Feathermane Soul Wisdom

Welcome to the first blogcast episode for Feathermane Soul. I am hoping to bring the blog posts to you in audio format so you can listen to them on the go, as well as for accessibility reasons. In today’s blog, I talk about why I think it’s important people like myself are seen doing yoga online and what it means to me to be able to do this work. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

On a recent podcast I heard the hosts talk about how once they stopped focusing on struggle, they stopped attracting it. And I admit, my eyebrows went up. I might have screamed a little too, because there’s no such thing as attracting struggle, and we need to stop blaming people for the bad things that happen, especially when so many of them are caused by socio-cultural-economic factors. As we begin the second season of the Feathermane Soul Wisodm show I encourage you to think about how you can connect with your wild spirit and be untameable. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

I am pleased to announce that starting May 17 I will be hosting monthly pagan pet loss grief circles on the third Sunday of each month from noon to 1:30 pm central time. These circles will be a free-will donation offering, and more information can be found on my website. In this episode, I talk about things that I feel are important to pagan pet loss grief and a bit about why I am focusing on this community. For more information about my pagan pet loss grief services, please visit https://feathermanesoul.com/pagan Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

As promised the show is back from hiatus and I wanted to announce a bit of a realignment. I’ve given the website a bit of a polish and wanted to take a few moments to talk to you about the change in focus that is coming to Feathermane Soul Wisdom. I’ll have more announcements in the future including a monthly event I hope to start running next month, but in the meantime, I wanted to post an episode and get back on track. The book mentioned in this week’s show: https://books2read.com/grief Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

There’s been a bit of a break in the show recording schedule in part because I’ve been dealing with things, and part of that is that I’ve been thinking about systems that aren’t meant for neurodivergent people. Spirituality as it is conceived by the bulk of society is one of those things. Our need to ask questions, our need for clarification, and the fact that we often walk our own roads means that we don’t fit in with “traditional spirituality”. So this episode has me pondering out loud and thinking about what a neurodivergent affirming spiritual space would look like. Have thoughts? I’d love to read your comments so visit the show’s page and let me know. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

I’ll be honest that I’m rather skeptical of a lot of psychology-related studies that are published. First off, there are those who believe psychology is pathology, when I believe that it connects to all aspects of our being, and a holistic approach is the best approach. But also, I’ve seen how studies can be drafted that come up with exactly the same outcome as what the researchers wished. As someone who has used reiki to benefit my own well-being, including my mental health, I’m also curious about how reiki affects mental health and the studies that have come out in favor of reiki. In this episode, I talk a bit about these studies (link to studies) but more importantly talk about how energy work impacts our parasympathetic nervous system and why that’s so important. Which means energy work can be a valuable tool in our toolkit (or a valuable dish on our spiritual buffet) if we choose to use it. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

We tend to think of our mental health and physical health as separate. The same thing is true of our spiritual story and our mental health. Quite often modern therapy doesn’t deal with our spiritual story, or does so in a purely religious sense. So in this episode I talk about how our spiritual story can impact our mental health and what that means for creating our systems of spiritual care. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

What is a spiritual story? What the heck am I talking about? Spiritual story is something I’ve been thinking about a lot to try and define into something I can share with others who will understand that I’m not talking about religion, and I’m talking about something that intersects with all areas of our lives. Join me in this week’s episode while I discuss my definitions of spiritual story and just how all the different modalities I use tie into the making and modifications of our spiritual story. This is the first of hopefully many shows talking about spiritual storytelling, so if you have thoughts or questions, I encourage you to hop on over to my website and reach out. I’d love to hear from you. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

I shamelessly have borrowed the phrase “spiritual buffet table” for this podcast because I don’t know about you, but I love buffets. You can choose what you want depending on your mood, there are a lot of choices, and lets be honest, in the spiritual and religious realms, especially when it comes to our mental health and spiritual stories, not everything works for everyone all the time. We need to find out what works for ourselves, our nervous systems, and our bodies. That’s where the spiritual buffet table comes in to play. So in this episode (the first recorded after our return from hiatus) I talk a little bit about why I have multiple modalities I work with, when I use them, and what it means to me to serve myself from the spiritual buffet table. Bon appetit! Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Allow me to geek out just a bit with my religious scholar hat on, but I’ve been thinking about something for a while now and finally, thanks to reading a lot of Sallie McFague for my thesis, am able to do a show on it. And that is the concept of a distant god compared to an embodied god and how that changes your spiritual and/or religious worldview and affects the way you worship and your spiritual stories. This episode looks at the difference between the two, what impacts that might have on one’s belief systems and ways in which they do (or do not) care for the planet, and more importantly the inclusiveness of a spiritual or religious belief system. Buckle up. This may be an academic-y ride. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

