I’m SO excited about today’s episode!! Literally recorded this at 10pm on a Friday because I was THAT inspired.

This episode is low key a masterclass in how to BEGIN the process of making your perfectionism irrelevant—aka dethroning it from its seat of power and influence in your life.

This is the exact framework that I’m going to be walking us through during IN PROCESS, my 4-week summer camp for for creatives ready to reclaim their creative process, self-expression, and visibility from the chokehold of perfectionism (waitlist gets $50 off! We start June 1)

Why am I sharing it all for you here?! Because I’m generous, duh. Also because I just want everyone to be FREED from the chokehold of their perfectionism.

Here are the four steps I walk us through:

001: Create a relationship with your perfectionism

002: Orient yourself around being present in process (versus hyperfixating and pedestalizing your desired goals/outcomes)

003: Your vulnerability = your superpower

004: Microdose discomfort

If you love this episode and wanna do all of this with me (and other cool people) then join IN PROCESS! I’d be honored to host you. You can learn more about the program and sign up for the waitlist here.

Stay sensitive 💧

Keep in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

I’m fully obsessed with today’s episode! I interviewed astrologer + womb worker Ines and we got into so much. There are so many gems from this conversation—from how to work with your luteal phase to astrological herbalism—and at the end we do a very emotional tarot reading swap! Come for the menstrual cycle wisdom, stay for the cards reading the f*ck out of us.

Here’s the breakdown:

* How Ines got into fertility awareness + our first period memories [OMG]

* Why we shouldn’t be using period tracking apps to make big life decisions

* The easiest way to start getting in touch with your cycle

* Why your luteal phase is not out to get you

* Why being in tune with your cycle helps bring context to what’s happening during your luteal phase

* Making connections between the menstrual cycle and astrology

* What is astrological herbalism and how it can support us

* Ayu does a card reading for Ines

* Ines does a card reading for Ayu

Meet + work with Ines:

Ines (@inestielas on IG) is a multi-modality poet, oracle, & matrilineal knowledge-keeper. Her practice weaves fertility awareness, menstrual cycle coaching, holistic herbalism, astrology & ecofeminist science fiction to help people who give a damn feel sovereign in their bodies & play their part in nourishing abundant futures for the collective.

Sovereign Waitlist, Fall ‘26 cohort

1:1 astrology readings

FREE Fertility Awareness masterclass

Keep in touch + work with Ayu

Book a Creative Archetype Immersion

[FREEBIE] How to resource yourself for creative work using your birth chart

Instagram

Stay sensitive 💧

In this episode I share a little bit about why I went silent in March, but mostly I talk about why I think it’s helpful for us as creatives to stop focusing on motivation and consistency, and instead direct our focus on resourcing ourselves, and surrendering to our cycles.

I share about how you can use your astrology chart as a starting point for what YOU need in order to feel resourced, and then get into how to identify what cycle you’re in, why that matters, and how to surrender to it.

[also halfway thru the episode I realized my mic wasn’t plugged in - the audio is fine throughout but, ya kno. just human thingz]

This episode was recorded with no notes, off-the-cuff as part of my journey/process of reconnecting with my voice.

Work with me:

* Book a Creative Archetype Immersion if you’d like to know what your natal chart says about how you can resource yourself for your creative work, and what your creative cycles tend to look like.

Stay sensitive 💧

Keep in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

In today’s episode I have the pleasure of interviewing Aryn the Alchemist. They share their brilliant thoughts on the current astrology, and how we can meet the moment [and ourselves] via creative whimsy.

Make sure to join their FREE 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge for artists ready to transmute freeze into freedom!

Aryn the Alchemist (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, creative coach and identity alchemist for world-building artists based in Milwaukee. WI. Their coaching method combines narrative astrology, shadow work, glamour magick and ancestral devotion to help their clients achieve the success they dream of. Aryn writes a Substack called Side Quests, a newsletter for the creative who loves a juicy distraction, and hosts the free 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge for artists ready to transmute freeze into freedom.

Connect with Aryn:

* Visit their website

* Join them on Substack

* Join the 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge

Connect with Ayu:

Book a Creative Archetype Immersion before March 31 and get a FREE Aries season reading [delivered async so you can keep time on your calendar for your creative work, not add another call] where I’ll map exactly how Aries season fits into your creative cycle, and how to best take advantage of the fiery astro new year.

