PODCAST · kids
Birth Mystics
by Stephanie + Katie
Welcome to the Birth Mystics podcast. What is a birth mystic, anyway? Doulas Katie and Stephanie define it as a person who pursues contemplation, surrender, and truth in order to understand birth beyond the intellect. Think ”birth nerds” but with a little more depth and spirituality. Here we talk birth through the lens of mythology, philosophy, poetry, and more.
Episodes
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Ariadne's Thread
We look with new eyes at the ancient myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the minotaur. You may think you know this myth, but in today's episode Stephanie teases out some of its deeper and less-explored meanings. Ariadne's thread can be a beautiful metaphor of mind-body connection, and as we learn to...
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The Neuroscience of Manifesting
Manifesting has become part of our everyday language and culture, but how does it really work? Does it actually work? What place does it have in the birth space? As doulas, Katie and Stephanie have seen manifesting used in both beautiful and counterproductive ways. When manifesting is used as...
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Mind and Matter
A closer look at the Genesis creation story helps us understand the spoken and unspoken precedents that underlay it. The way it has been interpreted and taught, over the centuries, inevitably leads us into the realm of Mind OVER Matter, where creation does not involve the flesh and blood but is...
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The Uninhabitable House
Katie shares her very personal and stirring poem about the "uninhabitable house" that was her body. Together with Stephanie, they discuss the journey we undertake to inhabit ourselves, to live fully embodied, and how that directly affects our birthing experiences. They look at how our modern...
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The Day Boy & the Night Girl
The Day Boy and the Night Girl is a powerful myth written by Scottish author George MacDonald and was published in 1880. Today, Stephanie peels back some of its many layers to reveal impactful insights around the integration of masculine and feminine, light and dark. So much of fear, in birth and...
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Medusa
In today's episode, Katie shares the Greek myth of Medusa, pulling in some key and lesser known backstory, shedding light on what up to her becoming the snake-haired terror that turns men to stone. She draws upon the imagery of Perseus' shield, what he used to defeat Medusa, to guide all of us as...
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Brainwaves & Consciousness
Stephanie shares one of the greatest birth hacks of all time--understanding brainwaves and consciousness. Brainwaves are a Western empirical understanding of how thoughts emit certain frequencies, whereas consciousness is an Eastern spiritual understanding of how we experience oneness. When these...
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Selkie
Katie masterfully brings together the Celtic mythology of Selkies and the journey of birth. Selkies are mythological creatures that shape shift from seal to human by removing or putting on their seal skin. What lessons do Selkies teach us? What symbolism can we draw upon to support spiritual and...
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The Yellow Wallpaper
Stephanie leads a discussion on the powerful short story The Yellow Paper, a semi-autobiographical novella written at the turn of the century by Charlotte Perkins Gillman. This is a compelling, haunting story of a woman's rebirth that is tragically thwarted; she is prescribed the rest cure during...
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Intentional Conception
Katie shares about the birth of her fourth child and the intentionality that went into. Along with Stephanie, they discuss how to bring more mindfulness into motherhood, beginning with the act of conception itself. To learn more about Katie's work, visit freyabirth.com.
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Covert Control
Our inner impulse to control birth (and life) is so deeply engrained that sometimes, if we use fancy new vocabulary words and dress it up in euphemisms, we think we have escaped it. But in this episode, Stephanie identifies covert tendencies for control found within three prominent worldviews.…
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Season 2 Introduction: We're Back!
Doulas Katie and Stephanie give a brief update with their businesses and personal lives. They also share their newest definition of "birth mystic" and what to expect with season two.
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Lilith, Eve & the Serpent
What are the formative birth stories of your life? This is an important question to ask yourself as you prepare to give birth. You may think about the birth stories of your closest friends, family members, ancestors, and even media portrayals of birth. These stories influence and affect you, some...
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Tui & La
Today we are diving into the land of fantasy. Katie was hugely influenced in her childhood by Avatar the Last Airbender. It's a story centered around the four elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. There is also a side world connected to it called the Spirit World full of entities that possess...
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The Goddess Trinity
Kora, the Maiden, loved to explore the Earth and all its beauty. One day in her wanderings she encountered strange shadows that haunted her steps. In her wisdom, she knew she could help them and prepared for a journey into the underworld. She made her descent, causing the Earth to contract in...
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You Birth Like You Live
You birth like you live. So how do you live? If you're really willing to ponder that simple question, you can go pretty deep. This is not meant to make you feel guilt, shame, or self-judgement. It's simply a reflection of who you are right now. Instead of just plunging into what society has told...
