SHF Podcast, Season 2, Episode 11: The Power of Prayer and Lessons from Hurricane Helene with Marianne Mitchell

In this deeply moving episode recorded near the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, hosts Katherine Finley and Miriah Feehery welcome spiritual counselor and energy medicine practitioner Marianne Mitchell for an intimate conversation about healing, community, and resilience. Marianne shares her daily spiritual practices, including prayer alchemy technology-a multi-step process rooted in Science of Mind that helps practitioners embody divine consciousness and maintain grounding through life's challenges. The conversation organically flows into a profound reflection on how Hurricane Helene impacted the Asheville and wider community, revealing powerful stories of neighbors coming together across all divides, from the Amish working alongside Baptist ministries to unlikely partnerships between people of vastly different political beliefs.

The episode explores how the disaster revealed a fundamental truth: that division is an artificial construct, and when stripped of outside influences like social media and news, humanity's natural instinct is to care for one another. Marianne shares her spiritual experiences during the storm, and discusses the ongoing work of grief, ancestral healing, and nervous system regulation in the aftermath. All three women reflect on the challenges of balancing the impulse to serve the wider community with the need to tend to their own families and nervous systems, ultimately arriving at Marianne's powerful insight that "all healing happens in community"-a truth demonstrated by WNC's response to Helene.

Find Marianne: 

Website: https://www.bluestarmedicine.com/ 

Email: Marianne.Mitchell@me.com

YT: https://www.youtube.com/@appalachianpriestess5757 

Find Miriah at Wholebeingcounseling.com

Find Katherine at Sovereignheartcoaching.com 

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the Sovereign Heart Frequency Podcast. I'm Katherine Finley with Sovereign Heart Coaching and I'm here with my co host Miriah Feehery of Whole Being Counseling. We recognize that we're living through an intense time on our planet. There seems to be more polarization and division and less connected communication than ever before. We are here to change that. We intention to hold conversations in a container of love and authenticity. We believe that when humans come together from a heart centered place, we can not only understand one another, but we can get creative together, solving problems we couldn't solve alone. It's time to reimagine and rebirth a new world in which everyone's authentic voice is included in the harmonic orchestra of human voices, to create a world that works for all of us. Thank you for being part of this conversation, we're excited to have you. Hi everybody and welcome back to Sovereign Heart Frequency Podcast. I am your host, Miriah Feehery, here with my co-host Katherine Finley. And today we have a very special guest, Marianne Mitchell, who is a friend of mine from the Asheville area, and she is a trained spiritual counselor, energy medicine practitioner and guide in the realm of women's mysteries and rites of passage. She weaves over about 20 years of training and immersion and diverse healing arts to support individuals and groups to remember more fully who they are and embody this living truth. Her work includes. Prayer alchemy. Sacred listening, intuitive counsel connection with well spirit allies. Breath work, cranial sacral, polarity healing, sound healing. Lineage repair work, ancestral healing, death, walking, psychopomp, herbalism, Kundalini yoga. Ritual ceremony, sacred energy circles, seasonal cleanses. Teaching at the Institute of Loving, as well as the Institute of Modern Wisdom for modern day priestess training and modern wisdom practitioner training. She has quite the resume here, quite the medicine bag of, offerings and she's blessed to have studied with, Reverend Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith of Agape and Reverend Dr. Kate Roger of the Institute of Modern Wisdom. Gary STRs of Life Energy Institute, Daniel four of Ancestral Medicine and has had many other wonderful teachers in her times. So. I'm really looking forward to this conversation of whatever comes through us today, because you are just obviously so heart-centered and, such a helper and healer and, wise woman walking the path. And, I'm just honored to know you, Mariannene. So, if you wanna say anything else about yourself, please let us know. What you want the audience to know about you. Thank you for that opening, and thank you both for having me. I also feel honored to know you and Katherine. I'm delighted we get to go deeper with each other in this experience. And Miriah, I, I feel the same of like, I'm so honored, Miriah, it's my friend. And, the thing that I would say is just in the last few years, there's this sense of like, I am what the village names me. You know, in past bios, it's like, I am a priestess, I am an this and that. And it's more like, no, this is what I bring, but I actually have people who say whatever it is that you call yourself or whatever it is that you are. And I'm good with that. I'm good with, I am whomever people need me to be in the moment that arises and I really see myself as the witch in the woods and people who are meant to find me, find me. And we get to have a beautiful experience together for however long that lasts. And sometimes it's Working with people for 20 years, and that's a huge blessing. So thank you. And I, I am whatever the village calls me. Wonderful. Well, you obviously have such a diverse, history of experiences and trainings that to present yourself with a a title would just take way too long. So it's fitting that, you know, that whatever's up in the moment is, is the right fit for you. Um, as I age, I like to keep it simple. It's just like the wisdom of lived experience is like you just keeping it simple and accessible feels like such a good fit. Right? You've got to, yeah. Yeah. So, today, I imagine we'll cover a wide variety of topics, on walking the spiritual path and just, the heart path. But maybe we can start in the area of personal healing. Maybe you could share some of your personal practices that help keep you grounded on a daily level so that you can be of service in the great depth that you are for your community. Hmm. Hmm. It's a great question. I would say their prayer alchemy technology, which is one that I studied with both Reverend Michael and Reverend Kate, and have been offering that for the last two decades, is a beautiful tool to support evolving consciousness and attuning to the truth that's not bound by the conditions of the human experience or our day-to-day life. So it's not bypassing it, but it's rather through it, and getting to a place where we can really feel the divine as me, regardless of what's happening in my life. So it makes space for what's happening in life. I also really feel that motherhood keeps me grounded. There's, for the first few years of being a mother, I felt this sense of like, wow, I get to have these amazing, expansive, soul experiences with people, and then I gotta go home and white butts. You know, it's this very humbling realness, in contrast or like in partnership with,, what I'm. Experiencing in my work. I also work with a practice of, communion or meditation, if you will, like communion with my soul's essence. That's actually, that's one of my favorites. And to just really have a visceral experience which is accessible in an ongoing way of like what the essence of my being feels like and what it looks like, and bring it into a somatic awareness of then what's it like in my body, but also have an awareness of it as my whole energetic, it keeps me in that sense of connection with myself. I have daily prayers to my wise and loving ancestors and tend altars, not daily, but in an ongoing way, and work with, opening the seven sacred directions every day for myself and for my office here. And just that remembrance. That I am connected with an as all and I'm not doing this alone. And that it's not me. There's no I happening that keeps it super spacious. And also nervous system support. I'm a huge fan of daily cold showers and I only drink a very small amount of caffeine in a certain form. And I don't eat sugar. Like just the way I take care of my body also helps. And I feel very dedicated to that. Something I wanna grow in is more movements. I've never really been so physical as a practice, but I want to experience that more. And so I feel that growing. And I also work with connecting with my trusted allies and a grounding cord taproot every single day, at least once, if not in an ongoing way. And these practices are really integrated and they take just a short amount of time. And I can feel that like, boom, okay, here I am. Huh In the midst of all of it, the chaos and the everything, the transformation. And so it sounds like a lot, but that's really like down to about 35 minutes. