On the latest episode, I'm joined by the wonderfully witchy Annie (Ani) Finch, a poet, performer, artist, scholar and researcher on meter, magic, and matriarchy. In short, she is Poetry Witch.

Ani is the award-winning author of seven books of poetry including Spells: New and Selected Poems; Eve; Calendar;, a verse play on abortion, Among the Goddesses; and The Poetry Witch Little Book of Spells. She is the author or editor of numerous influential books about the magic of poetic craft as well as editor of Choice Words, the first major anthology on abortion.

Uniting all of Ani’s work is her belief in the power of languages of the Goddess to awaken magical change in words and the world. Ani traces her lineage from Norse volurs, Celtic bards, and witches imprisoned in the Salem Witch Trials.

On this episode we discuss:

• Ani's spiritual background, including three seminal experiences that led her to the Sacred Feminine
• Her provocative theory that women invented religion, based on the experience of the female orgasm
• The shifts she's witnessed in the Goddess movement, and where she thinks we're headed now
• Ani's understanding of matriarchy, which has been shaped by the pioneering work of Heide Gottner-Abenroth
• Why she feels that the muse is the Goddess, who inspires her poetry
• Plus Ani reads a few of her poems for us, including a brand new poem celebrating sacred sexuality!

Here are a few notes related to this episode:

• Ani mentioned the work of Heide Gottner-Abendroth, who has studied matrilineal societies extensively
• Ani also mentioned the work of linguist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, as well as many groundbreaking women who pioneered the Goddess movement, including Bebe Frazer, Macha NightMare, Francesca De Grandis, Patricia Monaghan (founder of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology), Mary Mackey, and Mayumi Oda.
• I mentioned the book Tantra Illuminated, by Christopher Wallis.

And here are a few more details about this show and my work:

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.
• To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher
• To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com
• And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!

Here are a few related episodes to explore:

Lorraine Monteagut PhD, is a queer Latine astrologer and tarot reader and author of Brujas: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color, featured in Axios, NPR, Telemundo, Cosmopolitan, People en Espanol, Bustle, Book Riot, the Witch Wave, and elsewhere. She is the creator of Witchy Heights, a community space for practical magic based in St. Petersburg, Florida, through which she offers one-on-one readings, private parties, classes and a coven membership.

On this episode, we discuss:

• Lorraine's spiritual background and experiences growing up as a child of Cuban and Columbian immigrants
• That sticky place where scientific answers bump up against spiritual and mystical experiences, and how we might hold both as valid ways of seeing and experiencing the world
• Her grandmother's background in Espiritismo, and how this sparked the seeking and research that eventually became the subject matter for Lorraine's book, Brujas.
• Lorraine's understanding of the Sacred Feminine, and why it's important that we experiment with and embrace imperfect language and definitions for our spiritual seeking within a patriarchal context
• The importance of spiritual activism, and why our spiritual enhancement should help us reach out and create deeper connections with others

Here are a few notes related to this episode:

• Lorraine's book is Brujas: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color
• You can learn more about her at her website, https://www.witchyheights.com/, and you can follow her on Instragram @witchyheights.
• Lorraine mentioned the work of the late Gloria Anzaldua, a celebrated American scholar.

And here are a few more details about this show and my work:

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.
• To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher
• To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com
• And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!

Osprey Orielle Lake is founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network(WECAN), and works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to build climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralized, democratized clean-energy future. She sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and on the steering committee for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Osprey’s writing about climate justice, relationships with nature, women in leadership, and other topics has been featured in The Guardian, Earth Island Journal, The Ecologist, Ms. Magazine and many other publications. Her most recent book is The Story is In Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis.

On this episode we discuss:

• Osprey's longtime connection with the land, which was fostered and developed during her early years spent among the redwood trees and beside the Pacific Ocean in Northern California
• Osprey's understanding of the Sacred Feminine, including how it intertwines with animacy and how She can help us deepen our relationship with the Earth
• The concept of sacred activism and Osprey's work with many indigenous peoples through WECAN, including the Rights of Nature movement
• The importance of worldviews, and why it's vital that we adopt one that places us within the context of an intricately connected web of life

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• Osprey's latest book is "The Story is In Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis
• You can learn more about WECAN, Osprey's organization here: https://www.wecaninternational.org/about
• During this episode, Osprey mentioned the Rights of Nature movement. Some overview information here: https://www.garn.org/rights-of-nature/
• We also discussed a few other individuals work, including Martin Prechtel, Lyla June Johnston, and Robin Wall Kimmerer

For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.

To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher

To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com

And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!

