The Roots of My Soul: Why I Protect a Forgotten Lineage

"Who gives you the authority to publish magic?"

It is the silent question I often feel when I speak about the texts we release through IN HER GENIUS. Sometimes, I want to answer: “I get the authority from the Mages themselves.” But to those unfamiliar with the quiet currents of the world, that might sound like madness.

The truth is more grounded, yet no less extraordinary. It began with a search for a home I didn't know I had lost.

The Hunger of the Mind

Years ago, living in New York and working as a model, my spiritual journey began where many do: in the self-help aisles of small occult shops in Manhattan. I devoured books on Mexican shamanism, the rites of Peru, and the traditions of Brazil. I was passionately curious, yet I felt like a guest in someone else’s house. I couldn’t adopt beliefs that didn’t resonate at a soul level, or use plants whose names didn't exist in my language.

I practiced Wicca for a time, but it felt like a reconstruction—it lacked the solid, ancient foundations my spirit craved. I respect those who find their path there, but for me, the roots felt borrowed and scattered. I knew, instinctively, that we co-inhabit this land with beings and worlds we cannot fathom. I was seeking the memory of life’s unexplainable things, but my tools were insufficient.

I don't know if it's a common feeling, but after I read my first self-help book, I found it spoke only to my mind. And the mind is a curious thing: it always seems to ask for more, for something "else." It is never satisfied. After the first, I went onto the second, and onto the third... reading probably at least one book of every self-help and New Age personality that’s been published.

Yet, the emptiness lingered and my questions stayed unanswered. It felt to me that every book repeated the same concepts, the same demi-truths. While there was something superficially reassuring about that repetition, it never crashed me open. Those were books that never shattered my world into pieces—and at that time, shattering was exactly what I needed. I needed to break, only to then start to rebuild my life on my own terms.

Me attending a fashion show aka living a life that looked 'perfect' from the outside

The Meeting That Changed Everything

Nobody arrives to Michela by chance. Yet, it often feels as though you stumble upon her as if by accident. I certainly thought so; I wasn't looking for her, and I certainly wasn't looking for a "shaman."

Living in London at the time, I was already deeply disillusioned by modern spirituality. I had reached a breaking point where my mind’s constant searching had failed me, and I concluded that I needed a therapist. A Kundalini yoga teacher in Milan sent me a list of six names. Michela Chiarelli was among them, described as a "shaman and therapist." My mind immediately went on the defensive: Another self-proclaimed shaman, I thought. I want nothing to do with that.

But destiny has a way of narrowing our choices. One by one, the other therapists were unavailable. I gave in and contacted Michela.

Our first sessions were on Zoom. There was nothing "strange" about them; I simply felt incredibly welcome. It was a professional, warm distance. But the true shift—the moment the world actually began to crack open—happened when I finally traveled to Italy to meet her in person at her studio near Turin.

Michela Chiarelli in her studio

When she opened the door, she did so with a smile that felt like an embrace. She was a short woman with long black hair, carrying herself with the dignity of the Mother Goddess herself. Her studio was a sanctuary filled with statues of Goddesses and fairies, musical instruments, and walls of books.

It was a meeting that changed everything because when you are in the presence of someone who can truly see through you, you have two choices. Most people take the first: they run away. It is terrifying to be stripped of your masks. I chose the second, more challenging path: I stayed.

It was only after that physical meeting that things started to happen.

I began seeing things I couldn’t explain—glimpses of a reality the mind cannot categorize. The "unexplainable" moved from the pages of books into my actual life. I remember reaching out to her one night, desperate to ask a question that went far beyond therapy. That was when the door truly opened. She invited me into her circle.

High Priestess and Chief of the Bear Clan, Michela Chiarelli

Through her, I discovered that Italy had an indigenous shamanic tradition that had survived in secret. As I began to devour the books she had written, I realized I was in the presence of a true Healer and a Seer. Slowly, without me seeking them out, signs began to appear—totem animals, synchronicities, and a profound sense of "rightness."

When Michela invited me to become an initiate, I felt immensely honored. I felt I had finally found the Teacher I had looked for since I was a little girl reading about witches and wondering if there were still real esoteric schools out there—schools open to the worthy, not just those with money. I hadn't just found a tradition; I had found the roots of my soul. I had come home.

The Birth of a Publishing House

Settled in London years later, I found myself daydreaming about Michela’s work. Her books—of which she has written over twenty—were unlike anything I had found in the mainstream. They were full of "High Magic" intertwined with ordinary existence. This wasn't the "wealthy" or "ethereal" spirituality of the New Age.

What made me realize these books had to exist in English was a sensation that is hard to describe, and many might not believe me: the books felt alive. They felt full of a truth coming from somewhere deep and far. One of my all-time favorite books—and truly the only book on Magic anyone really needs to read—is her Italian publication, Favolisticamente Magia. It is a work I haven’t yet translated, but it remains a cornerstone of the vision for IN HER GENIUS.

The decisive moment came during a Summer Solstice celebration. I was there to be initiated into the Runes by Michela. It is a common misconception that Runes belong solely to the North; Italy also holds ancient traces of this tradition, a subject I plan to explore in a future article. During that Solstice, Michela showed me her new work, Il Richiamo di Wotan (The Call of Wotan), which included an oracle deck. She hadn't yet published it in Italy and was uncertain about her long-time publisher.

I thought: Why wait for someone else? I decided then and there to use the name of my then blog—IN HER GENIUS—and begin the adventure of publishing these sacred texts myself.

Tiziana Ghiggia holding a copy of Il Richiamo di WOTAN, the first book we’ve published at IN HER GENIUS

In this journey, the collaboration with Tiziana Ghiggia has been vital. She is the editor and co-author of many of our books.
Essentially, IN HER GENIUS is a team of three women.

Today, while Michela is recognized by academic authorities like Dr. Angela Puca as a true indigenous Italian shaman, for me, she remains the voice of a living, breathing lineage that refuses to fade into history.

I don’t try to cover every tradition. I am solely interested in the roots I have been welcomed into. Through these books, we are keeping a memory alive—not as a static inheritance, but as a path for the modern seeker to find their own "quiet truth."

Looking back at that girl in New York, I wish I could tell her that all the time she felt she was lost, she had been on her path all along. The life we live day by day is our path; there is no such thing as being "off" of it.

Thank you for being part of this sanctuary. I invite you to explore these living vessels with us.

— Tanya