The Numinous Podcast (Carmen Spagnola)

In this free ranging conversation with artist, poet and playwright, Janet Rogers, I have an opportunity to learn about some of the iconic female artists who've inspired some of Janet's work.

We also talk about "feminism" as a concept and a word, and "reconciliation" as a concept and a word, and the notion of land-as-body.

We get down and dirty about land, reparations, equality and activism.

Also notable (for me, anyway), is how my privileged, possessive, white supremacist language which keeps slipping out – I can't seem to stop myself from referring to everything and everyone as "our", as in, the colonial "our". Ugh.

Anyway, I do my best. I receive feedback. I apologize. It still pains me to hear it, though. It's what I suppose they call a "teachable moment" and I appreciate Janet for pointing it out and for being patient.

Eden Robinson, mentioned by Janet in this interview, is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations and a prolific author.

You can follow Janet on Facebook and purchase her books online at Indigo. In this interview, Janet read from her newest work, Totem Poles and Railroads. Yes, I cried.

This week I'm talking with my friend, Carl-Greger L., and we're talking about the kundalini awakening he experienced during a reiki session that transformed his life, and how he integrates spirituality into his life as a consultant in the financial industry in northern Europe. His story is extraordinary and inspiring.

In this show, Carl-Greger shares one of his strategies for processing and integrating spiritual experiences: he writes everything down. He likes to use an app called Scrivener and I mention that I like Evernote.

If you enjoy the show, please remember to go back and give it a review in iTunes - that's how more seekers like you can find it! Just click the tab that says "View in iTunes" and it will automatically open your iTunes app to the show. Click on "Ratings and Reviews" and just underneath you'll see a tab that says "Write a Review". Thanks ever so much for taking the time to support the show!

We're going there this week on The Numinous Podcast: sex, spirituality, intuition and creativity with Registered Nurse and Certified Sexual Health Educator, Lesley Stedmon. How does our spiritual life influence our sex life and vice versa? How do we draw the line between being "good, giving and game" as a partner and not honouring our authentic self? How do we cultivate creativity and healthy sexuality in the course of busy, modern life?

In this episode, Lesley gets personal and shares what intuition feels like in her body. She also gives some great advice on "discrepancy of desire". To learn more about Lesley's work, visit her site thesensualsisterhood.com

What is the size and shape of the wound of absence? When she was 11 years old, Sheila Webster's mother died of cancer. With tender open-heartedness, Sheila shares her story of navigating her mother's death and the impact it had on her life as she became a woman and a mother. This show was created in response to a previous episode on the Mother Wound. Sheila commented that she couldn't really relate and I was intrigued.

I'm not sure I remember exactly how I met Sheila - I think she saw me speak at a conference and then booked an appointment with me. I know it was about four years ago and we've since woven in and out of each other's paths. When I think of Sheila, the word "alignment" comes to mind. She's one of those people you meet and instantly know she's a good, solid, dependable person with a strong moral compass. Considering her story, that seems quite a feat, no?

Are you ready for a deep dive into mystery schools, Druidry, the Kabbala, the Tree of Life, the Gnostics, and geomancy? What?? All in one conversation? YES! This conversation is an incredible treat.

Returning to The Numinous Podcast for the third time is my guest, John Michael Greer. He's a world-renowned authority on a million things, and today we're focusing on his excellent handbook, The Celtic Golden Dawn: An Original & Complete Curriculum of Druidic Study.

It is well worth your time to peruse John's Amazon author page, and try to grasp just how much research has gone into his life's work to this point. I own several volumes and I can tell you, there are not light reads. The are not superficial forays. These are reference libraries you can hold in your hand – the bibliographies alone, people. The bibliographies! Magical keys to unlock the knowledge of the ages, I tell you.

Read John's essays at ecosophia.net.

Today I'm speaking with Danielle Dulsky, author of Woman Most Wild: Three Keys for Liberating the Witch Within. Today, we’re focused on Daniells’ second book, The Holy Wild: A Heathen Bible for the Untamed Woman.

We talk about ancestral inheritance and its influence on our spellcraft, mothering as witchcraft, and we touch on the effects of whiteness, capitalism, and patriarchy on our spiritual practice. She also tells us some awesome stories about the Mother of Babylon and other dark goddesses. It’s a toothsome conversation and I found Danielle very relatable and I suspect you will too!

Be sure to check out her newest book, Seasons of Moon and Flame: The Wild Dreamer's Journey of Becoming, due out March 10, 2020.

In this conversation, Danielle mentioned The Atlantis Bookshop in London, and recommended the book The Witch of Portobello by Paul Coelho.

Check out all of Danielle's website for all of her excellent offerings including online courses, workshops and her Patreon page.

This special episode includes a 30 minute trancework exercise. I stack 4 different spiritual hygiene exercises, one after the other, to connect with earth, water, air and fire.

This episode is a complement to my Yuletide Stocking Stuffer program.

Inspiration for some of the techniques in this exercise come from: • Diane Poole Heller (Competent Protector terminology and trauma-informed pedagogy) • Philip Shepherd's Radical Wholeness work • Laura Day, intuitive coach • Dara Silverman and Amanda Ream, Somatics For White Racial Justice Organizers • The Strozzi Institute • generative somatics

And of course my nearly decade-long experience as a Clinical Hypnotherapist.

Hope you enjoy it and find something in there of use to you!

I'm so excited about this show! Alexis P. Morgan is an artist, activist, pan Germanic heathen, and sorceress.

In this episode we talk about cultural appropriation in spiritual practice, Alexis gives us a year's worth of witchcraft study references, and we learn what the heck a pan Germanic heathen is.

Here are the resources Alexis recommends:

If You Want to Be A Witch

Sarah Ann Lawless

Mastering Witchcraft

Evolutionary Witchcraft

Jailbreaking the Goddess

The Chaos Protocols

Starships

Jason Miller

Brianna Saucy

Josephine McCarthy

You can purchase candles, temporary tattoos and t-shirts from the Church of St Felicia through the online store.

Sarah Selecky is the author of This Cake Is for The Party, a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, arguably Canada's highest literary award. The New York Times called her stories "utterly fascinating".

Sarah is also the founder of the Sarah Selecky Writing School. I've always loved its tag line, Write what you want to read.

I have to say, though, that I'm quite taken aback that Sarahs new novel, Radiant Shimmering Light, is exactly what I want to read. I couldn't put it down! I devoured it in two sittings stopping only to sleep. I was absolutely taken in by the story, the characters, the details and the familiarity of this work. This world is so familiar to me that when the scenes weren't totally cracking me up, it was because they were making me really uncomfortable.

Radiant Shimmering Light is going to be found in the Womens Literature section of your local bookstore, what is often called ChickLit. For the past fifteen years I have read almost exclusively works of non-fiction. And I rarely wander the shelves of the bookstore looking for feel-good beach reads. But if you listen to this podcast, you need to buy this book. Sarah wrote this book for us. She gets us. She's one of us. She has written what we want to read, a story about us.

Find out all about Sarah's work at sarahselecky.com

Episode 9

The Numinous Podcast with Carmen Spagnola is a show about Intuition & Spirituality, featuring interesting conversations with everyday folks about the mystery of life. The Numinous School is a self-paced online intuition development program for people who want their self-awareness to make a difference in the world.

This week, my guest is my very own teacher, Dr.Jonni Gray.  After seeing Jonni as a client, I ended up training with her in past life regression. In this conversation, I ask Jonni about the role of meditation in her work, and we talk about the tendency of some spiritual paths to create a hierarchy of realms. Jonni gives her take on the nature of the spiritual realms based her her nearly three decades of experience as a spiritual counsellor and channeler.

Jonni has helped tens of thousands of individuals source the answers to their questions of purpose,  passion, deeper connection with self, others, work, Soul, and the Universe.  When describing her work to people, she says, "I'm not a shrink, but an expander."

You can expand along with Jonni with her wonderful meditation downloads. I'm telling you: she gives the best voice in the business!

She also tweets every morning and it's a great way to focus your alignment for the day. And of course Facebook is a great way to show your love or engage with Jonni if you enjoyed the show or have follow up questions.

Love in the Age of Ecological Apocalypse: Cultivating the Relationships We Need To Thrive is Carolyn Baker's most recent book and I'm so thrilled to talk to her about it in this episode of The Numinous Podcast.

In this episode, Carolyn talks about our fear of death, shares practical skills for communicating with a reluctant partner and children. She also helps us move through the feeling of schizophrenia that comes from trying to speak truth while living in an insane culture.

This week my guest is musical artist, Christopher Lloyd Clarke. Christopher is the creative spirit behind all of the music in The Numinous School. I listen to his mucis nearly every day in meditation and use it in sessions with clients. I was curious to know how he found himself creating music in this niche.

How do we cope with personal and public debt in an age of global markets and possible Econopocalypse? We're talking with international energy and finance analyst, Nicole Foss, about how we manage global financial insecurity at a personal level. How do we manage our personal finance, investments and real estate to secure our future when globalization makes us so vulnerable to systemic collapse? I'm asking Nicole to expand on financial concepts because she's such an intellectual force of nature. Here's just a sample of her background: Nicole ran the Agri-Energy Producers' Association of Ontario, where she has focused on farm-based biogas projects and grid connections for renewable energy. While living in the UK, she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level. She earned a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997. So, yeah, she's pretty well informed.

