347 Sophie Strand “The Masculine, The Feminine and Everything In Between”

Today on the show, I welcome Sophie Strand, a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. But it would probably be more authentic to call her a troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. Give her a salamander and a stone and she’ll write you a love story. Sophie was raised by house cats, puff balls, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. In every neighborhood she’s ever lived in she has been known as “the walker”. She believes strongly that all thinking happens interstitially – between beings, ideas, differences, mythical gradients.

Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous projects and publications, including Spirituality & HealthAtmosBraided Way, and Art PAPERS. She is the author of The Flowering Wand,The Madonna Secret, and the forthcoming memoir The Body Is a Doorway as well as the creator of the popular Substack “Make Me Good Soil.”  You can follow her work on Instagram @cosmogyny. 

We get to hear Sophie talk about The Flowering Wand, why she wrote it and how she relates to the masculine – how is it different from the patriarchy and why that is important. Is the harm patriarchal or more broadly dominant culture? How does she feel about disturbing the dominant culture system? The inspiration for The Flowering Wand was born of her interrogation of the Jesus story which she retells in The Madonna Secret with an honoring of the roots of Rabbi Yeshua and the rightful placement of Mary Magdalene as a peer by his side. Why have women’s stories been left out – are we getting better at telling them? Hmmm, consider our current election as a reflection point. How does Sophie relate and respond to the cultural limitations or expectation placed on women? How does she tend to her self? How can we tend to the earth…egregore?

Sophie has an upcoming workshop, Myths as Maps: Ecological Storytelling, happening on November 16th and 17th. We have limited time to dive into the vast subject of myth and how we can perhaps more appropriately work with myth through the creation of our own vs. an adoption of others from a much different time and place. Her daily practice is an effort to create her own myth and is a profound inspiration in how we can be better collaborators with all the beings we dance with on earth.

Thanks Sophie, I look forward to reading The Body is a Doorway when it comes out in March 2025!

Following our conversation, I turn to Kim Krans’ Archtype cards for some inspiration in how to navigate the potential challenges that may arise this week following the election. The Bridge is the response. It’s a perfect gift of contemplation for these times.

For those needing some inspiration in how to tend to oneself, one’s child or perhaps one’s inner child, here is the article I shared from Susan Weber on how to see the world as good.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

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345 Samhain and the Change of Seasons with Jenny Mulak and Beth Carestia of The Goddess Party

Today I got to sit down with two of the Goddesses from The Goddess Party, Jenny Mulak and Beth Carestia. We talk about the turn of the seasons and what arises for us as we move through Autumn into the dark of Winter. Other topics on the show today, piercing the veil, Samhain meaning and rituals, Goddesses, Divine Feminine, ancestors, tarot and archetypes. Get your tickets for the next The Goddess Party performance on November 1st at Basillica Hudson before they’re gone…

Jenny Mulak is a healer, a problem solver, an herbalist, flower practitioner and energy worker, a writer, a recovering rule follower, and a curious student of spiritual teachings.  Jenny is the founder, alchemist and earth steward behind Cosmic Mother – a botanical skincare and herbal potions line – handcrafted with plants from her garden and local farms. She is delighted to make her home in Shokan, NY with her partner, Ariel, and their two rescue pups.

It is here that she recovered from her years of corporate life – where she was good at her job as a program manager, but never satisfied as she wasn’t even close to being aligned with her life’s purpose.  As she continues to strip away years of programming and societal and familial conditioning, the plants support her every step of the way.

Nature has been Jenny’s greatest teacher and healer.  She is passionate about sharing with others how living in harmony with the cycles of Nature can connect us back to ourselves and the embrace of the cosmos and Mother Earth.

Beth Carestia has been living in the Kingston area for over a decade and has come to love our sweet community. She’s a proud Rosendale Ukulele Group member and an O+ alum with The Goddess Party. Most recently she hosted the O+ Comedy show, a major personal highlight. Also know as a local Tarot Reader and an all around shenanigan having woman, she brings joy wherever she goes.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

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338 Rewilding the Masculine

Inspired by Sophie Strand’s The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, I meander through my own thoughts on the patriarchy, matriarchy, the feminine and the masculine. We receive two cards, The Castle and Gnosis, from Kim Kran’s Archetypes Guidebook and then talk about the moon and her magic.

Here’s your New Moon Report from Tanaaz at Forever Conscious.

