Dear one -

Imagine for a moment you’re young and walking naked through the world. You feel everything on your skin, the broiling sun, the pounding rain, the gentle breeze, the cold sleet. You feel so alive it’s overwhelming. You try running but things just come at you faster. You try fighting but you feel so small compared to the immensity of the forces of nature. You curl up into a ball, trying to make yourself as small as possible, to feel as little as possible.

All of a sudden, a hero arrives. Somehow the hero builds walls all around you, a fort of safety, and then the hero stands at the door to the fort with a shield and sword, acting as gatekeeper and contact with the outside world, reporting to you and responding on your behalf. In the safety of this fort, with little to have to deal with, you grow.

But what kind of life are you growing into?

Now imagine that young, naked version of you - overwhelmed by the forces at play in your life - and imagine instead of a hero, a guide. And instead of a fort, defended with shield and sword, this guide carries a walking stick, a lantern, a cloak to shelter you. No longer naked and alone, the guide proceeds to introduce you to the forces of nature. They may still be bigger than you, but they have names, faces. Your guide teaches you how to find the nourishment you need, how to shelter yourself, how to grow into the force of nature you are, in relationship with the forces of nature around you. A tree doesn’t need a fort, just some bark and roots, and it stays true to its innate impulse while being shaped by the forces outside of it. A bird needs only a nest, its song, and its wings to stay true while flowing with the elements.

How does this life feel in comparison?

The difference in these two imagined lives is one of culture.

In the first, we filter everything through our intellect and view ourselves as separate from life. We live constantly under a sense of threat and fragility (and to some extent we are). There is a richness and nourishment denied us and some aspect of our soul, our wild, untamed nature, shrivels and goes dormant. Patterns get set once and stay.

In the second, we can stay connected without being overwhelmed because elders are there to guide us in skill-building and developing animistic relationship with life. We’re more resilient and adaptive, able to ebb and flow with the cycles, finding the nourishment we need. The forces of nature are not smaller or gentler, but our relationship with them is more collaborative. We don’t perceive ourselves as powerless and in need of protection from our own selves.

When I say my work is culture work, this is what I mean.

When I ask on my podcast, “in these times we find ourselves in, how do we be more human?” this is the culture shift I’m exploring.

When I invite you around the fire with me, I’m inviting you out of the fort and into the roundhouse, into the ceremonial clearing - I’m inviting you into a space with a different kind of culture.

Today’s newest podcast conversation with Jen Murphy explores the early Irish cultural framework, one more similar to our second example, and rich in wisdom and spirit.

Jen is an Irish woman descended from a lineage of storytellers and wisdom keepers on her maternal line; and creator of Celtic Embodiment, a cutting-edge modality that fuses the ancient wisdom of Celtic Mythology with the emerging field of Feminine Embodiment Coaching to transform modern life for women.

Her fascination with the natural coalescence between our ancestral myths and our bodies as a potent brew to reclaim our sovereign power, brings forth musings on culture, story, language, mythical ancestors, and place. 

Together, we explore:

• the indispensability of story and arts in early Irish society; 
• the differences between oral and written traditions and what that means for culture;
• language as a means of accessing the lore stored in the land;
• place vs non-place and broader issues of cultural displacement;
• the Irish understanding of the three cauldrons of the body;
• our bodies as sites of reclamation and eldering;
• what the Irish sovereignty goddess and mature king have to teach us about personal and collective right relationship…

and more.

If you’re someone who sees how we got here, knows things need to change, and is curiously looking around for examples, recipes, threads to alchemize into new possibilities for our culture and our future, join us around this fire. You’re in for  a potent, enlightening, and inspiring conversation. 

May it spark a remembering from within your own body and the wisdom of your mythical ancestors; a remembering between you and the guide with the cloak and staff, rather than the soldier barricading the door.

Listen wherever you find your podcasts or watch on YouTube .

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And consider supporting me and the podcast, as a hub of ancestral remembering, and a ceremonial gathering space; a place of seeding and nurturing animistic culture and aliveness; by joining Patreon and checking out our monthly online community circles.

With much love,

Kate

P.S. I steward big visions for the podcast community, all centered around the idea of gathering around the fire and engaging in soul and life-drenched conversations; befriending the numinous; and changing the world by changing how we’re in relationship with it. Becoming a patron for as little as $1/ month helps this vision come alive on the earth. May it be so.

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