Today’s episode is especially dedicated to all the parents out there of tweens and teens who are exploring their gender identity. Paria Hassouri is a pediatrician, mother of three and writer whose work has appeared in the NY Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Huffington Post.  She and her family live in LA, where she practices pediatrics at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. And she’s the author of the book, Found In Transition: A Mother’s Evolution during her Child’s Gender Change, a very frank, sometimes painfully honest account of parenting a transgender teen. Paria chronicles what amounts to a dual transition: as her child transitions from male to female, she navigates through anger, denial, and grief to eventually arrive at acceptance. Blindsided by her child’s gender identity, Paria is also forced to examine how she still carries insecurities from her past of growing up as an Iranian-American immigrant in a predominantly white neighborhood. 

Follow Paria:

Maris Bergrune is a ritual animist, a spirit worker, a sound medium, and singer/musician. I’ve taken two of her programs - one on Norse animism and one on seidr mediumship and we’ll talk about them in detail today. Maris teaches skill development in intuitive perception, boundaries and discernment, and offers a very good foundation in animist ritual and relational practices with the Other Than Human worlds. She focuses on developing healthy relationships with spirits and ancestors and also on accessing self-sovereignty and voice.

As you’ll hear in this interview, her practice is characterized by this very clear intention to partner with only the most compassionate aspects of spirit. I find her approach very grounded and practical; and she’s clear that this approach is not a way to bypass the challenges of humanity but are rather offers ways to be deeply resourced while facing these challenges. 

Here's her website: https://livingvoicemedicine.com

Click here for her program, Gather at the Well: Norse Ritual Animism

Resources Mentioned:

Betsey Bergstrom

Tom Kenyon

Annette Höst

Seed of Yggdrasill, by Maria Kvilhaug

Tad Hargrave of Marketing for Hippies is a dear friend and trusted teacher, advisor and mentor of mine. If you like my style of marketing, you'll enjoy his work because he's probably had the strongest influence on my approach. I'm proud to count him as a friend and I'm delighted to finally capture one of our conversations.

In this episode, Tad brings up his views on "charging what you're worth" and I give a shout out to one of my all-time favourite of his hundreds of blog posts. He also mentions our mutual friend, Sufi business guru and all-round nice guy, Mark Silver.

Toi Smith is my guest today! Toi is a business and growth strategist, a writer and teacher.  She's also host of an online community called Business For The People for entrepreneurs, creatives, healers, and guides trying to do business differently. Toi also works with mothers who desire to return to themselves, and Black women who want more joy and pleasure.

toimarie.com

businessforthepeople.com

Sylvia Federici's books

Combahee River Collective Statement 

American Capitalism: A History (Cornell University podcast)

RAVEN Trust is the place where I give a percentage of my income every month if you're interested in helping support legal challenges to fight for Aboriginal Rights & Title in British Columbia.

Reciprocity Connects is where I've pledged to make payments to the local nations whose territories I live upon.

Graphic designer, Emrys Miller, has worked as an artistic director for both a yoga magazine and a skeptic magazine - what the??? How does he, and how do we, make sense of the world using both reason and intuition?

I mentioned our origin story last time Emrys was on the show. You might also find it interesting to know that Emrys is the father of twin girls just entering their teen years. (Each, in my opinion, is a genius in her own way.) Emrys and his family usually spend an extended vacation every summer at an ashram in the interior of British Columbia. Cool, right? Also perhaps a little unexpected.

Required reading for this podcast: Anomalous Events That Can Shake One's Skepticism to the Core by Michael Shermer.

And I simply can't recommend the book by Barbara Ehrenreich that I mention in the show highly enough. It's called Living With A Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search For The Truth About Everything and it was so deliciously exciting for me that when I read the last line, I slammed the book shut and literally squealed.

Also, take a look at Emrys' site www.rocketdayarts.com. If you're interested in humanism, check out the book he published, Voices of Humanism. It's an anthology of 35 articles by 15 humanists. My copy has a lot of underlines and dog ears.

Today I'm talking to my friend, Sarah Selecky, about the parallels between the writing and working with intuition. We also give metaphor the love it deserves.

Sarah is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States and grew up in Southern Indiana and Northern Ontario. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and her writing has appeared in the top Canadian magazines and quarterlies such as The Walrus, The New Quarterly, and The Journey Prize Anthology, among many others. This Cake Is for the Party is her first book, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book, and longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award.

She is also the creator of the groundbreaking online writing program, Story Is a State of Mind, and online writing school, The Story Intensive, which includes collaborations with Margaret Atwood, George Saunders, and others. She divides her time between Toronto and the rest of the world. You can find Sarah at www.sarahselecky.com and on Twitter @sarahselecky.

I am not a fiction writer but I want to be because of Sarah's course. It has made my speech writing better, my course writing better and my articulation better. It's a gift you should give yourself if you have to write for your work but you're "not a writer".  You're welcome.

I'm thrilled to welcome esteemed dreamwork practitioner, Toko-pa Turner to the podcast today! Although we live relatively close to each other and have several friends in common, this is our first ever conversation. I'm excited to have more of them because we just barely touched on the interests we share. I love how Toko-pa articulates her approach to investigating the personal unconscious and the work of being part of the collective.

Her new book, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home, is the jumping off point of our conversation. It leads us into an exploration of her Sufi upbringing, her perilous journey through the foster care system, acknowledging white privilege, elder wisdom, turning to face the Dark Dream, and how dreams can help lead us back to ourselves and each other.

Learn all about her dreamwork offerings on her website, toko-pa.com.

This week we're talking about the ritual of the vision quest with Sparrow Hart. For over 30 years, Sparrow has personally gone on vision quest every year and has led hundreds of people through their own wilderness rights of passage. I feel privileged to have been guided by Sparrow when I did my vision quest in the desert.

This is a truly rich conversation in which Sparrow gives so. many. resources. Not only has he written a beautiful ode to questing called Letters to the River: A Guide to a Dream Worth Living, he also mentions some of the books that were formative in the early years of his questing such as Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt, People of the Deer by Farley Mowatt, the work of Carlos Castadenda and Laurens van der Post.

I really can't recommend more highly a vision quest experience with Sparrow. Of all of my spiritual undertakings, these teachings were some of the most formative. If you are an ardent pursuer of the spiritual path and maker of your own myth, then a week with Sparrow will be a gift to your heart and a balm for your soul. Do it!

This week I'm talking with Josiah Neufeld, a Vancouver-based writer whose journalism, essays and short fiction have appeared in The Walrus, Hazlitt, The Globe and Mail, Prairie Fire, The Vancouver Sun, Geez Magazine, The Winnipeg Free Press, Rhubarb and elsewhere. Josiah grew up in West Africa, the son of Mennonite missionaries.

In this episode, Josiah shares his story and what he values most about the cultures that shaped his spiritual path.

In this episode, Josiah mentioned Malidoma Patrice Somé's work including his book Ritual: Power, Healing and Community. He also noted the Five Pillars of Islam when discussing spiritual practices.

This conversation leads us gently into usually rather barbed territory - colonialism, evangelism, and such - but I think you'll enjoy Josiah's thoughtful nature and the warm-hearted way he is integrating many cultures, practices and patterns into his own personal spirituality.

This is a delightful and animated conversation between two people who are, in many ways, kindred spirits.

Nina Hirlaender is the founder of Dancing Spirit Tours, a company that leads sacred pilgrimage trips throughout Europe. Nina has a kind of breathless passion for mysticism that, honestly, is quite contagious.

Today we're talking about some of the indigenous spiritual practices of Indo-European cultures such as Celtic shamanism. Nina shares her surprising journey from her Celtic roots to her passion for Catholic mysticism.

Once again, the term "pan-Germanic" comes up again on the podcast. It's lovely to hear Nina share her stories of growing up with her grandmother in her native Austria, learning about the nature spirits and faeries. And hedgehogs! So magical!

Nina experienced her spiritual initiation after her cancer diagnosis and recovery. Hearing about her journey is both harrowing and inspiring.

And of course, we can't have a good conversation about Catholic mysticism without talking about some of our heroes including Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, and Mary Magdalene, and some of its sacred places like Chartres Cathedral. I was also very compelled by Nina's reminder of the Marian/Goddess tradition within Catholicism.

(A book I highly recommend if you're interested in Mary Magdalene is The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity by Cynthia Bourgeault)

It was a pleasure to talk to someone who, like me, loves grief and declares it ecstatically like a true mystic.

Mailbag time! I'm always getting questions about how to trust one's intuition more and in this episode, I get ranty about it. This is part one of a 3-part series in which I respond to questions submitted by students of The Numinous School of Intuition, my online intuition development course.

When was the last time you spoke with a Mayanist? When did you last have a conversation where someone dropped the term "terra nullius"? Let's talk about the Mayan calendar glyphs and the New Agers – what's up with all that?

Juliana does forensic science for Operation ID, a project that excavates bodies of migrants who've died in the desert trying to cross the Mexico-US border and help identify them so their families can know what happened to their loved ones.

I found this topic extremely difficult to hear so, trigger warning...This is mature content: rape, murder, genocide. We're talking about a harrowing humanitarian crisis.

This is an interesting conversation about colonialism in academia, cultural appropriation in personal spiritual practices, the trauma of the Inquisition carried by white people (especially women), along with some super interesting stories about entheogenic spiritual experiences.

An excellent essay – truly a seminal piece of work – that Juliana led me to is called Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor by Eve Tuck and K.Wayne Yang. It should be required reading for settlers trying to understand what decolonization really means.

