6 - The origins of Mothermouth - Muttermund and cervical awakening

9 - Mothermouth Musings 3: Who shouts the loudest - wisdom and 'abundance' in the age of capitalism and social media

In this episode I will ponder about my worries and concerns about how wisdom is viewed these days and how the concept of abundance is experienced by people in the modern world.  I am still trying to unpack this myself, and I would like to get to the bottom of it. Wisdom and abundance - Two seemingly very different subjects. I feel they are interlinked though and I wonder how. Who is seen as wise these days in our modern secular world? Who do people ‘follow’? Who do people chose for advice in spiritual, life and healing matters? How does the race for attention impact the depth and authenticity of the wisdom we encounter especially in social media platforms and the paths of engagement like ‘educational’ courses or communities we find online? Does this not foster egocentric or megalomaniac notion of people’s importance when most ancient spiritual traditions place great emphasis on the how not let the ego rule and on humility? To me, in the modern secular western world the sharing and proclamation of knowledge appears to be vastly influenced by the structure of our economic system, namely capitalism, or maybe we could say that the ecosystem of our economic system has seeped into our experience and sources of wisdom to form the basic structure of knowledge exchange. Where wisdom or knowledge become a product or commodity and the marketplace dictates who is being listened to, promoted, consulted and rewarded.  All of these developments and structures seem to be standing in stark contrast of how most established spiritual traditions describe and practice the exchange of knowledge and the conduct of wisdom keepers. Hard to find our way through the jungle of offerings these days. Is it actually still possible for people brought up within these structures that are so pervasive to discern authentic sources of knowledge or ‘real’ wisdom out of all the marketplace shoutings with echoes of recycled insights, amalgamated systems, false gurus? And furthermore, the allure of limitless prosperity is a strong force but I believe we need to question the existence of this notion as a concept that comes from a deep seated profusion of a capitalistic endless growth mentality into all our thinking and feeling and spiritual pursuits. I feel we need to critically examine how far capitalistic economic structures have infiltrated and are informing our experience of ourselves, our relationships, philosophical concepts and understanding of the world. People, ideas, links and podcast mentioned in this episode are: Bayo Akomolafe https://www.bayoakomolafe.net [https://www.bayoakomolafe.net] Much love, Stephx Music by 12Volt, thanks to my friend Sascha Usison.

8 - Mothermouth Musings 2: Pilgrimages & New Year's Greetings

After having taken a long break over the winter solstice and Xmas holidays, I am slowly weaving my way back into the world with some ruminations and reflections that I have pondered about during that time. One subject that has been especially occupying my thoughts are the planning of a new 'pilgrimage' - I have already done two and they were both along the courses of rivers, one was the Thames which I walked with a friend and then my birth river called the Trave along which I canoed. As there are a lot of endings in my life right now - divorce of my marriage and long partnership, restructure of our family set up, moving from the home we have been in for the last 5 years, and my medical herbalist studies coming to a conclusion - and new beginnings in the air like stepping into menopause, new home, new life stage, I am starting to feel the urge to go. To mark this transition in a very conscious way. And take time out to connect with the land. However, this time I have not got a clear vision where this pilgrimage should take place. I also ponder about our disconnection in the modern world and in the UK of gathering for ritual and marking seasonal changes collectively after travelling to Stonehenge with my daughter at winter solstice this year. People, ideas, links and podcast mentioned in this episode are: Rupert Sheldrake and his book 'The Science Delusion' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018nsjk [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018nsjk], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0l_DWjMXqU [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0l_DWjMXqU] Joshua Schrei and The Emerald podcast, especially the episode about 'How trance shaped the world' (but they are all good :) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-trance-states-shape-the-world/id1465445746?i=1000512752303 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-trance-states-shape-the-world/id1465445746?i=1000512752303] Astrologer Chani Nicholas and her book 'You were born for this' and her app that I use (she fuses social justice consciousness with internal family systems and other healing modalities with astrology, into wonderful grounded guidance with huge understanding or even wisdom one might say ;) https://chaninicholas.com [https://chaninicholas.com] And here the chronicle of my pilgrimages along the river courses of the Thames and Trave (on blogspot, long before square space and all the wonderfull internet tools now available ;)) http://honouryourriver.blogspot.com/p/walk.html [http://honouryourriver.blogspot.com/p/walk.html] A wonderful New Year to you!

7 - Mothermouth Musings 1: The power of language - coaches, guides and the old hierarchical structures

