*The sunrise skies over Ojo Caliente Hot Springs in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

Hello sweet soul,

Welcome. I'm so glad you're here.

A special welcome to the 15+ new folks who joined me for our Cacao Journey in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Thank you for your presence.

It's October 1st and there's a lot of new stuff coming through for us.

Of course, I invite you to read (or listen to) all the stories that follow.

For those skipping the stories, there's a new way to work with me and it's available for the next 5 days only.

It's called: Sacred Messages: Written Oracle Guidance for Your Life’s Burning Questions. If you hear the call, check it out as it's available only until October 5th (also 8 B'atz).

Also, there is a new opportunity to work with me at We Are Magic. See the listing at the end.

Now, gather your cup of Cacao for a good, long story.

You may listen to this series of stories on Substack.

For the end of the summer, I was on a pilgrimage across the southwestern United States. I'm back in Austin, writing from a covered, sunlit patio with 100 other writers.

In case you missed it, I've written two previous stories on my pilgrimage.

For part 1, read it here.

For part 2, read it here.

Last I left you, I was falling in love with Taos, New Mexico.

My time there is so sacred, so holy. That land brings me into a kind of presence that's even deeper, one that reverberated across my travels.

While in New Mexico, I stayed in Taos, Ojo Caliente, and Santa Fe before driving back to Austin, Texas. I moved between studio apartments, wellness resorts, Airbnbs, and hotels.

No matter where I was, I sat with Cacao, the ancestors, and my sweet Soul every single day. In a short stretch of time each morning, I made the space to reflect in ritual with my Soul.

Since I've done this for more than 10 years now, the ancestors suggested I tell you about it in great detail.

So… I want to share exactly what my morning ritual looks like.

Let's begin.

*My altar in my sweet Airbnb loft in Taos, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

Each and every morning, no matter where I am in the world, I wake guided by my body.

I realize that's a potentially loaded sentence—to be guided by your body—but this is how everything arrives now.

When I wake, I stay in bed for a few moments or even many minutes while I remember my dreams.

This is the most crucial time of my day. It's a special space between dreaming and waking where the highlights of my dreams spill forth, like a highlight reel or even a trailer of a movie.

It takes a bit of time and practice to pay attention in these moments, to remember, but it's always worth it.

Sometimes, I remember something tiny and minuscule to my mind, which may turn out to be a key piece of information that helps me settle into my Soul.

Sometimes, I remember something major—like when an ancestor shares a gift that seems wild but turns out to be a key message for a topic on my heart.

Sometimes, I gather just enough data to ease my suffering, to feel my pain, to allow my joy.

When I finally get out of bed, I keep all the lights low or off.

I keep all the lights low… as I brush my teeth and wash my face.

I keep all the lights low… as I fill the tea kettle with water and set it to boil.

I keep all the lights low… as I light a candle, burn incense, and think about the energy of the day. The Mayan Sacred Calendar is my daily companion so we'll talk about one of its energies in a moment.

When the water in the kettle is boiled, I allow it to cool for a few moments, so it doesn't scorch the Cacao.

I reach for my frother which I have blessed now hundreds of times—inviting it to not cut the energy of my ceremonial Cacao—and fill it with raw organic honey, a meditation dosage of Cacao, and water.

I allow the frother to aerate the Cacao and blend all the ingredients into a nice creamy consistency. I then pour it into a mug and take it to my bedroom.

[At the same time, lately, I steep a bag of Masala Chai, fresh ginger slices, and honey in a separate vessel with water, for later.]

In bed, I prop up all the pillows and gather my blankets around me.

Holding my Cacao cup, I recite a prayer or invocation which is unique each day but carries similar elements from day to day.

If you have been in ceremony with me, you know this prayer. The entire prayer is an offering to the ancestors and the spirit of Cacao but really it is about connecting me with all-that-is, connecting me with me.

My final words are typically, “And thank you to the spirit of Cacao for helping me see more of me.”

*The waiting room of Abide Skincare in Taos, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

I take my first sip only after whispering one more “thank you” and then drink my Cacao over the next ten minutes or so.

When my cup is empty, I do a few of the following things:

—I lay down in bed and meditate, dream, think, or feel.

—I ask my Soul, “What do I need to know today?”

—I put on some clothes to take a walk around the block.