Ever wonder who created the art in your favourite oracle deck? I did. So I did some sleuthing and tracked her down. And now we're friends! It's like a superfan fairy tale. Jena DellaGrottaglia-Maldonado is the artist who created the imagery for one of my all-time favourite decks, The Enchanted Map, by internationally acclaimed intuition expert, Colette Baron-Reid. She has also collaborated with Baron-Reid on Wisdom of the Hidden Realms as well as P.C. Cast's The House of Night. You can find her portfolio online and follow her  on Facebook at The Art of Autumns Goddess. Her FB page is also where you can enjoy the results of the duelling Muses with Tracye Shearin as mentioned in the interview and she also posts her playlist at times. In this episode, Jena takes us into her process for the making of an oracle card deck.

In this episode we are joined by Scott Richardson-Reed author of the popular blog, the Cailleach’s Herbarium, where he writes about Scottish Folk Magic, witchcraft, folklore and herbalism.

I’ve followed Scott's blog for a few years now and have thoroughly enjoyed the depth of research and frank discourse he brings to topics like cultural and spiritual appropriation, reclaiming or reimagining ancestral practices and animism in Scottish myth. I'm thrilled for this opportunity to dive deeper into his excellent series, The Good, The Dead and the Faery: Scottish Folk Magic And The Dead.

I’m delighted to share with you a long awaited conversation – long awaited by me anyway – with Scott Richardson-Reed, the conversation in which I learn that…I have an accent! Who knew? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Links to topics in this conversation: Tales of the Taibhsear concept album- limited edition on sale now!

skyrie stones - "colourful stones" divination

Amanda Edmiston, Botanica Fabula Storytelling

Debbie Armour, Burd Ellen music

Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Saining Not Smudging: Purification and Lustration in Scottish Folk Magic Practice

Our guest for today's show is Robin Arnold, founder of Locate Your Soulmate.  When it comes to life, Robin has a simple philosophy: Love wide; be positive, generous and kind. Believe in angels.

As the creator of Love School, which launches Sept 2014, she’s changing the way people think about Matchmaking. Rather than doing the searching for her clients, she’s teaching them simple and effective ways to do it themselves. Robin is excited to show people that everyone comes into your life for a reason and the journey of searching for your Soulmate can be just as joyful as finding them.

When she’s not Love Coaching, Robin is treasuring time spent with her husband & soulmate and their two beautiful girls. She expects miracles to happen in her daily life and is living proof that they do.

In this episode, Robin shares the touching story of losing her twin brother, Reece, to a sudden heart attack when he was just 34 years old.

Within days of his passing, Reece appeared to Robin in angelic form. She talks about some of the experiences she's had with angels and guides ever since that fateful day.

As you might imagine, Robin's approach to helping her clients find true love was also dramatically influenced by her spiritual evolution. Keep up with her on her blog or Facebook page or get to know her on YouTube!

It makes sense that a very unique and special person would have a very unique and special upbringing. Today's guest, L'Erin Alta, is a soul guide, shadow diver, and spiritual teacher, and she gives a great interview because she's willing to go there right off the top.

It was inspiring for me to hear about the special village that raised her and also find connections between our histories – I also come from a small family and know nothing about my paternal ancestry. I also have had to reclaim lineage and walk the spiritual path in a very self-directed and intuitively guided way – a way that at times has been cocky and arrogant. In other words, a way that has been humbling.

One of the teachers L'Erin mentions in this interview is the recently deceased, Sonbonfu Somé.

Sign up for L'Erin's newsletter to learn more about workshops, retreats and one-on-one intensives at her website: sisterfire.com

Follow her on Facebook for insightful and provocative posts about the important things in life.

I’m delighted to share with you this vibrant, passionate and also at times very tender conversation I had with Danielle Prohom Olson of Gather. Danielle is a wildcrafter and herbalist, and Gather is her creative collaboration with Jennifer Aikman, where they teach, write, and host events dedicated to ancestral foods, magical cookery and seasonal celebrations.

Thousands of people around the world follow and appreciate their work through their website and newsletter, as well as their Patreon and Facebook accounts. But for me, what really comes through their work, is that Gather is about more than just events and recipes and articles.

Check out Danielle's essay, The Magical Herstory of Food.

In this third and final episode of my three part conversation with Michael, he tells me about leaving Berkeley and the Communist Party behind, finding himself teaching at a Quaker school in rural Canada, and coming to a place of belonging after decades of seeking, betrayal and resistance. 

My marketing crush, Carrie Klassen, shares the story of a heart-wrenching experience that occurred while she was volunteering at a shelter for abused girls and women in India.

I first came across Carrie's work some time around 2009. When she released her workbook, How To Write a Loveable Homepage, she became the go-to adviser that I recommend to any entrepreneur who feels icky when it comes to sales and marketing.

I'm so pleased to be speaking with Monique today about her new book, Speaking Our Truth: A Journey Of Reconciliation.

You can purchase all of Monique's books for children online at Orca Books.

Learn more about the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission here.

Read their 94 Calls to Action here.

Explore more youth titles by Indigenous Canadian authors.

This week's episode features my friend, Agneta, a Swedish executive leadership coach who, oh by the way, also studied shamanism with some of the most famous teachers alive. 

In this personal interview, Agneta shares what drew her to the shamanic path.  She also talks about the challenges of balancing her spiritual life with her corporate work. I love the end of this interview where she talks about being a catalyst - very inspiring for those who are trying to introduce spirituality in somewhat hostile atmospheres.

Some resources Agneta mentions include:

Psychosynthesis

Alberto Villoldo's Four Winds School (more of a South American tradition).

I've also heard good things about the Institute for Contemporary Shamanic Studies here in Canada.

I met Agneta when we were on a vision quest with Sparrow Hart of Circles of Air and Stone. He also shares medicine wheel teachings and several shamanic rituals.

Part 3 of 3: In this show, Carmen shares the story of her long, dark night of the soul from bankruptcy and welfare to re-emergence.

In this episode, we're talking with popular guest, John Michael Greer, about his book, The Secret of the Temple: Earth Energies, Sacred Geometry, and the Lost Keys of Freemasonry. He explains how ancient temples around the world and from different eras are actually forms of technology that affect agricultural fertility and bind human communities in a material way with the larger forces of nature. Our conversation tours history and humanity, stopping off to look at the Temple of Solomon, the Freemasons, and his take on the two shapes of time.

John also expands the function and importance of bread, blood, chanting and incense as related to temple technology.

Once again, a conversation that is both broad and deep.

Find all of John's 40+ books (!) here, and his essays here.

Let's talk about talking to plants. Like, really being in relationship with the plant realm. My guest today is Layla Kristy Feghali, of River Rose Apothecary. I was drawn to seek out Layla as a guest because of her beautifully soft, gentle, and sweet relationship with plants and in particular, one of my favourites, roses.

Holly is a psychotherapist and a lawyer, and what she calls a “collapsitarian” – she’s spent a long time tracking collapse from multiple perspectives and coalesced her observations into a framework she calls collapse psychology. You can get a sense of that framework by visiting collapse psychology.org Holly approached me in early 2017 and our relationship since then has blossomed into friendship both online and in physical presence, we’ve witnessed each other in grief and pain, but also had a chance to stay up late drinking and laughing. And whether we’re crying or laughing, the topic always somehow comes around to the collapse of empire and large scale convergent emergencies. Find out more about the Threshold community here. Learn about The Numinous Quest Online here.

Elaine Alec is a co-founder of Alderhill, an Indigenous-owned-and-led company of leading experts in the area of Indigenous Community Planning. She’s led comprehensive community planning and engagement processes, been a political advisor, and recently the bestselling author of Calling My Spirit Back which links a personal examination of her lived experience to a much broader overview of serious sociological concerns of national importance for people in Canada and beyond, along with tangible steps to address them. I also know that Elaine and her family share the same strong commitment to co-parenting and secure attachment in a blended family as I do, and I wanted to jam on that a bit. Content warning: Discussion of cultural genocide and the legacy of Indigenous residential institutions in Canada.

Learn more about Elaine and the book, Calling My Spirit Back, here.

Find out more about Alderhill for Indigenous community planning and engagement here.

Tending The Threshold is an event happening in Ashland, Oregon, on May 26 and 27th, 2018. Tickets can information can be found at tendingthethreshold.com

It is a gathering of Change-makers, Bridge builders and Edge Dwellers, with no agenda other than to practice being together, and to learn how to take care of each other and the world, in these challenging times.

The container at this un-conference will be held by a group of ten co-facilitators from three countries and many walks of life. The group includes:

Poet and spoken word artist, Tannur Ali Conflict Engagement and Resolution practitioner, Aftab Erfan Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Desiree Adaway Clinical Psychologist and Author, Bayo Akomolafe Social Entrepreneur, Donnie Maclurcan Artist and Death Doula, Rachael Rice Educator, facilitator and Indigenous rights activist, Aaron Ortega Videographer and artist, Bec Stupak Therapist, ritualist and conference founder, Holly Truhlar

And myself, Carmen Spagnola.

***

Donnie Maclurcan, PhD, is an author and social entrepreneur. He is passionate about all things not-for-profit. Originally from Australia, he moved to the U.S. in 2013, from where he runs the Post Growth Institute, exploring how we accelerate the shift to a thriving, prosperous society within ecological limits. As a consultant, Donnie has helped more than 400 not-for-profit projects start, scale and sustain their work, while his own initiatives include developing: Free Money Day, the Post Growth Alliance, the (En)Rich List, the Offers and Needs Market process, Cascades Hub, and Project Australia. Affiliate Professor of Social Science at Southern Oregon University, Donnie holds a Ph.D. in social science, with his research having explored nanotechnology’s implications for global inequality. He is currently completing his third book: How on Earth: Our future is not for profit.

https://www.postgrowth.org

My guest today is author, speaker and consultant, Monique Gary Smith. We're talking about Territorial Acknowledgements, a small act of Reconciliation that is spreading beyond the borders of our province and country.

