In this episode, I sit down with
Sahar Kaur, a decolonial womb educator whose work lives at the intersection of menstrual health, ancestral memory, and identity.
We talk about how her path into womb education grew from a desire to return to grounded, lived wisdom, not spiritual trends or aesthetics, but knowledge rooted in lineage, culture, and survival. Sahar shares how Traditional Persian Medicine informs her work, and what it actually means to decolonize menstrual care: making it accessible, culturally relevant, and responsive to real lived conditions.
We explore herbal support for menstrual cycles and grief, including gol-e gāv-zabān (borage), traditionally used to calm the nervous system and tend heartbreak. Sahar reflects on her work with displaced and refugee women, and how womb education shifts when survival, migration, and instability are part of someone’s reality.
We close with a powerful conversation about the Kurdish serpent goddess Shahmaran (the protector, healer, and symbol of feminine wisdom) and how her mythology connects to womb space, surrender, and ancestral remembering.
About SaharSahar is a decolonized womb health educator working at the intersection of cyclicity, identity, and ancestral memory. A daughter of ancient Elam and Bactria (early cradle civilizations of what is now Iran and Afghanistan) her work honors the womb as a site where memory, lineage, and truth are held.Through independent research in traditional Persian medicine, she is reviving ancestral menstrual wisdom and womb rituals erased by colonial history. Her work invites women — especially those from the SWANA region — to reconnect with womb health as cultural inheritance rather than aesthetic spirituality.
In this episode, we explore...- Decolonizing menstrual education
- Womb memory and ancestral identity
- Herbal support for grief and menstrual cycles
- Cultural reclamation in healing spaces
- Working with displaced and refugee women
- Kurdish Shahmaran mythology and serpent wisdom
- Feminine surrender and embodied knowledge
Mentioned in this episode:- 🎧 Episode: Celebrating Yalda with Shahmaran
- 🎧 Episode: Knitting as Ancestral Memory
- 📖 Shahmaran: A Wintering Spent with the Queen of Serpents (zine)
- 📺 Shahmaran teleision series
- 🤝 Nisaba: the refugee women’s organization Sahar mentions
- 📚 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
A note on language & inclusivityIn this episode, we sometimes use the word “women” when talking about womb health and menstrual cycles. However, the wisdom we discuss is expansive: it applies to anyone who identifies as a womxn or femme, as well as anyone who has or has had a menstrual cycle.
Even if that’s not your experience, traditional Persian teachings about cycles, rest, and grief offer healing insights that can support anyone. This conversation is meant to be inclusive, honoring the many ways people relate to their bodies and to this knowledge.
Connect with SaharYou can find Sahar on Instagram and join her Diasp'AURA Telegram community
Holiday Guidebooks & Community AccessI create seasonal Iranian holiday guidebooks that explore ritual, remembrance, and ancestral practice. The Esfandegan guidebook focuses on devotion to the earth and to womxn & femmes, and honoring the Mother Earth goddess Spenta Armaiti through Iranian tradition.
If you are a member of Dard-e Del, an online Iranian grief circle and community space I facilitate 3x a month, you receive access to all of these guidebooks free as part of your membership. The intention is to make cultural and ritual knowledge communal, as something we return to together, not practice alone.
If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...
- Leave me a 90 second voice note
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Learn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.com
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🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân