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, I suppose that's the experience and wisdom you get it, simplify it and get it done. It's, it's pretty focused and distilled and some of it happens while I'm doing the cold shower, that's a great time. Just like exclaim, gratitude and praise to the divine. And you know, when you feel that cold water shocking you, and that's a practice that I stepped away from while I was pregnant and postpartum and still nursing. And then as nursing fell away, I was like, oh, I get to have my cold showers again. It didn't feel right in the tender time of, reclaiming self after, birth. Sure. Motherhood is so much about being warm and soft and cozy. Your baby. Yeah. Yes. We're in a different chapter now, Mariannene. I feel like each of those things could be a podcast and I would love to delve into each one of them, but could we, double click on a couple of those? Could you say more about prayer alchemy technology. Oh, absolutely. That's a little zing when you said that. I'd love to about it. Yes. Well, the roots of this, technology come from, science of mind. So originally science of mind, which then expanded into new thought, ancient wisdom of which agape. International Spiritual Center is an expression of, and so is the Institute of Modern Wisdom. And it's a foundational practice of connection with prayer as a multi-step process that moves us into an awareness of who we are as a divine represenation of God, you know? And so there's first, recognition. So we're recognizing the divine is all, and I'm gonna use really spacious universal spirituality terms. So like recognizing the divine is all things this ever expanding field of quantum creative possibility. And then knowing that God is everywhere, knowing that the divine blueprint is everywhere. Well, it must be where I am. And if it's where I am, then it must be where you are. So, and it's expressing uniquely as each one of us. And it's not bound by conditions. It doesn't have to be earned or achieved or proven. It simply is what is. So then we get to realize this truth. Well, if God is right where I am, if the divine is having its way as me and as Katherine, and as Miriah, then I know that all of our needs are met. Then I know that creativity is the very order of our entire being. Then I know that wholeness and wellbeing is the, the transmitting frequency throughout our entire bodies and our whole fields. And wow, then I am so grateful for this truth. So then we land in gratitude and then we let it go into universal law. So from the realization of this truth, then I'm overwhelmed with Thanksgiving for what is so, and I can let it go into universal law. And whether that's, Universal law in a spacious way, or law of divine provision, law of cause and effect law of circulation. Just to let it go into this field of law. That's not human law, it's universal law, and it's ever circulating and bringing forth more of what is true, amplified. And so it is. Hmm. So that's an example as well as an articulation of what it is that is so interesting that there's a daily practice for that.'cause I've always seen, wisdoms that you just described is that being so easy to accept, to believe, to adopt as a worldview, but to apply it to daily life has always been such a mystery to me. Like, how do we walk in that way though? So you described that, that little meditation that you do as a real practical way to kind of embody that and you do it every morning to help, you know, ground you into that reality. And, and maybe you carry that perspective farther into your life because you have that reminder every day. Are there any other ways you practice it, in your day to day? Well, I pray in and I pray out every session and close the day. And so, I mean, it could be up to like 10 times plus I do a weekly prayer online that's available on YouTube, and so now I'm offering that for others. That came forward a couple months ago of oh, this just needs to be a way for people to anchor in exactly the way that you said, Miriah. I used to have a priestess prayer line back before Zoom when we had teleconference lines. I had that one 800 free teleconference line. And I would record a prayer every day people could call into and listen to it on the recording. And, when COVID started, and I was still on Facebook, I did a daily prayer on Facebook Live. For that reason to help continue to cultivate this field of awareness and embodiment of being. And sometimes it's very specific meaning like it'll be a specific prayer for the day of anything that's coming up for myself that feels challenging. And then it moves into this sense of like, from this place of the unified awareness and embodiment of who I am as the I am, I, I bless this and this and this and this and this. You know, it can get really. Naming it and let that, frequency go before and make the way clear and elevate it. And, and it helps move us through,, the four stages of consciousness, you know, which, Michael Beth with also identified, you know, and we move through these different stages of consciousness all throughout our whole day, so there's no better or worse, victim consciousness is like, this is happening to me. Like, oh, all this, why is this always happening to me? And. Then, oh, what's the second one? Manifester to it. Oh, I'm making this happen. I'm putting out my energy and intention, and so I'm having an effect to it. Vessel or channel consciousness is through me. Like, oh, I'm letting spirit move through me. And then absolute consciousness is as me. It's oneness and we can embody this and we're always dancing and flowing through all of them, and this is a tool to keep landing back into that stage of absolute awareness of as me consciousness. That's so powerful. Thank you for answering that question that I've had for so many years of what does it look like to live in this way that's really inspiring for me. I think it's like with everything else we come back to it, meaning, you know, it's like meditation is always like coming back to the breath or the communion. It's coming back to like, it's not a judgment that we stray from it or we have these moments of forgetting and I mean, I have them all the time and then I'm constricted about time or getting stuff done or what's happening in the world. And, and then coming back to, I had an experience recently that blew me away and it was, I was very constricted around something happening globally, which is very, upsetting. And I Was lying in bed and I was in that liminal space of not totally awake, not totally asleep. And I had this intuitive thought that I needed to pray for this person, this leader across the world who's enacting things. And I was like, oh my God, how have I not realized yet to pray for him? And so I. Really anchored in this prayer technology for this person as love and felt myself just repeating it as I fell asleep. And then I woke up next morning to the news that the, humanitarian aid lines had been opened by this individual. And I was like, oh my God. It worked. You know, it landed again to me that this is a process that works and that wasn't a direct thing. It was very indirect and non-linear and liminal, and I just felt like it was real. Mm-hmm. You saw a direct cause and effect even halfway across the globe. Yeah. And so there's a relationship with the, you know, morphogenic field and, and the residents field of