Latest / Mooney's Mythic Podcast / The juice that drips from the mouth of Persephone

Transcript

The juice that drips from the mouth of Persephone · Mooney's Mythic Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Mooney's Mythic Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to you all.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to my fireside.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: Here by myself, by my fire.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm here without any other human beings.
• 0:26
  But I do feel like I'm in good company with my altar,
• 0:31
  with the fire,
• 0:32
  with the candle.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: With you guys.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for listening.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for being here.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, wanting to breathe with you.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Wanting to feel your beating hearts.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Feeling like calling in the elements.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: The North, South, the East and the West.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Calling them in to give us a container for this podcast, for this moment.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: Feeling it
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: Give us, plant us in the moment.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Feeling the elements around us like sentinels, like guardians.
• 1:27
  Hail and welcome to you all and thank you for your direction
• 1:31
  and your protection.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you to the earth and the air and the fire and the water.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Feels good to name you in this moment.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: Feels good to be here.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm back in the water now.
• 1:53
  Back in the water because this episode is sponsored by Hearts
• 1:57
  Natural Seafoods.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Four generations of fishmongers working in Somerset.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you to Chris and Ben or Chris or Ben.
• 2:10
  They are sponsoring this podcast as a thank you for the salmon
• 2:16
  skin that they gave
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: me to make my salmon skin drum with.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: I say they,
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: but it was one of them I spoke to,
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: but I don't know if it was Chris or Ben,
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: but it was so amazing the way that he cut the skin from the salmon.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not surprised to hear that...
• 2:33
  that this trade has been in their family for generations and
• 2:37
  I'm gladdened as a
• 2:38
  storyteller to know that there are families passing trades down
• 2:42
  from generation to
• 2:43
  generation and in those unbroken lines I feel like we can
• 2:51
  reconnect with something
• 2:54
  ancient so yeah that's really touched me and if you want to go
• 3:02
  and say hello
• 3:05
  ways at Glastonbury Market,
• 3:07
  Wells Markets,
• 3:08
  Shepton Market,
• 3:09
  Castle Carey,
• 3:10
  Froome.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: You go to a market in Somerset and you might just catch them.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's Hearts Natural Seafoods.
• 3:23
  So we're staying with the water because there was something I
• 3:27
  forgot to tell you on
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: the last pod.
• 3:31
  something that i really wanted to share with you a story that a
• 3:34
  mother told me and
• 3:35
  it was about the in bulk ceremony at the white spring now if
• 3:40
  you want to know more
• 3:41
  about in bulk then go back to the last pod where i talk more
• 3:45
  about it and it'll be
• 3:46
  such a treat if you did because charlotte mabon is singing on
• 3:50
  that pod and i saw
• 3:51
  her live on tuesday night and i know she sang those songs live
• 3:55
  for us on the pod
• 3:57
  but
• 3:57
  She'd finished a song that day and then she played it live at
• 4:01
  her gig in Froome.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: And she was singing from the raw edge of herself.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: It was so moving.
• 4:14
  She sang about something that had been wrestled in her heart
• 4:21
  and twisted in her
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: mind and she sang.
• 4:25
  through it and I really believe that's one of the greatest
• 4:28
  functions of art and to
• 4:30
  see it living in the moment birthing in the moment in the in
• 4:36
  its raw power was so
• 4:38
  very special and so magnificent thank you thank you Charlotte
• 4:43
  was full of this um
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: this energy of spring that we've been talking about
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it reminded me,
• 4:52
  I was looking about for a sea story because of Chris and Ben
• 4:57
  sponsoring this podcast.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I first,
• 5:01
  my mind went to the White Spring because this is where the
• 5:05
  story was set that the
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: woman told me.
• 5:10
  Because every year in the White Spring,
• 5:12
  there's a ceremony in bulk and it's really gorgeous.
• 5:16
  Everyone goes into the spring and the spring is a building
• 5:21
  where the water flows inside.
