On the latest episode, I'm joined by the wonderfully witchy Annie (Ani) Finch, a poet, performer, artist, scholar and researcher on meter, magic, and matriarchy. In short, she is Poetry Witch.

Ani is the award-winning author of seven books of poetry including Spells: New and Selected Poems; Eve; Calendar;, a verse play on abortion, Among the Goddesses; and The Poetry Witch Little Book of Spells. She is the author or editor of numerous influential books about the magic of poetic craft as well as editor of Choice Words, the first major anthology on abortion.

Uniting all of Ani’s work is her belief in the power of languages of the Goddess to awaken magical change in words and the world. Ani traces her lineage from Norse volurs, Celtic bards, and witches imprisoned in the Salem Witch Trials.

On this episode we discuss:

• Ani's spiritual background, including three seminal experiences that led her to the Sacred Feminine
• Her provocative theory that women invented religion, based on the experience of the female orgasm
• The shifts she's witnessed in the Goddess movement, and where she thinks we're headed now
• Ani's understanding of matriarchy, which has been shaped by the pioneering work of Heide Gottner-Abenroth
• Why she feels that the muse is the Goddess, who inspires her poetry
• Plus Ani reads a few of her poems for us, including a brand new poem celebrating sacred sexuality!

Here are a few notes related to this episode:

• Ani mentioned the work of Heide Gottner-Abendroth, who has studied matrilineal societies extensively
• Ani also mentioned the work of linguist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, as well as many groundbreaking women who pioneered the Goddess movement, including Bebe Frazer, Macha NightMare, Francesca De Grandis, Patricia Monaghan (founder of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology), Mary Mackey, and Mayumi Oda.
• I mentioned the book Tantra Illuminated, by Christopher Wallis.

And here are a few more details about this show and my work:

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.
• To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher 
• To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com 
• And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated! 

Here are a few related episodes to explore:

• The Maternal Gift Economy with Genevieve Vaughan
• The Legacy of Marija Gimbutas with Joan Marler

Mentioned in this episode:

We Are Sovereign: A 9-Month Transformational Leadership Program for Women

We Are Sovereign is a 9 month transformational leadership program designed specifically for women who are ready to claim full authority and power over their own lives. The program includes a deep dive with: • Powerful Sacred Feminine figures, drawn from history and mythology, who will serve as our sovereignty guides along the way • Transformational practices rooted in creativity, play, energy work, ritual, ceremony and even magic • Embodiment practices, including dance, yoga, and other intuitive movement exercises to tap into the wisdom of the body • The Enneagram as a tool for understanding the human psyche and our individual personality types • Yogic philosophy, creative writing and journaling exercises, and much more • The power of the group field that we cultivate to dive deep and be witnessed fully for who we are, allowing the property of emergence to support our becoming The journey kicks off with an opening retreat on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii, September 12-15, 2024. From there, we’ll gather twice a month over the next 9 months via Zoom, and we’ll wrap up in June 2025 with a closing retreat at Hestia Magic Retreat Center, located in the shadow of majestic Mount Shasta, California. To learn more, apply, and/or book a discovery call, visit: https://www.hometoheracademy.com/course/we-are-sovereign