'You are the Tree of Life - the pole between earth & cosmos - the axis mundi.'

A line from 'Rooting in with Asherah and Becoming the Tree of Life', my featured submission in the recently published new Girl God Books anthology Asherah: roots of the mother tree, which is available to purchase now @girlgodbooks & online stores.

More about the anthology ....

In these starless and shifting times, the relationship binding woman to tree lies between dream and memory. We have forgotten so much. Retreating within to unearth buried stories, rooted in nourishment, is a divine act.

Contributors to this anthology have shared their vision, creativity and surreal imaginings, all glorious and beautiful, whether written, chanted or drawn.

Asherah's story exposes exploitation, including sexual and environmental. She is calling upon those of us who weep, when trees are cut down, to rekindle our allegiance to Mother Earth.

Behind us is darkness. Ahead, if we take the right path, a new age of possibilities: pristine, joyful, peaceful, restorative.

#educateevolveembody #bodymindspirit
  

This was a really fantastic event - and I’m so grateful for the York St John University academics leading this challenge and disruption in academia.

Witches have occupied the academic imagination across disciplines and have in recent years become a rebellious feminist trope. From medieval trials to modern feminist reclamations, from folklore to popular media, witches embody resistance, transformation, and power. Whilst there is lively debate about the meaning and extent of the European and American witch trials and a burgeoning cultural milieu in which the trope of the witch is explored, there is also a growing interest in the practice of witchcraft as an individualised spirituality. 
​
This free interdisciplinary conference explored the figure of the witch in all its historical, literary, sociocultural, political, and spiritual dimensions.

Session 1: Gender & Resistance: The Struggle & Subversion of The Witch.

I was the first speaker in this session of the conference - challenging and disrupting - delivering a presentation entitled, Gender, Power, and Witchcraft: Women's ‘Spelling’ Lived Experience Storytelling.

My presentation …

Explored the motivations behind the four Girl God Books anthologies, which offer diverse perspectives on trauma, initiation, neurodiversity, and pain, reclaiming the feminine through storytelling and creative expression

Highlighted the power of ‘spelling’ - storytelling in reclaiming feminine wisdom, challenging patriarchal structures, and fostering spiritual healing

Centred embodied lived experiences - the writing, poetry, and art from a global network of women – to examine the intersection of witchcraft, Goddess spirituality, gender and power

"The pain stops me in my tracks.

What I have observed is that the onset of pain happens when I am too much ‘in my head’, serving others without reciprocation and/or neglecting my pleasure.

So, from that viewpoint, the pain is an ally, showing me that I am imbalanced, fractured from embodiment.

Our collective spiritual and physical immune system is reacting and saying NO.

Pain is a political and revolutionary statement from the body. A clear message that society, paradigms, culture and systems need to change."

Let's not get distracted or bypass this.
​
I ended my Gender, Power, and Witchcraft: Women's ‘Spelling’ Lived Experience Storytelling presentation at the superb Interdisciplinary Witch Conference @yorkstjohn with my words from the @girlgodbooks Pain Perspectives: Finding Meaning in the Fire anthology I co-edited (& one of four anthologies I spoke about) 

The Mad and Crip Theology Podcast

Season 4 Episode 9: Kay Louise Aldred and Katherine Schneider May 30, 2025 • Amy Panton and Miriam Spies

In this episode of the Mad and Crip Theology Podcast, we sit down with Kay Louise Aldred and Kathie Schneider to explore spiritual abuse, belonging, and faith through neurodivergent and disabled lenses.

Kay talks about the urgent need for safeguarding in faith and wellness spaces, especially for neurodivergent women and girls, and shares red and green flags for healthy spiritual communities. Kathie reflects on her life as a blind theologian, her evolving relationship with faith, and how metaphors in scripture can either harm or heal. We ask honest, grounding questions about prayer, interdependence, abuse, and what it means to truly belong.

Based on Kay's piece “Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse” and Kathie’s “Blind Faith: Beyond ‘Amazing Grace’” from the Fall 2024 issue of The Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health and Disability.

For the journal click here

To listen to the podcast click here

To watch on YouTube click here 

#educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #safeguarding #neurodivergent #spiritualabuse #theology

The Interdisciplinary Witch Conference: Culture, History and Society
York St John University @yorkstjohn Friday, 20 June

Super excited to be delivering a presentation, Gender, Power, and Witchcraft: Women's ‘Spelling’ Lived Experience Storytelling, discussing the four @girlgodbooks anthologies I co-edited, at this progressive & exciting event

Interested? Details & how to book a ticket below 👇

Witches have occupied the academic imagination across disciplines and have in recent years become a rebellious feminist trope. From medieval trials to modern feminist reclamations, from folklore to popular media, witches embody resistance, transformation, and power. Whilst there is lively debate about the meaning and extent of the European and American witch trials and a burgeoning cultural milieu in which the trope of the witch is explored, there is also a growing interest in the practice of witchcraft as an individualised spirituality. This free interdisciplinary conference will explore the figure of the witch in all its historical, literary, sociocultural, political, and spiritual dimensions

#educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #interdisciplinary #witch #storytelling #livedexperience

​Chapter 23: Beyond Mind: The Embodied Double Empathy Problem Jill Corbyn & Kay Louise Aldred

Honoured to have coauthored a chapter which will be featured in Dr Damian Milton's upcoming The Double Empathy Reader: Exploring Theory, Neurodivergent Lived Experience and Implications for Practice

The Double Empathy Reader brings together a substantial collection of work from leading researchers, theorists and practitioners, with first-hand accounts of neurodivergent people, to explore this growing area of study within the neurodiversity movement.

