Moonwise

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with author, doula and spiritual mentor Kelly Van Zandt about the transformative power of the postpartum time. She shares her insights about new motherhood as a unique opportunity for growth and how this often looks and feels like an unraveling of the self.

“You are allowed to take down your facade to make space for your full potential.” - Kelly Van Zandt

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“The warrior of light, the warrior for love, they’re not the ones who have the swords out battling people. They’re the ones who stand rooted for what’s right and true. That’s what the warrior feels like for me. It’s standing in integrity, standing for truth, standing for life, standing for love and being a mountain, really...unshakeable.”

— Natalie Zacharias

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with healing practitioner Natalie Zacharias about embracing our inner warrior and staying calm in chaos. She shares her experience with energetic discernment, healthy boundaries and stepping into personal sovereignty especially in confusing and troubled times.

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“Your joy matters, it's the greatest strength you have.” - Woman Stands Shining

In this episode of Moonwise, I speak with Diné grandmother, activist, artist, and ceremonial leader Woman Stands Shining about joy as strength and remembering our role as women in the sacred hoop of life.

Woman Stands Shining is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth, and global healing. She has presented at numerous conferences, events, and indigenous gatherings around the world. She lives in Taos, New Mexico, and hopes all peoples of the earth "can learn from Indigenous experience and re-member themselves and their own birth-right relationship with Mother Earth." Woman Stands Shining draws upon the deep Indigenous sciences of thriving life to reframe inquiries about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, the “Women’s Nation” and the “Men’s Nation” in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life" and upholding the honor of being human.

In our conversation, she talks about women's role as visionaries for the community and her powerful experience in the moon lodge. She reminds us that in this time of great transition as a species, we need to listen to the women because they are built to give and receive instructions from Mother Earth about how to be on the planet now. She says, "we need the feminine language again." She urges women to express themselves, "the way you think is needed, your language that's not linear is needed, your emotional content is needed."

She also affirms that the role of woman as spiritual conduit transcends cultural differences. She says, "I've put women of every race in moon lodge and the same thing happens to them every single time."

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"Love is present in all spaces where things grow." - Susan Lipshutz

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with sacred feminine activist  Susan Lipshutz, LCSW about the magic of mentorship. Susan shares her experience with finding mentors in her life and we talk about our own relationship over more than ten years of working together. We discuss vulnerability and alchemy in mentorship relationships and the importance of healthy boundaries and reciprocity. Susan also offers advice for those seeking mentorship in their lives.

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Susan Lipshutz, LCSW is a sacred feminine activist with more than 30 years of experience teaching and practicing integrative psychotherapy. Devoted to building strong communities that reawaken and integrate the divine feminine into daily life, Susan combines the ancient wisdom of our grandmothers with her own powerful teachings attuned to the complexities of modern life. She’s the founder of Everyday Medicine Woman, offering workshops, meditation courses and retreats around the world.

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"How we welcome babies has the impact of changing the entire world." - Sarah Dickey 

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with soul doula and childbirth educator Sarah Dickey about holding space for transformation. We talk about how our birth story influences the way we meet life and how we can hold ourselves in difficult moments. Sarah shares her insights about conscious conception, somatic memory and reparenting ourselves.

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Sarah Dickey is a transpersonal coach, heart-centered hypnotist, published author, and APPPAH childbirth educator with a particular focus on prenatal and perinatal psychology.

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"Highly sensitive people need a little bit more time to adjust to changes and new experiences because we are processing so much information at any given time." - Anna King

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with clinical social worker and perinatal mental health specialist Anna King about parenting as a highly sensitive person. We talk about the characteristics of this evolutionary trait and some of the gifts and challenges that it presents.

Anna shares tips for dealing with overstimulation and how to support HSPs so that they can thrive in parenthood. She also shares her unique insights about why HSPs are at a higher risk for postpartum depression and anxiety and some of systemic and cultural barriers for understanding this trait within communities of color.

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Anna King, LCSW, PMH-C, (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker and certified perinatal mental health specialist who uses an integrative, trauma-informed approach in her work grounded in reproductive and transformative justice.

Anna serves as Clinical Training Specialist at Maternal Mental Health NOW, where she curates training events and curriculum and facilitates live and pre-recorded training to educate providers on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). Prior to joining the MMH-NOW team, she served as a full-time social worker in the emergency department and eventually found her home when she transitioned to serving a birth center and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Throughout her experiences, Anna has realized the significant barriers to care for birthing people, especially for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), and queer, trans, and gender diverse individuals and families. Her work centers on the embodied liberation of marginalized groups in reproductive spaces.

