In Conversation with Julie Schmidt

7 Questions on Writing About the Divine Feminine and Spirituality

Hello beloved reader,

If you have not yet discovered her work, it is my privilege to introduce Julie Schmidt, a visionary writer and guide who explores the liminal spaces of mysticism, magic, and the untamed essence of spiritual journeys. Her work is an invitation to remember, reclaim, and re-wild, guiding readers into the depths of intuition, embodiment, and ancient wisdom.

With deep reverence for earth-based traditions and mythology, Julie’s writing is both evocative and illuminating. She weaves together personal reflection, archetypal exploration, and ancient knowledge, offering a space for readers to reconnect with the sacred rhythms of life. From the Wheel of the Year, to tarot archetypes, to the primal call of the Dark Feminine, her work invites us to embrace the full spectrum of existence—light and shadow, mystery and revelation, destruction and renewal.

For those drawn to the unseen, the intuitive, and the sacred, Julie’s writing provides a spark and a space to explore the depths of our spiritual and embodied existence.

You may find her Substack here:

The 7 Questions:

1) Why are you drawn to writing about spirituality and/or the Divine Feminine?

I write about both, especially the Divine Feminine (DF), because I’m deeply passionate about it and believe these teachings are urgently needed in our world right now. While I’m not politically inclined, what I share inevitably carries a political undertone because it challenges the current mainstream narrative. My true intention, however, is to help myself and others reconnect with the deeper essence of who we are, the universal somatic language of love and connection.

I bring attention to the Numinous, which encompasses both the DF (immanence)¹ and the Divine Masculine (transcendence)². However, I focus on the DF because her qualities are especially needed now. And she is everywhere, within us, in nature, and in the world around us. When you step outside, feel the earth beneath your feet. By opening to the present moment, you’re connecting with her. She is the energy of creation, passion, love, and interconnection. She is our mother, the sacred creatrix, our planet, and the cycles of life—and yet, she’s so much more.

Our world today is facing forces that are laser-focused on distracting us. Filling our minds with distortions by creating polarities that divide, such as reducing the Earth to a resource for extraction while elevating spirit to an unattainable, angelic realm. I write about the DF qualities like mystery, immanence and animacy because they have been misrepresented or pathologized. By bringing these truths forward, I aim to heal. I write not only because it’s a calling, but because it feels pertinent. A reciprocity that values all life, in this way we open the door to a radical transformation for our world that it so desperately needs.

2) How does writing about spirituality affect you, in your work and/or personal life?

Everything is mutually dependent; we share an intimate exchange with all that exists, both within and around us. As I grow spiritually; my work, relationships and creativity evolve in tandem. Writing, for me, is about synergy, a means of personal exploration that must be lived, shared, and experienced with others. Each post I create is an invitation to open to the DF, to deepen into love, and to explore what might be blocking that flow. By surrendering to Her depths through listening and following the subtle signs, I transcribe what I sense and hear, both in word and in my life. I find this process most resonant in poetry, both when composing and reading it. Poems have a way of expressing in word what words ironically cannot express.

Writing about spirituality and the DF also serves as a way of documenting and recording my insights, experiences, dreams, etc. I have a grimoire—otherwise known as a book of shadows—for personal use.

3) What is an experience you have had that is perhaps the most mystical and unexplainable in the rational/material realm?

There really isn’t just one, but many, all facets of my prismatic experience of the mystery and the mystical. Here are three significant ones…

When I was sixteen, we had just moved to California, and I spent that summer listening to Jesus Christ Superstar. It sparked many intimate, transformative conversations with Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Judas. Unfolding a completely different narrative, challenging the conventional biblical story. It changed my view completely on Christianity.

In my twenties I was involved in a Hindu tradition where I had a classic shaktipat experience; the kundalini energy at the root of my spine rose up, spiraling through my chakras and then out of the top of my head. This powerful awakening marked a profound shift that has stayed with me to this day. Years later, as I began working with the DF, she took that energy and brought it back down into my womb and belly. This sacred return made it possible for me to perceive beauty in both transcendence and immanence, teaching me about the sacredness of the liminal.³

4) What is the first memory you have that there was something else besides the material realm?

