6. Navigating Darkness: Nature is the Compass with Travis Cartwright

In this episode I sit down with my partner, Travis Cartwright, to explore how we can orient ourselves towards love and connection in a world that can feel dark and bleak. We explore the danger avoiding the shadow aspects of reality, and the gifts that come from a willingness to come into contact with the messy, feral, dark parts of life.Travis is a cancer survivor who now works in herbal cancer care; he also works as a paramedic and comes into contact with pain, darkness, death, and discomfort on a regular basis. His deep connection to nature through herbalism, bow hunting and other rewilding practices has been his guide and compass since his teens after growing up in a community riddled with violence and disconnection. Travis offers a message of hope through forming relationship with the living world and living a life of meaning from an embodied, experiential place. May this episode act as a reminder to turn our attention to nature, and let its wisdom lead us through the darkest nights.  Trigger warning: We discuss acts of violence, homophobia, death, cancer, and general hardship throughout the episode. Somatic Sisterhood CircleThe Somatic Sisterhood Circle is a weekly touch point to attune to the wisdom of your body while being held in sisterhood. Each circle includes embodiment practices and meaningful conversations. The next eight week series will be focused on Reclaiming Womanhood: Healing from Good-Girl Conditioning. Society asks girls and women to shrink themselves. Be good, pretty, capable (but not too capable), take care of others, sacrifice yourself, and do it all with a smile. Our depth, magic, eros, fierceness, intellect, and aliveness has been controlled and manipulated. Our wildness has been repressed. This circle is about freeing ourselves from the good girl conditioning and embodying something more raw and real. Learn more. Stay in Touch!Althaea Herbals on Instagram: @althaeaherbalsMarie's Substack: @marieembodiedBook a somatic therapy and/or herbalism session.