January Newsletter
 
The first weekend of January 2025 ~

to use a friend’s words : The Tree of Life put on a white cloak

NAKED SIMPLICITY

 
Happy New Year - 2025!


Don’t worry if a ‘new start’ doesn’t feel aligned for you in January - we have plenty of other options throughout the year to ‘begin again’.  Perhaps the growing season New Year which doesn’t really start until Ostara - Spring Equinox, in March feels better for you or perhaps the learning season New Year feels correlated to the start of the new academic year in September, is your time for new beginnings.

Or perhaps intuitively your body, your nervous system, YOUR FLESHY KNOWING prefers another time of year.  

Beyond mind this knowing is rooted in your embodiment spirituality.

And this is the main message and theme I’ll be working with this year -

OUR FLESHY KNOWING : BEYOND MIND  

 
The Divine Nervous System
 
My latest Aberdeen University Practical Theology Hub blog - The Divine Nervous System - published on January set the scene and theme for 2025 perfectly.

Categorised as body theology & feminism you can read two extracts below blog in full by clicking here 
 

Making Love with the Divine
 
There is a whole chapter on ‘The Divine Nervous System’ in my book Making Love with the Divine: Sacred, Ecstatic and Erotic Experiences’ - which was considered so taboo when published but Girl God Books in Feb 2023!  No its not a sex manual!

I am hopeful that 2 years later we’re ready for it!

 More about the book : Making Love with the Divine 
 
The body – particularly the body of woman – remains firmly in the grip of the Patriarchy. Controlled, blamed, and ensnared in the narrative of The Fall, the fleshy encounter is deemed unholy and entirely separate from divinity.

Making Love with the Divine starts the process of unravelling and undoing this insidious and false programming, showcasing and story-telling the sacred, erotic, and ecstatic experiences of today’s ‘ordinary’ women, narrating and reflecting upon their accounts of day-to-day communion and union with the Divine. Inspired by their sharing, practises are offered in each section of the book for the reader to begin to forge their own unique and direct pathway of lovemaking with the Divine.

This book sanctifies the human mammal – our animal journey of ‘in and through’ and is an antidote to the poisonous lie that the Divine is ‘out and up’ and accessible only through religious or spiritual instruction. Making Love with the Divine bridges the schism of sacred and mundane and reinstates the extra-ordinary nature of everyday living and existence.

"Making Love with the Divine invites us to explore our experiences of the erotic current that animates our bodies and our lives. A current whose natural flow and vitality is often stifled, distorted and shamed within patriarchal culture. This book seeks to open up the conversation by asking us how we experience our own sexuality and eroticism, and how this flow of aliveness can be a portal to feeling the divinity inside of us, and beyond us. Based on her research and clear devotion to this path, Kay Louise Aldred has created a supportive year-long workbook that provides a practical framework for anyone who feels a call towards liberating their body and deepening relationship with their sacred erotic aliveness."
-Carly Mountain, Sex and Relationship Therapist and author of Descent & Rising.

 
Making love with the Divine and The Divine Nervous system, evidence EMBODIMENT SPIRITUALITY is part of BEING HUMAN


THIS IS OUR FLESHY KNOWING : BEYOND MIND

And to link it to my work last year, our education system needs to teach us about this and how to access these parts of of ourselves.  

EMBODIED EDUCATION, the paradigm I advocate for, blends metacognition, intuition and intuition, to support this.

More about the book : Embodied Education

 
This year I intend to start to sew together all the above ideas and creations & weave them into all of my future work, training and interactions in whatever sphere or forum:


OUR FLESHY KNOWING : BEYOND MIND

EMBODIED EDUCATION & EMBODIMENT SPIRITUALITY

Happy New Year 🎊

Here are extracts from my latest @uniofaberdeen Practical Theology Hub blog - The Divine Nervous System - published today & setting the scene for 2025 perfectly.

Categorised as body theology & feminism 👌

Full blog https://practicaltheologyhub.com/?p=1576 - please share.

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #divinenervoussystem #spiritualneedsarehumanneeds

​Words of wisdom from others which my body experienced as truth in 2024 👇

You can’t do what you want till you know what you’re doing ~ Feldenkrais 

Between the stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our responses. In our response lies our growth and our freedom ~ Frankl

For the master’s tool will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change ~ Lorde

Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them ~ Shakur

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality

​It was a Tower moment for me personally (if you're not familiar with Tarot check out the meaning of that card). The whole of The Church of England (& I'd argue Theology) currently faces a collective Tower moment - as the institution (& discipline) hits crisis & unravels as it is held accountable & (finally) critically appraised.

Extract from the second of two featured submissions I have in the powerful @girlgodbooks anthology Wounded Feminine : Grieving with Goddess superbly coedited by @cladorartandwords Trista Hendren and Pat Daly

Available from @girlgodbooks website or online stores

#educateevolveembody #embodimentspirituality
#fleshyknowing #inandthrough #tangibledivinity #embodiededucation

In conclusion, safeguarding neurodivergent individuals is a collective responsibility and one that cannot be ignored in any sphere or organisation in society because abusers and predators are everywhere.

In the past, it has been easier to blame the victims for not protecting themselves, being too kind, having poor boundaries, or wearing the wrong clothing. Instead, we should focus on the perpetrators and those who enable them, including individual bystanders and whole institutions.

We need to come to terms with the extent and prevalence of abuse perpetration in all spheres of society, including among our moral, spiritual, and religious leadership and organisations.

Religious and spiritual communities, therefore, need robust safeguarding procedures for this demographic who may have never fulfilled their meaning, purpose, connection and belonging needs due to trauma, prior abuse, and victimisation.

... as neurodivergent individuals make up a high percentage of attendees ... I continue to argue that both religious and mainstream wellness and ‘new age’ spiritual settings need an external regulatory body with oversight and assessment of these venues."

Conclusion to the Invited Commentary 'Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse' I wrote for The Canadian Journal for Theology Mental Health & Disability 4 no. 2, Fall 2024 (ISSN 2563-9374) @madandcrip

Link to full commentary in comments. It's free to access. Please share.

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #spiritualneedsarehumanneeds
#safeguarding #neurodivergent