She is also currently a part-time psychotherapist with ARC Counseling and Wellness and a third-year Ph.D. student in the Integral and Transpersonal Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Her research interests include spiritual activism, the highly sensitive person (HSP) trait, birth and postpartum tradition, and the transition to parenthood as a rite of passage.

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“Our creative power [as mothers] is often downplayed because it is so overwhelming, mysterious and it can be so intimidating. We are the beings that stand at the gates of life and death and bring a soul through into our 3D world. If that’s not a powerful role, I don’t know what is.” - Dorothee Sophie Royal

In this episode of Moonwise, host Dorothee Sophie Royal talks about honoring the inward path to motherhood. She speaks about her new pregnancy journal called Rooted and what inspired her to create it. She shares her own experience with pregnancy, including difficulties in the transition from maiden to mother. She talks about her experience of creative power and what motherhood has taught her about boundaries, people pleasing and productivity.

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Dorothee Sophie Royal is a writer and media producer, focusing on feminine wisdom, nature connection and motherhood. She is the founder of Moonwise.co and host of the monthly Moonwise podcast. Her new publication Rooted is a pregnancy journal honoring the inward path to motherhood. Dorothee lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and son.

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"I think a lot of our problems with our health, when it comes to women, is how we're valued or not valued in our communities."

— Nicolle L. Gonzalez

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with Diné nurse and midwife Nicolle L. Gonzales about her mission to make birth sacred again. We talk about birth equity, trauma and weaving traditional practices with medical care. Nicolle shares her experience of growing up with ceremony, birthing her own children, the challenges of leadership and carving her own path to promote reproductive wellness and community care.

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Nicolle L. Gonzales is the  Founder of Changing Woman Initiative whose non-profit mission is to “renew cultural birth knowledge to empower and reclaim indigenous sovereignty of women’s medicine and life way teachings to promote reproductive wellness, healing through holistic approaches.”

She received her Bachelor’s of Nursing and her Masters of Nurse-Midwifery at the University of New Mexico. She is a member of the American College of Nurse Midwives and is certified with the American Midwifery Certification Board. She has over 12 years’ experience as a nurse and has worked as a Nurse-Midwife doing full-scope midwifery for the last 10 years.

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"Women are the original creators of life. We’re the ones who are able to turn spirit into matter with our bodies.” - Rachael Jean

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with midwife and educator Rachael Jean about honoring pregnancy and birth as a sacred rite of passage. We talk about the wild feminine, parenting as a path of mastery and the missing piece of self care for moms. Ashley shares her experience of working with the five elements to support new mothers with creativity, empowerment and healing.

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Rachael is the creatrix of the Elemental Birth Rites course journey and has been nurturing and caring for the seeds of this project for several years.  Having come to midwifery with a background in Alternative Healing through her study of massage therapy, sound healing, herbal medicine, and many other modalities, she always felt a deep call to fuse these passions.

She witnessed many homebirth scenarios where women were left traumatized or let down by how their birth stories transpired. She felt a powerful need to honor the holistic experience of birth by addressing issues beyond the physical reality that had shown to play out and contribute to challenging births.  She created a synthesis based on her personal study of ancestral healing, transpersonal psychology, and earth based spirituality that became the basis of the Elemental Birth Rites course journey.

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"We are all artists. We are the artist of our life. Each life is a masterpiece." - Ashley River Brant

In this episode of Moonwise, we speak with multidimensional artist, author and feminine wisdom teacher Ashley River Brant about bringing creative dreams to life. We talk about trust, creative courage and weaving ritual into daily routine. Ashley shares her practices and experience of creating structure for wild creativity to flourish.

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Ashley River Brant is a multidimensional artist, author, Earth-Spirit medium, and teacher of feminine wisdom. Her creative work is a visual dedication to a path of liberation, pleasure, nurturance, and beauty. Through her art and teachings, her intention is to pave a path home to the sacred, assisting us all in returning to our creative nature, and remembering the innate wisdom, magic, and love that lives within ourselves, each other, and all around.

Her first book, “Tending to the Sacred: Rituals to Connect with Earth, Spirit, and Self” (Sounds True) releases on June 8th, 2021.

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