In this three-part series of blogs, as NdC Development Lead I examine the complex entanglement of #Neurodivergence and #trauma, and the implications this has for the concept of “#recovery”. In this first part, I explore how natural rhythms, such as the seasons, can illuminate an understanding of trauma and recovery.

Extracts below. Link to read the whole blog & to the Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training in comments: 

"In the Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach course, I talk about the importance of connecting to and eventually honouring and structuring our life around our unique energy rhythms, through observing, being mentored by, and communing with nature’s rhythms. These #cyclical rhythms include the #seasons and the #lunarcycles.

Living coordinated with our inner seasons leads to better nervous system regulation and more sustainable living habits. This is especially important for Neurodivergent individuals who may ‘buck the trend’ (as I do) of being most energised and uplifted in summer.

Whatever our rhythms, connecting to nature shows us that just as the seasons turn and the trees bud, bloom, shed and rest, and the sun rises, shines, sets and disappears, and the moon waxes to fullness, and wanes to darkness, so do we need to find our unique rhythm, which is our best season and do our utmost to find out which environments echo that to support us be most regulated.

Trauma is healed through connection and nature offers us connection in a gentle and comforting way. It reassures us that we can be a wild, non-conformist, fast-growing climber (think some types of clematis) which can’t/won’t be tamed and flourishes in peak heat or a sturdy, reliable, prickly holly bush which dependably produces red berries, nourishing the birds in the hardest, coldest winter.

Everything is welcome; there's space for all ways of being a plant, tree, or flower. Seasons remind us that we, as living beings, need to figure out how long it takes and what we need to bud, bloom, harvest, and rest. That is why I advocate for cyclical living education in schools, mental health care, and therapeutic intervention within the Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach training."


Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training starts Oct 1st. More info here: https://ndconnection.co.uk/ndwatraining


Read the full blog https://ndconnection.co.uk/blog/trauma-and-recovery-part-1

Last Tuesday I started facilitation of the latest round of the #Neurodivergent #Wellbeing Approach #Training for Neurodiverse Connection.

The Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach is a holistic, Neurodivergent-friendly well-being curriculum that offers education and practical strategies for the #mind, #body & #spirit of Neurodivergent individuals, their family members, friends, caregivers, and professionals who support them.

This #nervoussystemfriendly system & #traumainformed programme is based on the concept of ‘experience to share’ and is designed to promote the wellbeing of participants, which they can then share with those they care for and support.

The next round of early evening training starts on Oct 1st & there are only a few places remaining.


Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training starts Oct 1st. More info here https://ndconnection.co.uk/ndwatraining

In addition fellow Neurodiverse Connection Development Lead Grace Lee @somegalart examined in another blog how Neurodivergent minds can be vulnerable to #exploitation and #radicalisation by by far-right narratives and deliberate #misinformation.

As an appendix (below) I considered what can be done to find a way forward:

"#Safeguarding #neurodivergent communities against racism and radicalisation involves creating supportive environments that are growth-orientated; aware and reflective, equity-focused, and inclusive, proactively educational, and responsive. Supportive, safe, and regulated environments mean there is a willingness within the community or organisation to engage with and sit with ‘taboo,’ triggering and uncomfortable questions, and topics, be messy and make mistakes in discussions, and individually and collectively assess bias, privilege, power, as well as acknowledge and bridge knowledge deficits.  

As a learning organisation, at Neurodiverse Connection, we are committed to becoming anti-racist and are making space to explore how we can safeguard our organisation and community against racism and radicalisation.  

Last year, as part of our #Grooming and #CoerciveControl Summit, the red and green flags around communities and groups in our NdC curated resource Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse and considered the applications of it to online hate speech promoters and influencers, such as Andrew Tate. The points made in this resource around why neurodivergent individuals might be more at risk of spiritual abuse – social exclusion, challenges in discernment, a desire for belonging, reliance on authority figures, difficulty in self-advocacy and isolation - might equally apply to specific vulnerabilities of risk of radicalisation. 

We recognise the importance of understanding diverse cultural backgrounds within the Neurodivergent communities to address internalised and structural racism by seeking representation, voices, and perspectives. Our focus on service and community accountability, some of the green flags listed in the resource means that we look to create safe space, peer support, allyship and collaboration opportunities."


Full blog here https://ndconnection.co.uk/blog/unpacking-radicalisation

Happy Full Moon and Equinox and I’ll write again in October.


Best wishes, Kay

​TRANSITION : the process (time period) of shifting (changing & transforming) from one state (place, belief system, way of being & doing) to another.

September is always the beginning of transition - our yearly opportunity to shed old skins & leaves

And prune our branches (for those is us in the northern hemisphere that is) ready for new growth.

The month starts with receiving more insights & awareness & we have the impulse to create new daily & weekly routines alongside a strong physical foundation, to support our nervous system regulation.

Then we reach the transition (& decision) point Autumn Equinox (Mabon) & the shedding begins

We need to NORMALISE living REFLECTIVELY, CYCLICALLY & SEASONALLY - sync with the earth.

And embed this #embodiededucation & these rhythmic reflective practises into institutions & workplaces in society - especially education & healthcare.

AND make it policy & procedure - make it how societal institutions run. Make it systemic.

These are some of the first steps towards EVERYONE having access to wellbeing, nervous system health & being respectful of the earth.

We need SYSTEMIC wellbeing, regulation & respect.

And then we might have a chance of reinstating a #humane #humanitarian #humanity. A human collective which is less in hyper-individualism & survival & more in interdependence & connectedness.

The August bank holiday signals for me the start of the transition into autumn.


For the past few years I’ve spent that bank holiday weekend facilitating the final Somatic Shamanism and Energy Medicine skills practise weekend at the Acorn.


This photo was taken this year’s final training day and is a celebration of a stellar group the 2024 Somatic Shamanism Energy Medicine Deeper Immersion & Practitioner Skills Training Cohort who were an absolute pleasure to teach & hold space for.

I'm so grateful

Thank you @sls_daretodance for superbly assisting with this training

Thank you @acornretreat for the stunning land & space to facilitate on & in

Thank you @acorn_sarah  @thisliberatinglife  @rebecca_brereton_art_therapist  @the_mindfulfox  @amy.at.sacred.sounds  for creating such a beautiful constellation

This training will not be running this academic year - after facilitating for seven years straight it's time for me to pause, reflect, regroup & replenish.

If you'd like to join the waiting list for a Sept 2025 start you can do so by emailing me.

