In this episode, Veronica Stanwell joins me to explore the importance of gathering in council and community to meet these increasingly chaotic times. Together, we dive into what it means to reconnect with the roundhouse—the circular dwelling of our British and Irish heritage—and the profound wisdom that emerges when we become receptive to the ancestors’ guidance.

Veronica also talks about the ancestral immersions she hosts in the Welsh rainforest, where participants gather in a reconstructed roundhouse to experience ancestral village life. We explore what happens when we sit in council with both our human and non-human kin, as a way of remedying the isolation of modernity.

Veronica offers grounded wisdom on creating meaningful community despite the demands of contemporary living, and we discuss the importance of right-relationship, reciprocity, and slowing down enough to truly listen.

In this episode, Michaela from Rooted Feminine Wellness talks about women’s bodies, women’s health, and matriarchal healing. Together, we dive into some of the stories and beliefs that have been passed down through the lineage about our bodies, and explore what it means to break free from legacies of female deprivation.

To live in a way that truly honors and nourishes our bodies is revolutionary, and heals generations of patriarchal oppression and colonial wounding. Michaela talks about this in an Irish context, and encourages women to re-write the story of starvation and unwellness, to one where we are deeply nourished, fed, and sustained.

If you’ve been struggling with burnout, chronic illness, or general feelings of fatigue and unwellness, this episode is for you. May this conversation empower you to prioritize feminine wellness and come home to your body.

In this episode, we dive into the topic of Welsh spirituality and cultural appropriation. For anyone interested in honoring their Welsh or English heritage in heartfelt and respectful ways, this episode is for you as we talk about the importance of distinguishing these two distinct cultures.

There’s currently a lot of interest in the “Celtic” traditions, which often leads people to the Welsh traditions; a culture full of myth, tradition, and spiritual teachings that bring forth a meaningful sense of ancestral connection in the modern world. However, there’s often a lack of understanding about “Celtic” spirituality that leads to cultural appropriation and misrepresentation.

Gwilym offers a grounded and meaningful explanation of these topics, while uplifting Welsh spirituality in a modern context. We also talk about history, language, myth, and the importance of transforming ourselves through the wisdom of these ancestral teachings.

There’s a lot of interest at the moment in connecting with our ancient past, and reviving the “Old Ways” of our earth-honoring ancestors. And while there’s so much we can learn from the past, it can be all too easy to romanticize or misinterpret our ancestral history. 

In this episode Sam weaves together archeology, animism and academia to demystify Britain’s ancient peoples, offering grounded insights into our native spirituality free from romantic projections. She shares beautiful wisdom about the nine elements that were honored in different Indo-European cultures, likely including the Pretanī people of ancient Britain. She also gives clear examples of how our ancestors honored these nine elements, and offers an overview of the Pretanī people as a whole; more commonly, and incorrectly, known as the “Celts”. 

If you’re someone who enjoys learning about archaeology and history from an academic perspective, along with a good dash of spirituality and mysticism, this episode is for you.

In this episode, Niall is deeply vulnerable in sharing about his own mental health journey and his discovery of what it means to be a man. He discusses the significance of the Mother Wound for men, and men’s deep longing to be initiated by the feminine. He also expresses the need for strong men who are committed to their inner healing, and becoming the men that the world needs.

Niall recognizes the disconnection between men and “feminine” principles, such as compassion and emotion. This is something that’s been programmed and bullied into men, locking down decades of fear, pain, and hurt. Many men don’t know where or how to begin healing these wounds; wounds that have a profound ripple effect into their relationship with women. We have a really potent conversion about healing the divide between men and women, looking at heterosexual relationships in particular.

In this episode, Charlotte weaves together the story of alchemy and her journey to revive the folk medicine of her lineage. Her ancestors were apothecarists for many generations before being persecuted for their knowledge; a tradition that Charlotte has lovingly reclaimed.

Although her lifelong interest in making medicines brought her to many different cultures around the world, it was in returning to the British Isles and rooting into her own heritage that she found her deepest calling.

She passionately describes connecting to the consciousness of plants as a gateway to the ancestors, and how making medicines is an ancient alchemical process with a long history in the lands we now call England, and especially in Glastonbury. She also discusses how she came to tend wells and waterways in the city of London, and reminds us that everyone can work with the sacred waters, even in urban environments.

In this episode, Lucy Ní hAodhagáin (they/she) shares how living in conscious relationship with the land has the power to revive our innate wildness, our sense of belonging, and the wisdom of the ancestors. In Lucy’s early life in Belfast, they would journey into the wild to feel a sense of safety and connection. Over time, their passion for the natural world and ancestral ways of life awakened them to the sacredness of the plants, animals, and even their own body.

In recognizing that we are inseparable from nature, Lucy teaches that decolonization and ecological repair are possible. This conversation with Lucy will inspire you to create your own relationship with the land, our more than human kin, and the foods that nourish us. Through this deep ancestral remembering we can heal our Grandmother Earth, and by returning to the earth-honoring ways of our ancestors, we can also return to ourselves.

In this episode, Laura Murphy shares wisdom about her sacred activism journey and the ways in which she harnesses the ancient Irish practice of imbas forosnai (divine inspiration) in her work to create social change. The Irish spirit is a revolutionary one, and Laura speaks about the intersection of spirituality and activism in Irish history, highlighting the lives of key figures from the Celtic Revival at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s.

Laura’s writing and poetry is at the forefront of her work, and she has become a powerful voice for Ireland’s Mother and Baby Home and Magdalene Laundry survivors after writing a letter to the Taoiseach (Ireland’s head of Parliament) which received national and international attention. She’s also a strong advocate for Palestine, and we speak about the importance of speaking up in these times.

This episode is both highly informative and deeply personal as Laura shares her initiatory experience of leaving the corporate world during a health crisis. This dark night of the soul changed her life in profound ways, setting her firmly on the path of imbas forosnai, sacred activism, and destiny.

In this episode, Carolyn Hillyer shares wisdom about living on the wild lands of Dartmoor and her process of reviving and reimagining the Proto-Celtic language; a language spoken by ancient ancestors across various parts of Europe, including the British Isles. 

Carolyn’s work has awakened in me, and many others, a sense of what our Indigenous tongue might have been before the Anglo-Saxons came. There is a bone-deep ancestral remembering that happens in the presence of the Proto-Celtic language—in the speaking, singing and listening of it—that is difficult to put into words. 

During the episode Carolyn shares a song she has written in Proto-Celtic, an ancestral prayer, and ancient rememberings she’s received from the ancestors.

Wales is a country full of legends and myths about the spiritual world; stories of sacred lakes, healing herbs, women of magic, and the mighty red dragon. The Land remembers these stories and the ancient ways of mystery and magic; traditions that have their roots in old Brythonic Britain.

There are some fierce and magical women in Wales’s ancient mythology who embody the archetype of the Witch in a variety of ways. In this episode, Mhara shares deep wisdom about some of these mythic women (such as Cerridwen, Rhiannon, and Arianrhod) and the Welsh magical traditions at large.