And here’s the associated playlist.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

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332 Mary Evelyn Pritchard “The Holographic Home”

Mary Evelyn Pritchard is an artist and community weaver whose work focuses on creating sacred spaces and experiences.  In her business practice The Holographic Home, she works as a Feng Shui practitioner, interior designer and land worker.  In addition, she has been actively exploring the realms of feminine embodiment and eros through study and personal practice for the last 8 years, and more recently, has begun sharing opportunities to explore these topics with others.  She has a particular passion for facilitating community ritual as a pathway to individual and collective healing.

Today our conversation plays with notions of the feminine and what it means to embody all aspects of this divine energy. Mary Evelyn shares personally her journey into feminine embodiment when she was initiated by an ectopic pregnancy leading to a major surgery. Her recovery and reclaiming has seeded her with a deep wisdom and a passion for exploring and sharing the gifts of freedom that unfold from an embodiment of the feminine. She sees community ritual as being potent medicine for women who are healing and recovering their connection with the “dark feminine.” We learn about her evolution into the work she now offers in the spaces we reside and how this too is an offering of daily ritual into the places we call home.

She’s hosting a retreat in her sacred home space for feminine embodiment with her mentor and collaborator Whitney Ullom, Tending the Well, July 19-21. She has a few spaces open so if you are interested, be in touch soon!

You can connect with Mary Evelyn via her website or Instagram.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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329 The Politics of Language with Marielena Ferrer

Inspired by the thoughts and speakers in this Ted Radio Hour, Marielena Ferrer and I dig into the topic of language. Was the alphabet responsible for the demise of the Goddess? Are we resistant to language changes? Are language changes imposed upon us like Colonizers? Are they able to change culture? We meander through these questions and more today on the show!

And here’s the New Moon report for this month…

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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328 Margaret Bensfield Sullivan “Following the Sun” and Tami Lynn Kent “Wild Mothering”

In the first half of today’s show I am joined by Margaret Bensfield Sullivan, an author, illustrator, and family photo curator, whose work combines her personal passion for archiving with visual storytelling skills she honed over nearly two decades in brand marketing. Margaret was a partner at WPP’s marketing and branded content agency Group SJR, where she designed storytelling campaigns on behalf of clients like TED, Target, Disney, and USAID. She left corporate life to spend a year with her husband and two young children crisscrossing the globe, visiting 29 countries and six continents. She wrote about their adventures in Following the Sun: Tales (and Fails) From a Year Around the World With Our Kids (December 5, 2023).

Our conversation just skims the surface of the richness of her book where she details: what to consider when planning a trip like this, the pitfalls and pluses of traveling with kids, how to keep marital and family peace during a year of togetherness, and the transformative and lasting effects of time away from life’s daily routine. I love that Margaret concluded our conversation with the notion that you don’t actually have to travel the world to get the benefits from ditching the treadmill of the daily routine.

If you are interested in this type of experience for yourself and your family, in addition to getting Margaret’s book, she suggests finding a Worldschooler group on Facebook.

________________________________________________________________

In the second half of the show, I am joined by the one and only Tami Lynn Kent, a women’s health physical therapist and the founder of Holistic Pelvic CareTM where she utilizes her ability to read energetic patterns of the body to help women reconnect to their bodies and feminine. Tami maintains a private practice and an international training program in Portland, Oregon. She has authored three previous books. Her latest, Wild Mothering: Finding Power, Spirit, and Joy in Birth and a Creative Motherhood (Atria Books, May 7, 2024), is a newly updated edition of her classic, Mothering from Your Center.

I first learned of Tami’s work back in 2016 when my dear friend Neslihan lent me her book, Wild Feminine. It was a life changing read that helped me to understand some of my own conditioning and subconscious biases as well as take me down a road of deep healing and a reconnecting with my own feminine energy. Today, Tami shares about the importance of reconnecting both physically and energetically with the pelvic bowl. Beyond the healing that is possible for an individual, it’s an important collective act for reclaiming the energy of the feminine and re-establishing its value in an imbalanced patriarchal society. Tami’s idea of Wild Mothering is offering permission and possibility to do mothering and life differently, from a place not solely lead by the head, but supported and embraced by both an inner compassion as well as a greater connection to the creative resources that exist beyond ourselves. She believes that every woman at her center has a wealth of creative resources for mothering. These abundant resources can provide guidance, bring energy when it’s needed, and restore the mother-child connection. To tap into them, it’s essential for women to connect with the energy medicine in their female centers. Wild Mothering — allows women to move beyond stereotypes and create the type of mothering that both sustains their families and also feeds their mothering souls.