• 5:23
  It's like it's dripping down the walls and there's like two
• 5:26
  pools and it's really,
• 5:28
  really dark.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's no electricity and it's lit by candles.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: But in bulk, everyone comes in.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's got these heavy, heavy doors and everyone crams in.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Just absolutely jam-packed like sardines to continue the theme.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: and all the candles are blown out.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so that was a pencil that was behind my ear.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: I love to keep pencils behind my ears,
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: but I don't actually have ears really big enough for a pencil.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: I've got quite small ears.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I was punching up above my weight there with a pencil.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, I do have this pencil behind my ear, which is the very pencil,
• 6:12
  Same make of pencil that Roald Dahl wrote all his books with
• 6:15
  when I was working for
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: the Roald Dahl Foundation.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: They gave me some.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: And here it is.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: Back to the story.
• 6:29
  everyone's crammed in crammed in and everybody every year
• 6:32
  everyone does this we all
• 6:33
  cram in hundreds of people and really 40 is plenty but there's
• 6:36
  like 200 people in
• 6:37
  there squash squash squash squash all the lights are out so
• 6:41
  it's dripping and it's
• 6:43
  wet and it's cold and it's black dark wild dark dark dark and
• 6:52
  then every year
• 6:59
  And some people are starting to get really freaked out because
• 7:02
  they're going,
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: I get claustrophobic.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Light, light, someone got a light.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: A girl comes in dressed in white with a candle.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: And she represents Bridie and the new light and the new dawn.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it's always darkest before the dawn.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: We know that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: We're human beings.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: We know that, don't we?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's always darkest before the dawn.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: And she is personification of the dawn breaking.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: She is the goddess Bridey.
• 7:40
  And my friend's daughter's been doing it every year and this is
• 7:43
  her last year to do it.
• 7:44
  So they're outside and she's dressed in white and someone's
• 7:47
  given her a flint.
• 7:49
  Every year she lights the candle with a flint but it's a new
• 7:54
  one and she can't get
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: it to work so she's scratch,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: scratch,
• 8:04
  so difficult and the pressure everyone's waiting for her
• 8:07
  everyone's and she knows
• 8:08
  she knows everyone's waiting for her she's done it for a few
• 8:11
  years now and the more
• 8:12
  she strikes the more she strikes she can't do it she starts
• 8:15
  saying to her mum this
• 8:16
  is your fault I didn't want to do this anyway I'm not going to
• 8:21
  do this and she
• 8:24
  slams it down she's not going to her mum says come on we can do
• 8:27
  it come on and so
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: they're doing it together they're doing it and finally it lights and
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: She goes in and the light returns.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: The pure, innocent, naked flame returns to the heart of the people.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: And isn't that how it is?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: Wouldn't we just love it to be just an appearance of light?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: But actually there's difficulty and there's struggle that goes on.
• 9:13
  And even when we move through places in ourselves and in our
• 9:17
  lives and it feels effortless,
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: it's usually years of work.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I was really inspired by that.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: But for the mother, the important part was that later on,
• 9:31
  she just felt she was walking past one of the pools of water
• 9:35
  and she just knew she
• 9:36
  had to get in and she just took all her clothes off and she got
• 9:39
  into the water and
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: the water just renewed her and replenished her.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: And she was so bright and sparkly when she told me and she was just like,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: and that's how it's got to be.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: The mother has to be nourished.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: The mother has to be nourished.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's got to be.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: The mother is nourished and then everything else can happen.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been thinking about that.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I was thinking about that when I was asked to tell a story.
• 10:11
  A brilliant woman called Abi Yag asked me to tell a story for
• 10:15
  International Women's
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: Day at the Art Bank.
• 10:20
  Now,
• 10:20
  I told a story there last year,
• 10:22
  so my first thought went back to that story.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: I always do that.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: I always think, oh, I'll tell that story.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I've learned now that
• 10:31
  kind of places can just stimulate stories and I'll tell them
• 10:34
  and someone will say
• 10:35
  to me yeah you told that story last time so I have to be
• 10:38
  careful of that now but I
• 10:43
  do remember the story I just go back and I remember the story
• 10:47
  it's the buried moon
• 10:49
  and the buried moon is a great story it's a story from this
• 10:51
  land it's a story from
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: the fens from Lancashire
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's about the moon falling into the fens,
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: into the moors,
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: into the mud one night and disappearing.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then the whole community get together.
