Megan Swinford
Kicking off my new artist interview series with my favorite gal and local icon, Megan Swinford of Jaguar High Priestess!
Megan is as powerful of a poet as she is a healer. Her words make waves and I'm excited to share a glimpse into her artistic world here.
Amy Lohr: Megan, your poems have left me weak in the knees many times before. If your poetry could cast a spell, what would you most wish to inspire in your audience?
Megan Swinford: Mmmmm I love casting spells of deliciousness. I want my audience to remember how tasty life can be. How texture and pleasure can intertwine. How any moment can bring us back to life and make colors more vivid. Our senses are our secrets to success, so I want my words to activate them in a way that truly nourishes us, body, mind and spirit.
AL: How does your intimacy with tarot influence your art-making?
MS: Tarot is my tether. My relationship with it lets me come and go into my depths as I need, deepening my bond with creativity. It's my portal to the unseen that gives me a much wider view, shaping all different perspectives and allowing myself to be malleable. And that whole process becomes my art. The hieroglyphs of my life.
AL: How do you nourish your inner-artist when she's hungry and needs restoration?
MS: This was a tougher question to pinpoint because she needs nourishment in so many different ways. I often find myself taking bubbles of time all to myself, no plan, no coordinating, just meanderings. Sometimes that's in nature by a tree, sharing a meal with myself in a lovely place or exploring new cities and letting myself receive fresh inspirations. I find her in language, in sound, in taste. She loves to indulge in her senses.
AL: I've found poetry to be a medicine in itself. How has it contributed to your healing journey, and to those who receive your poems?
MS: Poetry has been quintessential to my healing. The balm to my being. I remember the first poem I wrote on my journey. I put all the pain and desperation into words and yet still, the last line read of hope. Ever since then, poetry has been my most important processing tool. I've rewritten stories, reclaimed perspectives and flirted with possibilities. As for those who read it, it's a way to witness them. To validate that yes, the pain may feel infinite, but even then so can we heal.
AL: What's a piece of writing you read that opened your creative heart at the start of your journey?
MS: I don't remember exactly a piece from the start of my journey, I was in a pretty dark place. But I do know that Pablo Neruda's writing has served as a guiding light for bringing me back to life. His poem, Ausencia, is an all time favorite portal. Intertwining depth, dark and deliciousness all in one. A true icon that continues to influence my relationship to my writing and my evolution of self.
As an intuitive coach, healer and poet Megan Swinford uses a collection of healing modalities to support the nervous system and navigate change. She focuses on spiritual tools like tarot, yoga, meditation, and plant medicines to help clients create agency in their lives and embrace a more authentic and nourished way of being.
Learn more about Megan and her work at jaguarhighpriestess.com (highly recommend a tarot reading for starters).
