Blast Off! Officially Launching Stellarly Studio

Blast Off! Officially Launching Stellarly Studio - Stellarly Studio

It feels very surreal writing this right now. First, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this. Out the gate, y'all the real ones. 

Stellarly Studio is the culmination of many, many years of work. I originally wanted to say that I have been working towards this for the past three years. Since that is when I started my first tarot deck (Celestial Bodies Tarot) and began really deepening my practice, but the fact is…. Stellarly is the culmination of many, many failed attempts at me trying to make something for myself for the past decade. So many hoarded Instagram handles, Etsy pages, and abandoned projects…. This isn’t my first try at creating a business like this. Or even my second try. You’ll see a lot of familiar designs from my past projects reimagined and transformed here under Stellarly Studios.

megan castro green dress

Starting with my Interstellar Tarot deck (look for the Kickstarter in a few weeks!), Stellarly Studio is evolving into a business that encompasses everything that interests me from art, tarot, clothing, and apparel. I want Stellarly Studio to be a space and platform to share what captivates me, and my hope is that it also captivates you, or will at least leave you interested enough to go out and learn more on your own! If you do feel so motivated, then definitely tag me in your findings. I think of myself as a forever student and love to learn too!

Stellarly Studio is a creative business centered around tarot, the metaphysical, and art. You will be seeing many different products, services, and technologies (we got some apps in the works!) heading y'all's way as I strive to further expand on my reach to other creative mediums. Over the past year, Andres (my business partner and love of my life) has collaborated with me on an app that we will be releasing this holiday season! And through Stellarly Studio, I hope to partner with other creatives in different fields to bring y'all new and exciting products and services!

I started Stellarly Studio with the help of my husband and business partner, Andres. Andres is a Senior Software Developer at Mailchimp and has been working in tech for close to a decade now! He has a passion for diversity and inclusion (especially in the tech field), is tremendously kind, and lowkey the funniest person you’ll ever meet. His role in Stellarly Studio as the CTO is to expand our technical capabilities and offerings. We have some fun and resourceful apps in the works we both can’t wait to share with y’all!

 

A little history about me:

If you're new around here or just new to me, my name is Megan. Like many other people I keep close to me, I have been an artist in some form or another my entire life. I began college as a music education major, playing my trumpet in all the ensembles until my 5th year when I realized my genuine need to become a "professional" artist. Whatever that meant to me at the time included the need for guided, structured education. While I believe you don't need to attend art school to be an artist of any kind, I have always had a thirst for knowledge and history and wanted to learn as much as I could about the art world since I had not taken any art classes before changing my major. 

After I graduated in 2016, I went to Seattle, WA, where I worked for multiple galleries. I started as a volunteer and was quickly hired at one gallery and asked to be on the board of another. Seattle was an amazing time for me, my craft, and the realization that I loved programming, managing, and creating easily accessible and navigated structures for both artists and galleries. I was pushed far and given so much responsibility at both institutions; the experience and all the people I met while there were truly priceless. Unfortunately, Seattle was not priceless. It was actually way too expensive for us to put down long-term roots in the way Andres and I had always dreamed. So, Andres, me, and our two dogs moved back to Atlanta, and we purchased our current home with our now four dogs!

You might be wondering, "Megan, where does the witch stuff come in to play? All we have read about is your boring art journey and growing family of dogs." I have always been interested in witchcraft and the metaphysical for as long as I can remember. Pre-2019 (When I started working at a metaphysical shop) and Pre-2020 (when I co-founded COVENTRY), I was fascinated with using my own personal power to get what I wanted, and I was regularly reading and teaching myself tarot; however, I never considered “witch” or “mystic” or anything that has to do with magic, part of my identity. It was always just something that I did in my free time, like a hobby. That is until I began working at a metaphysical shop and began to really start living this life on the daily through COVENTRY. Initially, being in the South and living in a time where the term "witch" and all the connotations that come with the moniker seemed to be a major conflict of interest. I am very much a believer in science, I originally thought that by identifying as a witch, I would in some way be rejecting those beliefs, but I now know that is not the case (maybe I'll do a separate blog post on this topic, there's so much I want to go into here, but I don't want to derail this whole blog on my thoughts around the intersections of science and witchcraft). 

megan castro holding interstellar tarot deck

Today, I am enthusiastically writing this post wholly invested in Stellarly Studios. This is my day job, my livelihood, my passion. Authentically me, and representative of who I am in this moment. My focus for Stellarly Studios is to create at the various intersections of what interests me, which, as you'll come to find out, is ever-evolving. I do not claim to have all the answers or any answers at all. I will be giving advice and insights on how I practice, but I am by no means telling you how to do anything. If you practice differently than what I write about here, leave a comment or tag me in your own post! Again, I love to learn and the biggest compliment you can give me is to engage with my content and give me insight into your practice and thoughts in return. The type of magic and tarot philosophy I believe in centers free will at the forefront of one's practice. Like the quote from the formerly Strange Magic Podcast, now titled Between the Worlds, "Take what you like and leave the rest." I hope that what I put out into the world resonates with you and that a community can ultimately form around Stellarly. I hope to be able to create partnerships with other creatives with who this work resonates to make things we haven’t even thought of yet!

RELATED ARTICLES

What is a Sigil? - Stellarly Studio
What is a Sigil?