Gone Bush is a legitimate phrase (and complete sentence) in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

The In Our Nature podcast will be back for another season in 2026. If you want the usual extra, winding context about this choice and what it means for my personal development as a working person under the narratives of productivity so cherished by the dominant culture, the impact on my membership of the web of life, and how this affects my philosophical understanding of the times of unravelling we live amongst.....then please do tune in. 

But "Gone Bush" mostly covers it.

Me and my collaborators are still doing some bits and bobs through summer online and in Aotearoa NZ, but website resources, the podcast and newsletter are sleeping 🥱💤

Feel free to contact as normal, but response times are reduced during certain periods. Events are here and we’ll continue to update them. 

To my fellow fuzzy creatures: take good care of yourself, each other and our astonishing Earth.

Today I'm joined by the wise, generous, and captivating Molly Brown: author, facilitator, and long-time practioner of The Work That Reconnects (among many other roles and passions)

This one is for those among us feeling the weight of these times. For those who may be tired (so tired) but still yearning to serve this beautiful earth. 

It’s for those who need a different way to think about their role in our planetary moment of extraordinary uncertainty.

It’s for the earthlings who care (and know their care can lead them into fatigue and overwhelm). 

Join us for a conversation that explores:

• What is the Work That Reconnects and why does it matter now more than ever?
• The evolution of the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects since it’s conception many years ago
• How the way we practice the Work has needed to adapt to changing contexts and the way we understand oppression 
• What does “Going Forth” mean now, in an age of rising fascism, visible collapse and endemic burnout? How is “activism” re-imagined for these times?
• And way, way more than my podcast notes limit allows 

My guest: MOLLY BROWN

Molly Brown co-authored Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects with Joanna Macy, and Coming Together in the Great Turning, with Aravinda Ananda and Kurt A. Kuhwald ( Pre-order here)

Molly brings ecopsychology, the Work That Reconnects, and psychosynthesis to her work writing books and essays, teaching on-line courses, phone coaching, talks and workshops. Her six books include Growing Whole: Self-realization for the Great Turning and Lighting a Candle: Collected Reflections on a Spiritual Life. Molly edits Deep Times journal and co-directs the Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program for the Work That Reconnects with Constance Washburn and Yulia Smagorinsky here SpiralJourneyWorkThatReconnects.org 

MollyYoungBrown.com

WorkThatReconnects.org

Coming Together in the Great Turning: Collective Liberation and Work That Reconnects, co-authored with Aravinda Ananda & Kurt Kuhwald, New Society Press, November 2025.  Pre-order here.

Me: Siobhán:

• I’m on summer slow-down until 2026 but have a few lovely things happening: head here for details and registration. 
• Get support or guidance from me here
• Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)
• A reminder to industry and government: We don’t want an enormous coal mine in places of unique biodiversity (we don’t want a coal mine anywhere, actually) like the Denniston Plateau in Aotearoa. Get involved here if you agree. 
  
  

Thank you so much for being with me. You are the alluring proximity of the horizon 🌅

This is the final part of our short interlude exploring the archetypical language of astrology in the context of our time of extraordinary planetary upheaval. 

In part one, we explored astrology as a language of nature and why it's scorned and dismissed (giveway: because it would collapse the economy, no, really). That can be found here:  This Ancient Language of Nature Has Much to Say About Our Time of Unravelling

In part two we explore astrology as cyclical and ecological, seeing what is can show us about the Three Stories of Our Time as framed by the late, great Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects. That’s here: “Look,” said the Cosmos, “Everything Is Never Not Unfolding in a Dynamic Cycle of Life and Death”

Today, we’re bringing it back to the practical. How do we have embodied experiences of all this (and why does it matter than we do?) 

Join for: 

• Understanding the spiral of the Work That Reconnects and what it means to See with New and Ancient Eyes 
• How to actually use astrology as a practice of perception and belonging 
• How it can be explored in communal work, and on your own with examples for you to start with
• An impassioned nod to the way many of us are prevented in exploring these ways of reconnection and embodiment by the structural thrust of capitalism, and how I "afford" to run around looking for Saturn in the land 

Mentioned or relevant:

Part one of this astrological interlude: This Ancient Language of Nature Has Much to Say About Our Time of Unravelling

Part two: Look,” said the Cosmos, “Everything Is Never Not Unfolding in a Dynamic Cycle of Life and Death”

My article: The Solar Return of the Work That Reconnects Network 

Water Rising event: Astrology. Activism and the Work That Reconnects 

I have a few lovely things happening in Aotearoa, Australia or online coming up in the next few months…head here for details and registration. 

