<![CDATA[Romancing the Threshold]]>
vanessacouto.substack.com]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/podcastSubstackWed, 10 Jun 2026 02:59:35 GMThttps://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/4784073.rssVanessa CoutoFluff isn’t frivolous—it’s mythic medicine. At The Healing Power of Fluff, romance tropes, planetary archetypes, and depth psychology entwine with monster kisses and cosmic mischief. Because healing flirts with the stars—and kisses your shadow.episodicVanessa Coutoinfo@vanessacouto.comYes<![CDATA[Kelly Jarvis on the Power of the Small]]>The smallest things tend to carry the most: a fairy tale, a love story, a cup of tea made with real attention.

Vanessa sits down with writer and fairy tale scholar Kelly Jarvis, whose debut novel, Sea and Stars (out July 7th), is a gothic retelling of Beauty and the Beast set between the Isle of Skye and the old whaling town of Mystic, Connecticut. Together they wander through why this one tale keeps returning to us, what it means to love the beast as he is rather than wait for him to become a prince, the magic that lives in the everyday, and why a lasting love might be built more from choice than from fate.

A conversation about small magic, and the medicine that hides in what we were taught not to take seriously.

Find the writing at vanessacouto.substack.com and everything else at vanessacouto.com. There's always room by the hearth.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/kelly-jarvis-on-the-power-of-thesubstack:post:200050364Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:54:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo5204<![CDATA[Karla Sorensen on the Why of Characters, Writing Craft, and the Body of the Writer]]>Karla Sorensen writes contemporary romance set in the world of professional football, and inside her pages she's quietly doing something extraordinary: rendering grief with the care of someone who's apprenticed to it, drawing men from the inside of their armor, and writing women with their own sovereignty intact.

In this conversation, we talk about how characters arrive (and refuse to leave), what the body of the writer knows that the mind doesn't, and the strange labor of bringing a story into being, of wrestling with it like Jacob with the angel until something cracks.

A masterclass, by any honest measure. Come in.

The full reflection on this episode lives at vanessacouto.substack.com



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/karla-sorensen-on-the-why-of-characterssubstack:post:197158314Sun, 17 May 2026 15:08:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo5882<![CDATA[Your Body is Reading the Book Too]]>Content note: This episode touches briefly on a sexual assault scene from a romance novel as the entry point for our somatic conversation. The scene itself isn't described in detail. Please listen with care.

What if the body of the reader is the third character in every romance novel — the one nobody talks about?

In this episode, Vanessa sits down with Alan Massetti, somatic experiencing practitioner, to explore what actually happens in our nervous systems when we read. Why a scene from weeks ago can still be living in your body. Why arousal isn't just sexual. Why the reading slump might be your body asking for time to digest.

This conversation widens what it means to read romance as medicine — and offers small, doable somatic practices for bringing the body into your reading life.

For more, visit vanessacouto.substack.com.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/your-body-is-reading-the-book-toosubstack:post:196479105Thu, 07 May 2026 13:29:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo5808<![CDATA[Which Door Is Yours?]]>There are five aspects of the self that culture teaches women to hide — and romance novels have been quietly reopening every single one. In this solo episode, I name them: body, rage, pleasure, instinct, and sovereignty. Five Forbidden Doors, each one guarded by the stories we've been told to dismiss. Drawing on my depth psychology training, my own reading, and responses from real romance readers, I walk you up to each door — just enough to see which one has your name on it. Includes a reading practice you can use tonight with any book on your shelf.

This episode is the companion to last week's Your Bookshelf Is Your Grimoire.

Explore Forbidden Doors — a six-week romance-as-medicine intensive starting May 16: vanessacouto.com/romance-online-course

For more essays and episodes subscribe at vanessacouto.substack.com



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/which-door-is-yourssubstack:post:194139630Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:31:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo2558<![CDATA[Your Bookshelf Is Your Grimoire]]>Almost twenty years ago, a dream about a wedding made me abandon my thesis on Saturn and depression and write instead about the healing power of romantic comedies. That thesis became a spell — I lived everything I wrote, and more than a year later, I met my husband. Then I forgot about it for nearly two decades. After my mother died and 131 romance novels pulled me through a cave year of grief, the spell returned. Same medicine. Deeper cauldron. In this episode: the origin story of my work with romance as medicine, a three-level framework for reading beneath the surface, and a practice you can try tonight with whatever book is on your nightstand.