When I committed a few years ago to incorporating acts of Reconciliation into my personal and professional life, I began inviting elders (of all ages) to open all of my retreats and workshops with a Territorial Acknowledgement. When I was invited to give a speech, or lead a networking event, or any kind of circle, I would also verbally acknowledged the traditional occupants of the territory, wherever I went. And if I travelled outside of my region to go on Quest or a spiritual retreat, I would reach out to the local band or tribal office to find out more about the land and the ancestors from that place. But I only learned how to do this because my friend, Monique, guided and re-directed me again and again.

In this episode, Monique shares some ideas for how any person wanting to incorporate this small act of Reconciliation into their life or work might begin in a good way.

MoniqueGraySmith.com

Truth And Reconciliation Commission Of Canada: 94 Calls To Action

Tending The Threshold is an event happening in Ashland, Oregon, on May 26 and 27th, 2018. Tickets can information can be found at tendingthethreshold.com

It is a gathering of Change-makers, Bridge builders and Edge Dwellers, with no agenda other than to practice being together, and to learn how to take care of each other and the world, in these challenging times.

The container at this un-conference will be held by a group of ten co-facilitators from three countries and many walks of life. The group includes:

Poet and spoken word artist, Tannur Ali Conflict Engagement and Resolution practitioner, Aftab Erfan Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Desiree Adaway Clinical Psychologist and Author, Bayo Akomolafe Social Entrepreneur, Donnie Maclurcan Artist and Death Doula, Rachael Rice Educator, facilitator and Indigenous rights activist, Aaron Ortega Videographer and artist, Bec Stupak Therapist, ritualist and conference founder, Holly Truhlar

And myself, Carmen Spagnola.

***

Tannur “Shewrightz” Ali is the emcee and story weaver for our conference. She's a poet, workshop facilitator and vessel of divine flow. She has been featured in every region of the country, as well as in Europe, stunning audiences with the insightful power of her words and voice. Tannur’s "Dancing Between Realms National Tour" visited 25 cities throughout the U.S. during 2016-17. The tour came on the heels of her winning the 2016 International Poetry Slam in Bled, Slovenia. A prolific writer and relationship-builder, Tannur uses her poetry and poetic spirit as a force for engaging creative energy and power, and as a rallying cry to build artistic and civic community.

https://www.shewrightz.com

***

https://tendingthethreshold.com

This is a gentle little episode. It's just a recording of me and my husband, Ruben, musing about appropriate rituals for the upcoming solar eclipse. The conversation meanders to ecological costs, the workers and the strangers, capitalism, extinction, co-parenting, the meaning of "shadow work", fine art in Paris, and how gleaning points to a way of living together that we each really value.

In the end, we do sort of come up with some ritual observances to mark the eclipse.

Things we mention:

John O'Donohue's Grace Before Meals

Daniel Quinn's essay, "The New Renaissance"

Kelly Diels' essay, There Is No Flawless Position (newsletter, August 20, 2017)

Agnès Vargas' film, "The Gleaners and I"

Jean-Francois Millet's painting of The Gleaners and also The Angelus (originally titled, Prayer For The Potato Crop)

My guest today is Becca Piastrelli, author of the new book, Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways To Connect To Land, Lineage, Community and the Self. It’s a charming, full colour, illustrated guide to fundamentals of creating connection with spirits of place and ancestors. I’d describe it as a fresh update on modern self-directed spirituality because it foregrounds how white feminism of the past and today has a tendency to appropriate spirituality from anywhere and everywhere. Becca’s book clearly aims to recognize white privilege, give credit, and walk humbly on the spiritual path.

Find out more about Root & Ritual here.

Find out more about Becca and her podcast, Belonging, here.

Find out more about Constellation work here.

This episode celebrates the poetry that touches our soul and moves us. Llynne Phillips is a poet and poetry fan and today she shares her favourites and helps us discern their meaning.

Thérèse Cator is a Spiritual Leadership Coach + Teacher, Shadow Alchemist, and Soul Artist and comes from a lineage of healers, spiritual teachers, intuitives, artists and activists. She was born in a country ruled by a dictator, her first language is French, and she's as comfortable working with Fortune 500 companies as she is teaching students in South Central LA or acting in Hollywood.

In other words: she's got some stories!

Today, we're talking about ancestry, grieving, life as ceremony, and she tells a harrowing story about being racially profiled and how that led to the liberation of her own Light.

Explore her world at theresecator.com

When she was 19, Shayla Logan was homeless and suffering from severe depression with suicidal tendencies. For six months, she lived on the street while working her way through the court system to take control of her life. A near-death experience changed everything.

Lindsay Rose is a Reiki Master and intuition development teacher who has experienced more than her fair share of loss and tragedy in her life. In this episode, Lindsay shares the intimate story of her healing journey along with a host of techniques and tools that helped her cope when the sadness, pain and anxiety was overwhelming. This is an excellent episode for anyone who's struggling with the pain of death, a break-up or any form of abandonment.

Learn more about Lindsay Rose at her website or on her blog.

Find out about Love School at Locate Your Soulmate.

Today I'm talking to my girl, Jessie Hemphill, and we're having a warm and wonderful conversation. It's like we're all sitting down for tea and Jessie's telling us stories about growing up Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxd'axw and Métis in rural coastal Canada while passing for white.

We hear a bit about 'Nakwaxd'axw mythology, what her Indigenous name means, how she became a politician, and what it means to do urban planning using culturally-based Indigenous planning processes.

Finally, I tell the story of how I became infatuated with met Jessie and she changed the course of my life with some magic words. Then we dish about our unhealthy ways of coping with grief and rage. In the end, it's abundantly clear how much we love each other and this whole show is just a meeting of our mutual appreciation society.

You should definitely learn more about Jessie and recommend her company to any community that is looking for a facilitator who can sit in the truth and hold space in the heart of the matter.

I'm thrilled to welcome to the show Nicholas Pearson, author of several books including, Crystal Basics: The Energetic, Healing, and Spiritual Power of 200 Gemstones. Nicholas studied mineral science in university and worked for several years at a museum featuring the largest mineral collection in the southwestern US. In this episode, Nick explains the science of why and how crystals work including concepts like entrainment, amplification and coherence. 

Check out his website and links here:

www.theluminouspearl.com www.linktr.ee/theluminouspearl www.facebook.com/TheLuminousPearl www.Instagram.com/theluminouspearl

John Michael Greer is the current Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, a longtime Golden Dawn initiate and scholar of the Western Mystery Traditions. He is the author of numerous book on a wide range of subjects including peak oil and the decline of industrial societies. He also has two popular blogs, The Archdruid Report and The Well of Galabes.

In this episode, we talk about two of the lessons from John's seminal book, Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth, The Law of Flow and The Law of Limits.

John mentions his admiration of the toaists in this show, and recommends reading Lao-Tzu if you're interested in exploring further. He also cites Aldo Loepold and Henry David Thoreau as influences.

Welcome back to the show for the sixth time, peak oil expert and author, John Michael Greer. In this episode, we're celebrating the tenth anniversary of John's seminal book, The Long Descent: A User's Guide To The End Of The Industrial Age. 

John explains the concept of Catabolic Collapse, why apocalypse scenarios are problematic and the hopium of political will and green utopias just as much so. I ask him about useful viable professions in collapse scenarios and how to choose where to live. Finally, John gives us three steps for personal preparation to face the deindustrial age.

Read the full article: Peak Oil Advice From German Poets

Hey, what do you think of my website design? I really love it - it's a beautifully executed interpretation of my vision and it makes me feel good. The magic design fairy that makes it possible is Brooke Semple, the smart cookie behind the boutique agency, Seesaw Design.

With her degree in art history and contemplative approach to visual design, Brooke is one of my favourite collaborators and sounding boards when I'm moving through my creative process. (Can you tell she inspires me endlessly?)

Check out her work and follow her on Instagram and her monthly Field Notes.

Today I’m speaking with British Columbia record-breaking pumpkin grower, Dave Chan. Dave has grown the heaviest pumpkin in BC’s history at 1,911 pounds! Dave has been growing for many years and finally achieved his dream and I’m thrilled to have him on the show today to share all his secrets. Stay tuned for a Rubenation at the end.

GiantPumpkinsBC.com (to see Dave's pumpkin!)

BigPumpkins.com

The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth

Master Carver, Scott Cully, who appeared on the Johnny Carson Show in 1985, inspiring Dave's lifelong passion for pumpkins

I’m speaking with Celtic studies and Gaelic scholar, Michael Newton. He’s a researcher and teacher with a history of recovering and interpreting original sources of Scottish Highland language, literature and tradition. He’s written multiple books and even produced and performed on an album of songs in Gaelic, and that’s how I discovered Michael’s work on my journey to learn to sing Gaelic laments and blessings, and learning about the tradition of keening, (which is a thing I do on certain occasions).

Michael has a folk school called The Hidden Glen where he offers online courses on topics in Gaelic culture and folklore. I’ve taken two of the courses: Reclaiming the Roots (6 classes, new intake January 2020) is about deepening the understanding of Scottish Highland heritage during the era of the clan systems and the importance of the relationship to land and relationships with the more-than-human world. 

Stories of Scottish Highland Immigration is about the experience of Gaels in the New World as told by Gaels themselves – we learn about the complex reasons for mass migration through their songs and remnants of the Gaelic bardic tradition.

