The Numinous Podcast

Let's go on a farm tour and talk business! Today I am choring, checking the horses' water, the kunekune pigs' water, and saying hi to the chickens, then on to the fields to harvest wheat and barley to dry for wheat weaving kits this fall. I'm sharing quite transparently about my income, my debt, my marketing and my foundational business philosophies. I do want to note: - As with all dispatch episodes, the background noises may not work for everyone. The pig grunts may get tiresome and the chickens may cause a startle response. Please search your podcast player for a transcription! - I say several times in this episode "you have to do events", but I want you to hold that term, "events", very lightly. I don't mean you HAVE to host workshops. But, I mean, at least a 45 minute lunch-and-learn/webinar or SOMETHING, know what I mean? You have to make yourself available to the public if you want the public to fund your life. That's what I'm trying to say. It doesn't HAVE to be hosting events, that's just one example. It could also be your incredibly helpful or entertaining Substack, or your edutainment podcast or whatever. You just gotta MAKE is what I'm trying to say...you gotta DO stuff, otherwise all you have left to talk about is yourself and your boring credentials LOL 😂 In this episode I reference: My NuMethod Facilitation Training – now taking applications for the fall cohorts The 1000 True Fans Theory  Dunbar's Number Several times I mention a resource available with membership in The Numinous Network (For example, "Teach Well: Course Design for Healers Who Want to Teach", our Small Business Chat sessions, Peer Supervision, etc.) I mention how I built my business on 8-10 newsletters a year (for years) and how I maintained a high engagement/open rate. (You don't open 80% of the time in a year? No worries - I've unsubscribed you!)* Sign up for my newsletter here! *I actually haven't stayed on top of this since 2022 but I may resume soon! I love a good purge of my list! **I didn't mention this, but I also have registration now open for my Trancework Practitioner Mini Certificate, a microcredential to boost your confidence and provide support for your therapeutic work. ***I also didn't mention that I have another book coming out soon! How to Connect: Build Strong Bonds and Deep Connections Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your Attachment Style, Trauma History or Neurotype). Your pre-order means so much! Without it, I can't do the size of print run that will properly stock stores ahead of the holiday gift season - please pre-order and thank you in advance!  

Storytime! This one is about how I won a trip to Greece through Contact Nutrition. I was a wine rep trying to sell relatively expensive bottom shelf wine to Greek restaurants that did not want this wine. Here's what made the difference. Join us for a mellow summer of Contact Nutrition in The Numinous Network! Thanks in advance for pre-ordering my next book: How to Connect: Build Strong Bonds and Deep Connections Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your Attachment Style, Trauma History, or Neurotype)

A little more "Common Sense for Collapse Times" for you today with something I learned after my business was washed away in the Great Recession of 2008 and I experienced bankruptcy and some deep, deep shame. I'm talking about navigating capitalism and managing terror and desperation - somehow in 12 minutes I manage to make myself both laugh and cry, while also feeding the horses and sharing, like, 3 different stories and multiple partial tangential thoughts with you. It's an authentic hang-out session. 😅 Come hang out with us in The Numinous Network for some gentle care and deep connection, as well  as some entrepreneurial support!  

I'm so honoured to welcome back to the podcast, one of my favourite conversations partners ever, Perdita Finn! Perdita is the author of Take Back the Magic: Conversations with the Unseen World, Mothers of Magic: Summoning the Wisdom of Our Ancestors, and with her husband Clark Strand The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary. She teaches popular workshops on connecting and collaborating with both the dead and the animate everything. She lives with her family in the moss-filled shadows of the Catskill Mountains. She is on Facebook and Instagram and writes a popular Substack, Take Back the Magic. Her website is takebackthemagic.com Buy Mothers of Magic: Summoning the Wisdom of our Ancestors from your favourite bookseller now! Referenced in this episode: Bitch: On the Female of the Species, by Lucy Cooke ✨ Join us for more like this in The Numinous Network

10 Rules to Live By (for Collapse or Any Other Time) This episode features the best bangers of cowboy logic, farm wisdom, and collapse tips that are getting us through some tough months here on Faulder Farm on Syilx Territory. Pre-order my book: How to Connect: Build Strong Bonds and Deep Connections Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your attachment Style, Trauma History or Neurotype) 🙏🏻 Thanks in advance! 🙏🏻 Join us for collapse support in The Numinous Network

Today's guest, Nadine Nakagawa, is an organizer, activist, intersectional feminist, clinical counsellor, and two-term city councillor. She is also the co-founder of Feminist Campaign School which supports underrepresented people to run for and serve in elected office.  She is also the author of the forthcoming book, Moss, Molt, Murmur: Contemplations on Nature, which is now available for pre-order from 9th House Press! This conversation was recorded over a month ago and we were still using the working title "Imaginal Discs” which is just one of the essays in this little book. I say “essays” but they’re not exactly essays… It’s more like a compendium of prose poems and musings and tiny immersions into an animist, anticapitalist, interconnected world. I know this book will resonate with activists, environmentalists, animists, artists, pagans, witches, people developing secure attachment with beings and places of the natural world. It’s a book for people trying to find their way out of the narrative of a white capitalist imperialist patriarchal overculture. It's for those people who are looking for the exit by entering into communion with the natural world. And when you hear more from Nadine today, I think you’ll see why I think this book is going to be wildly popular when it arrives.   Referenced in this episode: Kai Cheng Thom Indiginews  Eden Fineday   Follow Nadine on Instagram   Pre-order now from 9th House Press ⭐️ Check out the Power Reader Bundle ⭐️   Join us in The Numinous Network

