March 29, 2024

Feature Interview: Kerrie Basha of Bohomofo

Editor’s Note: As soon as I came across the Instagram account @bohomofo , I recognized it as what I would call “deep dive” content. Nothing superficial about what is being shared there. I religiously follow the account for its soul quenching observations and gradually began to understand it was a woman named Kerrie behind this lucid, incredible writing that spoke to spirit so candidly.

Kerrie’s writing moves me on a regular basis as it is deeply woven with practical advice, magical insight and writing that truly thrums my spirit. I often need to re-read the content she writes as it is so dense and charged with truly unique and inspired wisdom

In interest to establish space at the Pacific Roots Magazine platform to open a door to the vast soul nook, I asked Kerrie if she would be willing to do an interview – as the first feature to open that door. I am so grateful she said yes. Thank you Kerrie.

Photo: Kerrie Basha

Interview with Kerrie Basha of Bohomfo

I love what is written at your website, about how Bohomfo was born out of a shop you had, Bohemia, and that you realised what you were creating there was community.  Community for – “Those who were more than happy to live outside the norm, who craved the otherness. ” I love this. The “otherness”. How do you reflect on your connection to this?

Kerrie: Bohemia the shop was inspired by the Bohemian movement of the 19th and early 20th century in Europe that lauded the unconventional and creative. Bohemians existed outside the confines of society and expected social and cultural norms, which really appealed to me. And of course what was so beautiful within that movement was the sense of community and kinship between these otherlings: people who had never fit in or always baulked at what was expected finding similar souls. Ugly ducklings simultaneously discovering not just that they are a swan. But that they are part of a thrilling bevy and more inspired than ever by finding their flock.

Or I could just answer as an astrologer and say because I am an Aquarian. We are the different drummers of the zodiac, who cultivate our otherness and our distinction while secretly seeking to be understood. Human beings are tribal and we need the both the boundary of community and the balm of belonging. Now more than ever.

Kerrie enjoying a copy of NewCastle Herald in which she was featured, Photo: Kerrie Basha

There is something in your writing that I don’t even always know I am seeking, or need, but find  regularly in your posts, something so soul quenching. I know your writing and insight has this effect on so many others.  When did you become aware of writing as such an essential craft not only for you but also to share?

Kerrie: It still makes my heart leap to receive such feedback on my work. Thank you. Writing is such a solitary pursuit and you never know how your words will land. You cannot write for that though. Like any truly creative pursuit, you can only craft what you are compelled to if you want it to be your best. I love to play with words and language and for my sentences to have a melody to them. I know now that my view is mythopoeic and I frame what I have to say in astrology and mythology and lore. But that took some time to discover.

Finding my voice was a long journey that is not over yet. I have been reading and writing for as long as I can remember. Head buried in a book or scribbling furiously in diaries or churning out truly awful teenage poetry on clifftops in Collaroy in the 80s. At school I was an English and History major. I devoured poetry and literature and songs, still. I loved to write anything. I have kept journals since I was a little girl which I am sure helps, because writing is undeniably a practice. After a million other jobs that did not thrill me, where I despaired that all I would be remembered for was my ability to write a great marketing email, my lovely ex-husband reminded me I had told him, on the day we met when I was 18, that I was going to be a writer. It is in my blood and my very marrow. I rarely go a day without writing something. I know that when I put my heart rather than just my head in it, I connect far more deeply with those who read it.

I am very curious to hear more about your location and its relationship to your craft as well.  Can you share a bit about the NSW Coast, your roots in Australia and what the energy is there this time of year?

Kerrie: I am an avid believer in the power of story and place and I don’t think you can divide the two. Each feeds and needs the other for context. Both are the formwork of our lives. I grew up hearing the ocean in my ears every night and still find that nothing soothes me like the sea, whether I am on it or in it or by it. I recently moved out of the Lower Hunter Valley, where I spent the last 11 years and half of my son’s childhood, raising him in a tiny country town. Living in the country connected me to the Australian bush in a way that living on the coast had not. Living out of a major city and in a hamlet taught me a lot about community, good and bad. It deeply rooted me into the cycles and seasons that can become indistinguishable in an overly built up environment. I used to marvel that I could drive without headlights under a full moon and not see my hand in front of my face in the balsamic phase. As an avid student of witchcraft and shamanism, all I had learned in books came to life in me once I truly plugged into the land.

