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Back from the Borderline

Back from the Borderline

By: mollie adler
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Back From The Borderline is a podcast about depth psychology, symbolism, spirituality, consciousness, and the search for a more meaningful life.


I started this show years ago while trying to understand my own mind. Somewhere along the way, the questions became much bigger than me. They led into Carl Jung, mythology, Christian mysticism, dreams, tarot, philosophy, esotericism, religious history, artificial intelligence, and the symbolic patterns that quietly shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us.


The word borderline has taken on its own meaning over the years. It speaks to the edge almost all of us eventually reach. That place where our old explanations stop working and we’re asked to learn an entirely different way of seeing. That’s the space my work inhabits.


Some episodes are conversations with researchers, psychologists, philosophers, historians, and spiritual teachers. Others are long-form essays where I follow a question wherever it leads. Lately I’ve been especially interested in symbolic literacy, the way images, myths, dreams, and archetypes quietly organize human life, often long before we’re consciously aware of them.


I’m not very interested in being “certain” about anything. I care about learning to recognize patterns, hold complexity without rushing toward easy conclusions, and recover forms of wisdom that help us live with greater honesty, imagination, and responsibility.


If you’ve found yourself searching for Carl Jung, depth psychology, symbolism, archetypes, spirituality, mythology, Christian mysticism, tarot, dreams, consciousness, philosophy, or the Western esoteric tradition, I think you’ll feel at home here.


Alongside the public podcast, I also host House of Cards, an ongoing study of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot through psychology, symbolism, mythology, and contemplative practice, as well as MOODS, an app I designed for dreamwork and deep inner inquiry. Both are extensions of the same project: learning to see more clearly.


You can explore everything, including new episodes, House of Cards, Patreon, and MOODS, at backfromtheborderline.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

mollie adler Personal Development Personal Success Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Skill AI Can Never Replace (And Why I’m Teaching Tarot)

    The Skill AI Can Never Replace (And Why I’m Teaching Tarot)
    Jun 25 2026

    This episode is the opening lesson from my new Patreon series, House of Cards.


    House of Cards is an ongoing study of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot through depth psychology, mythology, symbolism, dreams, and contemplative practice. Every week we move through the deck one card at a time, treating tarot as a language of psyche, symbol, and myth. I’m releasing this first lesson publicly because it explains the philosophy behind the series. You can continue the study from Lesson 2 onward over on Patreon.


    In this introductory lesson we explore:


    • Why symbolic literacy matters in the age of AI

    • Why tarot is far more than fortune telling

    • How sustained attention transforms the way we see

    • Why symbolic systems have always been central to spiritual and psychological development

    • How to approach this series for the deepest transformation


    Suggested Deck

    Throughout this series I’ll be using the Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck (Pamela Colman Smith Centennial Edition). We’ll explore in much more granular detail why this particular deck was chosen in Lesson 2, which is available now on Patreon.


    Next Episode


    House of Cards 02: Why the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck: Join us on Patreon as we explore the origins of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, Arthur Edward Waite, Pamela Colman Smith, Christian Hermeticism, the revolution of the illustrated pip cards, and why this deck remains the symbolic language of modern tarot over a century after its creation.


    Continue the Study


    If you’d like to study the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot with me, you can join House of Cards over on Patreon. We’ll move through the deck one card at a time, one week at a time, treating each image as a living lesson in psyche, symbol, and myth. Start with Lesson 2 and join us whenever you’re ready.


    👉 Join the study: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2222096

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • The Arrogance of Too Much Empathy

    The Arrogance of Too Much Empathy
    Jun 23 2026

    This might be the most personally confronting episode I’ve recorded in a long time.


    A few days ago, I had to send a text message I had been absolutely dreading. I spent days worrying about how this person would feel, what they would think, whether they’d be hurt, disappointed, blindsided, angry, or quietly resentful.


    Then the moment came when I needed to send the damn text already. So I did. And guess what? Their response completely dismantled the story I had been telling myself all week. That experience led me into a much bigger question: at what point does empathy stop being empathy and start becoming an attempt to manage someone else’s reality for them?


    The deeper I looked, the more I saw how often I move through life assuming responsibility for experiences that do not actually belong to me. And I doubt I’m alone in that. Maybe this is something you’re doing without realizing it, too.


    In this episode, we talk about over-responsibility, people-pleasing, parenting, Rudolf Steiner, Dion Fortune, Martin Buber, the Christian mysteries, and why trusting another person’s capacity might be one of the deepest forms of love there is.


