Sanyu Estelle is a truth-teller, writer, oracle, tarot reader, artist, and musician. She’s the embodiment of the archetype of the witch. Her vision is clear, and she doesn’t only do one thing; she does many things incredibly well.

I was lucky enough to include Sanyu in my spiritual guide, Many Moons, where she contributed a beautiful piece on the Lovers. Read on to hear her thoughts about this archetype, time magic, and how to create a spiritual practice with integrity.

From what I gather, your spiritual practice is expansive and eclectic, informed by different philosophies and ontologies. Can you describe which thinkers or practices have influenced you the most? Or, conversely, what is influencing you the most right now?

First and foremost, I must say that I am informed by Afro-Diasporic cosmologies because my father is Ugandan, and my mother is Belizean. 'Anansi the Spider' is the first book I remember being read and the first book I learned how to read for myself.

I was inspired to ask my mother to teach me how to read when I was five because I had—and still have—a vivid dreamscape. A guide in my dreams instructed me to write my dreams down, but I couldn’t yet read or write. So, I learned how. Dreaming has always shown me a great deal more than either adults or even my contemporaries have wanted to share—both about myself and about them/others.

Beyond that, I practice Taoism and Ifa. The Tao is a cosmology of Asia, although there’s some debate about whether the practice itself was founded in what is now modern-day China or Taiwan. Ifa is the indigenous practice of the Yoruba people of what is now modern-day Nigeria. Neither of these practices excludes the validity of the cosmology of other religions as a basis of faith so they can be practiced beside each other with almost zero contradictions.

I prefer beliefs that don’t inherently contradict themselves. I also require an expansive faith practice that can grow and change with me. Thus far, Taoism and Ifa have constantly and sustainably served every purpose I have needed to be fulfilled.

Your piece for the 2022 Many Moons planners is all about the card of the year: The Lovers! In it, you write, "In reality, we may not choose all of what happens to us, but we do choose the meaning of what happens to us." Can you share a recent Lovers lesson you have had around the power of choice?

Well, the etymology of choice is “to taste, to choose.” What I’m learning currently about Lovers and loving is that the best relationships (whether with people, practices, or places) will always make us more of ourselves. The best of the best relationships will always make us more of ourselves in neutral, positive, neutral-negative, and positive-negative ways.

Meaning that even our negative interactions with these best relationships improve us because we learn to open, expand, perceive, and know more about ourselves with even greater alignment. Practically speaking, an example of this is that I’ve learned by companioning someone in an intimate-erotic context, we can enjoy even our arguments if we have them. I choose to become better regardless of what another says or does. I show up as myself even when in fear, and I’m received to the best of their ability, again and again.

I’ve had a taste of this type of Unconditional Lovers experience, and given the opportunity, I choose it again and again and again. I’m in the field right now, learning through osmosis. I will report more later. Next year should be informative!

For your piece, you also give us an amazing multidimensional tarot spread to work with this energy, with a very Lovers twist at the end. How do you work with spreads in your day-to-day life? Do you create your own spreads for quandaries or as maps on how to move forward?

It took me a long time to create my own spreads! I worked with just the Celtic Cross and the Mini Celtic Cross for ages, simply because even though I’ve been reading cards for almost 12 years, the first five years, I only read for myself and friends. Once I started reading professionally for clients, I needed spreads that were more reflective of my type of reads.

The Conscious Compass spread I provide in the 2022 Many Moons planner is the largest spread that I have specifically constructed. It’s directional with a twist, of course, because I’m governed by trickster energies such as Spider and Crow. Also, I’m of the philosophy that “Paradox is God”. There must always be an alternative, a bend, or a curve.

I very rarely read cards for myself. I may pull cards for the day, the month, or the collective, but I don’t ever ask a question of the cards as a basis of relating to them for myself. I go to other practitioners when I’m cloudy about my choices. If I have less-pressing questions, I trust that the pull of the day or the month will always be enough to answer them.

Your workshop, "Multidimensionality & Timespace: That's Not Your Past Life and There's No Single Soul Mate" has an unforgettable title and made me cackle. It says it all, but I'm curious about your experience with multiverses and collapsing time. Have you cast any spells along the themes of time magic?

Oh, every day is a spell cast. I’m casting myself with every decision I comprehend I’m making. I understand that I’m not defined by my choices—I’m defined by my choosing. So, while things in the past are things past me/s have done, who I am now in the moment is completely contingent on the version of me I consent to show up as at any given time.

I can intentionally become a different or changed version of myself at any moment because I’m always becoming a different or changed version of myself, regardless.

Many people don’t trust their emotions to guide them, which is detrimental to the intentional development of their character. Because humans are always feeling, and if you won’t acknowledge that, you can never fully know yourself. You cannot realise what you won’t comprehend, essentially.

