by Kendra Ward
a podcast and gathering place for stories of embodied ecology. What happens when we rub on the body of the earth, how does it brush back against us? There is a certain fidelity required when we return over and over again to be shaped, imagined even, by the beings, the weather, the land forms, and the elemental powers where we live. Let us seek: intimacy across language, intimacy across culture, intimacy across species, intimacy across consciousness.
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October 17, 2023
<p>Welcome to the world of Microanimism with microbiologist, independent scholar, and ritualist, Siv Watkins, PhD. Siv introduces us to the enigmatic yet ordinary realm of microorganisms, with whom humans have been entangled with since our very beginnings. She says that “the microbial world dares us to identify our human selves within the rest of the living and dying world.”</p> <p>Listening to Siv, I could feel the crisp lines of my human-centric viewpoint get wondrously blurry. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation:</p> <ul> <li>As a young girl, Siv had an intense fear of throwing up and inquisitively threw herself into learning about the dynamics of vomiting, which in turn led her to study pathogenic organisms, toxins, viruses and so on.</li> <li>Every human simultaneously has a unique microbiome and individual relationship with the smalls, while also sharing a connection to the vast, collective ancestral realms of the microbial universe.</li> <li>We hold a misunderstanding of some kind of universal benevolence about the smalls which is just as unhelpful as thinking that they are all out to hurt us. We live in a “kaleidoscopic universe with a range of beings who have a variety of temperaments.”</li> <li>It is impossible to make sweeping generalizations about the microbial universe; they are a bunch of promiscuous sorcerers, genetically switching, swapping, merging, some doubling every 20 minutes, others lying still in the earth's crust neither growing or dividing.</li> <li>Living in a highly faceted universe, so much is unknown and uninterrogated by humanity. If we want to push the boundaries of our limitations we must be willing to explore the more esoteric aspects of scientific understanding, while also respecting the mystery and all that is unattainable to our human understanding.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong>More about Siv Watkins, PhD:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.microanimism.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Microanimism">Microanimism:</a> a platform created by Siv to examine how human beings and human culture engage with microbial organisms</p> <p><a href="https://www.microanimism.com/onlinecourses" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Microanimism Online Courses">Microanimism Online Courses:</a> Thinking Like a Plague, Microbiological Dark Matter, And So Ad Infinitum (Microanimism Trilogy) Instagram</p> <p><a href="https://www.microanimism.com/microanimism-interviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="interviews">Other Microanimism interviews to check out</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Resources:</strong></p> <p><strong><a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/kendraward" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Kendra’s Book Recommendations">Kendra’s Book Recommendations</a></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-contain-multitudes-the-microbes-within-us-and-a-grander-view-of-life-ed-yong/6435303?ean=9780062368607" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="I Contain Multitudes">I Contain Multitudes</a> – Ed Yong </strong> </p> <p><strong><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/animism-respecting-the-living-world-graham-harvey/12864067?ean=9780231137010" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Animism">Animism: Respecting the Living World</a> – Graham Harvey</strong> </p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro2108-c1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reasons to Include Viruses in the Tree of Life</a> (scientific article)</strong> </p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-microbial-species-are-dark-matter/#:~:text=Just%20as%20most%20of%20the,been%20grown%20in%20a%20laboratory.&text=Microbes%20are%20the%20most%20abundant%20life%2Dform%20on%20Earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Most Microbial Species are Dark Matter</a> (Scientific American article)</strong> </p> <p><strong><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.2005358" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How the Microbiome Challenges Our Sense of Self </a>(scientific article)</strong></p>
September 16, 2023
<p>The migrating birds know. The slowing, dying bumble bees know. The gnarled, wild pear tree knows, its fruit thumping to the earth. Something has been released, a heaviness is settling into our limbs, the tree’s limbs, the earth’s limbs. The cosmic axis has shifted, moving us into what is potentially one of the most challenging transitions of the seasonal wheel.<span style="font-weight: 400;"> In this episode we explore all things Earth Element: in our bodies, in our minds, how have we been digesting our world? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span>We</span> also wonder...</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">What do our animal bodies know about this time of year. How does the Earth element live in us? How can we take our cues on how to live from the more-than-human beings around us?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">How might we be more discerning about our digestion and what is truly nourishing?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">How does looping, excessive thinking, or worry act as a psychological knottniness, not only in our minds but also within our bodies?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">How does the Earth element help us better know how to love, nourish, and mother ourselves? </span>What does soul soaked deep nourishment feels like, and how do we really get ourselves full?