Finding Refuge

This episode is so special because you get to listen to a sneak peek of the introduction to You Are Protected: Invoking Spiritual Support to Sustain Your Energy. The book comes out on September 15th. Pre-order it today, and you'll receive special gifts. 

And sign up for the Year of Rituals at a discounted rate. Between now and September 15th, you will receive a discount on this special series! All the details can be found here:

Many blessings, and blessed be.

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript

Enjoy this conversation with Liza Rankow, author of Soul Medicine for a Fractured World.

Liza J. Rankow, PhD, MHS, is an interfaith minister, educator, activist, and author. Her lifework centers the deep healing that is essential to personal and social transformation. She is the founder and former executive director of OneLife Institute, which for almost 20 years nurtured the well-being of frontline changemakers. Liza has been a spiritual counselor and teacher for over three decades. Her new book is Soul Medicine for a Fractured World: Healing, Justice & the Path of Wholeness.

During our interview, we discuss all things medicinal. We talk about life and death. The sacred. Our deep connection with the earth. Justice tending and weaving, and the remaking of the world. 

The Finding Refuge Podcast is back for a special summer episode. I sat with my comrades and colleagues, Amy, Rebby, Stephanie, and Tema (in spirit), to have a conversation about the turn of the wheel and the elemental energy of fire. We talk about all the powers fire has to burn, purify, transform, shed, clear, and ignite. Enjoy the podcast and stay tuned for the next elemental energy podcast, once the wheel turns again to fall! 

The Finding Refuge Podcast is back for a moment. I sat with my comrades and colleagues, Rebby, Stephanie, and Tema to have a conversation about the turn of the wheel and the elemental energy of air. We talk about breath, life, the winds of change, and air as a transformative element and energy. Enjoy the podcast and stay tuned for the next one when the wheel turns again to summer.

Aimée Cartier is a professional psychic who has been doing readings for those who are at a crossroads or want direction on what choices serve their highest good since 2007. She is known for her clear accurate insight, her attention to practical details, and her compassionate guidance. 

With her practical, down to earth, story-telling style, she’s been guiding others through speaking and teaching events to pay attention to their own intuition and recognize all the ethereal support that is always available to them since 2010. 

She's the author of the book, “Getting Answers: Using Your Intuition to Discover Your Best Life." She founded her Intuitive University in 2015 and teaches intuition and empath programs for those who are ready to leave doubt behind and thrive with the help of their own innate inner knowing. 

She is also the host of the Own Your Intuition podcast where she tells true stories and gives tools to inspire others to honor the wisdom they’ve got inside. 

In this special episode, we discuss:

Understanding psychic abilities
Intuitive guidance
Connecting with your Highest Self
Listening
Metamorphosis
Returning to Self
Nature
The natural order
Collaboration and connection

Connect with Aimée on her website or on Facebook or Instagram @aimeecartier.

Download two free offerings from Aimée:

A Simple Tool for Determining Your Best Choice

How to Tell If It Is Your Intuition Speaking

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript

Yetta Myrick is the mother of a young adult son diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability. She is the Founder and President of DC Autism Parents (DCAP), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the District of Columbia.  Ms. Myrick has served as the CDC’s Act Early Ambassador to the District of Columbia since 2016, led the DC COVID-19 Response Team from 2020-2022, and is currently leading the DC Act Early Team. In 2022, she co-authored and self-published, "Mr. Marshall’s Block Party".  Ms. Myrick leads the DC Autism Collaborative’s Developmental Monitoring, Screening, and Evaluation Subgroup, co-leads the Family Advisory Group, Outreach and Education Subgroup, and the Community Resources and Support Subgroup.  She serves as the Parent Educator/Advocate on the ECHO Autism HUB Team at Children’s National Hospital. Ms. Myrick co-leads the “Family Voices United to End Racism Against CYSHCN and Families” Project and served as the Co-Investigator for the “Building Capacity in the African American ASD Community for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research” Project funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award.  In 2021, she was appointed to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, J.D.  Additionally, Ms. Myrick is a member of the DC Developmental Disabilities Council and was awarded the 2024 Advocate in Equity Award by the DC Developmental Disability Awareness Month Planning Committee.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication Studies from The Catholic University of America.

In this special episode, we discuss:

Practice
Taking care of yourself to know yourself
Benefits of rest
Resting practices
Yoga off the mat
Self-study
Both/And
Purpose
Systems of marginalization
Normalizing disability

Connect with Yetta on her nonprofit’s website and download the Rest to Create Change Toolkit.

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript

Donna is an Author, International Yoga Teacher and Educator, Speaker, Facilitator, and Wellbeing Coach. She is also the Founder of Curvesomeyoga. Donna is passionate about making the yoga and wellbeing spaces more inclusive and diverse so that everybody can experience the transformational benefits of yoga. 

She has written for and featured in countless digital and print publications such as Red Magazine, HuffPost, Yoga Journal, OmYoga & Lifestyle Magazine, Elephant Journal, Thrive Global and Stylist Magazine. She has also been on BBC Radio London and Channel Four TV. 

