A launch party on 2/22? its destiny. Author Sian Camille released her book Talking With My Angels in the Bathtub on angel number 222: You are exactly where you need to be. The timing of your life is perfect. The release party consisted of a few acoustic sessions from Sophia Viggiano and Western Medicine. Every single person in the building was an artist in one way or another. The feeling in the air was filled with the ineffable buzz young artists create. It can only be described as The Breakfast Club Effect: the overwhelming feeling that anything is possible and this exact moment is the start of the rest of your life. This show encompassed exactly what it means to be in your twenties. You don't have to have everything figured out to create something beautiful. There is something so inspiring watching your peers not waiting for the perfect moment to accomplish their dreams but doing it anyways.
Sian Camille is a warm heart. She's a force of positive change in her community. Within the first minute of meeting her, you're automatically engulfed into an affectionate conversation. Her welcoming nature makes you feel right at home in a room full of strangers. Every connection to her is meaningful and she makes sure you know it. If the world was a cup of coffee, Sian is the little splash of cream that makes the taste of life all that sweeter.
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let's start with introductions:
Hi I'm Sian! I'm a capricorn sun, cancer moon, and gemini rising.
Some of my favorite books are Bluets by Maggie Nelson and Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarisson Pinkola Estes.
I grew up in Southern California and spent most of my childhood barefoot by the beach. I am always sipping on some type of milky beverage or herbal concoction throughout the day but my favorite is coffee. My go-to is lots of cinnamon, honey, two shots of espresso, and raw milk.
Is Talking with my Angels in the Bathtub your first book? How has publishing this book shaped your life? In what ways have you grown from this experience?
Talking With My Angels in the Bathtub is the first book I've published, but I've been writing stories since I was a kid. I'd visit my dad's office, and while he was working, I'd draw characters (usually fairies) and create grand stories about their life.
Publishing this book has taught me to have more patience and be where my feet are. We think we have an idea of where we will end up and how things will take shape, but the universe always has a greater plan for us. Everything is divinely orchestrated, we just have to learn to trust that
unfolding.
Originally this book was going to be just poetry, then the project took on a life of its own when I was sorting through my journals during a move last summer. I found a wealth of wisdom in those pages—concepts from my yoga teacher training, insights from therapy sessions, poetry written at 3 AM, nuggets gleaned from self-help books. It hit me: why not distill all of this into a single vessel?
As for growing from this experience, I think I've gained a lot of trust in myself from this project. It's one thing to say you want to do something, but it's another to actually do it. I've proven to myself that I can and will show up for myself.
Your writing is both raw and unrestricted. It can be described as a clean stream of consciousness, as if the thoughts came from the readers themselves. What does your editing process look like in order to keep that tenderness in your work?
A lot of my writing really is just stream of consciousness writing. I try to keep the final poem or practice as close to the original as possible when I edit my writing. Each page is testament to that moment in my life and I think there’s beauty in the rawness of leaving it that way.
You mentioned at the show that you have been friends with fellow artist Sophia Viggiano since you were young. While reading your book, the line "eat the honeycomb" reminded me of her song "honeycomb heart" Relationships like this are such a special part of girlhood. What does this friendship mean to you? How have you two inspired each other over the years? What role did your best friend's support play in this journey of writing your book?
There's this one quote that comes to mind (I want to say it's by Dolly Alderton) that goes something along the lines of, "nearly everything I know about love I've learned from my long-term friendships with other women."
My female friends remind me of both my power and my softness. They help me connect with the wild woman that exists inside of me (the one that likes to run barefoot and light candles on full moons). I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without my sisters holding a light at the end of the tunnel.
My friendship with Sophia, in particular, has taught me that it's safe to unravel and not hide any part of myself. I don’t have to be something for anyone else. I can show up exactly as I am and receive unconditional love.
Together, we’ve laughed, cried, and made mistakes. We’ve lived in different places for years at a time and had our own adventures, all while supporting each other. Sophia constantly reflects the light that already exists in me back to me. Whenever something good happens to one of us, we always text each other. That type of support, the unconditional "I just want you to shine" type of love, is one of the purest forms of love. I don’t know what I would do without that kind of love in my life.
The last section of your book includes Practices to implement into the readers daily life. What inspired you to provide tangible tools for your readers to use in their own lives?
My goal with my writing is to make other people feel seen and empowered. I decided to implement practices because, during my lowest moments, the hope that kept me going was knowing that I could change anything that no longer aligned in my life. I was allowed to make mistakes and still deserved forgiveness and redemption over and over. There were tangible practices I could tap into when I felt disconnected from myself, others, the world. It’s my goal that the practices give others hope because hope is what keeps us alive.
Where can we purchase your book? Lastly, what's on the horizon for you? Where can we follow your journey?
It's available here.
Next up on the horizon is more creation from the heart! I just want to continue to deepen my relationship with my practice and see where that takes me!
I have a podcast called Apricity where I discuss healing the mind body and spirit.
I also have a Substack