    Along the way we explore:


    • Why highly sensitive people often become emotional managers

    • The hidden arrogance inside over-empathy

    • The difference between caring for someone and carrying them

    • Why rescuing can quietly undermine growth

    • What parenting teaches us about trust

    • The spiritual danger of trying to live other people’s lives for them

    • The relationship between love, faith, and control

    • How to stop rehearsing other people’s suffering


    Reflection questions from this episode (for your journal, MOODS, or simply a conversation with yourself):


    • What do I actually know?

    • What am I assuming?

    • What part of this belongs to me?

    • What would respect look like here?

    • Am I helping this person, or am I trying to protect myself from the discomfort of watching them have their own experience?

    • What resources might this person have that I cannot see?


    These questions ended up changing the entire direction of my thinking. If you spend some real time with them, I think they might do the same for you.


    CONTINUE THE WORK: Join the BFTB Patreon → https://patreon.com/backfromtheborderline


    You’ll get:

    ☆ Weekly bonus episodes

    ☆ Consciousness Stream

    ☆ Archetypal tarot + astrology forecasts

    ☆ Full ad-free archive access (every BFTB episode since 2021)


    If you want to actually work through it: Use MOODS → https://app.moods.world/

    MOODS is a private place to take what’s coming up and see it clearly without performing it or involving anyone else. You can try it free for 7 days to see if it's right for you. If you join my Patreon first, you’ll also unlock discounted access. See you inside.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Gay Men Have Always Loved a “Difficult” Woman

    Gay Men Have Always Loved a “Difficult” Woman
    Jun 16 2026

    For much of my life, many of my closest friendships have been with gay men.


    Not because they were fun little accessories or stereotypical sidekicks, either. We didn’t even always have that much in common on paper. Yep, these friendships were built the old-fashioned way through grief, bad decisions, long as hell voice notes, laughter at completely inappropriate moments, and enough years of showing up for each other that eventually they became part of the fabric of my life.


    In this episode, you'll join me on a journey where I explore why certain women and certain gay men seem to find each other so consistently throughout time.


    We'll get into Jung (of course), chosen family, female villains, the AIDS crisis, and the deep bond that tends to form when two people have spent their entire lives paying close attention to the rules everybody else seems to take for granted.


    This is a love letter to the gay men who have shaped my life, challenged me, protected me, made me laugh until I cried, and helped me become more fully myself.


    Reflection Prompts for MOODS (or your journal):

    • Who are the people who have seen me most clearly throughout my life?

    • What parts of myself have other people called “too much”?

    • What would happen if I stopped treating those qualities as flaws?

    • What friendships have changed the way I see myself?


    CONTINUE THE WORK: Join the BFTB Patreon → https://patreon.com/backfromtheborderline


    You’ll get:

    ☆ Weekly bonus episodes

    ☆ Consciousness Stream

    ☆ Archetypal tarot + astrology forecasts

    ☆ Full ad-free archive access (every BFTB episode since 2021)


    If you want to actually work through it: Use MOODS → https://app.moods.world/

    MOODS is a private place to take what’s coming up and see it clearly without performing it or involving anyone else.

    You can try it free for 7 days to see if it's right for you. If you join my Patreon first, you’ll also unlock discounted access. See you inside.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    51 mins
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I waited weeks before deciding to write a review, and even then I decided to be kind and give some constructive feedback on the instagram page instead of hurting the brand. It didn’t work. The problem is it became abundantly clear she just wants to talk, just her. She brings on a multitude of experts in the field yet doesn’t give them the time to say anything and cuts them of most of the time. It’s abundantly clear as time goes by that this is a way to get free therapy for her and if you want to hear a snippet of advise from an expert you will have to compromise and listen to the exact same repeated story of her life beforehand. As a fellow BPD’er I thought long and hard about how to broach the subject as I know how everything can feel like an attack when challenged. My feedback was fair, not attacking in any way and really constructive as it was truly for the benefit of potentially bettering the podcast for the future. I know there are more of us with the view having discussed it with my partner and a friend I had referred it on to so I really just wanted to keep listening. I was met with extreme defensive measures, being gaslit by giving me figures to try to disprove my claims and even going as far as to give anecdotes on the extremely positive things people had said in response to the episodes to try and invalidate or minimalize my view. This is nothing less than narcissistic behaviour. I kept my cool and remained nice, however the conversation was deleted as was I from her page. This is not the way to treat people, fans no less. People want to see you succeed yet your attacks keep them from trying to help. This will likely come as no surprise to the people around you, you just need to start seeing it yourself. You’re clearly bright, but can’t quite seem to put your awareness into actions. And you’re right, there are more podcasts out there, thanks for the tip.

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I've listened to this for years and have had some really useful information imparted on me. i like the host and find it has validated a lot of experiences ive gone through.

great podcast on the topic of a complex issue

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