</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong>Mentioned Book:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/braiding-sweetgrass-for-young-adults-indigenous-wisdom-scientific-knowledge-and-the-teachings-of-plants-robin-wall-kimmerer/17864406?ean=9781728458991" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Braiding Sweetgrass (for Young Adults)">Braiding Sweetgrass (for Young Adults)</a> by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Monique Gray Smith, Nicole Neidhardt</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Five Element Resources:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Change-Mary-Saunders/dp/0615931456/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1B9ZKPPJPIMEL&keywords=rhythms+of+change&qid=1658858276&s=books&sprefix=rhythms+of+chan%2Cstripbooks%2C89&sr=1-1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rhythms of Change</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by Mary Saunders</span></p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/five-spirits-alchemical-acupuncture-for-psychological-and-spiritual-healing-lorie-eve-dechar/10569204?ean=9781590560921" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Five Spirits"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Five Spirits</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by Lorie Dechar</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/in-our-element-using-the-five-elements-as-soul-medicine-to-unleash-your-personal-power-lindsay-fauntleroy/17494504?ean=9780738770543" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="In Our Element">In Our Element</a> by Lindsay Fauntleroy</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><strong>Earth Element Resources:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/mindful-eating-a-guide-to-rediscovering-a-healthy-and-joyful-relationship-with-food-revised-edition-jan-chozen-bays/9760058?ean=9781611804652" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Mindful Eating">Mindful Eating</a> by Jan Chozen Bays</span></p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/savor-mindful-eating-mindful-life-thich-nhat-hanh/8991501?ean=9780061697708" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Savor">Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life</a> by Thich Nhat Hanh</p> <p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Compassion-Learning-Yourself-Practice/dp/0525522832/ref=pd_bxgy_img_sccl_1/131-5776906-9493905?pd_rd_w=JaHNx&content-id=amzn1.sym.7757a8b5-874e-4a67-9d85-54ed32f01737&pf_rd_p=7757a8b5-874e-4a67-9d85-54ed32f01737&pf_rd_r=KGGWYA0RZTTSMSCJSRMK&pd_rd_wg=VGdTe&pd_rd_r=2cc0f777-dcbd-49f2-b2f7-808429194a17&pd_rd_i=0525522832&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Radical Compassion">Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and the World with the Practice of RAIN</a> by Tara Brach</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Fire Spirit Question:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The spirit question of the Earth element asks: What does it mean to nourish ourselves well?</span></p>
August 13, 2023
<p>I’d call it Beth Stephens superpower: creating spaces that help women cherish the messy, mucky, imperfect wholeness of themselves. As an Ecopyschologist, Beth guides women through journeys of deep self-inquiry, working with nature while remembering themselves as a part of nature. Our conversation beautifully weaves through questions such as, why are we humans the only species who seem to have forgotten their essential completeness and what does it mean to get out of our own way so that mystery can dream through us?</p> <p>These inquiries were quite slippery, but I felt like Beth did a beautiful job allowing them the complexity and respect they required. Here are a few more highlights from our conversation:</p> <ul> <li>Beth grounds us in place at her home in Suffolk, a land of flat marshes, vast skies, salt-licked trees and raw coastline. One of the reasons she loves this place so much is because “it is a land that does not give up her stories easily.” Mystery and melancholy palpably linger in the many layers of battle history and suppressed sacred sites that live deep in the ground of Suffolk.</li> <li>Ecotherapy is “a journey that invites people to reconnect with their wholeness, exploring all that it means to be human and reclaiming any parts we may have banished in order to fit into Western culture.” Ecotherapy may involve eco-somatic practices, creative expression, dream work, conversations with other-than-humans, or working with archetypes and deep imagery.</li> <li>Returning to the muck and the mess of our earthly entanglements is a relief; we can finally relax into our lives as they are. What a relief to stop all of the striving and instead allow ourselves grace in the disordered complexity. Here there is a deep honoring of the authenticity of nature and of ourselves being a part of nature.</li> <li>When we court Mystery, we see everything as an expression of Earth’s dreaming. Perhaps we can practice getting out of our own way and allow Mystery to dream through us, the same way it dreams through Oak, Snake, Thrush, and all of the rest of life.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong>More about Beth Stephens:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://nature-in-mind.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Nature in Mind">Nature in Mind</a>: Beth's website</p> <p><a href="https://nature-in-mind.co.uk/ecotherapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Ecotherapy">Ecotherapy</a>: 1-1 ecotherapy for all humans</p> <p><a href="https://nature-in-mind.co.uk/rewilding-for-women" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Rewilding for Women">Rewilding for Women</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/nature__in__mind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Instagram">IG nature_in_mind</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.naturalacademy.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Natural Academy">Natural Academy</a>: accredited training in Ecopsychology (and Beth's alma mater)</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Resouces:</strong></p> <p><strong><a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/kendraward" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Kendra’s Book Recommendations">Kendra’s Book Recommendations</a></strong></p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/rilke-s-book-of-hours-love-poems-to-god-anita-barrows/587089?ean=9781594481567" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Rilke's Book of Hours">Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God</a></p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/soulcraft-crossing-into-the-mysteries-of-nature-and-psyche-bill-plotkin/6894514?ean=9781577314226" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Soulcraft">Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche</a> by Bill Plotkin</p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/wild-mind-a-field-guide-to-the-human-psyche-bill-plotkin/10949549?ean=9781608681785" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Wild Mind">Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche</a> by Bill Plotkin</p> <p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/ecopsychology-restoring-the-earth-healing-the-mind-allen-d-kanner/17314957?ean=9780871564061" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Ecopsychology">Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind</a> edited by Theodore Roszak</p>
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a podcast and gathering place for stories of embodied ecology.
What happens when we rub on the body of the earth, how does it brush back against us?
There is a certain fidelity required when we return over and over again to be shaped, imagined even, by the beings, the weather, the land forms, and the elemental powers where we live.
Let us seek: intimacy across language, intimacy across culture, intimacy across species, intimacy across consciousness.
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