Liberation Magic: A Conversation with Aki Hirata Quetzalyolotzin

This week for the Magicians series on Living the Spiral, Alison sits down with Aki Hirata Quetzalyolotzin, a medicine woman, storyteller, and founder of Minka Brooklyn and Minka Mystery School. They talk about claiming a cosmic slut identity after divorce, what magic actually means, why decolonial liberation starts with desire, and how love and grief are the same act.

Topics covered

[02:00] On claiming a new identity after divorce

[08:00] On work as an offering rather than a role

[11:00] On what magic really means

[17:00] On liberation and undoing separation

[24:00] On desire as a creative engine

[53:00] On trauma culture and what comes after naming it

[55:00] On love as a brave act

[1:04:00] Aki's offerings and where to find her

About Aki

Aki Hirata Quetzalyolotzin, also known as Jewel Moon Medicine Woman, is a multidisciplinary energy healing facilitator and community organizer whose work centers on decolonial spiritual liberation. She has dedicated her life to studying mysticism, philosophy, and various healing systems. She lives between Japan and the US and is teaching this summer in LA, the Berkshires, and New York, including a Young Witches School for teenagers working with intuition and oracle cards, and a Reiki training during the Lion's Gate portal built around what she and her teacher call Earth Evolution Reiki.

Writing: Field Notes from the Inbetween on Substack

Instagram: @soulflowermedicine

Teaching home: Minka Brooklyn

About Alison

Alison is an ecosomatic astrologer, Human Design guide, breathwork practitioner, and creative sovereignty coach based in the high desert outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work lives under the name Hearth & Spiral, where she blends astrology, Human Design, somatic practice, and myth into a path back to the body and the land. She hosts Living the Spiral as both a podcast and a Substack publication, and co-created ELA Map with her partner Jackson.

Writing: Living the Spiral on Substack

Instagram: @hearthandspiral

Website: hearthandspiral.com

Interested in being interviewed on Living the Spiral: Magicians? Send Alison a DM.