As a part of our conversation, she touches on the energetics of birth and the birth field, what the feminine means to her, what Wild Mothering means and how to embody it, and how all bodies have access to the healing medicine of the feminine.

“What Tami has created here is nothing short of a bible for us. Wild Mothering elevates mothering to its rightful place as the axis of culture, requiring proper due and respect and refusing to accept the invisibility and the unrecognized labor of mothers that is all too common.” Kimberly Ann Johnson

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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318 Martha Williams “BreakBread”

Today on the show I am joined by Martha Williams who has spent her life as a serial creative firebrand. She is an award winning filmmaker, writer, and choreographer, and kept the lights on with creative direction, video production, consulting, coaching and training. After 20 years of following her calling Martha realized that even though she was lucky (or crazy) enough to be making art she was still not making the difference she set out to make. While her art was activist in nature, squeezing out work in a world where people are choking on “content” and mindlessly consuming life, didn’t seem aligned with her greater mission to help communities reclaim and restore soulful connection to self, other and the world around them. This is when her work as a conversation activist began. Martha and her partner run Culture Shift Agency and BreakBread World, working to reweave our common humanity through the art of conversation and the power of soulful gathering.

Our conversation weaves through the meaning of conversation activism, how Martha found this work, the patriarchy, the embodiment of the masculine and the feminine and so much more.

BreakBread is hosting an Embodied Conversation Workshop at GWI on April 14th.

As mentioned, Engather is co-hosting a special happening this Friday, March 29th at ASK for creative connection and community. You can learn more here!

Here’s the Moon Report that inspired our moon chat.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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310 Imbolc, Archetypes and Writing

WOAH! Starting season 7!?!!!!!

Today’s show dives into the many benefits of handwriting. Hint: It clarifies thinking; improves understanding, memory, and application; and improves communication.

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/neuroscience-says-1-simple-habit-boosts-brain-connectivity-learning-memory.html

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/how-to-write-amazon-jeff-bezos-memos-meetings-clear-writing-clear-thinking-rule-of-writing.html

Then we pivot to a Imbolc/Candlemas discussion. If you’re local, you can join the Center for Symbolic Studies folks to celebrate this weekend.

I share from a favorite publication, We’Moon to expand the conversation on Imbolc.

In preparation for the Imbolc holiday, I pull three Archetype cards and discuss their meanings: The Ring, The Thread and Aletheia.

Inspired by a doc about the first ladies of hip hop, I play some music in their honor.

Finally, I conclude with my self-care diary. Still jogging, even if it’s super slow!

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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279 Juneteenth, New Moon, and Solstice Celebration

Today I celebrate Juneteenth by paying homage to the contributions of African Americans which have significantly impacted me, that being their music. There’s no greater medicine for me than music. I consume A LOT OF IT, so I am grateful to all of those who’ve enhanced my life, helped me through crisis, uplifted my spirit, and moved me to dance through their creative work. Here’s the playlist from today’s show.

In between songs, I share and speak about the recent New Moon and the upcoming Summer Solstice inspired by the work of Tanaaz and Kim Krans‘ archetype guidebook.

Here’s the New Moon info. Here’s the Solstice info. All from Tanaaz at Forever Conscious

And here’s that NPR article about the cusk eels who mate during the New Moon.

Here’s the info on Citizen Action’s campaign to end slavery in the NY penal system.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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275 “The Goddess Party”

Today is about The Goddess Party, a new project spearheaded from long time Hudson Valley musician Shana Falana in collaboration with Erica Quitzow and Sarah Perrotta. Featuring a choir of 30+ local singers, a rock band, and a willingness to interpret the likes of Kate Bush, Panda Bear, and PJ Harvey. “A cult worth joining.”

I am joined by Beth Carestia a member of the Choir like myself, and we hear from several of our co-creators by way of voice memo describing in some way what The Goddess Party means to them… magic, mystery, heart healing, collaboration, trust, creation, fun, true-self, singing, connection, the feminine, The Goddess…

We’re performing Friday at 7:30pm. Doors open at 6:30pm and the movie Midsommer will follow our performance. You can get tickets ($12-$15) via Opus 40.

The Goddess Party band is Erica Quitzow, Sarah Perrotta, Betsy Wright, Sarah Carlson, Shana Falana, Lysa Opfer and Jenn Anderson.

Here’s a link to the Rosendale Ukulele Group that Beth and I gush about. Another mental health activity for us.

Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.

Our show music is from Shana Falana!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

http://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcast

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