The Becoming Podcast

I am so unbelievably excited to bring to you the final episode of the first full season of The Becoming Podcast. In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking to psychologist, mythologist and author Sharon Blackie.

I first learned of Sharon's work when a friend recommended her book If Women Rose Rooted. For me, I feel as though I can almost define my life and my work into what it was before I read If Women Rose Rooted and what it evolved into after. It was profoundly awakening for me.

(you can imagine how excited and nervous I was to have Sharon on the show!)

In this episode, Sharon and I talk about "falling out of myth," when we question the cultural narrative that we've been indoctrinated to follow, the rite of passage of becoming what Sharon calls a "mythical misfit" who opts of out the overculture to follow a more authentic path, and how we mythical misfits drive the change our world so badly needs right now. We spoke of the "Eco-Heroine's Journey" and how connecting with the earth and place defines and supports our rites of passage, particularly as women. Sharon shares wisdom about eldership, menopause, motherhood and women's rage, and how to trust rather than deny the inherent power of our embodied rites of passage. We dive into the importance of apprenticeship and liminal space in our process of becoming, and also how so many of us are what Sharon calls "cultural orphans" who need to remember our way back into belonging with our own lineage and ancestry.

This conversation was everything I hoped it would be and more: it's so incredibly rich and I literally cannot wait for you to listen, enjoy, and steep yourselves in Sharon's wise words.

I am so delighted to share with you today my interview with my friend Dee Montie. Dee is an Intuitive Shamanic Healer who helps people connect with intuition and Spirit in honour of creating healing and balance. She currently offers private intuitive healing sessions, group healing circles, space healings, and mentorship trainings. Her work is intuitively driven, guided by Spirit, and balanced by earth-based energies and lighthearted humour.

I first had the pleasure of meeting Dee a few years ago, and our lives have interwoven in beautiful and surprising ways ever since. We talk about Dee's experience of a spiritual awakening, and how traversing that experience was a rite of passage for her. She shares what it was like to have what I've been calling a "rite of the heart" - one of those changes to your life that changes everything on the inside (your mind, your perspective, your very soul) but very little on the outside (as Dee phrases it: even though she felt her inner reality had totally shifted, she still wore jeans, had a husband and kid, and had to make breakfast in the morning). Then we dive into the topic of intuition - how to hear it, how to trust it, and how to allow it to guide you in your life.

As I'm typing this, I feel like saying that Dee is "the people's" shamanic healer :) As in, she does, indeed, wear jeans, does school pick up, and makes breakfast every morning. She has a way of inviting us into the magic of the unseen and unknown that is incredibly down-to-earth and approachable. I think you will love this conversation I have with her: if you're experiencing an inner transformation or spiritual awakening right now, this will help you feel a little less alone, and everyone listening will be inspired to explore and play with their intuition in a new way.

I am delighted to have Dr. Aurélie Athan on the show with me today. Aurélie is a professor at Columba University in New York City, and is the world's leading researcher in matrescence and the transition to motherhood.

To say that this conversation was absolutely sparkling is an understatement. Aurélie and I talked about what matrescence, or the transition to motherhood, is, and, as she says, "how to raise a mother." We talked about the pathologization and the potential of this transition in women's lives, and how challenging our modern-day context can make this process of initiation and growth.

We dove into the inner workings of the psychology of matrescence with a depth of conversation that is rare in today's discourse around postpartum, talking about "the next level" of postpartum support that goes beyond saying *that* the transition to motherhood happens and into *how* it happens.

We also talked about motherhood as a spiritual path, a path toward sovereignty and self-authorship, matricentric feminism, and the competencies that motherhood teaches us that lend themselves to leadership and, you know, smashing the patriarchy and saving the world.

It's no exaggeration to say that this is probably one of the richest conversations about the psychology of matrescence I've heard (and gotten to participate in!) in all my years of working in this field. This truly is the "next level" of how we understand and traverse the transition to motherhood, and it will be fascinating for both mothers and birth and postpartum support workers alike. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

All the mamas listening, this one is for you! I'm delighted to share with you my conversation with Beth Berry from Revolution From Home. Beth is a life coach, small group and retreat facilitator, mother of four daughters and author of the recently published #1 Best Seller Motherwhelmed. Follow her journey at www.revolutionfromhome.com.

I first learned of Beth and her work (and how many perspectives on modern-day mothering we share!) when I read her article in Motherly, titled "In the absence of the village, mothers struggle most." Earlier this year, I got to be an advance reviewer of her book, Motherwhelmed, and I knew immediately I had to have her on the show.