Instagram

Threads

Substack

Stay sensitive 💧

In this episode, I’m sharing some thoughts I’ve been having recently about building my capacity to try + fail + try again, how I’ve been handling feeling discouraged, and at around 17 mins there’s a major pep talk for you.

[also sorry the audio is a little inconsistent! will do better for the next one]

This episode was recorded with no notes, off-the-cuff as part of this journey in reconnecting with my voice.

Work with me:

* Book a Creative Archetype Immersion before March 31 and get a FREE Aries season reading [delivered async so you can keep time on your calendar for your creative work, not add another call] where I'll map exactly how Aries season fits into your creative cycle, and how to best take advantage of the fiery astro new year.

Stay sensitive 💧

Keep in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

This is the beginning of an exploration I’m taking to uncover: WTF does authenticity even mean now that it’s such a buzzword (and likely will continue to be)

In today’s episode, I get suuuuper candid about my history of people pleasing, how that’s gotten in the way embodying my own authenticity, and how I’ve been clawing my way back to myself [via hard, honest convos and a bed of nails {literally}]

Here’s the episode breakdown:

* How I got so far gone I didn’t even know what “just be yourself!” meant or looked like for me [bc like, in which context??]

* Authenticity as something we each have to claim within systems designed to pull our attention away from the truth of ourselves

* Why I’ve come to realize that for me, people pleasing is just straight up lying and doesn’t just hurt the people pleaser

* Realizing that authenticity requires increasing my tolerance for discomfort [and conflict] and how I’m staying present with that instead of checking out

* What creative authenticity means to me [and how this concept can help you in your own authenticity exploration]

This episode was recorded with no notes, off-the-cuff as part of this journey in reconnecting with my voice.

Work with me:

* Book a Creative Archetype Immersion with me! This is a 90-min creative revelation: an astrology session focused on YOUR creativity as its own sovereign entity and inextricable part of your essence. Start 2026 rooted in your creative authority, claiming your UNIQUE creative gifts, and expanding your sense of what’s possible for you. Now booking for February!

* Join the artists, writers, and change makers prioritizing their most sensational creative work in 2026. Creative Alchemy is a four-month, 1:1 container with me where you’ll develop your creative leadership and actually create the I’m-kinda-scared-to-do-this projects that are screaming to be born. Apply here.

Stay sensitive 💧

Keep in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

This first episode of 2026 has all the tea omg.

I opened up about:

* my breakup (the thing I was being very elusive about before)

* the financial issues that ultimately led there

* how I handled the stress of navigating that on top of being a parent

* how ALL OF THAT impacted my business

I recorded this one super off the cuff, nary a note or outline, so I hope it doesn’t come off as too scattered! But I really enjoyed just letting myself flow - hope you love it! Come for the tea, stay for the insights.

Work with me:

* Book a Creative Archetype Immersion with me! This is a 90-min creative revelation: an astrology session focused on YOUR creativity as its own sovereign entity and inextricable part of your essence. Start 2026 rooted in your creative authority, claiming your UNIQUE creative gifts, and expanding your sense of what’s possible for you. Booking for February.

* Join the artists, writers, and change makers prioritizing their most sensational creative work in 2026. Creative Alchemy is a four-month, 1:1 container with me where you’ll develop your creative leadership and actually create the I’m-kinda-scared-to-do-this projects that are screaming to be born. Apply here.

Stay sensitive 💧

Keep in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

This is the perfect episode to listen to before you start making your 2026 resolutions!

In today’s ep I’m breaking down:

* Why you should be actively re-evaluating your relationship with possibility, especially when you bump into your self-limiting beliefs

* How to do a “possibility check-in” and how that can help you slowly start to believe in your own possibilities + embody possibility

* Four things I do to intentionally expand my own perception + capacity to see possibility

My 2026 Astral Almanac is open for preorders! I talk about what this is in the episode but the tl;dr is that it’s a personalized guidebook full of astro + tarot readings for the entire year of 2026. Not a generalized year-ahead reading, but customized to your birth chart. I’ve only got a few left, so grab one if you want one!

Stay sensitive 💧

Keep in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

This week, I’m breaking down my own ~ hot takes ~ on creativity (like how you actually need to stop reading about other peoples’ creative processes and get to know YOURS)

Here’s the episode breakdown:

* Intro + thanks for being so supportive of my last episode!

