Belonging: Conversations about rites of passage, meaningful community, and seasonal living

I shared an Instagram post recently about how I'm rewiring my brain to recognize success in the work I do now—even though it doesn't match up financially to where I was when I quit my corporate job. The response to my post was clear: you all want to hear more about this. So in this episode, I'm sharing my journey of redefining success for myself and reworking my relationship with th...

Recently, I went through a death midwife training, and it's something that I've been getting so many questions about ever since, so today on the Belonging Podcast, I've invited Death Midwife, Death Educator, and Founder and Director of Final Passages, Jerrigrace Lyons, to join me in talking about our simultaneous aversion and fascination with death. We're talking about consciou...

In this episode of the Belonging Podcast, I invited a dear mentor, teacher, and wise elder in my life, Grandmother Sarah Bicknell, to join me. Sarah has taught me so much about what many of you have been asking me to explore on the show, including working with my dreams and healing ancestral trauma through the work of Family Constellations. We talk about what constellation work is (including the p...

I'm so honored to have Lyla June joining me on the Belonging Podcast today! Lyla is an internationally renowned public speaker, poet, hip hop artist, and acoustic songwriter of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. Her music focuses on intergenerational and interethnic healing. In this episode, she shares her journey with connecting to her European ancestry and how it conflic...

This episode of the Belonging podcast is another throwback. Darla Antoine had come to me a few months before, identifying as both a First Nations Okanagan Tribal Member and as a descendant of Celtic ancestors, offering up her expertise in ancestral healing work through food and a sense of place. Being a woman of European ancestry with the same passions, I knew Darla would have so much to share in...

The moon and I have a relationship, but there is still so much she has yet to share with me. And my garden? Each year, there are lessons to be harvested from the great losses, unexpected surprises, and joyful moments of gratitude that come with tending to one’s own plants. Joining me today on the Belonging Podcast is Erin Duffy Osswald. Erin is a certified Earth Medicine Practitioner and hedgewitc...

I talk a lot about connecting with and working with the ancestors, and many people have come to me confused as to what that actually means—thinking perhaps I'm some sort of genealogist. So I decided to welcome my friend, Jaclyn Wallach, who is a genealogical researcher on the show to really dig into the topic of researching your ancestry and gathering information. In this episode, Jaclyn shar...

You know I've been doing a lot of work in examining my relationship with my calendar and linear time, so I thought I'd invite one of my best friends on the show—who has these conversations with me often and who is healing many of these things in her own life as well—Stephanie Burg. Stephanie is a health and trauma-healing coach and therapeutic dance + meditation teacher. In this episode,...

Lara Veleda Vesta, storyteller weaving with myth, initiation, ritual practice, folk magic, and ancestral connection, shares the story of a long and debilitating bout of illness that she now views as a rite of passage for many things including her connection with her ancestors. We talk about how experiencing illness or loss can cause relationships to change in your life, the three phases of rites o...

I've been feeling the call to invite more voices on the Belonging Podcast to help me paint in perspectives of this journey of Belonging that are different from my own. In this episode, I am so excited to welcome Ash Johns who is a trans-cultural ancestral healing guide, psycho-spiritual coach, ceremonial priestess, strategist, speaker, and author. Ash and I are talking about what it means to...

The moon is the ancient timekeeper of the year, and it mirrors the cyclical nature that we as humans move through—energetically, emotionally, hormonally, seasonally. It's so powerful to tune into the cycle of the moon. So I'm sharing how I work with the moon—both how she works in folk magic, but also how I see her reflected within myself. Find show notes for this episode here: https://be...

I use this word, "sisterhood," frequently in my work and practice. It's one of the most powerful tools I've found for healing, feeling a sense of belonging, and deepening your relationship to self, but it's a practice and there are a lot of unhealthy models of sisterhood in media and popular culture. The best way to heal is often to confront the dark side of the matter, so...