More about those final training days …


There's no learning without the body.

Every year I say this. And that all educational spaces need to incorporate experiential methods & outdoor learning opportunities.

One of my favourite moments of the facilitation of this year training is teaching students to do this complex practice: the rebirth rite.

As a teacher by profession & qualification I know through my own academic study & lived classroom experience (as well as intuitively) how humans learn best. Whether teaching GCSE English, A-Level Psychology, coaching skills or shamanic practises (all of which, & much more, I've taught for real) good teaching & learning happens in the same way.

There's preparation, exploration, reading & study to do in advance. Learning builds on what goes before - it's titrated & cumulative.

There are boundaries & freedom (yes, this is possible!) & the teacher leads by example.

I demonstrate the rite & we discuss it; the real life application of the process, when & when not to do it & crucially how to facilitate in a trauma informed & nervous system friendly safe way.

I provide a written template & diagram of the sequence & I model it again. Students can ask questions at any point.

Together we individually lay out stones on the earth creating the energy structure of a body & we repeat the sequence, several times (remembering our left & right, anticlockwise & clockwise rotations, & the movements around the body) until it becomes a muscle memory.

I give my students space to process, allowing their bodies to integrate the learning overnight & then the next day there's opportunity for clarification & questions before they do it for real, practising on each other.

This is #embodiededucation & #embodimentspirituality

Normalising & anchoring spiritual & holistic healing modalities into the mundane and also ensuring training is accessible, thorough & safe & that practitioners are safe, accountable & professional.

​The training container I craft aligns with the recent excellent work of Stimpunks and Autistic Realms.  I facilitate what they call Cavendish Learning Spaces.


Cavendish Learning Spaces - places to nourish #bodymind - we need them in schools, in universities, in mental health settings, in religious & 'spiritual', retreat & wellbeing & all other community settings ..

Campfires: Spaces for learning with a storyteller — teacher, mentor, elder or carer. Education facilitators need to subvert neuronormativity actively. They need to embark on their transformative neuroqueer journey so their re-storying can inspire neuro-cosmopolitanism.

Caves: Spaces for quiet reflection and self-directed or inter-dependent exploration, recovery and rest. Introspection and self-directed learning. A private space to transform learning from external knowledge to internal belief. Home of reflective construction.

Watering Holes: Spaces for social learning with or alongside peers and carers in validating neurodivergent ways by embracing parallel play and body doubling experiences.

More fantastic work by @autisticrealms & @stimpunks - check them out!

"Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms) and Ryan Boren (Stimpunks) have been exploring radically inclusive learning environments. Cavendish learning spaces are based on flexibility, interaction, movement and the role of embodied responsive experiences. We reject the boundaries of traditional classroom settings and look at how they not only restrict embodied experiences but lead to disembodied experiences and can cause harm."

Contents from two articles Spaces For Multi-Sensory Learners and those with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities & Neurodivergent Base Camp

Honoured that the book Embodied Education, which Dan & I co-authored, is referenced

Whilst on the training we learn somatic shamanic practices and get to know our shamanic self, we do not (I do not) call ourselves Shamans.


Those who truly follow the shamanic path are rare.

Ancient indigenous Shamans were rare. Modern neo-shamans are rare.

Why? Because the shamanic process of 'hollowing out' - becoming a 'hollow bone' - tends to happen through a series of painful human life experiences. Chronic illness, traumatic events, abuse, bereavement.

It's not about the 'I' - the 'me' or 'my'.

There is no bypassing. To 'hollow out' we must face, address, process & resolve our human trauma, difficulties & challenges. Continually.

The shamanic path is the most HUMAN & INTERDEPENDENT spiritual path there is because the focus is on SERVICE & the post traumatic recovery of the collective.

As a 'hollow bone' those who have 'hollowed out' open up their mind & body to allow power & 'spirit' (life force) to flow in & through & OUT of them with the intention of supporting others & earth.

The purpose of the shamanic (& I would argue any spiritual/healing) path is to REHUMANISE:

* to ENGAGE with poverty, inequity & all other social justice issues
* to establish a hospitable world - PRACTICALLY - the systems & infrastructure
* to support the RESOLUTION OF TRAUMA & re establishment of a humane, humanitarian, humanity

#educatevolveembody #rehumanise #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #humane #humanitarian #humanity

The end of August & beginning of September are always a time of transition. The new term looms, there are lots of emotions & this can take its toll on families.

Check out this great FREE ebook resource.

#Embodiment: Supporting #family #wellbeing during #transitions

FREE #Neurodivergent #community EBOOK inspired by the webinar I delivered in June for @the_pdaspace

Brilliantly designed & curated by Helen @autisticrealms

Get your free ebook - link in bio - and share widely


Access the book click here
​

Looking ahead to November … Supporting Children and Young People Impacted by Trauma (from Domestic Abuse)


Nov 5th 2024 10am - 3 pm * FREE DAY ONLINE WEBINAR *

Hosted by Dr Ruth Smith, High Sheriff of North Yorkshire. Invites are being sent to North Yorkshire schools.

I'm really looking forward to supporting this event.

As the second speaker, I'll be presenting at 11am on Embodied Education.

This will be a short talk on why it is important to radically rethink how we educate and why embodied education - as a model which centres body-first and bottom-up perspectives - alongside nervous system education and co-regulation - is vital for classrooms and schools to become trauma-informed.

This talk will also share content Embodied Education: Creating Safe Space for Learning, Facilitating and Sharing and relational, neuro-inclusive, and creative strategies and approaches for learning environments, as a way of supporting the shaping of non-abusive, positive and trauma-informed school culture, safeguarding student and staff wellbeing and educational outcomes.


​Equinox signals the peak of the transition is done …


Once the Autumn Equinox, Mabon, calendared on Sept 21st/22nd has past the peak of the transition is done.  Between now and then I’m presenting at the Oxford and York conferences and will have started the next round of the NdC Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach training, all of which I mentioned in the August email.


If you missed this and in interested in any of the above click on the links below to learn more.


Creative Bridges, 2024 : Embodied Consciousness, Psyche and Soul in Research & Practice 4-8 Sept in Oxford


Fri 13th Sept @yorkstjohn to the Neurodiversity in Higher Education 2 #NDinHE2 


NdC Neurodivergent Wellbeing Training course

Option 1 :
Starting Tuesday 10th September 2024
4 x Half Day Sessions (9.30am-1pm)

Option 2:
Starting Tuesday 1st October 2024
8 x 1.5 hr Evening Sessions (6-7.30pm)
Best wishes and I’ll write again with updates from Oxford and York later this month!


