We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chinggay Labrador. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chinggay below.
Chinggay, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
I feel I’ve always been a glass half full kind of person. I didn’t realize this about myself until I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma at a very early age—I was only 26 when I got cancer. My initial reaction was one of calm. I put my faith completely in my doctors and felt good that they had a plan laid out for me. Hodgkins Lymphoma is one of the most curable cancers out there so I had that on my side; but I also believe that it was my optimism that helped me get through chemo and radiation without feeling too rundown. I was never out of hope. After going through this experience, I noticed that every challenge that came into my life, I met with the same brand of optimism.
Maybe my childhood was solid enough that I never doubted that things would turn out okay for me, no matter what. For that I’m always incredibly thankful.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m a freelance writer based in Manila, I used to work in publishing when print still superseded digital titles.
I found that as digital took over the publishing word, my freelance work began to shift. I had more time in my hands to spend on things I cared about. I became immersed in yoga and meditation and took a 300-hour vinyasa teacher training. Alongside this, I became interested in tarot as a psycho-spiritual tool. I read my friends’ cards a lot and really enjoyed the practice that I ended up posting online, creating the @practical_magical account on Instagram as a repository of all my tarot thoughts and as a way to share my tarot collection.
I eventually started playing around with creating my own deck and had 10 copies printed. I sold everything almost immediately so I started to print more. As my deck became more widespread and popular, I began to do more readings—going beyond just friends and reading for strangers as well.
Seven years later, I’m still doing readings and designing decks. I love connecting with people through my Practical Magic newsletter, and still, through the same Instagram I put up when I was still dabbling with cards and trying things out for myself.
Currently, I’m offering 2024 year ahead readings meant to give people anchor points to focus on from January to December 2024. I also have a new deck in the works for next year. My latest creation is the Extraordinary Incantations Tarot/Oracle Deck—a little deck that not only teaches people how to read the tarot, but also offers affirmations associated with every archetype of the tarot.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Discipline 2. Creativity
3. Curiosity
Try not to pressure yourself to come up with immediate results. Give yourself space to explore what it is you want to do and what you’re interested in. If possible, don’t immediately make your passion project your source of income so that you can let your ideas breathe without feeling burdened by having to earn money.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Always!
I love collaborating with Filipino artists. At first, my collaborative decks were with friends who were also into tarot. This year, I started branching out and creating with people I’ve come across online or people who are just acquaintances. It’s so interesting to see fresh points of view.
Because I have an international audience, I’m open to collaborating with people from other parts of the world that resonate with what I do.
People can email me at [email protected] for ideas and pitches.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.practicalmagic.co
- Instagram: @practical_magical
- Other: Your Weekly Oracle podcast – https://open.spotify.com/show/092z26J8noQUwMtWLirRIM?si=b19dbef1b50e4c25
Image Credits
@labteamph
