{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":0.0,"endTime":8.4,"body":"Music."},{"startTime":9.119,"endTime":15.339,"body":"This is Belonging, a podcast that explores being alive in the age of loneliness."},{"startTime":16.312,"endTime":23.099,"body":"I'm your host, Becca Piestrelli, a writer, mother, and community tender currently living"},{"startTime":23.099,"endTime":29.176,"body":"on the ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok people in present-day Marin County, California."},{"startTime":30.819,"endTime":36.351,"body":"In this show, we explore topics like rites of passage, cultivating meaningful community,"},{"startTime":37.099,"endTime":41.914,"body":"seasonal and cyclical living, and what it means to be a good ancestor in these times."},{"startTime":43.159,"endTime":49.099,"body":"I have thought-provoking conversations with friends, teachers, elders, and ancestral medicine"},{"startTime":49.368,"endTime":53.626,"body":"keepers to help support you in bringing more meaning and connection to your life."},{"startTime":54.699,"endTime":59.259,"body":"I also pop in here and there to share updates and learnings from my own story, because we"},{"startTime":59.259,"endTime":64.168,"body":"were meant to do this together, cosmically holding hands as we walk the spiral of life."},{"startTime":65.439,"endTime":71.901,"body":"You can expect to be challenged by new or old ideas. Face your beliefs and what systems informed them."},{"startTime":72.396,"endTime":77.759,"body":"Get curious and brave to tell the truth about the deeper, harder things and feel comforted"},{"startTime":77.759,"endTime":79.111,"body":"in the knowing that you don't have to navigate it all alone."},{"startTime":79.12,"endTime":88.4,"body":"Music."},{"startTime":88.639,"endTime":93.776,"body":"Hello friend and welcome back to Belonging, the podcast. Becca P. Estrelli here."},{"startTime":94.479,"endTime":98.839,"body":"And I'm sharing a solo episode today because I wanna talk about something"},{"startTime":98.839,"endTime":102.427,"body":"that's a really important tool, practice,"},{"startTime":103.119,"endTime":108.234,"body":"part of my life over the last decade that I get a lot of questions about,"},{"startTime":108.839,"endTime":111.359,"body":"and used to teach about and then took some time away"},{"startTime":111.359,"endTime":118.079,"body":"because I felt I had more to learn and have come back into a place of feeling ready to teach it again."},{"startTime":118.079,"endTime":121.665,"body":"And that is circle, the practice of circle."},{"startTime":122.399,"endTime":129.479,"body":"Circle is a deeply, deeply important part of my life. The deeper I go with the people I do it with,"},{"startTime":129.479,"endTime":136.258,"body":"the deeper I go with myself, and I actively see the way circling,"},{"startTime":136.999,"endTime":141.317,"body":"can be a part of making the world better."},{"startTime":141.614,"endTime":145.559,"body":"Like circle can change the world is basically the line I say,"},{"startTime":145.559,"endTime":147.599,"body":"and I know it can sound cliche,"},{"startTime":147.599,"endTime":154.279,"body":"And I think a lot of us who are living in these times that can be filled with despair and talk of collapse"},{"startTime":154.279,"endTime":158.286,"body":"and in all the ways that we feel challenged by the world as it is."},{"startTime":159.052,"endTime":161.995,"body":"We're also seeking to feel re-enchantment."},{"startTime":162.139,"endTime":165.938,"body":"We're also seeking to feel a sense of promise."},{"startTime":166.199,"endTime":172.681,"body":"And I'm recording this with the beginnings of spring here in the Northern Hemisphere in late March where I live."},{"startTime":173.359,"endTime":182.419,"body":"And I can feel in my bones, this movement from the despair that sometimes comes in winter that needs to be felt and"},{"startTime":182.419,"endTime":184.879,"body":"and moved and processed and composted into the earth."},{"startTime":185.806,"endTime":191.896,"body":"Feel that that freaking addicting feeling of spring coming again, the promise of new life,"},{"startTime":192.603,"endTime":199.096,"body":"and that sense of like, oh, another, another turn on the wheel, another spiral. And what have I"},{"startTime":199.096,"endTime":205.816,"body":"learned and who have I become and what is next for me. And so I have for over a decade now been"},{"startTime":205.816,"endTime":213.011,"body":"circling in various ways with one very specific circle for eight years and in other circles for"},{"startTime":213.256,"endTime":217.856,"body":"or shorter, and some of them have completed, and I'll talk about that,"},{"startTime":217.856,"endTime":222.824,"body":"and some of them have changed and shifted, and what that practice has done for me"},{"startTime":222.956,"endTime":231.296,"body":"is helped me see how in this new spring, I am different from springs of the past,"},{"startTime":231.296,"endTime":233.496,"body":"and a lot of that has to do with circle."},{"startTime":233.496,"endTime":235.121,"body":"Okay, so what is circle?"},{"startTime":236.256,"endTime":245.136,"body":"Let's start there, because I remember 10 years, 11 years ago, I was Becca, the corporate marketing gal,"},{"startTime":246.136,"endTime":250.336,"body":"and a tech company in San Francisco who was blogging about dabbling."