Kay

Latest @girlgodbooks anthology is OUT NOW!

Wounded Feminine : Grieving with Goddess
 
superbly coedited by @cladorartandwords Trista and Pat

"Wounded Feminine is a magnificent chorus, which wades in the mind/heart/soul of the reader churning the long-lasting waves inwardly. Animating the legacy of the collective grief and strife for love and connection with the whole, many voices of the anthology reshape the consciousness of what was lost and transform the subconsciousness into the power of the Cosmic Mother. This anthology is the seeds of deep thoughts, the indispensable steps for matriversal soteriology."

-Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, the author of Reader: Toward Magoist Cetaceanism (Mago Books, 2023)

Available from @girlgodbooks website or online stores
 
 

1. Me and the Inquisitor. An Abridged Version. As my Body Remembers it.
   
   One of two featured submissions I have in the powerful latest @girlgodbooks anthology Wounded Feminine : Grieving with Goddess superbly coedited by @cladorartandwords Trista and Pat
   
   Available from @girlgodbooks website or online stores
   
   In this piece of writing I outline the inherent misogynistic nature & 'witch-hunt' energies of my (failed!) experience of the Anglican Priesthood Ordination Discernment Process.

 

1. Breaking the Spell and Lifting the Curse - What was I looking for from the Christian Religion and Anglican Church?
   
   
   
   "I was searching for a devotional and authentic community committed to spiritual growth and healthy relating. As a Priest I hoped to facilitate this.
   
   The construction - the breaking down ...
   
   THEY DON'T WANT THAT. THEY DON'T VALUE THAT.
   
   ... I see it clearly.
   
   I was both repeating and trying to resolve, trying to repair, through the Church, my family of origin trauma patterning"
   
   
   
   Second of two featured submissions I have in the powerful latest @girlgodbooks anthology Wounded Feminine : Grieving with Goddess superbly coedited by @cladorartandwords Trista and Pat 
   
   Available from @girlgodbooks website or online stores

​Deconstruct : 'to break something down into its separate parts in order to understand its meaning, especially when this is different from how it was previously understood' (Cambridge Dictionary)

It's not usual August energy. 2024 hasn't been a year of the 'same old'. We are a choice point #evolve or

This is the POINT of wellness & spiritual practices, of education - to support us to deconstruct (individually, collectively, institutionally) - to go #inandthrough - and rebuild a humane, humanitarian, humanity.

I was raised in a working class northern mining village (near Sunderland where the recent race riots & far right violence have taken place). My grandfathers were miners. I was surrounded by poverty, hostile, racist language and attitudes, domestic violence, abuse and misogyny.

And I was fortunate to escape that cycle through education, reconnecting to my body and soul and through the ongoing deconstruction of (and divesting from) the internalised constructs of racism, ableism, classism, misogyny, colonialism etc etc.

I'm not an expert. This work is not done. And it's messy & painful.

And, I continue to do it because I value humanity, feel a moral obligation to repair/heal on behalf of past generations and evolve for the sake of future generations. And I recognise interconnectedness - and therefore the futility of doing anything other than this.

Divest : to get rid of (Cambridge Dictionary)

This is what we are being called to do during these times. Deconstruct & divest from external & internalised, conscious & unconscious constructs, attitudes, thought forms, language, behaviour and repetitions of racism.

Spiritual and wellbeing practice of the week : BE ACTIVELY ANTI-RACIST.

​This week has highlighted (again) the urgent need for all of us to move from non-racist to anti-racist.

This is a process and one which is much needed in family, educational, academic, healthcare, therapy, wellbeing, religious & spiritual spaces.

I speak only to what I have direct experience of - it is of course needed everywhere.

Brilliant model by Andrew M. Ibrahim MD, MSc which I'm reflecting on today as I assess where I am (& the circles I mix in are) on the journey & where to go next to learn, grow & evolve.

Resensitise : to make someone sensitive to (= aware of or affected by) something again (Cambridge Dictionary)

The systems, structures & institutions in patriarchal & colonial societies are designed to desensitise us - make us insensitive, unaware of our common humanity, unaffected by the suffering of others.

For me the purpose of 'healing' and of spiritual & wellbeing practices are to provide tools to develop the capacity to FEEL more & communities where we become aware of our interconnectedness, our common humanity, & are affected & moved by the suffering of others.

The purpose is for us to be fully resourced & feel so deeply, with such compassion & empathy, that we are mobilised to take action for collective change & justice.

Rehumanise : to make human again, to make it suitable for humans again (no dictionary definition needed)

We finish our time in education dehumanised, dissociated & disembodied, after hours sat at desks, separated from nature & creativity, being fed a colonial curriculum.

We enter into a dehumanising society, working in dehumanising institutions, operating in dehumanising structures.

Being fed dehumanising & colonial narratives this time by the media.

May those of us who are providing pathways away from this - creatives, artists, writers, poets, activists, advocates, holistic & nature based therapists, wellbeing practitioners, social justice communities - focus on REHUMANISING.

REHUMANISING not only individuals, collectives, communities but essentially organisational, institutional and structural policy, procedure, & practice.

Let's make society & its institutions humane, humanitarian & hospitable for humans - at a mind, body & soul level.

​BYSTANDERS

"In recent years, I have begun to contemplate the idea of a fourth and final stage of recovery, and that is justice. If trauma is truly a social problem, and indeed it is, then recovery cannot be simply a private, individual matter. The wounds of trauma are not merely those caused by the perpetrators of violence and exploitation; the actions of the bystanders - all those who are complicit in or who prefer not to know about the abuse or who blame the victims - often cause ever deeper wounds"

Truth and Repair ~ Judith Herman

Sometimes a book puts into words your #fleshyknowing & resonates deeply with your lived experience & validates you so profoundly that your life is forever changed by it.

Reading this book, this weekend, has had that impact.

Thank you for writing this book Judith Herman #trailblazer #truthteller #justiceseeker

COMPLICITY

"Acknowledgement on a massive scale means recognition not only of the crimes committed by individual perpetrators but also of the complicity of all the people who enabled them.

... they wanted the church to stipulate 'that the abuse was not the fault of the victims, and that the shame belongs only to those who did the abuse and those who covered it up.'"