And a new course in 2020 I’m excited to be taking is called Radicalizing The Roots: Deconstructing Whiteness Through Gaelic lenses and Decolonizing Scottish Heritage. This one feels like a natural extension if you're doing social justice or ancestral reclamation and healing work. (6 classes, new intake January 2020) Resources for deeper inquiry: Decolonization Is For Everyone, Especially White People (Part 1)

Decolonization Is For Everyone, Especially White People (Part 2)

Decolonization Is For Everyone, Especially White People (Part 3)

Books: Warriors Of The Word: The World Of the Scottish Highlanders (Kindle)

Seanchaidh na Coille: Memory-Keeper Of The Forest: An Anthology of Scottish-Gaelic Literature of Canada

A Handbook Of The Scottish Gaelic World

Papers: Academia.edu

Michael's Patreon Page

Our guest for this episode is Trinity Donnelly MacRae, founder of Divinely Inspired. 

On today's show, we're celebrating Trinity's 17 years sober and we talk about the role of spirituality in addiction recovery. We touch on what it's like being "out" in recovery, and the importance of finding our tribe.

Recovering addict turned Gratitudaholic, Trinity dreams of living each day in an uplifting way. Her mission is to spread the love - one positive message at a time. The cure for stinkin’ thinkin’? Notes to self, she says. Posted everywhere! And a whole lotta help from your friends. When not designing products for her line of inspirational giftware, Trinity can be found hanging out with her 8  year old guru. Join Trinity on the Divinely Inspired journey and watch your attitude of gratitude grow!

To direct some of that divine love your way, Like her Facebook page and sign up for her email list!

Sharon Ross, aka Afrovivalist, is an African American woman, huntress and survivalist in America here to teach city folks how to prepare for any and all emergencies – not just coronavirus but any natural or human-made disaster. I think you can hear in my voice in this episode that I've got fan fever.

Her online retreat, DeCamp Outdoors, is happening August 21-23. You'll learn how to prepare for the second wave of COVID-19 and beyond. Hunting, soapmaking, ham radio operation – learn from experienced guides in the field.

What does Sharon say in brief about the second wave?

1) Get your water sorted out 2) Food stores 3) Shelter in place improvements 4) Get a food dehydrator!

Go follow @afrovivalist on Instagram and Facebook, and get your ticket to DeCamp Outdoors – I'll see you there!

Note: This show is rated E for "explicit". Cover the young ones' ears. We are using our grown up words for this topic, people!

This season of the podcast is brought to you by the Threshold community. We look forward to welcoming Sharon as a Guest Guide in September! 

I'm so pleased to welcome to the podcast, Aftab Erfan, Director of Dialogue and Conflict Engagement at the University of British Columbia.

Aftab is an experienced facilitator and longtime trainer of the Lewis Method of Deep Democracy.

When you watch the video clips at the top of the DeepDemocracy.ca website, you can see me standing behind her business partner and co-facilitator, Sera, who is speaking animatedly. She's "amplifying" Jeremy - one of the tools used in this facilitation method to quickly get to the heart of a matter. My face is cropped, I'm wearing a white blouse, hands in pockets. My posture pretty much says everything about what I think of "hope" in the context of the Is Hope Bullshit? Civic Dialogue they convened. My feelings about hope have evolved a bit since then. It was a life-changing day. Myrna Lewis, (co-developer of the Lewis Method), is just to the left of screen wearing taupe, hand on her necklace.

The book Aftab references in this episode is called Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair by Sarah Schulman. Sounds like essential reading.

Along with Jessie Hemphill (my guest on TNP65), Aftab co-facilitated a Civic Dialogue I convened in my hometown called Yes, I'm Privileged. Now What? I received a lot of feedback from that event, all of it positive. Since then, I've seen it galvanize members of my community around social justice in a way they didn't before. Many have told me it was the experience they needed in order to show up and speak up and put their privilege to work on behalf of marginalized populations.

If your organization has the funding and desire to tackle hard topics in order to move forward together, you should definitely reach out to her.

Taraneh Erfan King is a registered counsellor with a specialty in expressive arts and a broad background in psychology, body-centered practices, and mysticism, including her hereditary lineage of Sufism. Born in Iran, she immigrated to Canada as a child with her family, and has lived and worked in several parts of the world including Guyana, France, Switzerland, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka. Her book, Conscious Grieving: The Path of Awakening Through Loss, is a compassionate companion for all grievers and a source for poetry and prayers you'll return to again and again.

Visit Taraneh's website mindonspirit.com for more information about her programs and services, and find her book online at major outlets as well as your favourite independent booksellers. Follow her on Instagram @mindonspirit

Check out The Numinous Network for all my current offerings.

I'm so excited for this week's episode because my guest is someone who inspires me weekly with her insight and thought leadership on topics as varied as entrepreneurship, gender, creativity and social change. Lauren Bacon is a seasoned tech entrepreneur and author who asks a lot of questions. I highly recommend you sign up for her newsletter and get her e-book, "Curious for a Living: How Asking Better Questions Makes You Indispensable" - it worked for me!

Today we're talking about a subject I've been working with and thinking a lot about lately, Imposter Syndrome.

In this show, Lauren references some excellent resources including another thought leader in this arena, Tara Sophia Mohr. I've enjoyed her blog posts for over a year now. I especially loved her post about personal branding being "bullshit". Yes! I mention another post that really resonated with me about common ways that women undermine their own authority. Always provocative and substantial.

When Lauren talks about the "power pose" and research about how embodiment can affect performance, she's referring to this wonder woman here, Amy Cuddy.

If I were you, I'd start following Lauren and her work. She's up to some very cool stuff and I feel like her weekly Curiosity Experiments always seem to give me a new way to think about something I'm dealing with or working on. Find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Bees! Some of my favourite beings! I'm so excited to give sacred beekeeping some airtime on the podcast today. My guest is Nikiah Seeds – another of my favourite beings! – who is a priestess, shamanic practitioner, and ceremonialist.

As a teacher at the College of the Melissae - Centre for Sacred Beekeeping, Nikiah has a tremendous amount of technical and spiritual knowledge about bees.

In this episode, Nikiah recommends we check out the book, The Honey Trail: In Pursuit of Liquid Gold and Vanishing Bees, to learn more about sustainable beekeeping.

I would also like to recommend you check out Nikiah's book, Moon Mysteries, co-created with Nao Sims and Eyan Myers, if you're interested in learning more about connecting lunar rhythms with your menstrual cycle. I really enjoyed that book.

Nikiah also leads drum-making workshops. I've personally experienced it and can attest to the specialness and wealth of spiritual teachings that Nikiah so generously provides. Gather a group of women together and bring her to your town if you can.

***

Footnotes:

To learn more about Boudicca, start here.

Learn more about the excavation of the bee priestess on Crete here.

Stephanie Papik is an indigenous Inuit woman, experienced facilitator and program manager, current Director of Indigenous Relations and stakeholder Engagement for a division of the government of British columbia, as well as fibre artist and entrepreneur.

What strikes many people upon first meeting Stephanie, probably second after her big warm smile, are her beautiful facial tattoos.

I was so pleased she agreed to come on the show and talk about what these tattoos mean to her and to her Inuit culture.

Check out the show notes at carmenspagnola.com for links to all the resources mentioned in this episode.

In this final episode, I talk more about the spiritual void underpinning the abandonment wound.

I also provide a framework and suggested exercises that clinical hypnotherapists and other healing practitioners might use to support clients in their journey from abandonment to healing. This framework is based on Susan Anderson's model of the Five Stages of Abandonment.

Here's what I'm addressing in this, the last in a 3-part series of answering your questions:

#1. What does it mean when you see number sequences repeating everywhere?

#2. What am I doing wrong when I ask my oracle deck a question and the answer is totally unrelated?

#3. Is it normal to suddenly be tearful when I receive a vision or message?

#4. What's your #1 tip for your students about intuitive development? 

In this episode, I'm thrilled to talk with Matthew Remski about how one finds oneself in a cult, how to get out, and what high demand groups have to do with social justice, climate change and collapse. Matthew is a writer and cultural critic who published an explosive article in The Walrus called, Yoga's Culture Of Sexual Abuse: Nine Women Tell Their Stories.

Since then, I've followed Matthew and especially appreciated his real-time critique of the unravelling of the Shambala meditation community. Resources cited in this episode include:

Alexandra Mann, Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment In cults And Totalitarian Systems

Dr.Cathleen Mann

Steven Hassan

Dr.Michael Langone

This Is Not your Practice Life

Rachael Rice is an artist, teacher, musician, truth-teller, and whistle-blower amongst many, many other things. In this intimate conversation, we talk about the death of her mother and how it affected her creativity, her spiritual growth and her journey of recovery.

Rachael was 22 when her mother died, and her mom was 49.

Learn more about Rachael here.

Purchase her original art here, and in her Etsy shop and more cool items on Society6.

Listen to our conversation (including Marybeth Bonfiglio!) on Confronting Whiteness here.

Find out more about the 12 Step approach here.

Learn more about the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach here.

Rachael mentioned Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, too.

Check out Stephen Jenkinson's book Die Wise and Rachael's mom's favourite book on death, Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living And Conscious Dying by Stephen and Ondrea Levine.

Welcome back to my very special guest, Michael Phillips! In this week's episode, Michael tells about his upbringing as a Communist in 1940s America, followed by the Beat Movement in the '50's and attending UC Berkeley in the '60's.

My previous interview with Michael was called "Grieving Susan + Civilization". 

Enjoy!

This special episode is a recording of an hour-long keynote address I gave in the fall of 2016. The title of the talk is, "Learning To See In The Dark: Reclaiming Our Power, Transforming Our World".

