The Numinous Podcast

Sarah Selecky is the author of This Cake Is for The Party, a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, arguably Canada's highest literary award. The New York Times called her stories "utterly fascinating". Sarah is also the founder of the Sarah Selecky Writing School. I've always loved its tag line, Write what you want to read. I have to say, though, that I'm quite taken aback that Sarahs new novel, Radiant Shimmering Light, is exactly what I want to read. I couldn't put it down! I devoured it in two sittings stopping only to sleep. I was absolutely taken in by the story, the characters, the details and the familiarity of this work. This world is so familiar to me that when the scenes weren't totally cracking me up, it was because they were making me really uncomfortable. Radiant Shimmering Light is going to be found in the Womens Literature section of your local bookstore, what is often called ChickLit. For the past fifteen years I have read almost exclusively works of non-fiction. And I rarely wander the shelves of the bookstore looking for feel-good beach reads. But if you listen to this podcast, you need to buy this book. Sarah wrote this book for us. She gets us. She's one of us. She has written what we want to read, a story about us. Find out all about Sarah's work at sarahselecky.com

Let's talk about talking to plants. Like, really being in relationship with the plant realm. My guest today is Layla Kristy Feghali, of River Rose Apothecary. I was drawn to seek out Layla as a guest because of her beautifully soft, gentle, and sweet relationship with plants and in particular, one of my favourites, roses.

Holy moly! One hundred episodes. I am indulging quite a bit with this episode; I offer you nothing new here except some tasty cocktail recipes. The recording quality here may be unrefined but the beverage pairings are exquisite! This is me and Ruben reminiscing, sharing some of our favourite episodes from a behind-the-scenes perspective and pairing them with cocktail recipes inspired by the guest or interview content. In this episode, we refer to our upcoming workshop at Hollyhock, Ritual + Practice For The Urban Homestead. We hadn't planned to promote that retreat so much but the topics in several of our favourite episodes are quite complementary so it makes sense that we'd naturally bring that up. Maybe we'll connect with some listeners there in real life!  

Yes, Monsters. Today's topic is on the fringe of the mainstream which is ironic considering so many people have ghost stories and tales of strange and bewildering encounters with mysterious phenomena. I'm speaking again with John Michael Greer, digging a little deeper into his best selling book, Monsters: An Investigator's Guide To Magical Beings. Once again, John goes above and beyond to provide additional resources and source materials: The Mothman Prophecies Michelle Belanger - psychic vampire The Doctrine And Ritual Of High Magic: A New Translation, by John Michael Greer and Mark Anthony Mikituk The Secret Commonwealth: An Essay On The Nature And Actions Of The Subterranean (And For The Most Part) Invisible People Heretofore Going Under The Name Of Elves, Fauns And Fairies The Kybalion, by William Walker Atkinson

Sarah Kerr, PhD, is a death doula and ritual healing practitioner. I've connected with Sarah and her work a number of times and was keen to follow up with her regarding a lecture she gave on the Shamanic Archetype, (part of a series, and just one of many resources she offers on contemporary archetypal shamanism). In this conversation, I ask Sarah to explain the difference between The Priest/ess, The Shaman, and The Psychopomp as archetypes. (We also toss The Mystic in there for good measure). We consider the implications of being white women doing work that is often called "shamanic", and share our different perspectives and comfort levels around that. (It's a site of struggle for each of us in our own way). I also dig a little into a section of Sarah's dissertation, Dreams, Ritual and the Creation of Sacred Objects: An Inquiry Into A Contemporary Western Shamanic Initiation. It's a worthwhile read and this part of our dialogue will appeal to those who've long walked between the worlds but didn't know what to do about it, or have had spontaneous initiation experiences and few places to turn for support. We talk specifically about how the Shamanic Archetype is often scapegoated by society, and how one way to heal through the Journey of the Walkaway is to choose to Return as Teacher/Interpreter. Finally, Sarah shares a bit about her own initiation ritual and some personal parts that felt powerful for her. Some good ideas in there for those of us who adore that sort of thing. If you're in the Calgary area and you'd like to work with Sarah more closely on an on-going basis, you might want to check out the Calgary Community Healers' Council.