If you are in the mood for something soothing, cozy, wholesome, and heartwarming, this episode is for you. If you are craving some quality time with a neighbour who is grounded, good-hearted, generous and genuinely curious about you and life in general, this episode is for you. If you need a comfort listen, this episode is for you. And so is the forthcoming book from today's guest, Marianne Unger. It's called Farm Stand News: Letters to the Neighbourhood and it's now available for pre-order from 9th House Press. It's about neighbourliness, baking, gardening, place-making, heritage and chosen family, the gift economy, and turning capitalist colonialism on its head. And most of all, it's about love.  *** Check out the Power Reader Bundle! Join us in The Numinous Network to participate in more conversations like this.

Author and educator, Dionne Grayman, is here to talk about her new book, I Call My Own Name: A Homegirl's Lyrical Memoir of Hip-Hop, Healing and Holy Reclamation, now available for pre-order from 9th House Press. In the 90s, Dionne was just 20 years old and pregnant when her baby's father was killed. Now in her late 50s, Dionne recounts how literature and music helped her "remember herself whole", her whole story, with herself as lead not victim. With a warm voice and engaging storytelling, Dionne rewrites the story of how this MC saved her own life. Pre-order I Call My Own Name from 9th House Press Best Savings: the Power Reader Bundle More show notes with links to all of Dionne's references and recommendations coming soon! Check out my next book, How to Connect: Build Strong Bonds and Deep Connections Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your Attachment Style, Trauma History or Neurotype) Join us in The Numinous Network  

New from 9th House Press: Mother Juniper: On Matrescence in Ecological Crisis, by Dr.Allison Claire Davis, explores the question, What happens when a woman becomes a mother during the slow emergency of our ecological crisis? Matrescence is the developmental transition of becoming a mother. As far as I can find, this is the first book published that focuses exclusively on the unique psychoemotional context of becoming a mother during a time of climate crisis. Dr.Allie Davis is a licensed therapist, researcher, and educator who coined the term maternal ecodistress. Her research has been published in journals including Ecopsychology and Women’s Studies International. She teaches at Pacifica Graduate Institute, directs the Maternal Ecopsychology Certification program for clinicians and birth workers, serves as associate editor of the Journal of Mental Health and Climate Change, and runs Southwest Perinatal Counseling. Mother Juniper draws on the juniper’s pioneer species carework as a developmental framework for supporting the Earth-Self that awakens in matrescence. It is grounded in attachment theory, ecopsychology, feminist theory, and depth psychology. Throughout the book, Davis holds Indigenous ways of knowing and Western science in relationship with each other and reframes maternal climate distress as accurate perception rather than pathology. Along with a developmental framework for moving through ecological crisis, Mother Juniper supports mothers in building earned secure attachment to Earth during matrescence. Therapists and healthcare providers will also benefit from this book as gives clinicians language and a framework for the ecological dimensions of maternal care. ⭐️ Buy the book ⭐️ www.dralliedavis.com Follow Allie on Instagram TikTok   Learn more about 9th House Press   Come join us in The Numinous Network

Production Note: I used a different recording program than usual without any background noise dampening so you get to hear the summer storm roll in, my dog, Mona slurping her water, my movements as I shuffle stuff on my desk, etc...So real! So high def! So intimate and interactive! Trigger warning: Discussion of suicide and brief non-specific mention of sexual assault, overall a bummer of a topic but I try to keep it moving along fairly briskly and we end with some good coping strategies. On this Mother's Day weekend, I'm taking about some grief-y things and some tough things, and also some funny things and some empowering things. If you're a caregiver nearing the end of her rope, this is for you.   International Crisis Lines Quality of Life assessment: https://qli.uic.edu/ Professional Quality of Life Scale (Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Burnout): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vzvQVeakBzCbjDCaypwZ_dEy3vHs-37K/view?usp=drive_link   https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide   https://sprc.org/about-suicide/suicide-data/suicide-by-age/   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3603326/   https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2791161   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7292717/   https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/9/12/e032391.full.pdf   https://www.explorationpub.com/Journals/ei/Article/1003241   Come join us in The Numinous Network for some structured social interaction! 💖  

