Category: personal

Wills & Trusts: Estate Planning Kit (Free Download)

On By benebellIn free download, personal19 Comments

If a digital file of templates for a living trust, last will and testament, and other common features of an estate planning kit would be of interest to you, then you can download one for free. See below.

ESTATE PLANNING KIT

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE
Last Updated 2024 March 8

THE DISCLAIMERS:

  • This is not legal advice.
  • I am not your attorney.
  • These documents are provided for general educational purposes only.
  • All documents are keyed to the State of California (I’m a California and New York licensed attorney.)
  • Laws change frequently and so the laws applicable at the time these documents were drafted may be outdated by the time you see these documents.
  • You should not be using these documents as-is.
  • You should retain legal counsel in your jurisdiction to give you detailed and specific legal advice custom-tailored to your estate planning needs.
  • These documents bear significant legal implications, so if you do not fully understand what you are reading in the documents, then do not use them. Seek qualified legal counsel to assist you.
  • Always consult the legal professionals in your region to ensure that your estate plan is aligned with local laws and regulations.

THEN WHY PROVIDE THESE?

Times are tough and not everyone can afford an attorney. If you weren’t going to do anything at all and were going to die intestate (i.e., die without a will, trust, or any estate planning in place), then this is better than nothing.

SO… if you were planning on doing nothing, then this last will and testament template plus funeral instructions codicil, even the power of attorney and medical directive would be a step up from nothing.

My family has had to learn firsthand that there is a big difference at probate court between someone dying without a will in place vs. someone with a valid will. Do your loved ones who survive you a huge favor by getting a last will and testament in place.

But if you were planning on hiring an attorney to do your estate planning, then IGNORE THIS POST and do not use these documents. Rely on your attorney’s counsel.

Even if you don’t (and shouldn’t!) use these documents as provided, they’re a good starting point of reference for you to consider how you want to approach your own estate plan and what you would need to gather for safekeeping within that plan.

Also, if you are a licensed attorney yourself but aren’t a wills and trusts attorney, then you may find these starter templates useful.

I dare say this though– if you’re the detail-oriented, research-loving Type A personality who can capably do your own complex tax returns and you negotiate your own contracts, with a spirit of diligence and precision toward all things DIY, then it’s not terribly hard to start with these templates and create your own estate plan. Just sayin’. =P

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Social Media Witchcraft: Grifters, Aesthetics, Consumerism, Gatekeeping | #Occultea

On By benebellIn opinion, personal, personal spirituality, tarot community, traditional witchcraft5 Comments
Random photo inserted here because pretty. Don’t hate the player hate the game.

I’m looking forward to many and different voices adding to the discussion “Social Media Witchcraft: A Community Conversation About the Things That Divide Us” via the hashtag #OcculTea. The hosts are kickstarting the conversation off with these videos from Ella Harrison, Polish Folk Witch, and The Redheaded Witch.

“All members of the occult & witchcraft community – not just content creators or big names, but everybody” is invited to participate in this discussion, with the hope that the hosts might later facilitate a live community panel.

It’s a bit of an unanticipated synchronism that just yesterday I posted my commentary on personal branding pressures on authors and social media, and then today I am posting this. Collective thoughts around the same theme often surface at the same time within a community, and I think that’s what’s happening here. Ivy The Occultist had posted “Are Modern Witchcraft Books Failing Modern Witches?” on Feb. 12 and this #Occultea open invite on Social Media Witchcraft went out on Feb. 21. I thought that was kind of cool timing.

Introduce Yourself

If you’re reading my blog in the year 2024, then you probably already know a thing or two about me. But in case you’re new here by way of the hashtag, hi! I’m the author of three books: I Ching, The Oracle; The Tao of Craft; and Holistic Tarot. You’ll often find me as a keynote at various tarot and witchy conferences.

By day I am a practicing attorney and my career obligations occupy most of my time. Writing and creating educational videos on topics I’m passionate about and reviewing books and decks to help promote artists and creatives are my hobbies.

I was born and raised in the cultural traditions of both Buddhism and Taoism. I trained in Buddhism, spent nearly every summer month from early childhood until young adulthood at monasteries sweeping floors, doing shaolin (badly), and meditating. There’s this joke among us Asians that you know an Asian kid grew up in Buddhism when they don’t know any of their masters’ names. Because they were all just shi fu to us. =)

Now let’s get started on the prompts.

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Are Personal Branding Pressures on Authors Resulting in Bad Books?

On By benebellIn book writing, opinion, personal, professional tarot, tarot community17 Comments
As a tarot deck creator, it’s not enough to just do the art; you have to create social media content with your works-in-progress to keep up engagement….. Otherwise, how will you get people to buy your deck once you’re done with it?….