Get support or guidance from me here

Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)

WHAT A STUPENDOUS amount of links, are you serious?

Thank you so much for being with me today, you are the neon of lichen at high noon ☀️

This is part two of our short interlude exploring the archetypical language of astrology in the context of our time of extraordinary planetary upheaval. 

In part one, we explored astrology as a language of nature and why it's scorned and dismissed (giveway: because it would collapse the economy, no, really). That can be found here:  This Ancient Language of Nature Has Much to Say About Our Time of Unravelling

Today we’re seeing what astrology can show us about the Three Stories of Our Time as framed by the late, great Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects. 

Join me for a quickie on:

• Why “Business as Usual” is the fundamental  denial of cycles…and why astrology doesn’t let us get away with that
• How astrology shows the Great Unravelling as natural, painful, and utterly unavoidable
• And what about the Great Turning already? 
• How astrology and the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects both remind us (over and over and over again) that life is nourished and fed by a spiral of expansion, contratction, death and rebirth
• Er yay to all that?

Mentioned or relevant:

Part one of this astrological interlude: This Ancient Language of Nature Has Much to Say About Our Time of Unravelling

Part three: Seeing with New & Ancient Eyes: Astrology & the Work That Reconnects 

Richard Tarnas, author of the mind-bogging Cosmos & Psyche

Work That Reconnects Network 

Three Stories of our Time

Joanna Macy 

My article: The Solar Return of the Work That Reconnects Network 

Water Rising event: Astrology. Activism and the Work That Reconnects 

I have lovely things happening in Aotearoa, Australia or online coming up in the next few months…head here for details and registration. 

Get support or guidance from me here

Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)

WHAT A STUPENDOUS amount of links, are you serious

Thank you so much for being with me today, you are the dizzying beauty of moonrise 🌙

Who fancies a short side-quest away from the connection between our mental health and planetary heath today? 

Although we won’t be going far, because it’s all connected of course 

To help answer a suprisingly amount of questions I’ve received following an astrologically-themed presentation for the Work That Reconnects Network earlier this year, today we’ll be talking about the connection between astrology, deep ecology, and the Work That Reconnects and how they might help us in these times of extraordinary unravelling. 

All three are languages of relationship. 

All three are languages of nature. 

All three are enormously misunderstood

All three get my dad rolling his eyes, muttering into his beard, and changing the subject**

I’ve been drawing on archetypal and Hellenistic astrology in my work and personal practice for a while. Due to increased curiosity I know I’m not the only one who can see the immense power of being able to place ourselves in larger rhythms and cycles right now, and the insight that comes with seeing the world through new and ancient eyes.

Join me as we have a quick spin through: 

• Why astrology is a language of nature
• How it connects with the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects
• How we can see Jupiter in a river, Saturn in a tree and Venus is right there in that blossom
• Why astrology has been dismissed, mocked, and ridiculed (by whom and for what, one might ask?)
• How astrology re-enchants the world and why that makes it exceedingly dangerous to our economy (I use the word “mortally”)

Mentioned or relevant:

My article: The Solar Return of the Work That Reconnects Network 

Part two of the astrology interlude: “Look,” said the Cosmos, “Everything Is Never Not Unfolding in a Dynamic Cycle of Life and Death”

Episode: Shedding the Stories That No Longer Make Sense (Even When It's Hard & Lonely)

I have lovely things happening in Aotearoa, Australia or online coming up in the next few months…head here for details and registration. 

Get support or guidance from me here

Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)

Thank you so much for being with me today. You are starlight tangled in the roots of an oak tree.✨🌳

p.s. **JOKES! I'd never mention astrology to my dad. 

The prevailing Western approach to mental health often treats anxiety, grief, sadness, despair and other challenges as individual problems to be fixed (by you!) and ignores the larger systems we exist within.

