The Numinous Podcast

Today I’m delighted to welcome back to the show, Nicholas Pearson , who is basically becoming our resident geologist and crystal witch. His newest book is The Witching Stones: The Lore & Craft of the Essential Crystals, Gemstones and Minerals to Empower Your Magic .   Nicholas has been immersed in the mineral kingdom for thirty years and appeared previously on this podcast, in episode 158 on C...

Welcome fellow Numinous Network Guide, ✨ Asteria ✨, to the podcast! Asteria Elzea (she/ they) is an artist, a maker, and a connector. In this episode, Asteria shares how she builds community on a shoestring budget as a queer disabled neurodivergent artist. Asteria identifies as white, bisexual, polyamorous, and is neurodivergent. Her most special interest is people and how we connect. Asteria ha...

I've been waiting a long time for this interview and I'm so delighted to share it. Abigail Rose Clarke is one of the few somatics teachers whose instructions and anatomical lessons I can actually *remember*. Her inspired teaching style features clear articulation and vivid, lyrical descriptions that really land and stay with me. Abigail is a somatic educator, writer, artist, and creator of the Som...

This is the biggest announcement I’ve ever made, not just on this podcast, but in my life. Bigger than getting a book deal, even.   This is something I’ve been thinking about for the past four years or so, since I was in the midst of the pre-order campaign for my first book, The Spirited Kitchen in 2021. The nudge got even stronger as I was in negotiations for my second book, Spells for the Apocal...

If you feel alienated with the typical prescribed way of marketing, this episode is for you! If you're an entrepreneur who hates capitalism, you're gonna love it! If being perceived is generally unpleasant for you but need to do commerce to survive, listen up! Bear is here with frameworks, ideas, and activities to scaffold your business in a way that doesn't make you want to puke. This is about en...

In this episode, after a personal update, we get to have a delightful, informative, hopeful conversation with someone I consider a possibility model in collapse times, my friend, Kirsten Hunter. We're talking about parenting, trying to plan ahead, and how we go about trying to build community, trust, and collaborative decision-making during times of tumult, precarity, and turmoil. We get into mana...

{Content Warning} Discussion of sexual abuse, assault and yoga cults. Please take good care of yourself if you feel vulnerable or distressed with these topics. Press pause, stand up and walk around, bring on your arms and legs. Walk forward while looking forward. Say to yourself, I am not prey. In this episode, we refer to Matthew Remski's exposé: Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics,...

In this conversation, former emergency dispatch supervisor, current somatic mentor, and one of the hosts of The Numinous Network, Christi Jarland, shares insights from her multi-decade career as a frontline worker on some of people's toughest days. Christi is a mentor who blends 20 years of crisis-response experience as a 911 telecommunications leader with training in occupational therapy, psychol...

My friends, I just do not have the brain glucose in me to try and cite references or resources for this episode. It's a personal update.  Content warning: Discussion of severe mental health challenges. But in the end, I also share how I'm coping using post-its and catchphrases and the four-level framework (PEMS). I also share the vision we have for our land as a queer sanctuary for They/Thems inte...

Exciting news! Sophie Strand returns to The Numinous Podcast with a probing conversation around her stunning new memoir, The Body is a Doorway , and: • the meaning of the word "health" • the debatable value of pursuing a complex medical diagnosis • orienting towards a reparative reading of the body • New Age purity culture and healthism • avoiding the pitfall of one's work being seconded to suppor...

This is a conversation about the ritual my husband and I devised – mentioned briefly in my new book, Spells for the Apocalypse – and which we've shared with many friends who've heard us refer to it, who've asked us how to do it, or for advice on what we've done when our marriage was on the rocks. We touch on topics like the real estate market, intergenerational trauma, neurodiversity, astrocartogr...

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century , Timothy Snyder Donate to the Amazon Labour Union Get involved in your local 4H Club in Canada or the US ! Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Buy Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Buy Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Buy Aly Halpert's song or album, Loosen, on Bandcamp The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Today we're doubling down on our protective plant magic to bolster our spiritual safeness while the veil remains thin. We also look at 'wassail' as a noun, verb, and greeting which is especially appropriate on the 9th night of Yule which is associated with the 9th month of the year – the apple-iest month there is – September. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Yea...

In this episode, we're cleansing home and body with medicinal herbs by making vermouth, potpourri and incense in order to finish the year well. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

In this episode we explore myths related to the beauty of binaries, balance, and cycles of death and resurrection. Some of the myths can help us queer the holidays, others can help us put strained sibling relationships into new perspective. Learn why why ham is such a symbolic meal during this holiday time, and consider some simple rituals to help you bring more balance into your life.   Buy The S...

✨My favourite part of Yuletide!✨ Hearth spirits, house brownies, and protective supernatural allies for homes, barns, and livestock are all propitiated at this time. For me, this seems like a great way to steer children away from the more commercial aspects of this time of year and spark imagination, intuition, and an animist sensibility. A fun ritual for today would be to research what house sp...

Ancient traditions around the return of the light imply a revival of hope and healing. Pagans created art and apothecary items to reflect the beautiful and harmonious qualities of the cosmos, adorning their homes and bodies to revive the spirit in wintertime. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent...

Today we honour the children in our lives and the child within us. Plus, more winter witches! woop woop! Note: The final 4 minutes of this episode is a guided meditation during which you should not be driving, riding a bike, operating machinery or engaged in any activity that requires your full attention.   Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells...

Ancestral veneration is a key function of winter rituals, a way to put our lineages in good order, encourage harmonious relations with the spirits of the ancient dead, and appease the restless dead who roam at night. On this night, we tell scary ghost stories that might include child-devouring crones, beer-stealing werewolves, dictator dogs and violent Santas. It's also a good day to honour the an...

This is one of my favourite episodes because cultivating intimacy with the land I live on and the Spirits of Place is one of my favourite things to do. It also addresses, briefly yet deeply, how we can attend to the impacts of imperialism, colonialism and patriarchy in our spiritual work, especially4 at wintertime. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order...

It all begins with the Mother. Tonight on the longest night of the year, we honour our matrilineages and the spiritual lineages of prophesy, blessing, abundance and nurturance passed down through the ages through myths concerning Crones. Source materials for this miniseries: A Brief History of Christmas Tradition Apple Tree Lore, druidry.org A Visit from La Befana , JSTOR Daily Bärbeletreiben Bied...

Antifascism for the holidays! Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics by Gertraud Seiser and Matthäus Rest ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Learn about Fumbulvinter, the 12 Days of Yuletide and their themes, and the stories of European Yuletide folklore in my annual program, now available for free!  Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~