EP 217: Ordinary Mysticism - Everyday Beauty, Grief, Sexuality and Mystical Awareness with Mirabai Starr
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
Release Date: 10/12/2024
EP 244: Consistency, Not Perfection - Nutrition for Menopause and Beyond with Karen Newby
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
Kimberly wanted to speak with someone who was neither hormones-or-nothing nor going to offer complicated longevity protocol. Karen Newby is a UK nutritionist with a BSc in Nutritional Medicine and fifteen years of clinical practice, and she speaks with clear-eyed candor about how to support women’s nutrition through midlife and beyond. What follows is a genuinely practical conversation. Karen explains why menopause is now classified as an inflammatory transitional event, what that has to do with joint pain, foggy head, eczema, and autoimmune flares, and how the shift in estrogen changes...
info_outline
EP 243: Eating the Shadow – Mythopoetic Men’s Work, the Lover Archetype, and Repair in a Villageless World with Ian MacKenzie
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Ian MacKenzie, filmmaker, writer, mythosomatic guide, and host of The Mythic Masculine, about what men’s work looks like in 2026. A fellow Orphan Wisdom scholar, Ian traces the mythopoetic lineage back through Robert Bly’s Iron John, Carl Jung, and Marie-Louise von Franz, and describes how discovering Bly’s book in his late grandfather’s study set him on this path alongside his film work on feminine archetypes (Amplify Her). They talk candidly about the cultural moment — the “Rape Academy,” the Pelicot case, the question of where the men are,...
info_outline
EP 242: Arbitrary Intelligence - Tools, Limits, and the Willies of What’s Coming with Stephen Jenkinson
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly is re-joined by Stephen Jenkinson, author of Trembling Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse, about the moment we find ourselves in with artificial intelligence and what it asks of us. They unpack the claim that AI is merely a tool; a real tool elaborates the capacities of the human hand just enough to reveal its God-given limits. Jenkinson suggests renaming AI “arbitrary intelligence,” and traces how the rollout was designed to anticipate and absorb resistance before it could even form. Kimberly shares her own encounters with AI’s creep into branding,...
info_outline
EP 241: Furious or Curious - Safety and Security, Frog Farmers, and What Men Actually Need to Hear with Alison Armstrong
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Alison Armstrong, author of The Queen’s Code, about her complex work around understanding men and women. Alison has been studying the dynamics between men and women since 1991, when she discovered she was what’s called a “frog farmer:”a woman who unknowingly turns princes into frogs through culturally inherited patterns of emasculation, criticism, and control. They explore how what was once a subterranean pattern of diminishing men has become amplified in our current moment, and why nobody is fundamentally broken. Alison explains how testosterone...
info_outline
EP 240: Hunting and Making God – Motherhood, Creativity, and Building a Church of Her Own with Ranier Amiel
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, the third in the Santa Fe trilogy, Kimberly speaks with Ranier Amiel, an artist, bodyworker, and single mother who is restoring a century-old church in Truchas, New Mexico, and turning it into a home, studio, and eventually a space of community and sacred inquiry. Recorded inside the church itself, their conversation moves between the balance of motherhood and creativity, the grounding power of physical labor, and what it means to hunt for and make God after losing faith in the spiritual community you were raised in. Ranier shares her vulva portraiture work, including its...
info_outline
EP 239: The Image of the Wound – Emergent Teaching, Art as Alchemy, and Living Between Languages with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez, an artist, educator, and depth psychologist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the designer of the cover of Kimberly’s upcoming book Erotic Seasons. Part of Kimberly's Santa Fe trilogy, this conversation explores what it means to teach and live emergently: responding to what’s present rather than what’s planned. Chanti shares her doctoral work on the wound of homelandlessness as a Cuban American, and how she developed a practice of creating and living with the image of one’s wound as a daily, evolving relationship rather...
info_outline
EP 238: The Body Innate – Yin Warriorship, Communal Eros, and Leading Atmospheres with Jaye Marolla
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Jaye Marolla, a bodyworker, martial artist, Qigong teacher, and founder of The Body Innate and the Yin Dojo in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They explore the integration of martial arts, bodywork, and Qigong as a path of healing and sovereignty, and what Jaye calls “yin warriorship:” a reclamation of the warrior archetype rooted in surrender, Eros, and facing one’s own mortality rather than competition or heroism. They discuss how Jaye came to open her home as a dojo, the ancient tradition of merging practice space with living space, and the energetic...