• 11:04
  And it's only a guy coming back from the pub who's seen it fall
• 11:09
  into the mud.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And in my version of the story...
• 11:15
  we um we we got the moon to come back up as if the moon was a
• 11:20
  woman and we talked
• 11:21
  to the moon and we celebrated the moon and we reminded the moon
• 11:25
  how precious it was
• 11:27
  and how bright its light was and we talked about as inspired by
• 11:30
  judy chicago's
• 11:31
  dinner party we talked about different um women who had
• 11:36
  inspired us and gradually
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: gradually gradually the moon
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: popped back up into the sky.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: And then when the moon was up in the sky,
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: then we could all receive its light reflecting back to us.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: I might not have told a story or anything like that,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: but that wasn't the story I intended to tell.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I did a drum journey.
• 11:59
  And I only know I did a drum journey because someone took a
• 12:02
  picture of me and I've
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: got the drum in my hand.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I know I did a drum journey.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm thinking about that.
• 12:11
  And also I've been asked to explain a bit or talk a little bit
• 12:17
  about how I create
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: stories or support people with how they create stories.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: And this is how it is for me.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: I see an image.
• 12:30
  And the image is a woman in a white dress,
• 12:35
  wandering lost,
• 12:37
  like wandering lost in the blackness.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: And my first instinct goes Persephone.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't want to jump to that.
• 12:47
  I want to just kind of delay the gratification a little bit and
• 12:53
  to think about
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: other possibilities.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm teasing myself.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: I know it's Persephone.
• 12:58
  But I think about Eurydice and how she dies and Orpheus goes
• 13:07
  into the underworld to
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: retrieve her.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: I think about older stories than Persephone.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think about Ishtar, about Inanna.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think about my own lost places.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: And my heart sags when I think about that, just kind of slumps.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember that I was standing on the earth recently and...
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: It felt very busy,
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: felt like Piccadilly Circus,
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: like a kind of carousel or something like lots and lots of movement.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I suddenly felt like I didn't have any place amongst that movement.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know how to enter,
• 13:57
  how to root myself into the moment of this great growth that is happening.
• 14:04
  And then my next flash is being in the school playground and
• 14:08
  the skipping ropes,
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: the two skipping ropes,
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: and there's a skipping game going on.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm really bad at the rhythm and everything.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm terrible.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then I'm waiting.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm waiting to the last because I'm getting more and more nervous.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: And they've got a really good rhythm going now.
• 14:23
  And it's like unbroken and everyone's jumping in and it's the
• 14:26
  highest they've ever got to.
• 14:27
  And then I just jump in and I mess it all up and everyone's
• 14:30
  shouting at me.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel her still uncertain about her place.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: Still feeling out of rhythm, out of beat, out of step.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I know that these things are all the fibre of this story.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: This story that I'm going to tell on International Women's Day.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: And then I want to go on a,
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: or part of me starts thinking about,
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: what's the etymology behind the name Persephone?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember that she eats nine pomegranate seeds.
• 15:23
  She goes into the underworld willingly and she can leave as
• 15:29
  long as she doesn't eat
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: anything from the underworld,
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: but she eats nine pomegranate seeds.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not reading any books or looking at anything.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm
• 15:38
  I'm just trying to intuit right now so that I know that I've
• 15:42
  got this kind of
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: liminal landscape of my own soul that I can unpack the story into.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I start thinking about the pomegranate.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember when I was on a Greek island,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: I walked past this pomegranate tree twice a day,
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: four times a day.
• 16:04
  And I remember thinking,
• 16:05
  oh,
• 16:05
  it's not as juicy as the one in the supermarkets.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it got more and more shriveled.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought, oh, we're here right at the end of pomegranate season.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not going to see them in their glory.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then it got this split down the side.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, it'll fall off soon.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: But it didn't fall off the branch.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: It split into two.
• 16:24
  It opened like a book with its proud pomegranate crown on one
• 16:28
  side and offered
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: these jewels,
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: these jewels.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: Glossy, sweet, rich, blood red, ruby jewels up.
• 16:42
  What a gift to the earth,
• 16:44
  full of its own dreaming,
• 16:46
  full of its own seeds.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: full of its own potential,
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: knowing that it can't come to fruition itself,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: that it needs the beaks of the birds,
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: that it needs the matter of the soil,
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: that it needs to be flung far and wide by the wind.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking about that and then I see her again in my dreaming mind.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: I see her again and she's got
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: red down her lip.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: She's got a stain of red down her lip and I start thinking,
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: what was it that caused her to eat the fruit of the underworld?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Did she know?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Was it a conscious initiation?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: Or could she not resist?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: Or was she not educated?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: Was she blind to the meaning?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Was it greed?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then I ask of myself,
• 17:52
  where were the times in my life where I've made those choices
• 17:57
  that did in the end
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: turn out to be initiations,
• 18:01
  but when did I choose to bite into something knowing that the
• 18:08
  consequences were
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: going to be huge,
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: but just wanting that gratification in the moment?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure we've all got those.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Are you thinking about yours?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And then another image comes to me.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it's the story of the Oak King and the Holly King.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this is a pagan story.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: This is that,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: in the winter solstice,
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: the Holly King and the Oak King battle and the Holly King wins.
• 18:51
  And the holly king is king all through the winter because the
• 18:54
  holly is green all winter,
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: resplendent and shining and so precious.
• 19:00
  And actually I'm remembering this moment that a tincture for
• 19:03
  holly is about,
• 19:06
  is for when you want to feel included in the hole where you
• 19:11
  feel like everything
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: around you is prickly.
• 19:15
  anyway in the summer solstice it's the oak king that wins the
• 19:18
  battle because the
• 19:19
  oak is the mighty king of the summer and as I'm thinking about
• 19:25
  that dreaming about
• 19:26
  that I wonder how Persephone knows that it's time for her to
• 19:35
  leave the underworld
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: because I feel like right now it's the light that is returning that
• 19:45
  is opening us up into the next season that is opening us up
• 19:49
  into movement but no
• 19:52
  light reaches her and then i remember that it's demeter that
• 19:58
  it's it's her mother
• 20:00
  that looks for her and looks for her and looks for her and in
• 20:02
  the end agrees that
• 20:04
  she will go for half of the time in the underworld so that
• 20:10
  persephone can be in the
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: top side world and that then demeter is
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: in the topside world and Persephone in the underworld.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so they cycle like this, like the oak king and the holly king.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's the same movement.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: And that perhaps it's Demeter that calls her up.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when I start thinking about soul retrieval.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: I start thinking about needing to be in the parent of ourselves
• 20:46
  at this time of year so that we can call back the errant places
• 20:51
  and the lost places
• 20:52
  and the and the kind of bits that are coming up it's like as
• 20:55
  the snow drops come up
• 20:57
  out of the ground it's it's it it all unsettles everything and
• 21:01
  we've got this last
• 21:02
  chance now to do this this bit of deep work of bringing it all
• 21:08
  in and so then i
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: hear the water poise
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: bring them all in, bring them all in, bring them all into my heart.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Bring them all in,
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: bring them all in,
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: bring them all in,
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: bring them all in,
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: bring them all into my heart.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Bring them out of exile.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: If I'd known that song was going to emote from me,
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: I would have probably genned up on the words,
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: but I'm then thinking about myself as the mother
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking about the fire, having like a fire belly.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm thinking about my feet landing on the ground, my feet.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: I am the earth.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: I am Mother Earth.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: I am Demeter, Demeter.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: I am, I am.
• 22:13
  And I'm going in and out of this image of at some points I'm a roundhouse.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: I am home.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: I am hearth.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm remembering this quote.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: All sickness is homesickness.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: I can't remember who said it.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: All sickness is homesickness.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: I am the hearth.
• 22:34
  I'm seeing myself this great roundhouse and I'm expanding and
• 22:37
  I'm going in between
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: being the mother,
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: the home,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: the home,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: the mother,
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: the hearth,
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: the mother,
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: the home.
• 22:45
  And in this place where I'm expanding,
• 22:47
  I'm becoming big and full of this mother energy.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm kind of putting my instinctive tentacles out to these lost places,
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: to these Persephone places.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: What's my Persephone this year?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: The one who...