this is where, we do really get to place our attention to have impact and places and spaces that we're not directly accessing. Do you have another example from your personal life with somebody that you see every day of a way that you, kind of had an epiphany to change your frequency, to love or oneness and then saw the conflict resolve or a direct effect with someone in your day-to-day life? It does work really well with family. You know, when there's, Contractive opportunities. Do I have a specific example? Not one that's coming right to mind right now. And I will say in my training in modern wisdom practitioner training, we were introduced to this book from the seventies called The Consciousness of Healing. And it was hard to find, it was out of print. It's really interesting. And in essence, what I received from it is how with developed practice we can. Have such an awareness to change our field. And it's not even like through the prayer in that moment of saying the words and, and having that, it's like turning it on outside of our bodies and our, in our energetic field of being. And the invitation as a practitioner is to hold a particular resonance so that the person who's sitting with me comes to meet that energetically and they don't even know what's happening. So it's creates openings in that way. As you ask this question, I'm like, oh, I could practice that more with my personal relationships. I don't have a specific example, but I'm gonna have to think on that.'cause that's a really good question. Sure. Yeah. Sometimes it can be hardest to, oh my gosh, feel empowered in our most immediate relationships. It is. It's the, it's the great test. Of how practiced are you? You know, how spiritual are you? What is that sort of meme of you wanna know how spiritual spiritual you are, go to your family Christmas and find out, or you know. Right. I'll say that you think you might go home for the holidays. Yeah, exactly. Exactly that. Yeah. There's a sense of, remembering other people are also connected to this same essence and source. So it takes any sort of savior complex out of it or rescuer, identity of which I have certainly embody both of those and grow into this place of deep trust. I still dance with those sometimes. Of course. And to remember and affirm that like, and right where that person is the divine is and all of the resourcing of the cosmos right where they are. And I don't have to go into high functioning codependency to make sure that they're okay. That is such an important reminder all the time. Mm-hmm. For all healers and helpers'cause Right. There's that impulse to, first respond all the time. Sure. Yeah. To kind of like surrender some to that divine trust is, is a both and practice. Right. You can still help, but also, praying is a form of help that maybe even more helpful than, you know, talking to them for an hour or whatever. Yes, exactly. Or, and I. Certainly experienced that as a mother, and I felt that tension, during Colleen, during the aftermath of Helene for sure, of the desire, the impulse to be able to get in the car and jump and go and do, and, and also noticing there's this little person with this, you know, nervous system that's been impacted and needing different things like comfort and home and, and stasis and regularity, and it was incredibly internally conflictual for me. Mm-hmm. I relate to that a lot. Yes. Speaking of Helene, we're pretty much at the one year anniversary of it, and Everyone that I'm talking to is like, oh, have you noticed anything coming up in your work as a counselor around the Helene anniversary and like, not really. I feel like, a year is a good time for people to process what they can process with the support they have. I mean, I have heard of some people who are still affected with PTSD. I don't know if they've done, direct trauma interventions to try and help mitigate it, but, I think it could be a good time just to reflect on, what we all learned from that experience. And also where we wanna go from where we are or what we, would like to do differently if heaven forbid we were ever in another crisis like that. And also just kind of tuning into the, the spiritual pulse of our community, that, that is obviously still very much affected. I mean, there's still whole areas of town that are boarded up or, or demolition or, you know, yet I know at least one person who's still not in their home. It's not repaired yet, and they've been out of their home for a year now. So obviously there's still a lot of, processing that is yet to be done and yeah. What are you seeing and thinking and feeling around that? Well, i've been noticing, there's a lot of commemorative events coming up and that feels special. Like it feels like all the church, bulletin signs have commemorative events. I know there's one, community commemorative event at Highland Brewing. My husband's band is playing in. And so just this sense of coming together, it's like circling back around, coming into this nucleus of connection and honoring. I have felt recently how powerfully, Asheville supported grieving. Like I know there were multiple grief alters, people I know that built them in Marshall and in, uh, river arts and just this amazing sense of creating a space in which to process, in which to emote and honor and give acknowledgement. And it feels. Like there's some contrast, like you said, of there's still a lot of areas and spaces and people I know that had to walk from their properties and have only been back once to try to salvage what they can. And the, um, yeah, the depth of contrast. I've had a lot of people move from the area that were close friends of mine. And I wouldn't say that it was necessarily launched by Helene, but I would say it was it a contributing factor of the impact, the intensity on the nervous system and the opportunity to do something else just really arose and came together. And the, reflection of what I wish I had done differently, particularly actually around mothering, has been sort of a moment of reckoning. And I'm blessed in our neighborhood, which is such a. Beautiful tapestry of all different people and different professions, like how we bonded together and how that's still occurring. And I know other people who have said differently, oh, we bonded and now it's gone away. And so I'm curious about that. So I feel really blessed that we still have this, community connection support. I mean, we just had a barbecue last weekend, someone threw, and there's another event happening, and I think we're gonna do our own little Helene commemorative gathering. And the opportunity to stay in that sense of the communal field feels so important. And I am sad that a lot of people have lost that. And I'm curious what can be done to revive that, you know, in those different areas. And, there is still more to process. We're still waiting for a FEMA to come to my mom's house and do some, do some work and at the neighbors. And so there's. The sense of it's, I don't know that it'll ever feel well, I hope it'll feel done or wrapped up, you know? But at some point I also feel that we live in this experience that the outer world doesn't have I the info about. I don't, you know, since we were in such a blackout for so long, I don't know what people saw. Or I never actually looked at any of the news I heard from folks. My mom, after we got the cell service back, she'd say, oh, Asheville was on the cover of the New York Times today, like two weeks in, you know? And I don't know what that was though. I never saw it. We were so in the moment and boots on the ground with one another. And then tending the spiritual aspect of, you know, my daughter, she said, we walked around and did offerings to the trees and she said, she said these trees didn't wanna fall. Hmm. You know, and I was making offerings to the trees. And she said, why are you offering to the tree? Offer to the earth? Mama needs to go to the earth. And I was like, okay. And From that, that space of ion. Also because of my work in ancestral medicine and lineage repair and psychopomp, which is like being a guide to helping people cross the threshold from this world to the other worlds. And, you know, there are stuck spirits. I've worked