money is a magical creature called moonstone
money is a magical, sweet plant-animal creature
to whom I feed cakes. I named her moonstone.
recently, I did a coaching session with a friend, Juliet Barrett — and they guided me through the process of reimagining/rebranding my relationship to money. I had told them: money to me, is like a man I hate needing — I resent his power over me, and thus, I want to pretend it doesn’t exist. Juliet gave me the challenge of rebranding the character of money into whatever I chose, and guided me through reimagining my relationship to it. it was an amazing session, and I’m still slowly processing/digesting its reverberations.
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here’s my reimagined money story + character
MONEY AS A CHARACTER — money is a magical plant-animal creature, called moonstone. she looks something in between a rabbit, a glowing orb, and a morphing, jungly plant. she has a kangaroo pocket where she produces precious jewels and diamonds, and chameleon superpowers - so she can shapeshift, whenever she wants to. she makes a soft, resonant, whine-humming sound. and of course, she glows.
INVITING HER INTO MY WORLD — to invite her into my thresehold, I bake her cakes from scratch. the cakes themselves don’t take a long time, maybe an hour or so at most; but I have to make the recipes from scratch, and it’s important that they’re fresh (rather than stale). she won’t necessarily come eat the cake on her own; I need to do work coaxing her in (she’s shy), and making sure the atmosphere feels safe and welcoming — because, you know, magical creatures are sensitive.
WAYS OF BUILDING RELATIONSHIP WITH HER - building a relationship with her is like building a relationship with any animal, or even plant. I must be sensitive to her mannerisms, and needs, and respond to them; even anticipate them. to guide her to eat the cake, I’ll leave her cake crumb trails (multiple, ideally, from different places) for her to discover. I’ll enlist the support and help of my friends to help me along the way. I’ll speak to her in soft, nurturing tones - with gentleness.
HER ABSENCE DOESN’T MAKE ME PANIC OR TIGHTEN - when she feels a bit scarce to me, I remind myself that, actually, she is everywhere, roaming around in the world, even if invisibly. I might need her to live, but actually, she needs me to thrive. our relationship is inter-dependent. if she’s absent in my world, it’s probably because she feels a little neglected; the cakes are a little stale. the crumb trails are nonexistent. she needs me to spoonfeed her, rather than to resent/demand/ignore her — (because all this time, I thought she was a chauvinistic handyman!)
MY ULTIMATE DREAM IS TO SHARE HER - my dream, in the end, is to strengthen my relationship with her so much that I can propogate her, give her away, distill her healing powers into potions and tonics, and share the secrets and process of my intimacy with her — with my dearest friends. I want her magic to fill and nourish their lives, as she has nourished mine.
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how this exercise changes my perspective completely
here’s each element of the metaphor, and what it means
moonstone, the magical plant-animal creature = money
cake = offerings
cake recipes = landing pages
cake crumb trails = marketing
spoonfeeding / coaxing her = marketing & sales
taking care of the space = inner work & energetic/mindset work
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when I think about money as a magical creature, I feel such lightness, tenderness, and possibility. I feel a desire to care for my relationship with this magical creature, a curiosity to explore our “togetherness,” a duty to groom and care for her, refine special recipes for her, leave her crumb trails — rather than the heaviness of “shoulds.” I don’t run away; I lean in towards her. I ask her what she needs from me — to feel well.
at the end of the day, isn’t this really about financial well-being — that is, a state of enoughness, abundance, and safety in our material and inner resources?
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money/moonstone as a daily labor of love
I’m seeing this as an invitation for me to approach my relationship to moonstone / money as though I were nurturing a garden — as I have done for my art, all of these years, and for my wellbeing practices.
what does this mean, for now?
daily check-ins — tracking & being mindful of how I give/receive her. giving each moonstone away with joy and intention (if possible); receiving her with gratitude
weekly grooming routine — organizing her in & out flows in my Notion
cake / crumbs / spoonfeeding as ritual — fold the act of baking cake, finding recipes, leaving crumb trails, spoonfeeding her — into my days and weeks. in other words, make building offerings, marketing, and sales feel as seamless as making art, or doing yoga, or brushing my teeth!
intuitive check-ins — rather than following pre-set plans and schedules, I will deliberately tune into her energy — as a gauge for whether I should go forth with a project.
keeping a moonstone diary — reflecting and working through my relationship with her. checking in with her emotionally. here’s my first entry.
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I’m at the very beginning of my moonstone discoveries. all I know is: something about this shifts my entire perspective, and feels extremely integrative. whereas before, I compartmentalized “money” and “art” — this act of merging money into a magical creature called moonstone — makes me feel that moonstone is like my art. I created her, and I will continue to welcome more of her into my life. ✨
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