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Mama Bear Musings
Stephanie and Katie engage in a composite dialogue that demonstrates the unrest and confusion women can feel when their Mama Bear ferocity wakes up during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Oftentimes these sweet, pleasant, docile women are deeply shaken by their rage and volatility, particularly...
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The Princess and the Pea-ple Pleaser
Katie reimagines the fairytale of the Princess and the Pea. A lonely prince is looking for his perfect bride to be his princess. When a disheveled looking woman shows up on their doorstep, the Queen comes up with a brilliant plan to determine if she is truly a princess or not. She stacks many...
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Get Out of the Way
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children. And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may…
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Be Here Now
Katie guides us through a discussion about the power of presence and what that can do for your birth. Living in the present moment is one of the greatest gifts birth can give you. Mindfulness is the ability to be in this moment without allowing distractions to pull you out of that focus. You can...
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Labyrinths
You've likely been taught that birth (and life) is a lot like a maze—having to make the "right" choices in order to achieve a "good" birth. But what if there's another template for giving birth (and living) that removes those vocabulary words entirely and sets you up for peace, clarity, and...
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Crossing Thresholds
Inanna was a queen and priestess and she felt a call to descend into the underworld. She prepared by gathering everything she needed. Inanna made her descent, but at every gate something was demanded of her to give up, which she did. She gave up a scepter, a breastplate, bangles, her necklace…and...
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Into the Darkness
Katie shares with us beautiful prose of going into the darkness. She invites us to challenge the idea that darkness is evil or scary and how to use it to our advantage during childbirth. For Katie, darkness is solace, peace, and seclusion, which are wonderful adjectives for birth. Consider how we...
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Willing to Die
Stephanie reads her original poem, "Willing to Die," which explores the metaphorical and mythical journey birthers undertake. Instead of fearing death of the ego, we can learn to embrace it, and when we do—birth transforms us. This kind of death is about moving with the seasons and cycles of life...
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Baba Yaga
Katie tells us the Slavic myth of Baba Yaga. This is a myth, while on the outside can appear very dark, is actually about connecting to our intuition. Any myth with all of its components can represent the entire psyche. Baba Yaga is a powerful template that all of us can follow in our process of...
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Kundalini Awakening
Stephanie describes feeling intense grief and rage from childhood trauma that surfaced during her first postpartum. Then she learned about Kundalini, which instilled a deep and profound purpose to her pain. This awakening isn't just trying to shove our past traumas into our faces just…
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Poseidon
Katie walks us through her original poem "Poseidon" that she wrote while six months pregnant with her third baby. As she laid in bed pondering her upcoming birth the words just came together in her mind. She jumped out of bed and wrote it down, feeling how it deeply expressed her hopes and wishes...
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Bhava
Stephanie discusses what led her to naming her business Bhava Birth. It's a Sanskrit word that translates to becoming. When it's spelled bhavah it translates into giving birth. The etymology shows a deep and profound connection between these two processes, of birth and becoming. If you'd like to...
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Freya
Katie introduces what inspired her to name her business Freya Birth. Join us as we explore Norse mythology to understand the meaning and symbology of the goddess Freya and how it pertains to birth. If you'd like to learn more please visit www.freyabirth.com References: Women Who Run With the…
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Season 1 Introduction: Our Stories and Intentions
Welcome to the Birth Mystics podcast. What is a birth mystic, anyway? Doulas Katie and Stephanie define it as a person who pursues contemplation, surrender, and truth in order to understand birth beyond the intellect. Think "birth nerds" but with a little more depth and spirituality.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to the Birth Mystics podcast. What is a birth mystic, anyway? Doulas Katie and Stephanie define it as a person who pursues contemplation, surrender, and truth in order to understand birth beyond the intellect. Think ”birth nerds” but with a little more depth and spirituality. Here we talk birth through the lens of mythology, philosophy, poetry, and more.
HOSTED BY
Stephanie + Katie
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Birth Mystics have?
Birth Mystics currently has 30 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Birth Mystics about?
Welcome to the Birth Mystics podcast. What is a birth mystic, anyway? Doulas Katie and Stephanie define it as a person who pursues contemplation, surrender, and truth in order to understand birth beyond the intellect. Think ”birth nerds” but with a little more depth and spirituality. Here we talk...
How often does Birth Mystics release new episodes?
Birth Mystics has 30 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Birth Mystics?
You can listen to Birth Mystics on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Birth Mystics?
Birth Mystics is created and hosted by Stephanie + Katie.
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