68 Writing with the Earth: Your Wild Soul Story with Mary Reynolds Thompson

What if the earth has been speaking to you all along, and the page is where you learn to listen?Mary Reynolds Thompson is a British-born, award-winning author, poetry and journal therapist, and eco coach whose work weaves nature connection, wild language, and therapeutic writing into a path of soul recovery and re-enchantment with the earth.She teaches that the earth speaks to us through archetypes and symbols, and that by writing with these images, we can rewild both our language and our souls.In this episode, Mary takes us on a journey that begins with a wild Bohemian childhood in Positano, roaming the hills, sleeping in caves, riding a pig called Romana, and travels through her years as a copywriter in London, her own addiction recovery, and her eventual turn toward the soul work that has shaped her books, courses, and therapeutic practice.This is a conversation about what it means to stop telling the small, fact-based story of your life and open yourself instead to the full expanse of who you are."...View your life through this extraordinary, amazing thing that you are — a product of 13.8 billion years of evolution.""You are nested in this very particular moment in a very particular way, with very particular gifts that you have to rediscover." Mary Reynolds ThompsonIn this episode:How a wild childhood in Positano with freedom, cave sleeping, and animals planted the seeds of Mary's nature-based philosophyMary's addiction recovery and the moment at the Pacific Ocean that showed her she was strong enough to surviveWhat the ‘wild soul story’ isHow wild language works: using earth archetypes as metaphors for your inner lifeWhy there is no getting it wrong in wild writingHow to take your journal outdoors and let nature lead: the ‘10 things I notice’ practiceA dialogue technique for communicating with the more-than-human world, trees, stones, and the living landscapePractical wisdom:Start with 10 things I notice. Take your journal outside and list ten things you observe. Try the short write. Three minutes, a springboard word or image, no agenda. Use landscape as emotional vocabulary. Instead of saying ‘I'm fine,’ ask yourself: which landscape am I travelling through right now? Open a dialogue with a tree or stone.Write with the archetypes. Each landscape archetype unlocks a different quality of attention and language.Connect with Mary:WebsiteInstagramFacebookMary's booksReclaiming the Wild Soul: How Earth's Landscapes Restore Us to Wholeness (Nautilus Prize winner)The Way of the Wild Soul Woman: 5 Earth Archetypes to Unleash Your Full Feminine PowerEmbrace Your Inner WildThe Wild ScribeAlso mentioned in this podcast:Raising Hare memoir by Chloe DaltonThe Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson BurnettSilver by Walter de la Mare - The Poem TreeKing John's Christmas by A.A. MilneMorning Pages by Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way)Kay AdamsJosé Ortega y GassetHawkwood Center for Future Thinking Podcast Chapters00:00 Introduction06:05 The Power of Poetry and Childhood Influences09:01 Wild Childhood Adventures in Positano12:46 Landscapes and Personal Transformation16:48 The Journey from Copywriting to Eco-Spirituality22:14 Authenticity in a Mechanised World24:22 Living Your Wild Soul Story26:33 Listening to Nature's Whispers31:46 Engaging with the Wild Language37:54 Reclaiming the Wild Soul42:57 Connecting with Nature through Journalling49:25 The Creative Process: Archetypes in Writing_ _ _A new episode is released every other Saturday at 8 am.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review — it helps more people find the show. Thank you for listening. Join the Journalling Nook, an online community where we write for our wellbeing and personal growth.Please download your free journal planner PDF and entrance meditationPlease connect with me on your preferred platform by ⁠visiting my links pageJoin my bi-weekly Writing and Nature Connection newsletter