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In this episode, Brooke interviews Michael Van Sciver, an Herbal Clinician, Ayurvedic Physician and modern-day Alchemist, on cultural myths and cleansing practices during the junctures of the seasons. They talk battles, astronomical events (that may make one vomit), teachings of specific myths (Tantric, Celtic, Jewish + Buddhist traditions) and plants. Best of all, listeners will receive insights around inoculating the colon and the land with cultures that can help us get back to our joyful roots.

Episode Timestamps:

(3.38) How looking to Equinox myths of different cultures, gives perspective to this time of year, noticing similar themes of clearing and cleansing (body, mind, etc..)

(5.00) Comparisons between Navarati (Tantric/Vedic), Mabon/Meán Fómhair (Celtic/Pre-Celtic), Roshashannah (Jewish) Celebrations + Festivities, and the storyline threads that unify the three

(8.00) The Wheel of the Year
-The Ascending + Descending Currents of Equinoxes/Solstices
-The Sun impregnating the Earth, and The Earth giving birth back to the Sun
-The lifecycle of a plant
-Yogic Practices that Help keep the Sun alive during darker seasons (tapas, agni sara)

(14.07) Too Much Fun?
-2nd wave of abundance, an invitation of pathogens + why cleansing is important at this time
-12hr. Photo Period
-Creating a new terrain of gut flora (microbiome) is key

(19.00) Summer: Soak Up the Luscious Prana in the Atmosphere Fall: Find Calm
-The purpose for fasting can be learned from our ancient myths
-Using Time as a key medicine for cleansing

(21.52) The Astronomical Phenomenon of Nature
-Ode to Prashanti De Jager, PhD(cand), MS, EMT, Ethnopharmacist, Founder of Dunagiri Foundation, Veda Mandala + Organic India
-Deeper meaning of Navaratri
-Restoration + Re-Story-ation
-The Dance of the Sun and the Earth (a roller coaster loop-da-loop that may induce vomiting)

(31.44) The Myth of Lucifer + Michael, Free Will and Ultimate Truth

(37.05) The Myth of Navaratri, A Battle of Desire
-Understanding how when we can transmute our shadows by listening to their essence we can work with them to empower ourselves and others

(42.03) Comparisons between Lucifer + Mahishasura (Ego + Desire) + Archangel Michel + Durga (Truth + One Pointed Focus)
-Themes of Fire: Being clear with oneself

(43.08) The Myth of Milarepa, The Cotton Clouded One
-A Nettles-drinking saint serves tea to his demons (shadow aspects of self) and learns that it is not fighting, or teaching, but listening  to them, that transmutes them

(49.20) Modern Psychology in Light of These Myths and the Therapeutic Art of Listening
-Integrating wholeness, through innocence (from the Fool to the Magician)
-Shifting the stories from patriarchal war lens to a softer, feminine version

(51.10) Ancestral Healing + Importance of Editing Wrongful Stories Passed Down
-Pitru Paksha
-The many layers of lineage
-Culture as a theme, activating healthy culture in our story and in our gut
-Connection b/t mysticism and alchoholism

(55.25) Inoculating Ourselves to Our Proper Culture
-Safe haven of mythic + mystic culture
-The Irish remember
-The bittersweet beauty of understanding ancestral pain + healing colonialism
-Inoculating ourselves to our proper culture
-Listening to the wisdom of the plants + elementals for re-indigenizing people divorced from their own ancestry

(101.53) Themes, Plants + Nutritive Focuses for Navaratri
-Strengthen digestion
-Nutrient dense