Explore Forbidden Doors — a six-week romance-as-medicine intensive starting May 16: vanessacouto.com/romance-online-course

New essays and episodes at vanessacouto.substack.com



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/your-bookshelf-is-your-grimoiresubstack:post:193413594Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:59:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo2514<![CDATA[Sharon Lynn Fisher: Small Magic, Ancient Power]]>Sharon Lynn Fisher writes cozy gothic romances set in Victorian England: stories full of tea, herbs, cottage witchcraft, and heroines who can't stop asking questions.

In this conversation, we talk about what happens when curiosity meets inherited darkness, why the "small magic" of domestic ritual might be doing more than it appears, and the question Sharon's been sitting with: does writing quiet stories matter in a world this loud?

We also talk about retellings and the soul of a story, how place inspires her writing, what her readers have taught her about the value of her work, and what transformation tastes like.

Book reviews and full essay on Substack: vanessacouto.substack.com

Romancing the Threshold a podcast about crossing the threshold with the curiosity of lovers rather than bracing for impact.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/sharon-lynn-fisher-small-magic-ancientsubstack:post:192787425Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:39:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo5585<![CDATA[Cassie Alexander: Getting Curious with the Monster ]]>When AI arrived, most people chose a side — fear or adoration.

Cassie Alexander chose a third way: curiosity.

Romance author, nurse, monster-romance pioneer — she's spent her career writing about the thing the world decided doesn't count. In this conversation, she and Vanessa explore what it means to stay in relationship with something you can't fully know, what working with AI reveals about how you think, and the question neither of them can stop sitting with:

If AI is the new monster — what might it be seeing about us?

Romancing the Threshold explores romance novels as threshold medicine, shadow work, and collective dreaming.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/cassie-alexander-getting-curioussubstack:post:192020994Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:30:00 GMTVanessa CoutoYes4724111full<![CDATA[When the world gets strange, desire becomes our compass]]>In this episode of Romancing the Threshold, Vanessa sits down with author Layla Fae for a conversation that moves through creativity, desire, monster romance, and the unexpected ways we meet change in a world that feels increasingly strange. They talk about Layla’s origin story with the monster in Legend, the cultural expectations placed on women even as we gain more autonomy, and the quiet rebellion of choosing joy over burnout in creative work. The conversation also touches on the tender, complicated terrain of our relationships with technology — including Layla’s newest book, a love letter to the possibility inside the machine — and what it means to cross thresholds with curiosity rather than fear.

This is a spacious, intimate exploration of desire as a compass, storytelling as a guide, and the courage it takes to keep becoming in a world that keeps shifting under our feet.

To learn more about Vanessa’s work and her upcoming spring offering Forbidden Doors, visit vanessacouto.com.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/when-the-world-gets-strange-desiresubstack:post:189785908Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:00:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo4547<![CDATA[Weaving the WYRD While Empires White-Knuckle Death]]>While systems grip their dying world, we're midwifing what's being born through every story we love. In this solo episode, I weave together childhood under dictatorship, the ancient myth of Proteus, and how we're already part of the WYRD network—everyone who's ever let a story rearrange their molecules. From my inner Jason Bourne fantasies to recognizing romance novels as medicine, I explore how tending story-doorways isn't escape but how we stay ungovernable. Because while empires try to board up every portal, we're already walking between worlds.

Vanessa Couto is an astrologer, mythic guide, and storyteller exploring thresholds where the personal meets the collective. Host of the Romancing the Threshold podcast and creator of the For Your Pleasure book club. Find me at vanessacouto.com