* You really do have to get to know your OWN creative energy and stop looking at other people’s processes

* You don’t need a regulated nervous system to be creative, and the privilege of being creative because you want to versus because your life depends on it

* You don’t control your creativity

* Unfortunately you do have to learn to love the process

* If you want to be more creative, build self-trust

* Your creativity and intuition are related — so treat it as such

* Divest from seeing your ideas as “good or bad”

* Rejecting your creative idea before giving yourself a chance to AT LEAST explore it is self-abandonment

* How embarrassing moments expand your creative capacity

Thank you for listening and being here! Feel free to comment or send me a private message with your thoughts about this ep!

You can check out my Creative Archetype reading here, and look at my other services here.

And if you want a Mercury RX reading ($66 for a recorded video OR $145 for a 45-min live sesh) send me a DM on Instagram or shoot me an email ayu@astralpathways.co

Stay sensitive 💧

Stay in touch:

Instagram

Threads

Substack

I’m so excited about this episode though. I discuss the ~lore~ of my business, why I needed to pivot, and what that process looked like for me. I love when biz owners are transparent about these kinds of things so I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s the episode breakdown:

* astral pathways lore (how I started doing astrology + tarot readings in the first place, getting laid off from my editing job, hang ups around starting a biz esp w my Saturn return influencing me, choosing a name for my biz when I’m a multi-hyphenate shapeshifter, etc)

* Launching my business + juggling being a mom and OH BTW my coparent was laid off too

* When and why I realized I needed to “niche down”

* Getting burnt out from parenting and trying to make things work

* How going deep into my creative practice literally saved me during hard time AND gave me the inspo for my pivot

* How I started pivoting in public

* What I’m up to now

Thank you for listening and being here! Feel free to comment or send me a private message with your thoughts about this ep!

You can check out my Creative Archetype reading here, and look at my other services here. Oh and if you want a Mercury RX reading ($66 for a recorded video OR $145 for a 45-min live sesh) send me a DM on Instagram or shoot me an email ayu@astralpathways.co

Stay in touch in between eps:

InstagramThreadsSubstack

This week’s episode is a little heavier than the last two, so please heed the content warnings (cw: eating disorders, diets, body image stuff)

I’ve been feeling some old negative thought patterns creep back up recently and I wanted to use the opportunity to explore why, and share my own experience with how my eating disorder and body image issues have always intersected with trauma and grief.

Episode outline:

-Noticing myself slipping back into negative body thinking

-How the collective grief of what’s happening in the world has been triggering this part of me that wants to take out my big feelings on my body

-My eating disorder + body image lore, weaving how feelings grief, anger, lack of control trigger my body stuff

-More thoughts on grief: how it changes us and how we sometimes feel resistant to that change

Thank you for listening and being here. Feel free to comment or send me a private message letting me know how this episode landed for you.

Stay in touch:

Follow me on IG: instagram.com/astralpathways

Subscribe to my Substack: ayutmi.substack.com

Buy me a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/astralpathways

If you give this podcast a 5-star rating on Spotify and/or Apple Podcasts, you'll be entered to win a free recorded astro/tarot reading from me! Send your review, and then DM me on Instagram and I'll put your name in the running. I’m picking a winner on Sep. 5 so you have another week!

For this week’s episode, I wanted to unpack perfectionism mostly because so many people have been asking me about it. Here’s what I discuss:

* Why Virgo gets stereotyped as the perfectionist

* Perfectionism as a tool of white supremacy

* Finding our own sense of enough-ness

* All the things we miss out on because of perfectionism

* Perfectionism as a form of control against the unknown—and a defense mechanism against getting rejected

* Why it’s healthy and important to be rejected, to fail

* Self-reflection questions

* What happens when you center process over perfection/goals/outcomes

Let me know how this episode lands for you! Curious what kinds of convos it will spark in your head. Leave me a comment and lmk <3

Follow me on IG: https://www.instagram.com/astralpathways/

Subscribe to my Substack: https://ayutmi.substack.com/

Buy me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/astralpathways

CC: the sensitive witches, creative b*tches, chronic overthinkers and overshrinkers, bold and brash babes that are allegedly “too much”, and the wisdom seeking meaning making baddies.

Crybaby Mystic is our space to explore what it means to live a creative, intuitive, emotionally honest life.

New episodes drop every other Wednesday (but maybe more often if I’m feeling frisky)

Love you for being here! Stay sensitive 💓

Keep in touch in between episodes:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astralpathways/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@astralpathways

Substack: https://ayutmi.substack.com/