This conversation delves into the transformative power of Ayahuasca within the context of Buddhist wisdom, exploring the feminine expression of liberation, spiritual awakening, and Earth connection through Tara—the goddess of compassion, wisdom, and protection... basically, The Infinite herself ♡

Spring Washam is a visionary leader and healer who seamlessly integrates Buddhist teachings with indigenous wisdom to foster both personal and collective liberation. I first met her at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she taught Metta (a practice that dissolves barriers of judgment and fear, fostering joy, kindness, and compassion). In 2015, I followed her to Peru, having participated in just one previous ceremony in Santa Rosa, California. Little did I know, I was in for a profound surprise—a deep spiritual immersion and a powerful meeting with my Deep Self. I was so glad to connect with Spring 10 years later on this episode for some integration and connection.

Jessica Austin was a beloved doula, storyteller, community-builder, and mother whose wisdom continues to touch countless lives. At the time of this recording, she was living with metastatic cancer while raising her one-year-old child with extraordinary courage, authenticity, and grace.

If you are moved by Jessica's sharing, you may also wish to listen to If I'm Not Here To Tell You, a podcast she created so her child could always hear her stories in her own voice. In this conversation, Jessica speaks about her decision to share it publicly as an offering to the wider community—a testament to the power of learning through real stories that hold both the beauty and heartbreak of being human.

In this episode, we explore women as storytellers and the importance of sharing birth and life experiences as collective wisdom.

Jessica reflects on:
~ Birth as a wild, instinctual, mammalian process (5 mins)
~ Birth as a communal experience and how it became medicalized and hidden behind closed doors (8 mins)
~ The ways scientific knowledge has often eclipsed community wisdom and storytelling (10 mins)
~ Why our stories matter, and how sharing them can become part of our legacy (20 mins)
~ The profound truth that your story matters (40 mins)

This conversation remains a beautiful reminder of Jessica's gift: her ability to speak honestly about life, death, motherhood, and what it means to leave something meaningful behind.

Natalie is a wisdom seeker, storyteller, movement and meditation teacher. She offers workshops and courses on ritual, earth based wisdom and embodied practice. 

Her lifelong love of natural rhythms has led to an intimate relationship with bodily movement and the exploration of our environmental influences. 

The dance of seasonal reverence, yogic practice, ancestral wisdom, home herbalism and personal ritual are all embodied within her approach to guiding and mentoring.

Enjoy ♡

After a lifetime of devotion to the ways of Mystery, Earth, Soul and Eros, her extraordinary path of Feminine Initiation has brought her to the edge of the long lost mysteries of the wild.

Here Kate serves as a guide to the mysteries of Soul by facilitating the remembrance of the Lost Arts of the Feminine. Our modern culture has banished and demonised the primordial power held within our Feminine Eros and its creative expression. We are at a time on the planet where this reclamation is not only possible, but necessary.

Kate believes that our creative life force energy, once fully embodied, is the revolutionary force that will change the world. She is devoted to creating alchemical journeys that catalyze the unfurling of the tender and powerful essence of each soul to come forth in service of re-imagining a culture rooted in true love and mythical wildness.

At essence, Kate is an Activist, Artist and Alchemist of Eros. She believes the reclamation of our feminine eros – our sexual and creative life force – IS the catalyst for our imminent cultural renaissance. She has created The Dancing Serpent Mystery School as a temple for this revolution of individual and collective awakening.

In this episode, we discuss:

~Where is our Holy Yes: How every desire is ushering ourselves closer to ourselves.

~Coming into relationship from a place of deep fulfillment.

~Feeding and tending the transpersonal in relationship.

It was such a pleasure and an honour to have this conversation with one of my spiritual teachers and the author of some of my favourite books.

She is a modern-day priestess, author, feminist, and a wise and deeply skilled leader in the art of gathering women in circle. Long before women’s circles became part of the mainstream conversation, she was helping to revive and reimagine these traditions in ways that were both psychologically grounded and spiritually meaningful.

In addition to writing the underground classic Aphrodite’s Daughters and many other powerful books, she is also known for her peacebuilding work, travelling to the Middle East to facilitate healing dialogues and women’s circles that brought together Jewish and Palestinian women in the midst of conflict.

Her bridged psychology, spirituality, feminism, and community in ways that feel as relevant today as ever!