What is spiritual bypassing? How is it embedded in most modern religions and how can understanding it help you bring more accessibility and disability liberation into your religious practice? This episode looks at spiritual bypassing, what it is, how it affects disabled people, and why it needs to be unmasked if we’re going to root it out to ensure wider accessibility, accountability, and disability liberation in our religious and spiritual spaces. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Well that was a longer than expected pause to the show. Between technical issues and illness, I swear it was just April a few moments ago. Right? Right? Nothing has happened, right? You can laugh. It’s okay. But we are back. A brief explanation as to why we were gone for so long. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Religion has become a bad word because of the actions of some groups and individuals. For those who wish to reclaim religion in their lives, it’s important to reenvision what religion looks like. How could we cultivate safety within a religious framework? What would that look like? In this episode, I’m going to talk about reenvisioning religion to include safety in all its facets. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Welcome to the first interview on Feathermane Soul Wisdom. I hope to do more interviews and if you’d like to be a guest on the show reach out! About My Guest Lane Smith is a transmasculine nonbinary writer with over 20 years of experience as an activist, organizer, and Tarot reader. They have been involved in struggles against war, the death penalty, attacks on LGBT rights and body autonomy for marginalized genders and birthing people, police violence, and apartheid. They have worked as a social worker in prisons, and in the field of harm reduction with people who are at risk for HIV/AIDS. With a professional Master’s degree in Social Work and an academic Master’s degree in Humanities and Social Thought, Lane expresses their ideas in clear, nonacademic language in the interest of putting social justice values into practice. Lane is the editor of the Tarot & Politics zine, and a member of Solidarity Tarot where they live in Baltimore City, Maryland. Website: https://mxlanesmith.com Bluesky: https://mxlanesmith.com About the Book A guide to reading Tarot as a spark for community engagement and social change “A beacon of insight and action.” —Nyasha Williams, author of Black Tarot and I Affirm Me The cards in the Tarot deck offer seventy-eight invitations for change, not only in our inner life, but beyond. Lane Smith invites us to read each card with an eye toward the collective—how we can contribute to liberation in the world. Smith shares, “Behind every story about Tarot—and about the world—are power relationships which are often invisible.” 78 Acts of Liberation examines the structure, history, and components of Tarot through the lens of power, helping us better understand power dynamics in our life and in society. After a brief history that highlights often-ignored aspects of Tarot’s past, Smith guides us through each card with reflections about clarifying our values and putting them into action. The cards are organized numerologically so that each number corresponds to a type of action, from Ones as Acts of Initiation to Tens as Acts of Generation. Every individual card offers questions for personal reflection and social consideration. Each Major Arcana card is illustrated with an example from a social movement—from the Indigenous Water Protectors to #MeToo—that illuminates how we can put the power of these timeless archetypes into action today. Every Minor Arcana card is linked to a practical and actionable term to know or skill to practice. 78 Acts of Liberation helps us explore: • What our core values are, and how we can put them into action • How we can be socially engaged, whatever our life circumstance—whether it’s through what we teach our children or through collective action and protest • How to sustain ourselves over time and through challenge As Smith explains, “Truth alone will not set us free. We have to act on it.” This guide offers inspiration for action—action that can feel joyful, hopeful, freeing, and empowering. Purchase the book at your favorite retailer https://books2read.com/u/mlxQVY Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about is how religion is broken and so I’ve started a new series here on the podcast. In this first episode of the series, I’m going to talk about what I hope to gain out of this series and the role capitalism plays in breaking religion. I’m curious to hear your thoughts so as always, feel free to leave me a comment. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

In this episode, probably the first of a few part series, I talk about what it means to rethink our spaces. If we are to move in and through the world as our authentic, embodied selves, then we need to create spaces that allow for this and do so in a way that welcomes everyone to be their own authentic selves. I know this is a deep topic, and one I can’t possibly begin to tackle in 20 minutes, but hopefully I can begin a conversation that will continue. What would recreating spaces look like to you? And how would you recreate the spaces you in habit on a daily basis? Let’s move toward authenticity together. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