This comprehensive handbook explores Damian Milton’s ‘double empathy problem’: the breakdown in mutual understanding that can happen between any two people yet is more likely to occur when people of differing dispositions attempt to interact. It challenges the traditional view that in exchanges between autistic and non-autistic people, this breakdown was simply the result of autistic people being inherently deficient in empathy.

Thirteen years after the theory was first published, The Double Empathy Reader brings together an important volume of work to explore the research that has developed in that time as well as the many gaps in our understanding that still exist, with the aim to understand the potential of this theory to aid a reframing of autism itself and the radical change this could bring when considering best practice models for supporting autistic people in different settings.

This title is the first in a new ‘Readers in Neurodiversity’ series, which follows Milton et al’s The Neurodiversity Reader, first published in 2020. In keeping with this earlier collection, this new volume also explores how the concept of the ‘double empathy problem’ may be of use in wider theory and practice regarding neurodiversity.

Available for preorder now.

#educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #autism #doubleempathyproblem #neurodiversity

​The Wisdom of Cerridwen: Transforming in the Cosmic Brew

Delighted - as always - to be featured twice in this powerful latest Girl God Books  anthology, writing about rehumanising & depathologising our embodiment, spirituality & psychic abilities.

A truly fabulous collection of women's writing, art and poetry which is available to purchase now from the Girl God Books website or online stores.

"Her body, as is ours, is the vehicle for change" from my first of my submissions - Embodied Mentorship with the Goddess Cerridwen 

"Things are shifting. Pathologising our intuition, creativity, and internal ways of knowing - plus diminishing and undermining our internal spiritual authority - is no longer possible" - extract from my second submission - Retrieving the Black Rose: Dream Divination, Transformation, and Initiation with Cerridwen

#educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #intuition #creativity

Sandra Bargman words ...

Ever since I discovered her, I have been quite taken with Kay’s experience & teachings of #embodimentspirituality

In particular, her understanding of the relationship of the nervous system & the healing of trauma to our experiencing ourselves as divinity DIVINITY that is our BIRTHRIGHT #tangibledivinity

In these challenging times of spiritual disconnect, collapse culture, & climate crisis and the growing mental health issues as a result, I feel there is no more important work than what Kay is teaching, modelling & embodying. This conversation is a masterclass for the times in which we live

Is there anything better on Valentines Day than Making Love with the Divine?

In this episode, Kay shares her journey from her religious upbringing into seminary, discovering shamanistic & energy work, getting booted from Anglican seminary training, to stepping fully into embodied spirituality. We discuss

What is metacognition?

We re-visit the understanding of the word shamanism as a living dynamic

We talk about her powerful book, Making Love with the Divine @girlgodbooks

Kay expands on her understanding of the Nervous System (& the healing of trauma) as our divine sacred centre.

Using her religious vernacular, this becomes her re-telling of Eve & the Genesis story through her own lived experience

Kay weaves together the parasympathetic (feminine energy) with the sympathetic response (masculine)

Kay shares the liberation of her lineage story of her paternal Grandmother, a creative, religious & eccentric force in Kay’s young life through the Theatre of Church

Witnessing funerals & grief was a powerful lesson in her early years

She details her spiritual journey: the foundational role her grandmother played > moving into theological academia > teaching theology > Anglican Ordination training while at the same time training in shamanism > leaving her religious training > her deconstruction of the control of theology over her and stepping fully into her experience of Embodiment Spirituality

“We are searching for an alternative world within this one”. Spiritual/Sexual abuse in the church & other spiritual communities & the need for safeguarding

Listen here on Spotify but it is available on all your favourite platforms​

Out now!

Lady of the Forge: Stories and Art Dedicated to the Goddess Brigid

The latest Girl God Books Anthology is available to purchase at the Girl God website or online stores.

Throughout this book you will see many stunning pieces of art, and read many beautiful works, including essays, stories, histories, poems, chants, prayers, and incantations dedicated to the goddess and Saint, Brigid. She is a goddess who has not just survived the Christianisation of Europe, but thrived since it. No matter what name you know Brigid by, or how you celebrate this loving goddess, you are one of us: a follower of Brigid, and one of her many, many children. So, let us do the most Brigid-thing of all, join hands and begin this journey together, reading and honouring Brigid as a collective, joined together by threads of love and healing energy.

"This germinal book gifts the reader a vast array of heart-warming, soul-stirring expressions of devotion to Brigid. The sense of dedication from each contributor to the force of nature that is this pre-Celtic goddess is so palpable, so tangible you can almost taste its power.

Brigid's relevance today is vital to the future of our beautiful blue-green home Earth. Our modern lives converge with those of her time though now our battles are climate change and social justice.

To walk with Brigid is a brave step, to hear her call is an act of reverence for the balance and harmony of the Divine Feminine and Masculine – equal but different. She will be our guide and guardian as we remember who we truly are and why we have chosen to incarnate in this pivotal shift in human consciousness."

-Dr. Karen Ward

Edited by Isca Johnson, Pat Daly and Trista Hendren