Leesa Renee Hall is a speaker, writer and tech industry veteran. I first became aware of Leesa's work when she introduced me to the notion of the "Like" fast and social media algorithms that are inherently racist. But I was fascinated when I learned she has been the organist at hundreds of funerals. In this conversation, we begin with sharing about our ancestry and some of the genealogy research we've done. We learn about Leesa's early experiences in church and how she became an organist. We discover her approach to curious inquiry and expressive writing (Why at 4:30am specifically?) and we drift into a discussion of white fragility. Be part of Leesa's Patreon community and find her excellent Writing Prompts for White Fragility.

In this episode, we're talking with popular guest, John Michael Greer, about his book, The Secret of the Temple: Earth Energies, Sacred Geometry, and the Lost Keys of Freemasonry. He explains how ancient temples around the world and from different eras are actually forms of technology that affect agricultural fertility and bind human communities in a material way with the larger forces of nature. Our conversation tours history and humanity, stopping off to look at the Temple of Solomon, the Freemasons, and his take on the two shapes of time. John also expands the function and importance of bread, blood, chanting and incense as related to temple technology. Once again, a conversation that is both broad and deep. Find all of John's 40+ books (!) here, and his essays here.

Ashley asks some great questions and Patricia (who's a veteran attending her second Quest this spring) dishes on the details. We talk about our daily agenda over the twelve days, how and why I chose this specific location for Questing, and what it's like to be on this kind of journey with my husband, Ruben, and me. Ashley asks me, How can someone know if it's time for them to go on Quest? and Why is it important to leave our familiar world to go do this soul craft work in the natural world? I go beyond the obvious answers. (It's not always because you're in transition.) Quest is happening from June 19 - July 1, 2018. Deposits are due April 1. Learn all about Quest here.

Rachael Maddox is a trauma resolution educator, coach and guide. In this conversation, she shares with us her Map of Reclamation and a generous amount of psychobiological and theoretical information about what trauma really is. Rachael generously and gently takes us through 7 core trauma wounds, what the hyper- and hypo-araoused responses (ie: inner escalation or collapse) can look like, what a more regulated (grounded, calm, empowered) response might feel like, and how we can find our way back to health and wholeness. It's an excellent overview and there's so much value offered here in her model. Rachael includes Digital Isolation as a core trauma for our age and we explore the notion of re-villaging as one potential antidote. Naturally, since we're talking about trauma in general, it's very common to have specific, personal examples come to mind – likely some part of this will be very relatable for most people. Remember to go slow: it takes the body a little while to metabolize this kind of information. Press pause, take breaks, fast forward. Listen to your body as you listen to our voices. And remember that we're real people. You can always book in with either of us if something comes up that you'd like to explore. If you'd like to go deeper with Rachael, she has a free video series called Becoming A Grown Goddess that includes topics like Trauma 101, Boundaries & Belonging, Sex After Trauma, and more. Read all about Rachael's offerings on her site, rachaelmaddox.com

This interview featuring Pinar and So Sinopoulos-Lloyd holds a special place in my heart; it's not often I meet people who speak my mind so clearly. I love them and the work they're doing with Queer Nature, a growing Colorado-based project dedicated to cultivating earth-based queer community through traditional skill-building. In this conversation, we dive deeply into the questions: why Quests? why for queer folk? why for queer youth, in particular? and why at this moment in time? Along our exploration, we pause to examine relationships between queerness and landscapes, relationships with the more-than-human world, the language of "quest", and the role of ancestral skill reclamation in dismantling and repairing the legacies of settler colonialism. (!!!) I LOVED THIS CONVERSATION. After this, read Pinar's excellent essay, Queer Futurism: Denizens of Liminality. Enjoy!