with stuck spirits in houses and stuck at car accidents and stuck in other people's bodies and, you know, things of that nature. And so there was that invitation with Helene as well, because it was such a mass death experience. And I did have some profound awarenesses that came from that, that were really moving. And then, yeah, just the sadness of, of knowing others that are, you know, their bodies are in the earth and with their families and not named, do you know how much information you have to have to be counted as one of the dad? tell me you have to have a body, first of all, you have to have a body. You have to have a name. Eric, my husband knows all. There's like four, requirements to be counted as one of the dead. And so there's so many others that are not counted in this experience. But for folks like us who hold that space, it's like they're counted with us, but they're not part of that 227 or whichever number they landed on. So there's that. And I think that's so significant is you have to have a body and there's a lot of bodies that weren't recovered. Yeah. I did have maybe not able to even be identified. Exactly. I had this vision, maybe it was two weeks in and I was tuning in to the ones who had. Drowned, died in the floodwaters of all, all over, you know something, I don't know if people in the wider world know just how many rivers are in our area. So when they talk about the flood, it's not just one river, one area. It's so widespread. And I had this incredible image of, just a group of angelic presences, very elevated, luminous beings that came down and reached into the waters and gathered up those souls who died in the floods. And I had this awareness that they were elevated. Immediately upon their death. And what that means is they were immediately ancestrally, they were immediately brought into the field of the Luminous well ones they were immediately cared for. And in some instances of death, there's this movement of the soul that drops the earth suit and moves upwards. But they came down and got them out. They retrieved them from the waters and brought them into that piece of elevation. And that was incredibly comforting. And I spoke to two other friends who are attuned to that experience as well. And they had very similar, visions and knowings of what was happening there. And that was really powerful. Wow. That gave me really big chills. Mm-hmm. Yeah. This conversation's really. Taking me back in a way I haven't consciously reflected yet about the storm last year. And, I'm remembering this lifeline for me was there was a radio station and it was the only radio station that was working. And, people would call in and say what they needed and then other people would call in with their phone numbers and say, you know, I'll be there with a chainsaw. Someone I remember called in, have you seen my adult grandson? Someone calls in within two hours. I found your grandson, he's alive. And I would just listen to this and, and cry. And as we're talking, I'm just like, why can't we just keep doing that? Why can't we just keep doing that? Mm-hmm. I, we listened to that radio station every night for 10 days and I, I called in. Looking for people in Black Mountain and Burnsville. And I remember the first night we had a crank radio and we had a solar generator and people on our block were listening in their cars, but we crank radioed and those folks, first of all, they hiked, I think they hiked to Greenville. They somehow got to Greenville and set up a makeshift station in Greenville, South Carolina that was transmitting to us. They all slept there. They took shifts, like four folks took shifts and just were on the air constantly. And it was, it was the only connection to the outside world that we had. And when I called looking for some friends off Highway Nine and some elder friends in Burnsville, I just cried thanking them. Who's such service. They're true heroes. Truly, truly. And it was exactly as you said, Katherine and I, I asked about these friends on Highway nine and literally 15 minutes later, one of the councilmen or somebody in the government of Black Mountain called and he answered every single question people had about Black Mountain, which I lived there for 11 years. And so I felt such a heart and soul connection there. And he answered every single question that had been posted the last couple hours. I hiked up to get cell reception. He left his email, I emailed him, what about these people he wrote me back. Hikers are up there. I mean, it was so coordinated. They had hikers came in from out of town to get up Highway nine, and they had lists of people to just find and like check off and, and you know, there was medevac happening and supply drops just up. You know, right up at the Continental divide off, nine. And, and it's exactly as you say. And that radio station was profound service. Profound. And yeah, it's a lot to take in. Again, it's like opening up. This it was maybe this summer when I realized I could talk about Helene and not cry. And now it's just a handful of months later, now we're all gonna be crying again talking about it. It's like what we all talked about. Like anytime you'd see a friend or we had a service man come to the house for plumbing. I mean, all we end up doing talking about Helene, it was a way of connection. Well, how are you and what about this? And, you know, telling each other's stories and this power of storytelling and as a community, connective tissue. And it's certainly held for me. That Asheville and the wider community like Buncombe County, even beyond that, this bigger sense of family in the wider community that I think a lot of us felt that I continue to feel as, you know, the climate in the US feels more and more polarized and divided. I don't feel that here and I hope that's more than just me. Um,'cause there's certainly diversity here in this county as far as beliefs and ways of living and religious practices. And, um, it, it feels like this balm to that pain of division in the world. I don't know if you two feel the same, but it. It did something. Helene did something in that way. Here I feel it fully, I feel it fully. I feel like it was only what my friend calls warm eyes. To warm eyes. It was that. And I, it was several weeks in. I had that revelation, maybe even months. I mean, time was lost. Right. And that of, oh, the Amish came down and, I heard they're still here. And they were working for Cabins for Christ and the God's pit crew, a Baptist team national, came in and did all of our backyards. And this group is helping that group of which we would not otherwise have met or crossed paths. And I asked God's pit crew, and what's your, what's your rate? How do we compensate for this work? And he said, offer, offer whatever the Lord moves you to offer. And I knew what he meant. We could need in that. And. I feel that we have really integrated this experience as valuable wisdom. That division is a construct put upon us, and it will embed if we choose to collude with it. And with Helene, my experience also was that that is not real. That is not real. We took a FEMA trip down to the coast and we stopped at this place. We, like in Columbia, natural Market has a great hot bar. And this woman, when we said we were from Asheville, I mean, she just heaped on the food, just like heaped on this food and filled it up and asked how we were doing. And this was, I mean, months later. And I was telling her this about how only love is real and our experience. And she looked at me and she even said, she said, division doesn't exist. And I'm like, yeah, yes you are. Right. And this is lived experience and, and it is, so valuable that we have that. And maybe that's our anchor point, you know, that we get to return. That's our touchstone of like, we get to return to that and we get to re help each other. Remember that. And I just felt it physically, energetically, and otherwise I was like, oh, division is put upon us. Yeah. Did you feel that way, Miriah? Definitely. And I, I can't even count how many times I heard people say, I never thought I'd be on the same mission as a Trump supporter or a, Christian minister or, someone who's a radical activist or whoever was