info_outline
EP 237: “Sage-escence” – The Natural Menopause Movement, Shamanic Midwifery, and Birthing the Wise Woman with Jane Hardwicke Collings
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Jane Hardwicke Collings, a post-menopausal grandmother, former midwife, and founder of the School of Shamanic Womancraft. They explore how the lessons learned from the natural childbirth movement must now be applied to menopause, discussing what Jane calls “sage-escence,” the becoming of the wise woman. Jane shares her journey from hospital nurse to home birth midwife, how her midwifery awakened her to the patriarchy’s medicalization of women’s bodies, and why she sees a natural menopause movement emerging. They dive deep into the connections...
info_outline
EP 236: The Art of Receiving and Giving - The Wheel of Consent with Dr. Betty Martin
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
Kimberly is joined by luminary thinker Dr. Betty Martin as they discuss the evolution and impact of the Wheel of Consent, a vanguard model for enthusiastic consent, asking for what you want, and living out embodied intimacy. Dr. Martin, who developed the model, shares her journey from creating the wheel through her hands-on workshops to writing a book so the wheel may reach an even larger audience, with Kimberly noting just how deep of an impact Betty’s work has had on Kimberly’s teaching and offerings. They explore the challenges of enthusiastic consent, the importance of feeling with...
info_outline
EP 235: “Hold Nothing” - Radical Forgiveness, Daily Stillness, and Finding Stability with Elena Brower
Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson
In this episode, Kimberly and Elena discuss and reflect on their life experiences through nearly two decades of knowing one another. They discuss radical forgiveness for our families of origin, the importance of stillness and meditation, children leaving the home, and menopause. They also discuss what led Elena to write her upcoming book “Hold Nothing,” which offers stories and prompts as an artful contemplative guide towards personal, daily practice for self-discovery and self-wisdom. Kimberly reads powerful excerpts aloud, and you can preorder the book in the link below. Bio Elena...
info_outlineKimberly and Mirabai Starr engage in a rich and intimate exploration of mysticism, personal loss, spirituality, and the intersection of sexuality and the sacred. They consider how they have each found spirituality in their everyday lives while being mindful of their journeys, cultures, ancestry, and the complexities involved. They discuss Mirabai's new book, "Ordinary Mysticism," which delves into the nature of mysticism and its accessibility to everyone every day. Mirabai emphasizes that mysticism doesn't require institutionalized religion and can be found in ordinary moments. They discuss the profound impact of loss and grief in Mirabai’s life. She describes how these experiences deepened her connection to the sacred and the beauty intertwined with suffering.
Bio
Mirabai Starr is an award winning author of creative nonfiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught philosophy and world religions at the University of New Mexico, Taos for 20 years, and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. She has written over 15 books, and the latest is “Ordinary Mysticism.” But you'll hear her talk about “Caravan of No Despair,” “Wild Mercy,” and some of her translations from Spanish to English, “In The Mystics,” “The Great Mystics.” She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
What you’ll hear:
-
Mirabai's views on spiritual, literary and poetic writing.
-
The origin story of her new book "Ordinary Mysticism" - including it’s connection to Anne Lamott
-
The ease in finding the mystical if you are open to it.
-
The challenges of having that openness in the everyday
-
The intersections of grief and the sacred
-
Cultivating mystical awareness in daily life
-
Searching for spiritual grounding
-
Uprootedness of being spiritual but not religious
-
How to understand your relationship to different spiritual technologies
-
How to tap into spiritual bounty without colonizing and appropriating
-
Intention and attention are crucial for recognizing the sacred in the mundane.
-
The integration of sexuality and spirituality
-
The common split many women feel between the sexual and the sacred aspects of their lives. How healing from/through sexual abuse can lead to sacredness in intimacy
-
What’s a responsible and mindful approach to drawing from various spiritual traditions?
-
How does storytelling and reflecting on shared struggles lead to insights within the spiritual journey?
-
And how ending an abusive sexual and spiritual relationship can lead to healing through new forms of intimacy.
-
Healthy intimacy can be holy
Resources
https://mirabaistarr.com/