My latest guest, H. Byron Ballard, joins me on this episode for her second visit to the Home to Her podcast. Byron is a ritualist, teacher, gardener, and author of multiple books, including "Staubs and Ditchwater: A Friendly and Useful Introduction to Hillfolks’ Hoodoo;" "Earthworks: Ceremonies in Tower Time;" "Seasons of a Magical Life;" and the forthcoming "Feral Church." Known as Asheville, North Carolina’s village witch, Byron specializes in folk magic and folkways of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains where she and her family have hailed from for four generations. Byron is also a senior priestess and co-founder of the Mother Grove Goddess Temple, a nonprofit church with a focus on the many forms of the divine feminine.
On this episode we discuss:
- What it means to live in deep relationship to place - both the gifts and the challenges
- How the work and the death of the late thealogian Dr. Carol P. Christ inspired Byron's forthcoming book, Feral Church, and why she feels it's so important that we have new books of thealogy (spelling intentional) that celebrate the Goddess
- Why it's important that we understand that the Goddess and her many incarnations represent much more than patriarchally lauded values such as softness and femininity, but also ferocity and immense power.
- The linkage between the concept of begin feral and the Divine Feminine.
- The need for "hearth church" and other homegrown, emergent practices for engaging with the sacred that can continue to exist and flourish as patriarchal systems crumble around us
Notes related to this episode:
- You can learn more about Byron at her website, https://www.myvillagewitch.com/.
- You can also find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/byron.ballar..., and on Instagram: @byronballard5789
- Byron discussed the late Carol P. Christ, and the importance of her work. Her essay "Why Women Need the Goddess" is an excellent introduction to her work: https://www.goddessariadne.org/why-wo...
- Byron mentioned the Unitarian Universalist curriculum, "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven"
- Here's my first interview with Byron from 2022: https://youtu.be/H1uIFHqH00U?si=T5XMk...
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 also watch this episode on the Home to Her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK6xtUV6K7ayV30iz1ECigw
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- 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 on Audible and wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!
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