But how's that going? Take a look around.

What if our inner unravelling is a healthy, natural, appropriate response to a world that’s dangerously out of balance, and what does an animist worldview say about health and wellbeing?

Join me for:

• Questioning the materialist, individualist, and linear mindset that shapes our current models of mental health… t this framework is often tangled up in the very systems causing social and ecological harm.
• Sharing how the conversation moves from "how do I feel better?" to "how do I stay rooted when everything is falling apart?"
• Understanding what an animate worldview might say about all of this, how it’s different, and why it matters. 
• The role of myth in times of collapse
• Ok so what now, then, smarty pants?

Mentioned or relevant:

Episode: Shedding the Stories That No Longer Make Sense (Even When It's Hard & Lonely)

Episode: An Update For These Extraordinarily Precarious Times

Episode: Are You Feeling Your Feelings … or THINKING Your Feelings? (And Why Your Answer Really Matters)

Episode: What Happens When Our Spiritual Grounding & Our Meaning-Making Frameworks for Life Stop...Helping?

Episode: We’ve Made up What Mental Illness Is (And Who Decides What’s Normal Anyway?)

Recommendation: The Emerald Podcast and Josh’s work and courses

Plugging self: I have lovely things happening in Aotearoa, Australia or online coming up in the next few months…head here for details and registration. 

Get support or guidance from me here

Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)

 Gosh what a stupendous amount of links.

Thank you so much for being with me today. You are the bank of cloud that frames the sky ☁️

In a horrifying-but-necessary act of intimacy, I am inviting you to join me on a journey of shedding in today’s episode

Nature shows us that death is food. Decay is enrichment for what’s next. 

What is dying in you? What needs to be shed, to make space for life?

Join me for:

• An update on my own journey since the last major one 18 months ago, and how it helps people waking up to the entangled systemic breakdown of systems and structures we see now
• (If you’re new to me and all this, you can catch that in the epiosde: An Update For These Extraordinarily Precarious Times)
• What I’ve learned from living between stories…the dominant cultural narrative of individualism and control, and the suppressed, ancient, interconnected wisdom that is undeniably calling me home
• Why I am shedding my old roles, narratives, and professional orientations and what this actually means
• The ongoing implications of realising that my work, and the mental health/coaching/self-help-industrial complex at large often (innocently) upholds the very systems that are driving destruction of the planet 
• How the dominant story itself makes us feel like we don't belong in the new one, keeping us isolated, lonely, and stuck
• What a family-wide neurodivergence diagnosis journey, deep ecology, Celtic cosmologies, exploration of Te Ao Māori and a natal moon in my 8th whole sign house of Aquarius has to do with any of this 

Mentioned or relevant:

Article

That Shitty But Necessary Part Where Everything Shatters and Nothing Makes Sense

Episodes:

You Have a Radically Powerful (But Highly Misunderstood) Gift That Can Transform Your Experience of a World in Chaos

The Transformative, Luminous Power of Honouring Our Pain: with Kathleen Rude & The Work That Reconnects

Are You Feeling Your Feelings … or THINKING Your Feelings? (And Why Your Answer Really Matters)

What Happens When Our Spiritual Grounding & Our Meaning-Making Frameworks for Life Stop...Helping?

• This episode has the f word in it but I needed it. 
• I have lovely things happening in Aotearoa, Australia or online coming up in the next few months…head here for details and registration. 
• Get support or guidance from me here
• Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)
  Gosh what a stupendous amount of links.

Thank you so much for being with me today. You are the comforting squawk of my favourite waterbird 🪿

Offered as a companion episode to the just-released "Shedding the Stories That No Longer Make Sense (Even When It's Hard & Lonely)" for those who may be newer listeners to the show and wanted to hear an earlier part of my long journey

well..."long" to our accelerated capitalist society that doesn't respect or care for depth, rooting, steeping or descending, obvs, but just fraction of a moment in the cycles of nature

At the point of this original recording in early 2024 I was emerging from a dark but necessary period of my own collapse and I was seeing the unmistakable cracks in my industry as an anxiety coach and mental health practitioner. 