It's a deep dive into the Dark Woman archetype, how she shows up in our lives, why she is so feared and what her purpose is in transforming our lives and our world.

For further reading:

Charlene Spretnak

Jean Shinoda Bolen

Demetra George

Caroline Casey

Carol Leonard & Elizabeth Davis

Peggy Reeves Sanday

Marije Gimbutas

My guest today is gardener, landscape designer, teacher of permaculture, and business owner, Solara Goldwynn of Hatchet & Seed.

Known for bringing lush, edible landscapes to forgotten private corners and under-used public spaces, Solara is not only a champion of sustainable values but I consider her a strong role model. But I also know that folks who live with such conviction also shoulder more emotional burden than most; I wanted to know how she copes with her own eco-grief and climate anxiety.

We talk about her work, what she thinks the future of the planet will look like when her daughter grows up, reconciling with having children in an age of overpopulation, and how she seeks joy in spite of these dire times.

For eco-inspiration, follow Solara and Hatchet & Seed on Instagram.

Trusting your pendulum: this week I seek advice from a veteran spiritual bookstore owner and also give three tips for getting more accurate information from this practical and useful tool.

The book I suggest in this episode is called The Pendulum Bridge to Infinite Knowing by Dale W. Olson. He also has pendulum chart books.

Yes, Monsters. Today's topic is on the fringe of the mainstream which is ironic considering so many people have ghost stories and tales of strange and bewildering encounters with mysterious phenomena. I'm speaking again with John Michael Greer, digging a little deeper into his best selling book, Monsters: An Investigator's Guide To Magical Beings.

Once again, John goes above and beyond to provide additional resources and source materials:

The Mothman Prophecies

Michelle Belanger - psychic vampire

The Doctrine And Ritual Of High Magic: A New Translation, by John Michael Greer and Mark Anthony Mikituk

The Secret Commonwealth: An Essay On The Nature And Actions Of The Subterranean (And For The Most Part) Invisible People Heretofore Going Under The Name Of Elves, Fauns And Fairies

The Kybalion, by William Walker Atkinson

I have been thinking about shame for a couple of years now. Mostly, I have socially unacceptable thoughts about it.

But since reading Jennifer Jacquet's book, Is Shame Necessary? New Uses For An Old Tool, I have been both relieved and emboldened.

So I'm releasing my shame around championing shame.

I'm thrilled to welcome Jennifer to the show to expand on her ideas around effective uses of shame when dealing with large-scale cooperation dilemmas like climate change, over-fishing, and racism.

In this episode, Jennifer mentions high profile examples like Justine Sacco whose life was ruined by a single tweet, and Walter Palmer, the dentist who shot Cecil the Lion.

She also makes a distinction between shaming corporations versus individuals. As such, it is a form of punishment that scales well.

If you would like to see the tour de force example of the public shaming of the Dow Chemical Company by The Yes Men, here is the video. The response is detailed in this video.

Here's the manel-shaming featuring David Hasselhoff, plus the article that did the math on statistical proof of sexism with regard to the issue.

In the Rubenation segment, Ruben mentioned our friend, J.B.MacKinnon and his excellent book, The Once And Future World. If you love the planet, you should read it.

This interview goes well with episode TNP67: Confronting Whiteness with Rachael Rice and Marybeth Bonfiglio.

Check out more of Jennifer's work at jenniferjacquet.com

Let’s talk about the connection between “conscious marketing” and Pick Up Artist culture, shall we? You may be surprised to discover that there’s actually quite a clear and direct connection. If you’re an entrepreneur in the personal development or spiritual space, this episode is for you. If you’ve ever been had by a Pick Up Artist (PUA), a narcissist, or experienced buyer’s remorse after a major purchase that involved a charismatic salesperson or coach, this episode is for you.

Kelly Diels is a writer and feminist marketing consultant who has articulated a severely problematic phenomenon she’s named the Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand, (FLEB), the effects of which can be seen all around us.

FLEB is basically this: a marketing approach leading with beauty, wealth and privilege, constructed as empowerment. In other words, empowerment – which is supposed to be a collective experience of liberation – is presented as an individual experience of wealth and privilege.

In business, spirituality, politics, parenting, and beyond, the FLEB effect is pervasive and harmful. But we can stop supporting it and stop perpetuating it if we know what to look for.

This episode is meant to educate and inoculate.

Read Kelly’s essays on the FLEB and sign up for her newsletter for weekly evolution.

If you’re seeking to transform the way you do business, consider joining Kelly’s Facebook group, How To Sell To Women Without Selling Them Out.

The book Kelly mentions – a big favourite on the podcast – is Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

I'm thrilled to introduce you to a Friend, elder and spiritual mentor, Shakti Earleen Roumagoux. She grew up Catholic and attended Jesuit university. She spent 20 years following the Hindu tradition and for the past few years she's been a staff member at Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist community, Plum Village in France. In this conversation we touch on mindfulness, sensing energy and the challenges of spiritual seeking.

How do you teach your child about intuition and staying connected to their inner wisdom? What if your child really doesn't want to listen? What do you do if you get a bad feeling about one of your child's friends? My guest this week is conscious parenting expert, Colleen Adrian. We're talking about control, power dynamics, and messy bedrooms from a spiritual perspective!

In this episode, Colleen mentions two great resources that I heartily endorse as well:

Marshall Rosenberg's system of Non-Violent Communication (also known as Compassionate Communication). To download the "Feelings and Needs" list, check out my colleague Rachelle Lamb's website.

Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behaviour by David R. Hawkins is a classic in the self-help genre because of its groundbreaking perspective on applied kinesiology, consciousness and energy dynamics.

Today on the podcast I’m speaking with Sewit who goes by the English name, Thomas Jones. Sewit is a scholar of linguistics and I had the opportunity to learn alongside him at a language revitalization workshop called Where Are Your Keys.

As I mentioned in the previous episode, WAYK is a comprehensive method for revitalizing endangered languages and skills. It uses games, tricks and sign language to essentially “hack” second language learning. It was develop by an American fellow named Evan Gardner as a response to the imminent crisis of language loss that so many indigenous communities across North America are facing as elders and conversant speakers die and forget and culture slips away.

In this episode, Sewit introduces me to the concept of "the borrowed child" as a form of intergenerational connection, a concept I personally find fascinating coming from more of a "latch key kid" kind of upbringing.

He also tells a beautiful origin story from the Snuneymuxw people and shares his thoughts on communal living.

Sewit also mentions two other language learning resources you might want to check out if you're interested:

Chief Atahm

Total Physical Response (TPR)

There is a real urgency to language revitalization because the fluent speakers are dying. Sewit is one of only a small number of latent speakers Snuneymuxw. In the past four years, of the ten fluent speakers he could go to for teaching, six have died.

Sewit does voiceover work and you can hear him speaking hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ in the show, Warrior Games.

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

First Peoples' Language Map of B.C. American Indian Language Development Institute Endangered Language Fund

I'm not gonna lie. This one's a doozy. In this episode of the podcast, I am the guest and I say the F word and several other swear words, a lot.

The full-length version of this conversation was published in video form as part of Rachael Rice's series, Confronting Whiteness.

I met Rachael and Marybeth online and we became familiar with each other's work through Facebook conversations. It was evident to me from the beginning that these are women who know what time it is (#revolutiontime). If you're on Insta, you should definitely follow them.

In this conversation, I tell the story of The Racist Dinner Party and I rant about white fragility in Well-intentioned White Women Sisterhood spaces.

I make the case for developing a more mature and nuanced relationship with shame and honour, and I implore white women to become more resilient when it comes to racial conversations.

Here are the excellent resources cited in this episode:

The Roots Of Addiction In Free Market Society

Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor

The Bluest I Blog by Michelle R Smith

Is Shame Necessary?: New Uses For An Old Tool by Jennifer Jacquet

Sarah Kerr is a death doula and ritual healing practitioner. She work with dying people and their families, as well as families navigating the death of a pet, and also lectures and teaches about death care and the healing power of ritual. Sarah perviously appeared on the podcast in episode 98: Priestess, Shaman, Mystic Scapegoat.

The most incredible thing happened during the taping of this episode. Precisely what I was asking Sarah advice around happened...to her. This episode is dedicated to Sarah's deceased cat, Luna, and all those who are suffering grief over the death of a beloved animal, or tree friend, or natural landscape. Sarah generously wrote about her experience on her blog.

In this episode, we talk about the nuts and bolts of dying well, (are there things you should or shouldn't say to a dying person?), being a death doula (how do you manage your energy being in such intense environments?), and ways to honour the death of animals and trees.

Lindsay Tunkl is an artist and the author of "Origins & Endings: Seeing Yourself Through the Apocalypse". It's a divination deck and self-reflection inkblot kit that helps us grapple with the most pressing questions of our time. In this conversation, we explore the intersections of art, healing, therapy, intuition, fear, collectivism, divination, and living in choice during apocalypse times.

Find the Origins & Endings Divination Book and Card Deck here.

See some of Lindsay's artwork here including some of the PreApocalypse Counselling installation here.

Connect with Lindsay for coaching at intothedeepcoaching.com.

Follow Lindsay on Instagram to learn more about her magic and Tarot work, as well as her current adventures.

Holy moly! One hundred episodes. I am indulging quite a bit with this episode; I offer you nothing new here except some tasty cocktail recipes. The recording quality here may be unrefined but the beverage pairings are exquisite!