If you've enjoyed discourse on this podcast about the barefoot doctor approach, community-based and culturally-relevant mental health initiatives and disability justice, as well as how ritual and spiritual literacy helps weave a stronger collective nervous system and increases community resilience, then you need to read, The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution by Dr.Dixon Chibanda. It's about a mental health program of elder lay counsellors who deliver mental health support from neighbourhood park benches, and the 100+ published studies on its efficacy in measurable improvements to individual patients and public health. Dr.Dixon Chibanda is a medical doctor, a practicing psychiatrist, and a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI). His TEDx Talk about the Friendship Bench has over 3 million views.   Referenced in this episode The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution FriendshipBench.org Friendship Bench-in-a-Box Dixon's socials and podcasts: Instagram  and FriendshipBenchGlobal Insta Facebook Twitter   YouTube/Podcast   TikTok   LinkedIn   Join us in The Numinous Network for some Contact Nutrition Sign up for my newsletter to be notified when pre-orders open for my next book: How to Connect: Build Deep Connection and a Strong Bond Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your Attachment Style, Trauma History or Neurotype)

Welcome to your new hyper-niche comfort listen, my fellow disability nerds! Today we're talking with Dr.Diana Driscoll about some of the recent research on Inflammatory POTS as well as promising treatment approaches. Diana Driscoll, OD, FAAO received her Doctoral degree from The University of Houston College of Optometry, and began studying idiopathic autonomic dysfunction through the ophthalmic examination of affected patients. Her work extended into abnormal vagus nerve function, vascular endothelial health, Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, premature aging associated with connective tissue disorders, the genetic traits involved, and the reversal of symptoms. She has published in The Journal of Vitreoretinal Disease and is a peer-reviewer for retinal journals. Dr. Driscoll created Genetic Disease Investigators, LLC in 2011 to conduct formalized research into autonomic dysfunction. She is the recipient of five patents to date concerning the enigmatic autonomic nervous system, including dry eye disease. She is the author of The Driscoll Theory which details the role of intracranial pressure, vagus nerve function, fibrosis, and inflammation in connective tissue patients. She also authored Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Your Eyes and EDS – the only publication of its type. Dr. Driscoll is the Clinical Director of POTS Care, the owner of TJ Nutrition, and the President of Genetic Disease Investigators. Referenced in this Episode: Download The Driscoll Theory: The cause of POTS in Ehlers-Danlos and how to reverse the process Learn more about Dr.Driscoll's work and offerings: POTS Rebels on Patreon POTS Care Clinic More on Inflammatory POTS Vagus nerve support supplement www.drdianadriscoll.com Related Past Episodes of The Numinous Podcast: TNP169 Sophie Macklin on Antifascist Folklore and Ungovernable Bodies TNP205 Sophie Strand on Mary Magdalene + Miracles TNP210 RCCX Theory of Complex Illness with Carmen Spagnola TNP215 Before Capitalism (from a European Perspective) with Sophie Macklin TNP267 The Body Is A Doorway with Sophie Strand   Past episodes featuring Numinous Network Members and Guides  who live with disability, chronic/temporary/dynamic or episodic disability: TNP281 23 Dates with My Dead Dad with Corey MacAuliffe TNP275 Community Building in Tough Times with Asteria Elzea TNP270 Art, Pleasure and Consent with Marisa Sullivan   Join us in The Numinous Network – sliding scale rate of $50, $75 or $100USD per month for 50+ live support calls, including weekly sessions for people with Sensitive Systems & Long Covid. (Camera optional, verbal or non-verbal participation a-ok, no forced sharing, slow pacing and lots of mini breaks to reset, calibrate, and discern the goldilocks amount of connection in the moment). Notes Apologies: I misspoke in the intro of this episode and said "RCCX syndrome" which is definitely not a thing. I meant "RCCX Theory", the work of Dr.Sharon Meglathery. I also misspoke in the outro when I said that pre-orders are now available for my book, How to Connect: Build Deep Connection and a Strong Bond Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your Attachment Style, Trauma History or Neurotype) – PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE MAY 8! ✨🎉 Sign up for my newsletter for the announcement.

Today's episode is part announcement, part request, part inspiration, part call to action – I am delighted to welcome back my dear friend and colleague, Taraneh Erfan, in her role as Editorial Director for 9th House Press. Regular listeners will know that 9th House Press is a worker co-op founded by Taraneh, myself and our colleague, Thérèse Cator, and we are bringing you world-building books that are a response to the question, How then shall we live? We are pleased to officially announce that our debut catalogue arrives May 8, 2026! Check out our Submissions Guidelines and send us your work to be considered for our upcoming anthology of poetry and prose by marginalized and equity-denied voices, Assembly: Liberatory Words for Revolutionary Times. On November 4, 2026, our title will be on bookstore shelves, and your words could be within the pages! Sign up for accessible group or self-paced expressive arts therapy with Taraneh Erfan Become an Associate Member of the 9th House Press Co-operative today! (Entries prior to 5pm PDT on May 8, 2026 are automatically entered into our Grand Prize Giveaway.) Get a 30-day free trial of The Numinous Network when you use promo code FREE30 before April 30, 2026.