},{"startTime":250.336,"endTime":257.556,"body":"That's when I was known as the dabblist on the side and really feeling dreamlike and longing and yearning"},{"startTime":257.556,"endTime":260.408,"body":"for a different way of being,"},{"startTime":260.736,"endTime":269.842,"body":"for a different depth of relationship with friends, a different experience of purpose in my life."},{"startTime":270.016,"endTime":276.0,"body":"And I signed up for this retreat. It was called Live Free Retreat,"},{"startTime":276.216,"endTime":279.856,"body":"and it was hosted by my now really good friends."},{"startTime":279.856,"endTime":284.056,"body":"They were not my really good friends. They were like these stars to me,"},{"startTime":284.056,"endTime":286.866,"body":"Sarah Jenks and Nisha Moodley."},{"startTime":287.056,"endTime":293.256,"body":"I've had Nisha on the podcast a couple of times, and they were both like life coaches"},{"startTime":293.256,"endTime":297.299,"body":"who hosted a weekend retreat up here in wine country, California,"},{"startTime":297.756,"endTime":302.179,"body":"to take a look at the ways we wanted to live our lives differently."},{"startTime":302.296,"endTime":308.396,"body":"And so I signed up, it was like the most money I've ever spent on myself in that way."},{"startTime":308.396,"endTime":313.179,"body":"Now it's like such a part of my life, but I just wanna note that those of us who are like,"},{"startTime":313.336,"endTime":319.236,"body":"wow, this is a big step for disposable income or reallocating of funds or a way of looking"},{"startTime":319.236,"endTime":321.903,"body":"at investing in yourself, I went."},{"startTime":322.436,"endTime":332.516,"body":"And it was just a really beautiful experience intentional gathering with a purpose, with a center. I'll talk about a circle"},{"startTime":332.516,"endTime":339.436,"body":"center in a moment. It felt deeply held and I experienced witnessing, which is"},{"startTime":339.436,"endTime":344.796,"body":"the sacred, sacred experience of telling my truth to people who weren't trying to"},{"startTime":344.796,"endTime":346.659,"body":"fix me or give me advice."},{"startTime":347.199,"endTime":348.792,"body":"They were a yes to my tears."},{"startTime":349.927,"endTime":355.057,"body":"And made some lifelong friends there and ended up working with both Sarah and Nisha and then"},{"startTime":355.057,"endTime":360.097,"body":"becoming really good friends with them and them working with me and here we are now. That's a"},{"startTime":360.097,"endTime":365.617,"body":"such an abridged version of my journey but the point I wanted to make is I remember there were,"},{"startTime":366.77,"endTime":373.217,"body":"women there who I very much made to mean that they were like more advanced than me and further on"},{"startTime":373.217,"endTime":378.177,"body":"their journey and spiritually more, I don't know, attuned and they knew the language. I remember"},{"startTime":378.177,"endTime":383.617,"body":"being in that room and being like, I don't know half the things you're saying. Like jargon,"},{"startTime":384.855,"endTime":389.393,"body":"this is a whole thing in communities. It's very common to create a common jargon, which I read"},{"startTime":389.777,"endTime":396.817,"body":"the book Cultish by Amanda Montel, which helped me understand that jargon, which naturally comes"},{"startTime":396.817,"endTime":401.057,"body":"about in a community space or a space of like-mindedness or like-heartedness can be"},{"startTime":401.057,"endTime":406.937,"body":"sometimes weaponized to create a sense of false belonging. So I'm always so"},{"startTime":406.937,"endTime":416.777,"body":"conscious, I try to always be conscious of the words I use and to try to de-jargonize them. And sometimes I do use these words that are jargon, like I use"},{"startTime":416.777,"endTime":421.817,"body":"the word circle. Okay just a story. I remember sitting at a table with a woman"},{"startTime":421.817,"endTime":426.097,"body":"who I just perceived to be so powerful. She was a coach and she started talking"},{"startTime":426.097,"endTime":428.886,"body":"talking to me about things being good medicine,"},{"startTime":429.057,"endTime":429.822,"body":"and I was like,"},{"startTime":430.637,"endTime":434.494,"body":"you know when you just don't wanna seem like a fool, and so you go, uh-huh,"},{"startTime":434.897,"endTime":437.231,"body":"and you pretend you understand something when you're like, what are you?"},{"startTime":438.959,"endTime":444.649,"body":"I said, I love cows. I said, I love cows. Because there were like cows on the property nearby this"},{"startTime":444.649,"endTime":448.809,"body":"hotel. And I said, I just love cows. And she said, cows are really good medicine."},{"startTime":451.553,"endTime":457.209,"body":"And I was like, uh-huh. In my mind, I was like, what? And of course, now I understand what she"},{"startTime":457.209,"endTime":462.569,"body":"meant. Like to be with a cow, the energy of a cow, the spirit of a cow. You know, this is sort"},{"startTime":462.569,"endTime":468.089,"body":"of like our innate earth-based indigenous ways is to have an understanding of like the animus world"},{"startTime":468.089,"endTime":474.649,"body":"around us and the way that different like energies of different animus things, things that are alive,"},{"startTime":474.649,"endTime":480.569,"body":"which is everything, impact us and nourish us. So that was kind of funny. But I remember there"},{"startTime":480.569,"endTime":484.569,"body":"was another woman sitting next to this woman who was talking about circle and she'd use circle like"},{"startTime":484.691,"endTime":489.609,"body":"as a noun, like, and then a verb and she'd be like, circle. I love circle. My work is circle."