Our conversation dips and dives through so many of the complex and nuanced realities of what it means to be a mother. We talk about the loss of the village and the challenge of meeting the needs of ones' children and oneself without the kind of support that that requires. Beth shares about her time living with her family in Mexico, and the perspective she gained when she traded fast-paced motherhood for a simpler life with her kids. We talk about evolving through motherhood, becoming a mother as a rite of passage that is no longer celebrated and honoured, how motherhood asks us to mother ourselves (and how to begin doing that!) and how to begin to reclaim a new kind of "village" to support us as we traverse the journey of parenting.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

I am delighted to share with you today my interview with Lynn Trotta. Lynn is a life coach and nature-based mentor whose work I originally learned about while reading one of Martha Beck's books, which she was featured in, several years ago. I've been following her and her work ever since, and our work and interests have only continued to overlap and align - so you can imagine how thrilled I was when she agreed to be on the show!

Lynn and I talk about how she came to be doing the work she's doing, and about how she's healed her own trauma through connection with the Earth. I am still sitting with her way of articulating this connection: she said that being in nature is like laying in the lap of an unconditionally loving mother. We talked about ecofeminism and how women, in particular, can benefit from deeper earth connection. Lynn shares with us some simple ways to begin to reclaim your attunement to nature. Our conversation meanders through the increasingly popular idea of "rewilding" and and what it means to be a "cultural orphan." Finally, Lynn shares with us some incredible wisdom about her ritual and ceremony work. Again, her words stuck with me: "a life without ceremony is a life unobserved."

I have a strong conviction that earth connection is one of the most powerful healing modalities for women, and that it's in connection with nature that we reconnect with ourselves and our authenticity, our purpose, and our inner knowing. Whether you're a seasoned tree hugger or an earth loving newbie, I think you will love this episode.

I am so (so!) thrilled to bring you this sparkling conversation with artist, mama and wildly successful entrepreneur Leonie Dawson. Our conversation was rich and covered a broad range of topics. Leonie shared some of her story of becoming a mother, and how that was a challenging but catalyzing rite of passage in her life. We talked about how relationships with loved ones and partners change when we change, and about how creativity has always been the way Leonie processes, metabolizes and copes with radical transformation in her life. Leonie is the creator of a bestselling series of planners and goal books for women, and so we talked about the role of goals in facilitating change, and Leonie introduced me to the idea of the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (or BHAGs, as she so sagely puts it). Our conversation meandered through the topics of self-care, the power of women's circles and reclaiming ancestral skills.

Seriously, we talked about everything.

I hope you enjoy this conversation and learn as much from it as I did!

I think of Tara as a "get shit done" gal, and I was excited to talk to her because there comes a point in everyone's process of radical transformation and other big life and business shifts that we need to start to take action in the direction of the future we want. Tara and I talk about values-based goal setting and a really helpful way to receive honest feedback on how you're living out your values on the day-to-day. We also talk about integrating your goals into the wider ecosystem of your life. Tara shares her method for guiding clients through the "life cycles of their business" and how to learn from failure, and we also jam on the value of community-building and what that looks like in modern society.

This is a rich episode full of really tangible, pragmatic support. I know you will love it, and be able to incorporate some of Tara's suggestions, thoughts and practices into your life right away. Enjoy!

In this episode I talk to one of the sparkliest humans I know, artist and yogi Estelle Thomson. While Estelle and I have jammed on previous podcast episodes (both hers and mine) about grief, creativity and ritual, today's conversation is a diversion from our usual. Estelle is a (not so) secret lover of fashion, and so we talk about how radical transformation and rites of passage are so often accompanied by changes to our outer expressions of identity. We talk about using colour as spiritual expression, and how we can become more ourselves when we look more ourselves. This is a truly fun, juicy and light-hearted conversation with lots of food for thought and some excellent practical advice.

In this episode I talk to Kathy Washburn, coach, cancer survivor, and founder of Carved By Cancer. We talk about the catalyzing moments that reshape your life, and what it's like when the rest of your life doesn't change along with you. Kathy talks about post-traumatic growth and how our sense of embodiment, sexuality and creativity is an integral part of any transformative healing process.

Join me as I speak with Tracie Nichols, self-professed Rebel Crone, who shares wisdom about the transition into our elder years, and how connecting with the earth can support all our most radical life transformations.