This is me and Ruben reminiscing, sharing some of our favourite episodes from a behind-the-scenes perspective and pairing them with cocktail recipes inspired by the guest or interview content. In this episode, we refer to our upcoming workshop at Hollyhock, Ritual + Practice For The Urban Homestead. We hadn't planned to promote that retreat so much but the topics in several of our favourite episodes are quite complementary so it makes sense that we'd naturally bring that up. Maybe we'll connect with some listeners there in real life!

Pashta MaryMoon is a death doula, a Wiccan, a Quaker, and a longtime fan of Jesus. In fact, before we get to our conversation on death and dying, Pashta gives us a revealing tour of her early spirituality – a syncretic blend of earthy paganism, deep devotional relationship with Jesus as brother/lover/son, kinship with Mary Magdalene, and Wiccan god/goddess themes. To say she's a singular presence is understatement.

Pashta has been a compassionate radical her whole life. She is a longtime grassroots organizer including anti-nuclear activism in the '80s, and frontline support worker during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the '90s, with a current focus on death care alternatives in Canada.

Buckle up for a wild conversation that explores the highs and lows of spiritual self-help, addiction, parenting, trauma, relationships, bereavement and motherhood. Emelia Symington Fedy is an artist and storyteller. Her new audio memoir is called Trying To Be Good: The Healing Powers Of Lying, Cheating, Stealing And Doing Drugs.

Emilia is a new friend of mine, a friend of a friend, and a kindred spirit in many ways. So it felt good and safe for us to "go there" in this interview.

Content warning: we go into topics like teenage sexuality, sexual assault and rape, death and dying, all of it.

It's intense at times.

It's also funny and tender. It's very real.

Do you ever feel alone in your trauma, or your shame, or your dark thoughts? We're right here with you. We had this conversation with you in mind.

Here's where you can purchase the audio memoir, read Emelia's articles, and hire her creative genius.

This episode is part case consult, part psychoeducation, part storytelling. I'm so excited to share with you a conversation with my Clinical Supervisor and mentor, Patti Elledge, and to announce her new 3-month online program for like-minded therapists of all specialties!

I'll be assisting Patti both behind the scenes and in-class, as well as making myself available for one-on-one participant support through the program which runs January through March 2020.

You may have heard Patti's interview in TNP118: Patti Elledge on the Neurobiology of Attachment, Grieving Together, and Mobilizing Outrage.

In this episode, we talk about principles and techniques for managing Global High Activation States, the difference between "going global" and numinous unity experiences, and why working with the body to release trauma is so critical – especially in this time of increasing collective trauma. Resources mentioned in this episode include: Accessing The Healing Power Of The Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and Autism,by Stanley Rosenberg

We-space practices

This is the drawing by Patti's 9-year old client, illustrating a Global High Activation state:

Patti is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) who has specialized in therapeutic application of neuroscience for more than 40 years, and teaches Diane Poole Heller’s groundbreaking work, DARe, which treats adult attachment wounds. She has a broad clinical background in treating developmental and attachment based traumas, offering somatic strategies to access healthy bonding and co-regulatory processes.

She worked directly with babies, children and families for more than 20 years prior to her SE training in the late 90s, and weaves strategies from the fields of interpersonal neurobiology, sensory processing, developmental differences and neurodiversity, coherent narratives and embodiment through movement and creativity. Her blending of a variety of somatic and body-mind techniques helps to treat and resolve over-coupled elements of survival energies (fight-flight-freeze responses) that become so seemingly intractable with the essence of loving/bonding and “belonging.”

Registration for the Somatic Mentoring programis capped at 25 spots.

Nov.26: just 8 spots left!

I chat with living occult encyclopedia, John Michael Greer, author of popular blogs, The Archdruid Report and The Well of Galabes.

John is Past Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and current head of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn, and the author of more than thirty books. (Makes you wonder what the heck you do with your time, doesn't it?)

In this second conversation with John, we talk about why ritual sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I ask him about the placebo effect in relation to ceremony and healing. He tells me about a Druid communion ceremony (???) in more detail, including a description of the use of solar and telluric currents of the cosmos. We talk about the impact of reclaiming the gods of nature. And then he schools us on "decensus" and genetic drift.

It's a broad, sweeping and thought-provoking conversation about how and why the universe works the way it does and how humans behave in relationship to the greater realms. Whew!

This week's episode is a tender portrait of loss, destruction and the pain of living in our times. 

 I have a very special friendship with Michael; a kinship and delight in our conversations, a warmth and joy in his presence that lifts my spirits. I love his lyrical way of communicating. I love how he surprises me - one moment a poetic rumination, the next a pragmatic shrug. I usually need lots of kleenex for our conversations. He just has a way of speaking to the human condition in a way that opens and soothes my soul. I hope you enjoy sharing in this small portion of one of our recent talks.

By the way, the following quote (which I sort of bastardize  in the show) is from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."

Part 2 of 3. In this episode, Carmen talks about the first stages of spiritual development, including initiation and threshold experiences.

Part 1 of 3:  In this special episode, Carmen introduces herself and shares some of her own spiritual journey including the influence of Joseph Campbell, First Nations spirituality and more.

Tending The Threshold is an event happening in Ashland, Oregon, on May 26 and 27th, 2018. Tickets can information can be found at tendingthethreshold.com

It is a gathering of Change-makers, Bridge builders and Edge Dwellers, with no agenda other than to practice being together, and to learn how to take care of each other and the world, in these challenging times.

The container at this un-conference will be held by a group of ten co-facilitators from three countries and many walks of life. The group includes:

Poet and spoken word artist, Tannur Ali Conflict Engagement and Resolution practitioner, Aftab Erfan Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Desiree Adaway Clinical Psychologist and Author, Bayo Akomolafe Social Entrepreneur, Donnie Maclurcan Artist and Death Doula, Rachael Rice Educator, facilitator and Indigenous rights activist, Aaron Ortega Videographer and artist, Bec Stupak Therapist, ritualist and conference founder, Holly Truhlar

And myself, Carmen Spagnola.

***

Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.) is a renegade academic, lecturer, speaker, and proud diaper-changer. Bayo curates an earth-wide organization, The Emergence Network, for the re-calibration of our ability to respond to the civilizational crisis--a project framed within a feminist ethos and inspired by indigenous cosmologies. He considers this a shared art--exploring the edges of the intelligible, dancing with posthumanist ideas, and dabbling in the mysteries of quantum mechanics. In short, Bayo has given up his longing for the "end-time" and is learning to live in the "mean time." In the middle, where we must live with confusion and make do with partial answers. He speaks and teaches about his experiences around the world, and then returns to his adopted home in Chennai, India - "where the occasional whiff of cow dung dancing in the air is another invitation to explore the vitality of a world that is never still and always surprising." Bayo has authored two books, ‘We Will Tell Our Own Story!’ and ‘These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home.’ 

http://bayoakomolafe.net

I'm thrilled to be speaking with Lori Lambert Williams today about Controlled Remote Viewing – a protocol to access the subconscious and determine information about any location, person, or thing anywhere at any time.

Remote Viewing is a technique commonly associated with intuition, but actually has its military roots both in Russia and the US. Much research around Remote Viewing has been funded by the Pentagon and developed by the Stanford Research Institute.

Lori has been a professional remote viewer and teacher since 1996. Her classes and trainings are available online at intuitivespecialists.com

This week's episode features my dear teacher, intuition coach and mentor, Judee Gee. We're talking about dealing with social scorn and the fallout of spiritual awakening, trusting ourselves, and integrity as a professional intuitive. Juicy stuff!

Trained as an intuitive psychic, breath therapist and teacher of alternative healing methods in Australia and the USA in the early 1980’s, Judee settled in France in 1988 where she created The Intuition School (L’Ecole de l’Intuition). From 1988 to 2000 she taught her intuition development program in several regions throughout France and also published Intuition: Awakening Your Inner Guide, during that period. She is the past President (1998–2001) of the International Breathwork Foundation and a founding member (2000) of the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors.

Since 2001, from her base in the South of France (Ecole ETRE), Judee has been co-directing an intensive three-year personal development program as well as a two-year professional level transpersonal therapist training. She also trains apprentice group facilitators in the art of group orchestration and ethical leadership.

Judee regularly leads seminars on the themes of intuition development, tantra, integrative breathwork and team cohesion, and facilitates individual sessions as a transpersonal therapist. She brings over 30 years of experience to the creation and implementation of the programs she teaches. Judee is fluently bi-lingual, speaking English and beautiful French.

Bear is a life coach, artist, and social justice educator who helps socially conscious humans align their actions with their values. In their coaching and teaching, they apply a feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist lens. In this episode, I ask them about their gender journey to using they/them pronouns, and we talk about interlocking systems of oppression, call out culture, and wanting healing for people who cause harm without necessarily wanting to be a part of that healing. 

Content Warning: We do touch on sexual violence, capital punishment, and more, but we also take stretch breaks and pauses for breath as we do so. Remember to pause the recording if you feel yourself tensing up or becoming very activated.

Bearcoaches.com Undoingpatriarchy.com

Caliban And The Witch by Silvia Federici

Combahee River Collective and How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Alternate ROOTS alternateroots.org Info about the online version of ROOTS Week

Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni

Killers Of The Dream by Lillian Smith

The Farm: Angola, USA

13th, Ava DuVernay

bell hooks on “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy”

Whiteness At Work, Desiree Adaway with Jessica Fish and Erika Hines

Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?  on diversity as an aftereffect of a lifelong commitment to the self-named struggles of people of color

Philly Stands Up zine

Beyond Survival book

"The Opposite Of Rape Culture Is Nurturance Culture" and Turn This World Inside Out by Nora Samaran

“No one enters violence for the first time having committed it.” -Danielle Sered, quoted by Mariame Kabe

What is "collapse awareness"? How do we navigate collapse without losing our joy? What skills are needed in times of prolonged periods of overwhelming stress? This episode is an overview and recap of a topic I've talked about every year (multiple times) since the start of this show in 2014. Here, once again, is my annual report on the state of collapse. Find a round-up of past collapse episodes here. 

