Liz Migliorelli

where are you from?
I grew up in New York.

where were you photographed for this interview?
My new home and workspace in the Hudson Valley. I just moved back after 14 years on the west coast.

Please describe who you are / what you do.
I am an herbalist and magic maker who is working some deep enchantment spells with apples, ancestors, the Black Madonna, divination, story, frogs, the hearth, poetry and bees. I have a product line called Sister Spinster that is mostly flower, gem and environmental essences. I teach classes on ancestral remembrance, folk magic and folktales, herbalism and more. I also see clients in my private practice.

What are you working on / interested in / preoccupied with at the moment?  
I am still very busy setting up my apothecary and life here in New York. I feel like attending to the mundane is actually my work right now- getting a new driver's license & library card, trying to recover lost mail at the post office, figuring out where I should go grocery shopping, finding my local healthcare support, etc. It's such an interesting thing to move back to the place where I grew up. I'm saying hi to all the plants and really feeling into the land and water and mountains here, slowly but surely. Making offerings. I am working towards opening a folk magic school in the coming year.

Do you make time for self care, and if so what are some of your rituals or routines?
I do! The rituals and routines are usually centered around the season, so right now I am taking lots of herbs to boost immunity as we transition to fall and doing a lot of clearing and banishing rituals.

Are you interested in the unseen?  What does spirituality mean to you?
I am very interested in the unseen... but it is not separate from the physical world for me. They are woven to each other. It is like how I am very much here while also being the sharpened tool of my ancestors. I feed this realm. They feed me.

What is your favourite product / art piece / project that you have created and why?
The collection of essences that I have made over the years is very special to me. They are living stories of place, land, plant, weather pattern, geology, etc. I have hundreds of them. It's very special to have the poetry of place in a bottle.

Pick a current favourite:

song -
No Romance by Tizrah

book -
H.D.’s collected poems 1912-1944

scent -
The damp decomposing chestnut smell of the woods of New York

item of clothing -
Purple silk nightgown

plant -
Anything in the rose family

recipe -
A recipe for friendship: give apples to those you care about

artist/maker -
Lena Gustafson is creating some really amazing paintings these days!

www.sisterspinster.net

Liz is wearing the Long Diamond Kimono in large from AW 19/20.