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: who couldn't do the skipping.
• 23:08
  And so from this mother place,
• 23:11
  I called to her standing in the line for the skipping.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I just put my hand, like I cup her, like a bird, I cup her.
• 23:25
  And I kind of,
• 23:26
  as I put her into the skipping ropes,
• 23:28
  they become like golden double helixes.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: And there she is.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: She's just so happy.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: She's so happy.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: She's so happy.
• 23:37
  It's like,
• 23:38
  and then moving kind of in an unnatural rhythm,
• 23:44
  erratically,
• 23:45
  but beautifully.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's her rhythm.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's her rhythm.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's her rhythm.
• 23:52
  And I'm there and I might record a full journey for us to go on
• 23:59
  that journey
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: together to kind of reclaim those places.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm reading this book by Sandra Ingerman, Soul Retrieval.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just having a look through it.
• 24:09
  And there's some great,
• 24:10
  there's some poetry in here I want to read to you.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: This one's by Ellen Jaff Bitts.
• 24:19
  Souls wander the universe,
• 24:21
  lost or stolen,
• 24:23
  cut off from loved ones,
• 24:25
  split off from love.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: Gently,
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: carefully,
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: we call them back to us,
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: searching for them in dark corners,
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: blowing them to life with our breath.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: We welcome them home.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just really welcoming, welcoming those places home.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm excited now.
• 24:58
  I've got the kind of meat and bones of this story and there's a
• 25:03
  million ways I can
• 25:04
  rehearse it and make it more of a performance and what
• 25:09
  instruments I might use or
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: whether there'll be a song or whether I'll,
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: maybe I'll learn that Waterboy song,
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: maybe I won't,
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: whatever.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then I get this email.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it says this, subject International Women's Day 2025, postponement.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: After careful consideration,
• 25:33
  I've made the difficult decision that this year's International
• 25:36
  Women's Day event
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: is not viable.
• 25:41
  The combination of navigating personal challenges and working
• 25:45
  with extremely
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: limited budgets has led me to a firm conclusion.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: I will not uphold a system that expects countless hours of unpaid labour,
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: especially not in the name of feminism.
• 26:01
  This decision is an act of both self-respect and protest
• 26:06
  against the patriarchal
• 26:07
  and capitalist structures that undervalue creative and
• 26:11
  community-driven work.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: I deeply appreciate your support and passion and I truly hope to see and
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: collaborate with you in 2026 under better circumstances.
• 26:24
  Thank you for your understanding and thank you for everything
• 26:28
  you do to uplift women's voices.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_03: Best, Abby Young.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what my first thought is?
• 26:35
  I feel a bit silly for all the work I've done on this story and
• 26:41
  really it's been so
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: nourishing and that's what's
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's what's so kind of
• 26:47
  frustrating it's like yeah we do it for nothing it's sole work
• 26:51
  we do it for nothing
• 26:53
  and we want to be recognized for it and i'm not talking about
• 26:56
  women here i'm
• 26:57
  talking about artists and i'm i'm talking about real work
• 27:00
  particularly in this this
• 27:01
  place where people are asking me about ai and if i'm worried
• 27:05
  about ai as a
• 27:05
  storyteller and it's like my heart is beating i work with a
• 27:10
  beating heart how can i
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: be worried and you know i
• 27:21
  being paid well they're worried about it but we're not we're
• 27:25
  creative women that
• 27:27
  are historically have been paid nothing for the work that we do
• 27:33
  and it's hard to uh
• 27:35
  to even charge for it i feel for myself and i'm speaking in a
• 27:40
  woman's body and this
• 27:41
  woman's experience and i'm not saying it's any different for
• 27:44
  men i'm just speaking
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_03: for myself um
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: And for Abby and I'm so proud of her for articulating that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah,
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's a real celebration of International Women's Day,
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: which is not until March.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got lots of time to go around the pot with that one.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, so I was at this gig with Charlotte Mabon.
• 28:18
  on tuesday these guys called sofa sounds so far sounds they do
• 28:22
  these gigs they're
• 28:23
  all over the world and they um they hire secret venues and you
• 28:27
  go along it's lovely
• 28:29
  scene really really nice and the woman who ran it i was like
• 28:31
  excited to to say oh
• 28:33
  you know i'll come and do some storytelling i said oh i'd love
• 28:35
  to come and do some
• 28:36
  storytelling and she said to me have you got any gigs coming up
• 28:39
  and i said no
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_03: which isn't true at all, for a start.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: I hadn't had that email,
• 28:45
  so I could have been going to the International Women's
• 28:49
  Festival event at the Art Bank.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: But I said no,
• 28:52
  because I was in that really enjoying the music and in an
• 28:58
  open-hearted space,
• 29:00
  and I just actually could not click on the place in my brain to
• 29:04
  go into diary and
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: dates and places and things like that.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: And it's often like that in the podcast.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I know I should be saying I'm doing this and I'm doing that.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_03: Come and see me here and support me on Patreon.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of the point.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 29:19
  But I get to the end of the podcast and I'm just like kind of I
• 29:25
  dream the other day
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: that my that my brain was a soft boiled egg.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: It was a peeled, soft-boiled egg.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure if anyone factored doing an autopsy after my death,
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: you might find something similar.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: But I've written them out.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: So here we go.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Here is my tallest for the year.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: So in two weeks' time,
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: on the 28th of February to the 2nd of March,
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm doing a retreat at the Chalice Well.
• 29:58
  which is the gardens opposite the White Spring that I was
• 30:01
  telling you about.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: We will go into the White Spring.
• 30:04
  And I'm really feeling so uplifted by preparing for this
• 30:13
  weekend's three nights.
• 30:15
  We're working with the story of Tatterhood and we're going to
• 30:20
  be creating our own
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: creation stories today.
• 30:25
  in different ways I'm still dreaming into it but it's coming
• 30:28
  thick and fast and I'm
• 30:29
  really excited I've got one place left so get in touch with me
• 30:32
  if you want that
• 30:33
  space and then on the 14th of March I've got a really special
• 30:37
  soiree at my house at
• 30:39
  my home that my friend Megan Willoughby she's a poet I've read
• 30:43
  some of her poems
• 30:46
  on this pod and we're going to be sharing some new things
• 30:51
  trying out some new
• 30:52
  things and I live in a very small place so there's enough room
• 30:56
  for seven people
• 30:57
  that's in Glastonbury so get in touch if you want to come to
• 31:00
  that put your name
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: down for that
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: And on the 20th of March,
• 31:05
  I'm doing a gorgeous event with Pandora's Productions and Red
• 31:09
  Thread at St Ben's
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Church in Glastonbury.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's a whole smorgasbord of different artists doing things at St Ben's.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: That'll be great.
• 31:18
  And then May the 1st to the 4th,
• 31:19
  storytelling at the Magic Teapot Gathering.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: June the 8th, I'll be at the Scythe Bear.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: 25th to the 30th of June, I'll be in the teepee field at Glastonbury.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: Come and say hello.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: I've got a structure.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's a canvas structure by the Children's Fire, a white tent.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's not so white these days, but it was once white.
• 31:41
  It's a bit patchy now,
• 31:43
  but it has a golden mushroom at the top of the pole.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's got a golden mushroom, so that's how you know which one it is.
• 31:51
  And then 11th to the 13th of July,
• 31:54
  albeit pretty folk festival storytelling.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: Then the 18th to the 20th, Toll Puddle.
• 32:01
  29th to the 9th of August I'll be at Dance Camp Wales and then
• 32:05
  I'm hoping to be at
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: the End of the Road Festival at the end of the summer.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've just got to work a couple of things out there.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what I'm doing.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: And if you would like to support me,
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: you can go on to Patreon,
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: Mooney's Mythic Podcast,
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: and you can sign up and give me a dandelion coffee once a month.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: I did all that.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: I just did all that.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: I was growing quite proud of myself there for doing that.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: Mmm.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: Just breathing in to anything else I might want to say or share.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm in that lovely end of podcast, blank space.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for coming on this journey with me.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for listening.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: Bless your hearts.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: Bless your earthwalk.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: Bless your days.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll see you all here next week.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: Lots of love.