The Numinous Podcast

TNP90 The Celtic Golden Dawn with John Michael Greer

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.

TNP89 Journey of the Psychopomp with Cat Webb

Classically speaking, a psychopomp is a deity or supernatural being who would guide the souls of the dead to their resting place in the afterlife. In modern parlance, a psychopomp acts as "an energetic Soul Midwife to the dead or dying". Cat Webb is a psychopomp, oracle, creatrix, mystic and teacher. So naturally, this was a fabulous conversation! We talk about patriarchy, good spiritual hygiene, dealing with a death-phobic society – specifically how to care for the dying when there are family members resisting – and so, so, so much more. Follow her on Facebook or join her group PsychopompLifeChat.

TNP88 Monique Gray Smith is Speaking Truth

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.

TNP86 Channelling Change with Jenn Richardson

"Not everyone can be saved, but everyone is worth loving." Jenn Richardson Jenn was a Mentoring client, who came to a couple of my retreats, and then Quest and is now a dear, dear friend and soul sister. More importantly, she is now coming out as a professional intuitive - hooray! Jenn is a queer feminist poet and yoga instructor and banshee-at-large, a fascinating person to know and observe as she moves through the world and comments on it. Today we're talking about growing up with an alcoholic and homeless father and how his death has impacted her life. She shares what I think many of us have experienced around the mystery of death and how covered-up it can be in western culture. And she talks about grieving as a physical process. It's an intense, close-up, very real conversation. Learn about Jenn and her intuitive readings on her website, jennthepoet.com Check out her art and poetry on Instagram. Listen to her in conversation about Quest with her fellow participants. Jenn references Clarissa Pinkola Estes' book, Women Who Run With The Wolves, and  we talk about the keeners and the banshees.

TNP85 Therese Cator on Shadow Alchemy Life As Ceremony

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. Learn more about Agape International.   Learn more about Vipassana Meditation.   Thérèse is leading a Shadow Alchemy Retreat in Tulum, Mexico. Explore her world at theresecator.com

TNP84 Honouring Ancestors with Rachael Rice

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.

TNP83 Nora Samaran The Opposite Of Rape Culture Is Nurturance Culture

My guest today is a literature professor who writes a blog called Dating Tips For The Feminist Man, under the pen name "Nora Samaran". Last year, she wrote an article that went viral, changed my life, and transformed my marriage. It's called "The Opposite Of Rape Culture Is Nurturance Culture". Just so we have a basic agreement of what is meant by “rape culture”, a quick Google brings up this definition: a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse. Wikipedia goes a little bit further: Rape culture is a sociological concept used to describe a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.  Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut shaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by some forms of sexual violence, or some combination of these.  Nora's article does a beautiful job of summarizing attachment theory as it applies to adult relationships and then stepping back to look a the larger implications within a patriarchal culture. We talk about how western culture shames men for feeling and nurturing, how it invisibilizes white supremacy and anti-black racism for white people. In this episode, I give a brief summary of attachment theory and the four main attachment styles. You can read more here in the article where I dish about my own marriage. Off the top, Nora mentions The Icarus Project, along with bell hooks and Kimberlé Crenshaw. We also mention Tada Hozumi and cite his work over at SelfishActivist.com. Adrienne Maree Brown is quoted and she is definitely someone to learn from. The book The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin, is described as well.

TNP82- The Eclipse The Gleaners And Ruben And I

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)

