The Numinous Podcast

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.

I've been waiting a long time for this interview and I'm so delighted to share it. Abigail Rose Clarke is one of the few somatics teachers whose instructions and anatomical lessons I can actually *remember*. Her inspired teaching style features clear articulation and vivid, lyrical descriptions that really land and stay with me. Abigail is a somatic educator, writer, artist, and creator of the Somatic Tarot and also the Body Oracle Deck. Abigail holds a degree from Smith College in Health Behavior and advanced training certificates in Embodyoga®. She's also the author of Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World. This is a conversation about how to balance using language that people understand while also breaking the chokehold of capitalism on our words, minds and bodies. It's also about the ✨mesentery✨, ✨lungs✨, ✨SCM✨, ✨psoas✨, and what's so magical about these parts. Referenced in this Episode Anchor Community is an ongoing somatic learning community: www.abigailroseclarke.com/anchor-community   Check out her Embodied Anatomy Library   Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel   Patty Townsend (Abigail's mentor)   Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen   Her substack is Bones Made of Stardust: https://abigailroseclarke.substack.com/   Instagram is @abigail.rose.clarke

This is the biggest announcement I’ve ever made, not just on this podcast, but in my life. Bigger than getting a book deal, even.   This is something I’ve been thinking about for the past four years or so, since I was in the midst of the pre-order campaign for my first book, The Spirited Kitchen in 2021. The nudge got even stronger as I was in negotiations for my second book, Spells for the Apocalypse. And now, with both of those works out in the world and doing really well without a lot more help from me, the nudge has felt more like a call, a strong pull forward towards something…pretty scary, honestly, but all good adventures stories begin with accepting some risk, venturing into the unknown, and what makes it a great story is that the protagonists don’t know yet what they don’t know. 😂   It is my great, great pleasure to announce, that along with my colleagues and co-founders, Taraneh Erfan and Thérèse Cator, I am embarking on a new venture to publish world-building books that help readers develop meaningful answers to the question, How then, shall we live in these times?   Our new company, 9th House Press, is a worker cooperative. A worker cooperative is a business that the workers own and democratically control, and it foregrounds two equally important primary purposes: to provide employment and a better quality of work-life for its members, and to provide a community benefit. We see this work of publishing uncompromisingly liberatory books as an important part of the movement for civil rights and protection of intellectual freedom, in a similar vein as libraries and a free press. And we see our taking more control and ownership of the means of production – meaning the ways we access liberatory information – we see that as a critical shift away from an industry that is overflowing with talented women making money for white shareholding men.   10 Things That Excite Me About This: I’m in business – a worker co-op – with my two dear friends, Taraneh and Thérèse! This is wildly exciting to me! And very healing. We’re going to publish not only our own books, but also acquire up to 12 titles a year. We’re publishing works that will tell us stories and give us models for how we’re going to seed the future with the best humanity has to offer: compassion, creativity, and connection. Our world-building books will each have their own limited edition book bling! Useful and beautiful swag that relates to the content of the book. Maybe sometimes it’s a cloth bag, or stickers, but sometimes it’s seeds! Sometimes it’s t-shirts, and sometimes it’s art! Sometimes it’s a branded multitool! Or, or or… We already have initial acceptance for a book called Farm Stand News by Marianne Unger, whose pandemic-inspired neighbourhood farm stand and newsletter has become a model for mutual aid sprinkled with a lyrical nostalgia akin to A Prairie Home Companion.  We are actively wooing two other authors that I hope will be a yes for our first catalogue (coming January 2026). We’re eager to see what kinds of submissions we receive by our deadline: November 15, 2025 for Fall/Winter 2026 publication. We’re gonna have Street Teams! I envision this almost like a “business-in-a-box” for my disabled and employment-challenged friends and followers who’d like to support our work but also make some money selling our catalogue and book bling at festivals, markets, fairs, and concerts. It’s very punk! It’s giving anarchist book fair! I love it so much. Our net royalties favour the author starting at 50% with increasing escalators. In a completely new twist for alternative publishing models, after seven years, authors are returned their rights with an option to renew, honouring our value of enthusiastic ongoing consent and collaboration with our fellow authors. We’re going to publish the books that will help us hold ground on the left against the rising tide of fascism.  How can you support our cause? Join us! Become an Associate member of our co-op! It’s an associate membership so you don’t have the same rights and responsibilities as we have as worker-members, but it’s how you can belong to our community, how you can support this anticapitalist business, how you can fund the alternative economy. I had a meeting with the publisher of a small press who has had a long and illustrious career in the literary world at very small to the very largest publishing houses, and she said to me, In 2025, micro is the way to go.  We will give you preview chapters and access to limited edition book bling, but also give you a chance to vote on selected book cover designs and titles. It’s going to be collaborative and fun and, honestly, important work. We mean it when we say we’re looking to publish the books getting banned before they even get a book deal. Books by people with marginalized and targeted identities, books by people with disabilities who can’t keep us with the exhausting pace of the author-centered book launch era…we’re going to launch our books together. We’re going to collaborate. It’s going to be real hands-on but really body-friendly, real gentle on the nervous system 💖 And we could really use your support! Please: •  Follow our Instagram @9thhousepress • Become an associate member of our co-op It’s $35 CAD per year. And there are other perks too! So check out our website: 9thhousepress.com I mentioned the right wing imprints that large traditional publishers have begun to profit from - read more about that here.

