Priestess of Ordinary Things

Episode 35: Second Chance New Years

Did your new year's resolutions already fizzle?  You have a second chance.  
The ancient Celts called February 1st Imbolc (pronounced im-bolc, eem-olc, or eem-yolk), First Spring or the feast of the Goddess/Saint Brigid.  It represented the return or rebirth of the Goddess, after having died to the earth at Samhain.
In this episode Kate muses on that quickening, lightness, restlessness from earth-bound hibernation, the darkness and cold of winter just starting to hint of lifting.
As we move out of hibernation, how might we respond to those new impulse to stretch, move out and DO? 
Have a listen for how this might affect both your inner and outer housekeeping, plus a bonus creative offering from the Forge of St Brigid.
Check out a simple Imbolc ritual and song here: https://www.katefontana.com/blog/2018%2F1%2F30%2Fa-simple-irish-spring-ritual-for-families

Making Room for Our Erotic Bodies with Katie Spataro

Katie Spataro, CSB (she/her) is a certified somatic sex educator and sexological bodyworker, womb tender, holistic pelvic care provider, and full spectrum doula.  Katie studies and practices at the intersections of birth work and sex work, drawing upon the embodied wisdom of these two lineages to support healing of the personal and collective cultural body.
In this conversation, we explore:
- What do we mean by "the erotic"?- How to rewrite narratives about our sexual and erotic bodies- The relationship between eroticism and sex - Consent, communication and negotiating the edges and boundaries of desire - Nurturing erotic spaces and community
Katie blends various modalities of somatic practice, bodywork and skilled coaching in her private practice, and facilitates classes on sexual and reproductive wellbeing, embodied consent, and erotic education through a trauma-informed and healing-centered lens. She is core faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education, a Certified Facilitator through the School of Consent, and adjunct faculty at Antioch University’s Sex Therapy Certificate Program in Seattle. 
 
Connect with Katie: www.sacredwombservices.com
Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education: www.somaticsexeducator.com/

The 3 Essentials for Conscious Conflict

We are living in a time of overwhelming conflict at an unprecedented scale. It is everywhere, in our homes and in our world.
In this week's podcast, I explore a unique framework and 3 essential components of engaging conflict in a conscious -- and hopefully constructive -- way. 
Here's the reframe I invite us to consider: conflict is an altered state.
Like love-making, deep meditation, or psychedelics, conflict does something to our bodies, minds and spirit that is different than our base-line day-to-day state.  
What could this mean for how we engage conflict?
In light of this, I break down the 3 essentials for conscious conflict. 
Have a listen to learn what these are.
Want to be a part of a sweet community of earth-loving people seeking to live in deeper harmony with life, each other and our times?  Check out Roots & Rhythms: www.katefontana.com/roots&rhythms
Ready to step into your own Priestess Path to steward YOUR people through these troubled times?  Check out Priestess School, now accepting waitlisters: www.katefontana.com/priestess-school

Astrology for the Revolution with Hummingbird

How can Astrology help us understand and navigate the political landscape and bigger cultural and social phenomena of our time?
This is a question that drives the scholarship and offerings of Hummingbird, an astrologer, content creator, and creator of Astrology for the Revolution.  
In this conversation we explore some profound and provocative themes, particularly around the archetype and influence of Pluto, planet of death, destruction, the unconscious, rebirth, and transformation.  We look at: 
- the manifestation and implications of the Pluto Returns of the United States- Pluto in the rise of the global military industrial complex and tech companies- Understanding the uprising for Black Lives - and its backlash - through Plutonian astrology- Plutonian themes currently unfolding in the genocide of Palestinian peoples in Gaza- what Pluto wakes up and calls forth in us, as individuals and collectively- how to use astrology as both "map" and "weather report" to navigate these times
Hummingbird (she/her) is a white, half-Jewish cis woman, based in land originally stewarded by the Tutelo peoples, today known as the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwest Virginia.  She is an astrologer specializing in political analysis through an astrological lens in service to activists, movement workers and those concerned with where we find ourselves in this unique moment in history.  She is the creator of Astrology for the Revolution: "an astro-political education that will transform your relationship to our dire historical moment—and to your unique role in it."
Follow Hummingbird:
Website: www.astrologyfortherevolution.com
IG: @astrologyfortherevolution
Medium: medium.com/@astrofortherevolution
 
Resources referenced in this episode:
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Resources for Orientation during Genocide by Hummingbird
The Lobby - USA​

Midwinter Mundane Magic with Laurel Armstrong and Alyssa Allegretti

“Everyone wants to do ayahuasca but no one wants to do the dishes.” - Unknown
Such is the frame for the Midwinter Mundane Magic Summit, curated by my colleagues and virtual friends Laurel Armstrong and Alyssa Allegretti.
In this virtual tea-party, we talk about all things ordinarily mystical: the 'in-between' spaces, departure from dominant spiritual structures, the cycles of disillusionment often experienced on the spiritual fringe, the absence of real integration in the ocean of spiritual highs, the interplay of structure and wildness within spiritual community and formation.
You'll also get a sense of the spirit and energetics of the Summit ie we are chatty, honest, and silly (make sure to listen til the VERY end for one of my favorite slightly off-topic conversational moments :)
The Midwinter Mundane Magic Summit happens January 25-28, 2024.
**Correction: Since the recording of this podcast, Asha Lerae (as mentioned) has withdrawn as a presenter.  Kristopher Drummond has been added to the line-up.**
Check it out and register here:  ttps://buytickets.at/sevenspellsproductions/1077835