Explore the intersection of tantra, meditation, and emotional healing with world-renowned spiritual teacher Sally Kempton. In this episode of The Alchemical Woman, we bridge the gap between ancient Vedic wisdom and contemporary psychology to discover how to move beyond emotional pain, awaken your inner Shakti, and embrace the life-force energy of Eros.

Sally Kempton, author of the best-selling books Awakening Shakti and Meditation for the Love of It, brings over four decades of experience as a teacher and former swami. Her work provides a powerful framework for anyone looking to use meditative states as a catalyst for practical life change and psychological resilience.

In this episode, we explore:

Defining Shakti: Moving beyond cultural tropes to understand the traditional Tantric definition of this primal, creative power.

Meditation as Healing: Why devotional practice is an essential tool for those looking to work with suffering in skillful, transformative ways.

The Path of Kundalini Yoga: How to use traditional yoga practices to recognize your true self and find liberation from chronic emotional pain.

Eros as Life Force: Answering the deeper questions about the Goddess Lalitha Tripura Sundari and why connecting with Eros is foundational to our vitality.

Timestamps:

02:00 – The traditional Tantric definition of Shakti and why it is necessary for spiritual progress.

19:30 – How Sally shifted her approach to yoga to focus on practical life-change and relief from emotional pain.

24:00 – The practice of Kundalini Yoga for recognizing the true self and liberating the mind from suffering.

37:30 – Exploring the erotic Goddess Lalitha Tripura Sundari and the Thousand Petal Chakra.

42:00 – Why Eros is the "life force itself" and how we can use it to feel fully alive.

Michelle Coutinho is a healer, songstress, and empowerment coach who helps spiritually conscious women and men attune to a deeper resonance with their voice, presence, and own their personal power. She is the creator of Vocal Alchemy + Embodiment, a process that rewires the energetic nervous system using the voice as a gateway to the subtle body to create a sense of lightness and expansion that releases stored trauma from the mental and emotional body and heals the psyche on a multi-dimensional level.

Dive into this episode hosted by my new associate at Wise Body Counselling, Carmen Davies!

Kate Leiper's body of work is anchored in actively exploring feminine depth, self-intimacy and devotion, catalysed by motherhood and sustained by embodied experiences of returning home to self, earth and spirit.

Through meeting and honouring grief and loss stored in the body, Kate guides mothers and nurturers into deeper relationship with personal expressions of sensuality and creativity; increasing capacity for building and sustaining wildly prosperous and pleasure-filled lives.

Bridging the realms of psychology and spirituality through the artful practice of feminine embodiment, Kate’s ‘unsMothered’ principles and Diamond Mother Archetype framework are underpinned by a Graduate Degree in Drama & Education, a Master of Counselling & Psychotherapy, internationally recognised Feminine Embodiment Coaching Certification and current teachings around somatics and trauma healing.

Holding great reverence for the fumbling, messy process of personal unravelling within a larger committment to dismantling internalised patriarchal indoctrination, Kate is committed to life-long inquiry and reclamation of bodily safety, consent, self-sovereignty, and social justice for those identifying as women, specifically in the domains of sex, birth and mothering.

Born in India and living in England, Jonita D’souza is a Feminine Lifestylist and Creatress of Exploring Femininity Ltd., assisting modern day busy women who struggle with burn-out, overwhelm and body love to reconnect with their feminine and sensual energy using the ancient Taoist and Tantric arts, so that they can create a lifestyle that is fulfilling, nurturing and pleasurable. 

Jonita believes that it is the responsibility of the 21st century women to explore their femininity, so that they can create a sustainable life for themselves, for their loved ones and for generations to come.

In this episode, we discuss:

~ What is traditional Tantra? It's not just crazy sex positions and multiple orgasms.

~ 3 golden elixirs - sound, breath and movement.

~ doing the inner work to feel beautiful.

~ I ask how she feels about me using the term Shakti as a woman of Western European decent.

Lena Dolter is an Initiatory Guide to the Feminine Mysteries, and Embodiment Expert. She specializes in guiding women to truly know who they are, to love, honor, and respect themselves, through understanding their body and the energy of their menstrual cycle. Through her work, women learn what it means to embody their inner feminine (intuitive) energy and heal the overly expressed wounded masculine (doing) energy so they know who they really are and feel empowered to express their uniqueness in the world, with deep self trust and intuitive guidance.

In this episode, we discuss:

~ Energy management vs. time management

~ Using your cycle to make empowered decisions

~ Discover what you need and when during the 4 phases of your cycle, what they represent, and how they can support you.