the world and my place in it.
It started in my career as a nurse. "How do you know when your patient-in-a-medically-induced-coma needs a change in their pain or sedation infusion?"
Then it spread to other parts of my life. It showed up when watching courses I'd purchased, in conversations with friends and family.
The phrase morphed over time. Sometimes I didn't ask it out loud. Often, it was a note I mentally tucked away to fact-check later. Some days I genuinely wanted to know how someone arrived at Knowing. Other days I found myself questioning the individual. Less "But, how do you know?" and more "but, how do you know?"
Some things I’ve learned:
People don't actually always Know. Sometimes, Knowing is Confidence playing dress-up. Sometimes it’s Insecurity, Fear, Anger, or Anxiety coplaying as Knowing.
People may genuinely believe they Know, but the Source of Knowledge can be flawed or downright misinformative.
The Types of Knowing are valued differently. Some folks lean on anecdotal evidence. Some put more stock in what's been measured and studied. I lean heavy here — ya girl loves peer reviewed evidence, data, and patterns.
The Source of Knowing is just as important as the Knowing itself. This is how misinformation spreads. Discernment is an important skill.
And sometimes Knowing can't be fully explained. Like a nurse putting the crash cart in front of a patient's room because of a hunch that something is about to go down. Based on nothing more than a feeling. I'm a fan of trusting that.
(btw, if a nurse has a funny feeling something is about to hit the fan… you listen.)
Where my personal growth took off
was when I shifted from asking how other people Know Things, to "How Do I Know?"
How do I know?
What will Knowing feel like?
How will I know to trust what I Know?
Is my Knowing obsolete?
How accurate is my Knowing?
Now that I'm more aware of when I outsource my sovereignty…
it's easier to pause and take a step back.
I'm still learning to trust my Inner Knowing. It's far from a clean process — it took a lot of learning, recovering from messy situations, tough realizations in therapy, and quiet accountability. It has simultaneously been a surprising and pleasant journey of honoring my self-worth.
This is, honestly, what Lumina is for me. It's where peer reviewed evidence and gut feelings and lived experience and a well-pulled tarot card all get to sit at the same table. There's no single authority in that room. Just different sources, each with something to offer. And we both get to decide what's useful.
So respectfully, I won't be taking your word for it. Not because I don't trust you, but because I'm finally learning to trust me.
And I think you should, too.
early access tea - hear it here first!
NEW LOCATION PERKS!
when you come in for your session, you also get 10% off merchandise in buffalo firefly! (excludes sound instruments).
make it a one stop shop: come for your session and stock up on spiritual items like crystals, gemstones, tarot/oracle cards, and so much more!
subscriber exclusives
to celebrate beginning in the new space, i’m offering a 30% discount off of all services!
use code NEWSPACE30
this coupon code expires 5/31!
if you’ve made it this far - thank you, truly
wishing you a happy + healthy spring!
with warmth + light,
angela