I’ve been telling my clients for a while now that action is the most sincere form of prayer because action is the language of physical reality. That can, of course, mean writing down a spell, speaking an incantation, or otherwise performing a ritual. But it can also mean just showing up as your most sincere and transparent self at every moment and any given opportunity.

Magic is mundane in that it’s inherent within everything. Infinity is just naturally and eternally majestic because of how it operates. So, living a true life will naturally allow you to slip in and out of timestreams that you most prefer in the ways you most prefer them.

“Multidimensionality & Timespace: That's Not Your Past Life and There's No Single Soul Mate" is definitely intended as a clickbait title! When I teach this workshop, I tell you the ‘why’ of the punchline right up front, and then I take you through the multidimensionality and timespace part, which is so much juicier than the ideas of past lives or soul mates.

As far as feedback has gone, this workshop is kind of a mindblower, which I most definitely take pride in. For this reason, I’m offering a Quantum Energetics series in 2022 that begins with Multidimensionality and Timespace and ends with Four Quantum Energetic tools that can assist in traversing multiverses and collapsing time. So, stay tuned!

I want to get a little personal right now and bring up something funny. I came to you for a reading on a specific topic (very specific), and then you shared that a little while later, you ended up experiencing the same situation (again, this was quite specific). The age-old saying with readings is that you give the reading you need. In other words, you attract the kinds of clients who are similar to you or have similar stuff going on. What’s your take on that?

I very much agree with the belief that we attract whatever we need to experience based on the conditioning, beliefs, and understanding we have of the world and that the world has of itself. That complicates the formula a bit, but if you don’t have a problem, there’s nothing to find a solution for, mathematically speaking, which is to say, quantumly speaking.

I learn from every single client I have. Through the channelling that comes through me and through what they receive, I observe what they are ready and willing to realise into being. Sometimes clients come to you to have you enforce their negative beliefs. I don’t feel badly when clients choose to take this perspective because it’s what they have decided they need.

My tagline is “the reading you need, not necessarily the reading you want,” and I’m very willing to live up to that. Even if what you decide you need isn’t what’s best for you amongst the choices you are presented. Because existence is infinite, time is eternal.

You’re a low-key genius, highly discerning, curious, and critical in all the best ways. Much like the rest of the world, the spiritual and magical world is full of fuckery, mayhem, and those with ulterior motives. I was hoping you could share some tips for folks around creating an ethical spiritual practice with integrity.

Existence has already co-signed everything you don’t like and everything that doesn’t like you into lived experience. Existence is experience knowing itself. Or experience is existence knowing itself. Existence does not have to choose because IT IS CHOICE.

I’ve realised that I don’t need to invalidate what I don’t prefer, that I should not force others into beliefs or systems that they are fundamentally unprepared for. That ultimately, I’m responsible for myself and my behaviour, first and foremost. These three dynamic checkpoints help me navigate myself in a way that creates the least resistance with people, places, and perspectives that I do not care for; while still allowing me to become the version of myself that I most prefer and deserve, regardless.

It’s very much “Mind Your Business by Minding Your Busyness” medicine. We’re all greatly concerned with what others will and might do. All the while, our own character is made dependent on how other people are acting as if any one person is “the rule.” We are the only ones inside of us deciding the meaning of our experiences. Any change you wish to experience in the world must start from within.

What advice do you have for folks for navigating this new year?

Show up as your most authentic self and then learn through osmosis who is willing to support you based just on that.

When negative beliefs come up, address them as soon as possible with those you trust. If you don’t trust anyone, hire someone you feel is ethical enough to be trusted to guide you through to your better self.

If you want to improve your character, find environments where people are improved in the way you prefer. Then spend time with them by hiring them, befriending them, or attending similar events and happenings as them.

Know that you’re always using your emotions and always using your trust. Do you trust trust? Or do you trust distrust? Which kind of trust feels less contradictory? Do you allow your emotions to inform your behaviour? Or do you use your emotions to ignore your behaviour? Which kind of behaviour provides long-term security?

The nature of existence is to exist. As a part of it, that’s your nature as well. To put it plainly: stop attempting to un-exist yourself. Existence is an infinite deal. As energy, you will always take up space, even in memory. TAKE UP THE SPACE OF YOURSELF COMPLETELY! You’ve been co-signed by existence. That is the greatest and most eternal validation there is.

Choose extraordinarily!

For more Sanyu, follow her on Instagram @sanyuestelle

Get a Year Ahead reading here.

Sign up for her Dreamscapes Academy Winter Cohort starting in February 2022.

Sarah Faith Gottesdiener is an artist, designer, writer, teacher, and Tarot Reader. Her artwork and designs are based in the spiritual, feminist, and mystical. Her book from St. Martin’s Press, The Moon Book, was published this year.

Find Sarah here: modernwomenprojects.com

IG: @gottesss