3 Songs to Celebrate Solstice

You could probably sing a dozen Christmas songs at the drop of a hat.  
But do you know any Solstice songs?
I didn't either, so the season and I co-authored a few, and in this week's episode I share them with you.
Singing is a cultural practice worldwide, and one of the things that really enlivens me in my personal practice as well as in my priestess role in my community.
How do you and yours mark this season?  Tag me in your celebratory Solstice posts!
Want a whole Solstice ritual outline for your family or community?  Check out last week's podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts: priestessofordinarythings.podbean.com/e/solstice-ritual-for-families/
Local to the South Puget Sound?  Join our Sing Up the Sun community celebration here: www.thesanctuarynorthwest.com/celebrations
Ready to step into your own Priestess gifts?  Sign up for the Priestess School waitlist here: www.katefontana.com/Priestess-School

A Winter Solstice Ritual for Families

Solstice is one of those days that cultures around the world recognized as significant: a moment to dwell in the beauty and paradox of light and darkness. For us in the northern hemisphere, winter solstice can be a time to receive the gifts of deep darkness: rest, incubation of dreams, and the freedom as well as hardship of death and endings.
In this week's podcast, I go over 5 components of a simple ritual that you can adapt for your own family and community.  
If you try this with your family, or have other practices or resources you use with your family, please let me know in the comments!
Get the ritual in written form here: https://www.thesanctuarynorthwest.com/blog/2020/12/18/a-simple-winter-solstice-ritual-for-families
Join our community solstice ritual here: https://www.thesanctuarynorthwest.com/celebrations

Tending Our Victim-Self, Forgiving White Supremacy and ”We-Searching” Culture

This week's episode is a conversation with inabel Uytiepo, a queer, ilocanx-chinese-spanish-portuguese somatic forgiveness practitioner, artist, teacher, animist and forever student. 
inabel's work spans many modalities and themes, only some of which we are able to explore together.  Some include:
-Colonialism, Cultural Insecurity, and severance from the land
-Finding our place in movement ecology
-Somatic forgiveness and healing through non-linear time
-Tending our victim-selves, activating our adult-selves
-Forgiving White Supremacy
-"we-searching" for creative culture-building
-The criminalization of dance as 
-Facing our world as it is: responding to ongoing genocide, war and violence in Gaza, Ukraine, and the U.S. and throughout the world
 
inabel Uytiepo (they/isuna/siya) is a queer, ilocanx-chinese-spanish-portuguese somatic forgiveness practitioner, artist, teacher, animist and forever student. They were born on Tongva lands within an immigrant settler family. inabel presently stays with their partner, children, dog and cat amongst the oceanside mountainous forest of the Uypi lands presently stewarded by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. inabel has been studying death and meditation since they were a child. inabel began a healing arts practice after becoming a Buddhist meditation student and teacher. inabel is a certified clinical hypnotherapist. inabel is an intuitive, trained bodyworker, contemporary and ancestral lineage holder of wholistic manual therapies for digestive and reproductive systems via neuromuscular, visceral, aura and energy presencing. With community, inabel offers sessions and holds co-creative careshops, events, circles and retreats via somatic mindfulness, quantum consciousness, expressive arts and ancestral wayfinding journeys.  inabel often works with Asian, Pilipinx, femme, gender queer and LGBTQIA+ community. inabel is also one of five co-conveners for the cross-racial solidarity grassroots organization Peoples Collective for Justice and Liberation. inabel's most recent endeavor is explorative work in a co-creative journeys called the Wayfinding Collective. 
Join inabel at the next free series of seasonal Amourphous Pathways. 
Connec with inabel:
IG: @healingisgiving 
Updates and upcoming events: linktr.ee/healingisgiving
Website:healingisgiving.com ; wayfinding collective.com

Holiday Self-Care for Highly Sensitive People

If you're a highly sensitive person, even though you might LOVE the holiday season, you might also struggle with feeling:
~like it doesn't take much to make you completely overstimulated (resulting in sensory shut down, grumpiness, irritability or relational avoidance)
~guilt or disappointment for not being able to show up for or thoroughly enjoy ALL THE THINGS (which might result in trying to do so perfectly through gritted teeth OR not even wanting to try and cancelling everything)
~paralyzed or overwhelmed by options, the demands of others, OR your own desires (possibly resulting in going into full hibernation mode and watching Netfilx for the next 2 months)
 
If any of these sound familiar, I'm talking to you.
 
I'll share 3 essentials of Holiday Self-Care for Highly Sensitive People, with a bonus very simple energy medicine practice to support flexible but firm energetic boundaries for your holiday season.
 
Check out my seasonal offerings here:
Nourish: A Winter Solstice Retreat: www.katefontana.com/nourish
Holy Darkness: An Advent-Solstice Pilgrimage: www.katefontana.com/holy-darkness
 

Decentering Whiteness and Re-Learning Culture with Rhea Goodrum

What does it take to de-center whiteness and create spaces where ALL people can experience nourishment?
What does it look like to nurture harmony experience healing together amidst systems of oppression that impact each of us so differently?
How might spiritual practice support us in these endeavors?
These are the questions I explore with my colleague and collaborator, Rhea Goodrum, in preparation for this year's winter solstice Nourish retreat.
Rhea is a Chamorrita with roots from Guam in the Mariana Islands.  She is a spiritual activist, and seeks to reconnect us to the wisdom and life skills of Indigenous Peoples to nourish our personal rhythm, and the rhythms of our environment. 
In this episode, Rhea shares about her eclectic spiritual journey, her experience as a participant of the Nourish retreat, and what she aims to offer to other women of color in that space.
We wade into the awkward waters of ancestral access, navigating whiteness, and nurturing intercultural spaces with authenticity, equity and grace.
Find out more and register for nourish here: www.katefontana.com/nourish