Head to the shedding episode ("Shedding the Stories That No Longer Make Sense (Even When It's Hard & Lonely)" to understand what’s happened since then and how this helps others who are awakening to the illusions of their own worldview in our age or unraveling. 

It’s great fun. 

Relevant:

• The people I work with are using (and contributing to) this companion resource at the moment: An Earnestly Incomplete Non-Guide for the Disillusioned, the Lost and the Totally Bewildered
• Come check out the Work That Reconnects 
• I have lovely things happening in Aotearoa, Australia or online coming up in the next few months…head here for details and registration. 
• Get support or guidance from me here
• Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amzing person)
  
  

Gosh what a stupendous amount of links.

Thank you so much for being with me today. You are the smell of cleansing rain ⛈️

My normal pod workflow is still interrupted by the demands of …well…being an earthling in these times trying to serve people outside of the normative economic rules while also staying rested and fed? 

As such, in today’s episode I’m drawing from one of the resources I use in my classes, and you can read a version on my website too

This one is for the people waking up to the severity of our entangled systemic breakdown, who feel profound fear and dread for the world, but struggles to connect with others who don't seem to get it.

Join me as I explore:

Why your fear and dread is a completely rational and appropriate response to an extraordinary time of unravelling. 

The other feelings swirling with dread: grief, powerlessness, isolation, and doubt.

The challenges of trying to share these feelings with someone who doesn't seem to care… and what might actually be going on for them

Common reactions you might encounter and what they might really mean.

What you might actually need from these conversations that you may not realise

A non-exhaustive list of what might help when you're carrying this heavy load, from screaming into the wind to connecting with collapse-aware communities.

Why your dread is a sign of your sensitivity, sanity, and fierce love for this astonishing world.

You are not alone in this, my dear friend. Stay here with us.

Mentioned or relevant:

The phenomenon where the sane people feel like the mad ones: check out this podcast episode: Why You Might Be Feeling a Bit Crazy: The Maddening Paradoxes of our Time

Check out this resource (compiled by other caring humans, not me) for help and support with these themes. 

Get support or guidance from me here

If you wanna come along to a gathering of some kind where these topics are welcomed, head to this page for more info…I have workshops in Aotearoa or online coming up in the next few months

Optional things to read: a couple of my diary pieces from my earliest days of collapse-awareness (which weren’t that long ago) if it helps you to see that feeling isolated is a real thing

Dear Diary: I Can No Longer Pretend That Practically Everything Is Not, Indeed, Unravelling

Dear Diary: How Do I Tell my Friends That I Want to Talk About Collapse Instead of Playing Badminton?

Dear Diary: Couldn't Someone Have Bloody Told Me That the Collapse of Our Civilisation Was Inevitable?

Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)

Gosh what a stupendous amount of links.

Thank you so much for being with me today. You are the frothy tip of the wide blue ocean 🌊

Today is a bit different. My original pod is delayed so I'm reading part of a resource I use in one of my classes, there's also an adapted version on my website.

Join me as, during a walk with Bella the dog, we look at:

• The profound links between our mental well-being our planetary well-being, and our economy
• How and why the implications of these connections are somewhat obscured
• What happens when our frenetic, consumer mindset infiltrates everything (and how it affects our dogs!) 
• The "beast" (non-dog, non-human) that operates completely incompatibly with the needs of life itself.
• Why rest, balance, and care are actually a threat to the beast’s survival.
• Two crucial places to start when faced with the overwhelming reality of it all (one for humans, one for dogs!)

Mentioned or relevant:

• Get support or guidance from me here
• It's my half birthday, which is neither relevant or mentioned in the episode but I just remembered so ...yay!
• Finches, rabbits, poop, dandelions
• One swear word this time!
• The people I work with are using (and contributing to) this companion resource at the moment, you can join us: An Earnestly Incomplete Non-Guide for the Disillusioned, the Lost and the Totally Bewildered
• I have workshops in Aotearoa or online coming up in the next few months: if you’d like updates and invitations,  pop yourself on to my Friends List
• I write on Substack too—come hang out there if you wanna.
• Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)

Gosh what a stupendous amount of links.

Thank you so much for being with me today. You are the astonishing twinkle of Venus.