My guest for this episode is the wild and wonderful Danielle Dulsky. Danielle is the author of The Holy Wild, Seasons of Moon and Flame, Woman Most Wild, The Holy Wild Grimoire, and most recently, Bones & Honey: A Heathen Prayer Book. A heathen visionary, painter, poet, storyteller, and word-witch, Danielle teaches internationally and has facilitated circles, embodiment trainings, communal spell work, and seasonal rituals since 2007. She is the founder of The Hag School, and believes in the emerging power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning witches, and rebellious artists in healing our ailing world.

On this episode we discuss:

• Her formative experiences in a fundamentalist Christian church, and why she believes we choose the families that will wound us in exactly the right way for our own growth
• How she met the Goddess during time spent in Ireland as a young woman
• What it means for her to embrace the term "heathen," and how she sees it as living on "untamed spiritual ground"
• How she came to know the Goddess a trickster and fringe dweller, and what shifts when we embrace her in this way - as opposed to a victim of oppressive patriarchy

Plus Danielle reads two beautiful prayers from her latest book, Bones and Honey!

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• You can learn more about Danielle and her work at her websites: https://danielledulsky.com/ and https://www.thehagschool.com/.
• Danielle's latest book is Bones and Honey: A Heathen Prayer Book.
• During this episode, Danielle mentioned the book Mysteries of the Dark Moon, by Demetra George.
• She also mentioned the work of depth pyschologist Bill Plotkin and philosopher Bayo Akomolafe.
• I referenced the activist Valarie Kaur, and specifically her "Breathe and Push" speech. You can watch it here (I've watched this so many times and every time I end in tears): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCenwgheIBs
• Favorite quote from this episode: "The ancestors are in us, whether we want them there or not. We are the living ancestral altar."

For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.

To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher

To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com

And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!

Described as 'one of the finest poets writing in India today', Arundhathi Subramaniam is a leading Indian poet and award-winning author of fourteen books of poetry and prose. Recent books include the poetry volume, "Love Without a Story"; a prose work on four contemporary women on spiritual journeys, "Women Who Wear Only Themselves"; and an anthology of female sacred poetry in India, Wild Women. She has worked over the years as curator, critic and poetry editor. A recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2020, and shortlisted for the prestigious TS Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2015, her awards include the inaugural Khushwant Singh Prize, the Il Ceppo Prize in Italy, among numerous others.

On today's episode, we discuss:

* Arundhathi's spiritual journey, including an experience on a train that she describes as "a wordlessness that felt like death," and how it propelled into deeper spiritual seeking

* Arundhathi's relationship with her spiritual teacher, Sadhguru, Western misconceptions about the role of a guru, and why any credible spiritual teacher should be guiding you back to your most authentic self

* Her understanding of the Goddess, including Her intimacy as well as Her cosmic, universal nature, and why so often, She is pointing us not to either-or answers, but a "yes-and" understanding of life

* What it means for a woman to wear only herself, and why we need the stories of spiritually seeking women, especially those who are not ordinarily in the limelight

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• Arundhathi's latest book, which is available in the US via Amazon in e-book form, is Women Who Wear Only Themselves. You can learn more about her at her website, https://arundhathisubramaniam.com/
• You can learn more about Arundhathi's spiritual teacher, Sadhguru, here: https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en
• Sri Balarishi is one of the women we discussed during this episode. You can learn more about her here: https://balarishi.org/

For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.

To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher

To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com

And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!

When we begin to learn about the Sacred Feminine, many of us quickly realize that She is much more than we have imagined Her to be - and that Her nature is fundamentally contradictory. As Damascena Tanis, my guest for this episode, says, to work with the Goddess is to be repeatedly invited into paradox. Damascena is a writer, astrologer, and a recently bereaved mother, living on the shores of Lake Erie with three earth bound children. She is currently learning how to be the mother of a child who has journeyed beyond the veil. She is also the Founder of the Planetary Priestess Mystery School, devoted to Venus.

In this episode, we discuss the paradox of the Goddess, as well as:

• Damascena's spiritual awakening as a pregnant 15-year-old, and what it taught her about the Sacred Feminine
• How living in Palestine as a young mother initiated her into a deeper understanding of the feminine
• Damascena's work as an archetypal astrologer, and why she thinks it's important to explore what she considers the dimension beyond archetypes
• The Venus cycle, its connection to the myth of the Inanna, and how it can guide our own inner journey of self-discovery
• The lessons offered by deep grief, which Damascena experienced through the death of her son
• Understanding the current conflict in Gaza through the lens of astrology

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• You can learn more about Damascena on her website: https://www.redmoonrevival.org/
• You can also follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mea.damscena

