Welcome to the Nurture podcast/ blog.

Let’s create the beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

Ginger Edwards 12/12/24 Ginger Edwards 12/12/24

Nurture Pod 26: Winter's Cailleach Call

In this episode Ginger celebrates her 51st birthday and dives into what it means to be a woman entering the time of the Cailleach, the Celtic Goddess of Winter and
Iris visualizes how we can graph our life movements to create a bigger picture.

Both discuss the energy of the end of the year and ways to drop out of the cultural hustle and into the starry darkness of becoming.

What are you nurturing as the year wanes towards the Winter Solstice?

To find more about classes and courses Iris is offering visit
https://www.dreambirdstudio.com/

To find Ginger's events, coaching and courses visit:
https://www.northfork53.com/

Many thanks to the talented Kathryn Claire for the use of her "Bakers Song" as our intro and exit music!

Find all of her songs at her https://kathrynclairemusic.com/home

Ginger Edwards 11/27/24 Ginger Edwards 11/27/24

Nurture Pod 25: Re-membering gratitude as an ancient state of being.

Gratitude will get a whole lot of lip service this week in a culture that's rife with political and social divisions.

Is it possible to still be grateful when you're feeling frustrated and resentful towards others or are in deep grief around the state of the world?

Our ancestors may have the keys to unlock the power of this dark time of the year and how winter rituals were used for healing and renewal in community.

In this episode Iris and Ginger dig into a feast of all the ways we resist, use, create and abuse the idea of gratitude.

You may be surprised by how deep this one goes.

Ginger Edwards 11/11/24 Ginger Edwards 11/11/24

Nurture Pod 24: Wit, Knowing and Ken of what the hell just happened.

In this post election episode Iris and Ginger discuss the national election results in 3 different ways. In a culture dominated by the mind they include the heart and gut into the process to understand the place we have newly arrived at in America.

Wit: the mental understanding of the results. Ideas, perceptions, thoughts and judgements.

Knowing: the somatic experience of the heart and body. How our heart understands what is happening in the world and our emotions- grief, anger, fear and compassion.

Ken- the old word for gut understanding, the intuitive space where we feel the deeper truth beyond what our mental and emotional selves are in reaction to.

As we mull this over you can play along at home! How do these three parts of you understand this election and how you will respond to it?

Ginger Edwards 10/30/24 Ginger Edwards 10/30/24

All Hallows Short Story: The Change

The Change

She decided to walk home alone after the party wound down around midnight. It was late, but the moon was up and the fall chill helped her shake off the wine buzzing in her head.

Crunching through leaves, she cut across the park and made her way towards a patch of dark trees in the distance.

She was alone and preferred it that way. The fresh air brought her back to life after the noise and heat of the party.

She was never quite comfortable in crowds. She’d hang out on the back porch or near a doorway so she could make a quick escape if needed.

The hot flashes didn’t help either.

Now that she was nearing the end of her blood moons she would go from party mode to panic attack in a few minutes.

Her clothes would start to feel like tight bands across her chest and waist.

The smells of civilization became unbearable. Skin adorned with perfumes and face creams, the exhaust of cars, the reek of detergents on clothes.

The light of phones and screens hurt her eyes. The blare of voices yelling and music hurt her ears.

She knew the change was coming anytime now. It was inevitable.

Her hair was turning more brittle and gray, edging into her dark strands.

The only thing that felt good now was being under the open sky and the smell of the forest. The feel of her muscles moving in rhythm with her breath.

As she walks she hears a lone wailing in the distance that sends shivers down her spine in recognition.

To her surprise, she finds herself stopping to raise her voice in answer. A sound escapes her throat that she’s never heard before but it feels like it’s always belonged there.

Other voices answer her. Her ears pick out names, relationships, stories of grief and rage.

She sheds her clothes without another thought. Her body wants to run. Run faster than she’s ever run before.

In the night she moves, no longer looking over her shoulder in fear of the night.

Her eyes see perfectly now.

Her nose smells every leaf footstep and breath for miles. She’s never felt so perfectly in tune with her herself.

She knows no job title, no regrets, no fears, no shame.

She is alive and the moon is full. Her pack is gathering to rejoice in song.

The change has come.

The world will never look the same.

When the sun rises there will be a woman no longer domestic.

She is now were-woman.

Free to be wild.

Free to create her own destiny.

Free to roam with other women in the dark edges of the known world.

Ginger Edwards 10/30/24 Ginger Edwards 10/30/24

Nurture Pod 23: Red Root of Samhain

In this episode Iris and Ginger talk red roots, the color of blood, power, sexuality, Queen Madder root and the portal between this world and the next.

In the Celtic lands this time of year was known as Samhain (aka Halloween) when the veils between the seen and unseen energies were thin.

Protection charms and bonfires to ward off harm, illness, the oncoming winter darkness mixed over time with honoring ancestors and the dead.

With an major election looming and so much uncertainty in the air how do we stay protected in our own grounding, art, practice and inner souls?

How do we use this liminal space in the seasons to create transformation out of fear?