When I was young, I had an invisible playmate. We were inseparable, he went everywhere with me. As I grew up, I stopped believing in the invisible realm, (because I was told it didn’t exist). As a result he seemed to disappear, or so I thought. Later through meditation and tuning into the unseen energies of life, I was reunited with my childhood friend. I discovered that he had been guiding me all along, even when I was unaware of it. Our reunion was both beautiful and powerful, and since then he has been a steady anchor and guide in my life.

5) What do you hope for, for your writing?

My hope is that through my writing I can bring more awareness to the DF and to our inherent relationship to our planet and to each other. It is not enough to simply recognize our interconnectedness and interdependence; we must learn to live from it. I include myself in this call. Starting with removing the hierarchal mindset and embodying our innate animacy and mythopoetic nature. We need one another! Everything, everyone and all aspects of life carry a precious gift that is essential for our world to prosper. We are meant to exist in relationships, where collaboration and reciprocity is the fundamental language through which our gifts are communicated. Right here is an example of this between Camilla and me. Thank you, Camilla, for opening the door to this language of exchange.

6) Who is a writer or other creative artist who makes you feel inspired, helps you to remember we’re spiritual beings having a human experience, and perhaps makes you cherish Mother Earth just a little bit more?

Oh my… there are so many! Of course, you Camilla and so many other writers here on Substack that inspire me daily! But I must extend deep gratitude to Maya Luna, for her offerings through her Deep Feminine Mystery School, they have been life changing for me. Before then, I spent close to 30 years practicing and reading countless books on Yoga and Kashmir Shavism, too many to list here. Except for two, The Yoga Sutras and The Pratyabhijnahrdayam. As for other authors, Llewellyn Vaughan Lee stands out, especially his book, The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul. Clarissa Pinkoles Estes for her book, Women Who Run with the Wolves. Sharon Blackie for, Hagitude and If Women Rose Rooted, as well as her other books. Robin Wall Kimmerer for her book, Braiding Sweetgrass. AND I must also include Rumi and Hafiz.

7) What are the words of wisdom and/or spiritual principle(s) that you come back to time and time again that give you solace and uplift your heart?

Beyond what I have already mentioned, especially in question five…

• This precious moment is not meant to be conquered but experienced and savored.

• Life is not a straight line, it cycles and spirals, ebbs and flows.

• It is more meaningful to live within the question than to cling to an answer.

• Love, simply love.

Julie Schmidt

BIO:

Julie Schmidt is a writer, tarot reader, spiritual guide, poet and artist. She is the creator of Liminal Walker Musings, where she shares about the Divine Feminine, Tarot, Celtic Wheel of the Year, and anything liminal. Her background comes from a deep exploration of many interfaith and spiritual traditions. Traditionally, she has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition science, a master’s degree in consciousness studies and is an ordained minister. Julie’s offerings and guidance are borne from weaving these many teachings and practices together. Creating a wholistic, interconnected and relational way of living and being in the world.

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Please also note: this series of interviews will live under the tab labeled “Alchemical Conversations” on this Substack, with the intention that the space will become a kind of resource of writers collaborating in reclaiming the Divine Feminine. Perhaps each string of words each of us writes is a thread in a vast, intricate, and beautiful tapestry we are collectively weaving—each row of this evolving fabric moving us toward an evolution of consciousness, a deeper awareness of the spiritual dimensions of our ecological crisis, and the healing needed to restore a harmonic balance with Mother Earth.

Next week I’m very happy to also bring to you

Danielle Coffyn

’s responses.

1. Immanence is the state of being present or existing within something. It can also refer to the idea that a divine power is present throughout the universe.

2. Transcendence is existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level.

3. the Oxford English dictionary defines liminal as an adjective that means between or belonging to two different states or places. For example, you might describe the state between waking and sleeping as liminal.

In anthropology, liminality is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the rite is complete.