If you feel alienated with the typical prescribed way of marketing, this episode is for you! If you're an entrepreneur who hates capitalism, you're gonna love it! If being perceived is generally unpleasant for you but need to do commerce to survive, listen up! Bear is here with frameworks, ideas, and activities to scaffold your business in a way that doesn't make you want to puke. This is about enoughness. This is about commerce, not exploitation. This is about business at the rhythms and cycles of life. This is about extricating ourselves from tech dependence and build out new (and vintage) models that are more values-aligned. At the end of this episode, you'll have a handful of tangible steps you can start today or whenever you catch a wave of energy or inspiration. You'll be ready when the muse arrives or the brain glucose hits your neurons. Learn more about Bear's program: Marketing for Weirdos Follow Bear on Instagram Listen to Bear's previous appearance on this podcast about Unlearning Oppression Check out The Numinous Network for monthly Small Business Chats and Peer Supervision for sustaining your business and your energy over the long term. Buy my books (which each have quite a few 5 star reviews - don't listen to Melinda who honestly is probably in fact a misogynist that I dunked on a month ago on Instagram) Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year

In this episode, after a personal update, we get to have a delightful, informative, hopeful conversation with someone I consider a possibility model in collapse times, my friend, Kirsten Hunter. We're talking about parenting, trying to plan ahead, and how we go about trying to build community, trust, and collaborative decision-making during times of tumult, precarity, and turmoil. We get into managing the particular challenges of being a renter who is also gardener and a small scale farmer with a desire to live more communally. Kirsten advocates for a return to earth-oriented living in response to the polycrisis of unravelling ecological, social, political, and spiritual systems under late-stage colonial capitalism. She is a mom, a civil servant, a volunteer counsellor at a local mental health non-profit, and a facilitator of the Work that Reconnects, an experiential framework for navigating collective despair, hope and love for the world.  Kirsten lives as a 3rd generation euro-settler transplant in WSANEC territory, colonially known as Saanich, BC, where her family rents a small rundown acreage. Kirsten and family specialize in rebel-gardening on rental properties, with a focus on regenerative ecosystem restoration. They are also passionate about braiding together cross-cultural rituals and practices that reflect their mixed Coast Salish, Metis, and Euro-Pagan ancestral family lineages. Referenced in this episode: The Work that Reconnects from Joanna Macy HelpX (WorkAway and WWOOF are other options)  Follow Kirsten on Instagram @tendingnettles Visit their family's website at www.goodseedland.com for seeds and more farm-based goodies Join us in The Numinous Network!   Other episodes referenced: TNP226: Wild Horses of the Chilcotin with Wayne McCrory Selected collapse-themed episodes of The Numinous Podcast: 114, 161, 193, 207, 268

{Content Warning} Discussion of sexual abuse, assault and yoga cults. Please take good care of yourself if you feel vulnerable or distressed with these topics. Press pause, stand up and walk around, bring on your arms and legs. Walk forward while looking forward. Say to yourself, I am not prey. In this episode, we refer to Matthew Remski's exposé: Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond You may also wish to listen to my conversation with him about this topic, ep. TNP116 Matthew Remski on Attachment High Demand Communities and Yogas Culture Of Abuse   Let's take a cinematic journey in time from childhood as the daughter of artists in small town Massachusetts in the 70s, to the 1980s Tribeca loft art scene, to the East Village of the 1990s as a provocative film and movement artist becoming involved in yoga, butoh, and sexual liberation. Our protagonist is Marisa Sullivan, a somatic and sexual health practitioner and one of our Guides in The Numinous Network. Marisa is a Sexual Empowerment and Intimacy Educator and an Embodiment and Movement Facilitator.  She counsels how to maximize the magic and medicine of sexual juiciness, how to be authentic in our sexual expression, inhabiting our yes and no, and understanding the power of pleasure, not just in Sexuality, but Joy and Pleasure in our bodies and everyday life.  Her certifications include multiple yoga systems, pelvic floor yoga, Reiki Masters, Womb/Perineal Steaming, deep study of The Wheel of Consent with Betty Martin, training in Psychodrama, breathwork for trance, and a Masters in Theater for Educational and Therapeutic Use.  Marisa is the mother of a teen, lives with multiple chronic illnesses, and is queer. {Special Bonus Rant} At the end of this episode, I provide a little critical analysis of patriarchal conduct online, seasoned with several F-bombs, about leaving reviews on books. 🔥 Learn more and book a 1:1 with Marisa: https://www.marisasullivanhealing.com/ Follow her on Instagram to hear about upcoming workshops and online courses: @marisasullivan1 *** Learn more about my Facilitation Training Join us in The Numinous Network

In this conversation, former emergency dispatch supervisor, current somatic mentor, and one of the hosts of The Numinous Network, Christi Jarland, shares insights from her multi-decade career as a frontline worker on some of people's toughest days. Christi is a mentor who blends 20 years of crisis-response experience as a 911 telecommunications leader with training in occupational therapy, psychology, somatic work and energy practices. Her work is shaped by these experiences as well as a lifelong instinct to listen deeply, sense energy and hold steady space.    In this episode, Christi shares tips on how to stay focused and grounded when navigating an emergency and calling for help. We also map the somatic and stress management advice onto the large scale dilemmas of collapse – what lessons can we learn and take with us as we move through the world, trying to be of help? What matters most when we're coming out the other side of an emergency situation? I found this conversation really brought my situational awareness into focus and offered many good reminders for how and who I want to be in an emergency.  We laughed! We cried! It was thought-provoking and tender. When you sign up for The Numinous Network, Christi is one of the people right there to lend a helping hand and support to navigate the platform. She can help you discern how to make the most out of your investment while staying within your energetic capacity. In this episode, you'll hear and understand why I trust her with this important job – you'll really feel held in a capable embrace. 🥰 📷 Follow Christi on Instagram 🔗 Check out Christi's website and somatic mentorship offerings Currently, Christi offers monthly mentoring, one-to-one sessions, and free monthly drop-ins. You can also listen to her read her monthly musings newsletter, and there's always a new meditation included in it.   ✨ Learn more about The Numinous Network ✨