I saw an editor friend’s repost of this Vox article, “Everyone’s a sellout now: So you want to be an artist. Do you have to start a TikTok?” by Rebecca Jennings. It’s about the pressure on authors today to have a preexisting popular platform before publishing a book, or any creative work product for that matter. How well a book sells is determined by how well the author self-promotes. Pertinent to the circles I run in, let’s talk about tarot and witchy books.

Social media influencers have democratized culture, but perhaps have also diluted specialty creative industries. Instead of an experienced, established industry expert who is the gatekeeper of what ought to get published, the consuming public is now collectively the “gatekeeper” determining who The Algorithm will favor. Publishers are yielding to the consumer public opinion, via numbers, on who ought to be published.

Top selling books are not necessarily by the most knowledgeable virtuoso in that field but rather, are by whichever charismatic personality has the most followers on YouTube and TikTok. Therefore, to be a top selling author, you need to cater to that consuming public. It’s not about your resume, curriculum vitae, or credentials; it’s about your personal brand.

Inspired by that article, I thought I’d share my experiences on having to navigate social media, personal branding, and platform building as an author.

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Cultural Clashes and the In-Laws I: The MIL

On By benebellIn personal27 Comments

This is going to be a multi-part series of personal reflections on my life experiences and interactions with having mainland Chinese in-laws and the cultural clashes that have ensued. I’m Taiwanese American, and politically my family has been as far Green* as it gets. The Taiwanese and Chinese have a longstanding history of animosity toward one another, an animosity that has often played out at the interpersonal level.

Part I will begin with my late mother-in-law.

____

* “Green” is an international political marker and movement that prioritizes participatory grassroots democracy, social justice, social progressivism, ecopolitics, and localism. Here it also relates to the Taiwan independence movement.

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Why is the word “feminist” triggering? Disappointing realizations.

On By benebellIn I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), opinion, personal, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism26 Comments

So I posted this video yesterday:

When I made this video, I genuinely did not think there’d be anything controversial about it. I will even continue the assumption now and say that if you actually watch it in the entirety, you, too, would not reach the conclusion that it’s trying to be anti-male. Nor will you find it laced with any ulterior motive of gender politics.

Heck, now in retrospect, I probably could have titled the video “Tao Te Ching & the Divine Feminine.” Right? It’s just that I have a complicated relationship with the concept of “divine feminine” hence I went with “feminist metaphysics.”

Within hours of its posting, I received the following comments:

This blog post starts with my reaction to the above responses, but then I’ll go off on a tangent to share some unfiltered ramblings with respect to Eurocentric Taoism and cultural appropriation.

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Nine Years on TarotTube/Pagan YouTube

On By benebellIn opinion, personal, tarot community22 Comments
Fun fact: That blue-toned banner of mountains was taken in Miaoli, Taiwan, from my ancestral lands. ❤

The very first video I posted to YouTube was in October, 2014. It’s been 9 years. And I thought I’d take a pause from regularly scheduled programming to reflect on those 9 years.

To do so, I’m combining several TarotTube or Pagan Youtube (Occult Tube?) community tags on the subject. If you loiter in any of those networks then you may have seen some. I’m going to do my response as a blog post. And I think that in and of itself probably says something.

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#54321Tarot

On By benebellIn book review, cartomancy, deck review, divination, personal, personal spirituality, promotional, tarot, tarot community7 Comments
The selfie function is hard. I never know where to look…

This is a TarotTube tag started by @Kelly Bear but I’ll be participating via blog post. =) I was tagged by the lovely and precocious @JessReadsCards. The prompt is to share 5 tarot decks, 4 tarot books, 3 tarot spreads, 2 tarot reader habits or tarot reading paraphernalia, and 1 piece of advice (or alternatively, 1 tarot card you’d like to embody).

Ack. You can see my Invisalign attachments in the above photo. And of course now that I called it out, it went from 50% chance you’d see it to 100% chance you’ll see it. Also, shameless off-topic plug for my new book, I Ching, The Oracle. The first few months after an author has released a book, you’re just gonna have to brace yourself for a lot of promo. =D

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Six of Swords WIP: Please halp with composition ideas…

On By benebellIn Etteilla Tarot, personal, tarot, tarot card meanings25 Comments

I’m struggling with swords placement in my Six of Swords wip. In fact, there’s a lot to this illustration composition that I’m struggling with. Maybe you’ll have some suggestions on what I can do.

I’ll start from the beginning. I knew I wanted to play with the religion and science dynamic in the Six of Swords, and my ambition was to do that in a way that isn’t too cliche.

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