The first instalment of Mothermouth Musings! :) I have decided to intersperse Mothermouth's interviews with maybe to be considered more 'philosophical' musings and ponderings of mine, that have recently come up. These will be short recordings around topics that have recently caught my attention. Maybe I will publish these musings under a written blog, but for now time constraints are keeping them to audio recordings which I think works quite well. With the recent explosion of offerings in coaching and mentoring and online courses in knowledge sharing I ponder about how typical word usage in the field of health and spiritual development actually undermine the essence of what they are claiming to help people with. For me, the words 'coach' or 'guide' in themselves denote a power discrepancy or hierarchical set up, which might feel familiar and safe to many because we are used to authoritarian structures, however it contradicts the promise of helping you to 'step into your power'. Language is powerful! Naming something is a 'magical act'. Thus, I feel, we need to be very aware of words' tonality, context, and origins. How can we rename something that is a dynamic process between people? To come to its essence and to dismantle old disempowering structures at the same time? Maybe 'accompanying' somebody on a healing journey would be the right phrase? I mention a couple of thinkers in this episode who are very much working on the dismantling of hierarchical structures and are supporting collective co-creation. These are: Bayo Akomolafe and his Emergence Network - https://www.bayoakomolafe.net [https://www.bayoakomolafe.net], https://www.emergencenetwork.org/bio/bayo-akomolafe/ [https://www.emergencenetwork.org/bio/bayo-akomolafe/] Phoebe Tickell and her Imagination Activism and participation in Liberating Structures: https://www.moralimaginations.com/imaginactivism [https://www.moralimaginations.com/imaginactivism], http://www.phoebetickell.com [http://www.phoebetickell.com], https://www.liberatingstructures.com [https://www.liberatingstructures.com] As always, I am super interested in what your thoughts are on these subjects. :) Please be in touch <3 Steph If you have enjoyed the podcast, please write a quick review on one of the podcast platforms you use. Especially on apple podcast, spotify and youtube it helps to bring the podcast to more listeners. Or support me on: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mothermouth [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mothermouth] And come to the website: https://mothermouth.co.uk [https://mothermouth.co.uk] A transcript of the podcast episode is available here: https://rss.com/podcasts/mothermouth/1218610/#transcript [https://rss.com/podcasts/mothermouth/1218610/#transcript] Music by 12Volt, with great thanks to my friend Sascha Usison.

6 - The origins of Mothermouth - Muttermund and cervical awakening

Hi everyone, I realised I haven't really introduced the podcast series and aim of the platform or talked about the origins of the name. So in this episode I will give an introduction to me and how the name Mothermouth came into being from a direct translation of the German word Muttermund which means cervix. I will also talk about my own journey around cervical and spiritual awakening. There will be quite a few personal details in here which I haven't shared widely and it feels rather vulnerable to do so. Much love, Steph People and links mentioned in the episode: Cervical Wellness (Denell Barbara Randall) - https://cervicalwellness.com [https://cervicalwellness.com] Cervical Awakening (Self:Cervix - Olivia Naomi Bryant) - https://selfcervix.com [https://selfcervix.com] The Sword Guy (Guy Windsor) - https://theswordguy.podbean.com [https://theswordguy.podbean.com] If you have enjoyed the podcast, please write a quick review on one of the podcast platforms you use. Especially on apple podcast, spotify and youtube it helps to bring the podcast to more listeners. Or support me on: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mothermouth [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mothermouth] And come to the website: https://mothermouth.co.uk [https://mothermouth.co.uk] A transcript of the podcast episode is available here: https://rss.com/podcasts/mothermouth/1208581/#transcript [https://rss.com/podcasts/mothermouth/1208581/#transcript] Music by 12Volt, with great thanks to my friend Sascha Usison.

5 - Postnatal care & baby language in integrative baby therapy - Joy Horner as The Wise Woman On The Hill

In this episode I have the great pleasure of talking to Joy Horner, the Wise Woman on the Hill, who is based in Glastonbury, UK. Joy is a remarkable woman who has gone through the most challenging and difficult situations and tests on her journey from being a midwife to sacred birth keeper, and finally artist. We hear about her journey from working in very medicalised and active interventionist way to becoming a sacred birth keeper who mainly holds safe space for the birthing woman to do what she needs to do, sleeping a lot along the way. She talks about pivotal moments and describes her reflections on what was positive about the hospital birth care environment in the 1980s and what is lacking now. Although I had wanted to talk to Joy about challenges, medical emergencies and realistic expectations for women in pregnancy and birth, we conversed more about the importance of postnatal care and her new venture: listening to babies in integrative baby therapy. We hear about:· How and why Joy became a midwife.· 1980s and 90s hospital environments and what was great and also not so great about them.· Joy’s work in the birth centres in Hamphire, her taste of the ‘spiritual’ side of birth and her path to becoming an independent midwife and sacred birthkeeper.· Her experiences, challenges, and reflections on baby deaths, complications, and working in a trauma informed way.· Failures of the medical system and how that initiated her to become independent midwife and birth keeper.· Her work with Jane Hardwick-Collins from attending her ‘Shamanic Womancraft’ course.· ‘Integrative baby therapy’ which she also practices now and learnt form Matthew Appleton.· The importance of preparation and rest in the postnatal period.· How her practice is now and that she has given up the ‘doing’ as a birth keeper, but now holds the container for birthing women and often sleeps during labour. Links to people and courses mentioned in the podcast:· Joy’s website https://birthjoy.co.uk [https://birthjoy.co.uk]· Jane Hardwick-Collins https://janehardwickecollings.com [https://janehardwickecollings.com]· The School of Shamanic Womancraft https://schoolofshamanicwomancraft.com [https://schoolofshamanicwomancraft.com]· Matthew Appleton http://matthew-appleton.co.uk [http://matthew-appleton.co.uk], https://www.ourbirthjourney.com/matthew-appleton [https://www.ourbirthjourney.com/matthew-appleton]· Integrative baby therapy https://conscious-embodiment.co.uk/course/integrative-baby-therapy-training/ [https://conscious-embodiment.co.uk/course/integrative-baby-therapy-training/]· Podcast: Matthew Appleton with ‘Hearing the baby’s story’ https://www.craniosacralpodcast.com/episode-49/ [https://www.craniosacralpodcast.com/episode-49/] If you have enjoyed the podcast, please write a quick review on one of the podcast platforms you use. Especially on apple podcast, spotify and youtube it helps to bring the podcast to more listeners.Or support me on: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mothermouth [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mothermouth] A transcript of the podcast episode is available here:https://rss.com/podcasts/mothermouth/1154506/#transcript [https://rss.com/podcasts/mothermouth/1154506/#transcript] Music by 12Volt, with great thanks to my friend Sascha Usison.