},{"startTime":489.609,"endTime":497.649,"body":"Circle. We gather and we circle. I have circle. And I was like, what do you mean? I literally"},{"startTime":497.649,"endTime":505.099,"body":"don't get it. But I liked what she was saying. That turned out to be Sora Soriano, who is."},{"startTime":505.769,"endTime":513.889,"body":"Now Sora Schilling of devotedway.com, who taught and teaches circle actively. And so"},{"startTime":513.889,"endTime":520.7,"body":"So she and I decided to host a gathering we call the Sisterhood Soiree in San Francisco"},{"startTime":520.79,"endTime":522.032,"body":"in January 2014."},{"startTime":522.329,"endTime":527.667,"body":"It was really special for me and she taught me a lot about what a circle is."},{"startTime":527.909,"endTime":537.903,"body":"So simply put, circle is an intentional gathering of people in a physical sitting or standing"},{"startTime":538.146,"endTime":542.289,"body":"of a circle shape with a common intention or purpose."},{"startTime":542.289,"endTime":546.569,"body":"There's a lot of other things I can say about what makes a circle, and I'm here to tell"},{"startTime":546.569,"endTime":550.289,"body":"you about this course, this program that I have coming out called Circle Craft, where"},{"startTime":550.289,"endTime":551.379,"body":"I share more about that."},{"startTime":553.432,"endTime":557.654,"body":"But that's really powerful. The shape of a circle is in itself egalitarian."},{"startTime":558.289,"endTime":560.429,"body":"It's in itself shared leadership."},{"startTime":560.429,"endTime":569.609,"body":"It's in itself a place where there is no hierarchy. Hierarchy can happen in circle, but the shape itself is one that brings about what I would"},{"startTime":569.609,"endTime":575.209,"body":"now term matriarchal ways of being as opposed to patriarchal ways of being which might be more like"},{"startTime":575.397,"endTime":581.369,"body":"teacher-student, like a teacher at the front and then students sitting and the teacher standing,"},{"startTime":581.369,"endTime":587.449,"body":"you know, these are sort of ways to show power over and I'm not making that wrong in a teacher"},{"startTime":587.449,"endTime":594.194,"body":"setting. I'm just saying that shape of a circle brings about that feeling in a space."},{"startTime":595.608,"endTime":603.698,"body":"So I started sitting in circles a lot more and it very, very quickly through sacred intention,"},{"startTime":603.698,"endTime":609.156,"body":"through well-held containers. Container is another term that took me a long time to figure out what it meant."},{"startTime":609.759,"endTime":620.364,"body":"Container being like an energetic space that feels held and somewhat safe or committed to being safer"},{"startTime":620.697,"endTime":624.898,"body":"as opposed to being in a space that doesn't feel held, that feels like things would go wrong,"},{"startTime":624.898,"endTime":631.752,"body":"that feels leaky. So I was in more containers that were circle-shaped group gatherings."},{"startTime":632.112,"endTime":636.978,"body":"As someone who's loved dinner parties and parties, this just felt like one step better,"},{"startTime":637.909,"endTime":643.698,"body":"one step deeper. And also brought about these, what I would, I called waking visions or"},{"startTime":643.698,"endTime":648.698,"body":"or scenes in my mind of how we as women,"},{"startTime":649.218,"endTime":654.218,"body":"and women feminine allies used to be, used to gather."},{"startTime":655.778,"endTime":660.262,"body":"In fact, I would have these, what I would call visions all the time."},{"startTime":661.238,"endTime":663.341,"body":"And I would obsessively talk about it."},{"startTime":663.698,"endTime":666.818,"body":"And it's actually what moved me from being the blogger dabblist"},{"startTime":666.818,"endTime":669.741,"body":"who was sharing like DIY and herbalism on the internet"},{"startTime":670.098,"endTime":676.218,"body":"and Pinterest to what I'm doing today, which is facilitation and circle leading"},{"startTime":676.218,"endTime":681.255,"body":"and teaching about village tending and also living that medicine in my life."},{"startTime":681.658,"endTime":687.238,"body":"Because it just became such an obsessive, what I would call remembering,"},{"startTime":687.238,"endTime":691.938,"body":"because it felt so visceral in my bones of like our grandmothers, or maybe not our grandmothers,"},{"startTime":691.938,"endTime":694.083,"body":"but our great, great, great, great, great, great grandmothers"},{"startTime":694.258,"endTime":699.251,"body":"our ancestors would sit at the kitchen table,"},{"startTime":700.034,"endTime":703.689,"body":"would sit in circle, would gather in the forest, would..."},{"startTime":704.004,"endTime":708.058,"body":"And what would they be doing? Would they be mending? Would they be cooking? Would they be helping people birth?"},{"startTime":708.058,"endTime":714.758,"body":"Would they be helping people recover from sickness? Would they be telling stories? Would they be singing songs?"