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/weaving-the-wyrd-while-empires-whitesubstack:post:185772097Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:56:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo2060<![CDATA[Having your VISA Declined at the Threshold]]>In this intimate conversation, Vanessa sits with her friend Jessiemarie to explore an unexpected threshold space: the adult retail shop. Drawing from her experience helping customers navigate their most vulnerable desires, Jessiemarie reveals how these deliberately unsexy, fluorescent-lit spaces become impromptu confessionals where strangers voice what they've never admitted—even to themselves. Together, they unpack the universal pattern of arriving at any threshold convinced we're broken and seeking quick fixes, whether that's a magic toy to "fix" our bodies or any external solution to internal disconnection. The conversation deepens into how asking better questions IS the foreplay for transformation, why bodies are meant to change (and changing doesn't mean malfunctioning), and how the most profound threshold guides often wear name tags instead of robes. Through stories of brief encounters that crack people open, they explore why we clutch our credit cards at crossings that only accept vulnerability as currency, and how real transformation requires not purchasing our way through but romancing the questions we're afraid to ask. This episode speaks to anyone who's ever tried to buy their way past becoming who they're meant to be.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/having-your-visa-declined-at-thesubstack:post:183501037Wed, 14 Jan 2026 14:38:00 GMTVanessa CoutoYes593518full<![CDATA[Breaking the Spell of Separation: A Celtic Shaman's Guide to Romancing Uncertainty]]>Celtic shaman and author Jane Burns illuminates how threshold spaces—those uncomfortable in-between times we rush through—are actually portals of creative power where the ancient Celts knew magic lived. In this rich conversation, Jane reveals the reciprocal nature of spiritual relationships: ancestors and helping spirits seek partnership, not worship, and both worlds have genuine stakes in our collective evolution. Moving beyond "cosmic shopping mall" spirituality, she shares time-honored Celtic practices for courting rather than conquering uncertainty. Essential listening for anyone ready to discover why the Otherworld might need us back, and how transformation is always a collaborative dance between worlds, never a solo battle.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/breaking-the-spell-of-separationsubstack:post:182805506Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:23:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo622017full<![CDATA[The Bestiary of Unearthing]]>A solo episode closing out a transformative year. After cataloging 50 monsters across 125 romance novels, seven creatures emerged as threshold guides through grief and reclamation. These aren't just steamy reads but medicine for anyone exhausted from being the emotional regulator, the perpetually useful one. At its heart: the Beauty and the Beast truth that we need witnessing without performance—monsters who see us whole without needing our usefulness as currency. An invitation to recognize the guides waiting in your own threshold seasons.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/the-bestiary-of-unearthingsubstack:post:181257691Sun, 21 Dec 2025 15:03:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo188516full<![CDATA[What Story Are You Telling at the Threshold? ]]>Rune reader and elder Ingrid Kincaid explores how every threshold demands sacrifice and why the stories we tell about change shape our experience of it. We discuss the gift of the liminal space, why resistance to change closes our curiosity, and why we need elders to step forward (not aside) to translate ancient wisdom for modern crossings. For anyone wanting to meet life's transitions as sacred exchanges rather than obstacles to overcome.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/what-story-are-you-telling-at-thesubstack:post:180067054Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:02:00 GMTVanessa Couto and Ingrid KincaidNo556315full<![CDATA[When the Avalanche Reveals the Valley]]>When an avalanche buries your world, what gets revealed? Author Ella Larson joins me to explore how her Hidden Folk series teaches us to meet catastrophic change with curiosity rather than with the tension of 'white knuckling it.' We discuss why love is a choice that transforms us from separate entities into something larger, how "in-between" spaces are fertile ground for becoming, and why being truly seen is both the price and gift of belonging. Drawing from her own threshold crossing to Norway and the hidden valleys of her fiction, this conversation illuminates how approaching our avalanche moments with the curiosity of lovers rather than the grip of fear changes everything.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/when-the-avalanche-reveals-the-valley-d9fsubstack:post:177998677Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:15:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo375014full<![CDATA[Walking to the Edge of Desire: My Husband Reads Romance]]>In this anniversary‑week episode, my husband Jason steps into my world of romance novels—book boyfriends, monster lovers, and all. Far from his usual orbit of music and design, he shares his grounded take on desire and trust, and reflects on his own threshold moments. Together we explore what it means to walk to the edge of fear, fantasy, and intimacy—and how crossing into each other’s worlds can transform us.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/walking-to-the-edge-of-desire-my-6e3substack:post:176085143Thu, 23 Oct 2025 13:40:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo352713full<![CDATA[Crossing the Threshold: On Liminality, Descent, and Becoming]]>In this episode of Romancing the Threshold, I’m joined by astrologer and storyteller Brian Clark to explore the threshold as both pause and passage — a place of shedding, becoming, and crossing into the unknown. Together we speak of descent and darkness as the womb of beginnings, of rituals and beauty as companions for change, and of curiosity and imagination as lanterns that guide us through life’s crossings.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/crossing-the-threshold-on-liminality-53fsubstack:post:175487584Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:41:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo454012full<![CDATA[The Art of Falling in Love with the In‑Between]]>In this first episode of Romancing the Threshold, I invite you into the charged space of the in‑between—the moment before the door opens. I share the inspiration behind the podcast, how it becomes the hearth where On Liminality and The Healing Power of Fluff meet, and why this unfolding feels like a romance in the making.



Get full access to Vanessa Couto at vanessacouto.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://vanessacouto.substack.com/p/the-art-of-falling-in-love-with-the-501substack:post:174587020Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:34:00 GMTVanessa CoutoNo114611full