Her debut book ‘Teaching Body Positive Yoga’ was published by Singing Dragon in August 2022. 

In this special episode, we discuss:

Listening to intuition
Deeping connection to intuition
Diversity in yoga
Accessibility in yoga
Yoga as change
Community
Writing
The “why” of yoga
Yoga in everything  

Connect with Donna on her website or on Instagram @donnanobleyoga.

You can purchase Donna’s book, Teaching Body Positive Yoga, at a discount using the code DNPOD10. This code is valid from May 3rd, 2024 to May 6th, 2024.

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript

The enigmatic Mache Chache, is an Houngan Asogwe (Haitian Vodou High Priest), Shaman, and Conjurer, whose spiritual prowess and ancestral lineage have captivated the hearts and minds of seekers worldwide. With an innate connection to the ethereal realms, Mache has emerged as a guiding light in the realm of spirituality. 

From a tender age, Mache’s extraordinary gifts were evident, drawing attention from those who recognized the depth of his spiritual insight. Embracing his destiny, he embarked on a journey of self-discovery, honing his skills under the tutelage of esteemed mentors and teachers. Through years of dedicated study and practice, Mache Chache is rising to become a revered spiritual figure in this generation. 

As the owner of Kindred Spirits, one of North Carolina's oldest & most esteemed spiritual and metaphysical establishments, Mache Chache offers a sanctuary for those seeking solace, guidance, and transformation. Through spiritual tools & services, including divinations/readings, consultations, and ritual work—they empower individuals to tap into their inner wisdom and navigate the intricate tapestry of life. 

Mache Chache's path as a priest and spiritual guide has been one of profound significance, marked by moments of enlightenment, challenges, and incredible enrichment. Rooted in the rich traditions of occult mysticism, Southern Conjure, Indigenous Shamanism & Haitian Vodou, he has cultivated a deep reverence for the spirits and an unwavering belief in the interconnectedness of all beings. 

His impact extends far beyond the confines of his personal spiritual practice. Through his teachings, mentorship, writings, and public speaking engagements, Mache Chache has become a beacon of inspiration, illuminating the path for countless individuals seeking purpose, healing, and spiritual awakening. 

With an unwavering commitment to authenticity and integrity, he invites us to embark on a transformative journey, where the boundaries between the physical and spiritual realms blur, and the true essence of our being is revealed. Mache’s wisdom and guidance serve as a reminder of the boundless potential that resides within each of us. He stands as a testament to the power of connection, the resilience of the human spirit, and the transformative magic that lies within our grasp.

In this special episode, we discuss:

Liminality
Balancing
Ascension
Bringing medicine back
Compassion
Embodying our humanness 
Spiritual Hygiene
Patterns of energy
Ritual cleaning
The power of awareness

Connect with Mache on his website on Instagram @mache.chache77

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript

Karine Bell, MSC, SEP, is the founder and co-dreamer for the Rooted Global Village. She's a bi-cultural Black woman, a speaker, somatics educator, practitioner, somatic abolitionist, and scholar-activist in training focused on deepening an understanding of the impacts of trauma and oppression on our lives, and liberatory and decolonial frameworks and traditional/indigenous approaches to trauma healing and community building. The most important thing you could know about her today is that she feels most authentic, most joyful, when living from the heart. She embraces curiosity and wonder as compass points and embraces research as an act of reverence for, and curiosity about, life. Her love and dedication to her children fuel a fire for this orientation. She believes in the healing made possible at the personal and collective level by the work we do through transforming experience in our bodies today. She combines continued practice and study in somatics with studies in decolonial depth psychology with a focus on community, liberation, indigenous and eco-psychologies at Pacifica Graduate Institute.

In this special episode, we discuss:

Parenting
Creation and destruction
Birthing
Surrender
Deep earth activism
Communities of care
Trust
Listening to the body
Discernment
Pausing
Meditation
Perimenopause

Connect with Karine on her website or on Instagram @tending.the.roots

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript

Naomi Ortiz (they/she) explores the cultivation of care and connection within states of stress. Reimagining our relationship with land and challenging who is an environmentalist in the Arizona U.S./Mexico borderlands, is investigated in their new poetry/essay collection, Rituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice. Their non-fiction book, Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice, provides informative tools and insightful strategies for diverse communities on addressing burnout. Nominated and selected as a 2022 Disability Futures Fellow and a 2021-2023 Reclaiming the US/Mexico Border Narrative Grant Awardee, they emphasize interdependence and spiritual growth through their poetry, writing, facilitation, and visual art. 

In this special episode, we discuss:

Slowing down
What makes a good life
Care work
Storytelling
Dissonance
Relationship with the land
Acknowledging and honoring capacity
Refuge and synchronicity

Connect with Naomi on their website or on Instagram @naomiortizwriterartist

Learn more about Naomi’s books, Sustaining Spirit: Self Care for Social Justice and Rituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice

Podcast music by Charles Kurtz

+ Read transcript