This episode features my very special guest, Alysha! She's here for her third work-stay on the land, learning construction skills as she helps my husband, Ruben, build a livestock shelter. Alysha has been an amazing role model, resource, and thought partner for me around anti-colonialism for many years. Once again, here she is, advancing my thinking on the subject. Come grapple with us as we do morning horse chores! I know that as a settler, a Land Acknowledgement isn't for me. But as a participant in settler colonialism, it is about me in a way, and it does impact me in that it has been and continues to be  a learning process. I hope that, since we're trying to have a holistic, nuanced, and relational conversation about Land Acknowledgements, I'll be forgiven for saying that I believe having moral ambition benefits me by improving my self-esteem. I believe awkward participation in Land Acknowledgements is a pro-social, collective good. I don't know where the line is where it becomes a social detriment or we become numb to it, but I do think it's important they are not limited to formal events and those involving people who move the levers of institutional power. Again, this process is of course not about making me, as a settler, feel good. But it does make me feel a lot of things, and not all of them are bad. UPDATE March 26, 2026: I'm realizing that I threw the term "moral ambition" out into the conversation via the show notes and it perhaps lands a bit out of context. I recently published an episode, TNP306 {Dispatch: Jan 30, 2026} Lively v. Baldoni, Avoidant Attachment, and Moral Ambition, in which I grapple with, and ultimately endorse, that concept. The way I feel it relates here is that I tend to think that the way we ought to address numbness to the challenges of life is not to curtail our engagement but rather to become more present, to cultivate more maturity (emotional and spiritual), to stick with the trouble. There is a risk we fail, but it's honourable to try. And that's all I have to say about that. 😅 Note: Dispatch episodes are recorded en plein air with all the sounds of farm life and chores in the background, (and sometimes a bit loud). We tried not to sniff too much but it was a cold morning, and sometimes the feed bags make a big tarp-in-the-wind-like sound. If auditory sensitivity is part of your experience, please consult your podcast player for a transcript. With gratitude for the article of note to the writer, Khelsilem: Understanding the Purpose, Limits, and Misuse of "Land Acknowledgements": On symbolism, substance, and the limits of public ritual ✨ Sign up for my newsletter to receive the reminder for Free April: Celebrating the 5th Anniversary of The Numinous Network  

Today we're engaging in thought partnership around critical impact ratings, mental models, and reaching for what we care about in a risk assessment framework. Note: Dispatch episodes are recorded while I'm doing farm chores and feeding the horses in the morning, so people with sensory processing challenges may not find this episode enjoyable. In this episode I'm walking in snow, jostling with metal chains, shovelling hay and packing it into hay nets. Lots of background sounds! Apologies for that – please check your podcast player for a transcript. Referenced in this episode: Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen (book/autobiography) So Sinopoulous Lloyd of Queer Nature who appeared on ep.93 of this podcast The actual 2025 StatsCan data on small business longevity in Canada: About 22% of small businesses fail in the first year and only 50% survive after five years. Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, by Laurence Gonzales (Major trigger warning: Story after story of smart, well-equipped, experienced people dying by accident because this is actually really common) ✨✨✨ Join us in The Numinous Network Sign up for my newsletter

This episode is actually only 24 minutes long if you subtract all the parts with me managing the fact that the horses broke the fence and got stuck in a pasture they're not supposed to be in. Skip forward to minutes 9:30 - 35:00 to hear about what we can learn from 1970s China about navigating dictatorship and collapse and orienting to a more collectivist world. Note: I record dispatch episodes while doing my horse chores in the morning so there's lots of background noise that folks with certain sensory processing issues may not appreciate. In this episode you'll hear rain, my laboured breathing, the metal bin opening and closing, scooping and pouring out feed (beet pellets), plastic bags rustling, horses chewing...I also speak with some pretty stern vocal prosody when the horses try to push me or get too assertive mouthing me. This may be slightly startling since you have no visual cues to anticipate I might do that and you might be used to me having a more soothing speaking voice – you're not the one trying to bite me, though, so it's all good! Please check your podcast player for a transcript option if this doesn't work for you.  In this episode I reference: Barefoot Doctors and Western Medicine in China, by Xioping Fang my Facilitation Training (next Level 1 intake will be Fall 2026)  

This is an episode about Past Life Regression but... CW: This may be a tough one to listen to (or a validating one, depending on your situation) because I'm sharing some high-level details about my history of sexual trauma. Non-specific mentions of sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and a bunch of patriarchal bullshit. I've kept it pretty non-specific, but if you care about me, it may be hard to hear.  Please note: If you don't want to hear the background trauma history that motivated this regression work, please pause at minute 30:00 and skip ahead to minute 41:00.  It's not lost on me that I, and many others in my orbit, are having lots of emotional material arise in the wake of the release of the Epstein files. If it feels good to be "in it" with me, great. If you're at capacity, then give this one a pass or take it in small doses. I'm not going into detail, and it's woven in with other related information about trancework, past lives, autoimmunity and dysautonomia symptoms, but please exercise caution and care. Please listen while you're tasking so you can easily zone out of parts that you relate to a little too much ❤️‍🩹 🫂   Note: Dispatch episodes are recorded while I'm doing farm chores and feeding the horses in the morning, so people with sensory processing challenges may not find this episode enjoyable. In this episode I'm walking in snow, jostling with metal chains, shovelling hay and packing it into hay nets. Lots of background sounds! Apologies for that – please check your podcast player for a transcript.   Let me tell you about the past life regression I experienced last night! One of my students needed a practice buddy to be their "client". It gave me clarity around some triggers I have that I really must take more seriously as they have serious health ramifications for me. (The rammies 😫 Can't forget about the rammies, bro.) In this episode, I reference: • my Trancework Practitioner Mini Certificate • my Facilitation Training • sign up for my newsletter (I'll keep you posted about future trainings!) • the seminal research of Dr.Ian Stevenson • Dr.Jim Tucker, The University of Virginia School of Medicine, Division of Perceptual Studies • Carol Bowman and her kids on the Oprah Winfrey Show talking about children's spontaneous past life recall • underlying causes of autoimmunity and dysautonomia • bell hooks' quote from her book, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (2004), “The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.” ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network for affordable, accessible, on-going support and Contact Nutrition.

