TAYLOR ENGLE ANDERSON BRAIN

When I was a young stoner, the smoking accessories—to be found at the local gas station or “hookah shop”—were gauche af. Neon pot leaves, badly airbrushed aliens (always, always aliens), tie-dye everything, and fonts that would make Times New Roman roll his regal eyes. We didn’t think too much about it. We were too concerned with…not getting caught. Imagine me seeing today’s rolling paper packs, which look like they belong in a design bookstore. Over the past few years, can

Gemini characters are never just one thing. Duh, twins. They shift mid-sentence. They contradict themselves a lot. They can be deeply engaged while already thinking about at least three alternate versions of the conversation unfolding somewhere else. There is a constant movement to them, but unlike Aries, it is not movement toward action. It is movement toward understanding, connection, and possibility. This workshop is designed to help you write a Gemini character in real ti

Wanting things, naming them, letting yourself want without guilt. Desire can feel complicated. We’re taught to shrink it, soften it, explain it away. To want too much is “selfish.” To admit what we long for can feel vulnerable, indulgent, even dangerous. But desire is also information. It points toward the life, love, freedom, and fulfillment we’re meant to experience. So, what happens when we stop apologizing for what we want? For this installment of Interview with a Psychic

Summer in Southern California. The evenings slow and stretch. People linger outside longer. Feet everywhere—although we tend to keep it open-toe even in December. During summer, the energy shifts outward. But even though I’ve been living back in California for over four years now, a big part of me still associates summer with Brooklyn. Summer in the City was SO physical. Subway platforms radiating wet, swampy heat. You’re sweating in places you didn’t even know you could. Tin

Taurus characters do not rush. They arrive, they settle, and once they decide something is worth their energy, they stay. There is a deliberateness to them that can feel almost immovable. Not because they lack urgency, but because for Taurus, commitment is sacred. They do not scatter themselves across possibilities. They choose, and then they root. They are not interested in beginnings for the sake of beginnings. They want something that lasts. Astrology is a tool of understa

Coming back to yourself, recalibrating, choosing truth over autopilot. There are moments when life starts to feel a little too rehearsed. The same patterns, the same reactions, the same quiet compromises that slowly pull you away from yourself. Nothing is exactly wrong, but something feels off. Alignment isn’t always a dramatic awakening. Sometimes it begins as a subtle discomfort. A feeling you can’t quite name. A quiet realization that you’ve been moving through your life i

Why taking breaks is crucial for maintaining creativity and productivity. There is a persistent myth that creativity thrives on pressure alone—that the mind is at its most brilliant when stretched thin, racing, always reaching toward the next thing. It sounds convincing at first, almost romantic in its urgency, but if you listen closely, you begin to notice the quiet fatigue underneath it, the dulling of color, and the way ideas start to echo instead of expand. Anorexia recov

Aries characters do not wait for anyone or anything. They enter, they assess, and almost immediately, they move. There is very little distance between impulse and action. Not because they are reckless, but because for Aries, instinct is a form of intelligence. They trust what rises in them before they have time to question it. They are not interested in watching something unfold if they can be the one to begin it. This workshop is designed to help you write an Aries character

Growth, action, coming out of hibernation, gentle forward motion. After a season of rest, reflection, and little hibernation, the energy is shifting. Things are stirring again. There’s a quiet nudge toward growth, toward action, toward becoming. But what happens when you feel ready…and not ready at the same time? For this installment of Interview with a Psychic , I sat down with Lex to talk about momentum, gentle forward motion, and how to move without abandoning yourself in