},{"startTime":714.758,"endTime":715.977,"body":"It just felt like, wait."},{"startTime":717.138,"endTime":723.701,"body":"I grew up in a culture and a family system that really aspired to that which the overculture taught us."},{"startTime":724.241,"endTime":728.758,"body":"Which was individualist success, nuclear family, isolated living,"},{"startTime":728.758,"endTime":730.687,"body":"no mention of a village."},{"startTime":730.798,"endTime":735.107,"body":"In fact, you can't really trust people to help you. You've got to figure it out by yourself."},{"startTime":735.438,"endTime":738.906,"body":"And you leave each other alone. That's the respectful thing to do."},{"startTime":739.598,"endTime":746.878,"body":"And yet, when I thought about this idea of gathering, particularly gathering of women,"},{"startTime":746.878,"endTime":751.86,"body":"although that's not exclusively what I believe is important to a healthy culture,"},{"startTime":751.978,"endTime":755.358,"body":"but it is something that this is specifically relating to"},{"startTime":755.533,"endTime":758.657,"body":"and specifically important for me in my life."},{"startTime":758.998,"endTime":760.214,"body":"And the women gather."},{"startTime":761.258,"endTime":767.188,"body":"There's power there, there's magic. And also this is what got me into hearth witch and kitchen"},{"startTime":767.188,"endTime":774.868,"body":"witching and cooking again and herbalism and a real passion for what I'd call hearth magic."},{"startTime":775.662,"endTime":782.351,"body":"Because that was a reframing of like what I don't know like second wave feminism might have"},{"startTime":782.468,"endTime":792.073,"body":"told me, you know, as a child of the 80s is not feminist, is not powerful. That handcraft, right."},{"startTime":793.189,"endTime":800.468,"body":"Is not as powerful as like bossing it up in the C-suite. And again, I'm not making one exclusive"},{"startTime":800.468,"endTime":806.468,"body":"to the other, but I found myself feeling like, but actually there's a secret here. As I was in my"},{"startTime":806.468,"endTime":812.427,"body":"heels up in the high rise in San Francisco obsessively looking and"},{"startTime":812.823,"endTime":817.666,"body":"researching and reading all about these ancestral feminine ways, these are terms"},{"startTime":818.088,"endTime":825.428,"body":"I'm using, these old ways. I just felt like my whole body say there's power in"},{"startTime":825.428,"endTime":831.308,"body":"the gathering and there's power in the circling and that that's the beginning I"},{"startTime":831.308,"endTime":837.668,"body":"think for me. So then I've circled, I've taught circling, I've held circles, I've"},{"startTime":837.85,"endTime":844.108,"body":"been held in circles for a long time and well it's kind of hard and I want to"},{"startTime":844.108,"endTime":849.388,"body":"name that because I think a lot of us have a desire for that arriving at the"},{"startTime":849.388,"endTime":854.608,"body":"destination right of feeling held, of feeling safe, of feeling like we can be"},{"startTime":854.608,"endTime":863.168,"body":"vulnerable, of feeling magic, of feeling group ritual, of feeling a sense of enchantment,"},{"startTime":863.74,"endTime":871.368,"body":"of feeling a sense of collaboration, of community, a sense of equality."},{"startTime":870.87,"endTime":878.08,"body":"A sense of rest and ease with each other. And of course we are human beings who have inherited."},{"startTime":878.88,"endTime":886.96,"body":"Stories and trauma. It's been passed down through us epigenetically. It's been actually experienced"},{"startTime":886.96,"endTime":895.44,"body":"in family systems, in friendships. Betrayal is definitely the story of women gathering too."},{"startTime":895.44,"endTime":903.44,"body":"And so to be in circle is to be in a commitment to healing that within ourselves and with each other."},{"startTime":903.44,"endTime":907.44,"body":"And so it is a courageous act to circle."},{"startTime":907.44,"endTime":915.413,"body":"And I know a lot of us see on the like hashtag sister circle vibe, you know,"},{"startTime":915.485,"endTime":922.4,"body":"you know, the like flower crowns and full moon howling and gauzy white dresses and,"},{"startTime":922.4,"endTime":928.92,"body":"you know, macrame kimonos and the candles lit in the forest."},{"startTime":928.92,"endTime":932.68,"body":"And yeah, I've definitely done that and do that. It's so great."},{"startTime":932.68,"endTime":939.6,"body":"And I think there's there is a bypassing we want to do, which makes total sense because who wants to do the hard thing?"},{"startTime":939.6,"endTime":946.86,"body":"Right? Humans are wired to avoid pain, to stay alive, the primitive parts of our"},{"startTime":946.86,"endTime":954.02,"body":"brains. But you can't bypass in a deeply well circle, you can't bypass challenge,"},{"startTime":954.924,"endTime":958.78,"body":"you can't bypass trigger. Because if there's anything I've learned in circle"},{"startTime":958.78,"endTime":961.244,"body":"is that we are mirrors for each other."},{"startTime":962.315,"endTime":967.285,"body":"I'll never forget I was in a circle where a woman, I perceived her to be high need,"},{"startTime":968.13,"endTime":973.685,"body":"I perceived her to be desiring a lot of attention, and I felt so triggered by that."