This dispatch is a response to a lovely listener's question about how to avoid being bullied by those who respond to moral integrity with aggression. Note: Dispatch episodes are recorded extemporaneously during the morning feed of the horses, (Beau, Skaha, and Reverie). If background noises, or me sniffing, or scooping beet pulp pellets, or moving buckets around, or filling hay nets, or walking in mud are irritating sounds, these episodes may not be pleasurable for you. Please see your podcast player for transcript options! Learn more about the Lewis Method of Deep Democracy, a facilitation method that emerged in post-apartheid South Africa, aspiring to support social integration by getting to the root of harm, resentment, grievance, and vengeance in large collectives, communities and organizations. Myrna Lewis was was present and actively involved in holding space at the Civic Dialogue that Ruben and I attended. Here is a short video about the Civic Dialogue we attended that day. (Catch a glimpse of me and Ruben at 1:25, back row to the left of Sera, (speaker/co-facilitator), where our body language speaks volumes about how convinced we were that hope was the key driver of social/environmental change. 😂) The facilitator I speak of, the marvellous Aftab Erfan, has been on the podcast a couple of times. ✨ If you like the topic of this episode, you may find comfort and support in The Numinous Network, both the live calls such as Attachment Jams and Contact Nutrition Drop-Ins, as well as the on-demand video courses like Contact Nutrition 101, and Secure: The Magical Art and Subtle Science of Attachment.  

Note: If you don't like the background noise of feeding horses, (opening plastic bags, pouring water, stirring, packing hay nets in a metal bin, belaboured breathing), then Dispatches are not the episodes for you. Sorry! Please see your podcast player for transcript options. Here are my hot takes and broad strokes thinking on the Blake Lively v. Justin Baldoni, Jamie Heath, and Wayfarer Parties lawsuit, and how it intersects with: • avoidant attachment tendencies • profound shame • patriarchy, misogyny, and pick-up artist culture • contempt for religious minorities I also share what I know off the top of my head, and from personal experiences in my youth, about the Bahá'í faith. Please do your own research into Bahá'í principles and its founder, Bahá'u'lláh, for a more correct and precise accounting. Same with the Quakers: I meant what I said, I'm a bad Quaker and should not be trusted as a role model or information source! 😂 I have enjoyed this little book by anarchist-turned-Quaker-turned-professor-of-Quaker-practice, Ben Pink Dandelion, if you're seriously curious about understanding the diversity of Quaker faith and practice worldwide. To understand the fascinating legal maneuverings behind the Lively v. Baldoni case, I recommend the podcast Allegedly Golden podcast. ✨ Join us for Imbolc in The Numinous Network.

This dispatch covers some far-reaching terrain, from Clarissa Pinkola Estes to Luigi Mangione, from horse hoof trimming to the Harvard Law Review, from elderhood to eccentricity, imagination, and a triumphant orientation to life. Content Note: If you don't like the background noise of feeding horses, (opening plastic bags, pouring water, stirring, packing hay nets in a metal bin, belaboured breathing), then these are not the episodes for you. Sorry! Please see your podcast player for transcript options. Content Note 2: Mentions of political violence, state violence, sexual violence, and incarceration.   Referenced in this episode: How to be an Elder, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (I believe this is the lecture I was referring to – it's been a literal decade since I listened but it's the only one in my audio library of hers that references elderhood, so I think this must be it!) The Dangerous Few: Taking Seriously Prison Abolition and its Skeptics, by Thomas Ward Frampton, Associate Professor, University of Virginia ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network for our Wheel of the Year observance for Imbolc on Sunday, Feb 1, 2026. We will be invoking the healing power of Brigid and her blessings, asking for her to make sacred our clooties (prayer cloth), a talismanic expression of Brigid's mantle. This simple ritual will feature an extended trance journey to receive Brigid's healing.  

Dispatch episodes are short and off the cuff, recorded while I'm doing horse chores. If sensory inputs like crunching hay, chewing animals, or occasionally laboured breathing and sniffles aggravate you, this episode may not be for you! Please see your podcast player for transcript options. In this episode, I talk about the deeply rooted defaults of Eldest Daughter Syndrome and how being heard and truly seen utterly breaks me. Referenced in this episode: TNP301 Muted by Maximalism: A Study in Power Analysis Not referenced, but related: TNP233 Understanding Moral Injury with Dr.Robyn Walser Follow me on Instagram for my Saturday meme train   Join us in The Numinous Network

Thoughts on William Morris, enshitification, and seeking friction. Correction: William Morris wallpaper was actually block printed, not silkscreened as I said in this episode. Seeing how it was produced actually made me cry, it's so beautiful and care-full. Watch how it was made!   Note: If you have certain sensory processing issues involving background noises like hay nets being stuffed, or horses chewing, or roosters crowing in the background, then my Dispatch episodes may not be to your liking. My apologies! Please consult your podcast player app for a transcript alternative.   Referenced in this Episode Morris & Co, UK William Morris and The Socialist League Some original block printed wallpapers and their backstories in the William Morris Gallery Arts and Crafts design elements from my old office in Victoria, BC The term "enshitification" was coined by Cory Doctorow Empire of AI, by Karen Hao Ben Affleck is sick of life   ✨   Learn more about The Numinous Network   ✨   Purchase my books: The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times  

{Dispatch} I'm experimenting with a new, more candid format for shorter episodes called "dispatches" where I share the thoughts I have while I'm out feeding the horses. This is my first one! 🎉 I will try to make them 15 minutes or less. (Apologies in advance if they go longer because of my rambling thought trains.) They will be about current events and interpersonal issues...probably a lot of them will be about Contact Nutrition.   Content Note: If you don't like the background noise of feeding horses, (opening plastic bags, pouring water, stirring, packing hay nets in a metal bin, belaboured breathing), then these are not the episodes for you. Sorry! Please see your podcast player for transcript options.

Content warning: This episode is a story about a friendship breakup between two relatively privileged white women. It contains mentions of self-harm, suicidality, psychosis, sexual assault, and overdose. I have my child's and my husband's consent to discuss matters pertaining to them. Referenced in this episode The Left Is Eating Itself podcast episode with Maurice Mitchell Building Resilient Organizations: Toward Joy and Durable Power in Times of Crisis Interview with Maurice Mitchell in Convergence Magazine on Building Resilient Organizations Conflict is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and the Duty of Repair, by Sarah Schulman Feminist Accountability: Disrupting Violence and Transforming Power, by Ann Russo Right Use of Power Institute SpringUp: Liberatory Education Fumbling Towards Repair: A Workbook for Community Accountability Facilitators, by Mariame Kaba and Shira Hassan Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence, by CreativeInterventions.Org community accountability recources from INCITE! White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network Suicide hotlines Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute Not Actually Golden on TikTok Little Girl Attorney on TikTok Attorney Britt on TikTok

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: Intentions and actions to live a values-led life in the coming year. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder Donate to the Amazon Labour Union Get involved in your local 4H Club in Canada or the US!   Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: Ritual ideas for crossing the threshold to the new year surrounded by allies and a sense of love and care. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: Slowing down, attuning to the rhythm of grief, and remembering the Beloved Dead who died in the past year. Buy Aly Halpert's song or album, Loosen, on Bandcamp Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: Today we're doubling down on our protective plant magic to bolster our spiritual safeness while the veil remains thin. We also look at 'wassail' as a noun, verb, and greeting which is especially appropriate on the 9th night of Yule which is associated with the 9th month of the year – the apple-iest month there is – September. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: We're cleansing home and body with medicinal herbs by making vermouth, potpourri and incense in order to finish the year well. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: We explore myths related to the beauty of binaries, balance, and cycles of death and resurrection. Some of the myths can help us queer the holidays, others can help us put strained sibling relationships into new perspective. Learn why why ham is such a symbolic meal during this holiday time, and consider some simple rituals to help you bring more balance into your life. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: ✨My favourite part of Yuletide!✨ Hearth spirits, house brownies, and protective supernatural allies for homes, barns, and livestock are all propitiated at this time. For me, this seems like a great way to steer children away from the more commercial aspects of this time of year and spark imagination, intuition, and an animist sensibility. A fun ritual for today would be to research what house spirits were called in your family's heritage ✨   Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: Ancient traditions around the return of the light imply a revival of hope and healing. Pagans created art and apothecary items to reflect the beautiful and harmonious qualities of the cosmos, adorning their homes and bodies to revive the spirit in wintertime. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: We honour the children in our lives and the child within us. Plus, more Winter Witches! Woop woop! Note: The final 4 minutes of this episode is a guided meditation during which you should not be driving, riding a bike, operating machinery or engaged in any activity that requires your full attention.   Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   Ancestral veneration is a key function of winter rituals, a way to put our lineages in good order, encourage harmonious relations with the spirits of the ancient dead, and appease the restless dead who roam at night. On this night, we tell scary ghost stories that might include child-devouring crones, beer-stealing werewolves, dictator dogs and violent Santas. It's also a good day to honour the animal familiars who help convey gifts and goodness including flying goats, female deer, and horse skeletons. There are also lighter aspects to the day including the reverence of Freya, hanging wreaths, and sacred spinning, weaving and fibre work. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   This is one of my favourite episodes because cultivating intimacy with the land I live on and the Spirits of Place is one of my favourite things to do. It also addresses, briefly yet deeply, how we can attend to the impacts of imperialism, colonialism, and patriarchy in our spiritual work, especially at wintertime. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   It all begins with the Mother. Tonight on the longest night of the year, we honour our matrilineages and the spiritual lineages of prophesy, blessing, abundance and nurturance passed down through the ages through myths concerning Crones. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   Antifascism for the holidays! Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   Inspiration for your holiday kitchen witchery!   Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   What's the deal with dead bird on Victorian holiday greeting cards? Plus, a rundown of some of the Yuletide bestiary. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode:   A look at Victorian holiday postcards and the botanicals of winter. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: NOTE: This episode contains a 7 minute guided meditation – do not listen while driving or operating machinery! We begin the Yuletide season by grounding into our values and prioritizing just a few rituals, crafts or special foodstuffs. Then we can relax and release pressure to have or provide perfect holiday moments; instead we can deepen into rhythm of winter's work of ritual, ceremony, reflection and restorative pause.   Himmeli straw can be found at The Straw Shop Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Welcome to this fun and convenient replay of my Yuletide Miniseries! In this episode: Learn about Fumbulvinter, the 12 Days of Yuletide and their themes, and the stories of European Yuletide folklore in my annual program, now available for free!  Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year (Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft) and Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