—I scroll on my phone, allowing any aligning messages to drop in.

—I drink my cup of tea, which has steeped while I drank my Cacao.

No matter where I am—no matter where I was in New Mexico—I do this same ritual each day.

This ritual creates a bridge between my dreams and my waking life; between the dark and the light; between what feels real (the astral plane) and what we think is real (this wild earthly existence).

In this bridge space, I decipher what is for me—what lessons or messages are vital, what stories or feelings wish to surface—to help me see more of me.

I don't know if sharing my morning ritual invites you to create your own kind of waking ritual.

But, if you're here, I invite you to make space to see more of yourself, to offer gratitude to life, to pull apart the threads of your pain, to notice your pain so you may notice your joy.

If it's not Cacao—let it be tea or coffee or matcha or even some flower essence. But… let it be.

*The bathroom wallpaper at Tesuque Village Market in Tesuque, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

I am writing this new series of messages to you on 13 Aq'ab'al. [I began on 13 Aq'ab'al and finished in the new trecena of K'at.]

Aq'ab'al is the moment between darkness and light. It's the bringer of the dawn. Often considered the conception, it is the bridge between the dream world and this earthly life.

13 is the day of the spirit world, of the ancestors, of the divine messages that emerge from those in spirit who are deeply invested in your becoming.

I mentioned beginning this newsletter on a sunlit patio surrounded by 100 other writers. Specifically, I sat at a table with 6 writers of various ages and experience.

When we paused from writing to share our progress, we discovered that each of us was writing to bring light to some loss, to reveal some wisdom from some grief, to make a new kind of meaning from our pain.

When I discovered that, I smiled, winking at the ancestors for reminding me, reminding us, that this life is but a reconciliation of all the parts of us, including the parts that linger in our lineage.

*My sweet bedroom in my Airbnb loft in Taos, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

13 days are particularly relevant to me and my Soul's work.

Every 13 days, the Maya say the veil is the thinnest. Not on Halloween, though sure. Not on Dia de los Muertos, though, of course. But every 13 days, the bridge between dimensions is the strongest.

On 13 Tz'i, in the hills several miles outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, my body woke early not just for Cacao but to soak in a hot spring.

I put on a bikini and slipped into one of the hotter tubs a short walk away, up on a hill. I was generally alone, just soaking in the steamy minerals and the earliest rays of sunlight.

To my surprise, I heard a slight buzzing at the next tub, a buzzing that found its way to my tub.

When I looked up, I noticed it—a hummingbird.

I'm no stranger to hummingbirds—they are one of my most talkative animal allies. They have been present in pivotal parts of my Soul's journey. I think of them as the winds (or wings) of change; as the carriers of wisdom from higher vantage points; as the sweet heart medicine songs that soothe the soul.

This hummingbird stayed, buzzing around my tub for minutes. Not two or three minutes, but a solid 10 or 15 minutes.

As I watched it, darting around the tub, around my head, from tub to tub, returning to my tub, I started to hum.

I was just suddenly humming instinctively.

The hum turned into words, a melody. I was singing.

Eventually, I became aware that I was singing. I noticed I was singing a word I do not say all that frequently, not since my mother passed away.

“Querida, querida,” I sang softly. “Querida, querida.”

Querida means dear, darling, or beloved in Spanish. It's used as a term of endearment.

And then I heard, from an ancestor, “She is singing to you. She is giving you the song."

I was far less alone now. All the other soakers who were further afield gathered around my tub and slid in. I giggled, remembering how a friend said that she repelled people but I attracted them to me.

People arrived but I didn't stop singing softly.

"Querida, querida. Pajarito, Pajarito.

Querida, querida. La Tierrita, la Tierrita."

And on and on and on… I received several verses noting many objects of sweet endearment, both from the earth and of the earth.

Frankly, I don't know where the words came from nor how I strung them together with a melody but it was clear that this sweet bird, the soul of this sweet bird, offered me my first icaro.

An icaro is a magic song often shared during ceremonies but they are received by healers from or in nature.

The ancestors let me know that this song was for 4 I'x. This was the date I hosted a Cacao Journey on a nearby land. 4 I'x is the energy of mother earth, Gaia, Cacao, the jaguar, the divine feminine, as well as magic.