Preparing For A Beautiful End, Geez Magazine (Winter 2014), Utne Reader (Summer 2015)

Join us in my course, Collapse 101, in The Numinous Network

The Spirited Kitchen

***

Have a question or comment? Looking for life advice? Need some witch wisdom? Maybe I can help – listen for my response in an upcoming episode!

Click here to leave me a voice or written message.

This week's episode features everyone's favourite astrologer, Georgia Nicols! Georgia explains that intuition isn't part of her approach to astrology and illuminates the mathematical approach to astrology. We talk about how she got started in her work, Linda Goodman's sun signs, the Ephemeris and the ridicule that even she experiences as a "soft science" practitioner.

Georgia Nicols's wisdom and wit have made her a popular international astrologer whose horoscope columns appear in the National Post, Vancouver Province, Calgary Herald, Winnipeg Free Press, Victoria Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, Press Democratic (Santa Rosa, California), China Daily (Beijing), and San Miguel (Mexico) as well as smaller weekly and monthly publications. She is a regular columnist in Elle Canada, The San Francisco Examiner, Washington Examiner (D.C.), and The Examiner (Baltimore), among others.

Georgia's book, You and Your Future, is a best seller in Canada, and has international printings in three languages. (In Australia, it is published under the title "Your 40 Year Horoscope").

The Numinous Podcast is a complement to The Numinous School, an online intuition development program for people who want their self-awareness to serve a greater good.

My guest today is a trusted friend, Oliver Choquette. Oliver is currently a Psychology student at the University of Victoria. His training and expertise comes from various sources: college, university, and private classes. He has been working in clinics as a support person for over 10 years. He is a passionate reader and researcher of many topics: history, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. And at the end of the day, I have trusted him with my child as a skilled helper providing emotional support for a number of years. As the parent of a 17 year old trans son with ADHD and autism diagnoses, who struggles with both anxiety and depression, I wanted to talk to Oliver about the intersection of gender diversity and neurodivergence. And because it’s not just my son – I literally don’t know an LGBTQIA+ youth who does not present with some form of neurodivergence or at the very least some diagnosable mood disorder such as anxiety or depression. I hope you enjoy this candid, non-expert, real conversation.

Accounts I follow on Instagram for psychoeducation:

@neurodivergent_lou

@sensoryhuman

@the.autisticats

@fidgets.and.fries

@pixiesbigwhy

@autism_sketches

@iampayingattention

@the_mini_adhd_coach

@lifeinautismworld

@adultingwithautism

@drdevonprice

@the_queer_counselor

@autism_unmasked

@busybeingdisabled 

Oliver's Research Links

Carter, B. (2021). Impact of social inequalities and discrimination on vulnerability to crises.

Kia, H., Robinson, M., MacKay, J., & Ross, L. E. (2020). Poverty in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S+) populations in Canada: an intersectional review of the literature. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 28(1), 21-5

Executive Skills Questionnaire- Peg Dawson & Richard Guare

Giovanardi, G., Vitelli, R., Maggiora Vergano, C., Fortunato, A., Chianura, L., Lingiardi, V., & Speranza, A. M. (2018). Attachment patterns and complex trauma in a sample of adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 60.

Strauss, P., Cook, A., Watson, V., Winter, S., Whitehouse, A., Albrecht, N., ... & Lin, A. (2021). Mental health difficulties among trans and gender diverse young people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD): Findings from Trans Pathways. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 137, 360-367.

Rommelse, N. N., Franke, B., Geurts, H. M., Hartman, C. A., & Buitelaar, J. K. (2010). Shared heritability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 19(3), 281-295.

Schnarrs, P. W., Stone, A. L., Salcido Jr, R., Baldwin, A., Georgiou, C., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2019). Differences in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and quality of physical and mental health between transgender and cisgender sexual minorities. Journal of psychiatric research, 119, 1-6.

Craig, S. L., Austin, A., Levenson, J., Leung, V. W., Eaton, A. D., & D’Souza, S. A. (2020). Frequencies and patterns of adverse childhood events in LGBTQ+ youth. Child abuse & neglect, 107, 104623.

Cuevas, A. G., Ong, A. D., Carvalho, K., Ho, T., Chan, S. W. C., Allen, J., ... & Williams, D. R. (2020). Discrimination and systemic inflammation: A critical review and synthesis. Brain, behavior, and immunity.

Think you're out of the woods because Mercury has finally gone direct? Nuh uh says Canada's favourite astrologer, Georgia Nicols.

On this week's episode of The Numinous Podcast we're talking about how to deal with Mercury Retrograde, that thrice annual occurrence when it seems all things technology, communication and travel-related go haywire. Georgia explains what it is, why it happens and how to deal with it. 

You can get Georgia's daily updates by subscribing on her website or you can follow her on Facebook to find out when the Moon alerts are in effect.

This is the continuation of my conversation with Mara Cur , a hide tanner, hunter, wildcrafter, herbalist and wilder punk extraordinaire. In this episode Mara talks about the history of hide tanning and the important role that women and femmes played in this vocation. We also circle back to the question I posed in the last episode about how she approaches redress with Indigenous communities as she returns the teachings of hide tanning that were eradicated by colonialism.

The resource that Mara recommends to learn about White Saviorism is NoWhiteSaviors.org.

Mara credits visionary Cree artist, Kent Monkman, for his teachings on the early history of the fur trade.

I’d like to lift up Bruce Alexander’s essay, The Roots of Addiction in Free Market Society, as a formative document in my collapse awareness that relates quite directly to what Mara was saying about the first 250 years fo the fur trade. It uses the experience of the Orcadians – that’s Scottish folks from the Orkey Islands, previously renown for their sobriety –  employed by in the later days of the fur trade by the Hudson’t Bay company, as a study in how cultural dislocation and attachment rupture were direct causes of alcoholism.

If you really want to geek out on that particular historical niche, you can read my other teacher, Michael Newton’s book, We’re Indians Sure Enough: The Legacy of Scottish Highlanders in the United States.

Check out Mara’s online offerings at liminagathering.com and her own website Crowsnest wildcraft.com 

This season of the podcast is brought to you by the Threshold community. If the topics engaged in this episode appeal to you, check out our programming at www.thethresholdcommunity.com

I'm talking with Mimi Young about clairolfaction, wonderful plant allies for pandemic times, and how to work with tea in a magical – even ancestral – way. Mimi is a shamanic intuitive and founder of Ceremonie (@shopceremonie), an esoteric brand focusing on in-person and online core shamanic and occult education, Remote Shamanic Readings, and plant potions for skin and aura. Mimi works with a blend of modalities including core shamanism, plant spirit healing, chao magick, and Chinese esoterics, with a focus on healing through shadows, dream work, divination, ancestral connection, and psychic development. She is also a neurofeedback practitioner (@openmindsperformance), where she supports others in accessing their peak via neurological resilience.

Check out all of Mimi's offerings here.

Follow her on Instagram: @shopceremonie

Find out about doing neurofeedback with Mimi here.

Learn about joining the online Mystery Mentorship Program here.

The book she referenced is For All The Tea In China, by Sarah Rose. 

Follow me on Instagram @carmenspagnola Check out my Intuitive Business (And Life) Planning Workshop

Sometimes A Wild God is a powerful poem written by storyteller, author, wilderness vigil guide, and poet, Tom Hirons. In this episode, I ask the poet the impolite question, "What is your poem about?"

It leads to a conversation about collapse, grief, wilderness vigil, the wyrd, the loneliness of modern masculinity, the lifetime work of wholeness, and the prospect of hope as a deity.

Find Tom's writing at tomhirons.com

Purchase stacks of his poetry and prose at Hedgespoken Press hedgespokenpress.com

Adorn your abode or altar with Rima's art by visiting her site: rimastaines.com

And learn more about their life in the off-grid storytelling theatre run from a 1966 Bedford RL lorry, converted to be a home and go-anywhere stage. (For real.): hedgespoken.org

Resources mentioned in this episode: Dark Mountain Project On Poetry, by Glyn Maxwell In The Skin Of A Lion, by Michael Ondaatje By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept, by Elizabeth Smart

Learn more about The Numinous Quest Online here.

Learn more about the Threshold community here.

I'm delighted to welcome Jessie Hemphill back to the show to talk about Indigenizing Urban Design and also what we can learn about collapse and crisis preparedness from an Indigenous perspective.

I'm so excited that Jessie is attending our retreat, Ritual + Practice For Urban Homestead this fall because we are both pretty serious peppers and like to talk shop about our emergency preparedness plans and kits.

To learn more about Jessie's work in Comprehensive Community Planning, and to read her Master's Thesis summary, visit: alderhill.ca

To learn more about our Hollyhock retreat, visit our event page.

International energy and finance analyst, Nicole Foss, breaks it down for us: what is really coming down the road in terms of systemic financial collapse and how do we personal prepare and cope with it. Can we talk for a minute about the escalating consequences of debt? How about the unsecured loans we're making to the banks (ie: keeping our savings there)? We run some scenarios.

We also talk about the importance of social capital in the midst of a long drawn-out crisis. This conversation is definitely thought-provoking. For more in-depth review, read the cited post, How To Build A Lifeboat.