Truth and Repair ~ Judith Herman

A transferable & relevant extract which validates my #fleshyknowing that the institutions in society we go to for our moral compass, justification & solace are in fact a-moral in their complicity in abuse (of all kinds), victim blaming & dehumanisation.

Whilst survivors may creatively find comfort in the spiritual realm - directly in relation with the Divine - ultimately trauma can't be resolved & healed without a HUMAN community which is not complicit, does not deny or stay silent to abuse & actively seeks justice.

A humane, humanitarian, human community forging a humane, humanitarian humanity.

I've found that some of the most victim blaming, retraumatising & dehumanising spaces are 'moral' 'theological' 'religious' 'spiritual' 'wellbeing' & 'therapeutic' spaces.

VISIONING JUSTICE

The radical (or root cause addressing) survivors vision of justice needs "truth and repair -acknowledgement, vindication, apology, and amends - from their moral communities"

"Because many people in their communities enabled the abuse they endured, they seek community amends in the form of institutional & cultural change"

Truth and Repair ~ Judith Herman

I've had a #fleshyknowing of this for a while. I now have research & evidence based text to say I'm not alone in this vision.

No more victim blaming. No more bystander apathy & silence. No more collusion.

In our homes, families & friendship groups, schools, churches, wellbeing retreats, spiritual communities, universities, mental health services, court rooms (& all the other spaces we inhabit)

Actively educate - deconstruct, divest, resensitise & rehumanise - evolve & embody JUSTICE.

Words for these times.
 
I’ll leave it there for now.
 
Kay x

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Northern Ireland : facilitating @the_goat_house_retreat (Insta) inaugural residential test Reflect & Renew Retreat

Pictures say it all. Fantastic venue! Owners & hosts Lorna & Heather are just gorgeous & the collection of women who gathered were the bright joyous souls.

If they'll have me - I'll be back. The land of Mourne is perfect for #embodiededucation & #embodimentspirituality plus, nature based spirituality is a seamless fit for the area with it's celtic & shamanic origins.

Thank you for offering me the opportunity @mourne_yoga  @tellyhevbrown 

And thank you @lightfoot_bangor for food ​

Simultaneously nervous & excited to be a presenter at this conference in Oxford.

My presentation is part of the Transformative Education Track, & the Embodiment & Transpersonal in Education session on the Thursday afternoon.

I'll be speaking for 20 mins on our book, Embodied Education Creating Safe Space for Learning Facilitating and Sharing, which Dan & I researched & co-authored, & which was published last year by @girlgodbooks

Creative Bridges, 2024 : Embodied Consciousness, Psyche and Soul in Research & Practice 4-8 Sept in Oxford @aleftrust @eurotas.world
 
Interested?  Click here
​

Excited to look ahead to Fri 13th Sept @yorkstjohn to the Neurodiversity in Higher Education 2 #NDinHE2 where I'll be presenting:

* a poster on the Neurodiverse Connection Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training as the NdC Development Lead

** a creative workshop on our published manual Embodied Education Creating Safe Space for Learning Facilitating and Sharing (written by Dan & I, published by @girlgodbooks June 2023)

Both presentations centre body first, bottom up, neuroinclusive, trauma informed, sensory friendly, nervous system informed, relational & embodiment paradigm shifting approaches - which support ALL neurotypes.
 
Interested?  Click here
​

​Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach (NdWA)
is a holistic, Neurodivergent-friendly well-being curriculum that offers education and  practical strategies for Neurodivergent individuals, their family members,  friends, caregivers, and professionals who support them.
The programme is based on the concept of
‘experience to share’ and is designed to promote the wellbeing of participants, which they can then share with those they care for and support.
 
Course A
4 x  half-day sessions  Weekly at 9:30AM, Tuesdays
10th, 24th September, 1st, 8th October
 
Course B
8 x 90 minute sessions Weekly at 6PM, Tuesdays
1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd October, 5th, 12th,19th, 26th November
 
 
Interested?  Click here
 
 
Printed coursebook  available
 
A printed coursebook with all models, exercises and content from the course (plus spaces to fill in the reflection tasks) is available to purchase for an additional £20 fee, including UK postage.

​May this first harvest serve you well, as we begin to gather in the fruits of our labours this year.
 
I’ll write again later this month with details of the new Girl God Books Anthology, Wounded Feminine: Grieving with Goddess
I have two pieces published within.  
 
Its a deeply moving and important publication.
 
Best wishes, Kay x

Hi all,

I'm writing before I sign off for my yearly month's break from the newsletter and as much as I can, social media.  I'll be back in August, after the new moon and Lammas festival. 

This has become a regular and much-anticipated pause for me - where I consciously take a break, to ripen and mature what has grown, and to connect, before the work of harvest and gathering-in starts.

I hope you can also create time to switch off, to receive and be too.

The July newsletter updates from what has been a busy June, plus there are some summer journalling prompts and links to freebie replays of some of the events/talks I mention - so for them, if you are interested in the topics click on the links.

I hope you enjoy it.

Best wishes, Kay x

 

Summer Journalling Prompts:

• What are we retrieving?
• What are we trying to restore?
• What is the recovery process?

And some of my answers ...

Retrieve
It's not a disembodied & dissociated soul retrieval we're seeking ~ it's 'body' & nervous system regulation retrieval we really want & need.

It's humane humanitarian humanity retrieval we seek - which is our collective soul.

Restore
We've lost our mammalian, animal, embodiment & therefore collective humane, humanitarian soul due to living in mind dominant, individualistic, dissociated systems & structures.

Restore BODY FIRST, nature-based, community-focused, interdependent, cyclical ways of living, structures, systems & institutions.

Restore we & us ...

Recover
I'm in RECOVERY

I'm GETTING BACK & REGAINING my wholeness through regaining my humane, humanitarian, HUMANITY.

And to do this I'm in RECOVERY from all the 'addictions' & bypasses I'd adopted to stop feeling the sensations, emotions & feelings which accompany being an interdependent human.

And this includes RECOVERY from hyper-individualism, productivity, consumerism, workaholism, and mind dominance ...

and the group think of ... social media, celebrity, academia, mainstream western (colonial) therapy, pop psychology, religion & the capitalist new age spiritual & wellness industries.

I'm in RECOVERY to GET BACK & REGAIN my animal body - its feelings, emotions & sensations - its vulnerability & depth but most crucially COMPASSION, INTERCONNECTEDNESS & INTER-BEING for & with the earth & every living being on it.

And that RECOVERY requires undoing & sacrifice, accountability & responsibility.
 

​If you haven't already - check out the work of Helen, Autistic Realms and Ryan, Stimpunks.  Honoured that they are both weaving Embodied Education into their writing and ideas:

1.  Neuroqueering Learning Spaces
https://stimpunks.org/2024/03/23/neuroqueering-learning-spaces-an-exploration/

"Once again, I have started the beginning of this project in the middle of everything else!

We dived in deep and realised our project had been underway for many years, but neither of us had the vocabulary of ‘neuroqueer’ and ‘neuroqueering’ (Nick Walker, 2021) to describe our thoughts and help us understand our journey.

Now we have that vocabulary; it has opened up another world within a world. It enables us to connect and learn from others who are also interested in the neurodiversity paradigm and postnormal possibilities. It is carving out a pathway for us to expand our community networks and help facilitate a shift in the way education is currently structured.

It is helping us move towards what Kay and Dan Aldred (2023) describe as an Embodied Education, which could be seen to be the golden thread that runs through Neuroqueer Learning Spaces.

Embodied education is a concept we will return to and weave through our work alongside other emergent ideas about being a ‘space holder’ to allow the freedom of creative learning to take place.

Aldred (2023) wrote, ‘There is no learning without the body.’ We will collaborate with different communities to discover what an embodied, neuroqueer education and learning space may mean for those facilitating education and how it could support young people."

2. The Double Empathy Problem is Deep 
https://medium.com/@helenrealms/the-double-empathy-problem-is-deep-2364b3412c39

"The DEEP (DOUBLE EMPATHY EXTREME PROBLEM) arises from feelings of disconnect; not only from cultural, sexual, political, religious, neurodivergent, or any other cross-section of differences but also through embodiment, or lack thereof. The double empathy gap is non-linear; it is deep, multidimensional, rhizomatic, and holographic (Mirra, 2023). DEEP could be a huge contributing factor that leads to burnout and ill health. The DEEP gap can break people at their core, leaving them fragmented, disconnected, disoriented and disembodied, feeling like they’re in a void space.

Bodyminds is a term used to challenge the idea the body and mind are experienced separately (Descartes).

There is a gap between those who are intune with their own #bodyminds and the bodyminds of those they are with and people who are dis-embodied, (regardless of any intersectionality and other empathy gap that may be present). As Walker (2021) says;

“Mind is inextricably entwined with brain, and brain with body; thus, mind is inextricably entwined with body in a single complex system and in a continuous dance of mutual shaping.We’re not minds riding around in vehicles of flesh and bone; we’re bodyminds, bodies that think and perceive. Experience, awareness, sense of self, psychological development, and capacities for feeling, knowing, cognition, connection, and action are all entwined with — and shape, and are shaped by — habits of bodily usage, including habits of movement, posture, breath, contact, consumption, tension and relaxation, gaze, gesture, and expression.”

I am learning to be more embodied through somatic practice and connecting with other people exploring these ideas across various communities. The work of Kay & Dan Aldred (2023) about Embodied Education demonstrates how embodiment is essential for individuals to thrive, we need somatic practice embedded into the ways our education and healthcare systems operate and evolve, we need people to be deeply intune with others, embodied, so they can transform and work more meaningfully."

 

June 28th to July 1st at Alison Palmer's FREE online summit - REPLAYS available.  An amazing lineup of speakers with a wide range of specialisms!  Click here

Magnificent Menopause: Reclaim and Celebrate the Power of Menopause and Post-Menopause

I spoke on:

Radically Rethinking, Embodying and Meeting our Spiritual Needs throughout our Menopause Journey

I was asked to speak at this conference because of my ongoing menopausal journey and my belief that we can radically rethink menopause and reframe it as a passage rich with gifts, that can meet our spiritual needs

I'll share with you:

how your body is a deeply intelligent and rich source of information 

... and how menopause can ignite our 'sacred rage' (as it did for me) 

... and more about neurodivergent & neurodiversity

plus, the published @girlgodbooks workbooks & online resources I've created to support you with the journey.  Click here.
 ​

Other news ...

Neurodiverse Connection

First month of work as Development Lead at NdC has flown by & I've loved every minute of it! So great to be part of a team #strongertogether

Therapy and Social Change Mind the Vote Summit

Sunday, 30th June, ahead of the UK #generalelection as Development Lead at Neurodiverse Connection (NdC), I was part of the Therapy and Social Change Mind the Vote Summit Lived Experience Panel.

We spoke on how we have/or haven't participated in therapy, whether therapy supports social change, and the way we understand how politics influence this experience.

I was delighted to be joined by Cassie & Charli @charliclement_
Associates at NdC

A fantastic event.

Check it out
https://therapyandsocialchange.net/
Click here

Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach

I completed the month's work recording an intro video to the Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach training for YouTube.

The next round of training starts in Sept.

Option 1 :
Starting Tuesday 10th September 2024
4 x Half Day Sessions (9.30am-1pm)

Option 2:
Starting Tuesday 1st October 2024
8 x 1.5 hr Evening Sessions (6-7.30pm)

To book
https://ndconnection.co.uk/ndwatraining
Click here
​

​Join me and don't miss out on this exceptional, free 5-day online event beginning Friday June 28th -- the Magnificent Menopause Summit.
 
This is a unique experience, exploring a deep diversity of ways to transform the experience of menopause and how it impacts our post-menopausal journeys. You will be amazed ...
 
Join leading experts as they explore perimenopause and post-menopause, emphasising that we can reclaim this powerful experience as an essential rite of passage that empowers us to come into our fullness, access our wisdom and transition into influential leaders in our work, our community, our family and our lives.
 
Access five insightful days and learn from over 20 teachers and leaders, including ...
Alexandra Pope, Elena Brower, Pamela Windle, Lauren Chiren, Cathy Skipper, Robin Rose Bennett, Rachel Lankester, Dr Sonia Wright, Katie Day, Sally Bartlett, Jewels Wingfield, Sally Garozzo, Dana Lawson, Kay Louise Aldred, Dionne Roberts, Jolinda Johnson, Gabriella Espinosa, Adele Johnson, Kelly Murray, Rebekah Brown and host Alison Palmer PhD.
 
Register now for FREE.
 
Register now for the Magnificent Menopause Summit 2024 and you will gain 48-hour free viewing access to each Summit day’s presentations, and instant access to 20 powerful and free gifts to inform and support you on your own personal perimenopausal through to your long post-menopausal journey.
 
Whether you are just entering your perimenopause or realising that many of the well-being issues you face now in your post-menopausal years may well be due to unresolved issues from your perimenopause, this Summit will be an enriching and enlightening experience.
 
In this free online event, you'll:
 
Learn from leading experts in menopause and spirituality,
mindfulness, sexual pleasure, body confidence, nutrition, stress-management and so much more ...
 
Discover the lasting impact of menopause upon your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being ... and learn healing ways to improve the quality of your life ... into your 70s, 80s and 90s!
 
Explore how to work with plant medicine and herbs and transform menopause into a life of play and adventure.
 
Understand the spiritual and ancient rites of passage available to you so that your post-menopause is a time of rich fullness and powerful authenticity.
 
Learn more about how to get the support you want and need so that you are empowered to get real solutions to your specific menopause issues (whether it's hot flashes, bloating, insomnia, weight gain, depression, anxiety, or any other of the possible 44 + issues you may be having)
 
Join a community of like-minded women committed to have real conversations about our menopause so we can shatter the myths that it's the "end", that it's shameful or that we must struggle on alone.
 
Reclaim and celebrate your POWERFUL menopause as a real process of transformation and rise like the phoenix from the flames in all your true energy and new colours!
 
You'll also have access to 20 high-value free gifts from the dynamic guests so that you can take this learning to the next level and start to transform your own well-being.
This unmissable event addresses this important transition that 100% of women go through and does so with a loving, inspiring energy that enables you to integrate all that you learn into your daily life.
 
I hope you’ll join us!
 
Register for free here.
 
 
P.S. When you attend the 5-day Magnificent Menopause summit ...
… you’ll learn how, when you become aware of - and learn key insights on how to transform - how perimenopause and menopause can affect the rest of your life, you can experience real changes in your own well-being - body, mind, soul and emotions.
 
Click here to register for free now.

So, that was May : 8 nights in Glastonbury

Living with purpose : Educational Priestessing

Being accepted & featured in & Goddess Temple Teachings (pic 2) plus co-facilitating training (with Dr Lynne Sedgmore & my husband Dan ... more pics to come) for the Glastonbury local community & beyond, including to some of the Avalon Priestesses, permaculture/farm initiative & home school teachers, felt like a completion, a homecoming & a deeper anchoring of humanity into the heart chakra of the world.

May the profoundly spiritual act of being fully human ripple out into all spheres of society & support the creation of a humane & humanitarian humanity.

Deeply grateful & humbled by the welcome, willingness & acceptance we received.

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The future = #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality

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#educateevolveembody #fleshyknowing #inandthrough #tangibledivinity

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#glastonbury #thankyou #gratitude #community #avalon #heartchakra #heartcentred #purpose
#educationalpriestessing #teacherpriestess
​

I was super happy to be in the Avalon room @glastonburygoddesstemple room facilitating for 3 days during my time in #glastonbury last month

"Avalon, island to which Britain’s legendary king Arthur was conveyed for the healing of his wounds after his final battle. It is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae (c. 1136), while the same author’s Vita Merlini (c. 1150) described it as “the island of apples [‘Insula pomorum’], called fortunate.” It was ruled by the enchantress Morgan le Fay and her eight sisters, all of them skilled in the healing arts.

Geoffrey may have been attempting to connect his “island of apples” with Celtic mythology’s traditions of an elysium; and the name Avalon is certainly close to the Welsh word for apple, afal. Sir John Rhys, however (Studies in the Arthurian Legend, 1891), preferred to link the name Avalon with that of Aballach, a (hypothetical) dark Celtic divinity. Avalon has been identified with Glastonbury in Somerset, and this may be connected with Celtic legends about an “isle of glass” inhabited by deceased heroes. It is equally likely to have been an attempt by the monks of Glastonbury to exploit the Arthurian legend for the benefit of their own community."

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arthurian-legend

"The Isle of Avalon : Glastonbury has a long tradition of being ‘The Isle of Avalon’ where King Arthur went after his last battle. The monks of Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have found his grave in 1191.

Jesus is said to have come to Glastonbury as a boy, travelling here with Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was a tin merchant and had travelled to England's south west for this valuable metal.

Legends of the Tor : It's said that beneath the hill there's a hidden cave through which you can pass into the fairy realm of Annwn. There dwells Gwyn ab Nudd, the lord of the Celtic underworld, with the Cauldron of Rebirth.

Later tradition has it that the Holy Grail lies here, brought by Jesus’ uncle, Joseph of Arimathea. The Cauldron and the Grail were both the object of quests for King Arthur and his knights."

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/somerset/glastonbury-tor/history-of-glastonbury-tor
​

​Radical Embodiment

Just realised I'm talking a lot about this & have never really fully defined it.

Radical = going to the root of something, revolutionary & progressive

Embodiment = situated in the world in the body, fully incarnate soul (#tangibledivinity), in the present, connected to the wisdom of the flesh (#fleshyknowing), processing in and through the body (#inandthrough)

Honouring the sacredness of ALL bodies : advocating for the safety of ALL bodies (#bodyfirst #bottomup)

I study, write, teach & live this - advocating for radical embodiment in education & academia, spirituality & religion, mental health & community settings.

Most recently facilitating in the heart of the heart chakra of the world - Glastonbury.

Free on Kindle New Moon Giveaway

"Once again, Girl God books - and the courageous women who share what has been banished to the shadows, silenced, disparaged, and demonized - is a profoundly valuable gift to everyone who is being called to reintegrate our feminine receptive nature.
 
Pain Perspectives is a beautiful sharing of how the pain of existing in a heart-and-soul deprived patriarchal paradigm has been endured - and has contributed to women’s wisdom, gifts, and soul’s evolution.

A must read for anyone who has lived with pain, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. Pretty much everyone. The women who traveled to the depths, transmuted their pain, garnered the wisdom, and rose to inspire others is an authentic depiction of the energy of the Goddess returning through each and every one of us. I recommend taking your time to receive each story in this book, as deeply as it was shared." 

-Mary Lane, author of Divine Nourishment & Meena

“When first approached to write an endorsement for this book I felt quietly confident. I have been a practitioner of Classical Chinese medicine and somatic therapies for forty years, and pain is my compassion language. I know pain in all its forms both professionally and personally. So, all good, right?

But the collection of essays, poems and art in this anthology is so visceral and on point that there was nothing easy about the read or the analysis. Chronic pain, institutionalized pain, cultural pain, all washing over us mentally, physically, and spiritually. All is beautifully explored and poignantly written here.

And while we are neurologically wired to retract from pain, I do believe we need to feel it, name it, and stare it down in order to move past it. This important anthology will help us all to do that. Read it and cherish the awakened sensations as you would with your tongue playing with a loose tooth. And then we get up tomorrow and do what needs to be done.”

-Gina Martin, author of the When She Wakes series

 A powerful collection of women speaking their truths, sharing openly, honestly and with raw vulnerability on the pain of the world manifesting in their own bodies. Women’s pain is not an isolated problem or issue. It is a reflection of the world we live in - a world built on a foundation of fear, greed and hierarchical power where every major institution miserably fails both women and children. The authors’ personal stories shed new and necessary perspectives on women’s pain that I’m sure any reader will find both inspiring and empowering."

-Trista Haggerty, Author of When the Dark Mother Calls. 
 

Download by clicking here


#educateevolveembody #freebie #newmoon #giveaway #kindle #painperspectives #findmeaning #chronicpain #pain #embodimentspirituality
​

And finally, Neurodiverse Connection news!

This week I joined the NdC team as Development Lead for two days a week, in addition to my Associate role.  Click here to join the NdC mailing list to find out more our work.

Hope you have enjoyed this newsletter.

Best wishes, Kay

​Futuristic is the key word of my growing season.  

What does this mean?

"strange and very modern, or intended or seeming to come from some imagined time in the future"

Cambridge Dictionary

Recreation of ancient ways is not enough. We are not meant to go backwards. We do not live in non-tech Merlin times - & neither would we want to when we reflect on the poverty & disease, misogyny & feudalism, of that era!

We can't escape the present, the demands on our nervous systems, or where we are now as a collective.

Humanity in 2024 requires a futuristic focus & approach which does not bypass or try to escape the reality of human life & current oppressive arching paradigms.

Any approach has to be relevant to all bodies & accessible to everyone. And it has to be humane & humanitarian in focus.

WE NEED INNOVATION & TO CREATE NEW WAYS.

Pivot fully to present & future generations - that will automatically call in ancestral wisdom & heal the past.

My offering to the future = #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality

What's yours?

Another focus is authentic union.

I can't stress this enough. Spiritual & devotional practice is not a performance.

God/Goddess transcend binary gender constructs & conditioned understanding of these.

I prefer translating it into sensation & energetics - pulse & zap, magnetic & electric.

The aim is a harmonious union within & without

The future #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation

You won't get this until you see it feel it
 

Another focus is Eldership.

Futuristic Eldership

Eyes fully open to the now.

I spent too long pining for the return to an ancient time which I was viewing through a conditioned rose-tinted lens, sneakily forged in the colonial & patriarchal overarching binary narrative & gender role fire.

Futuristic Eldership is beyond individualism & the binary. It's the hollow bone of unity & community-based service of present & future generations.

The future = #futuristicelders #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation

Another focus is engagement.

I recently saw a @scienceandnonduality_ post which said you will never convince me that a solution to a problem is to kill children.

And I agree.

And as the siege & evacuation are now ordered on Rafah & I feel hot fury & cold collapse simultaneously I remind myself of my commitment to not become numb, indifferent or accepting of violence against children & women as normal.

And so in waxing moon, I use my intention & ritual & my tiny platform & own voice to once again join the mighty voices around the globe tirelessly campaigning to end war & violence against women & girls.

Engagement ...

Once I got back into my body - & went #inandthrough sensation & emotion - & found the safety, wisdom & trustworthiness of my #feltsense #fleshyknowing & my own flesh, I didn't want to look #outandup again.

And then I realised that's the POINT of healing!

It's to engage with life, to risk, to connect, to thrive & to offer back.

My offering to the future = #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality

Where are you in your journey?
 

​Looking ahead to the autumn.
 
I'm celebrating being selected to present on #embodiededucation our @girlgodbooks published manual live at this conference

24th International @eurotas.world @aleftrust Conference: CREATIVE BRIDGES

EMBODIED CONSCIOUSNESS, PSYCHE & SOUL IN RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

4-8 SEPT 2024
OXFORD, UK

“Creative bridges” are spaces where we transcend the restrictive and regressive forces that confront us in what is clearly a transitional age. By forging new connections, we create paths that may lead us wisely into the next phase of cultural and spiritual evolution.

Bridges lie at the core of our work as practitioners, researchers, and scholars. We bridge across cultures, across academic disciplines, between the science and practice of spirituality. We draw on ancient spiritual, mystical, and shamanic traditions, forging bridges to contemporary inquiry in areas of psychology, sociology, anthropology, ecology, and the study of consciousness – to name but a few! Our visions for this conference include bridges into the future, that we might pass on to coming generations wiser and more wholesome ways of being in community with one another and with all life on earth. We bridge between theory and practice, weaving holistic and transpersonal insights into the quest to nurture social and cultural change, to evolve our humanity beyond individualistic, mechanistic, and egocentric values.

In convening this conference, we aim to enable transdisciplinary dialogue, bringing transpersonal psychology into fertile connection with allied disciplines, nurturing the wellbeing and flourishing of humanity in relationship to nature: our deeper nature and nature at large. Only by dwelling in, re-evaluating, and re-imagining our relationships can we evolve new visions and pathways that will feel authentic and credible in our contemporary contexts. At this time of uncertainty and transition, we offer the EUROTAS 2024 conference as an incubator of new possibilities, a gathering to showcase what is new and vibrant—in research, in ways of practice, and in performance.

 

​Embodied Education - supports us to choose our teachers wisely and teachers to teach well.

1️⃣ EDUCATE: through education an alternative way opens up for us

2️⃣ EVOLVE: through education, we transform and,

3️⃣ EMBODY: do & be differently.

Therefore, we need to choose our teachers wisely.

A teacher's quality of education is a combination of their own ...

1️⃣ KNOWLEDGE: academic learning & rigor

2️⃣ MASTERY: professional training & skills ... and,

3️⃣ WISDOM: own lived experience of evolution.

A teacher's credentials are important: are they educated themselves & fully qualified to teach? As is evidence of experience: have they taught before?

Finally, it is wise for us to assess the teacher's self-awareness, self-responsibility & maturity, alongside their authenticity, integrity, and congruence. Do they walk their talk? Have they integrated & embodied change?

The extent to which a teacher has evolved directly correlates with the extent to which they can facilitate our evolution. 

We need to choose our teachers wisely.
 
The future = #embodiededucation

#educateevolvebody & teachers with #knowledge #mastery & #wisdom is needed every learning & development setting : including #school #university #personaldevelopment #selfhelp #spiritual #religious #communuties #therapeutic

Dan & I write more about this in our book Embodied Education: Creating Safe Space for Learning, Facilitating & Sharing & Facilitating which is available now from @girlgodbooks or online stores.

 

​How do I choose my teachers?

How do I discern the validity & integrity of a spiritual practice or teacher now?

Through the extent to which they/it cultivate my ability to be more resilient in engaging with humanity & to be more fully human, humane & humanitarian

And that they walk that talk

FULL STOP

​We are meant to evolve.
​
We are meant to EVOLVE: mature, progress, metamorphose, unfold, expand, grow, and move forward.

Last weekend @acornretreat I facilitated the final deeper immersion of this year's Somatic Shamanism #somaticshamanism medicine wheel journey where EVOLUTION was the focus.

Evolution is a maturation process - it's low & slow. Gradual, contained, titrated.

And that's why all personal development 'healing' & well-being practices need to be based on what I call 'embodiment spirituality' & 'embodied education'

Going #inandthrough our bodies & #tangibledivinity to our #fleshyknowing - this leads to the evolution process.

Our bodies LEAD THE PACE.

Facilitated by a trauma-informed, nervous system friendly, neuroinclusive & non-bypassing teacher.

If it's not evolution, change & transformation won't actually 'stick'. Indeed there may be regression, & more harm than good may occur.

Choose what you learn, how & from whom, wisely.

The future =
#embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation

​Untangling from 'drama' & the repetition of patterns does not involve dissociating, avoiding or escaping - it's not an 'up and out' practice.

It does not 'keep the peace' or 'surface-level' skim.

Untangling from 'drama' & the creation of new ways of being & doing involves being fully human, in the here & now, appraising & rooting - anchoring into our fleshy knowing - it's an 'in and through' practice.

As we fully feel, see & assess what is - accepting our current situation - it is then we can make choices. From here change can happen. From here we can co-create with spirit, lifeforce, energy.

 

Embodied Education

Dan and I are delighted to be presenting about Embodied Education in Glastonbury in May and then in Oxford in September.

Glastonbury: 
A day workshop Dan & I are co-facilitating in Glastonbury on Mon 27th May.

Further details & to book https://goddesstempleteachings.co.uk/radicallyembodying/embodied-education/

Join Kay and Dan Aldred to learn about their @girlgodbooks book Embodied Education: Creating Safe Space for Learning, Facilitating and Sharing, and vision for a new educational paradigm based on wellbeing, co-regulation, and creativity, which advocates for body-first, relational and embodiment approaches in organisations and communities.

Explore practical strategies for the creation of organisations and spaces which are trauma-informed and neurodivergent, sensory, and nervous system friendly, and which celebrate and encourage individuality, divergence, and innovation, alongside exploration, discovery, and imagination.

Suitable for anyone connected to schools, universities, youth work, teaching, home-schooling, unschooling, health and social care services, charities, social justice, parenting, holistic health and therapeutic settings, religious, and spiritual spaces.

Oxford:
Creative Bridges 2024 Embodied Consciousness, Psyche & Soul Research & Practice @eurotas.world & @aleftrust

Super excited to be offering a presentation as part of the Transformative Education Track of this conference in Oxford in September.

Further details & to book
https://eurotas2024.com/

Embodiment Spirituality

SST : So, I presented at the #SST24 @sst_theology two concepts:

1️⃣ Tangible Divinity #tangibledivinity
2️⃣ No Words Theology #nowordstheology

These are lived experience, embodiment theologies, rooted in #embodimentspirituality & resolution of #trauma in what I call our Divine Nervous System #divinenervoussystem

Theology meets #embodiededucation & the #polyvagaltheory & becomes a no words study of locating the divine #inandthrough the body within our #fleshyknowing

Thanking all the scholars, teachers, mentors (some mentioned below) whose work this is built on & the women who contributed shares to my @girlgodbooks book Making Love with the Divine: Sacred, Ecstatic & Er0tic Experiences

Audre Lorde, Lisa Isherwood, Elizabeth Stuart, Marcella Althaus-Reid, @drpeteralevine Dr Stephen Porges @polyvagalinstitute @irenelyon @gabormatemd @blackliturgies

Embodiment Spirituality - so what is next?

Radical (returning to the roots) rethinking & reinstating women as spiritual leaders. There's a template.

Edited extract from my MA essay Recovering Mary Magdalene written in 2005

"when we look at the scriptures in the light of the first century understanding of women, we see a radical new movement. 

A title recovered and given to Mary Magdalene is that of apostle to the apostles. 

In the early centuries of Christianity, Christians made pilgrimages to Magdala to venerate Mary Magdalene and to experience the resurrection as she did: living an erotic, spirit filled, life. 

Jesus encouraged gender equality in discipleship and spiritual leadership.

Malone writes, “Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century as well as many other writers both before and since have called Mary Magdalene the apostle to the apostles”

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter.

Best wishes, Kay x
 ​

​Dear all,  
 
We find ourselves half way through this Eclipse pairing and I’ve been reflecting on the first action I’m scheduled to take after the new moon solar eclipse next Monday, which is to present a ‘new theology’ the following day, based on my workbook Making Love with the Divine; Sacred, Ecstatic and Erotic Experiences, online, to a theological conference taking place at Warwick University.  
 
Theology has been dominant in my thoughts, due to attending a feminist theology event and preparing for the conference talk.  Both have taken me back into my academic discipline, and led to a deeper reimagining and reframing of the the Easter story over the weekend, based on this ‘new theology’ I’m forming; tangible divinity.
 
For those of you interested in understanding more about theology, prayer, divinity and more helpful and embodied ways of reimaging the Easter story this email, in which I share my processed and thoughts, might interest you.
 
In addition, at the end of the email I share some information about the practitioner training I’ve been facilitating at the Acorn this weekend and some future visioning for its expansion and embedding into societal statutory provision.
 
Eclipses and the time around Easter and the astrological new year are always a period of profound change.
 
I hope you are all coping with the twists and turns we are experiencing individually and collectively at this time.
 
Sending love, Kay


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