Heathen

Hi, heathens! Even though we're in-between seasons right now, we wanted to send you some quick love at Thanksgiving. We know that with Thanksgiving often comes family, and with family—when you're a heathen—often comes a lot of discomfort, awkwardness, and downright difficult situations. So this is just a "we love you" voicemail to remind you that you are so, so not alone. When Uncle Pat puts on his MAGA hat, pop in your earbuds and spend a few minutes with us on a park bench. Here's to the heathens.

Season 2 finale. We can't believe it's been a year since Heathen started. In today's closer to season 2, we're reflecting on how we've changed and the things we learned along the way. There will be beauty, and there will be pain. Knowing and accepting this is part of our journey, and makes it possible to navigate through impossible circumstances. Thanks for traveling with us, heathens. We have big plans for season 3 and beyond, and we'll be dropping a few hints and surprises for our Patreon supporters until we hit the air again next year. Here's to the heathens.

Megan Posner grew up in a Jew-"ish" household. She shared with us stories of leading the congregation at her own bat mitzvah, birthright trips to the Holy Land, and experiences with depression and learning to care for her own mental health.

It's time to slide down another slippery slope here at Heathen. Meet Tess Meissner, certified clinical hypnotherapist and shamanic practitioner. Settle in for an enlightening conversation about how Tess helps people heal through ancient shamanic practices, breaking trances, and reconnecting with our own bodies and souls.

In this super-sized episode, Tess takes us—and you!—on a shamanic drum journey to retrieve, or meet, our power animal. We've never encountered anything quite like this trance practice that put each of us in touch with an animal we didn't expect to meet in "the lower world." You will be able to experience undergo this power animal retrieval journey yourself as you listen to today's episode. Slide down the slope with us... we're discovering some fantastic places.

Sexy selfies and provocative pictures: not something our conservative religious upbringings looked too kindly upon. But there is some magic we've missed out on in being closed-off to sensual self-admiration, as Karyn discovered when she decided to book a boudoir photography session with today's guest, Debra Alison. Together, they rip through more prudish notions and specifically call out everything that can make a little racy photo session so affirming, empowering, and maybe even a little bit... sacred.

Say hi to the heathenest pastors you'll find: ours. Kate Christensen-Martin and Colby Martin are co-founders of Sojourn Grace Collective, a podcast called The Kate and Colby Show, and four fantastic boys, among other things. They are also some of our dearest friends—dearer still after this powerful, poignant, playful conversation about their chasm-wide differences, starting a church when their marriage was on the rocks, and the incredible good that has come from the friction that they have learned to value over the years.

This is part of the Heathen/Kate and Colby Show crossover EVENT, so be sure you check out Karyn & Matthew's interview on The Kate & Colby Show this week, too!

By the time she was 25, Jennifer Knapp had gone about as high as you could go in the 1990s Christian music industry. Three records and nearly a million album sales in, she walked away. When she came back seven years later, she was ready to tell more of her story. We're so excited to bring you this conversation with Jennifer Knapp.

This week, meet Amy Canton and Clark Williams, my (Matthew's) sister and brother. I couldn't be prouder of them, or more excited for you to hear about our shared history and their own personal journeys out of religious trauma. The conversation took some very unexpected turns: parts of our own stories were rewritten in real time as we shared and learned new information about major moments in each other's lives that we didn't know until they were said out loud on this recording. It was simply a gift, and there is so much here to give anyone with religious pain and trauma hope and a guidepost on the path toward healing.

In our ongoing commitment to explore *all* the territory religious fundamentalism won't, it's time for a new Sexisode! Welcome James Johansen, a sex therapist with a special interest in polyamory and non-monogamy. This conversation is about understanding eroticism vs. intimacy, agency over our own bodies, and the ethical way to have sex, no matter whether you choose monogamy or something more open. Ready to stretch a little, heathens? Let's get sexy.

Sometimes you can't find the thing you need, so you have to make it yourself. After years of deconstruction and reshaping of her faith, Crystal Cheatham found herself wanting a place to find inclusive, queer-affirming, non-gendered writings—and Bibles—that she could use in her own spiritual practice. But the resources out there weren't willing hear her pitch. So, she became a resource herself. Founder of OurBibleApp and host of her own podcast called Lord Have Mercy—which deals with God, sex, and the Bible—Crystal is someone you need to know about, and we're happy to make the introduction.