The Becoming Podcast | Season 3; Episode 5 | Lara Veleda Vesta on illness as initiation and earth connection, myth + ritual as support for transformative times

I've been working with a theme of healing and illness as a rite of passage in my writings and offerings this month.  I could not think of anyone I wanted to speak to more on that topic than Lara Veleda Vesta. Lara has an MFA, is an artist, author, storyteller and educator transforming chronic illness into a path of healing and reclaiming.   She is the author of The Moon Divas Guidebook, and The Moon Divas Oracle, illustrator of The Moon Divas Oracle Cards and the newly released Wild Soul Runes: Reawakening the Ancestral Feminine. Her research interests include ancestral connection, mythtelling and disability as initiation, and she is currently creating an illustrated guide to death transitions. Her path of myth, folk magic, ancestor lore and ritual practice is shared through classes at the Wild Soul School.   This is an incredibly rich conversation that I know you will love:  Lara shares her experience of chronic illness and how thinking of this experience as a rite of passage and an initiation supported her.  We talk about the fundamental optimismthat a rites of passage lens allows us:  that fallow times are okay, that grieving is okay, and that you will emerge from this time with some kind of lesson or gift.  Lara talks in-depth about four things that have supported her during the radical transformations she's traversed in her life:  myth, earth connection, ritual and her connection to her ancestors.  She shares her "non-negotiable" daily ritual that keeps her grounded and attuned to her inner knowing.  Finally, we talk about divination and the cultivation of intuition and meaning-making.   There are SO many pearls of wisdom, reassurances and big ideas in this podcast.  You'll definitely want to grab a pen and notebook for this one!  Enjoy!