Today I'm talking about the importance of finding a sense of belonging in your body in a society that may not love and support the type of body you have in the way it deserves to be seen. This is a tender episode about how sometimes we can engage in unhealthy or harmful treatment of our bodies because we're trying to fulfill this need for belonging in a society that only leaves space for...

I've recently moved and am deep in the process of settling into this new home and infusing my magic and a feeling of sacred into it. So in this episode, I want to talk about that sacred hygge and finding belonging in the place where you live. This episode isn't just for people who are moving to a new place—it can apply to anyone whether you live in an apartment or house or you're bu...

I recently took pilgrimages to Ireland and Glastonbury (mythical Avalon) to connect with the lands of my ancestors. So in this episode, I want to tell you about my experiences, how the calling to these lands came to me in dreams, and the deep medicine that comes with communing with the sacred sites of various lands. Find show notes for this episode here: https://beccapiastrelli.com/journey-to-aval...

In this episode of Belonging, I'm welcoming my first guest, Jenni Heffernan Brown, to talk with me about a subject that we've both experienced and supported each other through: miscarriage. We're talking about the multifaceted layers of grief, experiencing grief with a partner, allowing family and friends to (imperfectly) hold you when you're going through difficult times, and...

As we enter the winter season, let's take a moment to tap into the Ancestral folklore perspective of this time of year. As the days get colder and darker, it's important to lean into both community and rest. In this episode of Belonging, we're looking at some of the winter folklore associated with this season that the ancestors leaned on to cope with feelings of despair and darkness...

The holidays are upon us, so in this episode of Belonging, I’m talking about cultivating a more meaningful relationship with the winter holidays. This is the time of year when seasonally and energetically we really want to go within. But often we feel pressured, frenzied, and can cross boundaries in preparing for the season and getting caught up in the commercialized aspects of the holidays. So le...

We've talked about tracing ancestry through DNA, we've talked about non-linear ancestral time, and we've talked about ways to connect to your ancestry through pilgrimage and exploring the lands they came from or settled on. Now in this episode, let's explore the ways we can connect to our ancestry through folk ways—song, dance, story, and food. Find show notes for this episode...

Today's topic might feel a little heavy and make you a little bit uncomfortable, but I'm asking you to trust me. We're going to dig into what decolonization is and how you can examine your own part in colonization, the part your ancestors may have played in colonization, and how to move forward to make things right today. Find show notes for this episode here: https://beccapiastrell...

When it comes to connecting with our ancestors, it's a lot deeper than mapping our genealogy or taking a DNA test. In this episode of Belonging, I'm digging into the why being able to map genealogy comes from an immense place of privilege, the beauty of making pilgrimages to the lands (both indigenous and otherwise) of your ancestors, and how to connect with your ancestors through dreamw...

Let's take a moment to drop out of linear time and explore spiralic, ancestor time. In this episode, I'm digging into our connection to our ancestors through this concept of ancestral time and how in doing so, our lives are very much still entwined with those of our ancestors through the cycles we experience every day. Find show notes for this episode here: https://beccapiastrelli.com/an...

When it comes to belonging and creating circles of sisterhood, we tend to gravitate toward spaces of sameness, so in today's Belonging episode, let's talk about creating intergenerational sisterhood. It's important to diversify your circles to get different and new perspectives on the life you're living. There are so many ways to find diversity in sisterhood, but today's l...

Let's talk about seasonal self-care and living seasonally! Life for our ancestors was dictated by the seasons, so aligning ourselves with the seasons now might feel familiar in our bones. Today we're honing in on this transition point between Summer and Autumn and how this might be affecting our energy, creativity, and desire for rest. Find show notes for this episode here: https://becca...

We are living in the most distracting of times, so let's talk about productivity and focus. But first, let's go back to the Industrial Revolution where we learned the mindset that quantity is better than quality, and where our value of how much we can output in a short of time was born. Productivity is important, but rather than work ourselves to exhaustion, it's important to make i...