talking, like speaking of the person they thought they were polarized from. Mm-hmm. And when it came down to all we have is each other, literally no, nothing from the outside is coming to save us None of that mattered, right? That what political poster you had in your front yard truly did not matter. You were going to come together and help your fellow neighbor. That it was really one of the most beautiful examples of humanity I've seen. And I'm sad that it takes a crisis to show us that, but at the same time, I understand the human nature and I understand that, it kind of does. That's if you study astrology, you learn that, that some of the, the big powerful energies of the outer planets that move whole, groups and ages of people, they don't really care if. You know, the earth falls out from under your feet, or if your house fills with water, like they're gonna get you to, find your spiritual center and realize the truth of that division is an illusion based on, whatever the pervading mental climate is, there are forces that want to disrupt that to, to deliver you back to yourself. And humans really seek comfort. And comfort is often in what we're familiar with. And so oftentimes when we're shook up out of our comfort zone, we're uncomfortable. It's really, sometimes tragic. Hopefully, you know, that's not the only way. I know that people can learn in other ways, but certainly, that is an effective way that we learn, what matters and what doesn't. Um, yeah. Mm-hmm. I, I think something you said, Mariannene, is so important that we were cut off from the outside world, because I do think, unfortunately, crises can be used by the powers that be to divide us, but we didn't have access to that. We only had access to each other, and what was our natural instincts, right? As humans was to love each other. That was our natural instincts. When that wasn't being manipulated by social media or the news or what have you. When we were cut off from all of that, our natural instincts was to take care of each other. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The. Gratitude that I feel, I mean, I'm also aware that our home was intact, you know, and our, my next door neighbor can't say that, but like, uh, here's something that really was impactful. Our dear neighbors up the street who lost their shop in River Arts District, they had a, freezer. Their kitchen was just down in Woodfin, so they were losing food as we were, you know, the power was out for so many days and they were pulling food out and cooking for our neighborhood every night. We had like 30 to 60 people and they were just cooking and putting out food and putting out food, and it was so connective. And I remember. Talking to, it's new stock kitchen, by the way, if anybody wants to support them. They opened up a shop in their kitchen, and now they do takeaway food, which we love to get. It's, they're incredible chefs. And I was talking to Travis, one of the owners, and, and talking about something I was experiencing and I qualified it, like, oh, and I didn't lose my shop and dah, dah, you know, just feeling like I need to remember who I'm talking to, you know, and acknowledge what he's experiencing is also different from what I'm experiencing. And he looked at me, he said, there's no hierarchy in trauma. You know, it was like I didn't have to qualify or diminish my own experience to feel like I wasn't adding to his impact. And he was so spacious around it and just, you know, that awareness. And another huge lesson is we as a family, we had to ask for help, you know, in a variety of ways. And we received it. And I, it was received in unexpected and, and expected ways, and that was profound. And I am feeling like I'm just now able, I'm starting to write people thank you know, and just like acknowledgement of like what that meant in the moment to say, you know, this is what we need. And it was right there. And whether that was a tool or money or food, I mean it was all right there. And I personally was really adrenalized for a long time I was in that hyper first responder state for I think months, you know, and it's taken a minute to regulate and also recognize, that. Part that was really interesting to note that about myself of like, oh, wow, I'm go throwing into this hyper overdrive. I do think that had some impact on my daughter, that we had to work with like for a while in terms of I think there were times she felt really unsafe and I didn't see it, you know, because I wanted to like, oh, this person's looking for their kid in Haw Creek, like, we need to drive out there. And it was like, we got a card from a neighbor with somebody's address let's go and let's drop off supply. And she came with us and she then felt like she was in a precarious situation seeing all the things that she saw. And, and that was, that was tough in hindsight of like, I pushed her edge a couple times that maybe I didn't need to, and. Also, I pray that she looks back on this time. She told me the other day, she doesn't really remember Helene, she remembers watching the big tree in the back fall, but that's all she remembers right now. And, and I said I hope maybe someday you'll remember it is like the two weeks that you got to run around with all the neighborhood kids all day long. But I have a lot of gratitude coming up when I think about the people who showed up that some of them I hadn't been in touch with for like 20 years. Hmm. And they're like, is this still your number? What do you need? Hmm. And that was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. That same person sent me a message saying, Asheville's really shown the rest of the world how you do this in community. It was like that did get transmitted. And that I think is a, a really big gift too. The world in this nation, you know, given everything that's unfolding. And I hope that we can keep that going. Definitely all the mutual aid centers, all the people who are all affected by this showing up to deliver water or food to people. And not to, overshadow like all the people who came in from, from not Asheville to help, like you mentioned, the, the Amish and other ministry groups. Wow. Just the, the huge influx of support nationwide was phenomenal. Mm-hmm. Even the people who were paid to be here, like the, I guess they call'em storm chasers, there's like the people who get, you know, paid good money to help rebuild grids that have been, knocked down, for a, a big event. I was so grateful for them too, just like, oh my gosh, there's a utility truck literally on every block on my road, but thank God, I don't care how many flaggers I have to stop for on my way to work. Like, thank you for helping. And, just driving down the road and churches having please come eat this. Free food signs, like someone holding out, like trying to get you just to come stop and eat or something. It was just really, heart opening. And I know a lot of our, our tears and feelings and this are really so much about gratitude because that was just such a beautiful demonstration of the best side of humanity possible. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I know, you know, after the post-acute. First responder nervous system, stage faded. There was a little more, you know, random outbursts in the community that quickly, diffused and people came back to homeostasis. But, um, but yeah, just really Asheville, Western North Carolina, and even like some of the surrounding states, you know, I think we're somehow positioned to be able to really not only be self-sufficient in a lot of ways, even though we did receive a lot of help, but also just to be so charitable to one another. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And that definitely revived a lot of my hope for humanity. Mm-hmm. At an, at a needed time. Yeah. Yeah. Times when all the talking heads are trying to tell us that everyone sucks and those people are awful on the other side and no one cares. And it's like, yeah, I don't believe that Right anymore. Right. That's not our experience currently. Yeah. How has it integrated for you, Mariannene, as, as a healer, as a mother, going through that experience? Do you find yourself showing up differently, with your clients or with your daughter? Definitely with my daughter. Do I show up differently with my clients? I think overall I have more trust. Hmm. So I might be less rigid about some things on a personal level, you know, and just creating more space knowing that life happens. And so I have more flexibility, if that makes sense. And I, I'd say that's across the board and I would also, I could see that it's encouraged me to be more generous. I really prize generosity as a principle. I'd say it's probably one of, one of the main principles that I strive to live by. And so, generosity of time and spirit and gifts and, you know, whatever can be shared to have the opportunity to do so is a real gift. And with my daughter. I would say it's made me more protective of her stage of life and to remember there's, there's a part of cultivating resilience, for sure. And there's a part where I also get to hold a boundary around her exposure and the way we talk about things. And also, I mean, I have a memory of, because the trees were down in our road, in front of the house, and everyone was coming out and it was towards the tail end of the storm, and the trees were still bowing. And I said, I'm just gonna go check and dah dah. And she was on the front porch just like crying and asking me to come back. And I, I should have just done it right then and there, you know, versus, okay, just give me a minute, you know? And so just to protect a little more, if that makes sense. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I remember talking to a friend about my regrets of not being able to show up for Bounty and Soul and be the one in the fields and on this. And my friend looked at me and said, I think the mothers were doing other things. Yeah. You know? And so it helped me also honor what I was doing. Maybe I might have previously classed as like mundane or unimportant or there was more, or something different that I should have been doing. And it just has helped ease that personal judgment and that awareness of when I am tending a child, that is very important work. And to let go of, I mean, I have felt, I've talked about this with friends. My initiation into motherhood at 42 has been very challenging because it's the. Length of time that I lived in the way that I did bumping up against all of a sudden these major constraints and, and it's been really like an inner tension place. And so that was a huge learning of I just need to continue to let go of my ideas of what I should be doing and tend what's in front of me and part of the garden I can touch, which is a, I think it's a John Cabot zin quote. Somebody told me during COVID, not COVID, Helene, the other thing that happened on top of the other thing, hasn't it? Like that kind of Yeah. Yeah. I love that the part of the garden that I can touch. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Focus there and know that that's enough. That's what we are there to do. That's the part we can touch. Right. I can relate with you Mariannene, though, because you know, we were even farther removed from civilization than, than you were. You're a little closer to some businesses and main roads and, we're pretty spread out. We just had a few neighbors that we accessed. Luckily it was wonderful support to have from our few neighbors, but, maybe on day three or four of, you know, just tending to the children, carrying water.'cause the water was out, maintaining the generator to run the bare essentials. And it was difficult to wash dishes and get the kids ready for bed with, with no running water. And so. Everything took a lot longer cooking took a lot longer cleaning took a lot longer. You know, entertaining the kids was kind of a full-time job because they had nothing really to stimulate them. Besides your direct interaction? No screen pacifiers or school to, you know, give you a break. Give me a break. So, you know, day four or five of that, all of the nervous system energy of mobilizing all of the like crisis energy that was flooding. My nervous system just started to feel like, like I was in a cage. Like it just was this wild animal that wanted to get out and I felt trapped and, you know, almost. Begged literally begged my husband to let me go somewhere. Let me,'cause he was the one who got to mobilize all of his, crisis energy and was spent all day from after breakfast until dinnertime. Helping chainsawing, getting people supplies, driving to the next state to find what was needed, giving people rides, whatever it was. And he kind of looked at me and was just like, what? Like you've got it easy. I'm out here, on the front lines. And I'm just like, yeah, but all of this. Adrenaline in my system, all of this crisis energy in my nervous system is so uncomfortable. Mm-hmm. And so I really, I really relate to that conflict between wanting to help the community at large and needing to just stay really calm and quiet and present with a small child. And how that can just feel uncomfortable in my body. Mm-hmm. Heard, heard. So I was so grateful for our mutual, I guess I could say mentor Shannon O'Neill. I consider her a mentor. Do you mm-hmm. Sent some great practices for mitigating shock and how to reclaim your mid of just like specifically how to work with this unique, natural disaster vibe, you know, experience that's happening and, and Actually, I've taken that into these months and days as well of just that, oh, let me check in with my own midline and sacred center. Am I fully in it? Am I rooted? Where's my attention? And, and that's pretty powerful. And one of my favorite accomplishments as a mother from that time is that I baked 50 cupcakes for the neighborhood for our daughter's fourth birthday with no running water. And we had just had electricity. I even said to my neighbor, the chef at New stock, she's also a pastry chef. I said, can we bake cupcakes on a gas grill if we have to? And she's like, we will figure it out. You know, It's almost like when that personal nervous system is so activated, we really do need the community nervous system to help breathe a little bit more. I'm just thinking of it from that perspective of the wider field and what is that supply, you know, that we're a part of that helps. But it's, it's real. I had a similar experience of what yeah, what the dad folk got to do. Lot of learning. Lot of learning in those moments and I was so grateful for the sovereignty. We had already reclaimed you know, one of our great teachings for us as a family through COVID was nobody is coming. We have to sort for ourselves, how would we take care of ourselves? And so I felt medically herbally. Nutritionally, equipped in a way that I, I wouldn't have been a couple years prior. And so we did a little apocalypse high five on day one. Eric and I were like, okay, go apocalypse team. We got some stuff nailed. We learned what we didn't have. Yeah. But we got some stuff down, you know, so living and learning. Mm-hmm. Right. The, the sovereignty is an important piece, but wow, I'm so humbled by how much more community offers than just, you know, individual prepping. Yes. Yes. And to be able to share it, right. Right. Not just more materially, but more like resourcing to the nervous system by virtue of just having other people around. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. We had neighbors coming in and they're like, how do you have all this stuff going on?'cause we were like the charge station. And so we had solar going on, solar generator. And I said, well, we, we started this process a little while ago and then we were happy to share. And I mean, even just the comfort I was telling people if anyone runs out of food, like I could feed this neighborhood for the next month with rice and beans. And it felt like a comfort to give into that communal space and that communal nervous system and ease some of that tension I was talking about from the singular to the multiplicity and remember that, that seemed to be a very common theme as well. The generosity you know, there's movies in the apocalyptic time people are wanting to hoard their stuff with their guns. Right. And that was not, people's instinct. The instinct was to give and share and. Help. Yeah. Yes. I hope the people who really, who lost their homes, who lost loved ones, have some gems to harvest also, you know, I don't know. I know people who, a friend nearly lost her life and it was through her spiritual and dance practice had saved her life, but she was able to fully let go of her body and surrender to a mudslide and emerge through the other side, through prayer. Her story is profound and, and I don't know any others. And so I, I also know like the seat upon which I sit, that I'm able, that I'm sharing my experience of that. And I do hope that there's comfort in some gems for everyone in this experience to receive and know, and we certainly know it's true of the. The big field of, of beings called Asheville and Western North Carolina. I think we're all still metabolizing it. I feel like you are the perfect person to have on, around this anniversary. Really appreciate being able to and process it with you as we've been on. It's been helpful for me too. Reflection is important and I love being able to share it with you all and hear some of y'all's stories too, and Yeah. It's gonna, it's gonna be with us, right? For I I feel like it'll be with me for the rest of my life. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It probably for even generations to come. Absolutely. It's true. I'm, I'm just tuning in with like, what's the opportunity for now out of the first responder, first year of like, oh, what part of the garden needs tending now? Is it the energetic field? Is it the spiritual field, is there deeper work with the ones who lost their lives? There's more availability and I can feel in my own being of okay, what else needs tending and how can I support that? Yeah. It's interesting how the anniversary is so close to the day of the dead and the time when the veil is thinnest, because I've never tuned into the dead before, and I mean, I can't describe what I felt, but I was like, whatever I'm tuning into that, this is what it is. And I just felt so connected. To that. And I feel like it's more because of the time of year that this crisis happened in than it was necessarily because of the magnitude of the crisis. Although, who knows, I can't ever separate those two factors to know if that's true. But certainly being in this time of, of Saan, the day of the dead, the veil thinning, well a month apart, but still it was all in the same ether. It just really, for me, kind of gave me a very visceral experience of what it means for the veil to be thin and what it means to kind of, be closer to the departed. Mm-hmm. Um, so my awareness of that was not just the departed. That from the storm itself. But I also feel like there was an unearthing aspect that of actually like, roots ripped up. Like what was potentially buried, both physically and energetically. I mean, I know for ourself the tree, the big one that was uprooted there was, um, I'm pretty sure there was a pet burial at the base of it from previous owners. I happened upon it, it was like way down in this part of the yard. We didn't go and the way these rocks were laid, I was like, something is buried there. You know, just that sense. And so that awareness too of, of what is buried in the earth that gets exposed and has space to arise. And, and then also how is that reflective of our own experience too? Like what's gotten unearthed within us, you know, and what's given space and what's been uprooted and that. Was a big theme of working with people after Helene is this sense of rerouting and settling in nervous system and energy bodies and re tethering in a helpful way. And so, I feel you on that, Miriah. And it felt pretty widespread and I know there were people tuning in and that was their work. And I have done some of that throughout that time to help do what I know how to do to support people beings of all kinds. I mean, I really felt the trees, the trees are people too. And also this sense of remembering truth that's not related to form. And I mean, we can get into so many layers of it. And there's also a, a mourning of what feels lost physically, what feels. Like has left us from the earth. Yeah. So many animals as well. I mean, yes, pets, but, so many other wild animals and, and I was living out on a bunch of acreage then, and after the storm, all of these, I think we found six, raccoons that had distemper. Distemper was really going around. So the after effects of that and how it was affecting the animals, you know, from the water quality and Yes. Yeah, like the wasps, you know, they lost their homes. They were. Very active. And on that one radio station we mentioned, they said be mindful the, the yellow, I guess they were yellow jackets. The yellow jackets. And the snakes are really agitated and it's like, okay, that's also that same tension and agitation we felt. There's been a lot of copperhead sightings this summer, that we've experienced and other people I've seen and stories about it to a way that people are like, is this related to Helene? You know, this sense of loss of home and place, for all of these different, different creatures and. There's a really moving story of the WNC Nature Center. We recently went there and they have a gorgeous display of how they were supported by different, zoo associations that came in and how they checked on the animals and took care of them, and who came in and brought, I mean, it's just similar to how we're talking about our neighbors and humans also, that for the animals that live there, really, really powerful. So I hope that there's a re-homing happening with those wild ones, you know, that they're able to find a place that feels safe, like we are, how to feel safe. I don't know about y'all's practices, but that was a theme of I don't feel safe here. And then how to move through that to land again in safety of place that, oh, we can be, we can be safe here. Yeah. This is, yeah. General Asheville's such a transient place. So many people move here and you really saw the people who, like, this is their home, they're sticking around and they're finding their roots again. And the folks that, you know, it's not at Match. And Helene was the impetus for, for moving on. Mm-hmm. Yeah. There's been some sacred sorting mm-hmm. Of people and business for sure. And it'll be interesting to, as we each keep doing that, I know that we're doing that for ourselves. We made a conscious decision to like reroute to stay and not just from the storm in Helene, but also like the wider field of the United States. Like, do we wanna leave? The states, what's possible, what's not. And we circled back to like, we're actually in the right and perfect place for us for a lot of different reasons. And so, yeah, it's true. There's that movement happening. Knowing that there are enough people who care more just about helping their neighbor than they do about, whatever the fear tactics are coming down from on high, then, it certainly for me, helps me feel safer knowing that like, oh, okay, the divide and conquer strategy isn't working across the board there are enough people who see past it. Hold on to their humanity. Yes. Such a powerful outcome of this experience. I feel immensely comforted and resourced by that. Was there anything else that's alive in the field right now? The only thing that comes is what we've been talking about, condensed into a phrase of truth for me, which is that all healing happens in community. Hmm. Just thinking about that. Can you say more about that, what that means to you? Hmm. There's this, sort of African proverb, I guess it could be called a proverb of when someone in the community is disruptive, disharmonious causing problems or harm that unlike our modern culture where they're sent out, they're isolated, like in our, Prison industrialized complex system like they're sent away that actually what is done in that culture is they're brought to the center and they're surrounded by the community and they're held and sung to and moved and danced until that person, it's like they harmonize to the resonance of the communal field that which is amplified by each person. And so instead of being extracted and isolated, and then there's only a continuation of what's happening for them. And of that disharmony and dysregulation being brought into the center and surrounded and even in just like resonance theory, of how that works is the field of the community is stronger than the individual. And so of course they'll naturally, through laws of. The universe in quantum physics, they'll attune to the frequency of the dominant. And so that's what that means to me. And that can look like exactly all the things we've talked about and also more specific ways as well, you know, in the way that we each show up through our, our practices and our work and just that emanating transmitting essence moving through the world. I love that. What a different picture than, you know, putting someone in isolated confinement to punish them. Right, So connection, and I'd say similar to even physical healing, in terms of. What that looks like. Allopath versus communally. Yeah. Those are my, those are my final thoughts on the surface. that's inspiring. Hmm. Yeah. If only we had the safety and fortitude to do that for one another with Intact villages. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that's, seems we're trying for that here, you know, which feels unique and special. I knew our systems were broken, but I didn't know just how broken until I became a mother., It was just. Astounding and I can't pinpoint that to one experience or anything. It was just this awareness of it was a lot of experiences and also just this awareness of what's missing. And so through that, as we as try to provide that for one another as much as we can, and for ourselves it's repair. There's a lot to say on that topic. That's a whole other I reparative justice. Hmm. Yeah. The whole world needs to change, but luckily it is changing and hopefully, It's changing in the direction that is pro-human. Yes. And one, one community at a time. Right. Exactly. Really has to be in the community. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right. But also what Maryanne offered as the example of giving a oneness love prayer to a world leader like mm-hmm. The change really starts with us, changing our vibration to be centered in, in gratitude and acceptance and love mm-hmm. Is it can really ripple out far and wide into the world. In fact, that might be really the only thing that changes anything. Right. To be able to hold that higher resident feel that you're talking about. Yeah. Doing our own inner work to get there, and how much easier is that to do when we're seeing it reflected in others and we're doing it together. Mm-hmm. And it gets amplified mm-hmm. And ripples out and it's like the studies they've done, I think it was in DC around, you know, meditation groups and they tracked, when people were meditating in large groups and the crime rate happening in the city, and I think it's done in multiple cities, it's very fascinating. It's like there's a direct correlation between that time and when people were dropping in to a meditative practice and watching a decrease. Amazing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Wow. Direct response. there's so much to do in this world, you know? And I have a, a dear friend who's a former, Zen monk and, and she says, I'm so glad I know where the work is. And to me and what she was saying, and what helps encourage me is it's in that morphogenic field. You know, it's in the field of resonance, and that has the capacity to travel through well beyond time and space through, oppressive institutions and structures, through, all the continuums and, and anything that's attempting to thwart and stop. Like it has a light speed, literally like a luminous speed and capacity to it that, you know, it's not that we disassociate from the other, but this is an important component in parallel and in communion with the physical, mental, emotional work of being human and being good to one another. And, and that's where, yeah, the prayer takes me in. Transport practices of like actually working with transporting myself to these other spaces for direct care through the Invisible has also been really changing this past year for me. I've been meaning to do a video on it and put it up on YouTube. I feel a little shy about it. I've done it mostly just in one-on-one, but just like how to guide people through intention and care of like to relax physical laws, to be able to transport yourself to another place specifically that you pick out, that you wanna go and be a helper. And one of the questions I ask people is, what form are you taking? They get to look back at themselves and see the form that they take, and it's really incredible. Wow. Well, let's do another podcast about that. Yeah. Yeah. Anastasia talks about that being one of humanity's birthrights that every human being has the innate capacity to broadcast themselves, either through their consciousness or even physically anywhere in the, in the universe. Mm-hmm. And she kind of gives some practice tips on how to do that. Hmm. Sorry, who is that? Anastasia, from the ringing Cedars of Russia series that I read The first few,, many years ago. I'll have to pick that up again. Yeah. Yeah. She's inspiring. There's 10 books out now. Wow. They, there's more written, you know, every few years. Cool. A, a living biographer or auto. Biography, I guess.'cause she's not writing them, but she is transmitting them through, her beloved, but, Hmm. Wow. Yeah, I believe that to be very true and I've experienced it and it feels, I mean, it's real, it's real to me. And I believe in the impact and the connections that are happening, you know, feels good. It feels like a way to be of contribution. Yeah. It kind of reminds me too, of the telepathy tapes. Hmm. I heard Beta Austin talk about this one story of a woman who was very depressed. Mm-hmm. Very suicidal. And she was hearing what she thought was the voice of an angel telling her that she was worthy of life and, you know, like trying to intervene. On her behalf and later found out that it was a nonverbal, autistic individual's speech. I guess at some point this voice in her head revealed itself for who it really is. And yeah, there was this beautiful connection and there in direct contact now and have been for a while. Wow. Yeah. This is, this is all, I feel like humanity's birthright. Mm-hmm. And we're all remembering what's possible. Mm-hmm. Yes. Transporting telepathy. I mean, it's, yes here for it. I feel it's so true and blossoming. Mm-hmm. Well this has been such a rich conversation, Maryanne. We definitely have to do this again. You're, I would love that. You really inspired me today and I hope our audience feels the same. Wow. Thank you so much. I've loved speaking with you both and yeah, just rehydrating the past year and things to reflect on and things to continue to process and it's a real honor to to be with you for this time. Yeah, likewise. Yes. So grateful to have you on and Mariannene, is there a place you wanna direct our listeners if they wanna have more contact with you, see what you're up to? Have a healing session. Yes, I have a very sparse, I'm not a internet person, I believe, the frequency does the work. And I do have a site Blue Star Medicine where people can book a discovery call if they wanna chat about what's up for them and what integrative energy medicine would look like to support them. There's also a link to a YouTube page where I do a free weekly experience called In Service to the Heart. And sometimes it's prayer and the technology that I, talked about with y'all. And sometimes it's a guided practice of connecting to the earth. This past Tuesday we played with trying on different experiences of time and then dropping into no time. And so there's lots of different things that I offer there that I, I would love to share with the world and let people know about and. There's a booking page on that website and people are free to email me at maryanne.Mitchell@me.com. Then I'm happy to be available. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much. Thank you both. It's been, perfect to have you be our guest as we recap Helene and really drop in in a heartfelt way. You obviously really live and breathe that way of being in the world, so, so honored to have you. Thank you. Thank you both. Be well. Bye everyone. Make sure you subscribe, like and share the video for more content!