Photo: Kerrie Basha

We are heading into Spring in Australia now as we approach the equinox. The birds are nesting and flowers are showing their pretty faces and the sky is lighter. Soon I will be able to swim. I am looking forward to Summer for the first time in over a decade because I am by the sea. Inland and with little rain, Summer means horrible extremes of temperature, brown snakes and bushfires and drought. Living in the country raised my consciousness and awareness of so many things we take for granted in modern cities, like “unlimited” water or mobile reception or reliable power or where our food comes from. I recommend it to anyone. It utterly changes your perspective on how you move through the world and the impact you have upon it.

I have been chewing the issue of hemispheric representation here at Pacific Roots. I am so “northern” focused and would like to move in a global direction, but still also pay regard to the seasons. What are your thoughts on preserving a nod to the seasons but being global in acknowledging the Southern and Northern Hemisperes?

Kerrie: This is one of my pet subjects and a crucial distinction. Writing about astrology and magic, following the seasons and the wheel of the year is indeed a challenge when writing online. It is vital to write so this distinction is clear, and good manners to do so. It is vital when you are learning particularly to know the place – if not the story – that the work comes from so you can make sure it is relevant to you. If you get the basics back to front in the first instance, it is very hard to unlearn them as default. As a writer online I try to produce content that is relevant across the board. If I am writing about a sabbat or an equinox I acknowledge the difference – or compose two distinct pieces.

What really fascinates me with astrology particularly are the associations that go with the signs. For example in the northern hemisphere you would associate Winter with Sagittarius, where for us in the south it is the peak of Summer. To us the fire element makes red hot sense, as it would to you in a whole other way. And it fits. It works, either way. This is the magic at play, the brilliance of the mythology and too our very human ability to derive meaning from the framework we find ourselves in.

Photo: Kerrie Basha

With this interview with you, I will establish a new section at Pacific Roots to feature more soulful dialogues- very transparently on issues of spirt, astrology, soul matters and more.  I would be honoured to get your insight and inspiration on this.  My site covers themes I find interesting and even essential to human life in this age but I feel it is thirsting for that “otherness” as well. Any thoughts on how people may be thirsting for an awareness they cannot even quite put a label on?

Kerrie: It is indeed our spirits that are starving. Our very modern world encourages us to spend most of our precious time in our head, less in our heart and leaves the spirit wanting. Many have become disillusioned with traditional religious frameworks that have become more like government than soul food. They no longer bring us closer to our gods and are regularly revealed to be in breach of their own ethical codes. The history of war and atrocity is littered with battles over whose imaginary friend is the one true God. Still millions lose their lives to the bitter pursuit of this unresolvable disagreement.

I believe that we all have divinity within us. Access to states of grace that surpass the human experience and the ability to explore expanded consciousness that moves us beyond the mere mortal condition. Judgement and fear, guilt and shame are what keep us from such adventures – or an indoctrination that surmises this is only for the enlightened or chosen few.

We only need to let ourselves be guided. Follow our interest and our questions. Accept that what works for us does not have to work for anyone else or everyone else. Learn how to truly listen to those who are vastly different to us and gain from the discrepancy. Travel more. Read even more than that. Ask the big questions and try and work them out ourselves without degrees or fancy headwear. More than anything else, commit to the exploration of our own spirit and its hunger for communion.

Photo: Kerrie Basha

On Kerrie

Kerrie Basha is Bohomofo, an Australian writer originally from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. An experienced tarot reader, Kerrie offers insightful readings online that combine her unique perspective with her connection to the seen and unseen worlds. Having completed study over the past two decades in fields as diverse as herbalism, energy healing, crystal healing, flower essence therapy, shamanic witchcraft and astrology, Kerrie is a transformation guide and mentor. Kerrie has crafted her signature programs on Shadow Work, Intuition, Boundaries, Ritual and Ceremony and living a cyclical life aligned with the world we inhabit. Kerrie offers a personalised service that is built around the needs, wishes and desires of her clients. She designs and presents bespoke ceremony and personalised rituals and spells with purpose and intention. 

Photo: Kerrie Basha

Kerrie currently lives by the ocean on the wild NSW coast and works online with clients all over the world. She blogs regularly on the dance of the planets and the stuff that stirs our collective soul via her @Bohomofo social media channels. You can find out more about Kerrie and her offerings through her website at www.bohomofo.com

Feature & Interview by Annika Lundkvist at Pacific Roots Magazine Editorial Desk

Podcast V: Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture

Editor’s Note

Welcome! Launched in Summer 2019, Pacific Roots Magazine is a platform devoted to issues of veganic agriculture, sustainability, plant based food & more. We welcome you along for the journey as we explore, learn & develop further awareness about this home we call Earth. 

International Biocyclic Vegan Network