},{"startTime":974.459,"endTime":980.325,"body":"I felt so judgmental of that. And I've had different versions of that, but I laugh about"},{"startTime":980.325,"endTime":987.445,"body":"this woman because she's now just like such a beloved of mine. And I realized those expressions"},{"startTime":987.445,"endTime":993.877,"body":"of her that I was challenged by were parts of me asking to be looked at and healed, right?"},{"startTime":994.485,"endTime":1001.125,"body":"That's like the gift of jealousy or the gift of judgment. This is actually a light shining on the"},{"startTime":1001.125,"endTime":1006.921,"body":"parts of you that want to be seen and encouraged and healed. And so I tell people like, if they're"},{"startTime":1007.125,"endTime":1011.445,"body":"like, oh, this one woman in this circle or this program, I'm like, I don't know, she might become"},{"startTime":1011.445,"endTime":1013.045,"body":"I'm your best friend."},{"startTime":1013.045,"endTime":1016.32,"body":"Just, that's a possibility if you stay with it."},{"startTime":1016.925,"endTime":1025.565,"body":"My point was a lot of people desire that feeling, that end experience of feeling safe and connected,"},{"startTime":1025.565,"endTime":1028.13,"body":"deep, deep kinship and intimacy."},{"startTime":1028.605,"endTime":1035.179,"body":"And there's a lot of baggage or real deal trauma that prevents them from even trying."},{"startTime":1035.525,"endTime":1039.401,"body":"And so I wanna name those, like experiencing malicious gossip."},{"startTime":1040.465,"endTime":1047.805,"body":"Telling the gossip or being on the receiving end of the gossip being about you, betrayal, lying, cheating,"},{"startTime":1048.505,"endTime":1050.555,"body":"a sense that you can't trust each other."},{"startTime":1051.445,"endTime":1055.587,"body":"I've experienced these too. Some people have experienced it in a really harsh way."},{"startTime":1057.145,"endTime":1063.305,"body":"And there's like, there's like the reason you feel bad, right?"},{"startTime":1063.305,"endTime":1069.865,"body":"You feel bad because your friend told a secret about you to someone else and betrayed your trust, right?"},{"startTime":1069.865,"endTime":1079.452,"body":"That's a reason to feel hesitant or nervous or hypervigilant about circling, about joining or leaving a circle."},{"startTime":1080.565,"endTime":1087.425,"body":"But there's also a deeper historical context. If you know me, you know I'm always going to map it back to history because that helps"},{"startTime":1087.425,"endTime":1095.314,"body":"me in moments of like, why can't I move through this feeling or why can't I overcome this fear?"},{"startTime":1095.557,"endTime":1102.185,"body":"Why is it still present? to bring some grace and understanding to the historical context of why we are where we are."},{"startTime":1103.182,"endTime":1107.602,"body":"We've read my book Root and Ritual. I spend a lot of time talking about our severing"},{"startTime":1107.791,"endTime":1113.305,"body":"from the natural world, the living world, and our severing from each other so that we believe the"},{"startTime":1113.305,"endTime":1120.425,"body":"only way to really quote be successful and thrive in this culture is alone, which is so not true."},{"startTime":1120.425,"endTime":1126.985,"body":"We are wired for connection. There's actually a very specific point in history that because"},{"startTime":1126.985,"endTime":1133.625,"body":"of colonization impacts every single one of us on this earth that in particular has created what can"},{"startTime":1133.625,"endTime":1139.137,"body":"can be called the sister wound, or the wound of basically tearing women."},{"startTime":1139.385,"endTime":1140.665,"body":"When I use the word women."},{"startTime":1141.559,"endTime":1147.329,"body":"It's not an exclusive term. I include all those who identify as women and folks who are non-binary,"},{"startTime":1147.329,"endTime":1153.809,"body":"basically people who don't identify as cis men. And that time is the burning times. And maybe"},{"startTime":1153.809,"endTime":1159.169,"body":"you know about it, maybe you don't. It's pretty heavy stuff. The place I learned about it originally"},{"startTime":1159.169,"endTime":1164.449,"body":"is this book I talk about often. I'm going to be talking about it on my next episode with Bear"},{"startTime":1164.449,"endTime":1169.449,"body":"and it's called Caliban and the Witch by Sylvia Federici."},{"startTime":1170.849,"endTime":1177.496,"body":"And I learned about it in graduate school and then it keeps coming up as a place to understand,"},{"startTime":1178.153,"endTime":1184.068,"body":"the history, basically the history of capitalism and its impact on the female body"},{"startTime":1184.249,"endTime":1185.904,"body":"and the human body in general."},{"startTime":1186.552,"endTime":1193.178,"body":"But I also have learned from many teachers including Starhawk in The Spiral Dance, a great book"},{"startTime":1193.369,"endTime":1196.635,"body":"and also a former teacher of mine, Liz Miliarelli."},{"startTime":1196.789,"endTime":1203.809,"body":"And the Burning Times is a, well, some would say, I have a teacher, Rain Crow,"},{"startTime":1203.809,"endTime":1205.727,"body":"would say the Burning Times never ended."},{"startTime":1206.312,"endTime":1208.212,"body":"And that is really the point here."