In Wakanda Forever Suri said “I want to burn it all down”, and I felt those words in my bones. In the face of unimaginable loss, grief, and anger it is natural to feel as if you want to “burn it all down”. In this episode I talk about living as an embodied being by acknowledging and validating your emotions, not gaslighting yourself, and how to keep from being burned up when you’re in the throes of anger. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

It can sound cliched to say “be kind” or to talk about kindness, especially in the face of overwhelming oppression, fear, and anger. This podcast isn’t about that. Instead, we look at how we can be kind to ourselves, and how seeing everyone as having human dignity means we can be kind to them too. But we’ll also talk about when kindness isn’t warranted and how to ensure that your kindness isn’t being abused. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Mid January 2024 the world changed in an instant. And for many communities, it just got a lot more dangerous to be your true, authentic self. Now, we know who we are regardless of what proclamations are signed or what others say about us. But also, I can’t deny it hurts to have such hate levied at you. The question I’m asking this week is: why be authentic right now? For a lot of us, every instinct is telling us to hide, to go back into the closet, or just not come out of it at all. Try to mask, to code switch, and to fit in so you don’t draw attention. But the truth is, the world needs your authenticity–the world needs YOU–now more than ever. And I talk about why that is and why it’s vital to be authentic even in moments like this. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

There are three things that have to go hand-in-hand for us to step into our authentic, embodied selves. The first two are authenticity and embodiment. The last one? Nervous system regulation. If we’re stuck in fight or flight mode, then we’re not going to be able to unpack the stories that are keeping us from reclaiming our power and reconnecting with our stories. If we’re stuck in a fawn or freeze response, then we will struggle to realize our inner divinity and be able to set boundaries and connect with our inner self. And yet, so much of our society is designed to separate us not just from ourselves and each other, but our own innate divinity and spirituality. This episode is a first look at how these three things go together and why it’s imperative we work on engaging our parasympathetic nervous system so that we can begin to rest and have the time and space to explore who we really are. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

The term autispiritual picks up on the tradition of such words as neuroqueer and autigender where our neurodiversity and/or autism directly impacts our experiences as queer individuals or our experience of our gender. Autispiritual means that our autism impacts our spirituality. To broaden it we can talk about neurospiritual where our neurotype impacts our spirituality. The two often go hand in not just with how we see divinity, but also our relationships with religion and religious organizations. In this episode, I break down what it means to be autispiritual and how that might impact our spirituality. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

A lot of people think labels can be bad things, but there are ways in which you can claim labels and use them to create new stories and reclaim your power. This episode covers a lot of territory from labels, the questions you ask when someone labels you (Is it true? What power do they gain or what do they seek to do?) and how to turn those negative labels into positive ones for yourself. We finish by talking about people claiming labels are a fad and help you navigate that space. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

As we begin our journey together through Feathermane Soul Wisdom, my first full episode discusses what I mean when I talk about living as an embodied being. Remembering that we are “a being” and not “a doing” has been the fodder for a lot of memes online and a lot of pop psychology. And yet, underneath the quips and social media graphics, there is truth. That we are beings. We inhabit a body. And too often our culture, our belief system, and even the way we live our lives serves to separate ourselves from our body. In this episode I discuss what I mean when I say embodied and how that interacts with our authentic self, our spirituality, and living our truest, best life. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.

Welcome to the official launch of the Feathermane Soul Wisdom podcast. I begin this show by talking about my process, my work, my goals, and what I hope to bring to you. If you’re listening to this there’s a good chance you are neurodivergent, might be queer, and you may experience a chronic illness or disability, or maybe you see yourself in all three groups. I struggled for a long time trying to be who others wanted me to be. Trying to fit in, be “normal” (That is just a setting on the dryer, you know, and maybe not even the newer ones.), and in the end I worked myself to one of the biggest episodes of autistic burnout I have ever experienced. And it’s changed my life forever. I focused on what I want. Completed a bachelors degree and now am working on a masters degree in Religious Studies, took the lovely intersection of psychology, mental health, spirituality, religion, and living queer, neruodivergent, and chronically ill/disabled, and smashed it together like a giant ball of Silly Putty, then started to see what I could do with it. This podcast is part of that process. I hope you’ll join me weekly. Want to learn more about this show? Visit Feathermane Soul to learn about the podcast, see how you can support it and become a guest.