People often ask me how I get so much done. Where do I get the time? Electional astrology, that's where. Working with the natural rhythms of my chart and leveraging action during the most auspicious portals of my year; that's how I keep wasted time to a minimum, and ensure I am more or less always doing what I'm meant to be doing at any given moment. I recognize when my chart is telling me to work, rest, and play, and then I do that. The right things at the right time. I trust an experienced professional to determine those portals of time for me. Lately I've been working with electional astrologer, Drew Levanti, to help me map out my year. Drew is an astrologer rooted in the Cascadia region of the Pacific. They weave the mystic, the mythic, and the mathematical roots of astrology, allying with the archetypal cosmos and your own guides to help you soulfully and practically navigate the times at hand. Drew’s love of philosophy, history, and myth permeates his astrological career, from his research to his long-term client relationships and his professional collaborations, including that with one of our previous podcast guests, Kristin Mathis, who was one of the guests during the astromagic miniseries, (ep.203) on Venus and the Orphic Hymns. Drew and Kristin have co-led programs and co-appeared on a number of podcasts discussing ancient astrology and the Orphic Hymns.   Check out these awesome offerings from Drew to help you prepare for 2026: Radical Election Report Into the Fire: Your 2026 Astro-Download   Listen to the AstroMagic Miniseries   Astrocartographers I recommend: Jen Zahrt Jasmine Richardson   ✨ Join us in The Numinous Network ✨

Content Warning: Grief, death, substance use, intergenerational trauma, and bereavement.   I have a magical story for you today about angels, grief and loss, and receiving signs from our ancestors. My guest today is Corey McAuliffe. She holds a PhD in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences and a Master’s in Public Health. She’s also the author of 23 Dates with My Dead Dad, a grief memoir that chronicles her journey toward reconnecting with her late father and healing from intergenerational trauma.   After her father’s death in 2019, Corey transformed their monthly father-daughter tradition into a spiritual practice, tuning into synchronicities and signs. The book weaves together her experiences with chronic illness, ancestral trauma, and a transformative trip to Ireland to explore family history.   For many of us, the holiday season is a time of bittersweet memories and melancholy reminiscences…one thing I really appreciated about Corey’s book is that is offered a balance of the practical actual lived reality of a complicated relationship with a parent with the excitement and uplifting energy of asking for signs and tuning into synchronicities and receiving winks from the Universe.   It really was a page turner so if you're looking for a memoir that’s one part Eat Pray Love, one part Travelling with Pomegranates, plus a dash of visiting a medium to connect with your Beloved Dead, then have I got a book for you!   Buy 23 Dates with My Dead Dad    Join us in The Numinous Network   Follow Corey on Instagram and TikTok  

As we slip more deeply into the holiday season, even the most committed feminist may also be inadvertently sliding into old patterns of over-functioning. Let's pause to refocus, shall we? Beatriz Victoria Albina is a Family Nurse Practitioner, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and author of the bestselling book, End Emotional Outsourcing: a Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist and People Pleasing Habits. In this episode, we talk about: • signs we might be engaging in Emotional Outsourcing (what it is and what it might look like) • the five Survival Selves – personas we adopt to get along • a process to engage with boundaries using clear, direct communication and much, much more! Béa has a ton of useful resources that I highly recommend you check out. Follow her on Instagram She's also the host of the Feminist Wellness Podcast with hundreds of helpful episodes! ✨ ✨ ✨ Learn more about my books, Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times and The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year – Everyday Animism, Folk Magic and Witchcraft