},{"startTime":1208.809,"endTime":1215.234,"body":"But the acute experience of the Burning Times was about 400 years, and it all began in the 1400s."},{"startTime":1215.783,"endTime":1219.309,"body":"Certainly the notion of subjugating women"},{"startTime":1219.309,"endTime":1228.769,"body":"and this creation of women being evil because of carnal desire is as old as basically these systems of power that I would call the"},{"startTime":1228.769,"endTime":1234.769,"body":"church or patriarchal capital R religious"},{"startTime":1233.796,"endTime":1244.446,"body":"um systems of power but the 1400s is when um Malleus Malithicarum came out in 1486 which"},{"startTime":1244.446,"endTime":1255.166,"body":"was a papal decree of witchcraft so I feel a lot of attachment and um real connection to this term"},{"startTime":1255.166,"endTime":1259.806,"body":"witch but this is not an episode teaching about witch this is an episode that is talking about"},{"startTime":1259.806,"endTime":1269.866,"body":"the perversion of the word witch to manipulate and harm and kill women and"},{"startTime":1269.866,"endTime":1277.538,"body":"women's power. So Malleus Maleficarum is also called the hammer of the witches."},{"startTime":1278.196,"endTime":1285.166,"body":"And it was by Dominicans Kramer and it came out in Germany and it was basically"},{"startTime":1285.166,"endTime":1288.846,"body":"the groundwork for the reign of terror all throughout Europe. I mean that really"},{"startTime":1288.846,"endTime":1295.246,"body":"gripped well into the 17th century and then moved through colonization to all"},{"startTime":1295.246,"endTime":1302.046,"body":"colonies all over the world not just in modern-day North America. And one of the"},{"startTime":1302.046,"endTime":1308.497,"body":"things it says is no woman having power of self-possession allowed and that a"},{"startTime":1308.766,"endTime":1320.846,"body":"woman who was not a witch was quiet, docile, and submissive otherwise they were hysterical, which created this idea of mass hysteria, which then leads to this whole"},{"startTime":1320.846,"endTime":1323.27,"body":"understanding of the origin of hysterectomy."},{"startTime":1323.606,"endTime":1329.166,"body":"And also this is the origin for the modern industrial beauty standards, because there"},{"startTime":1329.166,"endTime":1334.366,"body":"was a belief that a, I don't know, a saintly godly woman, basically a non-witch would not"},{"startTime":1334.366,"endTime":1337.606,"body":"have any sort of marks on their body."},{"startTime":1337.606,"endTime":1343.126,"body":"And so not only was it normalizing white European features, which is even a certain part of"},{"startTime":1343.126,"endTime":1348.446,"body":"Europe, not only because all of European people look very different, but also that they were"},{"startTime":1348.446,"endTime":1350.412,"body":"or free of moles or freckles."},{"startTime":1351.132,"endTime":1354.982,"body":"And there's a lot more you can read about the burning times. It is heavy stuff. It's also,"},{"startTime":1354.982,"endTime":1360.982,"body":"I think, vital, a part of history for us to understand. And the reason I'm bringing it up"},{"startTime":1360.982,"endTime":1366.662,"body":"is because the legacy of the burning times are still felt today. The most acute way to talk"},{"startTime":1366.662,"endTime":1373.062,"body":"about it is mass incarceration. Again, this is not an episode on mass incarceration,"},{"startTime":1373.062,"endTime":1380.582,"body":"but I really want to plant the seeds for how much this time in history has pervaded things"},{"startTime":1380.582,"endTime":1387.382,"body":"that really cause harm and have us turn on each other to cause harm and create violence and"},{"startTime":1387.382,"endTime":1394.342,"body":"suffering and despair upon each other as humans. Because entire villages of women were wiped out."},{"startTime":1394.342,"endTime":1400.182,"body":"The number I keep seeing is 9 million women and their allies. It seems about of the 9 million,"},{"startTime":1400.182,"endTime":1406.422,"body":"80% of them were women. And so I like to think when I feel really grounded."},{"startTime":1407.477,"endTime":1412.382,"body":"I'm gonna take a deep breath right now because I can feel myself trying to rush through this"},{"startTime":1412.382,"endTime":1414.102,"body":"because it's hard to talk about."},{"startTime":1415.142,"endTime":1421.222,"body":"And I put myself in the position of my ancestors because my ancestors are European who were alive then,"},{"startTime":1421.222,"endTime":1422.322,"body":"the ones that survived."},{"startTime":1423.182,"endTime":1427.939,"body":"What they must have had to do to survive, right?"},{"startTime":1428.942,"endTime":1435.258,"body":"They have had to turn on each other, would they have had to rat each other out,"},{"startTime":1435.382,"endTime":1443.702,"body":"they have had to agree to never see each other again because a gathering of women was the most dangerous thing,"},{"startTime":1444.182,"endTime":1446.421,"body":"for hundreds of years."},{"startTime":1447.542,"endTime":1456.809,"body":"Which is why circling is a vital lineage healing radical act in 2023 and beyond."},{"startTime":1457.322,"endTime":1465.342,"body":"But I try to remind myself when I feel a sense of uncertainty and safety, anxiety around gathering with women"},{"startTime":1465.342,"endTime":1471.276,"body":"or like a desire, some sort of trauma response that has to do with fawning,"},{"startTime":1471.742,"endTime":1476.578,"body":"which I've talked about in recent episodes, like a desire for group harmony or a conflict avoidance."},{"startTime":1477.605,"endTime":1486.256,"body":"To give myself grace and love and to rise into that inner wise woman who gathered with women"},{"startTime":1486.607,"endTime":1492.815,"body":"and could navigate conflict far before for many many years many thousands of years many"},{"startTime":1492.815,"endTime":1501.677,"body":"generations before the reign of witch terror on these ancestral lands of mine but they knew"},{"startTime":1501.92,"endTime":1507.375,"body":"how and they that we could remember again and how does that happen it happens through practice,"},{"startTime":1507.935,"endTime":1513.855,"body":"and it happens through navigating all the different things that come up and keeping that north star,"},{"startTime":1514.721,"endTime":1522.415,"body":"that vision always crystal clear in my mind in our minds of why circling is so vital."},{"startTime":1523.471,"endTime":1528.415,"body":"So this brings me to someone I consider a teacher although I've never met in person"},{"startTime":1528.415,"endTime":1536.255,"body":"Jean Shinoda Bolin, who is a psychotherapist, a Jungian analyst, and an author of so many"},{"startTime":1536.255,"endTime":1544.015,"body":"wonderful books, including Goddesses and Every Woman, Crossing to Avalon, which is one of my"},{"startTime":1544.015,"endTime":1549.455,"body":"favorite books to read if you're inspired to do pilgrimage. Recently, Crones Don't Lie,"},{"startTime":1549.455,"endTime":1558.195,"body":"God's in every man, but the book that I am most deeply impacted by and the circle I've"},{"startTime":1558.195,"endTime":1563.828,"body":"been a part of in the most devoted way for the last eight years, we all keep on our altars"},{"startTime":1563.882,"endTime":1568.681,"body":"and use as the North Star is called the millionth circle, how to change ourselves in the world,"},{"startTime":1568.815,"endTime":1569.779,"body":"Jean Shinoda Bowen."},{"startTime":1570.67,"endTime":1578.511,"body":"It's the essential guide to women's circles. um it reads more like a poem and it's something I go back to."},{"startTime":1579.447,"endTime":1583.102,"body":"Again and again and so I want to explain why she calls it the millionth circle."},{"startTime":1583.489,"endTime":1592.097,"body":"And so Jean Shinoda Bolin wrote this book in 1999 and this was inspired, I guess she was inspired"},{"startTime":1592.097,"endTime":1597.057,"body":"to write the book as she was writing Goddesses and Every Woman and it was also inspired by."},{"startTime":1598.064,"endTime":1604.097,"body":"The hundredth monkey story which you can you can look up or maybe we'll provide a link to it in"},{"startTime":1604.097,"endTime":1611.497,"body":"in the show notes that was really, it's an experiment with monkeys on remote islands,"},{"startTime":1612.342,"endTime":1616.017,"body":"and showed that a group of monkeys started washing their sweet potatoes."},{"startTime":1616.017,"endTime":1620.217,"body":"And when they were washing their sweet potatoes, they were more likely to survive more."},{"startTime":1620.217,"endTime":1625.197,"body":"And then monkeys on a completely different island started washing their sweet potatoes."},{"startTime":1625.692,"endTime":1633.074,"body":"And so it was this concept that if we could get to a million monkeys or a million group of monkeys,"},{"startTime":1633.596,"endTime":1641.857,"body":"doing that then like that is proof that we can enact global change and so her her belief around,"},{"startTime":1642.553,"endTime":1643.714,"body":"circles is,"},{"startTime":1644.507,"endTime":1651.337,"body":"To bring humanity into a post-patriarchal era is when a critical number of people change how they think and behave,"},{"startTime":1652.393,"endTime":1658.797,"body":"The culture does also in a new era begins and this is something I have seen and believe so deeply as well is,"},{"startTime":1659.441,"endTime":1664.645,"body":"true sustainable change doesn't happen quickly usually, it happens with slow and steady practice."},{"startTime":1665.959,"endTime":1670.437,"body":"And that there's ripple effect in that and that's how culture changes and that's how a new era"},{"startTime":1670.437,"endTime":1679.616,"body":"begins. That's what can bring us to a more healed place. And there's also this Hobie prophecy that,"},{"startTime":1680.197,"endTime":1686.997,"body":"also is interesting in its origins, that's the closest I can get to its origins, that says when,"},{"startTime":1687.557,"endTime":1692.003,"body":"When all women give their blood back to the earth, all wars shall cease."},{"startTime":1693.092,"endTime":1701.182,"body":"And that's about giving moon blood back to the earth. And I remember hearing that and feeling my whole body just sort of shudder"},{"startTime":1701.182,"endTime":1703.787,"body":"and my eyes well up with tears."