I never got to sing my first icaro at the Cacao event, which I hosted four days later, as we were pressed for time.

But I will sing it for you sometime, I promise.

This is how everything arrives now.

*Ojo Caliente Hot Springs in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

A week or so later, I was a participant in a talk at the High Desert Human Design Conference. My friend is a human design reader. She supported my Cacao Journey and I supported her gathering.

By the way, human design is one of the systems that arrived in my field about 12 years ago. Understanding more about my human design gave me permission to just be myself, exactly as I was. Shortly thereafter, the Soul and the ancestors started speaking… and you know the rest.

My friend's talk was about learning how to work less and flow more.

As people shared stories of struggle around the room, I had a slightly different story. I proceeded to share how I don't overly struggle or overly stress anymore.

I remember saying, “Everything I need just arrives. And I don't follow someone else's sense of urgency. I follow my own knowing in the calmness and steadiness of my own body.”

The room fell silent.

“I want to ask you,” a participant looked at me. “How do you do that?”

I looked to my friend to ensure it was okay to share. She nodded.

“I move mainly to the cycles of my own body, and less so to the cycles created by the human-made systems outside of me. And I only collaborate with those who respect my cycles.”

“But wait,” she inquired. “How do you do that?” she emphasized.

“Well,” I replied. “There's a harder path that sticks forever and an easier path that sticks for a while but needs support from time to time. Which do you want to hear about?”

“Both,” she affirmed.

I'm going to tell you what I told the room. It is something I believe wholeheartedly but had never shared previously. I leave it on the altar between us which you can take or leave. I love you and trust you to receive what is right for you.

First, when I say, “Everything I need just arrives,” I mean that everything I define as prosperity arrives.

I don't know what that means to you but, to me, it means—resources (yes, money), opportunities, time, spaciousness, love, more of my gifts or magic, and my soul family, at the very least.

One path to prosperity (the easier path) is to sync up your body to either a cycle of the earth and its heavenly bodies or to an ancient wisdom tradition (as those are typically derived from the earth).

So path one—SYNC UP YOUR BODY TO THE EARTH.

If you follow it long enough, you will begin to notice your body's signals on what is right for you and what is not right for you. Your own particular cycle will invite you into creation and prosperity.

And, when you follow your body's cycle and respect it, this becomes an invitation to others to respect your cycle, too—or else, they fall away.

That is the easy path—though, of course, it is not without effort. It requires devotion, practice, noticing, journaling, and shoring up your body's cycles with additional earthly systems.

To be able to share this with you, I studied and followed so many systems—human design, western astrology, several types of meditation and breath work, Mayan cosmology, several types of yoga, the Gene Keys, the lunar cycles, ancestral reverence, soul attunement, etc. etc.

All of these systems are fantastic and I still use many today. But eventually, you may need to go deeper to remain aligned and step into your version of prosperity. So let's talk about the harder way.

Path two—SYNC UP YOUR BODY TO YOUR SOUL.

I can actually hear my very first yoga teacher echoing in my ears right now. She would say, “The hard way is the easy way."

And, "The slow way is the fast way.”

For path two, you must talk to and listen to your Soul. Every single day.

Literally, sit in silence once per day for just a few minutes and ask your Soul what you need to know.

Whenever you have a choice to make, sit in silence and ask your Soul which choice is for you.

Whenever you're curious about your next steps, sit in silence and ask your Soul to tell you just one or two next steps.

The key part of this: Do not ask too many others for advice. Listen to yourself.

I have done this nearly every single day for more than 10 years. And I can tell you that it is this path that has aligned me to my own particular body's cycle such that I trust it above all other inputs.

Above what my family may say.

Above what my friends may say.

Above what my future partner may say.

Above what any human-made systems say (like a government, an education system, or a political system).

I say this is the harder path because it requires a kind of devotion and set of blinders that keeps you focused on holding, soothing, and choosing yourself—which is not often easy.

But it is often worth it.

And, this is how everything arrives now.

And while I still experience suffering—because I'm a human woman who is in constant dialogue with my feelings—my prosperity often arrives with so much joy.

See my joy in the next photo. 😊

*A quick selfie at Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

Speaking of joy, I am bringing my joys out of the closet just for you.