My guest today is ✨ Dra.Rocío Rosales-Meza ✨ Dra.Rocío is a former academic with a background in counselling psychology who currently works at the intersection of ancestral veneration, decolonization, health – and by that I mean, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing. Through her courses and mentoring programs, Dra.Rocío helps people unlearn colonial programming and embody their gifts. As of this recording, registration is currently open for her program, Decolonial Shadow Work, designed specifically for white folks and bi-racial white folks. Because I’ve followed Dra.Rocío for some time and I’ve seen her quote many of the iconic teachers and revolutionaries that I, personally, find inspiring and instructive – for instance, I’ve seen and heard her reference Frantz Fanon, bell hooks, Assata Shakur, some of the figures I admire most and that most fascinate me in the movement for Black liberation – I thought it would be very worthwhile to have a conversation about decolonizing our minds and hearts and doing the deeper spiritual work needed to become a reliable and useful accomplice and co-conspiritor in the movement towards liberation and justice for all. I hope that whatever your racial identity, you'll enjoy and find something useful and comforting in this conversation. Visit Dra.Rocío's website Register for Decolonial Shadow Work   Learn more about: Dr.Michael Yellowbird - Neurodecolonization and Indigenous Mindfulness Assata Shakur bell hooks Thích Nhat Hanh   Join us in The Numinous Network Come to my Book Jam! Bringing Contact Nutrition to the Page

Pour yourself a cup of tea or something cozy because my dear friend, Sarah Selecky, and I are going to have a chat about writing. Sarah’s newest book, Story Is A State of Mind, started as a writing class in her living room in Victoria, BC, 25 years ago, right around the time we met. It has since become a unique example of how the internet has disrupted the classical education system, with her program evolving into an online program now known as the Sarah Selecky Writing School. Her Story Course has been praised by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Zuzie Gartner and her debut short story collection, This Cake is for the Party, was a finalist for what is probably Canada’s most well known literary award, The Giller Prize. Her next book, Radiant Shimmering Light, was optioned by Amy Adams to create a series for HBO. And her latest, Story is a State of Mind: Writing and the Art of Creative Curiosity, is getting buzz in academic circles with profs in MFA programs across the country adding to their required reading lists.  And we are SO LUCKY to have Sarah back on the program for a third time to help us bring our creative work out into the world. Listen to Sarah's previous visit to the podcast, ep.102 talking about Radiant Shimmering Light Listen to episode EIGHT (😮) of The Numinous Podcast: Sarah Selecky on Better Living Through Metaphor Get your copy of Story is a State of Mind from our wonderful friends at Assembly Press

I am ✨thrilled✨ to welcome back to the show for a fourth time, my friend and beloved mentor, Dr.Cyndi Brannen. Cyndi is a world-renowned expert on Modern Hekatean Witchcraft. Her seminal book, Keeping Her Keys, published in 2019 continues to be a bestselling title in the witchcraft category. She has since published three more books on Hekate, a trilogy begun with Entering Hekate’s Garden in 2020, Entering Hekate’s Cave which came out in 2023, and now, finally Entering Hekate's Cauldron: Spells, Spirits, Rites, and Rituals released summer 2025.   In this episode, we talk about rites and rituals but also we go more deeply into Hekate’s parentage and her coterie of counterparts - the other deities and allies that show up in her myths, and even author her myths as we’ll hear later on. Learn more about Cyndi's books and offerings (including Covina, her on-going coven of Hekate) on her website keepingherkeys.com   Join us in The Numinous Network

Today I’m delighted to welcome back to the show, Nicholas Pearson, who is basically becoming our resident geologist and crystal witch. His newest book is The Witching Stones: The Lore & Craft of the Essential Crystals, Gemstones and Minerals to Empower Your Magic.   Nicholas has been immersed in the mineral kingdom for thirty years and appeared previously on this podcast, in episode 158 on Crystal Basics which aired in 2021, and episode 170, Flower Essences from the Witch’s Garden which aired in 2022. I think he’s written about a dozen books now, not only on minerals but other spiritual topics as well, and he’s always got a unique take, there’s always a new way of looking that I think keeps the topics fresh and the books worth the investment.   In this conversation, Nicholas shares his rationale for some of the unexpected choices he made when writing The Witching Stones.   Follow Nicholas on socials! Instagram Facebook TikTok Patreon

Welcome fellow Numinous Network Guide, ✨ Asteria ✨, to the podcast! Asteria Elzea (she/ they) is an artist, a maker, and a connector. In this episode, Asteria shares how she builds community on a shoestring budget as a queer disabled neurodivergent artist. Asteria identifies as white, bisexual, polyamorous, and is neurodivergent. Her most special interest is people and how we connect. Asteria has trained in connection, actionable goals, and trauma-informed facilitation with Beautiful You Coaching Academy, Desiree Adaway, and me, Carmen Spagnola! They also love growing food, roses, decolonization, and pulling the rug out from under capitalistic, white supremacist, patriarchal society. Asteria is a certified data analyst and practicing witch, as well as a coach and community builder. As a resident of LA, her grassroots approach has helped her communities in the challenging times they've faced with the entertainment industry strikes, the devastating fires, and the city under siege by the government.  Check out her coaching and workshops at StarGirlCreative.com Check out Asteria's somatic workshop if you're in LA! Sunday, Oct.19 at The Makery, 260 S.Los Angeles St, 2:00-3:30.