Here are a few of the resources we discussed during this episode:

• Damascena and I both completed separate mystery school trainings via the Sanctuary of the Open Heart. You can learn more about it here: https://sanctuaryoftheopenheart.com/
• Here is a basic overview of the Myth of Inanna's Descent (see below for a related episode that explores this story in more detail): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna#:~:text=Inanna%20passes%20through%20a%20total,removed%2C%20they%20were%20carried%20away.
• Damascena referenced the book Great Cosmic Mother, by Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor. Monica was also known for her artwork, and you can see some examples of it via her estate's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/monicasjooestate/
• Damascena also mentioned a Tibetan feast for demons - more info here: https://www.lionsroar.com/feeding-demons-tsultrim-allione-on-joyful-giving/

Related Episodes:

• Embodying the Divine Feminine with Ariel Spilsbury:

What does it mean to foster intersectionality in traditions that honor the Sacred Feminine? How do we make space for the differences we find in each other in spiritual community, and also within ourselves? This rich inquiry was the subject of a panel discussion presented at the Parliament of the World's Religions in August 2023, and on today's episode, all five panelists reconvene to provide an overview of our presentation and our experiences at the Parliament.

This episode includes a conversation between Home to Her podcast host Liz Childs Kelly; pagan priestess Gina Martin; Creatrix of the Goddess Ministry Lettie Sullivan; Divine Feminine App Founder Caryn MacGrandle; and Mambo and Iyanifa Marie Nazon.

This episode includes:

• An overview of each our backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, class and spirituality/religion, and how they've shaped each of us
• Discussion of what intersectionality means to each of us, and our experiences exploring this at the Parliament
• Our process of working together, and its relevance to holding space for intersectionality overall - and how that process has also continued to shape our relationships and how we show up in the world
• The importance of nervous systems regulation in intersectional work, exploring the differences between edges and boundaries, and much more
• PLUS a special closing song offered by Gina Martin

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher

Here's how to learn more about each of my guests today:

• Marie Nazon: www.marienazon.com.
• Gina Martin: www.ginamartinauthor.com. Also check out Gina's new young adult book: Kiyia, Daughter of the Horse
• Lettie Sullivan: www.lettiesullivan.com
• Caryn MacGrandle and the Divine Feminine App: https://thedfapp.com/

And here are a couple of resources that were mentioned:

• ALisa Starkweather and Daughters of the Earth: https://new.alisastarkweather.com/about/
• My Grandmother's Hands, by Resmaa Menakem: https://www.resmaa.com/

For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.

To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher

To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com

And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your...

My guest for this episode is Dr. Marie Nazon, an initiated Mambo in the Vodun tradition of Haiti, a Priestess in the Yoruba tradition of Ifa, a clinical social worker with more than 30 years of experience, and professor emeritus with the City College of New York. Marie is also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and former Fulbright Scholar in Senegal, and has led study abroad and international service learning courses in Africa and the Caribbean. She served on the executive committee of UNBUTU RISE, Revivers of Indigenous spirituality and Ecosystem; has been a member of Kunsi Keya Tamakoce, a Lakota sweat lodge/Sundance community in the United States for more than 20 years; is a Reiki Master; a graduate of Priestess Practicum of Triple Spiral of Dun na Sidhe, and Alisa Starkweather's Priestess Path experience.

On this episode, we explore:

• The thru-line of the Divine Feminine that Marie has seen and experienced through her many initiations
• How her spiritual practice has literally saved her life
• The misrepresentations so many of us have been exposed to related to Vodun and African spirituality, and why it's important to name them as such
• Marie's secret Vodun family lineage and how she came to learn of it
• Why she thinks the Goddess is not returning, but is already here
• And so much more!

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
• Please check out Home to Her Academy, my school dedicated to seekers of Sacred Feminine wisdom! www.hometoheracademy.com. And while you're there, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date with upcoming classes.
• My book, “Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine,” is available from Womancraft Publishing! To learn more, read endorsements and purchase, please visit https://womancraftpublishing.com/product/home-to-her/. It is also available for sale via Amazon, Bookshop.org, and you can order it from your favorite local bookstore, too.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review! For the podcast, reviews on iTunes are extremely helpful, and for the book, reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are equally helpful. Thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• Follow me on Instagram @hometoher; Join the Home to Her group on Facebook; or contact me via www.hometoher.com
• You can learn more about Marie and her work at her website: www.marienazon.com. You can also follow her on Instagram @marieayiti.
• Marie mentioned the movie Crazy Wise: https://crazywisefilm.com/watch-the-film/

Related Episodes

• Exploring the Divine Feminine in African