The world feels loud, fast, fractured, irreparable. Still, kindness always finds a way to stubbornly break through. This is where I try to keep my focus. The other day at my favorite coffee shop, a woman in a wheelchair fell forward onto the floor. Before the shock even had time to settle, three or four people were rushing to her from different corners of the room. No hesitation: just movement. I think about that moment a lot. It’s what gives me faith when the light feels d

the dreamer who remembers everything. Pisces is the archive: the final chapter of the zodiac, the one who carries the memories of every other sign. We can feel the fire, the earth, the air, the water. We’ve been the warrior, the lover, the critic, the visionary, the rebel. Now, we are the witness. I say “we” because, hellooooo! Big Pisces energy, and I can confirm we are the wisest sign: quietly aware, seeing the pattern before the pattern even knows it’s there. We feel the s

Writing is isolating work. It is solitary by nature. It requires you to sit still and live inside your own head for long stretches of time. It’s a beautiful thing, but it can also be intense and overwhelming. When I was younger, I thought I wanted to be a writer, full stop. I imagined a life of books, quiet rooms and endless drafts. But over time (and into a 10-year professional writing career), I have realized that full-time writing demands a deep interior life. You have to

After winter’s contraction, spring arrives as a physiological uprising: light returns, sap rises, soil softens. The world moves from preservation to possibility. The follicular phase mirrors this exactly. Biologically, the follicular phase begins on the first day of menstruation and lasts until ovulation. Estrogen rises. Energy builds. The brain becomes more verbal, more curious, more socially oriented. There is often increased motivation, clarity, and a desire to initiate.

My husband and I spent much of our honeymoon slamming back lattes in Kona. We chased the scent of parchment coffee drying in the sun, using each day (and all of the miles on our rental car) to lazily make our way up the coast to the local farms. As a result, coffee in our home is a ritual: our quiet language of care for one another. Before the world begins asking anything of me, Shaun grinds whole beans and pulls espresso while I am still wrapped in a blanket and halfway ins

Featuring Psychic Tarot Reader Lex Love month felt like the perfect time to sit down with my favorite witchy woman to ask the questions we’re all asking around self-love, boundaries, momentum, and intuition. For this first installment of Interviews with a Psychic, I asked Lex to tap into the energy around love, self-respect, and what’s unfolding next. Taylor: What is the energy around self-love right now? Lex: Walking away from anyone or anything that has made you feel left

Aquarius characters are observing the room from the corners. They are rarely interested in being liked. Instead, they are interested in being understood. This workshop is designed to help you write an Aquarius character in real time. Not as the cliché eccentric or aloof genius, but as a layered, human presence shaped by independence, vision, and the tension between detachment and longing. What Is an Aquarius, Really? Aquarius is an air sign traditionally ruled by Saturn and

“What does a soulmate feel like?” asked The Skeptic Who Wanted to Believe. She answered with a bright smile she couldn’t contain: “It’s the eternal bottom of an exhale.” She means ultimate release: Giving everything away, everything you have, with the trust, with faith, with belief that it will return to you— And then doing it again the very next day.

In the long gallery of medieval Europe, few went as hard in the paint as Hildegard von Bingen. Born in 1098 in the Rhineland, she was a Benedictine abbess (can any of us say the same?), visionary mystic, composer, natural philosopher, medical writer, and political correspondent at a time when women were rarely encouraged to be anything at all. Hildegard did not so much transcend her era as bend it, using its language of faith to articulate a defiantly original intellect. She

Capricorn characters are rarely loud on the page. They don’t announce themselves: they arrive already prepared. They are builders, strategists, keepers of time and consequence. If other signs burn bright, Capricorn endures. This workshop is designed to help you write a Capricorn character in real time. Not as a stereotype, but as a layered, human presence shaped by ambition, restraint, and the quiet pressure of responsibility. Grab a notebook and let’s get into it! What Is a

This is a fiction piece, inspired by losing my father in 2021. As he was leaving his body, he ludicrously, deliriously asked us to help him escape the hospital so he could go on his own terms. That didn't happen—but in this story, it does. I submitted this piece to a writing contest. It was not accepted, so I’m taking control of my voice and publishing it here. I’ve stopped treating rejection as a verdict. I’m less interested now in knocking on doors and more interested in le