The @neurodiverse.voices.podcast I recorded with Andreia Costa just over a week ago will air in the autumn 🍁 more details to come.
 
I loved speaking with Andreia about the NdC Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Course I designed & facilitate, the journey & impact of late #autism diagnosis, menopause & much more!
 
Grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to this super podcast 🤝
 
#educateevolveembody #bodymind #diversity #depathogise #rehumanise 

'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
  

The hardest boundaries I've had to learn & set are with myself.

The ongoing internal #bodymind negotiation of not allowing my mind (it's pushy programming, rationalism & logical analysis but also its visionary, philosophical, connection-making brilliance) to dominate & override my highly sensitive, deeply feeling, vulnerable body (& it's instinctive & intuitive knowing).

Who oversees the negotiation? Wise self; essence; spirit; soul ..

#knowthyself #mindbodyspirit

​Part of setting boundaries for me has been getting clear on my values & practising energy discernment, learning what drains & what rejuvenates my bodymind & spirit.

In knowing these I can decide what I am and am not available for.

Examples 👇

Yes ✅ harmonising connections; creativity; hope-filled solution visioning; embodied ways of knowing, expressing & exploring ideas; conscious communities/individuals & interactions; depth; the language of the body & nervous system including feeling, sensation & emotion; meeting spiritual needs; holism; reciprocity, relationality & interdependence; aliveness & open heartedness

No ❌ combativeness; high-arousal, critical & conflict-driven interactions; exclusively analytical, logical & mind-dominant ideation & exploration; positioning mind ways of knowing as supreme; communities/individuals who lack awareness & a willingness to reflect & evolve; superficiality; the language of pathology; fundamentalist scientism; separation; individualism & extractivism; deadness & disembodied rationality

I also ask myself two questions in order to discern my response to a request, or a boundary regarding an action, person, community.

They are 👇

Is it aligned with & manageable for my ''I feel therefore I am' bodymind diversity?

Will it enable me to continue to fully 'feel' my life & to support others, who want to, to do the same?

#ifeelthereforeiam #bodyminddiversity

 

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

​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

The alternative.

Reflecting on this month's series of posts addressing the intersection of consciousness, psi & psychic abilities, ESP, neurodivergence, trauma, nervous & sensory systems (yep it was lot ...scroll back through my feed), I've been considering what an alternative support, health & education service would look like.

The alternative to the mind/logic dominant, top-down, medicalised, pathologising, dehumanising, paradigm we have been operating & living within.

From my lived personal & professional experience, the alternative would include:

Earlier appreciation & understanding sensory (&extra sensory) processing & perception differences

Acceptance, validation, role modelling & mentorship around how to live well regardless of bodymind human diversity &difference 

To be neither labelled superhuman & gifted nor medicalised & pathologised 

To be taught from preschool through to university:

physical, sensory, social, energetic & psychic boundaries (& have them respected)

how our nervous systems work & how to support regulation

how to safely release survival energies & stress

how to ground - energetic & psychic hygiene

how I can contribute to society & where our skills would be valued

conflict management & resolution skills

To receive a holistic education that integrates mind, body, energy, & spirit—encompassing a variety of worldviews and accommodating different ways of knowing—from externally regulated, trained teachers who have both academically studied this modalities & possess lived experience mastery.

Rehumanising spaces across society - making places humane, hospitable, humanitarian, low-arousal, sensory-friendly

Integrating relational & regulatory principles into workplaces, along with the values of connection, belonging, creativity, flexible working arrangements, role carving, & strengths-based recruitment.

This would be a start.
​
#educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise