The Sunday Sanctuary with Alex Caiola
A weekly series that profiles the most fabulous, hard-working, 24/7 hustlers, and how they spend their Sundays.
Alex Caiola founded High Priestess of Brooklyn with the mission of helping people achieve Modern Enlightenment. She uses a unique blend of Astrology and Tarot to deliver practical psychic guidance one can use at major life crossroads and every intersection in between. Think: your own cosmic Google Maps. Her work has been featured on Well + Good, Bustle, Betches, Sporteluxe, Inscape, and more.
Q: What time do you wake up or does the alarm go off ?
A: I try as best as possible to not set an alarm on Sundays, but I would say I'm not an early riser by any means. I'm not embarrassed to say, I'm normally up and out of bed by 9. I don't have kids or anything yet so I don't feel so guilty for saying that.
Q: What is your morning routine (specifically the first 15)
A: I try to go with the flow as much as possible, especially if I don't have anything planned that day. If I don't have clients or anything, a lot of times because of what I do, which is astrology and psychic readings, Sundays are sanctuarial for other people as well. It just depends if I do or don't, but let's say I don’t, first coffee, like obviously no matter what. We take that very seriously in our household, so whoever is up first has to make it. I try to sit for at least 5 minutes and meditate, water my plants, say hello to them since they are our only babies as it stands right now, and if I can, because I live with my partner, I'll do some tarot pulls for the week, get a sense of how should I do marketing, take a different approach to setting up the day but also setting up the next week.
Q: What is your Sunday mantra?
A: Oh my gosh, go with the flow. I try to do that; I was thinking about this and I think Sunday is a mindset, so whether it's actually Sunday or not, I think taking time to understand what does my body or my mind need at this very moment is very Sunday, but it should be applied any time of the week. If you're feeling a little anxious, take a bath, go for a walk, do something that allows you to get into a more relaxed Sunday state.
Q: What’s your go to breakfast/brunch?
A: I’m more of a brunch person, I love an egg. I also don't eat meat and I try for the most part to eliminate dairy besides eggs, so I'll do like a play on vegan sausage, protein waffles, stuff like that with a fried egg on top. Nothing better.
Q: Do you give yourself any Sunday self-care treatments?
A: Yes, I will definitely do a mask. I find that I pretty much do that every Sunday. I love those Korean beauty sheet masks, usually Korean beauty has the best ones. Other than that, a bath. But like I said, I take that whenever I feel the need too.
Q: What song is a good representation of your Sunday?
A: I feel like Waves by Miguel Remix ft. Kacey Musgraves
Q: How has your Sunday routine changed over the years?
A: 2020 definitely gave us a different approach to Sunday. I think I always treated it like another day of the weekend to go see friends, you know more social weekend things, and now I realize it really does give you such a great opportunity to set up for the week and be a little more intentional with how I spend time with myself. It's gotten a little more introspective over the years
Q: Do you exercise?
A: Yes, I usually exercise every day in some shape or form. Even if it's just at least a walk, but on Sundays it just depends. I just got a Peloton so I'm loving Sundays with Ally Love, like it's basically church, and with the absence of SoulCycle in my life, I honestly have become a convert. Something like that allows me to like if it’s yoga or Sundays with Ally, to create a more spiritual approach to working out.
Q: Do you like to spend your Sunday alone or with family/friends?
A: I enjoy both. The thing about life these days is you kind of take the social opportunities when they come if it's safe to do them, so if it were to happen on a Sunday i would not say no, but I do like to spend at least some of it alone.
Q: Do you use any apps or products for relaxation?
A: Yes. So I have a new headband for meditation that I got as a gift last year that has been really helpful for measuring your brain waves for meditating. It comes with all sorts of guided meditations which is really helpful for me. I prefer guided meditations versus just sitting with my thoughts. Hopefully I get better at that.
Q: What is your ideal bedtime?
A: Oh my gosh, I would say midnight. If it's possible for me to not scroll on TikTok before bed that's an accomplishment.
Q: What are some of your favorite Sunday activities?
A: Well, I love to meditate. I also use Tarot to meditate and get a sense of planning for the week. Tarot is really good to not only tap into my own intuition, but energy around me and my guides if you will, so I try to at least spend an hour or so doing meditative activity. I like to exercise and get out to walk, go to a Farmers Market, something like that, just taking it easy of course, and reading. Of course some Netflix or HBO obsessions to round it out.
Q: How do you prepare for the week ahead?
A: I try to use meditative practices to get in touch to what other people need to hear from me this week. What do I have going on, and putting that week together. I do use Tarot for that and it's really helpful as a tool to just be creative and think about prompts for myself. I try to be as intuitive as possible when I'm planning and set myself up for success, so if I have a launch that week or something like that, I'll definitely try to work that into the day. As for later, I log into flodesk for my emails, and it allows me to schedule which is great. I will usually just check the calendar out for what clients I have that week and make sure I'm all prepped for them. So, a fair amount of my day is planning for work.