The Numinous Podcast

I'm thrilled to be speaking with Lori Lambert Williams today about Controlled Remote Viewing – a protocol to access the subconscious and determine information about any location, person, or thing anywhere at any time. Remote Viewing is a technique commonly associated with intuition, but actually has its military roots both in Russia and the US. Much research around Remote Viewing has been funded by the Pentagon and developed by the Stanford Research Institute. Lori has been a professional remote viewer and teacher since 1996. Her classes and trainings are available online at intuitivespecialists.com  

Stephanie Papik is an indigenous Inuit woman, experienced facilitator and program manager, current Director of Indigenous Relations and stakeholder Engagement for a division of the government of British columbia, as well as fibre artist and entrepreneur. What strikes many people upon first meeting Stephanie, probably second after her big warm smile, are her beautiful facial tattoos. I was so pleased she agreed to come on the show and talk about what these tattoos mean to her and to her Inuit culture. Check out the show notes at carmenspagnola.com for links to all the resources mentioned in this episode.

Elizabeth Brown is a master dowser and author of DOWSING: The Ultimate Guide For The 21st Century. Her storied career includes the co-founding and running of a geopathic stress consultancy, she has studied with two former presidents of the British Society of dowsers, and has trained in remote viewing and more. Plus, she comes from a family lineage of water dowsers. In this episode, Elizabeth helps us understand the history and science behind dowsing including the sometimes surprising involvement of the Catholic Church. We discuss whether pendulums are as effective as rods, and the importance of finding your niche as a dowser. (We can't all be experts at everything, right?) She also explains what a session with her entails and helps me get a sense of what's affecting my nasal congestion.

Sarah Kerr is a death doula and ritual healing practitioner. She work with dying people and their families, as well as families navigating the death of a pet, and also lectures and teaches about death care and the healing power of ritual. Sarah perviously appeared on the podcast in episode 98: Priestess, Shaman, Mystic Scapegoat. The most incredible thing happened during the taping of this episode. Precisely what I was asking Sarah advice around happened...to her. This episode is dedicated to Sarah's deceased cat, Luna, and all those who are suffering grief over the death of a beloved animal, or tree friend, or natural landscape. Sarah generously wrote about her experience on her blog. In this episode, we talk about the nuts and bolts of dying well, (are there things you should or shouldn't say to a dying person?), being a death doula (how do you manage your energy being in such intense environments?), and ways to honour the death of animals and trees.  

How do you know if you're in a cult? And, how does an open society confront propaganda, brainwashing, and the rise of fascism? That's the undercurrent of this conversation with noted cultic studies expert, Alexandra Stein, PhD. Alexandra Stein is a writer and educator specializing in the social psychology of ideological extremism and other dangerous social relationships. She brings an extraordinary lens to cultic studies with her attachment-based approach, which helps us understand how an average person – privileged and educated, even – can fall under the influence of a high-demand group.  

Pashta MaryMoon is a death doula, a Wiccan, a Quaker, and a longtime fan of Jesus. In fact, before we get to our conversation on death and dying, Pashta gives us a revealing tour of her early spirituality – a syncretic blend of earthy paganism, deep devotional relationship with Jesus as brother/lover/son, kinship with Mary Magdalene, and Wiccan god/goddess themes. To say she's a singular presence is understatement. Pashta has been a compassionate radical her whole life. She is a longtime grassroots organizer including anti-nuclear activism in the '80s, and frontline support worker during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the '90s, with a current focus on death care alternatives in Canada.

I'm delighted to welcome back to the podcast, Tiffany Śwxeloselwet Joseph, to talk adapting to catastrophic collapse. Tiffany tells us stories about bees, salmon, orcas and humans, and her main strategy for collapse resilience: cultivating beauty inside and out. Go here to read and share the story of SEMSEMÍYA    Learn more about Tiffany and how you can work with her or invite her to your gathering.

Welcome back to the show for the sixth time, peak oil expert and author, John Michael Greer. In this episode, we're celebrating the tenth anniversary of John's seminal book, The Long Descent: A User's Guide To The End Of The Industrial Age.  John explains the concept of Catabolic Collapse, why apocalypse scenarios are problematic and the hopium of political will and green utopias just as much so. I ask him about useful viable professions in collapse scenarios and how to choose where to live. Finally, John gives us three steps for personal preparation to face the deindustrial age. Read the full article: Peak Oil Advice From German Poets

Patti Elledge is a Trauma Healing Specialist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with a private practice in Asheville, NC. She's my supervisor and mentor and I'm here to tell the world: I love her and I think everyone should have more Patti in their life. I want that for you. You deserve some Patti. In this conversation, Patti explains what Attachment is, what different Attachment styles look like in babies and how that translates in adulthood, the role of Evolutionary Biology in our Attachment systems, and how we can heal attachment wounds in a world of persistent precarity, climate change, and social turmoil. I particularly enjoyed hearing Patti's thoughts on grief, rage, and how Attachment shows up in our spiritual lives. Here are the resources Patti noted in this interview: Mary Main Mary Ainsworth John Bowlby Joanna Macy Peter Levine and Somatic Experiencing Stephen Porges and the Polyvagal System (YouTube) Allan Schore and the Good Enough Mother Portrait Of A Marriage: Yes, It's Mine (the article mentioned that I wrote) Learning To See In The Dark Amid Catastrophe: An Interview With Deep Ecologist Joanna Macy Patti specializes in somatic healing techniques via organic, instinctual ways of the body and psyche, allowing for more connection with self and other and the emergence of creativity and spirituality. Patti credits her training by Peter Levine, Diane Poole Heller and Raja Selvam.  She has assisted more than 40 trainings worldwide and now teaches Diane Poole Heller's pioneering work DARe, (Dynamic Attachment Re-Patterning Experience). Patti has specialized in therapeutic application of neuroscience for 40 years and has a broad background in early development (interpersonal, social/emotional, language and cognition), sensory processing disorders, self- and co-regulatory processes and the neurobiology of stress and trauma. While Patti's work is grounded in current day research on the neurobiology and physiology of the human stress mechanism, it is also infused with embodied intuition and a compassionate heart. You can reach Patti at: www.pattiatlarge.blogspot.com https://dianepooleheller.com/teachersproviders/ https://sepractitioner.membergrove.com/member-details.php?id=1388

My guest today is author, speaker and consultant, Monique Gary Smith. We're talking about Territorial Acknowledgements, a small act of Reconciliation that is spreading beyond the borders of our province and country. When I committed a few years ago to incorporating acts of Reconciliation into my personal and professional life, I began inviting elders (of all ages) to open all of my retreats and workshops with a Territorial Acknowledgement. When I was invited to give a speech, or lead a networking event, or any kind of circle, I would also verbally acknowledged the traditional occupants of the territory, wherever I went. And if I travelled outside of my region to go on Quest or a spiritual retreat, I would reach out to the local band or tribal office to find out more about the land and the ancestors from that place. But I only learned how to do this because my friend, Monique, guided and re-directed me again and again. In this episode, Monique shares some ideas for how any person wanting to incorporate this small act of Reconciliation into their life or work might begin in a good way. MoniqueGraySmith.com Truth And Reconciliation Commission Of Canada: 94 Calls To Action