},{"startTime":1704.048,"endTime":1713.502,"body":"So I feel like this idea of prophecy in cultures throughout the world that have to do with keeping to your individual practice,"},{"startTime":1714.202,"endTime":1724.782,"body":"and it's spreading slowly out in ripple effects that once we achieve this vision of like all the women on the earth giving their blood back to the"},{"startTime":1724.782,"endTime":1731.742,"body":"earth to cease wars or all if once we get to a million circles on earth we will be brought into"},{"startTime":1731.742,"endTime":1739.662,"body":"the post-patriarchal era. There's something about that that keeps me in it, keeps me in the work,"},{"startTime":1739.662,"endTime":1749.982,"body":"and the work is circling. And so this is an invitation to you if you are desirous"},{"startTime":1749.982,"endTime":1755.742,"body":"and curious about circling. I want to share more with you about it. So if"},{"startTime":1755.742,"endTime":1762.702,"body":"you're listening to this in real time on Wednesday April 12th I'm hosting a free"},{"startTime":1762.702,"endTime":1768.142,"body":"workshop where we're gonna chat more deeply about the number one thing people"},{"startTime":1768.142,"endTime":1772.321,"body":"feel really caught up with that they share with me about how to start a circle."},{"startTime":1773.782,"endTime":1777.662,"body":"And that is how to find your people, like how to find people to circle with, even if"},{"startTime":1777.662,"endTime":1778.982,"body":"you live in a small town."},{"startTime":1778.982,"endTime":1783.582,"body":"So it's called the Art of Circle Invitation, how to find your people and call them in even"},{"startTime":1783.582,"endTime":1790.242,"body":"when you think they don't exist, because it is truly an art, not just a to do list thing"},{"startTime":1790.242,"endTime":1796.078,"body":"to do to call people in into this deeper experience of circling."},{"startTime":1796.822,"endTime":1797.977,"body":"That I have to tell you."},{"startTime":1799.202,"endTime":1804.752,"body":"Most people want it. Most people want it. Even if at first they make you think that you're weird,"},{"startTime":1805.161,"endTime":1808.752,"body":"that's just a coping mechanism for our overculture."},{"startTime":1808.752,"endTime":1812.952,"body":"People want it. People want to circle and gather in intentional ways."},{"startTime":1812.952,"endTime":1821.952,"body":"So you can go to the show notes or BeccaPAustralia.com slash art of circle,"},{"startTime":1822.49,"endTime":1824.93,"body":"art dash of dash circle,"},{"startTime":1825.596,"endTime":1830.752,"body":"to sign up if you aren't signed up already because I've probably been talking about it a lot."},{"startTime":1830.752,"endTime":1836.472,"body":"So you can do that. And then I have a six week program coming up called Circle Craft,"},{"startTime":1836.472,"endTime":1839.667,"body":"a guided journey to bring your circle from idea to reality."},{"startTime":1839.752,"endTime":1847.432,"body":"So if you are curious and ready to stop wishing and start doing in an imperfect, beautiful way"},{"startTime":1847.432,"endTime":1851.712,"body":"in a space that's held, because a lot of us want to feel held,"},{"startTime":1851.712,"endTime":1852.981,"body":"so then we start the circles,"},{"startTime":1853.472,"endTime":1854.953,"body":"and then who's holding us?"},{"startTime":1855.512,"endTime":1860.03,"body":"I'll talk about that. I'll teach about that. I'm going to teach about a circle with a center,"},{"startTime":1860.272,"endTime":1866.08,"body":"what that means, how to hold your center, how to have a circle with a center."},{"startTime":1866.232,"endTime":1871.913,"body":"I'll talk about all the fears of what comes up in circle when a circle goes awry."},{"startTime":1872.272,"endTime":1876.702,"body":"And I'll talk about the secrets to a longevity of a circle, as far as I know,"},{"startTime":1877.272,"endTime":1879.628,"body":"because I'm in the work doing it imperfectly."},{"startTime":1880.792,"endTime":1886.749,"body":"I have a lot to share with you, but maybe just start with sitting with what I shared today,"},{"startTime":1887.832,"endTime":1892.472,"body":"understanding that circle is vital and it is my goal and my vision"},{"startTime":1892.472,"endTime":1895.436,"body":"to get us to a million circles around the world."},{"startTime":1896.992,"endTime":1900.032,"body":"And then consider coming to the workshop. If you can't join us live,"},{"startTime":1900.032,"endTime":1905.78,"body":"you can join on the replay to learn more about the art of circle invitation."},{"startTime":1905.972,"endTime":1911.514,"body":"And if you're curious to witness in CircleCraft, Thank you so much for listening today"},{"startTime":1911.952,"endTime":1913.963,"body":"and we'll see you next time, bye."},{"startTime":1914.8,"endTime":1920.56,"body":"Music."},{"startTime":1921.072,"endTime":1925.652,"body":"Thank you so much for joining me. In a time when our attention is being pulled"},{"startTime":1925.652,"endTime":1929.897,"body":"in so many different directions, it means a lot that you took time out of your day"},{"startTime":1929.952,"endTime":1933.318,"body":"to spend it with me and in these important conversations."},{"startTime":1934.192,"endTime":1941.23,"body":"For show notes and links and more information about my guests, you can head to belongingpodcast.com."},{"startTime":1941.872,"endTime":1945.57,"body":"And if you'd like to hear more from me and get access to my free newsletter"},{"startTime":1945.672,"endTime":1952.132,"body":"called Slow and Seasonal, you can head to beckapiestrelli.com slash subscribe."},{"startTime":1956.561,"endTime":1952.168,"body":"Www.circlelineartschool.com."}]}