Be Human

We recorded this podcast during a Biodynamic Training at Esteban's farm in Costa Rica where he lives with his family. He and his wife, Jenny, have been studying Anthroposophy and sharing the wisdom of Biodynamics for decades. 

Esteban is a leading resource in Central America for this holistic approach to agriculture that goes far beyond food cultivation. 

In our conversation we spoke about creating culture, the spiritual relationship between humans and the earth and the true meaning of success. 

This man is a devoted guardian of the sacred soul of soil and carries a message that can benefit all of humanity at this time. 

A very special episode with my own beloved mother, Nancy Sophia Ruby.

In this conversation we share about her groundbreaking path as a pioneer of Yoga in the north, her newfound passion of Holotropic breath work and the cycles of life that naturally unfold for us all.

My mama is one special lady and we are both very fortunate to share such a close mother-daughter bond. This chat warmed my heart and offered a lot of useful insight from the perspective of a matriarch / forest dweller.

Learn more about Sophia's simple, soulful offerings here
https://www.rubywellnessacademy.com/

A solo episode from my heart to yours exploring the qualities and teachings of the element of fire and how it has shaped life as we know it.

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As mentioned in the episode....

Joanna Macy on the Shambhala Warrior : https://vimeo.com/191169785

Sentados con nuestro querido maestro y amigo Alejandro Tukuillpa, hemos tejido sobre los tiempos en que vivimos. Nos atrevimos a abrir una conversación sobre la realidad que afrontamos y que, en muchos sentidos, ha sido moldeada por una evolución vertiginosa. fuerza que muchos conocen como el "Patriarcado".

La perspectiva que ofrece Alejo es una visión refrescante de la importancia del fuego masculino y de cómo podemos honrarlo cuidándolo bien y comprendiendo las diferencias entre cada individuo.

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Tukuillapa es caminante de la Palabra de Origen del pueblo andino y cofundador del Ayllu Tiqsi Muyu. Ha estado acompañado de diversas tradiciones, ancianos y comunidades de todo el mundo para la restitución de la memoria de origen en su propio territorio. Situado en la base del Apu Urkunina (un antiguo volcán y el territorio donde la gran cordillera de los Andes se convierte en tres), su trabajo se basa en la gobernabilidad colectiva y la vida comunitaria, arraigadas en un templo de la Casa Madre.

A través del proceso de aprender a ser familia en este nuevo tiempo, y caminando con las plantas maestras desde los 7 años, ha viajado por el mundo acompañando procesos de despertar de la  memoria propia de acuerdo con los nuevos contextos. Camina la propuesta que los mayores nos han encomendado y cuida la palabra ancestral dentro de la palabra del nuevo tiempo.

Sitting down with our dear teacher and friend, Alejandro Sanzon, we opened a profound conversation about these times we are living in. We dared to dive in to a discord about the reality we are facing which has, in so many ways, been shaped by a dizzying force many know as the "Patriarchy". 

His perspective offers refreshing insight into the importance of the masculine fire and how we can honor it by tending it well and comprehending the differences between each individual. 

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Tukuillapa is a walker of the Word of Origin of the Andean people and co-founder of the Ayllu Tiqsi Muyu.  He has been accompanied by various traditions, elders and communities from all over the world for the restitution of the memory of origin in his own territory. Situated at the base of Apu Urkunina (an ancient volcano and the territory where the great Andes mountain range becomes three) his work is founded on community-based governability and communal living, rooted from a Mother House temple.

Through the process of learning to be a family in this new time, and walking with the master plants since he was 7 years old, he has traveled around the world, accompanying awakening processes of one's own memories in accordance with the new contexts. Walking the proposal that the elders have entrusted and taking care of the ancestral word within the word of the new time.

We continue our series of guest episodes with the magnificent Bita Zahedi Majd, a brilliant woman who shares impactful insights about how spirituality and activism are intrinsically woven. This conversation touched my heart and ignited my spirit.

In addition to philosophy, she shares some very tangible work being done with the Lakota Nation and our community, IMAGO is honored to have raised support for this cause last season. If you feel called to engage in the Lakota Small Farm project, please do! It is a beautiful and worthy cause! www.lakotasmallfarms.org 

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About Bita: 

Born in Iran and raised in Sweden, Bita has an extensive activist background in conservationism, legal advocacy, and environmental policy at the European Union as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

Her academic education is in anthropological studies at the Universities of Edinburgh (Scotland) and Gothenburg (Sweden). Bita has been a personal student of indigenous leaders, wisdom keepers, and plant medicine teachers of North & South America, India, and Africa and an active member of the Native American Church since 2007. 

As a lifelong student of Life, she is fiercely dedicated to the protection & care of all the sacred elements of the Earth – the sweetwaters, oceans, air, soil, forests, wildlife, plant medicines, biomes, children, consciousness, and First Nation peoples everywhere. 

Bita teaches "The Technology of Prayer" as well as the "Warrior & Healer Archetypes in the Tree of Life" classes at the Academy of Oracle Arts, is a co-facilitator of initiations in Egypt, and works as the Executive Director of Lakota Small Farms, as well as the co-founder and Executive Director of Center for Restoring Sovereignty in the Kingdom of Hawai’i.

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IG:
@bitabird 
@lakotasmallfarms 

www.lakotasmallfarms.org 

Season 2 of Be Human is my return after a two year hiatus during which I birthed my son and traveled with my husband creating community and studying with cultures around the world. 

This podcast is a space of exploration and conversation about what it means to Be Human and what we can learn from one another to bring more humanity into our current existence. 

It is my dream that this channel can be a source of inspiration and activation for you :) Stay tuned as we have many remarkable guests joining us this season! 

In this session, we  are graced with the wisdom of Jade Michael Dragon.

Jade is the founder of Neurosovereignty, a TEDx speaker and a student of Hermetic wisdom. In synthesizing her graduate school work in psychoneuroimmunology and deep studies of Hermetic wisdom, she has developed a program which makes the esoteric teachings easily comprehensible and applicable to daily life. She is passionate about sharing this system as she witnessed it transform her own life in a rite of passage to overcome OCD.

The final episode of our first season includes a story of Ritual Theater and how an immensely powerful experience has shaped my life in more ways than I could have ever foreseen, including a tremendous death and rebirth process that initiated my path of motherhood. 

We unpack the origins of sacred entertainment and how society has taken one of humanitie's most precious and important practices and turned it against us. 

"If you give them bread and circus on the weekend, they will work for you all week." 
An old Roman approach to controlling the public has evolved into the current state of the food and entertainment industries ~ two of the most influential and now sadly, poisonous, forces on the planet. 

Through my own journey of reclamation with Ritual Theater, where I was initiated in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, I discovered the importance of "sacred play" and how true it is that the stories we play out manifest in our real lives. 

In season 2 I will be bringing on an array of guests, many of whom I spoke of in this initial 4 episodes. 

Thanks for tuning in!

xx

Continuing our conversation around rites of passage, in this episode I share a deeply personal 
story, a journey of learning what it means to give and receive love. 

We explore the 7 steps of Alchemy and how this process is mirrored in our own lives. 

A profound heart-breaking-open experience lead my into a series of some of the greatest initiations of my life and showed me how the process of alchemy was unfolding in my own existence.

In this episode I begin to share the journey of initiation I have been on over the past few years starting with an Egyptian pilgrimage and deepening through a vision quest experience. 

As we dive further into the conversation of what it means to truly Be Human, we unpack the important role of Rites of Passage in Human culture and I present my personal experience as a reflection of how this has been such a profoundly formative part of my life.