AI has a lot of use cases you might not expect. One I keep coming back to: using it as a learning partner.
I love to learn. Always have. But sometimes I don't want a course or a book — I want a conversation. A way to explore a question, synthesize what's out there, and get a new perspective.
AI is surprisingly good at this.
What I tried
One day I asked AI: What's grounded life advice for someone in their 20s? Their 30s? 40s and beyond?
Not productivity hacks. Not optimization culture. Just... wisdom.
The output surprised me. It was thoughtful, clear, and actually useful. Seeing the advice side by side — how priorities shift, what each stage teaches — gave me perspective I wasn't expecting.
Then I went deeper. I asked: What is feminine wisdom that's been lost through the ages? What are the key stories and themes?
Again — not surface-level. AI synthesized perspectives across ancient traditions, surfaced figures I hadn't thought about in years, and connected themes I wouldn't have pieced together on my own.
Why this matters
This is AI as a teacher. Not replacing experts, but making knowledge more accessible. Helping you explore questions you're curious about without needing to read ten books first.
I've used this approach for all kinds of topics — history, psychology, self-improvement, random rabbit holes. It's become one of my favorite ways to learn.
And sometimes, I take it further. I built a whole website — softwitch.com — around witchy, grounded self-help. Mantras, rituals, ways to grow. All sparked by conversations like these.
Try it yourself
Here are some prompts you can use to explore similar questions. These aren't the exact ones I used, but they'll get you started:
Life advice across ages:
"Give me grounded life advice for different stages of life (20s, 30s, 40s and beyond). Avoid clichés and summarize into clear key takeaways."
Feminine wisdom:
"Condense and summarize feminine wisdom across ancient religious and spiritual traditions, including stories and perspectives that were historically minimized or lost. Include key themes and well-known examples."
Example outputs
Here's a condensed version of what AI gave me:
Life Advice by Stage
Your 20s
- Try things without needing them to last
- Confusion is information, not failure
- Urgency is often imagined
- Identity is allowed to be fluid
Key takeaway: Your job is exploration, not certainty.
Your 30s
- Misalignment becomes harder to ignore
- Grief shows up — for paths, people, and versions of yourself
- You start subtracting instead of adding
- Self-trust is built through correction
Key takeaway: This decade teaches discernment.
Your 40s and beyond
- Clarity gets quieter
- You need fewer opinions and fewer backups
- Patterns repeat — and you recognize them faster
- Peace matters more than performance
Key takeaway: Agency replaces urgency.
Across every stage
- Everyone feels behind while they're in it
- Confidence comes from repetition, not certainty
- Paying attention compounds more than speed
The throughline: No stage is better than another. Each one trains you to recognize what actually matters.
Feminine Wisdom Across Traditions
While many traditions later prioritized law, control, and linear progress, feminine wisdom focused on continuity, timing, and the ability to hold complexity. As religious systems became more institutional, these perspectives were often minimized, rewritten, or preserved only as folklore.
Core Themes
- Life is cyclical, not linear — growth includes return, rest, and repetition
- Discernment is power — knowing when not to act is as sacred as action
- Wisdom is embodied — knowledge lives in the body, ritual, and lived experience
- Relationship is central — truth is contextual, relational, and sustained through care
Well-Known Stories & Figures
Sophia (Early Christian & Gnostic Traditions) Sophia literally means Wisdom. In early texts, divine wisdom was feminine and involved curiosity, error, and repair. Sophia's central role diminished as theology shifted toward authority, order, and control. Theme: Wisdom includes fallibility and return — not just obedience.
Lilith (Jewish Mystical Tradition) Lilith appears in early lore as Adam's first partner who refuses submission and leaves. Later traditions portray her as dangerous or demonic. Lilith represents self-sovereignty and the cost of refusing imposed roles. Theme: Autonomy without permission is often rewritten as evil.
Miriam (Hebrew Bible) Miriam leads through song, ritual, and collective memory rather than law. She preserves cultural identity but is punished more harshly than male figures for dissent. Theme: Cultural memory and emotional leadership are powerful — and frequently undervalued.
Mary Magdalene (Early Christianity) In early accounts, Mary Magdalene is a primary witness and spiritual authority. Later narratives reduce her to a repentant sinner. Theme: Spiritual authority that doesn't fit hierarchy is reframed as moral weakness.
Hindu & Buddhist Feminine Archetypes Goddesses, yoginis, and bodhisattvas embody creation and destruction, compassion as strength, and stillness as mastery. Later social structures often elevated masculine expressions while keeping feminine forces symbolic. Theme: Wisdom knows when to nurture and when to dissolve.
Why it was minimized: Feminine wisdom resists rigid rules, central authority, and false certainty. It doesn't scale easily — and that made it difficult to institutionalize.
The throughline: Feminine wisdom doesn't promise escape from life. It teaches how to stay human inside complexity — valuing discernment, continuity, and care over control.
Wisdom doesn't arrive all at once. It accumulates — unevenly, honestly.
Want to go deeper? I built softwitch.com as a place to explore grounded, witchy self-help — mantras, rituals, and ways to grow. Check it out if this resonates.
SoftWitch offers reflective and symbolic content for personal exploration only. It is not a substitute for professional care. Astrology and AI are used there as interpretive tools — lenses for meaning, not statements of fact or certainty.
A note on this piece: The reflections above are meant to offer perspective and inspiration, not instructions or universal truths. They draw from historical texts, cultural patterns, and modern interpretation — filtered through AI and my own point of view. This isn't therapy, spiritual counseling, or a substitute for professional guidance. AI doesn't know you, your history, or your circumstances. Take what resonates, leave what doesn't, and trust your own judgment.