TNP81: Your Intuition Questions Answered - The Numinous School Tutorial

If you've listened for a while, you know that this podcast is a complement to The Numinous School, my online intuition development program. And you'll also know that registration only opens once a year with a limited number of spots because I do a limited print run of customized textbooks. If you didn't know that, well now you do and you're in a for a treat because today's episode is a peak behind the curtain. This is a recording of one of our monthly Tutorial calls where I take questions from students about anything related to intuition, divination, and the spiritual path. Questions answered in this class include: What's the difference between trance and meditation? How might I manage difficulties such as hyper vigilance when struggling to get deeper into meditation? What are some of the best resources for purchasing oracle decks, crystals and essential oils? What's the deal with reverse cards in tarot and oracle readings? Do we need to read them differently? My pendulum gives me contradictory answers - am I missing something? How can I find out what my personal next steps should be in my spiritual exploration? How can I develop my clairvoyance? Resources I recommend in this episode are: The Enchanted Map and The Wisdom of the Oracle decks illustrated by Jena DellaGrottagliaInstinct Art & Gifts in Victoria, BC or onlineBanyen Books & Sound in Vancouver, BC or onlineAeclectic TarotHealing Crystals For YouThe Crystal Bible by Judy HallThe New Crystal Bible by Cassandra EasonSilk Road Teas for essential oils in Victoria and Vancouver, BC or onlineFloracopeia for essential oils and resins The Spice School ~ Glynnis Osher Aromatherapy For The Soul and The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann WorwoodThe Mary Magdalene Oracle and Angels, Gods and Goddeses decks by Toni Carmine Salerno The Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene   Registration for the 2017-2018 cohort of The Numinous School opens Saturday, June 10, 2017! Hop on my newsletter to receive the announcement and link to secure your spot.

TNP80: Quest Q&A ~ Your Top 10 FAQs Answered By Ones Who’ve Just Returned From The Wilderness

I'm so excited about this episode! It's me with four dear souls who've recently returned from their 12-day Wilderness Quests experience.  These are demigods, I'm telling you! They endured a tougher Quest than I ever have. If you have a fear about doing a wilderness quest, they have good advice for you. My guests today will address your questions and concerns about: - hunger and fasting - the dark and wild animals - enduring the cold - getting lost - logistical concerns about gear, preparation, and general safety - being bored/self-sabotaging behaviours - PTSD/trauma responses to being left alone in the dark and the wild - facing the abyss/existential dread - acting out/acting in  - not wanting to come back I also ask them, how did they know that a Wilderness Quest was the right next step for them on their spiritual path? ***   In this episode, Carl-Greger mentioned the book The Wind Is My Mother, by Bear Heart    

TNP79 Layla Saad on Perspectives of a Black Muslim Woman on the Priestess Path

I'm so pleased to welcome Layla to the show, all the way from Qatar! Layla is a Black Muslim woman who has lived both in the West and the Middle East and has an interesting perspective on blending Islam and Catholicism, cultural appropriation in spiritual practices, and what it's like to live in a truly diverse and multicultural society. Layla also shares what it was like when one of her blog posts critiquing the "6-figure" business coaching mill went viral and how that prompted a spiritual awakening. We also explore the collapse of old forms that came with Layla's self-initiation as well as the healing power of Reiki and her work to heal the Mother Wound. Layla is not one to walk a single path or "stick to lineages" and she explains how she is synthesizing influences to create her personal spirituality.  We also jam about the overwhelming whiteness of most of the connotations that leap to mind with the word "priestess". Layla also confesses that she used to be afraid of big emotions like rage and even of the Wild Woman archetype. Update: she's over it. You can learn more about Layla's offerings at wildmysticwoman.com  

TNP78 Nina Hirlaender on the Uncommon Marriage of Celtic Shamanism and Catholic Mysticism

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.  

TNP77 Digging Deep with Forensic Archeologist Juliana Kabal Xok

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.

TNP76: L’Erin Alta on Lineage + Legacy

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.

TNP75 Jennifer Jacquet Asks Is Shame Necessary

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

TNP74 Sacred Beekeeping with Nikiah Seeds

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.  

TNP73 Charlene Spretnak on Reclaiming PrePatriarchal Goddesses

I'm absolutely thrilled to have Charlene Spretnak on the show today. Charlene is a prolific author in the fields of feminist women's spirituality, environmentalism, and the interrelatedness of social change movements. A summary of each of her books can be found here. The book initially that inspired her to write research into the lost goddess myths of pre-patriarchal Greece is called The First Sex by Elizabeth Gould Davis. The philosopher Charlene mentioned is Luce Irigaray. Charlene has provided me with so much material to research and study. If you'd like to hear the speech I gave inspired by her book, Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, check out TNP64.

TNP72 Alexis P. Morgan on Witchcraft Magic Liberation

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.

TNP71 Kelly Diels on the Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

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

TNP70 Sewit Thomas Jones on Lanaguage and Belonging

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