As you know, I have worked with the ancestors for a long time. I have also offered sacred business guidance and oracle-style insight to individuals and groups in transition and rebirth for a long time.

What you do not know is my work directly with tarot or oracle cards. I took my first Soul-oriented tarot class back in 2015. It felt so magical, but it didn't feel like quite enough at the time.

As I developed a language with the ancestors—based on words, sounds, visuals, and signals—I began to see the tarot very differently. The cards became a bridge to receive guidance for others, especially when we are not face to face.

It brings me so much joy to communicate with other dimensions through the tarot—so much so that I've created a new offering that I lay on the altar between us.

Introducing:

SACRED MESSAGES

Written Oracle Guidance for Your Life’s Burning Questions

Bring your three most pressing questions to the oracle altar and receive written guidance that weaves together tarot wisdom, ancestral messages, and soul-level insight.

Through a combination of card pulls and divine channeling, I'll create a personalized document addressing each of your questions with 1 to 2 paragraphs of comprehensive guidance. You'll receive the specific cards drawn for each question along with interpretations and stories that blend earthly wisdom with multidimensional perspectives.

This isn't a generic tarot reading—it's oracle guidance that speaks directly to your Soul's questions and provides clarity you can return to again and again.

And to be clear, I do not rush through these messages. I cultivate the space and energy expressly for these readings, through energetic alignment, beautiful atmospheres, and silence with the Soul.

This is why there are only 10 readings available. And this offering is live only until Sunday, October 5 or 8 B'atz in the Mayan Sacred Calendar.

8 B'atz is the first day of the new ceremonial calendar, the one steeped in ritual, celebration, and devotion. Your readings will arrive within 1 week so you may begin a new cycle with clarity and trust.

PURCHASE HERE

*The lobby of Hotel Willa in Taos, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

Before I go, I need to leave a question on the altar between us.

It is a question that arrived recently and it's one I am marinating in. Like thoroughly.

Artists, creatives, writers, even entrepreneurs—we often make or create from our pain.

As well, we are humans and, as the ancestors have told me, one of the joys of being a human is the ability to feel emotions—the highs, the lows, and especially, the neutrality, the harmony, the differences between the two.

Recently, someone asked, “Who am I without my pain? How do I identify without my pain?"

I gotta tell you, that question stopped me in my tracks. I had to hold onto a wall and cry a little to truly receive it.

And that's because… it's my soul truth that there is more joy in my life than pain these days. Of course, I have suffered and I may continue to suffer in some way. Also, the pain hits me differently now. It merges with me, blends with the joy, accentuates the joy.

And in that middle space, in the balance, everything arrives.

I do not know the answer to this question for myself quite yet but I am on the path of its discovery because no matter my situation, the good moments outweigh the tough moments.

And one such good moment was this chicken dish at Juliet Restaurant in Taos, New Mexico. It's one of the best chicken dishes I've had outside of France.

And that's saying a lot.

*A chicken dish filled with orange flavor at Juliet Restaurant in Taos, New Mexico. © Maggie Battista 2025*

There is a new opportunity to work with me at We Are Magic down below.

Until next time, sending love,

Maggie

TEMPORARY OR PART-TIME GIG AVAILABLE

P.S.: I am seeking a Virtual Assistant to help me with a new project that involves content development and replication, someone who can write, edit, and manage a natural process to share content between several websites. The most aligning person may also have photo editing, video editing, and social media skills, as well as an interest in the stories I share.

If you've read this far, you may be the sweet soul for this gig. Please email me with your resume or projects and a short letter on your gifts and skills. I'll reply to those who have relevant experience. This is a remote project that may become ongoing for the right person.

The Full Photo Gallery

This transmission is a guided story and summary of what feels most resonant energetically in the now based on my clairvoyant gifts, multidimensional messages, and ongoing studies in Ancestral Reverence, Mayan Cosmology and the Mayan Sacred Calendar, Human Design, the Gene Keys, Western Astrology, Lunar Cycle Study, Soul Attunement and the Soul's Voice, Receptive Living, the Embodied Masculine & Feminine Polarities, 10 years working with Ceremonial Cacao, Kundalini-Shakti Activation (the Divine Mother) Energy Transmission, Sacred Space 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training in Hatha, Flow, Restorative, and Yin Yoga, and Deep Stillness in Somatic and Vedic Meditations.